In our current series we are going through the Sermon on the Mount, and oddly enough we started at the end of the sermon and are working our way back to the beginning. The key verse for the Sermon on the Mount is found in...
Matthew 7:24 (NASB)
[24] Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Bringing His sermon to a close Jesus uses several metaphors to help those listening to Him, understand the importance of what He is trying to teach them. So far He has talked about
a Rock (Mt. 7:24-29) and
a Tree (Mt. 7:15-23).
The Rock was presented as the foundation for a house that can stand strong in the midst of multiple storms. The house was meant to represent a persons life. The rock was meant to represent the words of Christ that can form a reliable foundation for any person's life. A foundation that helps them to withstand the onslaught of all the storms of a person's lifetime. The rock was meant to represent the words of Christ. Specifically in this context He is referring to the Sermon on the Mount. In a general way He is referring to all of the Scriptures and to all the actions of His life on earth as an example for His followers.
The second metaphor that Jesus used was a Tree. The tree was also used to represent a person's life. The fruit that grew out of the tree was either bad or good and revealed the kind of tree that bore it. The tree can't help the kind of fruit that comes out of it because the fruit is a result of the kind of tree it is. A good tree produces good fruit, a bad tree produces bad fruit. The metaphor of the tree is further illustrated by wolves in sheep's clothing. They represent bad trees that produce bad fruit.
In our text for today Jesus uses the metaphor of a gate.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)
[13] “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. [14] “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Our text for today seems too simple for a sermon topic by itself. But when you realize how this Greek word for gate was used in the NT it becomes much more meaningful. It was usually related to life and death and it almost always had both good and bad connotations.
First we realize that Jesus is trying to get those listening to Him, both then and now, to enter through a certain gate. We are presented with a choice to make in life. We must choose which of these two gates we will enter in life. Jesus is building up to the close of His sermon where He presents another choice. Will we build our life on a foundation of sand, or on that of a solid rock.
The consequences are obvious. A house built on sand crumbles to the ground in the midst of the storms of life. A house built on a rock, while it does not avoid the storms of life, will stand strong. There are also consequences for the gate we choose to enter.
In these two verses Jesus presents a couple of contrasts to make what we are choosing clear. Jesus proposes that there are two gates to choose from. One gate is described as leading to destruction. In contrast, the other gate is described as leading to life.
The second contrast Jesus makes in these two verses is the contrast between the number of people who choose to pass through each gate. Statistics show a picture, a pattern, they tell us something. They can be a warning that you need to change the direction you are going in life. But they can also be an encouragement to the discouraged, who, as they look around themselves, seen to be going in the opposite and unpopular direction in life.
Here Jesus wants us to know that the main stream of life, the flow of the majority of people is through the wide gate that leads to destruction. That tells us a lot about where His followers stand in our society and culture. This stands in contrast to the narrow gate which has few people passing through it. But what else can we discover about this metaphor of the gate.
When we look at how this Greek word for gate (g4439) is used in other places in the New Testament, it helps us to understand this contrast between destruction and life. As we look at some of these other passages we will notice that any gate has the potential to be wide or narrow. Not in the way it is built. In other words, not necessarily in it's physical measurements.
A gate has the potential to be wide or narrow in the way Jesus is using the metaphor, by what passes through it to the other side. This Greek word is only used nine times in the New Testament. Looking at how it is used helps us to understand what Jesus was saying here in the Sermon on the Mount.
In the sermon about Jesus' metaphor of The Rock, we made reference to Jesus' conversation with Peter. Jesus said He would build His church on the rock which represented Peter's confession that Jesus was the Messiah. It is interesting that in that same statement Jesus uses this Greek word for gate.
Matthew 16:13-18 (NASB)
[13] Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” [14] And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” [15] He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
[16] Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [17] And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. [18] “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
The rock, which represents the words of God the Father, given to Peter, proclaiming Jesus to be Messiah, Son of the living God, would crush the gates of hell. Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead would break down the gates that hold people captive in sin's grip.
I want you to picture a very dark place with smoke and ash billowing out of it. Anyone who comes near begins to choke and gasp for breath. If you look through the thick black billowing ash and smoke you can see the bright orange-white glow of fire. There is a gate blocking any attempted escape. Behind the gate you can hear the agonizing cries and screams of people. If you look closely through the smoke you can see people reaching out from between the bars of the gate. They are pleading for your help.
Now picture a mighty force, an army of people running up to that gate. they begin to shout and cry out at the gate. Holy! Holy! Holy is the Lord God almighty. Over and over they shout the same words. Soon the sheer noise of their cries sends a shock wave that begins to shake the very foundations of the gate posts. Soon the gate crumbles to the ground allowing those who will, to escape from the fiery pit. If they will, they can be free from sin's grip. That is what Jesus is trying to tell Peter and the other disciples. "...you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it."
