Episode 57: "The Narrow Path: No Neutral Ground"

Welcome to the Growing and Grace Podcast, a podcast of Grace Hills Church, where we take a deeper dive into the previous Sunday morning's message.

My name is Mattson down here with Pastor Brandon today on Growing and Grace, where really sort of wrapping up a sermon on the mountain.

I know we had one more week to close things out with this sermon series, but it's with one of Jesus' most direct invitations and warnings.

In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus tells us there are only two paths, a wide one that's easy and popular, and a narrow one that's difficult but leads to life.

And our conversation today, Pastor Brandon, I'm going to talk about what it really means to choose the narrow path, how to recognize false teachers, and why obedience is the evidence of a transformed heart, not a way to earn salvation.

Our hope is that this episode helps every listener, honestly, examine which road they're on, and encourages them to follow Jesus with clarity, courage, and conviction.

So Pastor Brandon, quick icebreaker question for you at this morning. What's the most challenging hike or physical path you've ever taken, what made it difficult, and was the destination worth the effort?

Yeah, so several years ago, one of my best friends was stationed at Hill Air Force Base out in Utah, and I was probably in my early 20s.

I flew out there to see him, his younger brother had flown out there as well, and another guy that he was in the Air Force Worth.

When hiking, I don't remember the exact location, man, I have a gorgeous picture of the place, but it was very physically grueling.

I mean, we had backpacks on that were weighing 50, 60 pounds. It was about a 3000 foot elevation change, so you were going up, you know, you were going up upside of mountains.

I think to get to, it was a six hour hike to get to our location. I remember that because coming back, I think it took us like two or three hours to get back.

But there was a crystal clear lake at the bottom of this plateau that was just a picture-esque. I mean, you could see through it.

We just camped there. I try to remember what it was called. I mean, my memory, it's been 20-27 years since we went, but I'll never forget that experience absolutely loved it.

I mean, it was, it was raw camping. It was, you know, fishing for dinner and cooking over a fire and sleeping on the ground in a tent.

You're putting stuff up in the trees, making, because you didn't want the bears to get all your stuff, those type of things.

You guys are roughing it.

Yeah, I mean, it was a great experience. Definitely contest you a little bit physically, but I loved it. It was great.

Amen. So let's dive into the questions for today. Looking at this idea of the decision point, your beginning illustration compared the two roads in Matthew 7 to angels landing pathway at Zion National Park, a moment where everyone has

decided whether to turn back or keep going. What does that scout lookout moment look like spiritually for people today?

Yeah. So, you know, there's a Zion National Park. Obviously, there's several different trails that you can take. Everybody kind of starts out of the grotto.

Much people hike through get to a point called scout look at. At that point, you have, you can keep going forward, which is angels landing, which is very narrow pathway, kind of one person at a time,

chains to hang on to 1400 foot drop off on the side. When you get to the, get you to the top band, you just have unbelievable views of God's creation.

And so, most people turn back because it's too dangerous or because it's difficult. And, you know, every person, I believe, has an opportunity to choose a path. Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 7 that there's two paths, there's two gates, there's two destinations.

And he's inviting people to walk through the narrow gate on the narrow road to eternal life. And the gate is him. It's through a relationship with him.

But a lot of people don't do it. A lot of people don't take that invitation. A lot of people don't take that path because the white path is easier.

And it's, it seems at the time to be more fulfilling in, but in reality, the end of that path is, is destruction of what Jesus talks about there.

It's sometimes in our culture, we're to talk about the fact that the reality is that there are people whose lives, the path, they may think they're on a good path, they may externally look at everything around us and think, man, I'm on the right path, I'm doing everything right, things are good.

But in the end, without Jesus, they're just, they're going to spend an eternity separated from him and all the graces are going to be removed.

And so for, for people in this world, they have a decision to make. Are we following Jesus, are we following our own way, our own path, or what we think is our own path, when reality it's not?

