It’s Not About Them, It’s About You - Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 24^th, A+D 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota    
It’s Not About Them, It’s About You 
Luke 13:22-30
 

Sermon Audio available HERE.  

It’s not about them, it’s about you. 

     The followers of Jesus, both ancient and modern, enjoy talking about the Church, in general terms that is, about how things are going in the big picture.  We like to discuss whether the Church has a future in our nation, or how the worldwide missionary struggle between Islam and Christianity will play out.  Or, as in the case of our Gospel reading this morning, we may enjoy speculating about just how many people, how many of “them” will be saved, how many of all the people out there will actually make it into heaven.   

     But, it’s not about them, it’s about you.  Asking broad general questions about the state of the Church may give us the feeling we are being religious.  Such an interest is hard to knock; after all, these are important questions, right?  We really are concerned, aren’t we?  We would never ask vague general questions to distract the teacher and prevent him from asking us more difficult, pointed, personal questions, would we?  We wouldn’t try to get the conversation off track, down some rabbit trail, to avoid having to answer questions about ourselves, would we?

     Jesus seems to think some people might do so, because He doesn’t even begin to answer the unnamed villager who asks,  “Lord, will those being saved be few?”  Jesus ignores the question and instead responds by addressing the crowd:  “You, all of you, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

     Ah, c’mon Jesus, don’t get so personal.  I don’t want to talk about my salvation status, that’s no fun.  We’re more comfortable with broad questions, like “What’s the final number?  Are they going to get in?  What about them?  What about the Roman Catholic Church, will their scandals finally bring them down, or will the new Chicago Pope lead them to resurgence?  What’s going to be the fate of the Episcopalians, or the ELCA?  Who’s going to make the cut?” 

     It’s not about “them,” it’s about you.  Jesus says to the crowd, and to you and me:  “Before you worry about the whole world, about those nameless people out there, you should rather be concerned for yourself, and seek to enter through the narrow door.”  Christians rightly have a concern for the salvation of souls, of this person or that individual.  But, how many or who out of people in general are going to be saved shouldn’t be your first concern.  No, first you strive to enter the narrow door.  Because, as Jesus warns, “once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, if at that time you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.”  

   With this closed door warning, Jesus is referring to the Last Day, when He will return, visibly, one last time, to judge the living and the dead, and usher His faithful ones through the narrow door into eternal joy, eternal glory, forever and ever life, with God, in paradise.  Being shut out happens to those who are not ready on the Last Day, and we don’t want to be in that group.  Because all who are not ready will be shut out, banished to the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

     Followers of Jesus like to talk about the state and future of the Church, in general, especially if this also gives us the chance to engage in some hand wringing and tisk-tisking over the sad state of affairs today: how nobody’s faithful, and parents aren’t doing their job, and our nation is going to hell in a hand basket.  We do a fair bit of this at the ORLC Manly Men’s Breakfast, and chatting after service on Sundays, and wherever else Christians talk to each other.  To such thinking, 2,000 years ago, and today, Jesus says:  “Don’t spend your time speculating about the final number of Christians in heaven; rather, you strive to enter the narrow door.” 

     Jesus raises some questions we should wrestle with this morning: Why does Jesus ignore the “final tally of heaven” question of our unknown villager, insisting instead on making this a personal conversation about your salvation, and mine?  And what does He mean, strive to enter the narrow door?  Do we need to get skinnier, and if so, in what way?  What does this mean for the end of my life, the end of the world?  What does this mean for my today, and my tomorrow?    

     First off, Jesus is dispelling any Entitlement Myths that might be lingering in the hearts and minds of His hearers.  The Jews were famous for thinking that just because they were members of the tribe of Judah, they would be saved.  They had it all wrong.  Being a Jew, an Israelite, a descendent of Abraham, was a blessing, a good start toward reconciliation with God.  But merely being an Israelite, outwardly, by virtue of race, does not mean one is going to be saved.  The Lord did and does desire to save all the biological descendants of Abraham, as He desires to save all people, all the descendants of Adam and Eve.  But, a true Israelite was and is anyone who shares the faith of Abraham, not his bloodline. 

