The Narrow Door
Download MP3This is from Luke 1318 through 30. He said, therefore, what is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, And the birds of the air made nests in its branches. And again he said, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in 3 measures of flour until it was all leavened.
Speaker 1:He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem, and someone said to him, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us, then 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.
Speaker 1:But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. 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. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.
Speaker 2:And then from, Luke 14 12 to 24. He said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, a man once gave a great banquet invited many.
Speaker 2:And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I bought 5 yoke of oxen and I go to examine them.
Speaker 2:Please have me excused. And another said, I've married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, sir, what you commanded has been done and still there is room.
Speaker 2:And the master said to the servant, go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who are invited shall taste my banquet.
Joel Brooks:The word of the lord. Thanks be to god. Pray with me. Lord, we ask that you would bless the reading of your word through the power of your spirit. You would write that on our hearts.
Joel Brooks:Lord, we come to you confessing that we are hard of hearing, hard of seeing, our hearts are hard. And so, lord, we ask that you would break through. Give us eyes to see ears to hear and give us a heart to receive your word Spirit, you're welcome here. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:And I pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. It's taken us 31 weeks, in Luke so far to just get into chapter 14. And I realized that at this pace, if I wanted to preach the whole counsel of God and to, go through all of the Bible, it was gonna take over 3000 weeks. And I would be almost 94 years old when I finished.
Joel Brooks:And so I thought I need to pick up the pace just a little bit. And so tonight, we're we're actually gonna cover 2 whole chapters, which is the most that I've I've ever preached. We're just gonna look at 2 things that are related. And I'm gonna skip over a few of the other stories, that we've already dealt with thematically, or we will deal with it ahead in Luke. Up to this point in Luke, Jesus has been healing a lot of people.
Joel Brooks:He has been teaching a lot, but there hasn't been anything that you would call explosive. Rome is still in power. Jesus is still just a teacher with a, with a small following. And it's not what the people expected when they expected the Messiah to come and there would be this dynamic change and there would be this new kingdom. That hasn't happened yet.
Joel Brooks:And so questions began arising as to, what is the kingdom going to look like? Because it's not turning out like we thought. So Jesus, what is it gonna look like? And so he tells 2 stories. He he says, the kingdom of god is like a mustard seed that's eventually going to grow into a large tree and birds will come and find rest and shade there and then he says, the kingdom of God is like a little bit of yeast worked into some flour, which will cause the dough to rise.
Joel Brooks:He says, that's what the kingdom of God is like. It's like something very small and hidden that grows slowly, but it will provide shelter, it will provide food for many. And you can see this coming true from a historical standpoint. Within just a few centuries of Jesus saying this, the Roman Empire was Christian. The Emperor himself declared himself a Christian, which is absolutely astounding since Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.
Joel Brooks:Today, about 2,000,000,000 people claim to be followers of Jesus and this number is still growing. Just in the last 100 years, you've seen Africa go from 9% Christian to 50% Christian. In the last 100 years, Korea has gone from 1% to almost 50%. China is now having this similar explosion where even by the most conservative estimates, there are over 70,000,000 Christians now in China. Some estimates put it at over 200,000,000.
Joel Brooks:And so this small little band of followers following Jesus around would soon grow, given time, would grow to cover the entire globe. It would it would change the world. And so you do see that from a historical standpoint, what Jesus said is true. But the kingdom of God is also a very personal thing, grows within us, something at work in our lives. For those who have come to know Jesus, who've come to receive the gospel, the the gospel is much more than a good idea.
Joel Brooks:It's much more than a good idea to us. It's a power, a life changing power in us. Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. So it's full of power. It's full of life.
Joel Brooks:It's much more than an idea. If Jesus just kind of represents the ideal person to you, if Jesus is nothing more than the example that you try to follow, then you are not a Christian. He's much more than an example. For the kingdom of god to be at work in you, this is something living, this is something powerful. It is life transforming.
