Latest / Reformed Thinking / Opened Doors and Faithful Steps for Discerning the Call to Missions Through Gospel Opportunity

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Opened Doors and Faithful Steps for Discerning the Call to Missions Through Gospel Opportunity · Reformed Thinking

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Out of roughly 8 billion people on Earth today, approximately
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3.4 billion live in what missiologists call unreached
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people groups. Yeah, which is a staggering
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number. It really is.
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I mean that is 42% of the global population, 42% living with
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virtually 0 access to the gospel.
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Right. No viable, self-sustaining
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church presence in their language or culture.
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And yet, Despite that reality, 98.3% of all Christian missions
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funding goes to work in areas that are already considered
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heavily reached. Yeah, or at least highly
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evangelized. Which means only 1.7% goes to
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the unreached. Welcome to reformed thinking
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everyone. Today we are taking a deep dive
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into the sources behind those numbers.
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We're looking at two really comprehensive texts on the
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theology of missions in Divine Providence today.
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Right open doors and faithful steps and the sovereign opener
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of the way. And those statistics you just
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mentioned, they set the stage for, well, everything we are
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going to discuss today. Because we are looking at a
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massive misallocation of resources, aren't we?
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We are, and manpower too. The thesis we are evaluating
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today argues that this disparity is not it's not a logistical
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failure. OK, then what is?
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It it is a theological failure, Yeah.
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We are investigating a very modern paralysis in vocational
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decision making. Oh yeah, the whole what is God
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calling me to do? Crisis.
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Precisely. Believers are waiting for these
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extraordinary mystical signs before they will act on the
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Great Commission. Well, I assume completely
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ignoring the ordinary opportunities right in front of
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them. Yes, and often because those
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ordinary providential opportunities look like
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hardships. So that is the mission of this
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deep dive, whether you are listening to this while
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contemplating a move overseas for missions or, I don't know,
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trying to figure out how to engage with an antagonistic
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neighbor. Or just trying to manage a
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secular job while being a faithful witness.
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You need a biblical framework for making those decisions.
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Right, so we are going to look at Scripture, some fascinating
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Greek linguistics, and the really gritty reality of 1st
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century history. It is a lot to cover.
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It is, but to start, let's look at this diagnostic landscape.
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I feel like we want figuring out God's calling to be like reading
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a medical X-ray. Oh, that's a good way to put it.
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Right, you break your arm. The X-ray shows a clean white
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line on black film and the doctor points and says there is
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the break. It's.
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Binary. It is clear, but when people try
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to figure out what God wants them to do with their lives,
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they find the X-ray machine is broken.
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Yeah, they are staring at this murky landscape, waiting for a
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glowing sign in the sky. And the modern evangelical
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landscape is absolutely dominated by this mystical
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approach. Isn't it?
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It really is. People want an audible voice.
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They want, you know, an emotional lightning bolt or a
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perfectly aligned set of coincidences.
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Something that gives them a subjective feeling of peace
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before they take a step. Yes, they demand to know God's
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secret decrees before they obey His revealed commands.
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Wow, say that again, because that is a heavy distinction.
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They demand to know God's secret decrees before they obey His
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revealed commands. That is convicting.
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The material we are evaluating contrasts this modern paralysis
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with historic Protestant orthodoxy, specifically the
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doctrine of Providence. Right.
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God ordains whatsoever comes to pass.
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But he executes his will through ordinary secondary causes.
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He uses human decisions, weather patterns, economic shifts.
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A flat tire or a random conversation in a coffee shop?
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Yeah, he uses all of that to accomplish his sovereign
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purposes. Now I want to push back on that
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slightly, or at least play devil's advocate for the
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listener here. Sure, the listener who is
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thinking wait, if God is sovereign, shouldn't I wait for
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him to make his will obvious to me personally?
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It feels more spiritual to wait for a private revelation,
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doesn't it? Does, But it seems like this
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mindset leads to a functional passivity.
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It stalls actual gospel work. Completely stalls it.
