Pastor Tim Patoka
`August 21, 2022 The Door to Heaven Luke 13:22-30 1) Is Narrow for All 2) Is Open to All
The college student is about their new class known as a weeder – a class that is intentionally difficult so it weeds out the not-so-driven students. Anxious about having to retake the class, the student asks their advisor how many people fail it their first time through. The newly married couple is head over heels for each other, but they’ve heard about the seven-year itch, the notion that marriages struggle once the novelty becomes reality seven years in. So they look up divorce rates to see if they will live happily, ever after. The newshound has heard about the latest prevalent disease and wonders, “will I remain in good health?” So they dive into the research on mortality and severe infection rates. What do these three people have in common? They’re concerned and they want to know how they stack up against the odds. Yet the odds don’t determine what will or won’t happen. Rather, it’s the underlying actions like good grades, open communication, and a healthy lifestyle that makes the difference. In our verses this morning, we meet an unidentified believer was concerned about their salvation. Wanting to know how they stacked up against the odds, they asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” (Luke 13:23) Jesus responds with a parable about a shut door, people still outside, and a decisive master of the house. It is through this parable that Jesus directs our attention to what is most important – not how many will be saved, but how you are be saved. So he tells us about the door to heaven and how it is narrow for all yet open to all. 1) Is Narrow for All Since a parable is central to Jesus’ lesson, it’s good to correctly understand it. The master of the house is Jesus and the house he’s gatekeeping is heaven. When he shuts the door, time has run out to enter heaven whether it be on the Last Day or a person’s own last day. Those left outside may have known about Jesus, but they were still lost in their sins and defined as evildoers. And the weeping and gnashing of teeth they do after departing Jesus is a common biblical expression to describe hell and its eternal sorrow and disappointment.
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Pastor Tim Patoka
`August 21, 2022
What is surprising about this parable is not what it says, but to whom Jesus spoke it – to some Jewish people who thought they would be among the first to enter heaven! Jesus is warning them about their situation for they weren’t even in line to enter heaven. That’s because the door to heaven is narrow for all. There’s only one way to heaven – faith in Jesus Christ. If you have that and only that, you’re good to go! But if you try to gain entrance for any other reason, you’re going to get stuck in that narrow door. One way people mistakenly think they’re first to enter heaven is because of their background. The Jewish people typically thought this because of their history as God’s Old Testament people. If anyone should pass through heaven’s narrow door, surely it would be God’s hand-picked people! Might we think the same when it comes to our backgrounds? If we’re the next in line of a family that has been part of church for generations? If we’re the sole Christian light in our sinfully dark friends and family? If anyone should be first to enter heaven, it should be us who have been part of it so long or who have to fight just to remain in it! Or perhaps we think we’re first because of our knowledge of Jesus. The Jews of Jesus’ time certainly knew about him from eating and drinking with him and hearing him teach in the streets. Yet knowledge about Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus. Might we rely on our acquaintance of Jesus rather than a trust in Jesus? Might we pride ourselves for being able to give pastor a run for his money at Bible trivia? No matter why we think we’re first to pass through heaven’s narrow door, there’s only one way to do so – faith in Jesus as our Savior. That applies to all people. If anyone tries to pass through the narrow door for a different reason, they won’t get into the house. And as the parable says, if you’re not the house by the time the door is shut, you depart for the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yet we need not resign ourselves to eternal sorrow and disappointment. That’s because Jesus assures us that we are first in line to pass through heaven’s narrow door through simply faith in him. He alone has entered heaven without any help for he alone has met God’s criteria – a perfect life from conception to death. When he died on the cross, he took our sins upon himself and charged it to his account so that when he said “It is finished” (John 19:30) he paid our price in full. Having accomplished our salvation, he then graciously saves us through faith alone, taking our sins away as told by his trustworthy and powerful word. Nothing else is needed to pass through heaven’s narrow door, just Jesus and his forgiveness.
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Pastor Tim Patoka
`August 21, 2022
And if you have that faith in him, then you have guaranteed passage through the narrow door. 2) Is Open to All You would think a narrow door would mean a narrow audience inside. But that’s not true. Though the door to heaven is narrow for all, it is wide open to all who have faith in Jesus. There’s people in heaven you expect like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as the prophets who spoke God’s Word to the people of their time. But there’s also people from every background. As Jesus told us, “People will come from east and west, from north and south.” (Luke 13:29) Christians from the four corners of the world and their respective cultures will be there. Our Lord does not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, sex or gender, social class or intelligence. His promise of forgiveness is for all people. After entering heaven through the open door, everyone will then “recline at the table in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29) In those days when you ate a proper meal, you would recline your left side on some cushions or a couch arranged around a short table. Using your right hand, you would eat the food before you as you visited with the people around. While we have different eating customs today, it’s still like today when we have a proper meal. You don’t dine and dash. You take time to enjoy the food and company before you. That’s what reclining at the table in the kingdom of God is like – except that your tablemates represent all the nations. Yet here too Jesus speaks a word of caution, “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:30) The first are those who solidly have the kind of faith that gets you through heaven’s narrow door. The last are those who still have saving faith, but struggle with distractions or doubts. While some Christians are unexpectedly the first or last, there are others that will surprise us to be the first or the last. Now, we are thankful that Jesus welcomes both first and last to recline at the table in the kingdom of God, we’d prefer to be among the first. Knowing that heaven’s door is wide open to all Christians, does that mean your faith can go on autopilot? To stop prioritizing God’s Word because you think you’re a shoe-in to heaven? While I don’t want to make you doubt your salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we do need to be mindful of falling from first to last. As with any habit, it’s easy to let a little break in the routine become a permanent
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Pastor Tim Patoka
`August 21, 2022
departure from the routine, even if we’re talking about time in God’s Word. But the stakes are too high for our faith in Jesus for there are eternal consequences. As we struggle to stay among the first, Jesus keeps the door to heaven open. And that’s a comfort! Because whether we end up first or last in the line to enter heaven, we’ll be there and recline at the table with every other Christian. That’s because Jesus’ forgiveness isn’t a one-time offer that’s ripped away from us the first time we fall from a first-rate faith in Jesus. Rather, Jesus’ forgiveness is a continual blessing that is always ours through that faith in him. And when we delve back into God’s Word so the Holy Spirit can strengthen our faith once again, Jesus is there at the open door, rejoicing to see us among the first again. Concluding Encouragements When we face odds that do not favor us, we often feel a little anxious. Yet statistics do not make things happen. It’s the underlying actions that matter. That’s what Jesus reminded an unidentified believer when he asked how few would be saved. Jesus instead redirected his attention to what actually matters – how you are saved when you come to heaven’s door. It is a narrow door and there’s only one way to get through – faith in Jesus as your Savior. If a person has that, they will have no problem! But if they try to have anything else, they’re going to get stuck. This door to heaven is also open for all. Christians from the four corners of the world, from first to last, will all be there and recline at the table. While we don’t try to be the last, we are comforted that Jesus welcomes even the last to this eternal feast. The clock is ticking for us to enter through heaven’s narrow and open door before it is shut for good. That’s why we strive to enter through it with a first-rate faith as Jesus told our unidentified believer. As an athlete pushes themselves to reach their goal, so we Christians push ourselves to reach our goal. It’s not easy considering how narrow and open the door is. But that’s what we strive for, to keep our faith focused on Jesus our Savior so that we may surely enter through the door to heaven. Amen.
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