1 STRIVING TO ENTER THE KINGDOM Luke 13 ... - Vital Christianity

1STRIVING TO ENTER THE KINGDOMLuke 13:24-25Jesus gives a curious Jewish inquirer a serious exhortation:“He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, becausemany, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of thehouse gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading,'Sir, open the door for us.' ‘But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where youcome from'” (Lk 13:24-25).We are told that when our Lord Jesus Christ was asked whether few would be saved, Hesaid, "Struggle to enter in at the narrow door." The Greek word agonizomai is the word fromwhich we get agonize. The word means to agonize, struggle, contend, to combat, strive, laborfervently. 1 Strong says it means literally to contend for a prize and figuratively to contend withan adversary with the idea of endeavoring to accomplish something. 2 Thayer gives the followingdefinitions:1) to enter a contest: to contend in the gymnastic games,2) to contend with adversaries, to fight,3) metaphorically, to contend, to struggle, and4) to endeavor with strenuous zeal, strive to obtain something. 3The word emphasizes great intensity of purpose and effort. It was used in referring toGreek athletic contests in which athletes would be straining every nerve and muscle to win acontest. The idea is to make every effort to make sure we enter in God’s door that leads to Hiskingdom. Since the verb is in the present tense a literal translation is “Keep on striving to enter.”Entry into the kingdom of God is not automatic. It is the result of an agonizing struggle.The struggle to enter in must be so intense that it is best characterized as “an agony of soul andspirit.” 4 He addressed these words to the whole company of His hearers. He did not think it waswise to simply gratify the curiosity of His questioner by a direct reply. Instead He chose toemphasize with him, and all around him, their own immediate responsibility. In looking out fortheir own souls, they would soon find the question answered. In making ever effort to enter in atthe narrow door they would soon find out whether the saved were many or few.Jesus wants us to know in no uncertain terms what our responsibility is. The door isnarrow and the enemies of our souls are many. We must be active. Instead of inquiring whatother people are doing and whether many of our neighbors, relatives and friends are servingChrist, we must make sure that we are in fact doing so. The unbelief and indecision of others will

2not excuse us at the Day of Judgment. We dare not follow the crowd to do what is popular whichultimately ends in destruction. Rather, we must be willing to go against the current of our timesand swim upstream. Whether many go with us or not, our resolve must be to "Make every effortto enter in."Whatever others may think, the message is clear: we must take initiative. We are not tosit still and wait for the grace of God. We are not to go on still in our sin and rest with the excusethat we can do nothing until God draws us. We are to draw near to Him in the use of the meansof grace (Jas 4:8). It is through obedience that God fulfills His will in us. Therefore we are to"Strive to enter in."NOTES1W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Reference LibraryEdition, Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966), 83.2James Strong, The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nelson, 1984),73. See also Young’s Concordance, 941.3J. H. Thayer, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 75.4William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke: The Daily Study Bible (Revised Edition,Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1975), 183.