The Narrow Road of Obedience | Matthew 7:13-14

Show Notes

Episode 869: 
In this episode, we unpack Jesus’ teaching on the narrow gate in Matthew 7:13–14 and how it connects to persecution and discipleship. We discuss why following Christ requires intentional choice and why swimming against the cultural current often brings resistance. This conversation reminds us that while the road may be difficult, Jesus offers the full and abundant life found only through Him.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, Jeff, are you glad to be here? I am so glad to be here. That's really good. I'm glad because I certainly, for one am a person who is glad. Yes, And to be or not to be, that's the question. So we are going to launch into that was weird. We're gonna launch it into a Matthew chapter seven passage. But before we do, we have something called I like these hot takes showdown. Okay, So Desiree says, let's debate this statement. Stand your ground, no wavering. Absolutely, here's the first day, taking aside and was sticking with it. Here's the first day, and you're ready. Okay. Cereal is better at night than in the morning. Absolutely, it's one thousand percent correct. Absolutely, Tell me why, because I never never crave cereal in the morning. I don't know why. You know what I want in the morning. I want eggs, I want sausage. I want That's what I want. Sweet stuff is more like a snack, and I'd rather have that at night. Okay, even like pancakes, I'd rather have pancakes at night and in the morning. So I am one of these guys. I put a disproportionate amount of milk. I put a lot of milk in my cereal. I love milk. So it's more like a green soup. Yeah, yeah, yeah, depending on that. Yeah, okay, so I just have like I probably have forty percent more milk in my bowl than you do. Wow, okay, whenever you you just think you're better than me. Well, I am better at eating milk. So what is your drink? What is your nighttime cereal? Well it is it is whatever's in the cabinet, honestly. I like all cereals just about really. Oh gosh. Yeah. And when I go down the cereal aisle, I just did this where I where Tory wants to grab like Mom's favorites. She's like, oh, grab the standard, and I go, no, let's grab something new. We always grab the standard. And there's so many good cereals. And so guess what I grabbed but captain crunchberries. Really because I don't like those kind of cereals. Oh, I like all kinds of cirrus. Wow. Yeah, I grabbed those. And then she grabbed cinnamon life, and then I grabbed what else I grab Mani wheats and frosted flakes. I hate many weats. Do you really like? I have a hard time being friends with people who like many weights. Well, Jeff, I'm your friend. They're disgusting. Those they're great, They're gross. Okay, So for me it's I love. The only sweet one I really like is I like frosted flakes, okay, and I could eat a whole box of frosted flakes in a city. It's bad. I like those, so we don't get those very often. And I really really like Raisin brand with double raisins. Oh yeah, I like those two. And I also bought Oh's. You know, have you ever heard? Yeah about those two? So I would say nighttime for me because I'm ten times hungry at night and everything tastes ten times better. Yeah. Well, it's just a good sit in front of the TV and eat your cereal. It definitely definitely is for sure. Yeah, all right, Okay, so we're both on the same side on that one, but we're emphatic about it. Yes, no doubt, we're not waffling, absolutely serially. Yes, agreed. Okay, all right, second one, remakes ruin original movies. Well, I mean, in some cases, absolutely that's true. You can't waffle, but I will no, no, no, I'm going to emphatically say the statement is emphatically wrong, really, because remikes do not ruin original movies. Bad remix oh you know, ruin originally. Well, I think that's what it's trying to say is that remakes are bad usually. And I'm saying no, yeah, I'm saying that is not true. Okay, so let me tell you something. The Clash of the Titans remake was better than the original. A Star Was Born with Lady was way better. And now now that's debatable because people love Barbara streisand okay, okay, but. Like I'm gonna confess to you, I didn't see either one. Okay, So how about this one. You have you ever seen Father of the Bride with Steve Martin. Yes, I've seen that. That's a remake classic when your kids were little. Did you ever see The Parent Trap with Lindsay low Yeah, okay, that was a remake that was knew the. Old Parent Trap. I didn't see the Lindsay Lohan version. Okay, that was my daughter ten times better. I think Ocean's eleven was better. Ocean's eleven was better. How about this one Little Shop of Horrors. With I never saw either of those? Yeah, that was better. How about this True Lies with Arnold Schwartzenegger Jamie Lee Curtis. That was a remake. First one was terrible. Scarface one of the best movies, arguably ever made by al Pacino. It was a remake, okay. The Freaky Friday was another. Lindsay Professor, That version of Nattie