The Narrow Way (Pt.2)

(Pt. 2)

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”-Matthew 7:13-14

As we learned last week, the gate is narrow in the sense that there is a particular requirement for entrance and that is faith in Christ. In comparison: “The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.”-Matthew 7:13

One commentator explained it this way: “The wide gate is non-exclusive; it allows for human effort and all other world religions to travel on it.” 

There is a push in our culture to accept all forms of belief and religion as being equal in all ways. This inclusiveness is being passed off as being morally transcendent and enlightened beyond that of scripture. To oppose the idea makes you narrow minded and bigoted. What could be more enlightened than a road that is non-exclusive and includes everyone? Seems like utopia, except for the lack of honesty regarding the destination. Those who promote this approach tend to romanticize the journey and emphasize what it is like to be on that road together, but fail to fully express what is at the end of that road. One version of this passage reads “and broad is the gate that leads to destruction.” Hell is the clear destination. 

Scripture is clear that there are but two eternal destinations for mankind: Heaven or Hell. Eternally with Jesus or eternally separated from Him. Satan has worked tirelessly to try and convince mankind that a life without Jesus is far better than a life with Him. Simply put, Satan doesn’t need you to embrace Hell, he simply needs you to reject Jesus. Rejecting Jesus keeps you off the narrow path that leads to God. It keeps you on the default road to hell. All lanes on the broad road have the same eternal destination. Satan doesn’t care what lane you occupy on the broad road. You can practice Atheism, Islam, Buddhism, New Age, Scientology; it doesn’t matter. According to God’s Holy Word any road that does not lead us to faith in Christ leads to destruction. 

You can switch lanes, find enlightenment, abandon religion, worship Satan, or live completely secular and Satan will not fight you. It is only when you realize that Jesus is the only way and move off the highway that leads to destruction to the narrow road that the battle begins. 

Jesus says that the narrow gate leads to a hard road, one that will take us through hardships and difficult decisions. A road on which we must learn to crucify our flesh, endure trials, and live a lifestyle separate from the world (Galatians 2:20, James 1:2-3, Romans 12:1-2). 

When faced with the choice between a narrow, difficult road and a wide, paved highway, most people choose the easier path. Human nature gravitates toward comfort and pleasure. When faced with the reality of denying themselves to follow Jesus, most people turn away 

Jesus, though, never romanticized the journey. He counseled us to count the cost. He told us to pick up our cross and follow Him. He said that to follow Him would be to fellowship in His suffering. That is why only a few find it. Jesus never promised that the road would not be difficult, He promised that the destination would be worth it. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

The Narrow Way (Pt.1)

 (Pt.1)

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”-Matthew 7:13-14

Somewhere along the way, it seems this passage was set aside and rather than hell being the default destination of all mankind (that is without some kind of divine intervention); society, however, has attempted to replace hell with heaven as the default destination for everyone, unless of course they are especially wicked and only then are they reserved a place in hell. 

Christians, who disagree, are often accused of being narrow minded because of their unwillingness to bend on the idea that there are no other way of obtaining heaven beyond accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. We are bombarded with arguments designed to cast doubt on the idea that God would choose a single or narrow access point for entering His kingdom. These arguments are designed to make us think that God’s loving nature would never allow such a narrow approach. 

Arguments like, how could a loving God send people to a place of such anguish and suffering? Or how could God send someone to hell when they had done so much good while here on earth? Or how about the question regarding muslims, atheists and buddhist that are all kind individuals, many who do good works in our society, are they condemned to hell simply because they have not received Jesus as their Savior? 

Jesus, however, made it very clear that access to the Kingdom of God is restricted to a single gate. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate.”-Matthew 7:13

Jesus validated this statement on other occasions like in John 14:5-6: “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

He elaborates even more in John 10:1-9: “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

It was a truth that the early disciples understood plainly. Peter and John declared before the religious leaders of their day:

For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”-Acts 4:11-12

Later the Apostle Paul when writing to the believers in Rome the way to be saved wrote: “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”-Romans 10:9

Jesus nor the early disciples ever alluded to another way to make heaven apart from placing our faith in Jesus Christ. The gate is narrow in the sense that there is a particular requirement for entrance and that is faith in Christ. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

The other side of suffering (Pt.2)

(Pt.2)

 "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."-Romans 5:3-5

Unfortunately, some people come through suffering with nothing more than a testimony: a traumatic story of how they persevered through the pain. For most, that story isn’t even about persevering, but more of a memorial to the pain they experienced. I find it hard to believe that the only purpose for our suffering is to memorialize our pain. Yet for many that is the long and short of it. Suffering is nothing more than pain in the moment with a memorial at the end. 