You described the white path as easy, popular, and self-focus, and you just kind of alluded to some of those, those points as well. So what are some modern examples of how that white path shows up in everyday life, and maybe even inside the church?

Yeah, I mean, the white path that most people take is a pursuit of something other than that what Jesus calls us to. You know, Jesus calls us to die to ourself, it calls us to put personal wants, desires, pleasures to the side, and live for him and live for something ultimately that is greater.

However, most people find their greatest satisfaction or value in things of this world, and maybe material things, bigger house, bigger car, vacation home, experiences in this world, things that you can buy or spend money on, which are all good things that are not sinful in and of themselves, but when they become the pursuit outside of pursuing after Jesus, that's when it really becomes sinful.

So, you know, personal pleasure, some people just live for pleasure, whether it's food, whether it's relationship, whether it's sex, whether it's entertainment, like they thrive on that, they live for that, some it's power, how high up in my company can I rise, how much responsibility can I have?

So, some it's money, how much money can I make? It's not even, for some it's not even, I need more money to live, I just want to make sure that I'm making more money than that guy, I want to be better than that person, and so there's always a self-centered ideology that drives people on the wider path.

And that happens even within the church, you see people that it's not about serving Jesus anymore, or it's not about influencing people or leading them to the feet of Jesus, it's about, hey, you know what, I want to be the lead guy of the largest church in America.

I want to be the lead person for this, this ministry, and I want to be the one to grow it, I want to be the one that, you know, gets it right or fixes this, I always call it almost like a, it's almost like a superhero or a savior mentality, that people have a drive, not, not to see people saved for the matter of their salvation and for the honor and glory of God, but they want to be like a,

it's because of my ministry, it's because of what I did, it's because of what I implemented that, you know, we're seeing this growth and we're seeing this change and it takes away from the work of the Holy Spirit and people's lives, and so that's what that looks like inside of the church, and we see that with a lot of people, and you know, when you challenge somebody or you give constructive criticism or, you know very quickly what path they're on, and I think we all have a tendency to do that at times,

I'm the same way, you know, my natural bent is to want to be the person that gets all the glory for even stuff that happens here at Grace Hills, but it's not about me, never has been about me, and thankfully, it's not a huge deal to me, I've had a drive to do things well to try and do things with excellence according to my abilities,

not according to the church down the street, I'm thankful for that, because I know some guys that they're admittedly they struggle with that, they really, they see churches as competition those type of things, and so the wide path is comfortable, it's easy, it doesn't ask anything of you, it doesn't challenge your ideas, it doesn't challenge your thinking, it doesn't challenge your beliefs, but in those situations,

you're never actually growing spiritually, you're not a healthy person spiritually, and in some cases you're not even on the proper path.

This idea of no neutral ground, you were clear that Jesus leaves no room for neutrality, there isn't a third path or a third way or a third option, so why do so many people believe they can be spiritually neutral,

and how does Jesus dismantle that idea?

Yeah, I mean, in my experience with people, you have kind of the very general, but you have people who are followers of Christ, you have people who are just completely reject Jesus altogether,

and then you can kind of have the neutral parties who are, hey, that's good for you, that's just not my thing, or they'll say, look, all that kind of leads to the same place, we all end up in the same place, or you just need to be a better, you just need to be a good person,

and they take kind of a neutral approach to things, as not wanting to offend, or not, someone's not wanting to offend, someone's just, this is truly what they believe, they can't fathom the idea that Jesus would be the only way to eternal life, or they can't fathom that, oh, God will never send good people to hell, and it's like, well, there are no good people, that's nothing that Jesus talks about in Scripture, Jesus makes it very clear,

he said, there's two paths, you're on one or the other, and that, people, like nobody has a problem with Jesus as the Savior, the problem is Jesus is Lord, you know, people, we love our hero stories, and nobody ever, especially in our American culture,

