As Jesus brings the Sermon on the Mount to an end, He presents two paths that we can take: The narrow and the broad way. This is what He says about the choices we are presented with:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV).
Our Lord presents two- and only two- options in life. And these options are mutually exclusive. What does that mean? Simply, Jesus presents two choices and we will choose one of the two. If we are not on the broad path, we are on the narrow; and if we are not on the narrow path, we are on the broad. There is no other option. There is no standing still and looking at the gate. We all are walking through one or the other at this very moment.
And Jesus, in His wisdom, tells us that most will choose the broad path that leads to destruction. Why? Because the broad path is “easy”. It doesn’t require the commitment and sacrifice required on the narrow path. It’s broad enough to handle all of our desires and pleasures and we will have plenty of company to travel the path with us.
The narrow path is characterized as “hard”. It is narrow because its path is defined and directed by God and not by our own heart or desires. We cannot travel it our way. It requires commitment and sacrifice; self-denial and submission. And the end of this path leads to life- eternal life. And those who find this path and travel it to the end will be few.
In essence, Jesus is telling us that only a relatively few people will find the narrow path leading to life and most people will follow the broad path that will lead to their eternal destruction. The question many may have is, “Is God fair?” Is it fair to save so few people and send the majority away to an eternal hell and torment?
That question presupposes a couple of things about God and about the paths that I think are incorrect. It’s not a question about God’s fairness when you consider the nature of the paths and the nature of the ones traveling on the paths. For the Bible is clear that it is God’s will to save everyone and that He finds no pleasure in the destruction of anyone. Consider:
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23 ESV).
And
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV).
Verses like these make it clear that God would desire that all men everywhere would travel the path that leads to life. This isn’t about the fairness of God. God is fair in that He makes the path leading to life available to any and every man who wishes to travel it. The paths are about the few who choose Him and the many who reject Him.
There is also a misconception about the size of the path. Many believe that God made a path just big enough to handle a few people and it isn’t designed to handle heavy traffic. That’s just not true. It is true the gate which opens to this path is narrow, but the gate and the path is wide enough to handle every traveler who chooses to travel it. Its size has nothing to do with capacity, but about everything one must submit to in order to travel it.
We live in a world where two masters are calling out for followers. Both God and Satan are entreating mankind to take up their cross and follow them. Satan paints a picture of pleasure and ease, lying about the reward that his way offers. But God is open and honest about what it means to travel the path leading to Him. And just as important, He is honest about the destination and promise of eternal life.
Is God fair because many will be lost by not traveling down the narrow path? God is more than fair. He made the path big enough to handle all who wish to travel it. He removed all the obstacles in the path when He sent His Son to die for our sins. And He promises to help and aid all along the path who choose to travel it. The path is not too hard for any to successfully finish its course.
The reality is that there are too many who are choosing to follow after Satan. Too many are reaching out their hand and opening the broad gate of ease. Too many are spurning the promised inheritance for a mess of pottage at the moment. But to show how fair God really is… no matter how far down the broad path you have traveled, you can step onto the narrow path this moment and He will be with you the rest of the way.
Today’s Challenge:
Pray 3 times like Daniel
Make a covenant with your eyes not to look at anything inappropriate like Job
Extend hospitality like Abraham
Give to help someone in need like Barnabas
Make something good with your hands like Tabitha
Tell someone about Jesus like Andrew
The next time we do good deeds, we need to look inside and ask ourselves, “Why are we doing them?”
If we are not careful, even the most innocent good deed can end up causing us to stumble. Jesus warns of doing our good deeds for the wrong reason:
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matthew 6:2 ESV).
Instead, our King says:
“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4 ESV).
But He also says:
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 ESV).
So, let’s go back to my first question that I said we should ask when we do our good deeds: “Why are we doing them?”
The temptation, even for the most noble-minded person, will be to enjoy the praise given by those who see our light. While it isn’t wrong for people to see our light, when we begin to crave the glory that belongs to God, we start to run the risk of being guilty of doing our good deeds for the wrong reason.