   The biological descendants of Abraham had the opportunity to hear the same Word of Promise that Abraham heard and spoke, the Word of Promise by which God creates faith in the coming Savior.  Sharing the faith of Abraham in the promised Messiah is what makes one a true Jew or true Israelite.  The Bible is clear: descent from good Jewish stock without faith in the promised Messiah has never done and never will do anything for anyone’s salvation.  No one is entitled to be saved, no one gets saved by who their parents are, or by association.  Salvation is always personal, always individual, always by the Word of Christ creating faith in the individual sinner.  It is faith in Christ, and faith alone, which makes one a member of the Church, part of God’s family.  Christ is the glue that binds His people together.  Without true repentant faith in Him, we are lost.  Merely appearing outwardly to be part of the Church does no good. 

     Thankfully, no one thinks like those first century Jews anymore.  Do they?  None of us thinks that merely by our outward association with the Church we are guaranteed to be saved, do we?   None of you think your name, or the name of your loved one being written in the parish record book in the Church office is what saves, do you?  If you think this way, repent of your foolishness, or you will end up knocking at the closed and locked door, wondering why you can’t get in. 

   Jesus is clear: the door is narrow.  So you need to be skinny, spiritually speaking, to make it through.  And our Lord isn’t talking about “Body Mass Index.”  He is saying that sin is a burden, a weight that hangs on you, and makes you too wide to pass through the narrow door.  Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect, that’s the standard, that’s the spiritual skinniness that entering through the narrow door requires.    

   And it’s not just about the Last Day, either.  Sin does terrible damage, right now, and God hates that.  Shedding the pounds of sin that cling to you is good for your life.  Being a better person is good for you, and your family, good for your friends and neighbors.  Doing or avoiding the things God commands and forbids in the 10 Commandments, like maintaining an active and faithful relationship with God, honoring your parents, not murdering, not sleeping around or consuming pornography, not stealing, not gossiping, all these things make for a better life.  Pursuing the priorities that the Lord has given humanity will produce benefits in your life.  We are to have God’s priorities, like putting your relationship with Him first, and so setting aside significant time for worship, on Sunday and during the week.  Or like focusing on loving your family, believing that children are a blessing, more important than career and wealth.  Seeking the good of your neighbor instead of only looking out for yourself, instead of only serving your own appetites.  All of these Godly habits will bring blessing, to you, and to others.  

    Getting spiritually skinny by fleeing from and resisting temptations to sin is also good for our witness as Church.  The world is very skeptical of the Christian message, and all the more so when they see a Christian who calls for living a moral life, but then lives just like everybody else, or worse.  The Church’s witness is terribly damaged when Christians are revealed to be secretly pursuing sin, carnal, hurtful sins, sins clearly against the Word of Christ. 

     But, when Christians can embrace the family and the creation in the way God designed them, when we build our weekly life from and around God’s Word and Supper, when our efforts to be spiritually skinny make us actually different, we will be blessed.  And, some souls around us in the world will notice.  Some people burned out by the gods of consumption, sexual madness, and hyper-individuality will notice when Christians live differently, and seem to have a peace that they lack.  They will want to know what’s going on.  Plain old Christian piety is strange to many, sadly including to some inside the visible Church.  But such strange souls know where true riches are found, and others will want to learn. 

    Of course, getting skinny to sin is also important, because living as though my sins don’t matter is dangerous.  Sin that is ignored is corrosive to faith.  As Jesus teaches in the parable of the seed sown in rocky ground or amongst the thorns, we all know people who came to confess the faith, who were part of our congregation, but the cares, pleasures, sins and distractions of life in this world led them to drift away.  Perhaps slowly at first, but eventually the priorities of the world took first place, and the priorities of God were forgotten. 