we never want to look at somebody and say, oh, they're religion's wrong, or they're belief system is wrong, because we see that as condemning, you know, we see that as hateful, or we see that as big a tree, and so they take a neutral path, more worried about the perception of themselves by other people, rather than what, ultimately, what God thinks about them, and, but Jesus tells us, two paths, and it's through me, which, when you think about this, and I'm sure we're going to talk about this,

later like, for Jesus to say, no, it's only through me, it's the most amazing statement, because it tells us that, hey, nothing I can do to earn my salvation, nothing I can do to keep me from being saved, my past doesn't matter, all these things do not matter, it's about what Jesus has already done on our behalf, like I cannot earn it, it's already been taken care of, but I have to step through that gate, I have to accept that invitation,

and those who don't are just not on that path, like, and people got, essentially what God is doing, He's just saying, hey, you know, I'm not going to force you on this path, and the end of that path is, I'm giving you what you want it, you didn't want me, so eventually I'm removed from all aspects of your life and eternity.

The narrow path is difficult, restrictive at sometimes, and marked by suffering, yet it leads to life. How do we help believers stop seeing difficulty as a sign that they're on the wrong path?

Look, I've said this before, if God didn't keep His Son Jesus from suffering, He's not going to keep us from suffering, you think about it in the terms of anybody who works out or exercises, in order to, or just even plays a sport, if you want to get better, if you want to improve, if you want to get stronger, if you want to get in better shape or healthier, it takes some restriction when it comes to eating,

it takes some resistance when it comes to lifting weights, when it comes to running, like, you have to put your body through some things that are hard and difficult in order to become the athlete that you want to be, in order to become the healthy person that you want to be, and it's the same way that it is spiritually.

You want to grow in your faith and you need to ask God to put you in positions to trust Him. You want to grow in your love for other people, God's going to put some people in your life that are maybe hard to love.

You want to grow in your prayer life, maybe God's going to put some situations where you have nothing left but a turn to Him in prayer.

And so that is part of that narrow path, and I believe that those who are on that path and who walk that path faithfully, who see hardship and difficulty and struggle as a refining process for us to be more like Christ, that when we finally reach that reward or Jesus returns or we leave this earth,

where we're in the presence of God, somehow, some way that's just going to be sweeter. And I don't know, I don't know if I have a real biblical basis for that.

When there's a place where there's no more sin, no more death, no more tears, no more crying, no more pain, how there would be different levels between different people depending on the life that they lived.

But Jesus talks about the rewards and the crown that we receive in heaven, and it doesn't say it just goes to every single person it goes to the people who are, you know, obedient or doing what God calls them to do.

But even in the midst of all that, in those difficult situations, the more that I turn to the Lord and the difficult situations, the more His presence is felt in my life and the more calming, the more...

At peace that I am, even when I don't fully understand everything that is going on, when it's out, especially when it's outside of my hands.

And there's some moments in my life where I've seen that, I've seen the progression over my life as I've been putting similar situations multiple times, and I've talked about this before on the podcast.

I can look back at the first time I was in this situation, and then the second, third, fourth time I was in that situation, and just how my reaction was, and I'm looking back, oh man, we're good.

I've got to take care of it, take care of it in the past, always has, always will, to where the first time it was like tears and anxiety and anger and just the gamut of emotions,

and just why is this happening to me type of thing? And so it is very hard, but it's very worth it because the reward is Jesus.

It's His presence, whether here on earth or whether in eternity, and we can expect suffering. Jesus said, remember the world hated me first if they hate you.

And I think we forget that sometimes.

Looking at this idea of exclusive and inclusive, some buzzwords there, right?

You said Christianity is both the most exclusive and most inclusive faith.

How do we hold firmly to the truth that Jesus is the only way while still extending grace to everyone?

Yeah, so most inclusive, most exclusive, it's the most exclusive in the fact that there's only one way to heaven. There are not different paths that is only through Jesus.

It is the most inclusive in the sense that anyone can be saved. Regardless of your ethnicity, regardless of where you live in the world, regardless of the amount of money that you have, regardless of the good deeds that you have done, none of that plays a factor in the salvation.