Now imagine a different picture. You find yourself at the towering gates of a city called Nain. There is a large crowd passing through that gate. In the midst of their procession is a coffin. Just under the gate to the city a man passing by sees the grief of a woman in the crowd. She is obviously a hurting family member. The man passing by stops the procession. He has them set the coffin down and calls out to the young man in the coffin. He sits up. "Wow! What just happened to me?" He is back from the dead, alive once more.
Luke 7:12-15 (NASB)
[12] Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.
[13] When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” [14] And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” [15] The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
This city gate had both the potential for life and for death. Had this procession proceeded out the gate and on to the graveyard, it would have been as everyone expected. But what they did not know or even imagine, is that this gate also had the potential for life that day. Today, the day Jesus happened to be passing by, instead of a passage to death, like it had been for all of it's history, this gate became a passage of life for a dead man.
That is what Jesus was trying to explain to those listening to the Sermon on the Mount. The wide gate is a passage to destruction, and death, and hell, and a lot of people are headed that way. The narrow gate is a passage to life but not too many people believe that. The gate to the city of Nain over the centuries of it's existence had been a passage to the graveyard for the dead. Jesus turned it into a passage to life for this young man. This one gate had the potential to lead to death or life. The one thing that changed that potential was Jesus.
There in front of you is the beautiful temple in Jerusalem that Herod built. It is magnificent. Directly in front of you is a gate called the beautiful gate because it is made of Corinthian bronze. This gate was a place that provided a lot of foot traffic so a beggar laid here could get enough money to survive on.
Acts 3:1-8 (NASB)
[1] Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. [2] And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.
[3] When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. [4] But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” [5] And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
[6] But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” [7] And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. [8] With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
Like the other gates we have looked at, this gate also has the potential to be wide or narrow. Leading to the temple it would seem to be a gate that gave passage to life because of the sacrificial system that allowed men and women to seek forgiveness for their sins. But the sacrificial system on the other side of this gate could not really save people from their sins because they had to come back each year to seek forgiveness and atonement for the sins they continued to commit. There was no power for deliverance from sin.
In this passage of Scripture this gate was the means of survival for this lame man. To him it was a passage that provided hope and sustenance for his daily life. But in fact, each day he was carried away from the gate, he was still lame. What seemed to be a gate that provided hope, was only a place to go so he could only survive. In reality this was a gate that provided passage for the daily mundane survival of sinners who came in and out, and for a lame man who sat and begged. It didn't really change anything.
Then one day Peter and John come to the gate and everything changes. A gate that seemed to be only a wide passage for sinners caught in sin's grip and beggars who were doomed to remain lame would suddenly become a narrow passage. You see, Peter and John did two things that day that made everything different for those at the gate.
First they reached out in the name of Jesus and healed the lame man. Now the gate has become a place of healing. From having never walked before in his life, the lame man walks through the gate, into the temple walking, and leaping, and praising God. What a change for him.
The second thing that Peter and John did was to go into the temple and proclaim the Gospel message that the Messiah has come. They proclaimed the message that could give the people that had passed through the beautiful gate, eternal life and deliverance from sin.
Acts 3:13-16 (NASB)
[13] “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.
[14] “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, [15] but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
[16] “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
I could go on and on. In Acts 9 there is the murder plot against Paul that is taking place at the gates to the city of Damascus. Interesting that the very city Paul was going to in order to persecute the Christians has now become the city where some plot his death. For Paul to pass through these gates means death. But these gates become a passage of life for Paul because he found out about the plot and avoided death.
I could talk to you about Acts 12 where Peter is shut behind the gates of a prison and is sure to be put to death.
Acts 12:1-3 (NASB)
[1] Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. [2] And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. [3] When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
Prison gates that held people captive for certain death, on this night, have suddenly lead to life for a man called Peter.
Acts 12:4-11 (NASB)
[4] When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. [5] So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
[6] On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. [7] And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.
[8] And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” [9] And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
[10] When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
[11] When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
What did Jesus want to communicate to us with this simple metaphor about the two gates?
Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)
[13] “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. [14] “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Any gate has the potential to be a wide gate or a narrow gate. The one thing that makes it wide is the absence of God. The one thing that can make it narrow is the presence of God.
This morning all of us passed through one of the gates to this sanctuary. Each of those gates also has the potential to be a wide gate that leads to destruction or a narrow gate that leads to life. The thing that will make the difference is the presence of God in persons life who passes out of these gates today.
From the metaphor of the two gates, to the metaphor of a tree and it's fruit, to the metaphor of a solid rock foundation, Jesus is trying to communicate to each of us. He is trying to communicate the potential for life instead of destruction. He is trying to communicate to us that His controlling presence in our daily lives produces good fruit. He is trying to communicate to us that if we will build our life on the foundation of the rock that is His Word we can withstand all of the storms of life that come upon us. But listen! The one thing that makes the difference is not my own ability or strength. The one thing that makes the difference is His presence in my life and only I can make the choice to allow Him in to sit on the throne of my life.
NASB - New American Standard Bible (NASB). Cedar Rapids: Laridian, 2002