Reading: Matt 7:13-16, 21-23
“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. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Perhaps I have been asleep at the wheel, or I just don’t get out much any more…but more and more, I am hearing from members of the Lord’s church:
- ”I am leaning toward ecumenicism”, or
- I am a bit ecumenical myself.
When I hear that, I suppose it would help to ask “what do you mean?” There is after all a spectrum of possible meanings, any one of which may be intended. At one end, it could just mean that – I like the fact that Christian churches are no longer hacking each other to death, like back in ‘Reformation’ times. But at the other end – it could also mean…”we’re okay, they’re okay’. Within the broad scope of churches claiming to be ‘Christian’, doctrine does not matter – at least not most of it. The only thing that does is to believe that Jesus is God and to live in good conscience. Once you reach this conclusion, it is a big relief…and once relieved of a duty, its hard to get anyone to take it back up again.
Ecumenical is the feel-good word of today and and and gives others a reason to feel good about me too. It says that I am open minded and generous. I am non-condemning and will by no means ever try to correct anyone about anything – by appealing to the Bible. Truth is relative and yours is as good as anyone else’s.
This conviction fits perfectly with Postmodernism and as a matter of fact, the whole ecumenical movement grew up alongside of postmodern thinking. It asserts that everyone is right because no one is. You can have yours and I’ll have mine – so live and let live.
It would be good then to ask…was Jesus an ecumenical saviour? Were there many paths open to him, by which he could have saved us? Had Jesus chosen to avoid the cross, could His Heavenly Father not have found another way? And on the Day of Judgment, will Jesus apply ecumenical principles when he judges us?
When Jesus sent them out, (Matt 28:18-20) were the apostles ecumenical? Were they free to preach any gospel at all? Were faith in Jesus and immersion in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins…the only way. Or could the apostles have opened a back door into the kingdom and sneaked a few more in? And what if the apostles failed to teach everything that the Lord had taught them…or limited their teaching, to ‘whatever seems right to them at the moment’. Would that be okay with the Lord?
In very general terms, the book of Acts is all about how people entered through the narrow gate, and the epistles were all about how to live, work and worship in God’s kingdom.
So it was that in Matthew 7, toward the end of his sermon on the mount, Jesus said:
“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.For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
In this passage, Jesus talked about several things:
- Entering the Kingdom of God – through a narrow gate.
- Walking on that narrow way (living in the kingdom)
- The danger of false prophets…and the outcome for those who believed or preached a false message
Jesus said that on the day of judgment, there would be some who were absolutely sure that they were saved, and would expect Jesus to welcome them into heaven. There is no doubt that they had believed in Jesus. They claimed to have done… ‘great things’ – in His name. Why then did Jesus say that He would condemn them and consign them to hell?
The fundamental problem appears to be – a failure to enter God’s kingdom in the first place. For some reason and in some way, they had never ‘entered’ at all when God’s kingdom came to earth. They had chosen the wide gate and the broad way. And having never entered, all of their work had been for nothing. They had not honoured Jesus by being obedient to the gospel and had tried to rendering ‘service on their own terms, from the outside.
In this passage, Jesus explained – that in order to get into the kingdom of heaven, one must first do the will of his heavenly Father.
When Jesus talked about the kingdom, he was talking about his church. In order to enter the church, we must abide by… the terms set out by the king. And once in the kingdom, we must allow Jesus to rule every aspect of our spiritual lives.
In the context of what Jesus went on to say, false prophets are those who among other things, do not enter God’s kingdom and prevent others also. What could be more serious than that?
In Matthew 23:13, Jesus said:
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter it yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in
Entry into God’s kingdom is constrained…because it is singular. False doctrine and teachers, say – not so.. There are a lot of different ways to get in. And it is precisely this false doctrine that both keeps people out while assuring them that they are in.
This is why Jesus urges us to make sure to enter.
“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. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt 7:13-14)
The gate or door into the kingdom is narrow. In nautical terms, a strait is a constrained passageway ..just like entry into God’s kingdom. It is constrained because there terms are precise and there is just the one. Jesus did not mean that it would be so hard to navigate that no one could enter. He meant that because there was only one, many would rebel.
Entry to God’s kingdom could be had only on God’s terms. God’s grace provided one and only one way to be saved. But generation after generation has demanded another way – their own version of grace. And that has put people on the broad way, chosen by the majority and leading to destruction.
About 4 decades ago, one brother said that churches of Christ were just a flea on the back of an elephant, and on their way to becoming a gnat on the back of the flea. What he meant was that size matters. It makes us relevant. But Jesus says that truth and obedience matter, for they make us His.