The only factor that plays into it is your relationship with Jesus. Have you placed your faith in trust in Him and repented of your sins?

And so that's where Christianity becomes the most inclusive or exclusive. And any other religion, I mean, there's things that you have to do to be a part of that.

For us, Jesus is already taking care of that and done that. To me, it's easy to extend grace because I'm looking at somebody and going, look, if this is true, there's nothing you can do to earn that.

Jesus, as extended to you, is not because of who you are or how much you've done, it takes the pressure off of ourselves and saying, am I good enough? Well, no, you're not. You're never going to be good enough because Jesus was.

The rich young ruler asked about what it means to be good or how good ought to be to get into heaven. He said, good teachers, who you call me good, there's only one who's good. He's talking about himself.

So if you think that you can be good and get into heaven, remember that your standard of good is only Jesus. If you compare yourself to Jesus, you fall short. Everybody has. That's the whole point.

We extend grace to other people in a few different ways. One, I say this all the time. If you're a follower of Christ, do not expect non-Christian people to act like Christians. If that is your expectation, you're going to be very, very frustrated in life.

That's always been the take that I've had with people who don't believe what I believe. I don't expect them to make selfless decisions. I expect them to say horrible things. I expect them to reject you for what you believe. I expect all of that.

That helps your mentality going into it. You can show it be gracious with them. You never were never starting with somebody's sin when we're talking about, if somebody's living in the lifestyle, you don't want to start with Jesus. Tell them about Jesus first.

You know, as you're going there, I immediately think of, you know, we're still in like prime time football season here. Like it's you'll play offsets everything. And I think with your statement, you just made there of, you know, being surprised by Christians being surprised by others who are not Christian of like what the decisions that they make. And I relate it to like any time we're looking for that past interference call. And it's like, here's all over why should throw the flag, you know, and it's like, look, they're playing by different set of rules.

And, you know, we can't be so, you know, PI like aggressive to like throw the flag on somebody else when they're playing by different set of rules.

And it's like, why do we, why do we yearn for that when, when they don't even know the game, so to speak, like with that analogy. And it's again, you had a great illustration a couple of weeks ago when we were looking at, you know, taking the plank out of your hand.

But taking the plank out of your own eye before, you know, you recognize the spec in someone else's and so that that understanding of we can't be surprised by how the world reacts or acts in their, in their relationships in the way they raise their kids in the way they talk.

And any of those interactions we can't, we can't be surprised by it. And the last thing we should do is throw the flag when they're not playing in the same game.

So moving on here, looking at this idea, really of how to recognize false teachers and being able to look for the fruit and not be kind of blinded by the flash of things there.

So Jesus warns that false teachers look like sheep, but are wolves. And so first kind of part of this question, what are some practical ways believers can discern truth without becoming cynical or judgmental.

And then you also emphasize that fruit is revealed over time and not from a distance. So what kinds of fruit should believers be looking for both in teachers and in their own lives?

Yeah, so there's, when you're looking at it for false teachers or false prophets, teaching is one aspect of it, you know, where they don't really sound in the sense that are they preaching the gospel by grace, by faith through grace, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, nothing can do to earn your salvation, nothing can do to learn your salvation.

Like, there are some, there are some core principles that we hold to that are salvific in nature. And so that's the first kind of the test. And then there's the practical test that I talked about where what does it, what do the lives look like?

And the scary part is with false teachers, oftentimes they look like other sheep, but eventually they're going to be exposed by the fruit and you think in Jesus uses the analogy of, you know, a good tree cannot produce bad fruit.

And in Palestine, there was a, a bush called the black thorn berry bush, basically, it produces a black berry that although it's edible and it looks like a grape, it's not a grape.

And from a distance, it looks, it looks just like a grape. And if you had it off by itself, it looked just like a grape, but as you get close to an exam and that you taste it, it's, you cannot mistake it for a grape.

It would not be used for things like wine that they would have made in the, in the first century. And, and so with false teachers, man, it's going to take some time.