However, Romans 5:3-5 teaches us that suffering is producing much more than just pain in your life. Suffering also produces greater endurance, the character of God, and real lasting hope. 

With that said, I want to put a little caveat in here to say; that I am not advocating that God causes us to suffer in order to teach us things. I do feel that God works to redeem the trials we experience, by making sure we can glean more than just pain from it and that we walk away with more than just a great testimony, but greater endurance, deeper godly character and unshakable hope. 

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, in the midst of their trials, to expect more than just a great testimony: 

“ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”-2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Apostle Peter declared to the early church:  “ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”-1 Peter 5:10

They wanted the early church to understand what suffering was achieving for them now!  Even Jesus understood that the goal of suffering went far beyond a stellar resurrection story. His suffering was going to achieve something far greater. 

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”-1 Peter 3:18

Suffering wasn’t contrary to Christ’s nature, it was a part of it:

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”- Isaiah 53:3-4

Suffering is part of a spiritual process that is producing greater endurance within us. Endurance that we need to hold onto God’s promises over a long difficult stretch of time. It is during this stretch of time that God begins to build His nature in us. Developing the fruit of long-suffering within us, so that when the pain of our current suffering is gone we are left with more than a story to tell, but we ourselves are a reflection of the character of God. His character then produces hope in us, but not a fleeting hope that withers when things don’t happen immediately. A hope rooted not in, God’s timing, but in God’s character. When we walk through trials, God is building his character in us and in turn achieving an unshakeable lasting hope. 

Are you able to see past the pain? I am not saying that we should ignore the pain, but rather are we able to look beyond it to see that God is doing so much more than building a testimony in your life. He’s building endurance, developing His character in you, and establishing a lasting hope in your heart. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

The other side of suffering (Pt.1)

(Pt.1)

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”-Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)

It is interesting how many times I have heard over the years, in the midst of a traumatic event or long season of suffering, someone say to a hurting person: “After you get through this, you will have a powerful testimony to share with others.” I am not sure how much real consolation that brings to a person and to be brutally honest I have likely been guilty of saying it myself. 

Many times I’ve heard individuals and couples walking through difficult situations say similar things as a way of comforting themselves in the midst of their pain. Sometimes it hurts so much in the moment we try and look forward to a day where we hope things are better. There is an elephant in the room, however, that no one wants to talk about. Suffering involves pain. None of us truly know what to say when someone is enduring a massive amount of pain and distress. So we try and look forward to a day where, perhaps, they will be beyond the pain and then can use that experience to help others. Nevertheless, those well-meaning words bring little solace to the pain we are walking through in the present. 

Let’s be honest, suffering is confusing. Well at least how we are suppose to view it. I don’t think that anyone, including Jesus, would deny the real pain and distress that accompany suffering. We have all suffered in some some degree either physically, emotionally, or mentally. In every instance, there is pain associated with that event. 

Luke 22:44 tells us that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus facing death on the cross experienced the pain of suffering:  “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”-Luke 22:44

Suffering means to endure death, pain or distress. None of us are confused by that. We all expect to experience pain when we suffer. However, when you throw in passages like these below,  suffering becomes not something to be avoided, but rather something to be expected and embraced: 

 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”-James 1:2-4

“That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”-Philippians 3:10

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”-1 Peter 4:12-14 

The greatest problem we have in regards to suffering is that we, often, fail to see past what we are experiencing to discover what suffering is accomplishing. Our flesh wants to hurry and get through the pain. We want to be able to quickly move beyond the anguish to the “I survived” stage of suffering; where we celebrate the perseverance it took to make it through and share our testimony with others. 

Scott Burr 

Dayspring Community Church