Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door

Pastor Tom just mentioned Prayer for the Nations tonight. I hope you’ll come out for that! One of the workers we will be praying for sent us an email update earlier this week.

This worker serves in Asia. And over there it is very mountainous. As a result, you get a lot of these steep, narrow canyons. But people live on both sides of the canyon and need to move regularly from one side to the other, so what do they do? They build bridges. But not like Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman. We are talking tiny, narrow footbridges. What’s your commute like? For these folks to get where they are going, they need to enter through the narrow door, take the narrow way. In our passage today, Jesus talks about this very idea. Not about a narrow footbridge commute to work, but the very narrow way, the narrow door into the kingdom of God. He says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

And in the context of the passage, this is actually a warning for all of us, especially for those who might think they are all right with God but are actually keeping him at arm’s length. In fact, worse than that, Jesus calls them “workers of evil.” You think you’re in, but you’re out, and in fact it’s evil. And there’s a word of warning for someone like that, perhaps for all of us: “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Strive, struggle, to enter through the narrow door. So that’s the big idea of the passage today, based on v. 24: “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Why should we do that? The passage suggests three answers. Because 1. Many will seek to enter but won’t be able to. 2. You will be opposed. 3. You never know when your time is up.

1. Many will seek to enter but won’t be able to (22–30)

Let’s set the scene. After last week’s passage, we learn that Jesus “went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem” (13:22). Ever since especially chapter 9, Jesus has been on a mission. He’s been locked in, determined to get to Jerusalem to accomplish his goal. But he’s in no particular hurry. All along the way, he is stopping in villages to preach and to teach, both to gather converts and to train his disciples for their future mission to plant churches all around the world. V. 23: “And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’” Will those who are saved be few? An interesting theological question. Have you ever had that question? Will a lot of people be saved, or just a few, a smaller number? It turns out this question was a topic of discussion among Jewish rabbis of Jesus’s day and, as with many such questions, opinions were divided. Some said that many would be saved, while others maintained that no, it would only be a few. (Not meaning like three or four, still a large number, but less than the majority of the Jewish nation.) So Jesus is asked to weigh in on this hot theological question of the day. We don’t know anything about who asked it or their motivation, but we do know Jesus’s response: “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (v. 24).

I want to show you something. Do you notice that Jesus doesn’t answer the question? It’s true. The question was straightforward: Will many be saved or a few? Jesus doesn’t answer it! He doesn’t answer the question. Instead, he answers the question that should have been asked: How can I be saved? That’s the more important question! How can I be saved? Have you ever asked that question?

The way Jesus acts here with this questioner, that’s how he is with basically everybody in the Gospels. He gets asked so many questions, and in so many cases he doesn’t answer the question he was asked, but instead he answers the question he should have been asked. The thing they should have been caring about. This is worth camping out on for a minute or two. Are you a person who asks theological questions? That can be great! I’ve achieved three advanced degrees in biblical studies, which, believe me, involved asking lots and lots of theological questions. But why are you asking them? Are you asking out of a genuine desire to grow in Christ, to know Christ better, to learn if he truly is the Son of God, to be able to share his love with others? Or do you ask questions out of just curiosity, or to justify yourself, or to cling to a predetermined position? Are you actually avoiding Christ himself while busy asking questions about Christ? Why are you asking the questions you are asking?

And Christian, let’s learn from Jesus here how to respond to theological questions. Don’t fall into the trap of just answering whatever somebody asks of you all the time! Whether it’s a friend, a family member, a co-worker, even one of your kids, let’s learn from Jesus. Next time somebody asks you a theological question, take a beat and consider, “Where do I think this person is coming from with this question? What do they really need right now to grow in Christ? How could I best serve them right now through my answer?” With a certain type of questioner, it is not wrong to say, “That’s a very interesting question, but I’m wondering, what does this have to do with you or the conversation we have been having? Why are you asking this? I’ve been telling you about Jesus for a while now. Is this the real issue that is keeping you from following him? From obeying him? Would you be open to studying Scripture together to learn more about who Jesus is?” Or maybe just go ahead and answer the question they should have asked! Be wise in how you answer theological questions.

