So many so-called Christians today have become convinced that their salvation is secure because they raised their hand, walked an aisle, signed a card, had some emotional experience or even were baptized by immersion. Even more have anchored their salvation to the fact that they were raised in the church, that their parents were pillars of the church, they have had perfect attendance for 30 years or that they have taught Sunday School for decades. Such people have fallen into the trap of what it is to be a Cultural Christian.
The idea that someone could claim to be a Christian and live according to the yearnings of their carnal nature was unheard of up until the early 20th century. Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote a book in 1918 entitled He That is Spiritual in which he claimed that Paul’s instruction in 2 Corinthians 2:15-3:3 described two classes of Christians: carnal and spiritual. Chafer wrote: “The ‘carnal’ Christian is on the same plane as that of the ‘natural’ (unsaved) man.”
In other words, a “carnal christian” is just like the unsaved people around him. He has not repented, he has not changed. He claims Christ as His Savior but does not live under the Lordship of Christ. His idea gained traction among many believers. There are many today who claim cultural or carnal christianity. Beloved, if Jesus demands anything of us He demands change; He demands genuine transformation of the heart, and that is only accomplished as the Holy Spirit moves through His Word to convict us of sin and leads us to repentance.
I invite your attention to some more rather stunning words in Luke 13:23-24. Jesus is preaching in Perea, a region on the east side of the Jordan River, and He is slowly but purposefully making His way to Jerusalem and the cross. Along the way He is teaching about His kingdom, including a few parables in the previous chapter. As He is teaching someone asks a question: “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?”
How do you answer that question? I say, let’s simply follow Jesus’ example. Jesus’ main point here is whether there are few or many who will be saved, you make sure you’re one of them! That’s what He is telling us when He says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” The personal pronoun you is implied: “YOU make sure you get through the narrow door! Make sure you get in!”
The issue here, beloved, is to make sure you are a kingdom citizen, right? Scripture admonishes us over and over to scrutinize our lives to make sure we are truly citizens of the Lord’s kingdom; to make sure we are true believers. Second Corinthians 13:5 – “Test yourselves {to see} if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?” In 2 Peter 1:10 we are cautioned to be diligent in making our calling and election sure. When we are called to the Lord’s Table, in 1 Corinthians 11:28, Paul commands that because of the seriousness of the occasion and the consequences involved that “a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
So there is in Scripture a clear distinction between those who are of this world and those who are of Christ; those who are citizens of the kingdom of the world and those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven; even more simply, those who are of Satan’s kingdom and those who are of God’s kingdom. That is what Jesus determined when He came in the flesh. With a clarion call He separated good from evil, the righteous from the unrighteous, the just from the unjust, the holy from the wicked.
The entrance exam into Christ’s kingdom demands your death. Don’t you remember? Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Paul said in Colossians 3:3, “you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” He adds in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Listen, dear friends, you need to understand that entering the Kingdom demands death. It demands that you die, and along with you dies all your dreams, all your plans, all your aspirations, all your ambitions, all your desires – everything dies when you come to Christ. That’s the requirement for gaining entrance into the kingdom of Christ.
Let me ask you men a question here: which button on your shirt is the most important one? The most important button on your shirt is the first one. If you get the first one buttoned into the right hole, a, and all the rest will line up, right? Get the first one right and the shirt will look good on you.
If you don’t understand this vital truth, that entrance into the kingdom demands death, you will never gain entrance into the kingdom of Christ. “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” This is the Master, the Lord of the Kingdom, stating the entry requirement. He is saying in no uncertain terms that coming to Him and entering His kingdom means the end of yourself. And if you didn’t say that when you came to Christ, if you didn’t come to the end of yourself and die, then there is every reason to question whether you’re a Christian or not.
We are continually admonished in Scripture to “examine yourself,” and to “make your calling and election sure.” There must be the daily continual scrutiny of our lives measured against the truth of Scripture. We are pursuing holiness in the kingdom of Christ. All these challenges to live differently than the world are written for our edification. We want to know we are in the Kingdom and all the Scriptures are written……That You May Know.
That You May Know Ministries 