“The Narrow Gate” – Matthew 7:13-14

Robert Frost is one of America’s best known poets, and perhaps his best known poem is “The Road Not Taken.” It tells of a man who stood at two divergent paths, one well-travelled and the other less so. The final stanza of the poem reads:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Life almost always has choices we make, some seemingly insignificant, others seemingly major. What we wear on a particular day, what we have to eat for lunch, what music we listen to—all relatively insignificant. Where we go to college, who we marry, where we choose to live, whether or not we go to church, and if we go, which one will we join—these can change in our lives in ways we cannot always see.

As Jesus reached the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He told the listeners that there were two choices of significance: the gate we entered, the fruit we bore and the foundation we laid.

In today’s passage, Jesus told those listening and tells us today that we have a choice to make: Which road will we choose to follow?

Background

The Sermon on the Mount is the New Testament equivalent to the Mosaic Law. As the law was given at Mt. Sinai, so Matthew presented Jesus’ message of the Kingdom of Heaven was placed on a mountainside. Where the law began with the Ten Commandments, the Sermon begins with the Beatitudes. God’s message through Moses was to hold to the law, while the message from Jesus is to have a righteousness that exceeds the law. The Pharisees, later interpreters and upholders of the law in Jesus’ day, stressed the letter of the law. Jesus stressed holding to the spirit of the law with motives that sought to carry out God’s will as revealed through the Holy Spirit.

The passage we look at today has a similar passage in Luke 13:22-30. In Luke’s account, Jesus is asked a question: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” (v.23). Jesus then answers with the lesson of the two doors, one narrow the other wide. In Luke’s account, Jesus used the lesson to stress the difficulty of entering into salvation. Jesus even used some of the words used in Matthew 7. In both Luke and Matthew, Jesus stressed the importance of a right relationship with the Father through the Son.

Today’s passage comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus has just stated that living out the Golden Rule is having a righteousness that fulfills the law and prophets. He used three contrasts to show the importance not only of a relationship with the Father, but also walking in obedience in that relationship. Following the two gates, Jesus focused on good and bad fruit and on building on a solid foundation versus building on sand.

As we look at today’s passage, let us focus on this truth:

Central Truth: To immerse ourselves in Christ, we need to enter through the narrow gate.

The two gates:

1. Jesus’ command (13a)

Enter through the narrow gate.

I’ve seen on Facebook a meme that says something along the lines that there is a stairway to heaven but a highway to hell. Both references popular songs in heavy metal rock and it’s supposed to be humorous. However, the two song titles do accurately reflect what Jesus taught so long ago.

The focus on the Sermon has been on how to walk in fellowship with the Father. This short direct command is that we are to choose follow Christ and walk in His ways. It is not a popular choice, nor is it a common choice.

For most of the world, the way of Christ is alien to them. They want to follow their own way, believing there are numerous roads to find spiritual fulfillment.

Jesus’ message is that we are to reject what seems popular or reasonable. In John 14:6, Jesus asserted that He is the way. When we use the word “the” to qualify a noun, it denotes a specific, unique item. For instance, if I say, “I’m going to the car,” it means I am going to my specific car. Going to the car is different from going to a car. Going in the door is different than going in a door.

Because Jesus is the Way to the Father, it necessarily means that the way to the Father is a narrow way with a narrow gate.

Jesus tells us to follow the narrow path and go through the narrow gate.

2. The broad gate (13b)

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Ask ten people on the street how to have a good relationship with God, and it’s likely we would get ten different answers. Some would refer to a religious track, while others would speak of ethical and moral standards. There are numerous religions in our world, all of them designed to draw us closer to God. There are numerous ethical and moral teachings and philosophies, again emphasizes ways to be a good and moral person and so earn God’s approval (assuming the philosophy acknowledges there is a god).

The popularity of various religions and philosophies does not change the fact that they are all falling short of God’s requirement of faith in Christ Jesus for forgiveness and eternal life. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it is correct.

The ways of the broad road and gate are many, all in pursuit in the meaning of life. The book of Ecclesiastes is a perfect picture of the broad way. In that book, the writer wrote of seeking meaning in pleasure, wine and folly. He sought it in great projects and possessions. He wrote, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11).

There are those who will tell us that there are many ways to come to God, that there are many methods we can use. They will tell us that ultimately God will embrace everyone and condemn no one. That’s a lie. God clearly tells us that there is no easy road to find peace and contentment with Him apart from knowing Christ and His forgiveness.

In both Luke and Matthew, Jesus says there will come a time when people will say to Him that they knew Him—they ate and drank with Him and that He taught in their streets (cf. Luke 13:22- 27), that they ministered in His name (cf. Matthew 7:21-23). His answer to them will be the same: “I never knew you. Away from Me, you evil doers.”

The broad road and the broad gate lead to nowhere.

3. The narrow gate (14)

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

In Jewish thought and some philosophies, a road was often used to depict how to find favor with God. Jesus used that same idea here, and He reminds us that His way is not the popular way or the well-travelled way. It is His way and we come to Him on His terms.

What are Jesus’ terms? We are to believe that He has been sent from the Father and that He is the way, the truth and the life (cf. John 6:29; 14:6). We are to love Him with all our being (cf. Luke 10:25-28), and that we demonstrate our love for Him in our life of obedience (cf. John 14:15, 23-24).

The narrow road is one that calls upon us to die to self (cf. Luke 14:26-27) and to be totally dependent upon Him to live in us and work through us (cf. John 15:1-8). The narrow gate is reached through a life of letting the fruit of the Spirit live in us and to be faithful followers of the One who died for us and who gives us eternal life.

If we want to immerse ourselves in Christ, we must follow the narrow path that leads to the narrow gate. It is this gate that Jesus commands us to enter.

Conclusion

I was reading about Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” He originally wrote it as a joke for one of his friends, another poet from England. When the two poets would walk somewhere, they would inevitably come to a fork in the road. The Englishman would have difficulty choosing a path, because he believed that one of them would lead to an adventure or a pleasant surprise. Once he chose the path, he would travel it and come to regret not taking the other path.

When Frost sent the poem to his friend, the friend didn’t get the joke. He thought, like most of us today, that it was a poem of the reflection late in life that we look back on the choices we make. We reflect with a sigh and wonder about the road not taken.

Today, we are called to choose a path. We can choose the path that has been well-travelled, crowded with people going the same way. It is a tempting road, that broad way. So many people can’t all be wrong, can they? But that way leads to destruction.

Today, choose the path less taken, the path that seems unpopular. Take the narrow path, which leads to a narrow gate and to a life spent in eternity with Christ the Savior. If we will be immersed in Christ, there is no other choice.