Choose the Gate First

Transcript

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[0:01] We're coming close to the end of our journey through the Sermon on the Mount. For the last several weeks, we've listened to Jesus' words as he's described exactly what it means to be a disciple of Christ. And here he sums it all up. There is a right way to go. And there is a wrong way to go.

[0:25] There are two gates to choose. There are two kinds of leaders to be or to follow. And there are two kinds of fruit a person can bear. And we don't tend to like messages like this. It feels exclusive. And it feels unwelcoming. In the world today, we try and stray away from preaching what's known as these fire and brimstone messages. Because we want to be inclusive. We want to be inclusive of all ideas and paths.

[1:01] But the least exclusive person to ever walk this planet was Jesus. And here he tells us as plainly and bluntly as he can that yes, there is a right way to heaven and there is a wrong way. Now, Jesus uses some powerful imagery.

[1:49] Thebroken broken passage. Now both of these gates were dated back to the time of Nehemiah, and both had well-known reputations to Jesus's original audience. This first gate is the water gate. This gate faced the east and is south of the current old city walls. So facing east is in and of itself an important kind of a concept regarding the end times for the people of Israel. They believed that the Messiah, God's chosen one, would return by entering Jerusalem from the east side of the city. So this gate is near the east side of the city, and that in and of itself tells us that it's important and good. The gate is also near the beginning of a new age. So this is the beginning of the new age. So this is the beginning of the new age. tunnel, and not just any tunnel, but a tunneled waterway. And this waterway was being fed by a spring. The path to this water was known to be narrow and confined, but it included the upper house of the king, the home of the high priest, and the ascent to the armory. It was near this water gate that Ezra read the law to the people. The gate was narrow, and perhaps it wasn't very easy to pass through, but it became a symbol of the reading of God's law, which perhaps was also

[3:30] not always easy to pass through. But once one did pass through the gate and walked the narrow, inclined path, there was that spring of fresh, clean, life-giving water that fed into the stream through the tunnel that brought life to the holy city of God's chosen people. As the path led to housing for royals and the upright in the community, though it came with its narrow challenges, it was also a freeing and a safe path to take.

[4:13] Now the other well-known gate we're going to talk about this morning... Actually, I wonder at this point if there are still kids watching. I know some of the kids leave after the children's sermon, but this might be the only time that they will remember hearing an adult talk about dung in church. And yes, this gate was known as the Dung Gate. It faced southwest, So already there's a significant cultural preference between the two, just in the way it faces. It faced southwest, and the Dung Gate, when one went through the Dung Gate, it was an easy gate to go through.

[5:05] I mean, right now you can tell you probably don't want to go through that gate. I wouldn't, just based on the name. But it was an easier gate to have access to, and it did, in fact, lead to a much wider, much easier to tread path.

[5:23] But the problem was that at the end of the path was the garbage dump in Hinnom Valley. And that is revealing enough. Nobody wants to end up at a garbage pit. Instead of... Instead of a cool, refreshing, cleansing pool of water.

[5:44] But this location symbolized really everything which God hates. And that is injustice to the vulnerable. In the days of King Manasseh, this is the spot where God's own chosen people performed child sacrifices and other appalling rituals.

[6:10] And so this spot was haunted with that. It was defined by the injustice that it had seen. And certainly, the business that would lead the people to an actual garbage dump wasn't profitable, good business. The path here may have been wide and easy to navigate, but it would have represented a certain slavery to a certain type of life's work or activities. So, how did it end up here?

[6:42] And it led to the place that was home to that which God despised. Now, as humans, we tend to want to choose the path of least resistance. But we're easily persuaded. It's why advertisers make these fun jingles for services that we don't really need and our consumer goods tend to get lost. We tend to come in these distractingly colorful packages.

[7:14] We are distracted by what looks good. We follow the leadership of the one who proclaims ease and prosperity. I remember very specifically in junior high when we elected our class president. There was this guy who offered to and promised to make sure that the school would have soda vending machines. Which was one, never actually going to happen. He couldn't promise that. But two, it was also completely unnecessary.

[7:48] There were so many other things that a school needs that he could have focused on. But it did win him an alarming amount of votes. Which only goes to show that we do like that wolf clothed in a lamb's disguise.

[8:06] And finally, we as humans tend to be fatally drawn to the world. We tend to be a little bit more of a ! But then if choosing the right path looked just as appealing as choosing the wrong path or felt just as appealing as choosing the wrong path.

[8:58] If following God's righteousness was just as easy as living by the vices of the world, We would honestly not need salvation from Christ. Choosing the path of righteousness is hard. In fact, on our own it's impossible. But that's why our salvation is so costly and so valuable. Because we couldn't earn it on our own by promising to perfectly walk the narrow path or to produce the right kind of fruit. Because we can't do that.

[9:34] And yet, doesn't Jesus also say, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. These passages don't contradict each other. These concepts don't contradict. Walking in the way of Christ is uncomfortable. And yet, listen to Galatians 5, 13-25.

[10:02] You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself.