OK, sidebar over. Back to the narrative. The question Jesus answers is, basically, “How can I be saved?” How about you? Is that your question? It’s a good question. And then he gives the answer, our big idea: “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” That word “strive” is a really powerful word. It means fight, struggle. Jesus says that the way to enter the kingdom of God is to fight, to struggle your way through the narrow door. It involves some sort of effort.

Now, for those of us who are steeped in the rich treasures of the doctrine of justification, this might come as a bit of a shock! We know from Scripture elsewhere, all over the place, that we are saved solely by grace through faith in Jesus. For example, Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So Scripture is clear about that. And since Scripture has one divine author, Scripture cannot contradict itself! And yet here it says strive, to fight, to struggle, to enter the narrow door. What do we do with this? How do they connect?

I will tell you the answer. The text actually makes it clear what the answer is, but let’s go a little further first. Because Jesus, to illustrate the point that we should strive to enter the narrow door, tells a parable about a master of the house who has locked his house up at night, but then people come knocking, asking to be let in: “Lord, open to us.” It is a parable where God is the master and the house is the kingdom of God, heaven, and some people got there too late, so they are knocking, knocking, asking to be let in. See what happens next: “He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’” (13:25–27).

There’s a saying, “That escalated quickly,” and it seems to be in play here. Jesus got asked a seemingly straightforward, innocent question, but his answer gets really intense really fast! Do you notice that? He gets right to the fact that some people, on the last day, will try to get in, will ask to be let in, will know that they haven’t made it, but God will say, “I do not know where you come from.” More than that, he actually calls them workers of evil. That’s terrifying. In fact, it’s similar to what Jesus says over in Matthew’s Gospel: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22–23). This is terrifying! Workers of lawlessness! Workers of evil! The question is why. Why does Jesus go there? Why does he get so intense so quickly?

Part of the answer lies in the fact that Jesus, here in Luke’s Gospel, is talking to the Jewish nation of his day. You see, Jesus, although he is the Savior of the entire world, was sent in a very special sense to Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as their Messiah, to gather them to himself, but also as a prophet to warn them of coming judgment. He was, in this sense, the very last in a long line of prophets who had been sent to Israel, who had warned her, pleaded with her, performed miracles in the land, so that they would believe. And yet their hearts, many of them, remained hardened. Not all of them, but many of them. It is really good to keep this in mind when reading the Gospels because, on the one hand, they are written for all times and peoples everywhere, but on the other hand, they are written for a specific context, that of first-century Judaism.

So Jesus is talking to the Jewish nation of his day, and he is saying that the same kind of resistance you read about in the Old Testament is happening in his day. That’s why they say in the parable, “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” That’s literally what has been happening. The people are tolerating Jesus, hanging out with Jesus, but they are not responding to his call to follow and be saved! And he calls them evil, and then he goes on to say, “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out” (v. 28). This is chilling. Many of Jesus’s countrymen will believe and be saved, such as Jesus’s disciples. But the general response, the overall response, will be rejection leading to eternal exclusion and sadness outside of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the Gentiles will get in: “And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.” That’s talking about the Gentiles! Not every single individual, of course, but as history bears out, in general the Gentile peoples will respond to the gospel, whereas Jesus’s own people will not. And these Gentiles will “recline at table,” welcomed into God’s tender presence, like a family meal. And as if to draw a line under it, Jesus ends by saying, “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (v. 30). Jews and Gentiles will be flipped in terms of who you thought would get in vs. who actually gets in.

Now that we have worked our way through this portion, we can go back and answer the question above about struggling to enter the kingdom, fighting and striving. The context makes it clear that what Jesus is NOT talking about is entering the kingdom by one’s own works. May it never be. Instead, he is talking about not taking your salvation for granted, turning from complacency and toward the narrow door of faith, and receiving and resting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. This is a warning against complacency, and warnings are good for all of us, means of God’s grace to wake us up and help us examine our hearts. Strive not to take your salvation for granted.

