The Narrow Way: Walking in the Path of Life

I want to begin with a quote I came across just over a week ago. It has stayed with me ever since, and I have been praying that the Lord would help me find myself in the prayer of that saint. It comes from William Carey, and this is what he said: “I am not afraid of failure; I am afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter — of a success that doesn’t count in eternity.” Since the day I read it, it has become the prayer of my own life, and I want it to be your prayer today. A success that does not matter in the light of eternity is something we, as disciples of Jesus, should be afraid of.

So what are the things that really matter if we are going to live in the light of eternity? We study, we go to university, we go to work, we accumulate money, we make investments, we do so many things. But if our lives are going to count in the light of eternity, what are the areas that deserve our real focus? I cannot think of any passage more fitting than the first sermon of Jesus, found in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5, 6 and 7. We have only a few minutes, so let me read just two verses, chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, the conclusion of that first sermon: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Some have called the Sermon on the Mount the manual of kingdom living, and over the centuries people have taken it very differently. George Bernard Shaw dismissed it as nothing but “an impractical outburst of anarchism and sentimentality” — forget the sermon, he said, nobody can live it. Many have said similar things: live like this, beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and “do not store up treasures on earth” — who can live like that? It is good and idealistic, they say, but impossible. And yet we know that many people, including the father of our nation, were deeply impressed by this sermon, and it has changed lives. The common understanding is that this is the best known, least understood, and least practiced sermon that ever came from the mouth of Jesus.

What are we going to do with these three chapters? If you check your Bible, I am sure most of you have certain verses marked — “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” But there are many other things Jesus said that are deeply disturbing, and the end of the sermon is this narrow way, this small gate. I am inviting you to look at it closely, because the way Jesus ended carries profound importance in the light of eternity. From chapter 7, verse 13 onward, there are four sets of contrasting choices. That is a very different way to end a sermon. We are taught that the last few minutes are the climax, where you stir people’s emotions, they respond, and you walk away feeling your sermon was effective. But Jesus ended his first sermon with four contrasts: a small gate and a wide gate; a good tree and a bad tree; a true disciple and a false disciple; a house built with a foundation and one built without.

And all four point to eternal consequences. That is why this sermon is so serious. In the first contrast, if you take the broad way, you will end up in destruction — an eternal consequence. In the matter of the trees, this is not something to consider later, because the tree that bears no fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In the third contrast, the false disciple cries, “Lord, Lord,” but Jesus says, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” — again, eternal consequence. And the last contrast, the house without a foundation: the language is one of judgment — the wind blows, the floods come, and the building collapses; it will not stand on the day of judgment. All four choices touch our eternity. So I invite you again: do not miss a word. Give your undivided attention to what Jesus has to tell us about living a life that counts in eternity.

That word “narrow.” Do you like it? Personally, I do not. If someone in Bangalore tells you an address is on a tenth lane, immediately you wonder whether it is a narrow lane — should I take my car, or should I call an Uber? We don’t like narrow ways. Have you heard people judge others by saying, “Come on, grow up, you are so narrow-minded”? The word has an ugly tone to it. We don’t like narrow bridges or narrow-mindedness; we admire people who think broad, who think outside the box. So how will you make the choice of verse 13 to enter through what is narrow, difficult and unimpressive?

Look at the contrasts within verses 13 and 14: a narrow gate versus a wide gate, a difficult path versus an easy path, life versus destruction, few versus many. It is all about choices — and unimpressive ones. If I stood before these two gates in my sound mind, and I were not thinking of eternity, I would prefer the wide gate every time. The word translated “narrow” carries the sense of pressure; it will be genuinely difficult. And only a few will travel this way; the majority will not. If you look at the parallel passage in Luke 13:24, there is an extra word. Here Jesus simply commands, “Enter through the narrow gate.” But in Luke it says “strive” — in the original, to agonize, to enter. We have to cry, to weep, to mourn before the Lord, “Lord, I really want to enter.” As Maxwell said, the choices we make eventually make us. Confronted by the first message of Jesus, we must make that choice today, and that choice will make us.

So what is this narrow gate all about? I want to leave you with four things, drawn from the first sermon, to unpack this conclusion. There is a verse that acts like a key to unlock the whole Sermon on the Mount, and that is chapter 5, verse 20: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” My first impression was that this sermon contrasts believers with non-believers, disciples with the people of the world — that I am on the narrow path while everyone else streams through the broad gate. But the more time I spent here, the more I was corrected. This is not disciple versus crowd, nor believer versus unbeliever. This is true believers versus hypocritical believers. It is about professing Christians, those who all say “Jesus, Jesus.” In that sense, it is about us. Even in this hall today, we have taken one of two gates, and we must discern for ourselves which.

Notice that your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law — the elite, spiritual ones of Jesus’ day, not the crowd or the people of the world. What does “surpass” mean? It does not mean they scored ninety out of a hundred and you must score ninety-five, as though there were a quantitative threshold. It is a qualitative surpassing. The first mark of the narrow way is that it is the way of surpassing righteousness.