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If Christ has already commanded us to make disciples, preach
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repentance, and send laborers into the harvest, well, the
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command is already on the table. The issue is not whether God has
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spoken. Right, the issue is whether we
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are willing to act on the clear commands of scripture using the
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opportunities currently in our view.
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Spot on. Waiting for private revelation
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when you already have a public command is not a sign of high
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spirituality. It is often a mask for
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disobedience. Because you are demanding fresh
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revelation for things God settled 2000 years ago.
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Yes, and when we demand a mystical feeling to validate
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obedience, we become completely paralyzed.
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The texts mentioned messiologist Caleb Suko on this right.
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Yes, Suko points out a devastating consequence of this
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whole mindset. He notes that believers
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routinely miss dozens of smaller, ordinary open doors in
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their daily lives. Because they are fixated on
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finding one monumental, dramatic calling.
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Right, they want the parting of the Red Sea and they completely
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ignore the unbelieving Co worker sitting in the next cubicle.
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It is like sitting in your driveway staring at the steering
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wheel, refusing to turn the ignition until the radio plays a
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specific song. Looking for a sign to drive to
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work? Exactly.
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I mean, that is absolutely it. All the while you were
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completely ignoring the fact that your boss already handed
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you a schedule for the week. You have the schedule.
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You have it, but you are waiting for a mystical feeling to
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validate what you already know you're supposed to do.
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That analogy captures the absurdity perfectly.
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And while we sit in the driveway waiting for that song, the
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actual work of the Kingdom is neglected.
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So a robust biblical understanding of Providence
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cures this paralysis. It does.
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The doctrine of God's sovereignty does not excuse
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laziness. It summons confidence.
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God ordains this, the gathering of His elect from every nation.
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But he also ordains the means to that end.
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Those means include preaching, prayer, sending, suffering,
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translation work, and just ordinary daily faithfulness.
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You don't have to hunt for unverifiable prophetic
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impressions. No, the Spirit sanctifies and
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guides through the sufficient Word and the application of
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biblical wisdom to your circumstances.
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So if we need to stop looking for mystical signs and start
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looking for providential opportunities, we have to define
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our terms. We do, because if we use the
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world's metrics for an opportunity, we're going to get
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this entirely wrong. The sources take us straight to
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the Apostle Paul's letters for this, specifically Colossians
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chapter 4, verses 2 through 6. Yes, where Paul asked the church
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to pray that God would open the door for the Word.
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This metaphor of the open door is central to understanding
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Providence, but to really grasp it we need to look at the
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specific Greek vocabulary Paul uses.
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Because it fundamentally alters how we perceive our
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circumstances. Break that down for us.
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What word is he using? The New Testament uses the word
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thyra. In Classical and Hellenistic
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Greek, a thyra is a literal physical door, a gate, or a
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portal that grants access to a physical space.
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OK, a standard door. But Paul takes this concrete
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noun and elevates it into a theological metaphor.
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It represents A divinely granted opportunity, a specific access
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point for the proclamation of the Gospel.
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And the distinction becomes really sharp when you look at
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the words Paul could have used but deliberately avoided.
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Right. The Holy Spirit did not inspire
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Paul to use the word euphoria. What does euphoria mean?
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Euphoria denotes material wealth, financial prosperity, or
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human ease. It is where we get the concept
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of a lucrative opportunity. Oh wow, so not an opportunity to
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get rich or comfortable. No, and Paul also avoids the
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word eukaria. That word carries the
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connotation of a convenient, comfortable, or highly opportune
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moment chosen at human discretion.
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It implies a situation that fits perfectly into your personal
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plans without causing any friction.
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Absolutely. Now the world evaluates an
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opportunity based entirely on Eukoria and Eukaria.
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We ask, is it lucrative? Is it going to advance my
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career? Is it comfortable?
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Is it convenient for my family? Right.
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And if the answer is yes, we assume God opened the door.
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If the answer is no, we assume God closed it.
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But Paul uses Thyra. He is establishing that a
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biblical opportunity is defined strictly by access for the
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gospel message. Completely regardless of
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personal convenience, safety, or financial upside.
