Date: 2018.01.21
Speaker: Rev. Errol Joseph
Train Your Child To Take The Right Road (Matthew 7:13 -14)
The most tragic words someone has ever said to me:
“I admire the fact that you have found the right road. Do you know how difficult it is to go all the way down the wrong road and when you reach down the road to realize it is the wrong road and to have to turn around and to go back up to the start of the road to find the right road and begin the journey all over again.”
This person is still struggling with life and the choices he has made.
We must train our children to take the right road. In order to do this, we ourselves must determine which is the right road and walk in it ourselves. Why? Of all the creatures on earth, the human offspring is the most dependent. Some animals have offspring and they walk away. The human offspring often stay with us much longer than we would like. Because our children are so helpless, whichever road we walk, they walk.
The Bible says in Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
The road that we walk and along which we take them will most likely be the road that our children will continue to walk, hence, the imperative of training them to take the right road.
What does Jesus say about this?
“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.”
There are several contrasts in these verses.
1. Two (2) gates of which one is wide while the other is small.
Note that gates always lead somewhere.
2. Two (2) roads of which one is broad while the other is narrow.
The broad road gives you space; most likely there are no obstacles. It speaks of life without moral limitations. You walk as you please.
The narrow road has moral limitations. You can’t move as you like. You are circumscribed by boundaries. You must live within certain parameters.
Isa. 35:8 – “The narrow road is the ‘way of holiness.” Jer. 6:16 -…”you will find rest for your souls.”
Prov.4:14-15 – “Avoid the broad road. Do not travel on it. Turn from it and go your way.”
3. Two (2) characteristics of which one is easy to find while the other is hard/difficult to find.
4. Two (2) groups and they are : i. The Many (Matt.7:13b) ii. The Few (Matt.7:14b)
Our inclination is to follow the many, the crowd, often believing that they are right. When it is just a few or even one, we believe that he/she is missing something.
5. Two (2) destinies of which one leads to destruction/death while the other leads to life.
Ps. 1:6 – “For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Prov.14:12 – “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
Isa.59:1-8, Is.5:11, Isa. 30:33
Life here speaks not only of the hereafter/eternity but of life here/presently as well. The choice you make will affect who you are now, the quality of your life now as well as the ultimate destiny of your life hereafter.
Jesus makes one (1) recommendation.
“Enter through the narrow gate.”
John 10:7-10 – “…I am the gate…” There will be limitations and restrictions when you choose the narrow gate but when you finish, you will receive a wide open space…LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE. John 3:3-5, Isa. 55:7
NOTE
1. The narrow gate leads to the wide love of God. Eph. 3:17-19
2. God provides us a secure pathway. Ps.18:36
3. God removes all the obstacles. Prov.3: 5-6
The gate/door will not always be open. Luke 13: 23-30
Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate/door…for when the Owner/Jesus shuts the gate/door, you will never be able to enter.
Conclusion
Everybody starts off on the broad road but everybody also has a chance and a choice. When you are going down the broad road and you turn to the Lord, the Lord Himself holds your hand and takes you back up the road and points you in the right direction – to the narrow road – and He does not just send you BUT He walks along with you to take you through and to bring you to this wide open place that all of us were born to live and walk in.
As parents, we must choose to walk the narrow road/to follow Jesus and we must train our children to do the same.