Joel Brooks:The Bible calls it being born again. You know that you've received this this seed or this leaven in your life when terms that Christians use all the time like holiness becomes much more than just a definition you would look up in a dictionary. Holiness becomes something that you delight in, something you savor. Or when we talk about things like the crucifixion of Jesus, to you it's much more than just a historical event. This is a life changing moment.
Joel Brooks:The crucifixion is ever present in your mind. The resurrection of Jesus is ever present there. This is something organic and there's something growing in you. It stirs you. Life and growth are inevitable when you receive the gospel And this growth might be slow at first, but it's real growth.
Joel Brooks:Real growth. You know, if you have come to church for a long, long time and you think of yourself as a Christian, but your faith never deepens. Your passion never grows. The fruits of the spirit, things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control, those things are not growing in your life, then you're not a Christian. There's nothing living inside of you.
Joel Brooks:You you might hold to Jesus as an example, somebody you strive towards, you might like his teachings, but it's not a power, a life transforming power in you. Now after Jesus teaches these parables about the kingdom of God, somebody comes up to them and asks, So Lord, what you're saying is this, are you saying that there's only going to be a few people saved? There's only going to be a few of us saved? Because, you know, we've been going through Luke for a while now, and Jesus' teaching over the last few weeks has had some teeth to it. You know, things like sell your possessions, give them to the poor.
Joel Brooks:Don't be scared about doing that. God will take care of you. Things like, hey, towers are going to fall. Repent or you likewise will perish. His his teaching has got this edge to it.
Joel Brooks:It's so harsh, people are like, Jesus, is is anybody going to be saved? Is it just going to be a few of us that are going to be saved? And I find it interesting that Jesus doesn't answer this man's question in chapter 13. He just gives a story. He says, Strive to enter through the narrow door.
Joel Brooks:For many, I tell you, will seek to enter but will not be able. Now, there's a number of things that we can learn from Jesus's answer here. 1st is the door into heaven is narrow, it is not broad. The door into heaven is narrow, it is not broad. And I know this goes against every talk show out there.
Joel Brooks:It goes against, you know, almost all popular opinion out there, that tells you that God is not limited to just one religion, that there's no one religion out there that can have a claim to god. You you know, usually the popular thing to to say and to believe is no tolerance is what you you have to preach. Tolerance is what you have to live and, you know, how can one religion say it has all the truth? Every religion just has part of the truth, and we need to be tolerant towards one another. I really think if you were to take a worldwide poll and you were to ask people from all countries around, what would you say causes the most problems in the world?
Joel Brooks:I think probably a very common answer would be religion, intolerant religions. Probably say that's the, that's the source of most of the violence in this world. And so this is a really relevant topic that Jesus is talking about here, and I'm sure that there's some of you who believe that here as well. Maybe you think it's extremely arrogant for any one religion to say that they have a claim on God, that they know absolute truth and all the others don't. And that's an extremely arrogant thing for any one religion to think that.
Joel Brooks:I've heard this example so many times. I'm sure a number of you have, but it goes something like this. You have you have 3 blind men, they're in a room with an elephant. And there is one blind man, he's just feeling the trunk, and he says, gosh, whatever this is, it's, it's kind of curving and it's, it's graceful and yet it's strong. And then there's another blind man who's just holding on to the leg, and he goes, no, no, no, no.
Joel Brooks:This is, gosh, it's something shaped like a tree. Then there's another person at the side of the elephant, it's like, No, no, it's not shaped like a tree, this is as big as a house, it's shaped like a house. And so these 3 blind men, they each describe what they have felt and they're all right. They all have part of the truth and I've talked with so many people who have shared that and they said, that's just like all the religions. You know, they're all right, they all have part of the truth, but none of them have the whole truth.
Joel Brooks:Now, the obvious problem with this belief is that in saying that you are claiming to see the whole elephant. You're claiming to see all the truth to know what each person is missing. You're claiming to be all knowing. You're claiming to be the one who holds to the absolute truth, and so that's actually the most arrogant thing you could say is to say, You know what? I'm just going to be humble about it, and to say that no, no religion out there has all the answers or can really know god.