To be a little more specific, this is speaking directly to anyone who thinks that they should have an “automatic in” to the kingdom. On the basis of your birth, your family, your Christian heritage, your religious upbringing, or just being vaguely close to Jesus. Let me be clear. It doesn’t work that way. Jesus blows that idea up. The plain and simple fact is that many will want to enter and be denied, too late, and that they should strive, now, to enter through the narrow door.

This is less a striving like climbing a mountain or running a marathon, and more like the striving of someone trying to get into a lifeboat when the ship is going down, or somebody struggling to wake up from a bad dream. Has this ever happened to you? Sometimes, some people will know that they are dreaming while they are dreaming and struggle to get out of it, to wake up. Has that happened to you? That’s the kind of struggle, striving, we are talking about.

How can we apply this? Let me respond by asking you three questions.

First: Are you a disciple of Jesus, or merely a fan? Are you a follower of Jesus, a child of God by grace through faith in his life, death, and resurrection, or are you merely curious about Jesus? Maybe you’re “first” in our day and age. In Jesus’s day, the “first” were the Jewish people to whom the Messiah came. But in our day, the “first” might be someone brought up in a Christian home. How about you? You were brought up in a Christian family, went to Christian schools, etc. Or perhaps you’re here week in and week out because you think it’s good for you, it’s good to be religious. But do you truly know Jesus? Have you understood that faith in Christ is not about what you do or who you are, but about who Jesus is and what he has done? Wake up from your slumber! Fight to get in before it is too late!
Second question: Are you choosing the narrow door of following Jesus, or are you just going along with the crowd? Do you believe the Bible is merely helpful, or do you actually believe it is the inerrant Word of God and that this controls how you make life decisions?
1. In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, I am haunted by what the main character, the pilgrim, says and does when his eyes are first opened to the glory of the gospel: He runs. “So I saw in my dream that the Man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door, but his wife and his children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, ‘Life! Life! Eternal Life!’” He is striving, struggling, to enter through the narrow door.
2. Anglican bishop and writer J. C. Ryle, writing on this text, put it this way: “We are to wait for nobody. We are not to inquire what other people are doing, and whether many of our neighbors, and relatives, and friends are serving Christ. The unbelief and indecision of others will be no excuse at the last day. We must never follow a multitude to do evil. If we go to heaven alone, we must resolve that by God’s grace we will go. Whether we have many with us or a few, the command before us is plain, ‘Strive to enter in.’”
And third, Christian, are you striving to put sin to death? Our sanctification, becoming more and more like Jesus, is ultimately a work of God’s grace, but this passage, and many, many others in the Bible, remind us that it involves striving. There is a place in the Christian life for exertion. For resolution.
1. Ryle again: “Whatever others may think in religion, the Lord Jesus would have us know, that we are responsible for exertion. We are not to sit still in sin and worldliness, waiting for the grace of God. We are not to go on still in our wickedness, sheltering ourselves under the vain plea that we can do nothing until God draws us. We are to draw near to Him in the use of the means of grace…. The command is express and unmistakable, ‘Strive to enter in.’”

Strive to enter through the narrow door. Because many will seek to enter but won’t be able to. That’s the first point. But second, strive to enter through the narrow door because:

2. You will be opposed.

Let’s go on in the text:

“At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’” (Luke 13:31)

This is interesting. Some Pharisees, who normally are pretty opposed to Jesus, seem to want to help him out, warning him that Herod wants to kill him. “Herod” here is a figure known as Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, whom we know from the birth narratives of Jesus. A pretty bad guy. And that makes sense because here it says that he wants to kill Jesus. Jesus is being opposed. And it’s not clear if the Pharisees are genuinely trying to help Jesus out or, what I think is more likely, they are either trying to sow fear in Jesus’s heart or just get him out of their hair for a while.

