Narrow is the Way

So on Sunday during the Lord’s Table we (the worship team) introduced the congregation to this song (mp3) by Mo Leverett:

Narrow Little Road

I believe in the love of God

It is an orphan’s wildest dream

It is a narrow little road

It is an ever-widening desert stream

Oh I, and I,

I will leave this road

For the narrow

It is portrayed in the bread and wine

Let it fortify my bones

It is more than just a sign

It is the fountain from that desert stone

 

Oh I, and I,

I will leave this road

For the narrow

It is the path where the humble go

It is the narrow not the broad

It is the pathway down the hill

To the graveyard of the living God

 

Oh I, and I,

I will leave this road

For the narrow

The love of God is the hymn of hope

Let the needy join the throng

Let the widow hear and cope

Let the crippled rise to sing this song

 

Oh I, and I,

I will leave this road

For the narrow

(recorded by the Red Mountain Church)

I know it doesn’t look like much when you read the text, but I hope you guys know me well enough to remember that I generally hate all weak worship music… this song is quite wonderful as a congregational song. Very singable, very appropriate to communion. (Also the author Mo Leverett is a really cool PCA pastor & worship leader down in New Orleans. He’s an advocate for minorities in the PCA – sometimes the denominational standards for education make it nearly impossible for minorities to become elders. He’s done good work among the minority community down in New Orleans.)

We were talking about the text during sound check on Sunday morning, discussing what exactly the “narrow road” is referenced by the chorus.

Darrell made an excellent point that as soon as we hear that phrase, we think of Jesus’ words in the Gospel that “narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it.” We all instantly assume that the “narrow way” is one of stringent good deeds and a high moral standard. We think of the Gospel and its narrow path and begin charting a to-do list, things to “fix” in our lives.

But that isn’t the Gospel, and thus it can’t be what Christ meant. Our very efforts to keep ourselves tied to a straight-laced list of do’s and dont’s destroys the very heart of the Gospel we’re trying to follow.

I think the road is “narrow” because the only thing on it is Grace. 

As a sinful human, I’m addicted to self-righteousness. To be a beggar, arriving at the banquet and forced to depend on the Host Himself to provide me with the clothing to wear for the occasion — this is humiliating. “I’ll bring my own robe, thanks.” Now that I’m saved, it’s up to me to straighten myself out?

Nope. That’s the big interstate that everybody wants to walk because it leaves us with our pride intact.

Grace is narrow yet ocean-deep in its fullness.
Totally sinful. Totally loved. No condemnation. but also no way of adding my own little works of sanctification to the righteousness of Christ.

All of grace.
Yea and amen.