This sermon is based on Luke 13:22-30 and Isaiah 50:4-10
And he will reply ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from’. These passages speak directly to what it means to be a follower of Christ; to be a Christian. Jesus tells us that the master of the house will lock the door and some will arrive and ask to be let in. But they won’t be allowed in as he doesn’t know them, despite their protests that they ate and drank with him. Now, Jesus is not talking to a crowd made up of those who are Jews and those who aren’t here. He’s speaking to a Jewish audience. And He’s addressing this message to them, in a modern context He’d be stood in the pulpit telling them. This message is for those who think themselves Christ’s followers. Us. Now Jesus tells us that the door, that is the entrance to heaven, is narrow. The life of a Christian believer isn’t easy; in fact it may well be harder than those who do not think of themselves as such. Following Christ isn’t easy, and he said as much. The road to heaven is narrow he says elsewhere, the road is narrow. A perpetual balance between living strict rule filled lives or using God’s grace as an excuse to do what we like. Neither is good, the way lies in between. The balance between loving our neighbour unconditionally and never showing them a need to change or harshly judging them; neither is good, the way lies in between. The balance between being fully involved in this world or fully involved in the heavenly; the way lies somewhere in between. It isn’t a clean cut easy way of life and we so often get it wrong, and when we do God is merciful to us. But that is the narrow road, what of the narrow door? The narrow door is Christ, Christ is the only way into heaven, there is no other way in. No back door or open window on the ground floor or handy ventilation system, there is no sneaking into heaven and definitely no drifting into heaven. I wonder if you have ever tried to get a large object through a gap barely big enough for it to fit, or a car through a narrow gap because you reckon you can just about make it. It takes concentration doesn’t it, you can’t be looking the other way, you can’t be distracted with what is going on around you, it needs your full attention. Jesus is the narrow door and he needs your full attention, don’t get distracted or led away from the narrow road by things going on in this world that are more interesting. You can’t accidentally wander into heaven, it has to be intentional. And here is where Jesus gets even clearer about that last point; the door is shut. The thing about a door when it is shut is this; you are either on one side of it or the other, there is nowhere in between. You are either inside the house or outside, and there is no other way in. That’s very definite, there is no hedging our bets, there is no hoping for the best, that you might somehow be good enough, you are either in or you’re not. Third point, Jesus cuts straight to the core; I tell you I do not know you. But we ate and drank with you. Jesus is telling us that simply being acquainted with him isn’t going to cut it. Simply coming to church, listening to his words, singing hymns to him is not going to cut it. Even being able to quote scripture till we are blue won’t cut it, even Satan can do that and he most certainly won’t be on the inside of that locked door. In fact even doing as Jesus tells us to won’t cut it, being good well behaved Christians who help others and tithe and attend church every Sunday. Even those who aren’t Christians give money to charity, help other people and Church isn’t some heavenly waiting room where we come to reserve our place and wait to be called in, to be quite honest I don’t think God keeps a register of who comes to church on a Sunday. All these things are very good and worthwhile things to do but all doing these things will get us at the end of our lives is this ‘I tell you, I do not know you’. And if this is making you uncomfortable then listen very carefully because that may be the internal struggle between you and God. Jesus doesn’t want slaves; he doesn’t want those who do what he says and pop along to say hi every so often. He wants us. He wants the whole of us. He wants relationship; he wants to come alongside us and for us to live our lives with him. To hand over the controls of our lives to him, not holding anything back, not giving him everything apart from this bit or that part. All of us. And the amazing thing is he will accept all of us, he will take it all with open arms. And this is where everything changes. In knowing Christ, in truly wanting to know him more and live in his presence, that changes us. We are fundamentally changed by that. In the Gospel of John Jesus says that if we love him and do as he says they, that is The Trinity, will come and make their home with us. Again he says in Revelation ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me’. Christ comes to be with us and dwell in us. And out of that comes something new. We don’t come to church anymore because we have to or it is our duty or because it is the place to be seen or because if we don’t then we will get a visit from the vicar. We come because we want to meet with God, to set that time and space aside to be with him, to worship him for all that he has done, to listen to him and to refocus our lives on him. And from that to find the strength and encouragement to go and live for him too. If we look at the Isaiah passage we can see this relationship running through it. God and man side by side ‘The Lord God helps me; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I shall not be put to shame; He who vindicates me is near’. God comes alongside us and becomes our strength, our foundation. Truly knowing God changes us completely, we are not afraid, yes we still get scared but we know that God is with us always, we have that deep rooted peace that one day all will be well, that God has the best for us, that even in the toughest of times he is still right beside us even if we cant see it. God wants relationship. For it is through that that he is able to teach us, to grow us, to make us into the people he made us to be, to perfect us. And if we want that relationship too then we need to make time for it, to spend time in quiet with him listening, to pray, to read his word. The Bible isn’t a dead book, its alive and it is through it which God speaks to us and to the world. And then we find that we are doing what he asks of us not because it is a good idea but out of love for him, out of a life fully given over to him and overflowing with his grace. And that is the foundation of it all; mercy and grace. God grants mercy to those who love him; the holding back of what we deserve, our punishment for sin. And he also grants grace; the giving of what we don’t deserve, his spirit dwelling in us and a place in his heavenly kingdom. He stands at the door and knocks; will we let him in? Let’s just go back to that door for a moment, because the door is Christ, its hinges are mercy and grace, that is what lets us in. But its shape, the shape of the door which leads to eternal life, is a cross. Amen
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AuthorAn Anglican Curate in my 20's I was raised in an Anglican Church, went to a Youth Club run by an Evangelical Church, attended a Baptist Church while at Uni and was a member of a New Monastic Community after graduating. As such my faith has been influenced by these experiences and traditions into what I hope is a more rounded viewpoint. Archives
September 2022
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