Have you ever heard a statement of fact and your first reaction was, “Nah!” Well, try a couple of these on for size: A strawberry is not a berry. A banana is a berry. There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover all of North and South America in one foot of liquid. An octopus has three hearts.These facts may be disputed by our human ‘sensibilities.’ And you know what, this happens in the spiritual.
Take Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Mark Twain once said, “It ain’t those parts of the bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts I do understand.”
These words of Jesus are jarring, for they assault our natural sensibilities. And yet, they are truth…and we have to deal with them.
To borrow from one Francis Schaeffer, as believers in light of these words of Jesus, ‘how then shall we live?’
Share the gospel. Do the work of evangelism. Be a witness. Share the truth in love.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Peter, speaking to the Jewish religious leadership in Acts 4:12, stated, “Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Yes, narrow is the gate. Heaven is real. Hell is real. And everyone has a choice. This reality answers the why of evangelism. Therefore we should be compelled to share the gospel with people, giving them the opportunity to respond, even if that response is rejection.
As I was witnessing to a Jewish man just last week over lunch, he posed the question, ‘What about those who have never heard about Jesus?’ I responded: ‘But you have.’ I encouraged him to read the New Testament (he never had) and come to his own conclusion. I pray he will read, understand the gospel, receive Jesus, and enter the Kingdom of God!
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). – Jesus