Joel Brooks:That might have the appearance of humility but it's actually utmost arrogance. Because in saying that, you were claiming that you know the truth and you could point to all the others and say, they're missing it, they're missing it, they're missing it, they're just getting a part of it. Yet, you alone know it all. What you need to decide is what is true. Are Jesus' words true?
Joel Brooks:Is Jesus who He claimed to be? That's what you need to come to grips with. Jesus, his claims are different than any other religion. He says he's very exclusive. He says, narrow, narrow is the door that leads to heaven.
Joel Brooks:Narrow. You can't get much more exclusive than that. But then Jesus, he says something throughout scripture that sheds light on that statement. Because every other religion points to doors. They're pointing to this can be a way, that can be a way, you need to do all these things.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, he actually points himself and he says, Narrow is the door, and I am the door. I am the way to the Father. John chapter 10, Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. John 14:6 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Joel Brooks:No man comes to the father except through me. And so the founders of every other religion point outside themselves to be saved. Jesus alone points to himself, says, come to me. Or as Augustine said, I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful, but I have never read in either of them. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.
Joel Brooks:Jesus makes an exclusive claim that he alone offers salvation, Which raises a question, if Jesus is this narrow door, how do we enter? Jesus says, strive. Strive. Struggle. The the door into heaven is not a stroll.
Joel Brooks:It's a struggle. You don't just gently walk. You've got to strive to go through this door. It's not gonna be something that comes naturally to you. You've got to work at this.
Joel Brooks:He's not saying work out your salvation here, but he is saying there's gotta be a struggle or you're gonna miss it. Let's look at this story. This is how we enter this narrow door. This is how we struggle and not stroll. This is how we fight to get in the kingdom.
Joel Brooks:In this story, you have people who were shut out because they waited. People who were shut out of the door because they waited, they did not come when Jesus called. These were people who'd been around Jesus for some time. They hadn't made up their mind about Jesus. You know, they've heard him teach, they've had dinner with him, They've been around all of his disciples, so they're the kind of people who go to church.
Joel Brooks:They're around the Christians. They're they're all of this, but they haven't actually given their lives to him. They keep saying, you know, I'll do that tomorrow. I'll do that the next day, and then the door is shut and it is too late. The bottom line that Jesus asked is, do you know me?
Joel Brooks:I'm not asking if you've been around me, if we've eaten together, if you've heard my teaching of all this, but have you actually entered in and do we know each other? Growing up, Herschel Walker was my hero. Some would argue still is. I went to the University of Georgia, grew up in Georgia. I can tell you just about everything there is to know about Herschel Walker.
Joel Brooks:1980, won the national championship. 1983, won the Heisman Trophy. The man, he never worked out with weights. He would do 1500 push ups and 2,500 sit ups every day he's actually done that for over the last 30 years of his life. I tried, maybe for a day, did a few.
Joel Brooks:He had a great NFL career. If you don't even count his first three seasons in which he played for the USFL, which was a big, horrible mistake, but if you don't even count those seasons, he still ranks 2nd all time in the NFL on all purpose yards. The guy was a beast, he was a he was an Olympic bobsledder, He has a 5th degree black belt in Taekwondo. He almost made the Olympic judo, judo team. That's the sign language for judo right there.
Joel Brooks:He actually almost made the Olympic team in track because he was an all American in track for 2 years. He had a 10.22 second 100 meter dash. This is a man who weighed £225. He was a beast. I could go on and on.
Joel Brooks:He did win his MMA fight last night at 47 years old. The thing is, I know all this information, a plethora of information if you will, about Herschel Walker. Yet if I were to go up to his door, knock on it, Herschel were to open, I'd be like, hey Herschel, come on. Bumps right here. He looked at me like I was insane.
Joel Brooks:I was like, No, no, no, no, no. It's me. I know everything about you. Don't don't you remember when I was 10 years old, I had all the Georgia stuff around, I was watching you win the national championship, I had posters, Sports Illustrated magazines. Don't don't you know all that?
