Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, `Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, `I don't know you or where you come from.'
- Luke 13:22-25
Here is an intriguing question: Since man is saved by grace and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9), why did Jesus say to "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door?"
Just to get an idea if anyone reads this thing, I will leave the question unanswered and invite your comments and discussion on the topic.
3 comments:
I don't know if I'm even close, but my thought is that Jesus may have meant that 'the narrow door' is like our walk with Christ and not our works. So by saying "make every effort to enter through the narrow door", Jesus meant that we should be constantly trying to strengthen our walk with Him?
A part of receiving God's grace is having faith in him. Faith and good works go together (James 2:14-26). We show gratitude to God for his grace by being obedient to his commands- Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself. If we are following those, we will do good works. How could we not? Ephesians 2:10 says For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us. Doing those is the least we can do for the undeserved grace. These works that God prepared for us are what narrows the door. They are the effort. Just accepting his grace is not enough-That's a broader door. Anyone can say that they have been saved by the grace of God. A narrower door is showing it--there's the effort part :) Would you let someone who says you're great but then disregards your rules live in your house? I don't think God will wither. Putting it all together--the grace and the good works will get us through the narrow door.
See-----someone reads this :)
I think we’re not just saved by grace, we are saved by grace through faith - they work together. And what is faith? A belief pattern. I believe that Jesus said this is true, I believe Jesus said this is false.
On a regular basis we are called to believe something that is contrary to our circumstances and inclination. And to me, that is the narrow door. Jesus loves me - deny all evidence and logic to the contrary!
Goods works are a by-product. Kind of like how plants and trees live and grow and seek the sun, but their main goal is to live, and get bigger. The fact that they produce oxygen - which keeps us all alive - well, that’s just a by-product. Bonus for us!
So, to follow that logic, the kingdom of God could be like a big sci-fi terraformer, we change the atmosphere around us with the love of Christ working in us first, then through us - giving life!
Oaks of righteousness for the display of His splendor!! Terraformers for Jesus!
2 Corinthians 2:14: Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
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