When God closes a door, God often opens a window
Bumper Sticker Theology • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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It’s hard to believe that this is the end of our Bumper Sticker Theology where we have looked at 13 different phrases that Christians use and we’ve really given them some thought and lined them up with Bible passages to help us better know when and how to use these phrases and most importantly how many of them can be more unhelpful than helpful. As we begin our final day together on this, we take a look at the phrase “When God closes a door, God often opens a window.” What is interesting about this phrase is that like many of the others it makes things seem so simple. Well God closed that opportunity and now a new one has appeared. I hope we all know that oftentimes things aren’t always that simple. We wish they all were in all aspects of our life, but oftentimes it’s not.
I know this is a trivial example, but earlier this year Aubriegh had a dance convention in Phoenix. You may remember that I was gone for one Sunday in the Spring so that our whole family could be there for her. Since it was a convention and not just a competition there were lots of things we couldn’t attend, so one day Madisyn and I walked down to the Children’s Museum to spend some time there exploring. One of the first things we did was climb in and up this giant structure in the main room on the ground floor. On the way up and as we got to the top there were lots of routes you could take and areas to explore. It wasn’t that difficult, other than I had no idea how to get from where we ended up back down the way we came in. Madi saw some kids heading down a certain way and decided that was the route to go. I don’t think this route had adults in mind and especially not adults that were 6ft tall. No joke I was army crawling the whole way and contorting my body as best I could to be able to drop down through the small square that brought you down the next narrow pathway. It did get us all the way down and out, but I honestly had many doubts about my ability to squeeze through these paths and I also wasn’t convinced during the crawl that it would get us out. There was definitely no just start at point A and then end at point B, which is the fun for the kids, but was the immense frustration for this 6ft adult who had no idea how to get out once he got in.
There’s not always an easy solution to the simple but frustrating things like trying to climb a treehouse and the same is true for life and it’s often seems true for things in our faith. Which is exactly what Paul, Silas and Timothy were facing when they were going on this particular missionary journey of theirs. Acts tells us that they kept trying to go to the province of Asia but the Holy Spirit kept preventing them. So the door they wanted to go through to Asia kept shutting on them. It just wasn’t happening. Now we might gloss over all the names of the places that we read until we find out he finally reaches Philippi, but we really need to look at a map and see what’s going on here. He starts out in Lystra which is in modern-day Turkey. He then travels around Asia-minor and when he gets close to Mysia he tries again to enter Asia-minor by the way of Bithynia but he’s stopped by the Spirit again. Paul then heads to the next closest city which is the port city of Troas where the decide that God was convincing them through a man to go to Macedonia.
They land in Neapolis after stopping off at Samothrace and head to Philippi. This is where they meet Lydia who helps to found the Philippian church after she and her household are baptized. This was not a simple start at point A and go to point B. We do have some examples of point A to point B in the missionary work of the Apostles, but we also have stories like this from the Apostles that show us that sometimes when God closes a door there’s no window to climb through just around the corner. Paul and his companions journeyed so far to be able to end up where God was calling them to be.
Not only did they have to travel such a distance, but they also encountered so many times where things just weren’t working out for them. I mean if you really look at the text and see how instead of just saying they couldn’t go to Asia, it is repeated again, which tells us that they really wanted to go there. That was something they really wanted to do, but they couldn’t. That’s not to say that the Spirit didn’t want the word spread in that area, but perhaps it just wasn’t the right time, or maybe Paul wouldn’t have been effective there.
Which also shows us that just because something doesn’t work out doesn’t mean it’s a failure. Just becuase a door closes doesn’t mean the idea or the plan or whatever it was was inherently wrong. It could have been the timing, it could have been the location, it could have been a number of things for whatever it was to not work out. As a pastor I have tried the same ministries, events, etc in different contexts and in some they are well received and thrive and in others they need to be adjusted, and in others they flop. If it worked in one context then we know it’s not just wrong or a bad idea, but when it doesn’t work in another context we learn that it might not fit, or it might need to be changed or tweaked.
That is why as a community of believers, and as children of God we need to be flexible in what we do and what we face. We need to be able to adapt and adjust to the world around us and how we and God are working in it. The text doesn’t ever say that Paul was frustrated but I imagine he must have been, trying so many times to go to Asia and always having that door shut in his face. But after so many other stops he lands in Philippi where he meets Lydia. Lydia becomes a faithful follower of Christ and opens up her home to be the epicenter of the Philippian church. Imagine if Paul, Silas, and Timothy had instead decided to just sit and wait or knock the door down for Asia to open up to them for their missionary work. They may have never met the man who eventually led them to Lydia and what became the Philippian church.
I wish that life would always lead us from a closed door to an open window to get us where we need to go in an easy and efficient manner, but sometimes that’s just now how life goes. Sometimes the journey and the closed doors, the following of and trusting in God through it all will eventually lead us to that path that is not only best for us but also best for God. Sometimes the journey is what we need and not another destination. Sure climbing through that impossible treehouse was unpleasant for my physical body, but Madi and I had a lot of fun that day. The destination of getting out of that treehouse was also quite exciting too. So my final word for you today and for this journey we have embarked on through Bumper Sticker Theology and for our life of faith is this: don’t be discouraged when life is difficult for you have a God who walks beside you every step of the way, whether the path is straight and paved, or you feel like you are going uphill in the snow both ways, God will accompany you along the way and listen to whatever is on your heart. We have a God who cares and loves us more than we can ever fathom. Never forget that. Amen.