It's, you have to carefully examine their lives and what they stand for.

When they talk about the fruit of this passage, you know, we think, fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, genos and self control, which is, which is part of that. But primarily what Jesus is talking about is obedience.

Are these people being obedient to what God has called them to do? Because that is a, obedience is the fruit of a transformed life.

And so, you know, there's many, many people out there who claim to behave transformed by Jesus, or they probably even use the term transformed.

They'll use the term saved and it's more of a fire insurance policy than anything else, but their everyday life looks nothing like it did before.

And, you know, the sanctification process is that, is exactly that. It is a process it takes time. But, but people who are growing in their faith, one thing I would say, the best way to, to recognize a false prophet is,

is their own ability to recognize their, their sin and their shortcomings to know that they're not, that they're not perfect in their, in need of daily grace and repentance.

And so, I've worked for some guys and been in some churches with some guys that did some things and were even confronted on it and zero responsibility for.

No, not it, it wasn't just a matter of like, some of them saying I didn't say that, that's not true. It was a matter of yeah, you know, so what, clearly send, send issues type of thing.

And I know that you've experienced that too in your, in your, in your life. And so, now I've seen that, I've seen that in situations where somebody kind of had that attitude first, but then they later came back and, and sought forgiveness realizing, recognizing that wasn't a great attitude.

I mean, I've done that before, I'm sure where, you know, initially, you've said something, you've done something and you're just, in your pride and your arrogance, you're refusing to take into responsibility or to, to give person the satisfaction of knowing that you were wrong.

And then later on, you got to come back and, and speak to them, but obedience and, and repentance, I think are the two things that I really look for when it comes to true, true prophets.

Because on the doctrinal side of things, there's a, there are a lot of guys out there who, who are doctrineally not sound, but man, they sound so close, really close. And they're, they're, they're pulling people away, which is very, very interesting.

Jesus says, some will call him Lord, yet never truly know him. How can someone evaluate whether their faith is rooted in relationship or just religious activity?

Yeah, I mean, again, it goes back to, even for us, it goes back to obedience. What is your, what is your day to day life look like? What is your life look like when nobody else is around?

You know, they call, I think there's some word there called integrity that, you know, I've talked about that with my, with my boys and talking about self-control and integrity and like, hey, you know, you the same person when certain people are not around or when your parents run around, that you are when they are, you know what I mean?

Like, when Jesus talks about Lord, people say, Lord, Lord, didn't I prophesy on any of them to do miracles in your name? It says, apart from me, I never knew you. I think of, I think there's a few things there.

One, we ultimately understand and realize that like prophecy and healing and miracles as a result of the Holy Spirit, not because of anything that we are God can work through, whomever he wants to work through.

But those people you're looking, when you take the doctrinal or the, or the obedient side of things to me and I'll just, I mean, I'll be frank, Church of Latter-day Saints, they deny the deity of Christ, Jehovah's Witnesses, they deny who Jesus is as well.

Joel, Osteen, hey, your best life now, health and wealth gospel, you know, send me this and send me this and got old, tenfold, you know, multiply your bank account or whatever.

Those are all things that are, that are, that are dangerous teachings and theologies that are leading people down a path of destruction.

Those are the ones that are pulling people away and then there's often and they sound like they sound okay because

Hey, let it a say and say talk about Jesus

So it was when this is they talk about Jesus Jolustin mentions Jesus

Which you'll oftentimes find as a is either a workspace salvation or completely or the other end of that is a

Gospel message completely

Void of repentance or the need for obedience like anything like that and so

We've got to be very very careful and those those that verse for me was always something that just kind of made me shudder growing up

thinking what if that's me? What if that's me and

You know as I've gotten older and

Been sanctified and grown spiritually, you know, I don't

Fortunately don't have those those feelings in those moments

Anymore because I've learned that when I do struggle with doubts or things like that

It's usually because of my concentration of of my salvation. I'm really concentrating on myself and not on Jesus and who he is and

