Two Ways To Live

Life consists of choices. We have to make decisions all the time, which school, what subjects, which career, which university, the choice about whether to study hard to get good grades, who to go out with, who to marry, where to live, which job to take? However the biggest decision we will ever make is what place God will have in our lives.

After a Muslim became a Christian, his friends asked him why he had made this decision. He replied,

“Well.its like this. Suppose you were going down a road and suddenly the road forked in two directions and you didn’t know the way to go. And there at the fork were two men, one dead and one alive. Which one would you ask the way to go?”

Sermon on the Mount

You often hear people say that they admire what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. They like the high moral standards. Such statements usually come from those who have never studied the sermon as it is a most uncomfortable one.

The sermon begins in Matthew 5:3-12 with a list of those characteristics that are to be found in people who are members of God’s kingdom. These beautiful characteristics are commonly called ‘beautiful attitudes’ or ‘Beatitudes’.

Then Jesus gives us two astute metaphors describing how Christians influence the world – they are to be it’s ‘salt’ and ‘light ‘(Matthew 5:14-16)

The next section (Matthew 5:17-20) proscribes the need for a righteousness that surpasses that seen by God to be in the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Without being truly righteous, no-one can enter the kingdom of God.

Then Jesus gives some examples as to what this superlative righteousness is like in practice (Matthew 5:21-48). It ends with a call to perfection.

“Be perfect therefore, as you heavenly father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Matthew chapter 6 continues to spell out how those in God’s kingdom behave and gives details about their,

Giving

Prayer life

Fasting

How to relate to the material world

How to control our emotions and especially our anxieties.

Chapter 7 then begins with a section on dealing with our tendencies to becritical of others which contrasts with the way God treats each of us.

Then comes the conclusion of the sermon in which Jesus asks each of us what we are going to do about these issues. It is all too easy for people to be impressed by the superb ethics given in the sermon and not apply the lessons to ourselves. Adoration of Christ without an active submission to him is not Christian! Even being Convicted of our shortcomings without a resulting Commitment to Christ is of no advantage to us in terms of eternity. The point of Christ’s teaching us about the ethics of God is to show us how much we need Christ.

The pinnacle of this sermon comes in the following verses,

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

Narrowness

The old Authorised Version (King James Versiom) says,

“Enter by the strait gate.”

In English we have the phrase,

“Keep to the strait and narrow.”

In Old English the word ‘strait’ meant ‘tight, narrow, constricted.” We use it in ‘strait-jacket’, a jacket that is tight and restrictive and is used for restraining people. It also means a narrow, constricted stretch of water, such as the Bosporus Strait near Istanbul.

Jesus is saying that the gateway to heaven is ‘narrow’. Everything that Jesus has talked about in the Sermon on the Mount is narrow. Jesus’ way is narrow.

Jesus words grate with us in the twenty-first century as we naturally dislike being called ‘narrow’ or ‘narrow-minded’. In the West people now tend to admire those who are broad-minded, worldly, with a liberal approach to life.

In one sense it is not helpful to be narrow. Jesus strongly opposed the narrow-mindedness of the Pharisees who regarded righteousness as consisting of outward behaviour. Jesus repeatedly taught that God looks at the heart which is much more demanding.

In 1870 Bishop Milton Wright, a conservative Bishop in a very traditional American denomination, was visiting a small theological college and got into an intense conversation with the President of the college. The bishop was arguing that the beginning of the millennium, which he thought would start after the return of Jesus, was imminent. As evidence he cited the ‘fact’ that everything about nature had been discovered and that all useful inventions had been made.

The President politely told the Bishop that he was surely mistaken and described some of the recent discoveries in science. Then he added,

“I believe, in fifty years, man will be able to fly like the birds!”

The Bishop was scandalised at such an arrogant statement and replied authoritatively,

“Flight is strictly reserved for the birds and angels. And I beg you not to repeat your suggestion lest you be guilty of blasphemy.”

Remarkably, just thirty-three years later, it was Bishop Wright’s own sons, Orville and Wilbur, usually known as the Wright brothers, who made the world’s first flight from the beaches of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina and so began the aviation industry we know today.