Professor was better. Yes, with Eddie Eddie Murphy in it. Yeah, that was a good one. Yeah. I didn't like the Flubber remake, so that's that's worse. Jungle Book, the live action jungle Book, the second one, the new one, the Jungle Book. Sure it is not better than the remake. Yeah, no, the remake is better. No, I disagree. The newest one? Where where? Uh uh? Who is Blue? Where? Where? Where? You have Christopher walking? Is the the Big Gorilla? I'm not sure I saw. I want to be like you. Oh yeah, yeah it's yes, it's the original one, the one like the cartoon. This is the but it's a live action. Yes, I saw it, exactly like it. And you have who's the guy who from from Sating Up Life that played from from Uh? He played Blue? Did you realize John John Blue? I don't like the remake of Jungle Book, which means I don't remember the actor's name. No, So there's been multiple remakes of the Jungle Book, multiples. Yeah, so I'm going to say I'm gonna say that there are plenty. There are plenty of remakes that are worse. Pete's Dragon was worse. The Footloose remake with what's her name, Juliane Huff I never saw either. That was worse. Beauty and the Beast was a good remake, but it wasn't as good as the cartoon, not even by a long shot. Aladdin was good, but that that there's no way that that was better. Right, So there's there's a lot of different ones that are worse. Oh my goodness, you know what they did. They re actually redid The Father of the Bride like a third time. It was terrible. But you know, my favorite movie in the world was a remake. The conne Money Christo was a remake. Was that a remake? That was a remake? Yeah? Because I saw the original version. Hey, Jeff Goldbloom in the fly. Yeah, the first one was black and white. That was way better than the original, right, So I mean I just would say fifty the time. It feels like, oh, by the way, this is also debate. Well, but there was a couple of remakes of Annie the musical. Yes, the first one was Carol Burnette and remember all that. Okay, I liked the one with uh. There was there was one that was remade in the nineties, nineteen ninety nine that was way better for TV. It was with I can't remember her name, but anyway, Uh, it was great, it was great. That's my favorite one by far. But I will say this remakes with an agenda like we're gonna make it because we want to feature a. Race, right, right, likes are frustrating, which but that. That was the remake of Father of the Bride. It was a Hispanic one, right or Ghostbusters all female version, right, remember that that was a horrible remake. Horrible, And there was like there was Annie remake. Was yeah, when it has African America, they're not remaking the movie. They're they're using the movie as a platform to push a new agenda or some other agenda. That's just it's it's like yawn. The African American Annie was horrific. Uh right, So remakes with a gender are terrible, but but half the remake that I know of are fantastic. Bill Murray, that's who played Blue in the in the newest version of the Jungle Book. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I promise you must not have seen that one, huh, because you would love it, Bill Murray, Bill Murray. Bill Murray was brilliant in it. I saw it, really, I promise you. Are you serious? I promise you. Well, then you have bad taste of movies. Chris. Uh, that is very far from the truth. I'm standing on that one, and I'm not wavering. That is true. People. Yeah, that's really funny, all right, I'm joking. Okay, Well, I think we're moving on. Then there are those are two big ideas, yes right there just too well okay, well then today we are pivoting into. Kathy Bates any nineteen ninety nine. I was thinking of Kathy bit it's this one. Okay, then and then what's your name? Who sings on Wicked? She was Glinda? Okay, what's your name? Christian? Yeah? Yeah? Wo okay, Well we are in Matthew chapter five Versus twenty one through twenty six. And this is kind of jumping off of where Jesus says in the Beatitudes Blessed are those, or blessed are you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and south sorts of evil things against you, because you're my followers, right, gotcha? And in Matthew five nope, wrong, one, seven, seven, thirteen. Yeah, that's where I'm at. It says Jesus says, you can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to Hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way, but the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. And I think that this passage was chosen in the context of persecution because this is essentially why persecution happens. Is it's very narrow gait to get to Heaven. It's very wide leading away, and the majority of the world is heading away from God. And Jesus says, at one point, they're gonna hate you because they hate me, And all of a sudden, what happens is when you're heading towards the narrow gate. You're swimming upstream and it becomes very noticeable and people get aggressive about that. I think that's why this was chosen that way, is you're going