Preached at Rutherglen United Reformed Church

Text: 1 Corinthians 16. 9

Door opening
Creator: OMMB | Credit: Shutterstock / OMMB

Listen to the sermon as preached below:

As Paul draws his first letter to Corinth to an end, he lets slip something very telling. He is every bit as human as we are!

Those closest to me would tell you that I am always looking ahead, looking to the next thing, the next duty, the next sermon, the next job. I get it from my father who only sits still when he’s ill. It is something I battle daily with as I try to live in the moment and enjoy what God is doing in my life, to enjoy the company of those closest to me, to enjoy God’s wonderful creation. After all, as Question 1 in the Shorter Catechism states, it is “the Chief End of Man… to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever”.

It is such a human thing to do, though, looking to the future. I don’t believe there is a man or woman here who, at some point in their lives, has not forgotten the joys of the present to look to the uncertainty of the future. Perhaps it is because we are planning for something exciting, perhaps it is because we are scared about what lies around the corner, perhaps it is because we know what we want and are darned well going to achieve it. The reasons are many.

Paul was every bit like us. As we read through 1 and 2 Corinthians, it is littered full of “I will”s. v3 from this morning, “And when I come… them will I send…”, v5 “Now I will come unto you”, v8 “But I will tarry at Ephesus”.

But there is good reason for Paul to be looking ahead, as sometimes there is for us. For Paul has had a revelation, namely that (as we read in v9), “a great door and effectual is opened unto me”. It is this verse that we will consider this morning, in two parts, helpfully divided as the sentence is.

For a great door and effectual is opened unto me

While it is obviously important for us to take time to enjoy and live in the present, it is equally correct to say that time does not stand still, and we shouldn’t either. It was Omar Khayyam who wrote “The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on”, and I think there is something of this in our lives.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting a friend, Colin, in Dundee. Colin is not a Christian, we know each other through the shared hobby of Amateur Radio, ‘Ham Radio’, but we also share a deep interest in deep discussions. Among the many ‘putting-the-world-to-rights’ coversations we had yesterday, we discussed the habit that mankind has of looking back to the past with rose-tinted goggles. We’ve all heard the people haven’t we - longing for the ‘good old days’. It’s the polar opposite of living in the future = living in the past. Again, sometimes there are good reasons to look to the past with longing - there were some things that were better (pop music, for example!), but there were many things that were much harder. Can any of us imagine a life without the NHS? Or without State Pensions? Or who here remembers having to heat up their spark plugs on a cold morning because the car wouldn’t fire? Or the long, cold walk to the outside privvy?

I love classic cars. I drive a 1988 Fiat Uno and, back down south, also own a 1957 Morris Minor, but even I realise that (on a cold, winter’s morning) it is more sensible to drive my wife’s sensible car! For a start, it starts when I ask it to!

This phenomena is not new. We can look back to Exodus to see an early example of this. For context, Moses has just led the people of Israel out of back breaking slavery. They were treated as animals, if not worse. Their food rations were being decreased as their labour rates were being driven up. They were being worked into the ground. Through Moses and Aaron, God has led the people of Israel out of slavery and they are now traipsing around the desert, but not all is well:

“And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16. 3)

Have these people taken leave of their senses?! “Bread to the full”?? They were enslaved people, they were in a dreadful situation. They rejoiced when they left Egypt. But now hunger had begun to hit, it was for their enslaved lives that they pined.

Then, turning to Numbers 21, we can see that the people of Israel have not changed:

“And the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread” (Numbers 21. 5)

So now, not only are they harking back to their slavery in Egypt, but now even the bread/Manna that God provided in Exodus 16 is not enough! Their souls loathed it!

We could sit here this morning, looking at these people, and condemn their pickiness, their murmuring, their disdain, but let’s face it, friends, their murmurings are just the same as ours, aren’t they. We don’t hark back to a time of slavery, perhaps, but we do look back to the past and compare now unfavourably. We forget that God designed the universe to never stand still. There will be things we miss from the past, yes, but God does not want us to live there.

After all, as Scripture shows us, all of creation was waiting for the first coming of Christ, and the Book of Revelation shows us that there is a future, an end - and try as we might, we cannot hold back the progress of time, any more than King Canute could hold back the tide.

So, what does this mean for Paul? Well, arguably it means that he was right to be looking ahead. As Alistair Begg writes, “Here is what we can learn from Paul: there’s no ideal place in which to serve God, but we can always serve God where we are… When his (Paul’s) service was complete in one location, he knew he was called to move onward.” (Truth for Life: 365 Daily Devotions p. 224).

When I was last here, I spoke about some of the challenges I faced over the last two years, and don’t intend to do so again, but it is important by way of an example to show that I am not longing to live and minister in the situation I was in eighteen months ago! God has been leading me to a new place, a new, deeper relationship with Him. And I pray it is the same for you. But, dear friends, how many Christians do we know who are longing for the Church of their childhood? How many people do we know who have become complacent in their ministries? And let’s not forget what I said last time I was here - ministry is something we are all called to. You and I have a ministry today, but tomorrow it will be slightly different. There is no point trying to minister tomorrow by doing the same things we did today and not allowing ourselves to move on.