But whatever the motivation, Jesus is not budging: “And he said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox, “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course”’” (Luke 13:32). Jesus calls Herod a “fox,” and to us this means somebody who’s crafty, which is in play here, but it also is a symbol used in the Old Testament to mean someone who is an opportunist, even a scavenger. He’s calling Herod out as one more in a long line of crafty opportunists who help themselves instead of helping the nation out. But despite the danger to Jesus’s life, his resolution is firm: “Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem” (Luke 13:33). Jesus is not budging. He has his gaze fixed on his goal, Jerusalem, where he knew that he must suffer and die at the hands of sinful men to bear the sins of the world, and he knows he must rise on the third day. It was his mission. It was his calling. What can we learn from this? How can we apply this?

Most generally, know that as you strive to enter the kingdom through the narrow door, you will be opposed. There will be many voices that will attempt to wave you off from following Jesus by playing on your fears. Or they will attempt to get you to back off of a goal, a ministry, a calling you have to serve the Lord. What is this for you?

For me, I remember it was when I felt a calling to the mission field to go to a very dangerous part of the world. This was 25 years ago. My father was very, very opposed. He tried to use every pressure tactic in the book to get me to back off. And though it broke my heart, I knew I had to follow Jesus anyway. I went. My father eventually came to terms with it and we were fine, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. Some of you have paid a price to follow Jesus. Family pressures. Pressures to compromise. Co-workers or bosses have warned you of the consequences if you continue following Jesus. Will you listen to them and shrink back, or will you continue resolutely toward your goal?

And as for fear for your safety, this is an illusion anyway. Folks, let us remember that God is the one who holds each and every one of our days in his hand. “All the days ordained for us were written in his book before one of them came to be.” When I was considering the call to missions, I heard somebody say something once that really helped me: “The man or woman of God in the will of God is untouchable until their work on earth is done” (unknown). If you are doing what God wants you to do, you are untouchable, invincible, until his work in you is done.

Obey. Keep going, and don’t worry about the danger or repercussions. How about you? Is there some work you know God has called you to, but it’s gotten hard? I think of some families in our midst who have chosen the high and holy path of foster care and adoption, but you’ve faced obstacles and setbacks and heartbreak. You’re discouraged, tempted to give up. Simple question: Has God called you to it? Then it is worth it. Keep going. Are you tempted to compromise in your job or your business because of pressure from others? Or just the way things are done? Do not listen to them. Keep going. Have you decided recently to follow Jesus but the family is pressuring you? No turning back. Keep going.

Finally, we should strive to enter through the narrow door because

3. You never know when your time is up (vv. 31–35)

Having just mentioned dying in Jerusalem, Jesus turns to lament Jerusalem’s long-standing disobedience:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:34–35)

Jesus here is deeply moved. We know this because this is one of only three places in the Gospel where Jesus says a name twice in a row like this. (The other two are when he says, “Martha, Martha,” and “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.”) It’s emotional. Let’s also recognize that “Jerusalem” here is about more than just the city. It’s a stand-in for the whole nation (like people will sometimes use “Rome” to refer to the Catholic Church or “Washington” to refer to the whole government). “Jerusalem,” that is, the nation, had a long, long history of killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her.

And then, speaking with the voice of God, Jesus pours out his sorrow that more people from his own nation had not responded to God’s voice, both over the centuries and right then in his day and age. Notice the emotion in Jesus’s voice: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” Hear the sorrow in the heart of God.