Yes, when we do that, we will have the extent of the reward due us. But when we can rejoice that God is glorified when people see our good deeds, then we are the humble stewards He seeks to employ.
Another question to ask ourselves: “Would I still do these good deeds if no one knew; if no one thanked me; if someone else got the credit?” Jesus says to do your good deeds in secret. If we can do that, and still rejoice because God gets the glory, then we have the heart Jesus wants us to have.
But if we need to be thanked, or recognized, or appreciated, for the good deeds we do, then we may have some soul-searching to do.
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1 ESV).:
One good thing about reading through the Bible is that you can see things in a way not possible if you focus on various parts in disparate manners. We call this context. Context allows us to draw conclusions that are difficult to draw otherwise.
One of the eye-opening contexts of the Gospel plan of salvation in reading the Bible through for me are these conclusions that are reshaping my view of the Father and His love:
1. God has always been concerned with all men. We see the special relationship He had with the Jews and we sometimes believe that He had nothing to do with the Gentile. But God consistently showed His love, care and concern for Gentiles at all times. They were His created children and He still remembered and loved them.
2. When Gentiles showed a heart inclined to Him and a willingness to acknowledge Him, God showed grace and compassion. Whether it was Melchizedek, Abimelech, Ruth, Rahab, the widow and her son during the famine or even Nebuchadnezzar, we see God extending His grace to these people.
3. The Jews indeed, had a special relationship with the Creator. He called them out of the world and gave them special blessings. Among these blessings, God gave them a theocracy with Him as their King. No other people had Him as their King. Through the Jews, God taught the importance of living in obedience to the Law of God. He taught the need for grace and sacrifice when that law was broken.
4. In the Jews, God taught what grace was. While He was patient with the Gentile to a point, when their iniquities were full, He brought judgment upon them. But when the Jews’ iniquity was full, God did not destroy them, but preserved them. Not because of anything they had done to deserve it, but solely by His grace. He was fulfilling a promise to Abraham.
5. But when grace is rejected, then a God who longs to gather His children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, as a heartbroken Father, will let them reject His grace and incur the wrath that this rejection brings.
6. God never forgot the Gentiles and it was always His intent to create a theocracy that made room at the table for all men. There was never a time in history where God did not have the Gentiles on His mind. After teaching the world through the Jews what was needed for a theocracy, Jesus the King, came to gather all His children into His Kingdom.
7. The good news of the Gospel shows the great redemptive love that Jesus made available to all men, Jew and Gentile. This was always His plan. He loved all men from the beginning and throughout time. He set in place the things needed to learn the importance of law, grace and love. And when the time was right, our King came to earth and built His kingdom upon His own blood. The veil separating man from God was torn, as was the veil separating man from man, and He made one nation of all men without distinction.
We can’t walk away with these conclusions without reading the whole revealed Word of God. Context opens the eyes and the heart to those who seek to love the Lord. Let us all, Jews and Gentiles, drop to our knees and give thanks and praise to the God who made us all, loved us all, taught us all, and never forgot any of us. Our God never abandoned His creation to sin without giving us hope and paying the terrible cost for us all.
Today is the Lord’s Day. Is there a better place to be than among His people to Worship Him and to remember His death on the cross in communion?
I just read the story about the Canaanite woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter from demon possession. The reaction of Jesus and the disciples may make us feel a bit uncomfortable:
“But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:23-24 ESV).
Listen to what this foreigner, this Gentile woman said to the Lord:
“She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (Matthew 15:27 ESV).
And Jesus had compassion and healed her daughter.
What an amazing example of persistent faith and matchless grace.
This woman knew that Jesus was her only hope. She could not go away from Him. Her daughter would remain tormented if she did. So, she didn’t take “no” for an answer.
