Have you noticed that life is hard? And when I say that, I don't just mean that tough things happen to you in life. I mean even that things that are under your control are hard. There are so many situations in life that come up and now you have to respond: you have to do something or you have to say something—it's not out of your control—its completely in your hands—but you don't know what to say or what to do.

I was thinking about this last week. Many of you know that my father-in-law was in a terrible accident a couple weeks ago. He fell about 25 feet off an extension ladder with a running chain saw in his hand while trimming a tree. Just so you know he's home now and he's doing amazingly well and I want to thank those of you who have been praying for him. He's doing well, but he has a long road of recovery ahead of him. My wife was talking to him a couple of days ago on the phone and it became one of those hard situations. What should she say to him? Should she tell him to take it easy, or should she encourage him to keep pushing hard on getting better? What's the right answer? Well, it's hard to say, right? Anyone who's ever been in a situation like that knows that you can't just lay around on the couch watching TV. He's going to work hard at his therapy, pushing himself every day if he wants to get better. It's not just gonna happen on its own. But on the other hand, we all know people in those situations who push themselves too hard. They try to get back to regular life too quickly and pushing themselves too hard actually delays their recovery. And what kind of people are they? They're the kind of people who try to trim tree branches 25 feet in the air with a chain saw even when they're in their mid-70's! So, what's the right thing to say? It's hard, isn't it?

Here's another example: imagine a friend comes to you because their marriage is in crisis. Some big issue has come up and the husband or wife is divided about it. And they ask you: "what do you think I should do? Should I give in and sacrifice what I want—what I think is right? Or, should I stand my ground on this one and not give in?" What do you tell your friend? Well, there are no easy answers there either, are there? You might think, "Well, marriage is all about sacrifice, so your friend should give in." But what if their spouse is insisting on something harmful, or is being abusive or something like that. It might very well be that giving in to their spouse could be exactly the wrong thing to do in this case!

You see what I mean? There are so many things like this in life! Your kids mess something up: should you punish them or give them a hug? You're working on your family budget and you've managed to find a few extra dollars: should you put more in your offering at church or should you increase your savings? Over and over we're faced with these kinds of decisions: decisions that are not black and white, decisions for which there are no easy, right or wrong answers. This, of course, is why God tells us in the Bible to pray for wisdom!

Now...what does any of this have to do with our topic for today? I'm not supposed to be talking about wisdom or about decision-making. I'm supposed to be talking about the dumb idea that "all dead people go to a better place." Well, just hang in there with me for a few minutes. I am going to tie it all together.

Our topic for today is an important one. We live in a country that emphasizes that all religions should have equal protection under the law. And that's a good thing. In fact, it's a very good thing. Religious faith is not something that should be, or even can be, coerced by the force of law. And that belief allows us all to sit here today and worship our God without any fear of persecution. That's a very good thing. The problem is that in our country today many people have taken this a step farther. Because they believe that all religions should have equal protection under the law, they have come to believe that therefore, all religions must have equal validity in the eyes of God. But that is simply not true.

You cannot believe that if you believe the teachings of Jesus. Jesus did not say that all roads lead to heaven. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He did not say that all dead people go to a better place. In fact, He was very clear, in many different places that there is a heaven and there is a hell. In fact, it's worse than that. You heard Him say it today in our readings. He said it's not just that hell is real. Even worse, He said, the road that leads to hell is very wide and the road that leads to life eternal is small and narrow and "only a few find it."

And what is it that determines whether a person goes to heaven or hell? It's not whether they were a so-called "good person" or not. It's not even whether they were religious or not. Church attendance is not what determines your eternal destiny. Jesus does. Faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is that what moves someone from the wide road to hell onto the narrow road to heaven.

That's why we're doing all these mission trips that you saw on the video. We're not just sponsoring spiritual vacations. We really believe that people who die without faith in Christ are lost. They are NOT in a better place! We really believe that God's desire is for us to share the good news of the Gospel in word and action with every person that we possibly can.

But here's the problem I have today. That's all true. And that's all important. And we need to know that and be crystal clear on that. The problem I have is how I do I keep this sermon from becoming totally depressing? I mean, what are you all supposed to do in response to this message? Are you supposed to go home and think about all the people you've known and loved who have died and consider whether they went to heaven or hell? Where's the comfort and hope in that? That sounds like a recipe for depression and despair to me!

