““Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it…..“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.7.13-22.NIV
How do these teachings of God relate to one another? There is an effort that accompanies salvation by grace through faith. Jesus made every effort to obey every word from the mouth of God to become the perfect and unblemished sacrifice necessary for saving humanity. The work of Jesus alone, appropriated to humanity by faith alone, pardons humanity from the wrath to come. Yet our every effort is required to live by this faith in Christ alone, for we must deny ourselves, die to ourselves, and do the will of God just as Jesus did when He left His throne in heaven to live on earth as the suffering servant and savior of humanity. This way of living is not religious, where certain perfunctory services are accomplished, somehow obligating God to our salvation. Confession and baptism, communion, and giving are not what God requires to know Him. God commands the daily grind of obedience by loving our neighbor as ourselves. It is doing unto others what we would have done for ourselves in the home, the neighborhood, and the marketplace. It is forgiving and loving others to the same degree we wish to be loved and forgiven. These are the truly hard works we must do to demonstrate our love for God, Who did all these things as a man and commands us to live as He lived on this earth. God welcomes all those but only those who are truly sons and daughters of His adopted through the blood of His Son whose lives reflect the family identity of sacrificial love and service for the glory of the Father. The religious and the irreligious will not see the kingdom of heaven, for both do these things according to their own definition of who God is and what God requires rather than humbling themselves before God the Savior, Jesus, by living with Him in recognition of His Lordship over their lives.
