A Narrow Road

Matthew 7:13-14

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Our reading today is for Matthew chapter seven, beginning with verse 13. This is part of Jesus Sermon on the Mount, he says.

“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. How narrow is the gate, and how difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Jesus uses a very simple explanation about two different approaches to life, two different ways of going through life, and ultimately to different final destinations. He calls one life, meaning heaven, and the other destruction, meaning everlasting death. And he says, there’s nothing in-between. It’s either one or the other.

So let’s talk a little bit about this today. Let’s talk about the wide road of the world. And then he talks about the narrow path of the cross. You can’t travel on both of these. They’re heading in completely different directions from each other. So what is it about this wide or broad road that is so appealing? Well, first of all, it’s very easy to find. There are plenty of entrance ramps to it. I used to live in a very small town, and when they built an interstate nearby, everybody knew exactly where the interstate was. And that’s the way it is with this broad path to destruction. Everyone knows just inside of themselves where this road is and exactly how to find it. Even Christians still know where this road is.

Secondly, the travel to that point of destruction is very easy and it’s smooth and accommodating on that big, broad road, that wide path, there are no cares. There’s no real concerns about things, the signs and billboards attracting us to that road appeal to our sinful desires and the cares and the pleasures of this life. It’s very easy and kind of fun to be on that broad road, and it seems to provide us with a lot of satisfaction in this life.

And also it’s where the crowd is. It’s where the majority of people are. And so the great invitations that come to us to join the world on this broad road to destruction, they’re all around us all the time. And that popularity aspect of it can be very intoxicating. And on that road, we imagine ourselves as being such great people that God must be so happy with us just the way we are.

Well, let’s talk then about the difficult path. Why does Jesus refer to the path of heaven as a difficult path? It’s certainly easy in the sense that he’s done it all for us. He’s paid the price for all of our sins so we could go to heaven. But having faith in him and staying in that faith, he says that’s a difficult path, partly because it’s kind of a strange road. It’s a different road than most people would think of. It’s not something we innately would know about. And so few people are on this road. It certainly doesn’t have any great popularity. Jesus says there are few who find it. The statement should wake all of us up a little bit. One of the great challenges of following Jesus Christ is it’s not a popular religion and Jesus doesn’t try to sugarcoat that for us. On the road to heaven, we should expect to be in the minority in our world.

Why does he call it narrow? Well, because it requires giving up yourself. A person will have to leave behind, in a sense, the personal effects of our own goodness and imagining ourselves as being so wonderful before God. The narrow gate that leads to heaven strips that away from us, and also all the earthly possessions that we may want to hold onto in this life as well. It’s also difficult because this path is not very rewarding right now. That’s why Jesus calls it a difficult road. Renouncing this world in its pleasures. That’s kind of a difficult path, having to continually go before God in repentance of our many sins that can become an exhausting path as a believer.

But Jesus wants to remind us what the final destination is of each of these roads. The one leads to destruction and the other leads to the perfect home in heaven of eternal life. And our Lord wants you and me to make sure that even though that path might be difficult, make sure to remember what a wonderful blessing waits for us at the end of that road. Be faithful unto death, he says to you and me. And I will give you the crown of life. Amen.