Recognizing the man I fall short every single day and still need of God's grace even today

but

You know if

If you're doing religious activity if you're you're doing the church thing you're doing the life group thing

You're doing the serving thing and you're doing it because you're afraid that if you don't do it

That that somehow life's going to get harder or worse for guys going to punish you

That that's not a relationship

that's

That's something completely different that's you trying to earn

God's favor and earn and these people the people that still like trust me. They'll they'll they'll affirm salvation by grace

Then they live a life that's that is sanctification by works

Like that okay, I'm saved now, but I still got to keep got happy. I still got to earn his favor

So I got to earn his love and you know, I don't want to be punished or disciplined or or you know

I really want this job. I really want to marry this person and and we and we feel like in order to get that

We have to do the religious things the religious activities and keep God happy and if it doesn't happen

Then it's like oh, we must have done something wrong and that's that that's a cyclical living

I talk about all the time a plus b to get see I don't get see then I must have an a or b wrong and you're going no

That's not what God is doing. God is sovereign. God loves you. God is watching over you

He calls you to be obedient because obedience is is freedom

He he sets up guardrails intentionally for us to live holy

lives that are honoring to him and that are

They bring honoring glory to him and

And it's something that the we as followers of Christ have to be very very aware of is that obedience is

a result of

our salvation like

It's a it's a sign to the outside world. Hey, we we love Jesus and we follow him and we trust him

Yeah, that's the difference between a transaction and a transformation right there. That's the obedience is the difference right there

So last question here for today, if I said random feel free to elaborate on anything else that we've that we've already talked about

You ended your message with the question

What will the Lord say to you?

So what's one practical step someone listening today can take this week to walk more intentionally on the narrow path

Yeah, I mean there's in scripture there's really two two responses that are talked about

Well done good and faithful servant the part for me for I never knew

and

Each every person is probably going to hear one of those things

And so it's a question. It's a hard question to ask ourselves. What are we going to hear and why

And that that difference is is obedience

Beyond the religious activity like that the the the part for me I never knew you they were they were doing the religious activity

You know, they were casting out demons

I do think I don't think it's ironic that the examples that Jesus gives there are the the very

um

public

Examples of faith the casting out demons and doing miracles

Because that's what those people probably were looking for

We talked about that earlier in the sermon on the mount that that those who were those who were giving and doing good deeds

for the the the pleasure or not serve as a pleasure but for the for the praise of the people around them

and

So Jesus wants Jesus wants our whole life. He wants every aspect of our life and

That's the difference and so for for somebody who's wondering on that question, you know, you have to ask yourself

Take inventory of your heart

First and foremost start with you know, who do you think Jesus is like what what is your belief about Jesus?

Has that led you to a place where you

Have placed your faith in trust in him and you've repented of your sins and if it has

Now

We're living daily in we're living daily lives of faith and repentance

So taking inventory of your life

Ask yourself those two questions. Where's an area of my life that I need

To to faithfully give or to the Lord where's an area of my life where I need to repent

Not for salvation, but just a repent of that that's maybe has a

Is the strongholders become a stronghold?

Because you want to you seek to want to be more obedient to him and look like him

And if you can do that on a regular basis if you can recognize that if you recognize as you fall short if you recognize your need for grace

um, you know that that tells me that you're you're on the right path

Amen

Let's pray pastor brinne

Father god, thank you for this time of discussion and reflection on your word

We are grateful that you have provided the narrow gate through Jesus Christ and we pray that each of us and those who are listening right now would have

The courage to walk through it if we haven't already

And to continue faithfully on the narrow path

Help us to examine our own fruit and to live lives marked by genuine obedience that flows from our love for you

Protect us from false teaching and give us wisdom to discern truth

And as we go here from today wherever we're going may our lives reflect the transformation that comes from

Knowing you we long to hear well done faithless serval when we see you

Face to face in Jesus name

Amen. Thanks for listening to the growing and grace podcast until next time keep your eyes on Jesus and keep growing in grace