[10:23] If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit. And the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

[10:56] The acts of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality. Impurity and debauchery. Idolatry and witchcraft. Hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage. Selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and enviness, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

[11:24] But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, and love. But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these such things there is no law.

[11:42] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

[12:10] Let usbroken tobroken kind of filth that can be found beyond the dumb gate. Those are worldly vices that are spelled out in Galatians 5, 19 through 21. A life lived apart from God and in the service to one's own self leads to injustice. And injustice to others is simply abhorrent to God. And so the choice is clear. There is a right path. One right narrow path to God and all that is good.

[13:10] And there is one albeit appealing on the surface path that leads away from him to suffering and to that which is miserable. Now in our passage today, Jesus lists two other choices we must make. The first is leadership.

[13:37] What kind of leaders will we be and what kind of leaders will we follow? Those are very necessary concepts as disciples of Christ. We do both. First we follow Christ's own leadership. And then we follow the leadership of others who follow Christ.

[14:02] And likewise we are leaders to others. But our leadership is tainted if we are not looking to Christ every step of the way. Now the second is very similarly related. And that is what kind of fruit must we eat from and what kind of fruit must we bear? And it all begins with the gate which we choose.

[14:32] A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit. We often say that God is good, and that's a common praise phrase. But do we often also stop in those moments to remember that goodness is God? Because I can say that you are a good person.

[15:01] But I cannot say that you are the very definition of good. I can only say that about God. God is good, and goodness is God. So if we are all trees growing on that wide and spacious path, apart from God's goodness, we cannot possibly bear good fruit. And let's go back to the last couple of verses in Galatians. Since we live by the Spirit, we will keep in step with the Spirit. Along that path, that narrow path that we have chosen, when we keep in step with the Spirit, that is when we can bear the good fruit.

[15:48] If we've chosen to enter through the narrow gate, if we've chosen to be a good person, if we've chosen to be disciples of Christ, then we will bear the fruit that is good and life-giving to ourselves and to others. Fruits like those we read in Galatians 5.

[16:06] But that's this daily decision we have to make. This daily decision that we have to say, I want to be a disciple of Christ. And a daily decision that we have to say, I want the Holy Spirit to guide me. Now the whole Sermon on the Mount really ties together here. If we want to walk the narrow path, being led by good leaders, being good leaders ourselves, and bearing good fruit for God's kingdom to others, then we must depend on Christ fully.

[16:40] We must be poor in spirit. We must be those who mourn for what is broken. We must be the meek and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful and the peaceful. We must be the peacemakers, even the persecuted, for the name of Christ. And we cannot truly be these things without fully depending on Him.

[17:04] Don't forget though, that before we walk that narrow and difficult path, we chose to go through the narrow gate. Now sometimes we interpret that last part of the verse backwards. We assume that the gate is heaven.

[17:26] But no, in both references, the gate is listed before the road is described. And just like the water gate and the dung gate, the same thing applies. First you go through the water gate out of the city. And once you go through that narrow gate, then you are led on the narrow and difficult trail. And with the dung gate, first you are in the city, then you go to the dung gate to come out of the city. And then there is a wide and spacious path toward that which is refused.

[18:11] The gate we go through is choosing or rejecting Christ. So we are not a works-based religion. We cannot earn our way to the narrow gate by first going to the narrow road. That's not how this works. Because if that was true, our salvation would be cheap, right? We could earn our way to Christ. But that is not the case. First we choose Christ, and then we walk the narrow path. And this is good.

[18:42] Because even once we choose to walk the path, things are difficult. We have choices to make. We have stumbling blocks. We see the bad fruit that looks good and we are tempted by it, even after we choose to follow Christ.

[18:58] But once we walk through that narrow gate and make that decision, the Holy Spirit helps us along the way. We do not have to be good and righteous of our own accord and then get to the gate. Because that would be impossible.

[19:18] We are tempted along the way. We make mistakes. And sometimes we stumble through the filth of life apart from Christ. But he will guide us if we just let him. Now the Christian life can be a difficult journey. We live in a fallen world corrupted by sin.

[19:41] All that we do is imperfect and astray. We struggle. We will make choices that affect the direction that we proceed in life and in our relationships. And in doing so, we affect others around us in the good ways and the bad.

[19:59] Yet when our efforts and motivations are centered upon being righteous in Christ and for the sake of God's kingdom, we will be doing exactly as we are called to do and even blessed for it. As Christ's disciples, we must be willing to be led by the truth of his word and by our faith and trust in him. Everything that is worthy and excellent requires more work. Even as we spend these next few weeks in our homes and in isolation, we can still be living by the Spirit every day. It feels like our path is a little cut off. But we can still make the most of that. And everything we do, whether it's getting our morning coffee or responding joyfully in the midst of a changing, confusing world situation, every single thing we do is a choice that we make to be a disciple of Christ.

[21:10] And it's a reflection on how we live today. Thebroken brokenbroken broken you have given us salvation. God, we thank you that you have given us a chance to be with you eternally. Lord, we pray that you would reveal to us those choices in our life where we are stumbling.

[22:02] God, we pray that you would help us to stay on that narrow path. We pray that you would lead us with your spirit in all things. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.