Wanting Bithynia
and Getting Troas
by
Dr. H. Alden Welch
Leonia
United Methodist Church, NJ
July
28, 2002
Scriptures:
Acts 16:6-10
A man went into an electronics store to
buy CD player and sound system as a high school graduation present for
his son. The clerk said to him, "This is a fine gift; your son will
be thrilled." "Yes, he should be," said the father,
"but he will probably be disappointed." "Why?" asked
the clerk, "Doesn't he want a great sound system?"
"Oh yes, but he wants it in a new
set of wheels!" Life is full of disappointments.
Everyone has dreams, desires, longings,
but we do not always get what we want: the lead in the play, the house
of our dreams, the behavior we expect from our children; the promotion
we think we deserve, the retirement we dreamed of. When any of these
things happen, we experience disappointment.
It is a part of being human.
It is true for everyone, even saints.
Paul had his heart set on going to Bithynia. Located in Asia Minor on
the southern coast of the Black Sea, Bithynia was one of the richest
provinces in the Roman Empire. It was where some think the legendary
King Midas once ruled. But I am sure it was not this that interested or
attracted Paul. He was not a tourist looking for sites to visit or ruins
to explore, nor an adventurer looking to place where he could make a
fortune. He was an apostle eager to spread the gospel and make new
converts. Since spiritual poverty often accompanies great wealth, he probably saw Bithynia as fertile
ground. And he was right;
within a few short years, there would be numerous churches in the
region.
But something prevented him from going.
Possibly he or one of his companions fell ill.
Maybe the weather turned foul, closing
the mountain passes or making the seas too treacherous for travel.
Whatever it was, Paul was prevented from going to Bithynia. Instead, he
ended up in the little seacoast town of Troas.
We are not told how Paul felt, but I am
sure he was disappointed. I can imagine him sitting on a rock throwing
stones into the Aegean Sea and saying to himself, "I could have
done so much good in Bithynia! There is nothing for me to do here in
Troas.”
Then, that very night Paul had a vision:
In it, a man from Macedonia was pleading, "Come over to Macedonia
and help us." Many New Testament scholars think it wasn't a dream
at all, but a real person, possibly Luke, the writer of Acts, himself,
who had heard about Paul and had traveled to Troas to enlist his help.
What we do know is that Paul took this to be a sign from God, a call to
a larger mission and an expanded ministry. Later, writing of this moment
in Corinthians, Paul said, "When I came to Troas, a door was opened
for me..." (II Cor. 2:12)Luke writes, "We immediately crossed
over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim
the good news to them." (v. 10)
Sometimes
God Closes Doors
Sometimes God closes doors; sometimes God
says "no!” Not out of meanness or indifference, I am convinced,
but because God knows things we do not know and has something else in mind for us.
That was certainly true in Paul's case.
As it turned out, he wasn't needed in Bithynia.
Others could do the job there and did.
Moreover, in the long run, and God always takes the long view, the
planting of churches in Europe was far more important than adding a few
more churches in Asia Minor. Eventually, all of Bithynia would be taken
over by the Turks and most of those churches would be turned into
mosques. It was in Europe that Christianity would take root, flower and
flourish. It was there, God needed Paul spreading the gospel.
Luke was so convinced of this that he
writes that he saw the hand of God not only in Paul's call but also in
whatever prevented him from going to Bithynia in the first place.
He writes, "The Spirit of Jesus did
not allow it." (v. 7)
Maybe when a door closes in our lives,
when we experience disappointment,
we should consider the possibility that
God may be trying to tell us something.
Some see a closed door as a sign that the
world is against them. They get angry and look for someone or something
to blame: their boss, their parents, their genes, their spouse; the times, bad luck, our leaders, the
economy. They end up locked in a prison of their own making.
I know someone who, were I to take you to
her house, would immediately tell you, in great detail, about a bad
thing that had happened in her life -- how her hopes had been dashed,
her spirit crushed; and how insensitive people had been to her; how they
have neglected her; how disappointed she continued to be. The way she
tells it you would think that this happened recently, when in fact it
was something that had happened nearly forty years ago. For thirty-seven
years, she has been wallowing in self-pity
standing, as it were, in front of a
closed door.
Often when we experience disappointment,
when things do not turn out the way we expect, we get what I call a case
of the "if only's." "If only I had had better
luck...." "If only I had taken the other job..." "If
only I had married a different person..." "If only I had
stayed where I was...." Or, "If only I had made a
move..." "If only.....if only....." We end up feeling
sorry for ourselves, living in the past, standing in front of closed
doors.
