A.. Strive to go through the narrow gate (13:24)
First, Jesus said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."
Jesus is saying that there is a right and a wrong way to try to get to heaven. Many people go the wrong way-they head through big doors that don't lead to God. By comparison, there is a narrow door that goes straight to God.
Jesus doesn't get into numbers or percentages. He simply tells his friend that he should aim for the narrow door. Go for what will work. Go the right way.
The word Jesus uses is a word describing athletes striving to win in the Olympic Games. It is the Greek word from which we get our English word to agonize. Jesus is saying that we should put our whole hearts into going through God's narrow door. The only way to heaven is God's way to heaven.
Here's the deal. There were lots of Jews who figured they would make it to heaven because they were Jews. They weren't striving for God. They thought they were already safe. Jesus was warning them that they were not safe.
We have some of the same approach today. Ask people if they are going to heaven and they all say yes. Ask them why and they say "I was baptized. I belong to a church. I'm not a bad person."
In other words, they're part of the crowd. They are going through the big doors. They'll be okay. Jesus doesn't think so.
Salvation is something you have to get right. It's like a telephone number-it doesn't work if you're a few digits off. It's like a blood transfusion, you have to have the right type. It's like a door lock, you have to have the right key.
So what is the right key? What is the narrow door through which a person may enter the kingdom of God? Jesus explained this earlier in Luke 13:5 when he said, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Repentance is the way to God, salvation and heaven. But, what is repentance? The Greek word is m e t a n o i a which means to "change your mind." The narrow doorway requires a change of mind so that we think of ourselves and God the way God wants us to think.
- To repent is to think about our sins the way God thinks about our sins.
- To repent is to think about Jesus Christ dying for our sins. And the sacrifice he made. In that while we were yet sinners, he died for us.
- To repent is to think about what we want to do with our lives the way God thinks about what we should do with our lives.
If I don't change my mind, I'll miss the narrow door. I need to repent. Repentance means I change my mind about a lot of things in order to think what God thinks. God thinks I'm a sinner who needs a Savior. God thinks the Bible is 100% his true word. God thinks he is right and I'm wrong when I disagree with him.
Repentance is being sorry for the way I think and agreeing to think what God thinks. Another word describing the same change is conversion. It is converting to God's ways.
Jesus says, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to."