Right after this, Jesus begins, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago.” Who said it? Moses said it, to Israel — a spirituality defined by Moses and the law. “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” That is the broad way: as long as I have not killed anyone, I am righteous. But Jesus says, “But I tell you” — in the narrow way, even anger must be checked. It is murder versus anger. A man in the old covenant could commit verbal murder, destroying someone with his words, and still call himself righteous because he had not literally killed. The narrow way confronts even that anger, because it is a matter of attitude, not quantity. It is not about adding a fourth day of fasting or reading more chapters; it is about a disposition of the heart.

And see what Jesus says next, in verse 23: “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you” — notice, not that you have offended them, but that they hold something against you — the broad-way principle would be to finish the service, take a deep breath, and think about it later. But the narrow-way principle is to stop the worship, leave your gift there, go and be reconciled first, and only then come and offer your gift. It is about the attitude with which we come into the presence of God. The narrow way will not let me sing while I know that someone has something against me — the person who would not look at my face these last few days, who would not shake my hand, who chose another seat rather than sit beside me. Going after that person to reconcile is the narrow and difficult path Jesus calls us to, and if we miss it we are failing to become like the children of God, with lasting eternal consequences.

I do not believe it is by chance that you are hearing this today. The Holy Spirit — not I — will remind some of you right now of the person you need to reconcile with. If there is even one person under the sun you are not on speaking terms with, where hard words have broken the relationship, the word of Jesus says: enter through the narrow gate. Take the step. Go and be reconciled first, take the initiative this week, this very afternoon, and then come and worship — for that worship is a pleasing aroma to God.

Then Jesus moves on. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’” Just as there is verbal murder, there is mental adultery. On the broad way, only the act mattered; but in the narrow, difficult path it is lust, the very thought, that must be arrested. It is adultery versus lust, just as it was murder versus anger. Third, in chapter 5, verse 31, the matter of divorce. Moses permitted it because of the hardness of your hearts — at least give a certificate and let the other person go free to make her own choice. But Jesus says, except for sexual immorality, do not divorce; the permanence of marriage is the narrow way. It is not about our preferences but about our attitude — seeing that our decision will break another person’s life. Anger versus murder, lust versus adultery, divorce versus unconditional love.

Fourth, the matter of oaths. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not break your oath.’” People had so many ways to manipulate this, claiming an oath made on the temple was binding but one made elsewhere could be changed, with elaborate rules about which made a vow binding. That is the broad way. The narrow way is simply: let your yes be yes and your no be no. And fifth, in verse 38, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” Moses gave this as a limit on justice — do not over-retaliate, do not take a kidney because your eye was struck. But Jesus says, in verse 39, “Do not resist an evil person.” When people offend you, let there be mercy rather than vengeance. Think about it, dear people of God — just as William Carey feared succeeding at things that do not count in eternity, are we succeeding in everything else while missing what Jesus said about our attitude and our relationships: about verbal murder, mental adultery, keeping our word, the permanence of marriage, and refusing retaliation in order to love?

Then comes the sixth contrast. Jesus said, “You have heard, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” But search through all thirty-nine books and you will never find “hate your enemy.” That was added by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who thought God was like them and had him in their pocket. Scripture says, “Love your neighbor”; the rest they added. And Jesus says, “Love your enemy” — otherwise, what is the difference between you and everyone else? This is the small gate, the difficult path. In fact, if you search these three chapters, you will find another set of ten commandments, given from another mountain. Mountains matter in Matthew — the mountain of temptation, the mountain of transfiguration, the mountain of commissioning — and here, on this mountain in chapter 5, just as Moses gave ten commandments, Jesus gives ten: you shall not commit verbal murder; you shall not commit mental adultery; you shall not divorce; you shall not make manipulative vows; you shall not seek personal retribution; you shall not hate your enemies; you shall not perform religious duties to gain temporary human approval; you shall not be anxious over things; you shall not be judgmental or naive in your estimate of fellow humans; and you shall not avoid prayer because you doubt God’s goodness. That is the essence of the Sermon on the Mount.

Now notice the link to the second mark of the narrow way. In verse 15 Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets.” What is the connection between the narrow gate and false prophets? Who do you think made the path broad? It was the false prophets, the ones who never corrected us. Their message was always, “God wants you to be the head and not the tail; God wants you to succeed in business; you will be a conqueror” — no correction, no reflection on a Christ-like attitude, no challenge to our ambitions and desires. They will make you feel you are on the narrow gate while you are actually enjoying the easy path. Jeremiah warned of the same thing: the false prophets of his day were proclaiming “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace — when the person was inwardly destroyed, with destructive patterns and broken relationships, and still they said, “You will be a success.” Peace where there is no peace is the mark of a false prophet; they push you onto the broad way, and at the end you reap destruction. How we need true prophets in the house of God — where you hear a sermon and your itching ears are not merely fed, but at the end you are challenged and brought to a place where you say, “Lord, I need to reconcile.”