We all have to do all we can to avoid uninformed, pious narrowness at all costs. Such behaviour in Christians makes Christ so unattractive. We must not be ‘narrow’ in terms of our inquisitiveness but we must embrace Christ’s narrowness. This is a moral narrowness in which we limit how we think and behave to areas that we know our creator approves of. However we must remain broad in how we relate to others, just as Jesus did.

Jesus is saying there are only two ways to live. One road, the broad road, leads to destruction or hell. Jesus himself repeated warns people that this is their fate if they refuse to enter and travel on God’s road. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had warned,

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30

One road leads to destruction and one road leads to life – eternal life. There is no middle way.

These statements by Jesus were planned and premeditated. He wants everyone to know that to admire his teaching but not to follow him will be calamitous for that person.

The Broad Gate and the Broad Road

“For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13

Imagine a large gate at the start of a broad thoroughfare. The entrance is so easy to find. It is so easy to travel along this road. There are lots of people on it. Any baggage you want can come with you. You don’t have to leave anything behind. Indeed it seems the natural thing to enter this gate and travel this road. You can just ‘go with the crowd’. It costs nothing. However there is a problem. That faded signpost says, ‘To destruction – to hell.’

C.S.Lewis, the writer of the Narnia stories, was once on this broad road. In his biography, ‘Surprised by Joy’, he tells how early in his life his mind began to broaden.

“I was soon altering ‘I believe’ to ‘one does feel’ and oh, the relief of it. . . . From the tyrannous noon of revelation I passed into the cool evening of Higher Thought, where there was nothing to be obeyed, and nothing to be believed except what was either comforting or existing.”

Later C.S.Lewis realised the mistake he had made and he did turn off this broad road onto Christ’s narrow road.

On the wide road you can keep doing your own thing and follow whatever foibles you enjoy. You can gossip, cheat, enjoy pornography, and even lie. On this road there is plenty of room for everyone so long as you don’t say one thing is right and another is wrong. The relative is absolutised and the absolute is relativised.

The wide road imposes few boundaries on our thinking or conduct. On this road all you must do is accept that moral issues are controlled by consensus, the majority view., and not by God. It is no coincidence that when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, the one thing they were forbidden to do was to ‘eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’. The lesson is that only God has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong.

But, as many have experienced, journeying on this road is consistently unsatisfying. The adverts of Satan are lies. All immorality carries a heavy price later. Yet,

“Many enter though it.”

Most people, in practice, have chosen to travel this road. You’ll be with friends who think the same as you. But do take note of what Jesus says, this road comes to an abrupt end, to an abyss and there is no way back from there. This is the road that ends in destruction.

The Narrow Gate and the Narrow Road

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 5:14

How significant this little word ‘but’ is. The contrast is with the road the majority are on. The gate is tiny. You can see it as a turning off the broad road. The road beyond this gate is narrow too. The gate is so narrow that you cannot take any baggage through, you, and you alone, can pass.

The Sermon of the Mount started with what we call the ‘Beatitudes’. They start,

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit.”

I must accept that I am spiritually bankrupt in God’s eyes. I have nothing of worth to offer God. The second beatitude is about the sense of sin.

“Blessed are those who mourn.”

We mourn because we are not behaving in the way God has intended us to live.

A friend has sometimes taken me to watch Spurs play at their old White Hart Lane stadium. To enter you have to show your ticket and then pass through a very tight turnstile that you have to squeeze through. It is analogous to entering God’s kingdom. We have to have a ticket that comes through turning to Christ and we cannot take any baggage with us.

It is hard to have to admit how selfish and rebellious we are and that we have nothing to offer God to make us acceptable to him. Yet we must accept this about ourselves as this is the only way into God’s kingdom.

The narrow road ahead remains narrow, it doesn’t broaden out. However we still do naturally like to wander along the edges of the path and not stick to the centre. Yet Jesus says,

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

‘United we stand, divided we fall’

All of us have these tensions within us. Most are attracted to the concept of being upright and honest men and women of integrity. However there are other forces at work pulling us in other directions. We have debased natural instincts such as greed, jealousy, lust, pride and laziness that at the time can seem so attractive. Paul recognised this tension and wrote,

“So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” Romans 7:21-23

Yet when we are seduced by these temptations we realise how damaging they are both to us and to our walk with God. Our word ‘university’ is interesting.as it combines these two contrary directions.

‘Uni’ means one or united.

