Luke 13:22-24 Devotional0
Posted In Devotions,Syndicated
Devotional Questions, Submitted by Gina Han, Gracepoint Berkeley
When someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved,” it seems that the questioner was looking for some kind of quantitative response, as the Jews were in disagreement about whether all Jews would be saved, or whether only the especially devout Jews who kept all the Pharisaic rules would enter the kingdom of God. Instead of answering the question directly, Jesus refers to the way of salvation as the “narrow door,” in effect telling him that the more important thing that he needed to think about was whether he himself was going to enter that door.
The fact that we’re told that the door into the kingdom of God is narrow is significant, because Jesus is telling us that entry is indeed limited – there are actually conditions to entry. That goes against the popular idea that “I can just wait to make a decision for Christ until later, because somehow God will just accept me…” Or as a Christian, “I’m already assured salvation, so I can just take life easy because I already have a ticket into heaven.” Jesus isn’t saying that you need to jump through impossible hoops to enter salvation – but that it will be shown in the end who truly had a relationship with him, and those are the ones whom He would have truly “known.” Perhaps that is one of the reasons why salvation would be a narrow way – because people have all sorts of other reasons for living the Christian life: to be part of an attractive community, to gain social status and position within the church, to even feel good about yourself morally, or to allay feelings of guilt – but only those who had that genuine relationship with Him will enter in at the end.
Jesus said to “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” One of the efforts I need to make continually is to make sure that I am connecting with God daily through personal time in His Word and in prayer. Being part of an active church, it could be easy to go along with all the activities and ministry, to be physically occupied and busy, yet to end up doing it all for myself, for all the “other” reasons above for following Christ. That would be in effect like living the life of the Pharisee, who might think he has the right to entry because of all his “righteous acts,” but is stopped at the door with a “I don’t know you…” I can’t think of anything scarier than that. In Philippians 2, Apostle Paul says to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…” Because God loves me and wants to know me intimately and wants me to enter into that feast in the kingdom of God, Jesus gives this window into what it will be like on that day…so that even as I’m involved with this busy time of outreach for our church, my greatest fear wouldn’t be in dropping the ball for an outreach event, in no one coming to an activity, in not being able to put in as much extra time at work as my co-workers, or in not spending more time with my kids; but that I would fear the most the idea of not relating with God personally through all that I do. Through making that daily effort to spend time in His Word and prayer, I can experience even now a foretaste of that feast to come, through the joy of being able to know Jesus personally.
Devotional Questions, Submitted by Annie Song, Gracepoint Berkeley
Why would salvation be a narrow way?
Because salvation requires repentance. And people, by nature, are truth-haters – not wanting to bend or admit mistakes, let alone allow themselves to feel sorrowful over their sins against God. Very few humble themselves and repent and set God as the authority and master of their lives. Rather we like to escape any obligation to God or guilt towards Him and we would rather wish that God didn’t see, hear, or exist.
To admit that I’m not the authority in my life would mean to die to myself in some way and to throw myself upon the mercy of the One who has the authority. And this is too humiliating for a proud person.
It’s not that God deliberately tries to make it hard so that He could see sinners writhe in agony and struggle to get through the narrow door. He “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1Tim 2:4).
It’s just that our pride does not die a easy death.
What effort do I need to make to enter through the narrow door?
I need to be sure that God knows me.
Jesus said to “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.” He didn’t say “Come through the wide-open gate. It’s easy, just say sorry and you’re set – take life easy, I got your back.” It’s not a passive business nor does it sound like a one time deal. When I make every effort to meet a friend, for example, I pull all the stops to cancel other appointments, to find an ideal place to meet, to email, call, text, whatever to ensure that we will be able to meet – I am thinking through all the possibilities of what could get in the way and then I do whatever I can so that nothing does. It’s a very active thing. Likewise, I need to make every effort to enter through the narrow door through learning, investigating, not relenting in my search for truth. I need to make every effort to ensure that God knows me through regular times of repentance, of struggle, of prayer and dependence on God. Again, I need to do whatever I can so that nothing gets in the way of this.
According to Monday’s DT on the parable of the fig tree, true repentance would look like change, a fruit-bearing life, growth. The first thing on my list of efforts is to regularly engage in genuine repentance. To identify the worldy, satanic values engrained in my heart, to confess these before God and others, and do the hard work of uprooting them with the Word of God – replacing my values with Gods values. This takes sustained effort. At each new stage in my life, I need to surrender my 100% to Him joyfully and with wreckless abandon. I need gain clarity about the life of discipleship by spending extended time in God’s word and even by reading and reflecting over the lives of the “fools for Christ” that have gone before me.
I need to give proper burial to certain things like so-called potential, learning to begin to let go of silly Disney-filled dreams, the selfish, personal-fulfillment-driven desire to be needed/useful, security “back-up plans”, desire to not grieve those close to me with my complete devotion to God. I need to burn some bridges and not have round trip tickets back. None of this is “natural” to me – that is why it takes so much effort to dethrone myself and to enthrone God as the Master of my life.
Another thing I’m becoming more and more convicted of these days is that growing is not an optional thing. I was really struck by P.Ed’s blog entry on “Run to the Battle.” Reading this showed me clearly why, as a sinner, I need to run hard ALL my life long – to make every effort to enter through the narrow gate for the next, God willing, 40 or 50 years and to never let up.
Devotion Questions:
- What is the significance of Jesus referring to the way of salvation as “the narrow door”?
- Why would salvation be a narrow way?
- What effort do I need to make to enter through the narrow door?
Commentary:
vv.22-30 The mention of Jerusalem—where Jesus was to be crucified—gives an abrupt reminder of the context of Jesus’ teaching. Would many people be saved, i.e. enter the kingdom of God? The orthodox answer was that all Jews, except for notorious sinners and heretics, would find entry. But some Jewish groups limited the number to those who were truly religious according to their own rules. Jesus refused to speculate. It is much more important, he said, to ensure that one gets in personally. The kingdom is like a house with a narrow door offering limited admission. It is shut when the feast begins (Mt. 25:10), and then it will be too late to get in. It will be no use claiming to know Jesus if there has been no previous response to his message. There will be no question of automatic admission for anybody. Some Jews will be excluded, and in their place will be found Gentiles from all over the world alongside the saintly people of OT times. Those who thought that they ought to be first will find themselves placed last. Once again the lesson of the need for repentance (chs. 12 and 13) is emphasized: salvation and judgment cannot be separated from one another.[1]
[1]Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible Commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.) (Lk 13:22). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.