Living the Dream
01/21/2007 - The Line in the Sand
One of my favorite stories growing up as a kid was the Battle of the Alamo. And whenever we played the Alamo in the backyard I wanted to be Davy Crockett. He was my childhood hero. In fact, at one point I remember asking my mom if she could change my first name to Davy, Davy Carter. I'm not sure what she said, but I don't think it happened. But if you want to call me Davy that's fine!
I loved the story of the Alamo and Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis along with the 186 others who courageously defended the little Texas mission outside of San Antonio against an overwhelming army of 6,000 Mexican troops led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
That little band of courageous defenders held out for thirteen days against Santa Anna. And on the eighth day of the siege Colonel Travis, the leader of the Alamo, gathered his troops, pulled out his sword, and drew a line in the sand. He asked anyone who was willing to stay and fight to step over the line knowing that it would most likely cost them their lives. And all but one did. Jim Bowie, famous for his Bowie knife, couldn't even walk at the time, yet he was carried over the line. They were all passionate for their cause and believed in their mission that holding the Alamo was the key to setting Texas free from Mexican oppression and rule.
The final assault came before daybreak on March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged out of the darkness and breached the Alamo's walls. There was fierce and bloody hand to hand combat, but the struggle didn't last very long. In fact, by sunrise the battle was over and everyone who had stepped across the line was dead.
Yet, while the Alamo was defeated the thirteen day delay of the Mexican army allowed Sam Houston to gather his Texas' troops and defeat Santa Anna less than fifty days later at the battle of San Jacinto which took all of eighteen minutes. "Remember the Alamo" was their battle cry and Texas independence was won.
It's a great story of courage and heroism and victory against overwhelming odds. But what made me think of it this week is what Jesus says in the passage that we're going to look at today. In his great Sermon on the Mount Jesus in effect draws a line in the sand and invites all of us to make a choice. He wants us to be passionate for his cause and for his mission of bringing God's kingdom to this earth and says, "Will you join me? Will enter you in?"
If you have a Bible meet me at Matthew 7:13 as we continue our series called Living the Dream with a teaching I've called "The Line in the Sand."
Matthew 7:13-23 , Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 15Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" 23Then I will tell them plainly, ''I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
Wow! In this passage, Jesus says some pretty hard things about what it means to enter his kingdom and to follow him. And he illustrates them with two gates, two roads, and two trees.
In Jesus' day every sizable city had a wall surrounding it for protection. Even today if you visit ancient cities in Europe or the Middle East you'll see remnants of those walls. If you go to Jerusalem today there's a wall that surrounds the old city that's 2 ½ miles long and has seven gates all a different size, some are wide and some are narrow, some you can drive a car through and others you can only walk through.
So Jesus uses that as a picture of what it means to follow him. He says, "Don't go through the wide gate and down the broad way that leads to destruction." The word destruction that Jesus uses is a very strong Greek word that can also be translated "ruin, annihilation, or waste." In other words, "Don't go through the wide gate and down the broad way that leads to a ruined or wasted life. There are a lot of lifestyles and belief systems out there that can take you down that road, but eventually you're going to crash. Instead," he says, "go through the narrow gate and take the narrow road that leads to an abundant, full life."
And when Jesus says that I can't help but think of a similar comment he makes in the upper room in John 14:6 the night before he dies when he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. The same Greek words that Jesus uses in Matthew 7 for road or way, hodos, and life, Zoe, are the same Greek words he uses for way and life in John 14. He is the way to the Father.
In John 10, Jesus uses a similar analogy when he says in verse 9, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved or kept safe. They will come in and go out and find pasture.
I don't have any trouble at all with Jesus claiming to be the narrow gate, the narrow road, and the only way to life. After all, he is the unique son of the living God who proved it by living a life that backed up everything he said. He's the only one with a resurrection on his resume. No one else that I know of has ever returned from the dead never to die again.
There is no one, as great as he or she maybe, who can hold a candle to Jesus Christ. I don't have any problem with Jesus claiming to be the only way. In fact, I'd have a problem if Jesus claimed to be one of many ways. But he's not. It's interesting to me that the very first name given to the Christian movement was "the Way, the Road" based on these words of Jesus.
I don't have a problem with Jesus being the only way. I don't have a problem with Jesus drawing a line in the sand and inviting people to step over it. In that sense, he's following in the foot steps of other great Jewish prophets who gave similar invitations to follow God.
Moses, Israel's great leader who led them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, said this before he died in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Those were Moses' words to Israel. Now Jesus, the new Moses, is inviting Israel and all of us to do the same thing, "Choose life so that you may live!"
Moses' successor, Joshua, who led Israel across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land said before he died in Joshua 24:14-15, Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua says, "Here's the line in the sand and I'll be the first one to step over it. I've thrown away my idols. They're in the dumpster. Me and my family are going with God and his kingdom." It's interesting that Jesus' name in Hebrew is Joshua.
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, said in Jeremiah 21:8, Furthermore, tell the people, "This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death."
Again, two options. One that leads to destruction and one that leads to life. So what Jesus is saying is not foreign to the Jewish audience gathered on the hill that day. They were accustomed to great prophets drawing lines and giving invitations to step over them. So in that same tradition, Jesus also draws a line in the sand and says, "You've got to make a choice. Enter the skinny gate. Take the narrow road. Choose life!" I don't have a problem with Jesus claiming to be the only way. I don't have a problem with Jesus drawing a line in the sand and inviting us to step over it. I'd be surprised if he didn't.
My problem with these words of Jesus is when he says small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. That's the phrase that troubles me. That's what makes this one of the hard sayings of Jesus. I looked up the Greek word for few and you know what it means? It means "few, a few, few in number." I was hoping it meant "a few billion!"
