September 14-16, 2019 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 13:22-30 (NIV 1984) “MAKE EVERY EFFORT!”

PENTECOST 14

September 14-16, 2019

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 13:22-30 (NIV 1984)

“MAKE EVERY EFFORT!”

1.     The Feast is ready!

2.     The entrance is narrow.

3.     There are no second chances.

Luke 13:22-30 (NIV) “Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, ²⁴“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

          It’s one of those really important questions that you kind of hesitate to ask because of the answer you might get. Like, “Is it cancer?” As Jesus continued to teach on His way to give His life in Jerusalem an unnamed someone asks, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” I don’t know why this man asked it but I hope it weighs on each of our hearts. We want everyone to be saved. Will they? While He does not answer that question here Jesus certainly did in His Sermon on the Mount where in Matthew 7 He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  Sad! Here though Jesus turns the man’s question back to where it belongs, to his heart and so to each of our hearts. He doesn’t answer how many will be saved but instead looks the man in the eye and 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.” This man, it seems, was making an assumption, that he was one of the saved. Was he? That depends. Where was he placing his hope? More importantly, where are you placing your hope? Today let’s listen carefully as Jesus looks us in the eye and says, “Make every effort.”

          Make every effort because the feast is set. “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” God uses the picture of a feast or banquet many times to help people think of and look forward to the joys of heaven. When I hear the word feast I think back to growing up in Watertown where a restaurant called Amber Lantern had a $2.99 pizza smorgasbord, a buffet. We would make sure to go in hungry and oh the offerings! Or I think of Thanksgiving dinner that’s a feast. Or at Bible Class there is the feast of God’s word and then the people bring cheese and sausage, and deviled eggs and Danish pastries and ham and rolls and yeah some that fruit stuff too. It’s a feast you don’t want to miss. Heaven is pictured as a feast. It’s all set go. It’s happening. Only good things. No sin. No pain. No death. Happiness. Joy. Face to face with Jesus. Life eternal with every other believer, yes, all our loved ones who have died in the Lord. Of course we want to make every effort to be there.

          Jesus has a warning though. The entrance is narrow. “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” Again we return to the picture of a great feast. There is an owner of the home where it is held. There is only one entrance, a narrow door. Now remember we are really talking about heaven here so the door is the way to heaven, how people get there. You know as well as I do that most people think the way to heaven is by being good. Good people should get to go to heaven. We feel that pressure too. You probably know someone in your life that does not profess faith in Jesus Christ but they are so nice and so good and the thought of them not being in heaven just doesn’t make sense. But you know what? What you think and what I think and what others think does not matter. There is an owner of the house of heaven and what He says goes. What does He say? The door is narrow. It’s only through Jesus who testified “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Most of you are probably familiar with John 3:16 which is known as the Gospel in a nutshell. Have you ever read the verses right after? The full context of what Jesus said there is this, “For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because He has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Only through believing in Jesus is the way to heaven open. The people of Jesus’ day who could say, “Hey, I saw you once. I liked some of what you said,” didn’t enter through Jesus. People in our day who say “I knew Jesus once. I used to belong to a church. I try to be a good person,” have not entered through the narrow door.

          And there are no second chances. “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” This is a picture of the last day. People who thought they were going to heaven aren’t. They plead but it’s too late. There is weeping and gnashing of teeth because those on the outside don’t just stay on the outside looking in. Their fate is hell. How it must have hurt the people around Jesus to hear that others, non Jews, would be welcome into heaven and they would not. Those who had the Good News of Jesus first were last. Those who got it later became first. Why? They believed. I don’t know what would top your list of vile and offensive sins but the top of God’s, the ones He calls evildoers, are those who reject His Son as Savior. There are no second chances then.

          But there are now. That’s why Jesus spoke to the crowd and why He speaks to us today. Remember what Jesus’ first response to the man’s questions was. “Make every effort.” He’s not asking us to do what we can’t. He’s  not asking us to save ourselves. He is urging us to do what we can do and what He has given us to do, to feed and guard our faith in Jesus. He’s urging us to look at our lives to see if we have become spiritually lazy or apathetic. He’s making each of us do that gut check and answer the question “So why do you think you will go to heaven?” What’s your answer? “I try to be good.” “I’m WELS.” “I go to church—not as often as I should but…” None of those are the narrow door. How about  “Because Jesus died for my sins.” There it is, the narrow door. The efforts we can make include things like daily repentance, prayer and devotion. The efforts we can make include weekly worship and Bible Study. The efforts we can make include tuning out the false messages so prevalent where people make God out to be what they want Him to be rather than what He says He is and carefully and humbly accepting only what God says instead.   “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” a certain someone asked Jesus. To which He replied, “Make every effort.” Are you?

Amen.