Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
At Faith Presbyterian Church we are seeking to exalt Jesus Christ the King and to exhibit and extend his Kingdom through worship, community, and mission.
Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
Missions Conference 2025 An Open Door: The Unexpected Ways God Provides
Giotis Kantartzis February 22, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL
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Well, it's a great joy to be with you. There is no missions conference without an exotic accent. So this is, and I just realized that there is a clock. I was a little bit worried. What time am I supposed to end, tony? What time? Okay, that's not. You know, I'm a Presbyterian pastor and I always say that the most important element in a sanctuary, in a Presbyterian church, is the clock, like just Okay. Well, as I said, it's a joy and a privilege to be with you. It's been three times now that I came to Birmingham. It's the first time that I'm in your church and it's a great joy. I love let me say that tonight, because tomorrow is going to be more formal, I guess this idea with the little tables around. Last year I visited and I took photographs and I went back home and I said you know, we need to do that and that's a great tradition that we have here and I hope that you'll continue doing it in the new sanctuary. But perhaps I'm overstepping here. Okay, that's enough. Well, I'm here to tell you why I still hope Now you may say why you say that.
Speaker 1:Let me reveal you a secret. You have heard some very good reports, but you know, whenever we give a report, we tend to talk about our successes and you know to choose the good stories. But if you were earlier during lunch, johnny asked this question what are your challenges? And there we heard many other stories. Right, and it's a challenging thing to deal with teenage girls who have suffered and they are in foster care. You know they have good days but they have bad days and it's challenging. We have heard about the Native Americans and about the older people who feel that they're a lost case and you know there's no point of working with us and younger people who believe the lie, if I remember correctly that, okay, this is you, this is the religion of the white people. And we heard about drug addicts. We have a drug addict rehabilitation center. We know the struggles. I mean many stories of people who were in the dry program that we used to have for a whole year and then going out in the very next week. You know you find them dead because of overdose. So there are many and I can keep on. You know going and there are many challenges. In the face of these challenges, sometimes you feel totally powerless and hopeless and you face the temptation to say what's the point? And you face the temptation to say what's the point I mean and to feel that you know, hopeless. And let me tell you my temptation in my own context.
Speaker 1:I'm a pastor in Greece and Greece is a Christian country, as the south of the United States is a Christian place. You call it the Bible Belt, but we all know about cultural Christianity, right? So Greece is a Christian country. The vast majority of the people would be Greek Orthodox.
Speaker 1:And if you count, I mean, let me, before I explain, let me say that my problem is mathematics. You know that's the problem, the challenge that I face, and I'll explain in a second what I mean by that. So when you count the evangelicals in Greece, evangelical believers, there are about 20,000. Now if we count our pets, we can go like 25. And you know us evangelicals, we float from church to church, so we can some people. We count them two or three times. Let's say 20,000, okay, in a country of about 10 million, which makes it 0.2%. Okay. Now, this is the calculation. Here's the math. If we plant 100 churches with 100 members each, which for us is a megachurch, so if we plant 100 churches with 100 members each, then the 0.2 will become 0.3. So this is our temptation To become cynical and say what's the point? Why should you evangelize, plant churches? Talk about vision. Why not accept the fact that, okay, things won't change?
Speaker 1:So tonight I'm here to tell you what I find hope to continue. And I want you to turn with me in the book of Revelation, chapter 3. I will show off a little bit. I'm Greek. Okay, I'll just tell you a little bit about Greek exegesis and Greek words, but you can excuse me for that.
Speaker 1:So Revelation, chapter 3, and we'll just read three verses. It's one of the letters. It's the letter to the Church of Philadelphia, but we'll focus on verses 7, 8, and 9. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David. And it's interesting, all these letters to the seven churches, they start with a description of Jesus Christ. Okay, which is not something that you know is random. Typically, that description is very important because it ties in with the message to the particular church. Okay, so keep that in mind that Jesus has the keys, he's the key holder, he has the key of David. Who opens and no one will shut. Who shuts and no one opens.