    If you ask them, such folks might still say they are a Christian.  Politeness and our desire not to deal with tough subjects might lead us to nod and smile and accept their claim.  But, despite what they claim, their absence from the gathering where Jesus distributes His gifts tells a different story.  When we believe Christ’s Word, that He comes to us to deliver His gifts of forgiveness and new life, here, then our faith will lead us to come here. 

    God help us to truly love our drifting brothers and sisters, by gently reminding them that the Lord has called them into His Church, which is not a membership card to be carried in a wallet, pulled out when needed to prove one’s status.  Rather, Church means an assembly, a gathering, the Assembly of the firstborn, who gather around Jesus to be showered with His sprinkled blood, because that’s where we access His new life.  

    The priority and necessity of individual faith makes growing the Church a strange endeavor.  God’s goal is to bring souls into His family, into a community knitted together by the forgiving blood of Jesus.  But, since every descendant of Adam is a sinner on their own, naturally opposed to God and estranged from His Church, each one must be brought in, individually. 

    We pray for big conversion events, a new Pentecost with thousands being added at once.  But usually, the mission is a series of very small doings, a soul here, a family there.  And that’s o.k.  Consider for a moment that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the Creator and Savior of the world, nonetheless often ministered and preached to individuals: Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the Canaanite mother, Blind Bartimaeus.  Church building God’s way is so often one person at a time.  In this we see Jesus not worrying about how big the final number will be, but rather worrying about and serving the individual soul that is right in front of Him.  God grant us eyes and hearts to do the same.    

      The final purpose of Jesus calling on us to get skinny, spiritually, to strive to enter the narrow door, is to make it clear to us, again, that salvation is God’s work.  Which we know, right?  We aren’t going to forget that we are saved by God’s grace, working through His Word to create faith in His forgiving love, faith that makes us His children.  We couldn’t forget that, could we? 

    Of course we can.  Satan and the world whisper, or shout in our ears every day that you get what you pay for, that nothing is free, that a holy God couldn’t possibly just forgive, and welcome sinners into His family.  You have to earn everything, that’s the message that we hear all around us every day, and it makes sense to our natural way of thinking.   

    So, Jesus says, strive to enter the narrow door.  Get skinny, live rightly.  Because, along with all the very real benefits for daily life and for the mission of the Church that Christians behaving like Christians produces, it also brings us to repentance.  Please, do resolve to live the rest of this day without sin.  Replace the noise and distraction and sinful pleasures of this world with more of Christ’s Word, and more time and effort spent serving others.  Honestly pursue godliness, for blessing today, and to be reminded, again, that you need Jesus to get you through the door.  Nothing opens our eyes to our need for Christ’s forgiving love more than honestly trying to follow Him.  Because we soon realize that we cannot by our own reason and strength get skinny enough to fit through the narrow door. 

    And that’s when Christ reminds you that He is the door.  Your passage into heaven is Christ himself.  God’s requirement that you bring no sin into heaven is met when you trust in Christ and His forgiveness, and so receive His righteousness, His perfect goodness.  In the Father’s eyes the perfection you need is yours, in Jesus, your personal door into heaven. 

      Jesus built your door into heaven with a cross design in the middle.  He poured Himself into the making of it, body and soul, flesh and blood.  The locks came off the doorway to heaven forever when Jesus died and rose again for the forgiveness of all your sins.  You have not yet gotten rid of all your sin, but through your door that is Jesus, your sins are removed, forgiven, you pass through the gate with ease, guided and carried by the Spirit of Christ, welcomed at the door by your heavenly Father, who loves you and invites you to the feast, because you come to Him through His Son. 

      Jesus comes to you as your open door, taking your death, giving you His new life.  Focus on this Good News, first and always, and then your questions about the Church in general take on a new angle.  We still don’t know how many will be saved, but we do know that the blood of Jesus covers all sin.  And we do know that as we proclaim this Good News to each other, and to all people, the Spirit is at work.  Even through our words, God is working to enliven and strengthen our faith, and also to bring even more people through the door that is Jesus, crucified and resurrected.  He is the Door, the Way into heaven, for all who believe.  Amen.