Jesus said that on the day of judgment, many…many would say to him “Lord, Lord” and expect a reward. There is no indication – they did not believe what they said. They were not trying to ‘pull a fast one’. For all that we know, they had spent their lives – believing that they belonged to him…they were saved. They had given glory or credit to Jesus, for every good thing that they did. And they had lived, and spoken and acted in his Name. But claiming to do something in Jesus name is not the same as doing it by his authority.
It is significant that Jesus will one day say – “I never knew you’. Jesus will not say…I once knew you. You were once one of mine…but you turned to the right or the left. You were once a child of God, but you became ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’. You once spoke the truth – before abandoning it for ‘another gospel’.
Jesus said that he will say…I never knew you. Regarding salvation…it never happened…you were never mine.
In round numbers,and according to the most recent estimates from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, there are approximately 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide. This is based on the 2019 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia and updates to the World Christian Database. In reality, there are over 300 major ecclesiastical traditions grouped into six global ecclesiastico-cultural blocs and counted over again in different countries.
The Ecumenical movement says…that they are all saved.
Does that number sound like the narrow way or the broad one? Have they all entered through the same narrow gate? Do their conversions look like those in the book of Acts? Do they even agree with each other?
Seems that Jesus was not at all ecumenical, nor were his apostles. If Peter, Paul and John had been ecumenical, they could have told us all we need to know on a set of post-it notes. A church can join the world counsel of churches by affirming a handful of statements that fit on a post-it note. The New Testament would be one page…copied from the apostles post it notes…
This in turn would mean that the N.T. was all a waste of effort. Imagine getting all bent out of shape over
- Deserting the Lord for another gospel (Gal. 1:6-7)
- Following human leaders instead of Jesus (1 Cor. 1:12-13)
- Taking each other to court before unbelievers (1 Cor 6:1-8)
- Living with another man’s wife. (1 Cor 5:1-2)
- Abusing the Lord’s supper (1 Cor 11:23-34)
- Extending leadership roles in worship to women (1 Cor 14:33-34, 1 Tim 2:8-15)
- Persisting in homosexual behaviour (1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:10)
- Lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:4, 9)
- Or saying that Jesus was never real man (1 John 4:1-6)
The list goes on and on.
The good news according to ecumenism is that God never intended for us to take any of that stuff seriously. It was all a test…to see if we would grow up and just throw ourselves upon God’s mercy. Salvation is by grace from first to last – so don’t sweat the details.
You’ve heard it said that ‘the devil is in the details’. Well actually, the devil wants us to ignore the details of God’s word…because that is where we find God and find out what to do to obey Him. Without the details, faith has no content and obedience is impossible.
Thus it is was and is, that many will fail to enter. They will be kept out of God’s kingdom by false doctrine.
And then, others who are already in God’s kingdom may become lost – in just that same way. The narrow gate does not lead to a broad way. We can’t walk on a narrow road while ignoring the will of our Heavenly Father.
Paul was fully aware of this and wrote to the churches in Galatia about the dangers of another gospel. He tells them about the steps that he took, to make sure that he himself was teaching the right things. And he does this, even after receiving his gospel directly from Jesus.
In Galatians 2:1-7 Paul wrote:
Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that somehow I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
Yet it was a concern because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy on our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
In other words, just to be extra sure that I had gotten things right, I had a discussion with the other leaders in Jerusalem. We compared our ‘gospels’ and they were the same. We were in complete agreement, and that is why Peter, John and James gave to me and Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship. (Gal 2:9)
There was unity between them, based upon true doctrine. And this is what made their unity, unity in the Lord. They were in fellowship with each other because they were united in the Lord. Years later, Paul was still a strong advocate of true doctrine and the reason that he wrote this to Timothy in his first letter and then added a warning in the second. Notice the connection between preaching the truth and salvation. “Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (1 Tim 4:16)
In other words, set a godly example and preach the truth.
And then in (2 Tim 4:1-5) Paul warned:
“I solemnly exhort you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Do correct, rebuke, and exhort sound like ecumenical verbs to you? The New Testament epistles are a collective effort to restore wayward Christians. To keep their ‘lampstands’ from being removed by the Lord, because of unfaithfulness (Rev. 2:5)
Yet historically, it didn’t take long for people to grow tired of the gospel and turn to preachers who just told them what they wanted to hear. About the time that the 19th century became the 20th, a lot of missionaries were sent out to third world countries. And most of these were either atheistic, polytheistic and pantheistic. Not surprisingly, they experienced culture shock.
Imagine then meeting other missionaries from your own country – who also believed in God. They believed in Jesus and worshipped God. They had a lot more in common with each other than with the pagans all around them. So, coming home on furlough, they bemoaned the fact that they could not present a united front – in their efforts to convert others. After all, how were potential converts to know who was teaching the truth? If Christians can’t agree on the answer to the question “what must I do to be saved?”, then what is a seeker to do?
