Deo Gloria
Sermon for August 21, 2022
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Luke 13:22-30
Theme: Make Every Effort to Enter the Kingdom of God!
- The door is narrow.
- The time is now.
Being on a sports team takes a lot of hard work and effort. Many schools may be starting in another week or two, but the athletic teams have already been practicing. They’ve been out on the practice field doing push-ups and sit-ups and running sprints. Or they’ve been running gophers and doing mountain climbers in some hot and stuffy gym. They’ve been running through drills and practicing their plays over and over and over again. In fact, some have been at it all summer long. They started before school even got out—lifting weights, running, practicing passing and catching, dribbling and shooting, hitting and serving. Their goal, of course, is to be the best, to win a conference championship, perhaps even to win a state championship.
Jesus says we should put forth that same kind of work and effort to win another prize, an eternal treasure, the prize of eternal life in heaven. That’s the point Jesus is making in the story we have before us this morning. “Make every effort,” he says. Make every effort to enter the kingdom of God! The door is narrow, and the time is now.
Many of you I’m sure are familiar with the television show “Survivor.” The contestants on that show go through a lot in hopes of winning the million dollar prize. They spend months–not just days or weeks—they spend months living on some deserted island or out in the middle of no where in the Australian Outback, in scorching heat, with bugs and flies and lizards and poisonous snakes. They have to build their own living areas and catch their own food and find their own water. Sometimes they even have to eat bugs or worms or salamander eggs. Then they have to take part in those weekly “challenges,” activities that are often physically or mentally demanding—or both. More often than not, when they do get voted off, they’re glad. They’re relieved. They don’t know how much longer they could have made it.
The word that Jesus uses when he says, “Make every effort” is a word that means “to compete in a contest,” typically an athletic contest. It means to put forth energy and effort, to strive, to struggle. Picture a biker pedaling through the mountains of France on the Tour de France, exerting every ounce of effort to get to the front of the pack. Or picture Novak Djokovic playing against Rafael Nadal in a grueling, 5 set match. Both are tired. Both are drenched with sweat, nearly exhausted. And yet they press on, exerting every last ounce of energy to win the match. That’s what Jesus urges us to do: to compete the way an athlete would compete, to strive, to struggle, to make every effort–not in order to win a tennis match or a football game or a trophy of some kind, but to win the game of life, to obtain eternal life, to enter the kingdom of God.
First of all, because the door is narrow. Getting to heaven is not like being on the show “Let’s Make a Deal.” You don’t have three doors to choose from, with a separate prize behind each one. “Which door do you want? Door #1? Door #2? Or door #3?” But that’s the way many people look at it. In their opinion there are many different doors that lead to heaven. “I mean, all steeples point to heaven, right? It doesn’t really matter what religion you are. If you’re Jewish or Muslim, if you’re Buddhist or Christian, it doesn’t matter. As long as you’re sincere in what you believe, that’s what really counts. God will see your sincerity and your good intentions and he’ll let you into heaven.” That isn’t what Jesus said. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me”(John 14:6).
Other people believe in the “wide door” theory. They think that basically everyone will go to heaven. Well, maybe not the really bad people—you know, people like Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein or Timothy McVeigh. But other than that pretty much everyone will go to heaven. After all, if God is a God of love, he wouldn’t send people to hell. Again, that isn’t what Jesus said. Take another look at what he said right here in the verses of our text. When asked if only a few people would be saved, Jesus answered, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to”(v. 24).
Still others think they can make their own door to heaven. They think they can earn their way to heaven by doing good and trying to obey the 10 Commandments. But that way is nothing more than a dead end. It’s impossible to make it to heaven on your own by doing good and obeying the 10 Commandments. No matter how hard you try, you cannot keep God’s commandments perfectly. We all sin, and sin disqualifies us from living with God in heaven. It bars the way. It locks the door.
No, when it comes to getting into heaven and entering the kingdom of God there is only one door. There is only one way to get in: through Jesus Christ, our Savior; the one who lived a perfect life in our place, obeying God’s commands the way you and I should have; the one who also died on cross to take our sins away, who suffered the punishment we deserved on account of our sins; the one who delivered us from death and from the power of the devil. He is the Way, the only way we can gain access to the Father, the only way we can enter the kingdom of God. He is the narrow door.