Speaker 1:Now, verse 8. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, you know, when there is repetition, it's a good idea to count and underline words that are repeated. So we have seen. Behold, now there is another. Behold, all right.
Speaker 1:Verse 9. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, third time, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Now, if I am to summarize the message that these verses give to us, or the way they answer the question, what should I hope? I would say this I still have hope, because it is God who opens the doors and he does it many times in unexpected ways. So that will be my message, and remember that this is the sentence that you need to remember that it is God who opens the doors and many times he does that in unexpected ways. Let's start with the first part of this sentence it is God who opens the door. So a very interesting question of interpretation is what does it mean when he talks about this open door? What is this open door all about?
Speaker 1:A possibility is that he talks about acceptance, the open door of acceptance. So we open the door to invite someone in to accept him. Why? Because you know, what we can figure out from the rest of that letter is that Christians, or people who became Christians in that context was a Jewish context. They're really isolated and you know the doors of the synagogue close to them. They're not welcomed anymore. So they feel isolated, abandoned, marginalized. And here God says to them okay, they may have closed the doors to you, but my doors will be open. Okay, so it's a promise of acceptance. So that is a a possibility. But this is not the possibility. I believe it is true.
Speaker 1:The other possibility when he talks about open doors is, if we keep in mind many other passages in the new testament, that he talks about opportunity for witness. Okay, paul talks a lot about that in corinthians, in colossians he talks about this open door. Especially in colossians is very interesting that he asks the people to pray for God to open the door. And I don't know if you remember where is Paul when he's writing that epistle, do you remember? He is in the prison. So, instead of asking them to open the door of the prison, he says you know, please open the door of witness so that I can give my witness, which is very weird, but this is Poland, you know. The open door for opportunity to witness. Okay, here is. Let's take then this possibility that he talks about opportunities for witness.
Speaker 1:Now, keeping that in mind, it's very interesting now to go and read again the passage, verse 8. And now I will change a few things, just to give you what is the literal meaning, if we were to translate from the Greek okay, which, by the way, is the language that the New Testament was written, in case you're not sure, and most probably the language we're going to use in heaven, but that's debated. Well, I know your works period. Of course, there were no periods and commas in the Greek text, but this is a good translation. I know your works period. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Now the ESV has another period there, which is like interpretation, you realize. And then it starts another sentence.
Speaker 1:I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. So the idea that you have little power is connected with what follows Even though you have little power, yet you have not denied my name. So this is the way that ESV translates that. But there is a key word which is missing, which you can find in the Greek text, and there is the word because and these little insignificant words, three letters in the Greek oti, hoti as you call it. It's a very significant word. Now let me read again the passage the way it's written in the Greek text. Okay, now I know your works.
Speaker 1:Verse 8, period Great Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut because you have but little power, period or comma, because you have a little power. You have kept my word and have not denied my name. Why the translators didn't choose that? Because that doesn't make much sense. Okay, I have set before you an open door because you have a little power. You know you say, okay, that doesn't make much sense, but I think that is exactly the point here. That is exactly what, you know, god wants to underline, and that is this the basic. The main point is this that the one who opens the door is not you, but it's he who holds the key and opens and nobody can shut and shut the door and nobody can open. So it's not about your power, it's about him who opens the door. So it's very interesting. So that is one of you know, like, as we ponder this text, which we can underline that in the context of our powerlessness, god reveals his own power. And there are many things that you know.