But then he pronounces judgment: “Behold, your house is forsaken.” This is a prophecy of the judgment that would come on Jerusalem and the nation in AD 70, when the temple and city were destroyed by Rome. Jesus’s prophecy came true. And finally, “You will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” This is a reference to Psalm 118, which is a shout of joy at the coming of the Messiah. I believe it is pointing to a future ingathering of many Jewish people when they will recognize and welcome Jesus, as it says in the prophet Zechariah, “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”

These verses actually bring up a theological question I want to camp out on for a moment, one that some of you may have encountered or struggled with. Notice it says that Jesus longed to gather them, but they were not willing. Here’s the question: Can we resist God’s will when it comes to salvation? At Citylight we believe in the rich doctrines of grace. Scripture is too clear that God does indeed effectually call those who are his own to repent and believe in Christ: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). In Calvinism, this doctrine is known as “irresistible grace.” We love the doctrine of irresistible grace.

But just because God’s grace is irresistible doesn’t mean you don’t have a will! It doesn’t mean you don’t strive! And if your will resists to the very end, God will hold you responsible for that. There are two sides of the coin: If you are believing in Christ, it is an act of God’s grace when he overcame your stubborn resistance. And yet if you are resisting his will, God will hold you responsible because resistance is real. In other words, God is sovereign, yet man is responsible. And so, if that is you, and you are resisting God, if you are saying, “I am not willing,” to come to Jesus, cry out to God to take your resistance away. Once again, J. C. Ryle is helpful:

“Our salvation is wholly of God. Let that never be forgotten. None but the elect shall be finally saved. ‘No man can come unto Christ except the Father draws him.’ (John 6:44.) But our ruin, if we are lost, will be wholly of ourselves. We shall reap the fruit of our own choice…. There is doubtless deep mystery about it. Our minds are too feeble to understand it now. But we shall understand it all hereafter. God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility shall appear perfectly harmonious one day. In the meantime, whatever we doubt, let us never doubt Christ’s infinite willingness to save.”

How do we apply this?

First, I want to call back to something I said earlier about theological questions. Right now, if you are wrestling with this particular question about God’s sovereignty vs. man’s responsibility, know that even if you don’t understand it, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t! God understands it. Eagerly seek him for knowledge and insight about this. But do so out of a desire not to have it all figured out, but to genuinely know him better. And know also that you have a great gift here at Citylight: eight pastors who would love to help you work through this.

But second, and this is definitely the main application, you never know when your time is up. You never know when your time is up. Jesus was basically saying to Jerusalem, to the nation, “Your time’s almost up. Be warned.” Friend, if you are here without Christ, please hear me: You never know when your time is up. God is gracious. He warns us, he draws us, but at the end of the day, you just never know. And if your time is up, and you stand before God, it will not work to say, “I thought I had more time.” He’ll say, “Depart from me, you worker of evil.” Will you repent? Now? Will you turn and be saved? For if you don’t, I’m afraid that what awaits you is what Jesus describes in this passage: “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The Bible elsewhere calls this hell.

For you see, we all deserved hell. We have all sinned against the righteousness of a perfectly pure and holy God. We have all stubbornly resisted his call, rebelled against his commands, and pursued the selfish desires of our hearts. And because of that, the Bible says, “It is appointed for man to die once and then to face judgment.” And on that day, should God ask you why he should let you into his kingdom, it just will not do to say, “I thought I had more time. I was from a Christian family. I went to church regularly. I tried to do my best. I followed my religion the best I could.” Why? Do you notice what word all of those answers have in common? “I.” No one who has ever lived has ever done enough to be counted righteous in the sight of a holy God. Except one.

Jesus Christ is the spotless Son of God who actually went through the narrow door for us. He set his face like a flint toward Jerusalem, his destiny, his calling, to suffer and die on the cross and rise on the third day. On the cross he carried the sins of the world, taking them away. And in doing so, he opened wide the door to all who would believe in him. That’s why in John chapter 10 Jesus says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:9–10). Jesus is the narrow door! Enter through him and be saved. Believe in his life, death, and resurrection on your behalf. When you do, you will be welcomed into the kingdom, to eat and drink at God’s table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And now, in this life, you will find the courage to walk the path of eternal life, to keep going despite opposition, and to make it safe to the kingdom of Heaven. Let’s pray.