The Narrow Gate

Matthew 7: 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

MHA: The teaching about the two ways is contained in the words of God in the law of Moses: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life” (Deut. 30:19).

This idea of the two ways was there early on; one can say even from the beginning, given the choice Adam and Eve had in the garden.

DMLJ: …the first thing we must do after we have read this Sermon is to look at the type and kind of life to which He calls us, and realize what it is. …the outstanding characteristic of the life to which He calls us is ‘narrowness.’

Read again the Sermon until this point, ending with the Golden Rule.  Is it an easy path, a wide gate, one easily attainable for many?  Hardly.  It is narrowness.  Jesus just finished describing the Christian and the Christian life, and here He concludes by offering that “those who find [that Christian life] are few.”

The apostle Thomas asked Jesus: “…how can we know the way?”  It seems the way was spelled out well in this Sermon. 

MHA: The way to life, therefore, is the spiritual and moral teaching of Jesus, which is set forth in the Sermon on the Mount in particular.

The narrow way: be poor in spirit, weep, be meek, hunger and thirst after righteousness, be merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker.  Ultimately, to be persecuted for all of this.  further, be salt and light, not become angry, keep marital fidelity, not return evil for evil, and to love one’s enemies.  There is more, as you know, but this is sufficient for the point.

In other places Jesus described Himself as the door – just another form of a gate.  The gate to the kingdom of heaven is Jesus Himself.

MHA: To follow the narrow way that leads to life means to be a disciple of Jesus, to fulfill his commandments.

The early Christian Church understood these two ways quite well.  We see it in the book of Acts, we see it in Hebrews.  It is found in the Didache:

“There are two ways, the one of life and the one of death; the difference between the ways is great.”

Lloyd-Jones breaks down these verses: first, note: it isn’t just that the way starts wide and then narrows as we walk the Christian life: the gate through which we enter is narrow to begin with.

DMLJ: Too often the impression is given that to be a Christian is after all very little different from being a non-Christian…

It is a wonderful, attractive life, offering something exciting; maybe a sound philosophical system, a lifestyle choice, good for the culture.  We see this in the conversation that was begun, at least visibly, by Jordan Peterson.  Even Richard Dawkins is now a cultural Christian.

Or, for others: “Come, get your sins forgiven.  Now, let’s have a party.”  Does the Christian life begin and end there?  No.  Christ has come not merely to save us from punishment; He came to make us holy.

DMLJ: It is not so to our Lord. … [The gospel of Jesus Christ] does not try to persuade us that it is something very easy, and that only later on that we shall begin to discover it is hard.

From the outset, we are told that there are things that must be left outside: the gate is narrow!  Certain things simply cannot be taken through with you.  The first is worldliness – you are making a break from the world.  Further, we must leave out the way of the world: we don’t hit back, we love those who hate us.  The way of salvation is not easy; the Christian life is nothing like the non-Christian life. 

Further, we must leave out self.  We are not to take our self with us on this way; we are to put off our old self, deny our self:

DMLJ: There is no room for two men to go through this gate together, so the old man must be left behind.

Additionally, the Christian life is a difficult life.  It is too glorious a life to be an easy life.  No one excels, truly excels, at anything without much difficulty and hardship.  Jesus even promises that this will be the case.  This life involves suffering, it involves persecution.  We will be hated and criticized the minute we enter this narrow gate.

DMLJ: To enter this way means to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is an invitation to live as He lived; it is an invitation to become increasingly what He was.  It is to be like Him.

God became man so that man could become God.  Theosis from a Protestant pastor; growing ever more Christ-like.

MHA: The way to destruction is, in the narrow sense, the orientation toward the values that Jesus subverts in the Sermon on the Mount and his other teachings.

To not enter the narrow gate inherently means we are on the wide way; there is no neutral space here.  There is Christ’s way or the world’s way, and if we are not in Christ’s way, we are in the world’s way.

We are to seek the narrow gate.  Jesus says we “find” it, although those who find it are few.  It is a gate that must be sought deliberately.  It is not enough to know the gate is narrow; we are to seek it such that we find it. 

DMLJ: I am concerned to impress the point that the gate really has to be sought. … You have to go out of your way to fid this gate.

And this narrowness isn’t only at the gate.  The entire way is narrow.  The Christian life is narrow from beginning to end.  It doesn’t get easier as you go – every step forward brings a new set of challenges.  This takes a firm commitment.  Satan does not rest because you have entered the gate; he has your entire path (your life) to deter you.

DMLJ: Even so, let us be under no illusion; the wrestling against principalities and powers, against the darkness of this world, and the spiritual wickedness in high places, continues while man is in this life and world.

Remind yourself, every morning, every day: I am a child of God.  I know Satan will tempt me today, but I do not belong to him.  Christ has died for me.

DMLJ: …once a man gets a glimpse of the glory and majesty and privilege of this high calling I cannot imagine that he would ever desire anything else.

I will speak for myself here: those of you who have followed me along on my journey have seen this transformation.  From a focus on topics of libertarian political philosophy, war and its history, even the many false narratives over many centuries, I have come to this.  A focus on the Christian life and the Christian journey.  It is the most fulfilling time I can spend in my reading and writing.

With that said… I have barely scratched the surface of living the first few Beatitudes….

Conclusion

Here we find a call to action: Enter.  We are to believe Him, not merely admire Him.  We are to act, not merely to know or understand.  We are to follow Jesus, not merely admire Him. 

Epilogue

In the time of persecution, before Constantine and the Edict of Milan, it was probably pretty easy to identify those who entered the narrow gate and those who did not.  Entering truly entailed a cost.  Today, this isn’t so clear.

MHA: The narrow way continues to be narrow, and those who walk along it continue to be few, even if many declare themselves as members of the Church.