A unity effort was started to see if the differences could be overcome. And the initiative came from missionaries who felt the need most acutely. The perception was, and it was correct, that mission work was just sowing the same divisions abroad that already existed at home. There were hundreds of denominations at home and mission work just exported the problem.
This started in a formal way with the meeting a various mission societies, in 1910, in the city of Edinburgh. That led to combined efforts to study and work together on 3 things
- The missionary task of the church,
- Common services the churches could render to the world even in their divided state,
- And work on the doctrinal issues responsible for the ongoing divisions.
Three different committees or teams each took one of these. And over some 40 years, this International Missionary Council met five times before folding itself into the ‘World Council of Churches” in 1961.
They never did agree on the thing that divided them…on doctrine.
- Their solution was to focus on service
- The slogan came to be that “doctrine divides, service unites’.
In the interests of unity, they focused on service and ignored doctrine. All of this implied, that doctrine was negative and better ignored. It seemed far more productive to unite by delivering humanitarian aid, and building schools and hospitals, and by any standard…these are all good works.
But the approach had a major flaw. It put second things first, and elevated the needs of the body above those of the soul. And in the process, it operated like a non-compete-agreement. Each church that signed on, effectively agreed not to ‘compete’ with any other. Not to compete for converts, nor to criticize the doctrines or practices of each other. And by all means, never to try to convert a member of another church (mere proselytism)
Over the years, it led to the conclusion that pluralism was right and good in God’s sight and that all ‘Christian’ churches are part of God’s kingdom. It comes a no surprise then to find
Billy Graham preaching salvation by faith alone and sending his converts to join the church of their choice. Pick one…any one, for grace has us covered.
In the Bible, grace never did, make an untruth true. It does not transform false doctrine or sanctify false teachers. How tragic then to believe that doctrine divides? That only service unites?
When Jesus hung on the cross, the crowd said “he saved others, himself he cannot save”.
What they meant was, that he had healed the sick, fed the hungry, driven out demons and even raised the dead. But he was stuck on the cross and could not get down. They said, “come down and we will believe in you”.
What they did not understand – was something that Jesus did. It was…that until he died on the cross, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, until then, he had not saved even a single person.
The same is true today. Feeding people does not save their souls and medical care does not cure sin. And fighting off demons – even in the name of the Lord, does not cleanse the inner man so that the Holy Spirit can live within.
The Bible says that true doctrine is the thing that saves. Jesus promised his disciples that they would know the truth and it would set them free. It is…in the area of doctrine that everything is at stake…so no wonder the world is divided.
It is not doctrine that divides…it is Satan. False doctrine divides and false teachers divide. And knowing that, Satan has successfully convinced churches to spend their time on anything – even very good things – instead of things that lead to salvation.
When the apostle Paul met with the elders from Ephesus, he warned them about that false teachers would tear the church apart. He told them that leaders would abuse their position to draw their own followers away from the church. And he declared that he himself was free from the blood of all men – because, he had not failed to declare to them, the whole counsel of God.
What Paul was saying was – that had he failed in the matter of doctrine, and had others been lost as a result, their eternal destiny was his responsibility, and their blood was on his head.
He then went on to say something even more sobering: Acts 20:28-32
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The danger that was coming was from false prophets who would arise from within the eldership. They would contradict God’s word, speaking perverse things. They would do and say whatever it took…to win disciples of their own and establish their own churches. It is not hard to find elderships today permitting what God has forbidden, and forbidding what God permits.
To counter that, Paul handed these elders over to God’s protection. He said that God would provide that…through ‘the word of his grace”. That word – the whole counsel of God that Paul had declared – was able to build them up and give them an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
How about that! It turns out that God’s word saves and sanctifies, and when spoken in love, makes truth easy to embrace. When we care enough to share God’s truth, it leads other to salvation and unites us by the arrival of God’s Holy Spirit within.
Coming back to the future…and the day of judgment in our passage, Jesus warned, that a lot of people are going to be disappointed. They will arrive thinking that all is well and heaven is theirs…only to discover that they have never entered God’s Kingdom. They listened to false teachers – who kept them out. Or they followed teachers – who led them out – after they had entered
This is so unnecessary: Because it is not hard to enter God’s kingdom
- The bible gives a simple answer to the question…what must I do to be saved?
- The Great Commission is clear
- The example of conversions in the Bible are easy to follow.
The only obstacle is the human heart which is often deceived and then rarely retrieved. Let us each take stock of where we stand with the Lord and let’s do whatever is needed to make things right.
Let us make sure that we have entered through the narrow way and are walking on the one and only path that leads to heaven. If Jesus was right, we will never be in the majority, but we will be His.