against what most people, you know, the general belief and popular things. Your path is going against the popular path. Yeah. I agree. And by the way, oh no, you're you're gonna you're gonna get You're gonna get us canceled now to pay royalties. Hey, I say it, last book. Facebook is going to cancel it. I sang it last time. You figured i'd played the chorus. That's all just the one line, people, just the one line. But uh, the uh. You know what, I've always thought of this as so to be honest, discouraging, you know, just just to know that, like there's a wide gate, it's so much more popular to reject Christ right, and and how people it says it says the narrow gate. And I started to think about volumes of people. That's when I get discouraged, right, I think about like how many people are going to heaven, how many people are going to Hell? The Bible talks about Hell being a very real place, although our culture doesn't want to talk about hell. They want to eliminate hell. They want to be nice, get all the benefits of heaven and none of the responsibility of hell. Yeah and so and so, Like I think of volume. But then at the same time I start to interpret this passage, perhaps not just in terms of volume, but when it's says narrow gate, narrow gate meaning that that it's it's easier to just be selfish. It's easier to you know, live your own way and deny that God exists, or if even if you believe he exists, to ignore him. And but yet it takes you know, intentionality, and it takes you know, you know, just a little bit of a little bit of denying yourself of pleasures, denying yourself of the selfish you know, care free living. Right, there's there's a denying part of their right to say, hey, I choose Christ. I choose Christ over what I want to do. Right. So I started thinking about it that way, and I start to get maybe a little bit more encouraged that maybe the narrow gate doesn't mean the majority of all people are going to Hell, but rather it's just harder to get into Heaven than it is to go the other way. In terms of difficulty. Yeah, yeah, Well, the wide path doesn't require any choice at all. There's no decision, there's no repentance necessary, and repentance just means changing your mind, right, making a decision to go to the other opposite direction. So the current, you know, if you're just going with life, I'm just winging it. I'm just going with the flow, right. I don't know what you can believe about that stuff, So I'm not going to make any choice at all. When you choose not to make a choice, you've made a choice, and that is just to just go with the flow with life. And that is the way most people just live their life. I don't know what you can believe, and I'm not going to do the heavy lifting to figure it out. They just float along. And so when Jesus says it's a narrow way, he's not saying it's hard. He's just saying, you can't go with the flow. There has to be a conscious choice to repent, to change the direction you were going and come my direction. And that is and then he says, I'm the only way, right, I'm the gate John chapter ten, he talks about that rate before he says the thief comes only to steel, kill and destroy. He says, I'm the narrow Gate, and if you come through me me, you'll have access to God and you'll be able to come and go freely and you'll be safe. That's what he says in John ten. And then he says, it's in that context the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came so that they would have life, and that they would have it to the full. They'd have abundant life. So on one side, just the simple words narrow gate, broadgate, it seems like the broad gate would be better, narrow gate would be worse. But what Jesus is saying is the life you want, the freedom you want, the support you want, the full life, the joy that you're looking for, that's through me. And just trust me. If you do what everybody else is doing, you're gonna get the same results Everybil's kids. But if you want things to be different, if you want it better, Because how many people do you know that are just completely filled with joy, They have so much peace, that their life is overwhelmed with love, that they just feel so blessed all the time. Right now, many most people are just slogging through life trying to figure it out. Right, take care of the old lady, pay the bills, do the whatever, right, run around me and the kids are fighting me and my mom's fighting whatever. I got that stupid boss at work. Gotta pay the bills. That's what. That's how most people feel their life. And then you have these moments that are good hahaha, laugh, have a little bit of fun. You go out on Friday night, maybe every once in a while, you get to go on a vacation, you're in paradise. You immediately start thinking, man, this is the life I look forward to someday when I can retire. You get the sixty seven, You retire your golf for two years to find out you have cancer. Right, That's that's what. And then life is one hundred percent terminal. Everybody has little glimpses of paradise and