Would you like enter the kingdom of God? Would you like to go to heaven when your time in this world is over? Then you need to forget about all those man-made ideas about how you get there, no matter how popular those ideas might be. There are not many doors that lead to heaven and it isn’t a wide door either, one that allows virtually anyone and everyone to get in. There’s only one door that leads to heaven. And it’s a narrow door. It’s Jesus. Believe in him. Trust in him as your Lord and Savior—not in yourself and your own ability to earn your way to heaven. Trust in Jesus as your only hope of salvation, as the only way to obtain everlasting life. Make every effort to enter the kingdom of God. First, because the door is narrow.
And second, because the time is now. The other mistake many people make is that they wait until it’s too late. They think they’ll always have time to get their spiritual house in order and get right with God, so they put it off and they put it off. “Yeah, I know I should be more concerned about spiritual matters. I know I should be concerned about where I stand with God, but I’m too busy right now. I work 50, sometimes 60 hours a week. And on weekends I like to get away with the family as much as we can. So we spend a lot of time at our cabin at the lake. And whenever we’re not at the cabin, I like to go out hunting or fishing or golfing. I’ll worry about that spiritual stuff when I get older.” And then when they do get older, they’re busy traveling, seeing the country, spending time with their grandkids, which is fine. Certainly nothing wrong with that, but they never quite find the time to address those spiritual matters. And then one day they have a heart attack or a stroke or are involved in a serious car accident and the ambulance rushes them to the hospital, but it’s too late. Their life is over and it’s too late, too late to take care of those important, spiritual matters, too late to get to know Jesus Christ as their Savior, too late to become a child of God and an heir of heaven. Would they like to get into heaven? Of course, they would. But now it’s too late. The door is shut and they will never get in.
That’s the point of what Jesus says, beginning in v. 25:
Once 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.”
Then you will say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.”
But he will reply, “I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers”(vv. 25-27).
The people Jesus was speaking to had eaten with him and drank with him and Jesus had often taught in their streets. And yet many of them still did not believe in him as the promised Savior. So on Judgment Day, when they stand and knock at heaven’s door and beg to get in, Jesus will say, “I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers.”
Is that what you’re going to say on Judgment Day? “Lord, I was in your house. I came every year for Christmas. I even ate there once for Easter breakfast. And I was there the day I got married and the day of Uncle Bob’s funeral. I had a Bible at home–never read it much, but I had one. I had some Christian friends too. They invited me to come to church with them, but I never went. I even belonged to the YMCA. Isn’t that good enough, Lord? Won’t you let me in?” Jesus already told you what his answer will be: “I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, you evildoers.”
The time to come to know Jesus as your Savior is now—not next week, not next month, not next year. The time is now. The time to feed and nourish our faith by coming to God’s house regularly to hear his Word and to receive his Sacrament is now. The time to grow in our faith by reading and studying God’s Word at home and together in Sunday School and Bible Class is now. The time to sit down with your children and read God’s Word together and talk about what it means and how it applies to their lives so they can grow stronger in their faith in Jesus Christ is now. “Make every effort,” Jesus says. Don’t put it off any longer. If you’re not sure where you stand with God or whether or not you would go to heaven when you die, come to our Bible Information Class and get that straightened out. If you’ve always wanted to sit down together and have family devotions, but never have taken the time to do it, start now. If you’ve always meant to read your Bible on a regular basis and have your own personal time with God, start now. Dust off that Bible and start tonight or tomorrow morning. Start out with Luke, ch. 1 and make it your goal to read at least one chapter every day. Do everything you can to feed and nourish and strengthen your faith in Christ your Savior. Make every effort to enter the kingdom of God.
How many of you remember Corey Stringer? He used to play football for the Minnesota Vikings. About 20 years ago this month he was out on the practice field in the 90 degree heat, running through drills and practicing plays with the rest of the team. And then his body got overheated. By the time they got him to the hospital his body temperature was around 108 degrees. And his organs shut down and Corey Stringer died. Was he ready to go to heaven? He was in pretty good physical shape, but what about spiritually? What happened to Corey Stringer is a good lesson for all of us. We don’t know how long we have to live. We don’t know when our time in this world will be over. So unless we want to end up on the outside looking in, we had better take Jesus’ words to heart. Make every effort to enter the kingdom of God! The door is narrow. And the time is now. Amen.