Joel Brooks:He's like, he's calling 911, or he probably wouldn't need to. But the reality is he doesn't know me, I know all about him, but there is zero relationship. That's what Jesus is saying is happening to a lot of us. Some of us here in this room are fascinated about God. We think Jesus is an amazing example, had phenomenal teaching.
Joel Brooks:We like to be around other people who who worship him, but we've never actually entered the door. We actually don't know him. There hasn't been this life transforming power in us. Jesus says the door will be shut. Do not wait till tomorrow.
Joel Brooks:Now, to strive and to enter is to listen and it's to respond to Jesus. It's to savor His words, savor His presence more than anything. Jesus shows what this looks like when He tells us the story of this banquet found in chapter 14. And here you have this man, he's he's got this banquet, he invites all of these people to come. And for starters, what you learn here is that Christianity is a calling, and we just sang that, Hallelujah, He has found me.
Joel Brooks:It's a calling. I know that there are times in life you think that you were seeking out for Jesus, that you were searching really hard for him, but actually, when you come to know him, you will always look back and say, No, no. It was him pursuing me all along. He was calling me to himself all along. I might not have understood it at the time, but it's clear that it was him wooing me, not me seeking him.
Joel Brooks:And so if there's any of you in here who who don't know Jesus, but you've been very curious about him, you've been pondering these eternal things, you've been wondering about this, Know that great comfort and that that did not just spring up in you. That is Jesus calling you. He is calling. You should be comforted in that. He is stirring something in your heart.
Joel Brooks:Don't tarry. Come. There's something else you should take away from this story, something that people usually miss. Notice that when this man sends out his servant, it's not to invite people, he doesn't go out with invitations. But he goes to tell them that the banquet is ready.
Joel Brooks:You see, these are people who have already received their invitations. They have already sent in their RSVP and said they are coming Because when he gave a banquet, there had to be time to prepare. So you sent out your invitations, you said there was going to be a banquet, and then the master, he is fixing this phenomenal feast and it's taking days or weeks, you don't know how long it's going to take. And then when it's ready, he sends his servant to those who have said, Yes, I will be there. These are people who've already accepted the invitation.
Joel Brooks:But time's passed now, and all of a sudden, people got busy. And they decided they wanted to do other things. Their excuses are pathetic and they're absolutely pathetic when you read their excuses. I mean, when I was working at campus ministry at the University of Georgia, I came across so many pathetic excuses. There would be a group of about 50 people who would be late every week to our ministry, our our worship service.
Joel Brooks:So I asked, why are y'all late every single week? And they said, well, we have to watch the end of Beverly Hills 90210. Like, lame, pathetic. Come up with something better. Helping an old lady across the street.
Joel Brooks:I once had a roommate who, for an entire day he wore no clothes around in his apartment because he said he ran out of laundry detergent. I was like, Well, how are you going to go get any laundry detergent? My 7 year old Caroline, she said that she was late to something. I kept calling her, come on, we're gonna be late, we're gonna be late, and she wouldn't come. I said, why are you so late?
Joel Brooks:And she goes, I had to put my pet rock to sleep. And sure enough, she wrapped it up, tucked it in. My 4 year old Natalie was spitting in the kitchen, just spitting. I said, why are you spitting? She said, Jesus spat.
Joel Brooks:These are pathetic excuses. These are worse here. The first man says, hey, you know, I've already bought a piece of property. I need to go look at a piece of property that I've already bought. Who buys property and doesn't look at it first?
Joel Brooks:The other man says he's bought some oxen, but supposedly hasn't looked at the oxen yet. Even if they haven't, that's still a lame excuse for what Jesus is offering here. Final excuse is my favorite. The guy just goes, hey, I'm married. I mean, what kind of excuse is that?
Joel Brooks:I'm married. I can't come. All it took for these people here to miss out on the Feast of Heaven was some cattle, a piece of land and a woman. They missed out. You know, we live in a time where we, we give churches give invitations, and we ask people to come and to accept Jesus during our time of invitation, very much like this story.
Joel Brooks:We offer the invitation to go out and we let people RSVP. Jesus said that has nothing to do with whether you know me. That's just the call here. Are you gonna come and know me? That's that's that's the issue.