then dies. Yep, and Jesus is saying, if you go the same direction everybody else goes, you're gonna get the same results everybody else gets. And that's the way most people live their life. Little glimpses of heaven and death or little glipses of paradise. And Jesus, listen, I can give you a full, abundant life now. But you have to decide you're willing to go the opposite direction from the rest of the world. And it seems narrow, But I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No one comes with the Father except through me, is what he says. And then you're gonna find all the life you're looking for. And I would say that's true. Hey, Christians die too, But people who are really dialed into Jesus, really growing in their faith, some of the most satisfied people, some of the most joyful people I've ever known, are the most mature Christians. I'm not just saying generic Christians. I know tons of miserable Christians, but the Christians who really have worked at being mature, godly Christians. Whether it's in the storm or it's on the mountaintop or in the bottom of the valley, whether it's smooth sailing or hard sailing, they just have this joy and this peace and this confidence. They're like zen masters compared to the rest of us, just walking through life, and it doesn't seem to affect them like it affects us, you know, the regular person. And it's because they've really into what Jesus is saying. Here, listen, you come my way and I'll give you that full life. Yeah yeah, you don't go part way. Another way that this visual aid is effective is like, I try to think of it this way. There's many ways to go to hell. There's only one way to get to heaven. Yeah. Right, So it was all the ways go to hell except the one way to have it. That's right. That's all of them. That's all of them go that way. Only one goes that way. Yeah. Well, it's that verse you quoted, right, John fourteen six where he says Jesus says, I am the way the truth in the life. No man comes to Father except for me. So when he says the narrow gate, and by the way, the narrow gate, people people were very familiar with the width of gates, right. So that's why Jesus was talking about a camel going through the eye of a needle. He was talking about a gate. And you know there were gates and cities. There was gates and for sheep and pens. I mean, you know people used gates. Well, they still use gates today, but not like they did back then. Right. Gates were very even symbolic. Right, been in different places around the world, in walled cities where the gates were over a thousand years old, right, And they would have some that were great, big, and they would just throw them open and it was come and go through the day. But then at nighttime they would close them and just leave a very narrow gate, a small gate inside the big gate that was then individual people could pass through. You couldn't bring anything else with you, right. Yeah, Yeah, I actually love the fact that when Jesus claims to be you know, the only way that it is. You know, I always liken it to my previous life because my previous life I was in sales, right. Oh yeah. I worked for like five different companies and they were selling things, no. Six, six different companies where I sold completely different things. I've sold rain soft water purification systems residentially. I've sold MCI long distance, i sold pre owned cars, I've sold credit cards on the phone, old car washes at car wash companies. Okay, and then there's one other thing that I sold, oh tech Maatic adjustable beds. Okay, I showed. Yeah, I sold six things, and I was so good at all of it. I was such a good salesman and every company. I was number one. I hate to say it that way, but I was, and I made a ton of money. And then when God called me in a ministry, I think to myself, I'm still doing the same thing. I'm actually selling Jesus. And the only difference is ready for this. It's free. It's the best deal of all. I thought, Jesus, if I thought I was good at the other stuff, pushing this deal is the best deal of all because it's free. Everybody gets in the same way. Everybody's invited, everybody can meet the requirements, and it's it's the best possible benefits with with with with the least amount of requirements other than just grace by faith right belief, and so you know, to turn from your sins, to agree with God, to repent, to call him Lord of your life, and to believe in trust in his sacrifice. Yeah, the ownership of it's expensive. Acquiring it's not. Yes, right, then the ownership SI's so acquiring it a salvation by grace your faith. You receive it as a free gift. That's right, That's it. Yeah, that's what I was talking about. Best deal ever. Now, owning it is just simply take up your cross and follow me. That's all. Yeah, that's all. I did a whole message one time. I did a whole message one time, and I talked about I said, God doesn't want much. And then I start going through all the things that God wants. I go, oh, yeah, I said, God doesn't want much. You know. He wants