Introduction: At the church where my family and I serve, I am currently teaching through the most oft-quoted and well-known sermon in the Christian faith, the Sermon on the Mount. This coming Sunday, I will focus our attention on Matthew 7:13-28. Those sentences contain three striking metaphors that serve just one purpose. That purpose? To confront all of us with our only options. Option 1: the broad way; the way of destruction. Option 2: the narrow gate/the way of redemption. The three metaphors Jesus uses to burn the images into our imagination: 

• Narrow vs. Broad (Mt 7:13-14)
• True vs. False Prophets (Mt 7:15-23)
• House Built on Rock vs. House Buit upon Sand (Mt 7:24-27)

One of the beauties of Scripture is its clear imagery and unvarnished truth. God does not author confusion. He makes things plain. 

Connection to Today: When I returned from a flight this week and finally got back near post, I was very tired, and went to be early. I woke early this morning, did PT, showered, and sat to read some. And when I was reading the news on my computer, I was again struck by what I read. Of course, there was the latest about Iran and Israel, and all the politics about yet another war in the Middle East. But I literally laughed out loud when I read the article about students now biting and licking one another because they’ve drunk the identity politics and wokester Kool-Aid madness. Now the urchins are identifying as beasts, and sane people are asked to go along with it. Yes, this is what our taxes are going for, this kind of stuff. So much for reading the classics, learning history, learning to discern, teaching civics, and learning how to balance a checkbook. Now, the kiddos are barking and purring and using litter boxes: School district responds to rumors of kids identifying as ‘furries’ after student protest | Fox News

Encouragement & Application: See, when you reject God and the narrow way, you get the madness of the broad way. As always, it’s Christ or chaos. When you reject the Author of life, you inherit the prince of darkness and folly. That’s the beauty of the binary. When you have a generation of children who cannot write a coherent sentence or do much but play the victim and scream talking points, you should not be surprised. They’re just living out the lies they’ve imbibed. Yet the Word of Christ still stands with the offer to return to our senses: “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” (Mt 7:13-14).