This is where Paul had got to - “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me” (1 Cor. 16. 9). Sooner or later he would be off, “to serve the present age” as the hymn-writer puts it. Outwith Scripture, we can see this clearly from Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins clearly grows fond of Jane and Michael, but she will only stay until the wind changes. Before long her work is complete, her job is done, and it is time to move on. And, as she watches the children playing with their parents in the park, you can sense that she doesn’t really want to leave. But leave she must.

Another salient example of this can be found in Jonah’s story. I don’t know about you, but if I had to pick a favourite Bible verse I would pick Jonah 3. 1, “And the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time”. You see, even when we screw up (as Jonah did mightily), God still has work for us to do. Even if, like Jonah, we don’t like what He is calling us to do, and try and run away, there will always be a “second time”.

Consider Jonah’s story. God called him to go to Nineveh and preach. God said ‘Go’, and Jonah said ‘No’. It’s almost like a prose version of the Beatles’ song, ‘You say goodbye and I say hello’! Everything God commanded Jonah to do, Jonah knew better. Jonah didn’t want to go to stinking Nineveh, so instead ended up in the even stinkier belly of the great fish. And, deep in the gut of the fish, with seaweed and sludge up to his neck, he cried out to God. And, do you know what he said? He said, “For Thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas” (Jonah 2. 3)! If anyone had cast him into the deep, it was the fishermen (1. 15), and if anyone had caused this problem, it was Jonah himself. But even after all this, when Jonah turned to God in repentance, and made the fish’s belly his own prayer room, “the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time”. (2. 10 - 3. 1) No sitting still, Jonah! Have a wash, wipe behind your ears, change your clothes (you stink of fish!), and move on. And, having moved on, give a testimony of what’s happened - “In my distress to God I cry’d, and He gave ear to me. From lying lips, and guileful tongue, O Lord, my soul set free.” (Psalm 120 - M.1650)

The most wonderful thing about God is also one of the most terrifying (by our human perspective) - God does not settle down, and He does not expect us to either: as the Psalmist says, “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121. 4)

And there are many adversaries

All the excitement of pastures new aside, however, Paul is quick to note that this will not be plain sailing. Returning to Alistair Begg, we can contemplate the following:

“He [Paul] accepted the challenges as they came and considered opposition a great privilege rather than a hindrance.” (Truth for Life, 224)

I can speak from experience in saying that opposition when you feel you are following God’s commandments is not a fun thing. Particularly when that opposition comes from within the Church. But Paul was not naive, he knew that opposition would come, and would come thick and fast. Yet, even with all this opposition flying towards him, he still considered this opportunity “a great door and effectual” (1 Cor. 16. 9) - he could see past the temporary suffering to the higher goal and crown.

In life we seem to be predisposed to think that, if we are walking closely with God, in the place He wants us to be, it will all be lovely and rosey. Unfortuantely, however prevalent this belief is (and we’ve all heard of the so-called prosperity gospel message, which says that if you walk with Jesus you’ll have a great life with money and cars and women and wine and song), it is also unbiblical. Nowhere does Scripture promise that life will be easy as we walk with God, in fact Jesus said quite the opposite: “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15. 20)

Let us not forget that, as Christians, we are called daily by Christ to turn away from sin and follow Him. We are called to stand against satan, yet for some reason we think we’ll escape his fiery darts! As Begg says, “We are not called to be people who live complacently in cozy, comfortable Christian communities that know no resistance.” (Truth for Life, 224) We are instead called to die to sin and live for Christ, carrying our crosses. It is clear that Paul did just this.

As a wise friend of mine said, “adversaries come with the job” - the moment satan realises we intend to live for Christ, he will set about trying to throw us off course. I remember someone saying this the night I was ordained an elder. In many ways I didn’t want to hear this - after all, a ‘great door’ had just opened for me then as well. But the warning was timely, for satan was out in force from there on in.

But all is not lost, friends. Don’t think that, because there is adversity ahead, we should just give in, sit back and say to God, ‘I can’t do it’. That is just how Jonah acted. Cast your mind back to Moses - as God called him to lead the people out from Egypt, Moses said to God, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” (Exodus 4. 10) - basically, ‘Sorry Guv, no can do.’ But how did God respond? “Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” (4. 11-12)

There will be occasions where we, too, want to turn to God, shout ‘Sorry Guv, no can do’, before running in the other direction. There will be times where we convince ourselves, or satan convinces us, that we are not up to the task, that we are not equipped - and in our own strength, that is certainly the case. But God does not call us to do anything without equipping us - furthermore Paul himself writes, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty… That no flesh should glory in His presence.” (1 Cor. 1. 27, 29)

Or, to paraphrase slightly, ‘Those whom God calls, He also equips’.

To take away

There is so much we can take away from this remark of Paul’s. For in just fifteen words we are reminded that:

  1. God does not stand still
  2. We cannot stand still either
  3. God has exciting plans for each of us
  4. He does not promise the plans will be easy
  5. He does equip us to fulfil them if we call on His help

For my closing remark, I must turn to the Rev. Eric Alexander, once of St George’s Tron in the city, who once said, “There is no ideal place to serve God - except where He has set you down!” The question is, are we willing to be moved, to go through the “great door”, and perform that “effectual” ministry to which He has called every one of us, in His perfect plan and by His sovereign grace?