‘Versus’ means ‘against’ or ‘conflicting’, opposing sides or views.

So a university should aim to unify all disciplines in one united world view.

Dr. Charles Malik was a Lebanese scholar who first rose to fame when was appointed as Lebanese Ambassador to the United States. He subsequently became President of the General Assembly of the United Nations. He recognised that each of us have many conflicting interests that results in conflict and disharmony. He concluded,

“Christ is the one who made the university of self possible.”

In other words, only through submission to Jesus do we become complete united people. Jesus himself said,

“I am the way, and the truth and the life.” John 14:6

This is the conclusion St. Paul came to,

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus christ our Lord.” Romans 7:24-25

This remains true today. Real freedom comes through submission to Christ.

To live my life for Christ will be costly. He calls us to point others to his way of salvation but doing this will cause a reaction. In the last two ‘Beatitudes’ Jesus emphasised this,

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness – for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:10-11

This narrow road does place moral restrictions on how you may think and behave. Not narrow in the manner of Bishop Milton Wright who was dogmatically traditional and repressive. It is no coincidence that many of the major advances in early science were made by people deeply committed to Christ. In Christ we become complete. We are free to investigate God’s world but we must only think and live in a way that God permits – there are moral restrictions.

Truth

I once asked a group of hospital consultants how they would define truth. After thinking for a while, one said,

“Truth must be consensus.”

That cannot be true as it is all too easy to alter the consensus of a society by manipulating the media. Look at how Hitler managed to change the thinking in Nazi Germany. He had the consent of the majority, the consensus, though now we recognise that his oppressive ways were not right. Truth is not subject to the tyranny of consensus. The Nuremberg trials asserted that there is a higher moral truth that supersedes political dictates. Truth can only be defined in terms of ‘concepts that are compatible with God’.

Christians do not follow the crowd and this will not help us to be popular. Our moral choices make us ‘narrow’ and unpopular in several areas.

a. Our thinking about God is narrow.

This is narrowed to what God has revealed to us in the Bible and in Christ. Truth is in God, the God who created the world and holds it together. Darwinism cannot explain our existence or why we are here. The omnipotent God who entered his world as a baby over two thousand years ago has revealed to us the mind of God on vital issues can. He also became the way back to God by his willingly dying to take responsibility for our sins and by his resurrection to substantiate his claims.

b. Salvation is narrow

Jesus was adamant when he said,

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father but through me.” John 14:6

His disciples bravely told the Sanhedrin, the same body that had arranged for Jesus’ execution,

“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

c. Our commitments are narrowed

Jesus warned us that we must be careful where we allow our affections to be attached to.

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30

d. Our conduct is narrowed

Some behaviour does not please God. He limits sexual activity to between a man and his wife. But such limitations lead us to real liberation, both socially, sexually and morally. It gives a robust strength to a society when people are committed to doing what is right.

Do you know the opposite of ‘integrity’? It is surely dis-integrity or ‘disintegration’. Few recognise the link. When an individual ceases to behave with integrity, that is to behave as God wants, eventually their own life, then their family life, then their societies life and finally their nations life will begin to disintegrate. ?the broad road is not a comfortable road.

A Decision is Needed

It is therefore no accident that towards the end of this sermon God gives each of us this command,

“Enter by the narrow gate.”

Elsewhere Jesus says,

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and not be able to.” Luke 13:24

It is not enough to hear and approve of this teaching, it is not even enough be convicted, there must be an entering into the service of God and this must be on his terms. All of us, our families and our friends are either on the road to destruction or on the road to life. There is no middle way.

You have to be small to enter, the question is whether we are small enough to get through.

There has to be an active decision, this has always been the case.

Moses said to his people,

“This day I call the heavens and the 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 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him.” Deuteronomy 30:19

A generation later Joshua had a very similar message,

“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

Jesus’ apostle, Peter had a similar message in his first Pentecost sermon. He had told them about Jesus, his crucifixion and his resurrection. His listeners felt convicted and asked,

“What shall we do?”

Peter replied,

“Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

Life does consist of choices – this decision is by far the most important decision each of us will ever make.

The Broad Gate and the Broad Road or the Narrow Gate and the Narrow Road, the choice is ours.

Jesus stands before us and says,

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” John 10:9

BVP