Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The few

DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
THE FEW

Matt 7:13-14
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
NIV


This may be the introduction to the following words about false teachers, bad and good trees and the corresponding fruit, and who will actually enter and who will not, yet we should take a look at these words alone as well. What is the difference between the narrow and the wide gate? Certainly the narrow gate leads to heaven and the wide one to hell and ultimately the lake of burning sulfur, which is the destruction he speaks of. This Greek word rendered destruction is in fact just that, completely destroyed, perish as John uses as opposed to eternal life in the famous passage 3:16. This reinforces our thoughts regarding the non-eternal existence of hell, as it is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, destroyed along with all those who refused to believe and traveled down that broad road to the wide gate. This narrow gate is for those who decide to believe. It is obvious we are actually few in number. This might bring us to consider that many who call themselves Christian are actually traveling the broad road to the wide gate. This thought comes to us from the following words of Jesus when he says that not everyone who says to him, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. We will get to those words in a few days, but for now we should consider this narrow road and narrow gate. The number who enter will be far less than those who don’t. Only a few will find it. Those are his words not ours. The question is are we the few? How can we be sure we are among the few? He goes on and speaks about the false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing. These are the preachers who so many people are being deceived by. Those who gather large congregations with their prosperity and feel good messages. How many believers have fallen prey to their false teaching? How many denominations spend more time on pinpointing their doctrine, then the truth? Can they all be right, and yet be so different in their belief? Jesus will tell us about knowing who is who by the fruit. What their lives produce, not physically, but spiritually. The pagans can produce much physical fruit, but only a few who walk that narrow road to the narrow gate produce good spiritual fruit. Just what number consists in that word, few? We remember one group that confessed they were the true ones and only 144,000 were going to get through that narrow gate. Then their numbers grew to more than that number and they have to revise their truth. There is but one truth and one narrow gate. The one and only path to it is Jesus. He is the truth, the light and the way to that narrow gate. It is not Jesus and something else. The Way is Jesus. We cannot get distracted by all the rules and regulations of man-made church. That is what the Pharisees were about. Their religiosity appeared good, but was in fact false in its premise. They looked to the law for their salvation, while the law pointed them to Jesus and their refused the narrow road for the one that leads to destruction. We have to be careful not to get caught up in the rules of church, or even denominationalism itself for then we would have to determine which of them is right, because with so many differences they all cannot be right. They all add something to Jesus. True, some are very close to the truth and we should not avoid attending, or fellowshipping with other who believe. But we must be diligent and vigilant in seeking the truth. The Holy Spirit is our only true leader in finding the truth. Every human leader of people may or not be one who is led by the Spirit. This is why he has given us the gift of discernment, to know which pastor is led of the Spirit and who is led by their own humanness which would then be false teaching. The road is wide, many will travel it, but only a few will find the narrow gate. Let us be among the few. 

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