Speaker 1:We talk about church planting and like when. Okay, let me explain something. I was explaining that earlier in the morning in the group that we had that you know, sometimes when we may say the same things and we mean different things, okay, may say the same things and we mean different things, okay. So church planting in many contexts here in the United States means that 100 people leave the church with a pastor, a music director, a budget for a couple of years and they go to a new building and they start, they plant the church. In most other contexts, when you plant the church, you go to a place where there is no church, no known Christian, and somehow you need to figure out that, you need to connect with people, to network and, as I always say, church planting means that Saturday night you lose your sleep with the question would anybody show up tomorrow morning? Okay? So I mean, if this is church planting, you realize that this is impossible. Okay, we're totally.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you know a trick to make people believe, please tell me. You know I need it. I always think of this example, of this story about Elijah. You remember, you know that. You know. Okay, you know how to build an altar. You know choose I mean you can have a good manual choose the best stones to build an altar. You can have a manual, good training, and you can figure that out. Then pick up some good wood. You know that kind of, not the other kind Cut it this way, not the other way. You put the wood. You can even find an animal. Typically it's a church planter, so you put the animal on top of the altar. But you know there is this critical thing the fire. Okay, all the rest you can find, you can do it, you have the power. But do you know any trick how you can bring fire from heaven? Again, if you know, I'm very much interested in hearing it.
Speaker 1:So there is this time that you realize that, because you are powerless, you need to wait and rely on God to open the door, and God really loves to work in the context of human partners. Why? So that we can say that it is he who holds the keys. So, at the end, it's not us who have done this great thing but you know, that thing didn't make any sense but God, in His power and His grace, he did what he did. Now that does not mean that we are passive, that okay, we're just waiting. We need to build the altar. Okay, remember how it starts. I know your works. It's a good thing. You know, I know your works. You need to do whatever you can do. You need to do whatever is in your power. But we all realize that there is a limit. Okay, and that is the time that we say Lord, I did whatever I could, but now is the time that you need to step in and you need to do your work. I used to have some notes here, but I totally. Yeah, I need to go back.
Speaker 1:And here you have this important word behold, the first of the three beholds. And that is interesting. It says behold, I open the door. Why is that? Because many times we make this mistake we look at the wrong place and behold, it's something that says see, that is the idea, look, why? Because many times what we do is that we look at our own resources, our own self, whatever we have. And it's a way of God saying, trying to move our attention from who we are and what we have to what he is and what he's doing. Sometimes there may be an open door before us, but we're still complaining and murmuring, know, murmuring about our insignificance and our insufficiency and our, you know, in our misery. And the Lord has opened the door. So it's behold, look, you know we need to train, you know, our attention to really see where God is moving and just be there.
Speaker 1:Now, the second point I need to be aware of the time. The second point is okay, it is God who opens the door and many times he does that in surprising ways. That is not going to be long, but look with me at verse nine. Verse nine, he says behold, now this is a different. Behold is not shift, shift your attention. It's surprise, surprise. You know that kind of behold, Behold is startled, okay. So he says behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie, behold second time. Surprise, surprise, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Now we don't have the time to do more exegesis here. I'm not going to tire you, it's late already.
Speaker 1:But if you read in many places in the Old Testament, especially the book of Isaiah and in the Psalms, you have the exact opposite picture. You have the picture of Gentiles coming to bow before the Israelites. Okay, and here we have the exact reversal. What is happening is a total subversion. It's going to be the Jews, the Israelites, who will come and bow before the church, the Gentiles. So that's why he says twice behold, behold, this is something totally unexpected, ironic. You know, it's not something that nobody would have expected to happen. So God opens doors, and many times he does that in unexpected ways.
Speaker 1:In my office I have three posters with some sayings. One is not biblical, but I think it summarizes what it says here. It says that we invite the unexpected to happen. So that is a good summary of verse 9. Who could have ever imagined that God would fulfill his promise in that way? So be open to the unexpected. So this is my encouragement to all the partners and to all of us that, because we are powerless, good news it is God who will open the door and be ready to be surprised and actually wait to be surprised.
Speaker 1:Now I'll end with a prayer. It's one of my favorite prayers. That comes from Sir Francis Drake, 1577. I'll just change the verb. The prayer uses the verb disturb us. Okay, I'll use the verb surprises, okay, and I'll read it. And we're going to be done. Surprises, lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true, because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely, because we sailed too close to the shore, surprise us, lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms will show your majesty. We're losing sight of land. We shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope and love. Amen.