Greetings from Pastor Adam this fine day!
These verses speak of God’s Kingdom and gaining entrance into that Kingdom. Matthew 7:13 tells us that we can only enter God’s Kingdom through the narrow gate. One must immediately be reminded of Jesus’ words in John 10:9, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” Jesus is the narrow gate, this does not mean that Jesus is narrow and not overweight (although He did a lot of walking) but that He is the only way of salvation. Only through Jesus and His work of forgiving our sins can we find entrance into the Kingdom of God.
As Matthew continues to speak about God’s Kingdom, I am also reminded of the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer and its meaning found in Luther’s Small Catechism, “Your kingdom come.” What does this mean? The Kingdom of God truly does come of itself, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may also come to us. How is this done? “The Kingdom of God comes to us when our Heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His Holy Word, and live a godly life here on earth and in heaven forever.” God’s kingdom comes to us through the work of the Holy Spirit as we believe His Word (that Jesus is the narrow gate) and that we live a godly life, like apples on an apple tree or a builder who builds on a solid foundation and not sand. Lord may your Kingdom come to me! May I gladly hear and learn your Holy Word and put it into practice in my life!
Matthew 7:14 can be difficult at first reading, “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Does this mean we must work hard in order to enter God’s Kingdom? I thought we were saved by grace, do we have a role in “getting saved”? No, Jesus does 100% of the work to save us and forgive our sins. He saves us while we were still sinners, while we were spiritually dead he makes us alive! We aren’t saved because we follow the 10 commandments, but we follow the 10 Commandments because we are saved. The Christian life is one of paradox. In one sense we are free from sin and slaves to no one. But on the other hand we are slaves to all as we seek “to do to others as we would have them do unto us.” This Christian life is hard because it is not self seeking, remember we have died to self (Rom 6:6). Philippians 1:29 says that we have been given the gift of faith and also the gift of suffering for Christ’s sake. Indeed the road is difficult but it has already been walked for us by Jesus Himself.
Here too we find a stern warning against false prophets and false teaching. These are those who appear innocent and appear to be one of us, but in reality, because of their teachings are as dangerous as vicious wolves (not just normal wolves, vicious ones!). The fruit of a prophet is more than just their behavior but it is their teaching. Does it match up with the Word of God? Jesus seems to be making the point that is really does matter what we believe and that we know and understand the Word of God. Some will even cast out demons in Jesus name and perform miracles but Jesus will reply, “I never knew you.” This statement alone should cause an appropriate level of Holy fear so that we firmly hold to the words of I Timothy 4:16 which says to “watch your life and doctrine closely.” Praise God for His Word! For in it we find life and truth and all we need to defend against false prophets.
I pray that we too may be like the crowds who heard and were amazed at the teachings of Jesus.
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3 comments:
It would be interesting to hear from you who might be the false teachers of our time. It is easy to pick out the ones that we are are instantly aware of as "Christ haters" but what about the others that proclaim Christ but twist Him around or ignore the precepts about Him because it does not fit the times, the culture or might offend those who practice things that defile God or whose faith is what they have created instead of what God intended. This is the real spiritual warfare that we face and it is an everyday event.
I'm not sure what you mean by hearing from "you who might be the false teachers of our times"? But, I agree with you that there are "christian" churches that have watered down the gospel to such a point that it is almost unrecognizable. I try really hard not to be judgmental (even thought I know I'm right :)): rather it makes me quite sad.
I envision someone carefully constructing their very life (their house, in the parable) on a sandy foundation of partial truths that they have been methodically taught over their entire lifetime. We scream (inside) "Why don't they know? How can they be so lost?" Well, they are lost because someone has purposefully taught them that the entry point to God's kingdom is wide and the gates of hell are narrow. They are lost because we have never told them otherwise. And they are lost because they are unaware of what the Word of God says.
All the more reason to keep up with the daily scripture readings in 2007. I don't ever want to be face to face with my Savior and say "I never knew".
Good points and a good point about being taught that the gates are wide to heaven and narrow to hell-- that is if they even conciously believe there is a hell. I find so many churches who have not only watered down Christ and His teachings but the Sin and Hell part as well. The devil to them is truly a not a real entity. The term "spiritual warefare" is never an idea mentioned. The Bible is a nice reference book but not the sole propietor of Godly knowledge. It is a whole different world.
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