The Narrow Path – Matthew 7:13,14

When I was first saved at age 16 I didn’t really know what I was in for. All I knew was that I needed Jesus’ forgiveness and he was willing to give it to me, so I asked him for it. My life started changing immediately. I noticed that sins I was struggling with seemed to no longer be a struggle. That lasted a couple of months, as if God was giving me an evidence of His presence in my life. But then for some time I found my faith languishing and I would regularly respond to a challenge to rededicate my life to Christ. And there were commands I was expected to obey that seemed burdensome. Being a Christian wasn’t easy.

Jesus’ sermon has told the beauty of the life lived in faith in God, but as he challenges people to embrace the kingdom he doesn’t pretend that it’s going to mean smooth sailing.

“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.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13‭-‬14 ESV)

Jesus now begins to encourage those listening to do something with what he has taught them. The way of kingdom righteousness is not the easy way but the hard way. As he will tell his disciples later (11:30), his yoke is easy and his burden is light, but coming to him means giving up your own life,  means losing your life in order to save it. Not many are willing to do that.

The path to destruction is actually encouraged by those perishing. Jesus characterizes the wide-gate way as easy and it is certainly an encouragement to stay on this path because it is the path of the majority. Haven’t you had someone argue that if Christianity were true that there wouldn’t be so many respectable people who don’t believe it? No, we won’t find ourselves affirmed for taking the narrow gate. But we will find life.

Jesus describes the narrow way with the narrow gate as hard and relatively unpopular. He isn’t trying to oversell the path to life, the path he has outlined in his sermon. It calls for impossible righteousness. It means suffering persecution. Don’t dare tell someone that becoming a Christian means smooth, frictionless life. There are few that find it for a reason.

How do we square Jesus’ statement, though, with the fact that the Christian faith outnumbers all other faiths. There are more self-identified Christians in the world (some 3 billion) than Muslims or Hindus, though the Muslims are not far behind. Well, that still technically puts us in the minority. Three billion out of seven billion is still the minority. And we have also discovered often that those who name themselves Christians are not necessarily so.

Perhaps we have been too generous in accepting the testimony of some to be Christian. Do they give evidence of their faith? Jesus is going to address this next.