Shutting the kingdom

Matthew 23 :13 - 22

...you shut the kingdom of heaven against men...

Do we make it easier or harder for people to come to God? We would hope that we make it easier, or else what are our evangelistic efforts for? I believe we have to 'listen' to this passage anew and be open to what Jesus' confrontation is about, reading it from a contemporary context.

The Pharisees of Jesus' time were the strict fundamentalists when it came to religious matters. They kept the Law so meticulously that they obscured God's true purposes, making the faith a burden. Moreover, they began to focus merely on what comes from man (the gold, the gift on the altar)

There are many non believers today who have gotten a dose of Christians who package the Gospel in such a way that the doors to the kingdom are shut to them. The number of Christian denominations and the differences between them only confuse those on the outside. (The other extreme are those with over liberal theology, who in fact dilute the Gospel message).

Sometimes when we try to share the Gospel, we find that we have to 'undo' what has been presented before, and really ask God to open the minds of the hearers again.

After years of grappling with how to share the Gospel message, I have come to the belief that each person is so unique that God will reach him or her in unique ways. As we share the Gospel, it is up to us to understand the person, especially helping him or her to connect with the deep desire in every human person, for his Creator. The many cares and attractions of life might have overwhelmed this desire. But the truths of God's Word, when applied in love and grace, and enlightened by the Spirit, might, we pray, break through. The religion of the Pharisees, past and present imprisons while the Gospel of Christ, liberates.