The first thing to understand in this discussion is that there is only
one race—the human race. Caucasians, Africans, Asians, Indians, Arabs,
and Jews are not different races. Rather, they are different ethnicities
of the human race. All human beings have the same physical
characteristics (with minor variations, of course). More importantly,
all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis
1:26-27). God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus to lay down His
life for us (John 3:16). The “world” obviously includes all ethnic
groups.
God does not show partiality or favoritism (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts
10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9), and neither should we. James 2:4
describes those who discriminate as “judges with evil thoughts.”
Instead, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (James 2:8). In the
Old Testament, God divided humanity into two “racial” groups: Jews and
Gentiles. God’s intent was for the Jews to be a kingdom of priests,
ministering to the Gentile nations. Instead, for the most part, the Jews
became proud of their status and despised the Gentiles. Jesus Christ
put an end to this, destroying the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians
2:14). All forms of racism, prejudice, and discrimination are affronts
to the work of Christ on the cross.
Jesus commands us to love one another as He loves us (John 13:34). If
God is impartial and loves us with impartiality, then we need to love
others with that same high standard. Jesus teaches in Matthew 25 that
whatever we do to the least of His brothers, we do to Him. If we treat a
person with contempt, we are mistreating a person created in God’s
image; we are hurting somebody whom God loves and for whom Jesus died.
Racism, in varying forms and to various degrees, has been a plague on
humanity for thousands of years. Brothers and sisters of all
ethnicities, this should not be. Victims of racism, prejudice, and
discrimination need to forgive. Ephesians 4:32 declares, “Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you.” Racists may not deserve your forgiveness, but we
deserved God’s forgiveness far less. Those who practice racism,
prejudice, and discrimination need to repent. “Present yourselves to God
as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God” (Romans 6:13). May Galatians 3:28 be completely
realized, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software
and
Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian by John Piper.
The question of whether there are more people in heaven or hell is
answered by Jesus Himself in one succinct passage: “Enter by the narrow
gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to
destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow
and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few”
(Matthew 7:13-14).
This passage tells us that only those who receive Jesus Christ and who
believe in Him are given the right to become children of God (John
1:12). As such, the gift of eternal life comes only through Jesus Christ
to all those who believe. He said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). It’s not
through Islam, Buddha, or other false gods of man’s making. It’s not for
those wanting a cheap and easy way to heaven while continuing to live
their own selfish and worldly lives on earth. Jesus only saves those who
fully trust in Him as Savior (Acts 4:12).
So, what are these two gates in Matthew 7:13-14? They are the entrance
to two different “ways.” The wide gate leads to the broad way, or road.
The small narrow gate leads to the way that is narrow. The narrow way is
the way of the godly, and the broad way is the way of the ungodly. The
broad way is the easy way. It is attractive and self-indulgent. It is
permissive. It’s the inclusive way of the world, with few rules, few
restrictions, and fewer requirements. Tolerance of sin is the norm where
God's Word is not studied and His standards not followed. This way
requires no spiritual maturity, no moral character, no commitment, and
no sacrifice. It is the easy way of salvation following “the course of
this world, following the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit
that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). It is
that broad way that “seems right to a man, but end is the way to death”
(Proverbs 14:12).
Those who preach a gospel of inclusiveness where “all ways lead to
heaven” preach an utterly different gospel than the one Jesus preached.
The gate of self-centeredness, self-absorption, and a proud,
holier-than-thou mindset is the wide gate of the world that leads to
hell, not the narrow gate which leads to eternal life. As a result, most
people spend their lives following the masses who are on the broad
road, doing what everyone else does and believing what everyone else
believes.
The narrow way is the hard way, the demanding way. It is the way of
recognizing that you cannot save yourself and must depend on Jesus
Christ alone to save you. It’s the way of self-denial and the cross. The
fact that few find God’s way implies that it is to be sought
diligently. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all
your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). The point is this that no one will stumble
into the kingdom or wander through the narrow gate by accident. Someone
asked Jesus: "Lord, will those who are saved be few?” He replied,
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will
seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:23-24).
Many will seek to enter that narrow door, the door of salvation, but
“will not be able.” They are unwilling to trust/rely on Jesus alone.
They are unwilling to pay the price. It costs too much for them to give
up the world. God’s gate is a gate through which one cannot carry the
baggage of sin and self-will, nor can one carry the accoutrements of
materialism. The way of Christ is the way of the cross, and the way of
the cross is the way of self-denial. Jesus said, "If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).
Jesus knows that many will choose the wide gate and the broad way which
leads to destruction and hell. Correspondingly, He said that only a few
will choose the narrow gate. According to Matthew 7:13-14, there is no
doubt that more will go to hell than to heaven. The question for you is,
then, on which road are you?
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software
and
Jesus Among Other gods by Ravi Zacharias.
How can you know for sure if you are saved? Consider 1 John 5:11-13:
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal
life.” Who is it that has the Son? It is those who have believed in Him
and accepted Him (John 1:12). If you have Jesus, you have life. Not
temporary life, but eternal.