Well, this is the tie-in to what I was talking about in the beginning. Remember all those tough situations I was talking about? Does my father-in-law push himself or should he take it easy? Should the married person give in or stand their ground? Should the parent hug or reprimand? Should the family give or save? I'm convinced that there is a simple answer to every one of these tough questions. And the answer is not "yes" or "no." It's not "do this" or "do that." I'll tell you the correct response. If anyone of those questions came before you, here's how you should respond. You should say, "Why do you want to know?"

Why do you want to know? Should my father-in-law push himself or take it easy? Why do you want to know? "Because he pushed himself hard yesterday and he's really hurting today." Well, then he should probably take it easier. But if you want to know because he hasn't been off the couch in weeks and his doctor is hounding him to do stuff and he's not doing it, well then, he absolutely shouldn't take it easy. You see?

Should the family with a little extra money give more or should they save that money for college? Well, why do you want to know? "Because we only give about 3% of our income and we think God might be challenging us to do more." "Well, then yeah, you're probably right." But if want to know because you're already tithing to the church and on top of that you give to several other charities but you really have no savings, then you probably shouldn't give more. Giving isn't the only way you honor God with your money. You honor God with your money by providing for your family too. See what I mean?

I saw all of this because I think this is exactly what is happening with the issue before us today. I don't know if you noticed, but that's kind of what happened in our second reading for today from Luke 13. This whole discussion about who goes to a better place when they die got started because somebody asked Jesus a question. It says,

"Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem." And in verse 23, "Someone asked him, 'Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?' "

And what did Jesus answer? Did you notice? He didn't say "yes" and He didn't say "no." Instead He said, "Why do you want to know?" Well, He didn't really say that, because He's Jesus and He already knew why they wanted to know. But, if you do a little research you can find out what the prevailing view on this topic was in Jesus' day in all those towns and villages Jesus was teaching in. The prevailing view was "all of us living in these towns and villages are going to be saved because we're the people of Israel! We're God's chosen people!" To put it in our modern terms, they were saying, "We belong to the right religion, so we're all set."

So, what did Jesus say? "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! No—the truth is many of you are going to try and enter and you won't be able to." See, this anonymous person in verse 23 is not asking this question because they're worried. They're asking it because they think Jesus is wrong. They're trying to pin Him down here. They're trying to get a quote. The tone of voice here is not, "Oh dear, are only a few people going to saved?" It's more like, "What are you talking about? Are you saying only a few of us are going to be saved?"

Now, here's why this is important: because my guess is that most of us here today are asking Jesus that question for a very different reason. When we say, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" we're not asking because we think He's wrong or even because we think saving only a few would be unjust. We're asking because we're worried sick. We're asking because we're deeply concerned about the eternal welfare of our children and our siblings and our co-workers and our neighbors—people who you know and love who do not know and love Jesus. And when you ask the question for that reason, Jesus gives you a very different answer. You want to hear it? Here it is:

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."

See there is good news today, even with this tough topic, and the good news is this: In the midst of your worries and anguish about the salvation of people you love, God wants you to know, it's not all up to you. This was HIS mission, long before it was ever yours. He's not just sitting there waiting patiently for the lost to come to Him. No, He's DOING something. He's relentlessly going after the lost sheep Himself. When Jesus gives us the Great Commission, He's giving us an honor and a privilege to JOIN Him in His work. But it's not like He's putting the ball in our court. It's not like if we fail to do it, He's going to say, "well, that's too bad. I was really hoping we could do something about that." No, He's going to do it, with or without us. Why? Because "your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."

Here's one of my favorite commentaries on these verses. The author says,

"But didn't Jesus say that only a few would be saved and that the road to eternal life was narrow while the road to destruction was wide? Yes, but 'few' and 'many' here are not mathematical percentages. Jesus is a lover, not a mathematician; a shepherd, not a statistician. The Good Shepherd feels about his sheep the way good parents feel about their children: even one lost is too 'many', and even ninety-nine out of one hundred saved is too 'few.' When the disciples asked Jesus about comparatively heavenly and hellish population statistics (i.e. "Lord, will only a few be saved"), his answer was not "yes" or "no" but "strive to enter through the narrow door." In other words, "Mind your own business!" Speculating about others is as worthless, even harmful, as speculating about the exact date of the end of the world...we cannot know. But we can work. Christ does not answer our theoretical question, but gives us a practical task. We have our marching orders: Preach the Gospel to every creature." [Quoted from Handbook of Christian Apologetics, by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, Intervarsity Press, 1994, p. 330.]

Let's pray and ask God to help us do that...