Strive

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

When I became a Christian, I was obsessed with the question Jesus answers at the end of Luke 13 – and that’s our text for today.

22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.

Remember, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. This is the final preaching tour of Jesus.

23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”

We assume we know what this person is asking because we know what the New Testament teaches about salvation.

But it is very unlikely that the person asking this question even knew what they were asking. The word “saved” means rescued from danger or healed. But who or what were they being saved from? The Romans?

Matthew 19 suggests that even the apostles were confused about salvation at this point. Very likely, they did not completely understand salvation in terms of sin and forgiveness.

But Jesus is going to answer the question in reference to eternal salvation from sin and death by entrance into the kingdom of God. How many will be saved?

And he said to them,

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Notice, these people are seeking to enter and will not be able! These are not people who are openly rejecting Jesus. These are people trying to get in! But not everyone trying to get in will get in. That’s what Jesus clearly teaches.

Also, focus your attention on the word “strive”. That word in Greek is agōnizesthe. It means to struggle… to fight… to agonize over something.

In other words, don’t think salvation will be easy. It will demand everything you have. It will be the fight of your life.

Not in a works-righteousness sort of way…

But there is a cost. There is a sacrifice. There is nothing easy about repentance and faith. There is nothing easy about being a disciple of Jesus in a world that hates Him.

25 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.’

There’s a clue here about what Jesus means by salvation. According to Jesus, the question is not “do I know Jesus?” but “does he know me?”

26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

The original audience literally did those things. They spent time with Jesus. They listened to his teaching. They didn’t hear about Jesus. They heard from Him directly. And yet, according to Jesus, many of them will not be saved.

27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’

Most of the people following Jesus were lost! That’s a sobering thought, isn’t it? They witnessed miracles. They heard the best preaching. They shared meals with Jesus. And they were lost!

How lost were they? They were “going to hell” lost. Look at the next verse.

28 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.

Remember, these were Jewish followers of Jesus. He names the historical figures they respect the most and says those people will be saved… but not you. You’re out.

Jesus uses this expression “weeping and gnashing of teeth” several times in the book of Matthew to describe hell, a place of sadness and anger and darkness.

This is surely not the answer this follower of Jesus was expecting when he asked how many would be saved! But the next verse is the most shocking.

29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

Just when it sounds like no one will enter the kingdom of God, Jesus says people from everywhere will enter the kingdom of God! Imagine how shocked and confused his Jewish disciples must have been.

30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

This is another way of saying the humble will be exalted and the exalted will be humbled.

What is Jesus talking about? In the original context, he’s talking about Jew and Gentile. His answer to the question, “How many will be saved?” could be summarized in this way.

Fewer than you expect (if we are talking about Jews) and more than you can possibly realize (if we are talking about Gentiles).

But there is a larger message that spans all of human history, including us.

Salvation is not a reward. It’s a gift. It is not earned by status or privilege or proximity. Instead, we receive an invitation… we walk through a door… we enter into a relationship… we sit at a table with King Jesus for eternity.

But in this life, it comes at a cost. And it came at great cost to Jesus Himself.

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

Herod was the puppet king of the Jews. He saw Jesus as a threat to his favored relationship with Rome.

32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.

33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’

Jesus intentionally stirs the pot! He leans into the danger. Jesus knows he is marching towards His own death. But now, in this moment, Jesus pauses to grieve the rejection He is about to face from His own people.

34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jesus talks about hell more than anyone else in the Bible. And yet, in this moment, we see clearly that He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the lost.

35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

This is a veiled prophecy. The Jewish temple will be destroyed. But Jesus doesn’t call it “my house” or even “my Father’s house” as he did before.

When it is destroyed by the Romans, it will only be “your house” because God will no longer associate Himself with a temple made by human hands. The Jewish people will not be saved until they accept Jesus as the Messiah.

But what is the message for us, since most of us are not Jewish?

There is a broader message here about salvation and repentance.

Being lost is easy. Being saved is hard. By that I mean, it’s not something you can fake.

Why do people watch the Olympics? Because it’s the best in the world competing to be the very best. Most of the athletes have devoted their life to a specific sport. Dedication. Determination. Sacrifice.

And then there’s Rachel Gunn, also known as “Raygun”… apparently, anyone can be an Olympic athlete now. All you have to do is move to Australia and become a breakdancer. It’s funny because we all see the difference. If anyone can do it, then it doesn’t mean anything.

Salvation – entrance into the kingdom of God – is both free and difficult. That’s how Jesus consistently describes it. It’s a free gift. It’s earned for us by Jesus. We contribute nothing to our salvation except the sin that made it necessary. It’s all grace!

But in another very real sense it costs us everything. It demands our life. It’s a life-long struggle. We will be humbled. Make no mistake: being a Christian is not easy.

Listen to how J.C. Ryle described it:

“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and they think they have enough – a cheap Christianity which offends nobody and requires no sacrifice – which costs nothing and is worth nothing.”

Would you know the difference in your life between this kind of cheap Christianity and the kind that Jesus describes in the Gospels? … … But … before we turn this into a new form of self-righteousness, in which we start comparing ourselves to other Christians…

Remember how Jesus describes the people who are shut outside the kingdom. He called them “workers of evil”. In Matthew 7, he calls them “workers of lawlessness”. In other words, these people are still lost in their sin. They are still enemies of God.

They aren’t shut out of the kingdom because they didn’t try hard enough or work hard enough to get in. That can’t be right. No! They are shut out of the kingdom because they lack repentance.

When it comes to the kingdom of God, striving IS repenting. That’s been the message throughout the Gospel of Luke. Do you want to know God? Do you want to be a friend of Jesus? Do you want to be found worthy of His kingdom? Then you better repent and believe. Otherwise, you will stand before God on your own – without the work of Jesus.

Let me say it a different way. What makes someone a good Christian? Or a good church member? Is it the most gifted? The most wise? The most missional?

There’s only one good answer, because every list you might come up with can quickly become a source of pride – which is antithetical to the Gospel. So, what makes someone a good Christian?

The answer can never be anything more than this: someone daily living a life of repentance and faith. More and more aware of their sin. More and more aware of the goodness of God. More and more ready and willing to give up anything and everything for His kingdom and His glory.

In a word… humility. The first will be last and the last will be first. As demonstrated by our Savior, King Jesus, who humbled Himself on the cross.

And there’s only one way to His kingdom. Repentance and faith in His death and resurrection. But it will… it must… change your life forever.