God wants us to have assurance of our salvation. We cannot live our
Christian lives wondering and worrying each day whether or not we are
truly saved. That is why the Bible makes the plan of salvation so clear.
Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved (John 3:16; Acts 16:31).
Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior, that He died to pay the penalty
for your sins (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21)? Are you trusting Him
alone for salvation? If your answer is yes, you are saved! Assurance
means “having been put beyond all doubt.” By taking God's Word to heart,
you can “put beyond all doubt” the fact and reality of your eternal
salvation.
Jesus Himself affirms this regarding those who have believed in Him: “I
give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch
them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater
than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand” (John
10:28-29). Eternal life is just that—eternal. There is no one, not even
yourself, who can take Christ's God-given gift of salvation away from
you.
We hide God's Word in our hearts so that we do not sin against Him
(Psalm 119:11), and this includes the sin of doubt. Take joy in what
God's Word is saying to you, that instead of doubting we can live with
confidence! We can have the assurance from Christ's own Word that our
salvation will never be in question. Our assurance is based on God's
love for us through Jesus Christ.
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and
The Assurance of Our Salvation: Exploring the Depth of Jesus' Prayer for His Own by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the result of the Holy Spirit’s
presence in the life of a Christian. The Bible makes it clear that
everyone receives the Holy Spirit the moment he or she believes in Jesus
Christ (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13-14). One of the
primary purposes of the Holy Spirit coming into a Christian's life is
to change that life. It is the Holy Spirit's job to conform us to the
image of Christ, making us more like Him.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is in direct contrast with the acts of the
sinful nature in Galatians 5:19-21, “The acts of the sinful nature are
obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I
warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God.” This passage describes all people, to
varying degrees, when they do not know Christ and therefore are not
under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Our sinful flesh produces
certain types of fruit that reflect our nature, and the Holy Spirit
produces types of fruit that reflect His nature.
The Christian life is a battle of the sinful flesh against the new
nature given by Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). As fallen human beings, we
are still trapped in a body that desires sinful things (Romans 7:14-25).
As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit producing His fruit in us and we
have the Holy Spirit's power available to conquer the acts of the
sinful nature (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 4:13). A Christian will
never be completely victorious in always demonstrating the fruits of the
Holy Spirit. It is one of the main purposes of the Christian life,
though, to progressively allow the Holy Spirit to produce more and more
of His fruit in our lives—and to allow the Holy Spirit to conquer the
opposing sinful desires. The fruit of the Spirit is what God desires our
lives to exhibit and, with the Holy Spirit's help, it is possible!
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software
and
The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life by Charles Stanley.
The Bible does not lay out a step-by-step order for family relationship
priorities. However, we can still look to the Scriptures and find
general principles for prioritizing our family relationships. God
obviously comes first: Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” All of
one’s heart, soul, and strength is to be committed to loving God, making
Him the first priority.
If you are married, your spouse comes next. A married man is to love his
wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). Christ’s first
priority—after obeying and glorifying the Father—was the church. Here is
an example a husband should follow: God first, then his wife. In the
same way, wives are to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord”
(Ephesians 5:22). The principle is that a woman’s husband is second only
to God in her priorities.
If husbands and wives are second only to God in our priorities, and
since a husband and wife are one flesh (Ephesians 5:31), it stands to
reason that the result of the marriage relationship—children—should be
the next priority. Parents are to raise godly children who will be the
next generation of those who love the Lord with all their hearts
(Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4), showing once again that God comes first.
All other family relationships should reflect that.
Deuteronomy 5:16 tells us to honor our parents so that we may live long
and so things will go well with us. No age limit is specified, which
leads us to believe that as long as our parents are alive, we should
honor them. Of course, once a child reaches adulthood, he is no longer
obligated to obey them (“Children, obey your parents...”), but there is
no age limit to honoring them. We can conclude from this that parents
are next in the list of priorities after God, our spouses, and our
children. After parents comes the rest of one's family (1 Timothy 5:8).
Following one’s extended family in the list of priorities are fellow
believers. Romans 14 tells us not to judge or look down upon our
brothers (v. 10) or do anything to cause a fellow Christian to “stumble”
or fall spiritually. Much of the book of 1 Corinthians is Paul’s
instructions on how the church should live together in harmony, loving
one another. Other exhortations referring to our brothers and sisters in
Christ are “serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13); “be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32); “encourage one another and build each
other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11); and “consider how we may spur one
another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). Finally comes the
rest of the world (Matthew 28:19), to whom we should bring the gospel,
making disciples of Christ.
In conclusion, the scriptural order of priorities is God, spouse,
children, parents, extended family, brothers and sisters in Christ, and
then the rest of the world. While sometimes decisions must be made to
focus on one person over another, the goal is to not be neglecting any
of our relationships. The biblical balance is allowing God to empower us
to meet all of our relationship priorities, inside and outside our
families.
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software
and
Your Family God's Way by Wayne Mack.