A caller to a late-night talk show
complained bitterly that his ex-wife had poisoned his children against
him. They were now grown but still refused to have anything to do with
him. He had tried to contact them; had sent them cards and gifts; had
invited them to visit him; all to no avail. He wanted to know what more
he could do. The talk-show host said that maybe one day their attitude
would change, but, in the meantime, he needed to move on, to get on with
his life. Patience is a virtue, but it is silly to keep standing in
front of a closed door. Especially when it may just be that God has
something else in mind.
God
Opens Other Doors
And while God sometimes closes doors, God
always opens others. That is what Paul discovered. That is what others
have discovered.
In 1735, a young Anglican priest named
John Wesley felt called to save souls in the new Georgia Colony. After
two years, he returned to England having failed miserably.
But there was a tremendous spiritual
hunger in the British Isles, and John Wesley became the leader of a
great religious revival.
One door closed but another opened.
Phillips Brooks wanted to teach in the
worst way. As it turned out, that is exactly the way he taught. He was
an awful teacher; his classes were unruly. He could not stand his
students; he wrote in his diary: "They are the most disagreeable
creatures I have ever met...I am tired, cross, and almost dead, so good
night!" One day, he just up and quit, and wrote, "I do not
know what will become of me."
A door in his life slammed shut.
A friend said he thought Brooks would
make a good minister. (Not
I trust because of his failure as a teacher. Although someone did once
say in my hearing that you should not become a minister unless you felt
that you just couldn’t do anything else!)
He enrolled in seminary, and his friend proved right. Many regard
him as the finest preacher of the 19th century. You know him as the
writer of the Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
One door closed but another opened.
James Whistler, the renown artist, has
his heart set on a military career. He received an appointment to West
Point. But he failed chemistry and flunked out. It was then that he took
up painting. Later he chuckled, "If silicon had been a gas, I now
would probably be just another general."
One door closed,
another opened.
Back in the 70s, Charles Coulson was one
of the Watergate conspirators. Not someone I admired; not someone who
behaved admirably.After the Watergate scandal, he became a born-again
Christian. I have to admit that I was skeptical. When he wrote a book
entitled, Born Again, my reaction was, "One more person
trying to cash in."
But then I heard him at the World
Methodist Conference in Nairobi and I changed my mind about Chuck
Coulson. He said: a lot of people think that, if you turn to God,
nothing bad will ever happen to you. He
gave his life to Christ, and he went to jail.
That was a terrible blow to his
self-esteem, as I am sure it would be to any of us.
He did not see what good could come from
that. He felt like his life was on hold and he was eager to get out so
he could find out what God wanted him to do. But then he began to listen
to those in prison with him, and
he discovered that they had deep spiritual needs.
So he began a ministry right there in the prison.
Since his release, his prison ministry
has grown. Now Coulson says, "Going to prison was the best thing
that has happened in my life. I did not feel that way at the time.
God has used the one great failure in my
life to touch the lives of thousands of other people."
One door closed but another opened.
Paul wrote in Romans, "In everything
God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his
purposes..." (Rom. 8:28) He did not say that only good things
happen. Bad things, tragic things, frustrating things happen. And things
that deeply disappoint us. But whatever happens, if we trust God, if we
want to serve God and help others, God will open a door and show us the
way.
When you have your heart set on some
Bithynia and you end up in Troas; when you experience disappointment;
when God closes a one door, trust God, listen to God, let God open a new
door in your life. You will
discover how true are these words of Paul,
"Thanks be to God who always leads
us." (II Cor. 2:14 NIV)
O God, when we experience disappointment,
May we have the courage to trust your grace
and follow where you lead. Amen.
PRAYERS
Creator God, on this day that you have
made and given us, we give you thanks, we praise your name, we glorify you.
We pray for those who are ill or
hospitalized; those who have suffered a grievous loss; those who are worried about a friend or family member; those who have made mistakes and need a new beginning; those who are discouraged, depressed, disappointed and need new purpose, direction, and confidence.
We pray for the wisdom to use our time
wisely, for the strength to do our work acceptably, and the faith to face the future courageously.
Lord,
forgive our tendency to wish others a good day…
while doing little to make their day better. Make us grateful for each day and kind to each other.
We pray now in the words Jesus taught
saying:
THE
LORD’S PRAYER