Download Sermon 8-25-13

THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
August 24/25, 2013
Luke 13:22-30
LOVE SPEAKS PRECISELY:
ENTER THE NARROW DOOR
I.
Amidst great confusion
II.
The door is narrow
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Luke 13:22-30
Grace, mercy and peace are yours, from God our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.
THINK about that for a minute. Grace, mercy and peace
are ours. Why? It’s not because of us – because we are so good
and great. It is because of our Lord Jesus Christ. He loves us. He
died for us. His love changes us. It gives us purpose. His love
gives our life meaning. His love is our calling as it were.
Today we are starting a series of worship services
revolving around our synod’s “Christ’s Love, Our Calling”
stewardship theme. Week after week for six-seven weeks we will
be pondering Christ’s love and our calling, especially focusing on
how it is so very natural for love to speak – not in veiled words or
misleading ones – ones that can be easily misunderstood; but very
precisely – very clearly because LOVE SPEAKS PRECISELY as
Jesus does when He says: “ENTER THE NARROW DOOR.”
Here in our text, we find Jesus headed for Jerusalem one
last time. He was going there to die for your sins and my sins and
the sins of the whole world. And yet – He took the time to reach
out in love to those in the various towns and villages along the
way. He went “teaching as His made His way to Jerusalem.”
He took the time to reach out to people in love to clear up
some of the confusion that existed then and now as to how one
enters into the Kingdom of heaven. There aren’t lots of different
ways. There is only one way – and that is through faith in Jesus
Christ alone, which is why Jesus says “make every effort to enter
through the narrow door.”
Who is He talking to? Jesus is talking to you. He is
talking to me. He basically is saying DON’T think about the
multitudes for a few minutes. Think about yourself. Make it
personal. YOU - “make every effort to enter through the
narrow door” … because there are plenty of people who think
they are in but will find themselves outside when the door to
heaven closes.
That’s a scary thought, isn’t it because there are so many
people who just don’t get it? Lots of people are confused about
who is going to enter that narrow door and how they will be able to
do so. Think for example of the verses prior to our text. There was
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that crippled woman whom every one must have figured was a
worthless sinner – and yet Jesus identified her as a “child of
Abraham.” Then there was that synagogue ruler whom everyone
thought had it all together; but he really didn’t know what Jesus’
love and His reason for being here was all about. While the people
were scratching their heads with their minds spinning, someone
asked Jesus “Are only a few going to be saved?”
What was he really asking? He was obviously concerned
about the number. In answering Jesus shifted the emphasis to the
word “saved.” Looking at His answer, it is quite obvious that they
didn’t understand what that word meant. Sadly, there are all too
many today who still don’t, which is why we need to speak
precisely and clearly on how a person is saved. It is only through
faith – complete trust – in Jesus Christ alone.
Look at Jesus’ answer. He says that there will be those in
the judgment saying, “We’re saved, Jesus. We’ve been baptized.
We’re communicant members of one of Your churches. We talk
about You. We hung out with You. We have Your teachings here
in our church.” And yet, Jesus will tell them – here in our text –
not once, but twice - “I never knew you.” He will call what they
had been doing “evil,” saying that they never had a relationship
with Him.
In Jesus’ day, it was the Pharisees and the ones like them
who did all the religious activity without trust, without realizing
what that word “saved” really meant. In our day, we see the same
thing on two extreme ends of the spectrum – those who might be
described as being “spiritual without being religious” and those
who might be described as being “religious without being
spiritual.”
The ones who might be thought of as being “spiritual
without being religious” are those who claim to have an inner
spirituality, but they foolishly don’t think they need to spend any
time in God’s Word or worship because it is all about this feeling
they have. And sure, it sounds good to be spiritual, and it is easy
to get caught up agreeing instead of calling them on their lie
because there is a shred of truth that being saved is not about the
formalities of church but about a personal relationship with God.
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The problem is that just calling yourself spiritual doesn’t really
mean anything without God’s Word.
And those that are “religious but not spiritual” are the ones
who just go through the motions. They do what appears to be
good. They follow all the rules – and sometimes even make some
more up along the way. They also don’t understand and appreciate
the word “saved,” because like the first group they don’t really see
their need for it. It’s also hard to speak precisely to them because
what they are doing looks pretty good.