I guess I struggle with that statement because of what we know about God. All throughout this great sermon Jesus has been telling us in many different ways that God is a loving heavenly Father. He loves everybody, even his enemies. Jesus modeled God's love by welcoming everyone who would come to him. Now wouldn't such a loving God want lots of people to find the narrow way, not just a few?
We also know that the apostle Peter who was on the hill that day and heard these words of Jesus would later write in 2 Peter 3:9, a passage that speaks of Jesus' return, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
The Greek word perish literally means "to be ruined or destroyed." Our loving God doesn't want that to happen to anybody. He doesn't want anyone to be ruined or destroyed, although he knows some will because of their own choice. But he wants everyone, not just a few, to come to repentance, to change their mind, and to find life.
Besides, the picture we get of heaven in the book of Revelation is a place full of people. The kingdom of God is likened to a vibrant city, the New Jerusalem, teeming with countless people from every tribe and language and people and nation.
In Revelation 7:9 we read, After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne in front of the Lamb. The Lamb is Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
A mob of people that no one can count, John says. That doesn't sound like a few to me? This is one of those sobering statements of Jesus that we might not be able to figure out. But what's more important than figuring it out, is knowing that we've entered the narrow gate and taken the narrow road that leads to life. And Jesus said on more than one occasion that those who believe in him have eternal life. The narrow road comes by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. He is the king who died and rose again to reverse the curse and bring his kingdom to this world.
No doubt there were many on the hill that day who heard these words of Jesus and continued going down Broadway. But there were others also, maybe a few, maybe more than a few, who wanted to hear more, and came to his next outdoor meeting, and the one after that, and eventually believed and followed him.
In his comments on this tough passage, British theologian N. T. Wright says, "Jesus ends the great Sermon on the Mount with a set of three warning signs that come in quick succession like road signs on a highway. Make sure you get through the gate - it's not very wide. Watch out for people who will lead you off the road. And don't think that because you've been tagging along with others you'll get there in the end."
"These are sharp and worrying. We need to take them seriously. First, the narrow gate. You really have to want to get in through this gate. If you just drift, allowing the current to take you where it will, you'll miss it. But this gate leads to life, and the other sort all lead to destruction. The choice is spelled out at last and there's no avoiding it, no softening of the hard line. Choices matter. Actions and motives matter. Learning to follow Jesus and to know God as Father matters. Eternal issues are at stake. And as soon as you hear a little voice saying, 'Maybe Jesus didn't mean it. Surely he can't have been that strict. Maybe it'll all come out right in the end no matter what we do,' you need the next warning."
And the next warning starts in verse 15, Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Israel's history was littered with false prophets, men and women who claimed to speak for God but really didn't. And throughout Scripture God's people have always been warned to be careful who you listen too. This is not a brand new warning from Jesus. The problem has always been that false prophets and bogus teachers can be very nice people and seem very reasonable and trustworthy, which is why Jesus describes them as wolves in sheep's clothing. They look harmless on the outside, but they're ferocious on the inside and have all kinds of self-serving agendas.
In the Old Testament, the test for a prophet who claimed to speak for God was to wait and see. If what the prophet said came true, then chances were good that the prophet was speaking for God. But if what the prophet said didn't happen, then the he or she was to be taken outside the camp and stoned to death. It was serious business to speak for God. It was then and it is now.
Jesus' earthly brother James writes in James 3:1, Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. Great, just what I want to hear! Believe me, I think about those words a lot.
But Jesus gives us his own test that's a little quicker method of detection. He uses two trees and says, "Look at the life of the person who is teaching. Think of their life like a tree and check out the fruit. Is it healthy? Is it tasty? Are people being fed and nourished by it? Because a good tree can't bear bad fruit and a bad tree can't bear good fruit."
Often when we introduce a teaching series here at Valley View we say that the goal of the series is love. I believe that's the best fruit that any teaching can produce, a greater love for God and a greater for one another. If God's Word is not making us all better lovers then something is wrong.
In the context of false teachers that were creating confusion and controversy in a local church community the apostle Paul writes this in 1 Timothy 1:4-5, Stop those who are promoting controversies rather than God's work which is by faith. The goal of our teaching is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
The fruit of good teaching is love that's driven by faith in Christ and a purity of heart and action. The fruit is certainly not confusion and controversy. "And," Jesus says, "the fruit is not necessarily showy displays of spiritual power like the kind you might find channel surfing on a Sunday night."
Look at verse 21, Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" 23Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
That's chilling. It's possible to do powerful things, supernatural things like driving out demons and performing miracles and yet not even know Jesus.
Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.
And what's the will of our Father who is in heaven? I'm not sure of everything that Jesus has in mind here, but I know belief is a huge part of it. After Jesus fed the 5,000 and called himself the bread of life his critics came after him and questioned his authority. And at one point in the discussion he said in John 6:40, For my Father's will is that all those who look to the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
Some things Jesus says are hard and difficult to understand. Other things are very clear. And this is one of them. Have you looked to the Son? Have you believed in him? Jesus is drawing a line in the sand today, just like he did on the hill 2,000 years ago. And he wants you and me to enter through the narrow gate and take the narrow road that leads to life. He is the gate. He is the way, the truth and the life. Will you step over the line today and say, "I'm in, Jesus? I believe you are the King, the Son of God, and I want to be part of your kingdom dream. I want to live this life of love that you talk about." Will you do it? You won't be disappointed. And if you've already crossed that line then why not take this opportunity to thank Jesus for showing you through the narrow gate and taking you down the narrow road that leads to life.