Joel Brooks:Not if you've RSVP'd and sent that in and said, yes, I prayed a prayer. So you actually know him. Have you pressed in and know Jesus? He's after your heart. I heard an illustration many, many years ago about a young man who went to go hear this old revival preacher in the hills of North Carolina.
Joel Brooks:And this preacher, he's he tells about this experience that he had with the Lord. He said, I went to this certain place and, I had this experience with the Lord and and whenever I really want to sit in his presence again, I go to that place. And this young man was very stirred when he heard that. And so he waited around till when the revival was over, and he went to this preacher and he said, Hey, would you take me to that place? I really would love to know the Lord.
Joel Brooks:I would love to experience his presence. And this old man looks at him and says, You don't have it in you. So is this a long journey? And he says, No, no, no. I've got it in me.
Joel Brooks:And he's actually looking at the old man, he's thinking, I could probably hike 10 more miles than you easily. Says, Please, can I come? And the old man goes, Alright. We'll leave now. Man goes, Great.
Joel Brooks:And so they they they start hiking up this mountain, and it's a very slow pace. This preacher, he's got his old cane, he's just strolling along, and this this young man's kind of impatient, but he's he's walking behind. And they finally they they come to this gorgeous valley right at the start of this this mountain. You can you can see all through this valley here and he's like, wow, beautiful. There's not a better place.
Joel Brooks:Certainly, this is a place. And so he's waiting for the old man to turn around, but the old man just keeps going. He says, Old man, isn't this a place? He goes, No. So he starts hiking up more up this mountain.
Joel Brooks:Hours go by. They come to this waterfall. Gorgeous, better than the valley. So the young man, he sits down, he's like, alright, we're at the place, And the old man goes, this isn't the place, and he keeps on walking. Alright.
Joel Brooks:So he follows him all the way up to the top of the mountain He looks and sees all of these mountain ridges in front of him. Breathtaking. The sun is beginning to set. He can actually look down and he can see the valley as well and all the mountain peaks. Clearly, this is so much better than all the other places they went to.
Joel Brooks:So he sits down ready to experience the Lord and the old man just keeps walking. He says, old man, I mean, come on. This has got to be it. This isn't the place. And so he just keeps on walking and then the trail is getting narrower and now this is kind of darker and they're running through all these thorns and these thistles and it's not pleasant at all.
Joel Brooks:And this young man's getting angrier. He's getting impatient. And finally, after a couple of hours of this, he erupts and goes, old man, stop right there. I'm not going with you another step. I want to experience the Lord and I want to experience him now.
Joel Brooks:The old man goes, this is the place. It's right here because the places when you desire, when you have this strong, strong desire to know the Lord, It's not going up and down mountains. It's not going on this endless spiritual journey just kind of hoping something will happen. Something will will finally wake you up. No.
Joel Brooks:You gotta press and you gotta strive to know the Lord. Don't sit there where everybody else enters and enters and enters, and you're here going, Press in to know him. Some of you do know him, and yet you still your lives are just kind of going on and on in these endless journeys. You've never actually sat down and feasted with the Lord, had this strong sense of his presence. You're content to just live what I would call a Christian mediocrity to the end of your days on some meaningless journey.
Joel Brooks:When's the last time you have got on your knees and you have prayed, God, I want to hear you or I die. I want you to move me. Come into me. Speak to me or I don't want to live. Ask God to bring you to that place.
Joel Brooks:Strive. Struggle to enter through that door. Hosea says, It is time to seek the Lord until He comes. Isaiah says, seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him while He is near because who knows that door might be closed tomorrow.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Lord, for those of us in this room that do not know You, stir in their hearts a desire to know you. None of us love you first. You love us and you call us to yourself and I ask that you would do that now. For those of us who do know you, but we've been keeping our distance.
Joel Brooks:Maybe we've been drawn to a piece of property or cattle or some family relationship and it's kept us from you. Forgive us. Show us the stupidity of that and what we have lost. We want to sit down at your banqueting table, stirring us in a desire to know you. We pray this in the name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