my tithe, He wants all of my service. He wants him to be the final authority of every single area of my life. He wants control over his will, not mine. He wants me to run every decision by him. He wants you to make sure I'm in his will and not mine. And I just I kept on going through the list of like, oh yeah, God doesn't want much, you know, and. He only wants one hundred percent of your love, your thoughts, and your actions for the rest of your life. That's all he wants, right right and then and then uh, and so I built this case on at tention side of like this is what God wants from us, And then I built the case of like why would we do that? And and why would God asks us asks us of that? And basically I talked about it's that same idea that it's actually for our benefit, you know, his glory and our benefit. And so I came to the conclusion and I remember, I still remember the point of that sermon, and the point of the sermon is, no matter the cost, Jesus is worth the price. Right, So, no matter the cost, our personal cost, no matter the cost, Jesus is worth the price because of the benefits. Right. So, so yeah, that's that's what that to me feels like. It's that that I think of almost all of that. When he says the road and the gate is narrow, you know, it's just it's so encompassing, right for those who have who followed Christ for a long time, for those who understand, you know what God asks of us, just like you said, take up your cross and follow me, Holy cow, take up your cross. You realize the visual aid and the word picture of that, the metaphor right to take your cross, and it would it would almost typically always be the crossbeam of the cross, right, you know which Jesus. They estimated his cross beam weigh one hundred and ten pounds carrying up the cross of Calvary up the hill and excuse me, they have the hill. And then we'll just walking through the city streets, the city streets and Jerusalem are up and down. Yeah, we did you. Walk out of the city, do it? Did you walk to Viadelorosa up to the hill? And at least it depends on which hill it is, but right, very sure. Yeah, so that the Via della Rosa today is not the Villa del Rosa, but it's the idea you're walking through the streets of Jerusalem. Yes, yeah, yeah. But either way though, especially after you've been beaten and drift to being unrecognizable as a human means you've been beaten pretty good, right, right, and and so so through all of that and having blood loss and everything else, Jesus is able to do all that, and then he says, oh, yeah, you do the same, because, after all, we've all seen criminals hung on a cross. I'm not saying you and me, sure, I'm saying them the listeners, right, they've all seen criminals hung on the outskirts of the city. They've all seen that they've had to carry their own cross. Right, there's a payment for your actions, That's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, pay the price for following me. That's what you're saying. I mean that's a lot. It's significant. So this is I think the cause or the source. So just understand, if you ever face persecution for your faith, you have a boss who fires you because you're a Christian, or you're making godly choices. You have friends who stop being your friend over it. You know. I don't think it always requires, you know, physical attack against you, but it can happen. Sometimes you run a business and you take a biblical stand and suddenly it costs you in social media or something like that. Just understand it's happening because you're going the opposite direction of the mainstream. That's all right, and so we shouldn't be surprised by it. When it happens, you can have a confidence that, hey, I must be heading in the right direction. That's why he says you can count it as joy, right is it confirms the fact that you are heading towards Christ and that your commitment to Christ is as legit as you had hoped it was. You can't possibly know until you wind up being persecuted, until you face the trouble whether or not you know your faith is really what you believed it to be and as substantial as you thought it was. Going to be and so he says, hey, listen, I promise to bless you if you find yourself in a persecuted situation. It's not like, yay, I'm persecuted. But just know God's not going to be a debtor to you. He's not going to owe you. And so if suddenly you find yourself being persecuted for him, he says, just no, I am going to bless you beyond your comprehension. And that's okay, yeah, in this life or the next. Yeah, And it makes it it makes it a little bit more palatable when you go, hey, I'm pleasing God and he promises he'll bless me. I would rather have a little bit of struggle today and blessing an eternity than total comfort today and no real blessing in eternity. Right right, that's great. Well, Hey, that we talked about a lot there, did we Sure? Did we cover some ground? Yep for the two verses. So hey, that is it for today and hopefully we will see tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,