We find Jesus making his way toward Jerusalem and in the process he is passing through towns and villages along the way.  His disciples pose a question to him that is not an uncommon one, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”  How many people will make heaven is a question many ask.  It seems we all want to know if heaven will be crowded or not.  Will my friends and loved ones make it?  What will the number be?

It is so easy to get sidetracked on our spiritual journey.  It seems the devil will use all in his power to distract us from our focus.  He will use even the most innocent question, how many will be saved, to turn us off track. 

For those of us in this country who are used to measuring success by the numbers this seems like an important question.  We are asking if Jesus ministry will be successful because numbers mean everything.  For us success is the goal and the gauge by which we measure success is how many people show up for the event.  When pastors get together one of the first questions is how many people in your congregation and then who many show up for worship.  It’s all about the numbers.

So Jesus, after a few years in ministry, what do the numbers for heaven look like?  The longer this goes on it appears that the attendance at your events is starting to fall off.  You have been getting a bit personal and the crowds are shrinking (John 6).  So what is your take on heaven?  Will the saved be only few in number?

The numbers question is the foundation on which much of the church growth movement is founded.  How do we market our congregation to appeal to the unsaved?  How do we adjust what we do on Sunday morning to make it user friendly?  What techniques do we need to apply to see the maximum number of people show up for service?

Let me say from the outset Jesus is about church growth.  After all he came to seek and to save the lost.  His whole purpose for coming has to do with growing and spreading the kingdom of God.  The church of God should increase in number.  Every living thing reproduces and grows and the church is not different.  So we must start with the premise that numbers are of some importance and they are also indicators, on some level, of success. But they are not the whole story nor should they be our focus.

Jesus doesn’t answer their question directly.  He turns them from the generic, will the saved be few in number, to a more personal concern.  He tells us instead of wondering about the numbers we should, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.”  What does it matter how many make heaven if you are left out is his question to us this morning.

He does say the way is narrow.  The warning is that the way of the majority is misleading.  We tend to go with the crowd.  We are conditioned to want to be in the majority to know what the popular position is.  The political world is obsessed with opinion polls.  We are led to believe that what the majority believes is always right.  When someone wants to prove a point they look to the polls to show that the vast numbers of people agree with them.  Jesus says, not so fast.  The way of truth, the way to heaven is narrow.  It is not the way of popular opinion.  You can’t jump on the heaven band wagon.  Therefore one must strive to make heaven.  It will take effort on one’s part to stay on the right path.

He also tells us that the door to heaven will not always stand open and not everyone who seeks to enter will make it.  That’s a bit unsettling isn’t it?  At some point the master of the house, God the Father, will shut the door.  “Now is the day of salvation,” we are told.  A narrow door that does not stay open indefinitely should cause us to stop and take seriously our walk with the Lord.       

When those seeking entrance knock on heavens door the Lord will answer them, “I do not know where you come from.”  This will take them by surprise because they have lived under the assumption that they belonged to God and everything was just fine.  Things are not always what they seem.

Notice their response to Jesus.  “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.”  Not a very convincing argument.  We were in your presence and you taught in our streets.  How many people come to church and go through the rituals and hear the word of God preached and taught?  How many even come to the table as a routine and not in faith?  How many sit through the reading of the word with their mind somewhere else?  Someone once said, “Believers obey God and those who obey God believe.”  Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”  Sitting in the presence of God, coming to church each week, and having the word of God read and preached in your presence is not necessarily a guarantee that one belongs to God.  The people who will knock on heavens door believed they were part of the kingdom and were shocked to fined out they were unknown by God.

Salvation is of God and God alone.  We were lost, dead in our sins and Jesus reached down and lifted us up and set us on the rock Christ Jesus.  That being said, the person who has new life in Jesus lives accordingly.  They, using Jesus’ word, strive to enter the narrow door.  Strive is a word that denotes effort, perseverance, struggle, endurance.  It is too easy to get caught up in the things of this world and just go along for the ride.

I have just finished a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer the great Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr of the last century.  What struck my in reading about the German church during the Second World War was how easy they were co-opted by Hitler and the Third Reich.  Through a lazy interpretation of Romans 13 they were swept along little by little, step by step until they were caught up in the world of Nazi Germany.  Even the Confessing Church was willing to make compromises for fear of the repercussions of following Jesus in an anti-Christian environment.

We live in such a world but our struggle is more subtle.  Our opposition is not a blatant.  It is more of a lure to the pleasures of life, an acceptance of obvious sin in the name of open mindedness, of not being judgmental.  We too can easily be pulled along through the wide door that leads to destruction and all the while being self-deceived into thinking all is well.  After all we sit in Jesus’ presence each week or a least most weeks and he teaches among us.

The problem with this response is that the people making it make no reference to their own actions.  At best they admit to sitting in Jesus presence and have Jesus preach in their town.  They don’t say how they responded to his teaching if at all.  Remember believers obey and those who obey believe.  The gospel message demands a response from us.  During the Third Reich there were a group of believers who said yes to Jesus and no to Hitler.  They choose the narrow door and some paid for it with their lives.  They were willing to say that no matter what the cost they were willing to follow Jesus.

Considering the pull of this world upon you are you will to follow Jesus is the question of our text this morning.  Jesus is telling us gathered here not to focus on the number of those who will make heaven.  He is telling us not to concern ourselves with public opinion.  What Jesus is asking from us is to focus on our walk with him.  He tells us this morning to strive to enter heaven.  Paul tells us to, “…work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”   Our salvation that begins in Christ and is sustained by the Holy Spirit’s work in us demands a response from us.

It is not enough to sit in the presence of God.  If you come to church with your mind somewhere else nothing will happen.  If you stroll through the liturgy each week thinking that the very act itself, without thought or response on your part will make a difference you are missing the point.  Jesus says strive.  What we say and what we do here, in the presence of God must impact our lives.  You must engage Christ who is here present with faith.  If you think that hearing the word read and preached is enough you are sadly mistaken.  The word must be received in faith, meditated upon and applied to your life.

The end result is that we must be different than those around us.  We are not part of the crowd that is joyfully headed in the wrong direction.  We must walk up stream, must strive to attain the narrow door.  We are not to withdraw from the world but embrace it for Christ.  Or life must a witness to the love of God found in Christ Jesus.

This is not a time for complacent Christianity.  We live in a country that continues to turn its back on God.  We must be the voice of Christ calling people to repentance.  This will only happen as we take serious our walk with Jesus and strive to make his kingdom.