No one ever said that speaking the truth in love was going
to be easy. It’s not; but Jesus says it is vital. It is vital because it is
almost as if people are enjoying life thinking that they are lying on
a sandy beach; when in reality they are lying on quicksand that is
swallowing them up. They tell themselves that they are out for a
cool, relaxing swim, when in reality they are swimming in shark
infested waters
Or it is like those life rings you see on the wall at a motel
pool or on the deck of a ship. They make for nice decorations and
you think nothing of them until you are the one thrashing in the
water, gasping for air, arms flailing and you can’t do anything to
keep the water from filling your lungs and taking your life. Then,
all of a sudden, you would rather have that life ring and someone
pulling you up by it than all the money or popularity or religiosity
in the world. That is when you clearly understand the word
“saved.” Your salvation is not about a decision you made on a
certain day when you “got saved.” It is simply your total reliance
on your life ring, on your Savior, Jesus, Who died on a cross to
rescue you from hell and rose to give you heaven.
That is why Jesus speaks so precisely to each one of us
“YOU make every effort to enter the narrow door.” Why is
that so vital today? It is vital because that same Pharisaical
problem of Jesus’ day can easily overtake us as we get caught up
in maintenance projects, bylaws, and budgets instead of narrow
door efforts. And then also the life ring of Christ can easily
become a decoration by the side of a pool, or a piece of jewelry
worn around our neck or art on a wall, even when we so
desperately need Him for a personal, proper, vital relationship with
God.
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There aren’t many different ways into heaven. There is
only one. Jesus is that one Way. He is the “Gate” as He calls
Himself. This is why we sang. “You are the Way; through You
alone Can we the Father find; In You, O Christ, has God revealed,
His heart and will and mind.” Or we could go to one of the hymns
in the Christian Worship Supplement: “In Christ alone my hope is
found … In Christ alone – Who took on flesh, fullness of God in
helpless Babe. This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the
ones He came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath
of God was satisfied.” (CWS 752) Jesus paid our way into heaven.
Today Jesus invites us to enter through the narrow door
standing open in the Means of Grace, through the waters of
baptism and this precious book, through the bread and wine
together with His body and blood which was given and poured for
us for the forgiveness of sins. Through these Means of Grace He
still invites us to come and see Him as Christ, our Savior, and learn
more of how He has saved us.
We are back to that word “saved” again which takes us
back to that question “are only a few going to be saved, Lord?”
Again notice Jesus avoids the question of number. “People will
come from east and west and north and south, and will take
their places at the feast in the Kingdom of God.” Regardless of
the number, saved sinners are going to come from all over – from
every background and every nation – so there is not a single person
to whom we will not want to point them to the narrow door and to
speak precisely to them about how they can enter it – the only way
they or anyone can enter it. “He who believes and is baptized
will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned.”
It is easy to become judgmental as we go about carrying
out this loving task. Jesus says we shouldn’t do it. We dare not
try to judge by appearances to whom we speak precisely about
Jesus’ love. Why not? It is because “there are those who are
last who will be first, and first who will be last.” Some of those
who appear to have it all together like that synagogue ruler, who
seem like they would be the first ones in, may just find themselves
on the outside. And some of those who we might think don’t have
a chance of getting through the narrow door, like that crippled
woman, by the miracle of God’s grace, will be first. Entering
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through the narrow door is not about who we are or what we do. It
is about what our God has done for us in Christ Jesus. He sent us
His Son to be the Propitiation for all our sins. HE’S our Ticket in –
a free ticket mind you because HE did what was necessary to save
us. We need to hear that message proclaimed to us just as
precisely and clearly as it can be proclaimed, and then we also
need to share it with others in the same precise and clear way.
The stakes have never been higher. There is a well traveled
and popular road wide open and filled with lots of confusion about
what the church is all about and plenty of misunderstanding about
what God expects of us. And there is also a narrow door which we
are to “make every effort” to enter. It is a door we are privileged
to see and to enter. Today that door is open, and every time we
enter through one of those two glass doors down in the entry way
or this wooden door coming in from the back of church, our eyes
get focused on the all important truth that alone can clear up so
much confusion - the door of the cross where Jesus suffered and
died to pay for all our sins; the door of the baptismal font where
God put His name on us as He adopted us into His family of
believers; the door of His holy, precious Word, which proclaims so
clearly that Jesus is the one and only Lord and Savior from sin;
and also to this door or that one where with bread and wine, body
and blood which was given and poured out for us for the
forgiveness of all our sins. All four of them so clearly and
precisely focus our eyes on Jesus as the One and Only Way, the
Narrow Door that leads to heaven and home.
May God bless each of you as you persist in your fight
against all the distractions and confusion of this world, and enter
through Him! And then when you leave here today, let your love
speak precisely of the Way, the Truth, and the Life so that others
may join us in entering through the narrow door into heaven. And
then come back next week when we will hear how our love is to
speak confidently about Christ’s love which is our calling. Amen.
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HYMNS
SATURDAY
570
356
562
SUNDAY
544
356
570
562
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