So the first mark of the narrow way is surpassing righteousness; the second is producing lasting fruit. Look at chapter 7, verses 17 to 19: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” I think it is deliberate that Jesus speaks of the tree producing fruit, because in the narrow way there is a contrast between fruit and works. What counts is not the works we do to impress others, but the fruit that comes out of an abiding relationship with Jesus. That is why, in chapter 6, Jesus said that when you pray, go into your room and shut the door. Prayer as a work can be performed to impress others, but the prayer Jesus envisions in the narrow way is the one you offer because you have an abiding relationship — early in the morning, where no one is watching and you are impressing nobody, yet you cannot start the day without spending a few minutes with your Savior. On the broad way there is also fasting and prayer, but it is all done to be seen. Let the tree be good, and the fruit will follow — fruit that comes out of love and that lasts into eternity. All the other fasting and praying will be burned up on that day, because it was only for the honor and applause of people.

This second mark is more about being than doing — being is more important than doing. It is fruit versus works. It is not about how many chapters you have read; if you read only two verses, but they come out of a relationship with Jesus, that is what counts in eternity. That is the sign that you are walking on the narrow and difficult path: an inward attitude.

The third mark is that the narrow way is the way of knowing Jesus. How I wish I could stress this. You might say, “We all know Jesus — that is why we are here.” But in Philippians 3 you find a pastor crying out — not a fresh Bible-college graduate, but a man who had planted many churches and made many mission trips — and his prayer is, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.” What is the connection with this chapter? Look at chapter 7, verse 21 onward, the third contrast. The first was about two ways; the second about two trees, false prophet and true; here it is about two disciples, both of whom say, “Lord, Lord.” Both claim, “In your name we drove out demons, in your name we performed many miracles, in your name we did so many things.” But Jesus says in verse 23, “Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you.” On that day, life or destruction depends on how well we know him and how he knows us.

Notice that “I never knew you” is a surprise spoken not to unbelievers but to missionaries, prophets, teachers, pastors — believers caught up in the charismatic. All three claims come from preachers, not from the world: “in your name we cast out, we prophesied, we did miracles.” And still, “I never knew you.” So my prayer today is that all of us, including the preacher, would walk out of this place with a renewed commitment: I want to be on the path of surpassing righteousness, attending to my inward attitude; I want to be a good tree, because being is more important than doing; and above all I want to know him, not merely point to what I preached or healed.

Fourthly and lastly, the narrow way is the way of obedience, even in the smallest things. Look at the house with a foundation and the house without one. In chapter 7, one phrase is repeated in verses 24 and 26: “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.” That practice is the foundation. The question is not, “Did you come to church today?” nor even, “Did you hear the message?” Hearing is important, but you can stop after hearing — and that is the broad way: “The message was very nice today.” But how did it translate into your life? Obedience is the narrow way; obedience is the small gate.

If I bring this to a conclusion, here is what Jesus said: it is not external, it is inward attitude; it is not rituals, it is relationship; it is not what you do, it is who you are. It is not about what you show outside a building, but about your obedience in the secret and private places where no one sees you. That obedience is what counts. And at the end Jesus says, in chapter 5, verse 48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” — be complete — which is his invitation to come and have a relationship with him. In relationship your attitude is challenged and transformed; ritual can neither cleanse nor change us. That is why, in chapter 6, verse 9, Jesus said that when you pray, do not be like them; rather begin, “Our Father in heaven.” The Father’s life will change my inward attitude, the Father’s priorities will reshape my desires and ambitions, and the Father’s life will give me a foundation to obey, just as Jesus demonstrated. In one word, what Jesus expects is a whole commitment. Enter through the narrow gate.

Let me leave you with a story. John Hawksworth came from England all the way to the southern tip of India, to Kerala, very near my own house. When he was a ten-year-old boy, there was an offering being gathered, and the boy had nothing of his own to give. So he asked the adults to lower him down — “lower it, lower it” — until he himself climbed into the offering box, and he said, “All I have is yours.” That is the kind of commitment Jesus expects. Let us not fool ourselves, coming on Sunday and picking and choosing our favorite verses. The whole message of Jesus is about surpassing righteousness in the sense of inward transformation, about producing lasting fruit, about a relationship rather than mere confession, and about obedience.

If you want to make a commitment before the Lord today, understand that this sermon is not about “see you next Sunday, everything is fine.” It is about taking stock of your life. What does Jesus mean to you? Has he shaped every area of your life? Is eternity stamped on your eyeballs, so that you see it everywhere and align your life in its light? Is that already your lifestyle, or do you sense, “No, I need to change several areas and priorities; I have to come back to the word of God; I have to come back to Jesus”? Enter through the narrow gate — for narrow is the way, and it leads to life.