Monday, January 18, 2010

An All or Nothing Game



Today while I was out running, the Lord deposited this entire article in my head to deliver to you. It's a short article but a big, no huge idea....One of the foundational questions that the Lord used to get me to start this blog was the question of why will so few people be saved?

Matt 7:13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The vast majority or "pastors" preachers and teachers in this world won't touch this subject with a 10 foot pole, but Jesus said it and we need to consider it... WHY will FEW be saved? You can ignore that Jesus ever said it and find out the hard way later, I guess that's always an option too. Unfortunately for most its the most frequently chosen option. Anyway, today the Lord answered that question for me with what is contained in this post.

1. Few will be saved

We just covered that in Matt 7:13-14. We also see over and over again throughout the history of Israel that most were destroyed and only a few, a remnant were saved. This is not a new idea.

2. The bell curve
I don't know how to get that picture of the bell curve down into this section or I would put it here. Simply put, most people fall into the middle, or "normal" part of the bell curve. On either end of the bell curve you have the "few." In the context of what Jesus said about only a "few" making it into the narrow gate that leads to life, where should we be looking for people in the world who will truly be saved? We should look for them among the FEW, not among the many, or the "normal" or the middle, they are out on the edges, you might say they are found among the extremes.

Ever notice how today the really "bad" people are labeled "extremists?" "Extreme" is a really bad title to have today, its better (according to this world) to be found in the middle of the bell curve amongst the many, the "normal," but according to what Jesus said, being there is the broad path that leads to destruction, the path that the "many" take is one I do not want to be found on.

3. Hot or cold or I will spit you out

Running hand in hand with this idea that few will be saved, and the few are found on the edges, not the middle of the bell curve, we have these words from our Lord:

Rev 3:15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Did you read that? Jesus said that because these people are not "extreme," neither hot nor cold, but only "lukewarm" normal, in the middle, the masses, among the most, he is going to spit them out of his mouth. Other translations say vomit them out. In other words, he doesn't want them. Jesus wants hot or cold, one or the other. Most people are neither. Most people think that if they are on the broad path, the popular path surrounded by the masses then they will be safe and in the end their belief for staying in the normal/mass/popular/lukewarm area will be vindicated. Jesus tells us that's a lie and it will get you killed...eternally.

4. "Games" Aren't always for pleasure or trivial or juvenile, they can be deadly serious.

To put it simply, this is an all or nothing game. The "games" that gladiators fought in were deadly. Game theory is what the military uses to predict the deadly consequences of war. All "games" are not created equally, and the game of life is an all or nothing game. We need to be found on the extreme edges of that bell curve we saw above. We need to be hot or cold, on one side or the other, but not in the middle, not with the masses. We need to be found among the few.

Most people don't know where they are going in life, what they really want, who they really are, or what they really believe. They just kind of float along like a rudderless ship allowing the winds of the "masses" to direct their course. Most people have chosen a "lukewarm" path because to be out on the "extremes" where the "hot" and "cold" live just isn't comfortable for them. Most people care more about what the masses say and think than what the Creator thinks, so they end up getting spit out. Do you know what happens to people who get caught in the middle of a war without choosing sides? They get shot at from both sides. That's certainly not a good place to be.

What you have read here was given to me in its entirety by the Lord today. The message is clear, you need to choose sides. Do not be caught with the masses, the "most" that walk the broad path to destruction. We have no idea how much time is left before our Lord shows up for us so while we wait lets decide exactly what we believe, what we want, what we are asking the Lord for, where we are going in this life and the next. Don't spend another day as a "lukewarm" member of the masses who gets vomited out in the end.

grace and peace