Today, we have a choice this Lord’s Day. Do we spend it worshiping the Creator who shed His blood for us? Do we attend every service and Bible study scheduled?
It’s not about attending at men’s appointed times. It’s all about the heart that says, “No, Lord, I will not choose to be somewhere other than with the people who are gathered to worship You.”
Ask yourself, “Where would God rather you be? At home or with His children in Worship to Him?”
The Canaanite woman would not be anywhere but in the presence of Jesus, even when she was urged to go away. Where will you choose to be when gently urged by your brothers and sisters to come be with them in communal worship and glory given to God?
So, I just finished the book of Matthew in my daily Bible reading and this time through, I began to focus on Judas. We think of him as the most evil man in history because he betrayed the Lord, and I think that may not be too far from the truth. Listen to what Jesus says about him and his betrayal:
“The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24 ESV).
That’s pretty harsh. But did you know that there were people who believe that Judas was one of the most beloved apostles because of his act of betrayal? This is how sick and twisted we can get when we do not listen to the Word and seek to use our own intellect to reason what we want truth to be.
Their reasoning goes something like this: Judas’ betrayal of Jesus was foretold and set into motion the events needed for God’s eternal plan of redemption to be fulfilled. Since the betrayal was needed and prophesied, Judas dutifully played his role to ensure God’s plan would be carried out.
That is just sick and twisted. There is nothing redeeming about Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. And everything he did was of his own free will and volition. He walked with Jesus for years, listening to His teachings, performing miracles with the 12 and the 70, and witnessed powerful miracles from Jesus’ own hand. The Lord gave him every opportunity to be saved. And even in the betrayal, I am convinced that the Lord would have forgiven him had Judas repented and asked.
But this is what we know of this man, and I am sure that Jesus knew this about Judas when He chose him to be an apostle:
1. He was a thief from the beginning- John tells us that when the woman uses the expensive ointment on Jesus, Judas become furious:
“But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12:4-6 ESV).
2. Could this have been the event that caused him to betray Jesus? - Matthew puts the betrayal immediately following the anointing of Jesus. Since John tells us that he had a habit of skimming off the top, perhaps he was indignant because he didn’t get his cut from the ointment that they didn’t sell. Thieves have a way of already claiming ownership in their minds of what they plan on stealing. Maybe Judas felt that he had lost what was his when the ointment was used on Jesus.
Matthew said that he immediately went to betray Jesus after this. How much did he agree to betray Jesus for? 30 pieces of silver- 10% of what he could have skimmed off the top if they had sold the ointment. I am not sure this is what happened, but from what we know of his character and the chronology of the betrayal, it makes you wonder. Could Judas have reasoned in his own heart that he was just claiming what was his by right?
So, my point in mentioning this is that when we think of Judas, we are dealing with a man who was a thief, and was always a thief. He had every opportunity to repent, but he did not give up his evil ways, though he experienced the awesome miracles of Jesus. This should be a strong warning of the evil influence that the love of money can have over each of us.
And finally, this is from the book of Tony- I have nothing concrete to pin this to- but I wonder if Judas was a paid infiltrator from the beginning. If so, certainly Jesus would have known it and it might explain how he could rob from the people he spent the years with. We know that this was the practice of religious leaders:
“So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.” (Luke 20:20 ESV).
Who knows- just a conjecture… But this is what we do know:
Judas was a thief from the beginning who was motivated by money.
Judas felt no guilt in stealing from his close friends or during the original act of betrayal.
Judas had every opportunity to repent.
But leaving his life of sin and the love of money was never something he did. There is a lesson for us. Though we may be convinced that we would never betray the Lord with a kiss, if there is a sin that we refuse to let go of, even when we know Jesus and what He has done for us, are we really that different from Judas when we cling to what we love and let Jesus die while refusing to repent? What is our 30 pieces of silver?
During His first coming, Jesus came to bring salvation to man. During His second coming, He will bring judgment. Which Jesus will you kneel before?