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Furthermore, we must examine the verb attached to this door in
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Colossians 4 verse 3, the phrases that God may open to us
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a door for the word. The verb for open there is a
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noise is an active subjective verb.
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And it's coupled with a conjunction that expresses
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purpose or design, right? Correct, but the most vital
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detail is the explicit grammatical subject of the verb.
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The subject is God. God is doing the opening.
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God is the sole agent. This places the agency entirely
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on divine Providence, not human innovation.
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So a human being cannot just kick down a closed spiritual
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door through clever marketing. Or cultural contextualization,
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Or some new programmatic strategy?
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No, God is the sovereign opener of the way.
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If he does not act, the human heart remains closed.
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And the circumstantial barriers remain locked.
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Our responsibility is not to manufacture the door, but to
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recognize it and walk through it when Providence swings it open.
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Now I have to ask a clarifying question here, because this
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definition of a door being strictly for the word, well, it
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challenges a lot of modern ministry models.
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It definitely creates some tension.
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Right. If the door must specifically be
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for the explicit proclamation of the Gospel, where does that
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leave humanitarian aid or social justice projects?
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That is a massive conversation in missions today.
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Are those irrelevant because a significant portion of modern
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missions seems to revolve entirely around digging wells,
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building medical clinics, or establishing agricultural
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programs? The analysis in our sources
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addresses this tension directly. Deeds of mercy, such as medical
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relief, orphan care, or humanitarian service are a
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natural and necessary fruit of the Christian life.
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They frequently accompany the gospel.
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However, they cannot replace the explicit vocal declaration of
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the mystery of Christ. So a well provides clean water,
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which is a wonderful common grace, but a well cannot explain
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substitutionary atonement. That is the core issue.
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You cannot just dig a well, stay silent about your faith, and
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call it a fulfilled missionary endeavor.
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So if the door of opportunity does not allow for the verbal
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declaration of the gospel. Then it is not an Apostolic
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missionary door, a scenario that offers massive social influence
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or economic relief, but requires you to hide the exclusivity of
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Christ. Or sign an agreement that you
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will not proselytize. Right.
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That is not a biblical opportunity.
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It might be a noble humanitarian project, but it is not the
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Thyrotu Lugu, the door for the Word, that Paul's talking about.
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The vocal proclamation is non negotiable, absolutely well
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establishing that an open door equals access for the message,
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even if it lacks comfort or convenience.
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That forces us to look at the historical reality of what
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happened when those doors swung open in the 1st century.
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If we want to know what an open door looks like, we really have
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to look at the socio political context of the Roman world when
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Paul was writing these letters. We often hear about the Pax
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Romana, the Roman peace, and how God used it to spread the
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gospel. It provided relative political
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stability, A unified legal system and an unprecedented
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network of physical roads and maritime shipping lanes.
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The physical infrastructure was undeniably present.
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God sovereignly used those Roman highways and shipping routes as
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the physical avenues for the messengers of the cross.
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But we cannot assume that this infrastructure made missionary
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work safe or easy or widely accepted.
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Because the Pax Ramada was built on the absolute iron fisted
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authority of the Roman state. And it was heavily tied to the
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cult of emperor worship. Peace was maintained through the
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threat of horrific violence against any insurrection.
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Which means declaring Jesus as Lord was not viewed as a private
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religious preference. Not at all.
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It was politically subversive claim.
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In the Roman mind, if Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not.
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That is a direct challenge to the state's ultimate authority.
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Additionally, you had the hyper pluralistic paganism of the
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Greco Roman world. The texts highlight the reality
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of cities like Ephesus. Let's talk about Ephesus, the
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temple of Artemis. There was not merely a religious
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building where people went to pray, right?
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Far from it. It was a massive financial
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institution. It functioned as the central
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banking system of the ancient Mediterranean.
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Wait, really? A bank.
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Yes, people deposited their wealth there because it was
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considered sacrosanct. No one would dare rob the temple
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of the Goddess. Oh, that makes sense.
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So around this massive financial hub, you had an entire ecosystem
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of commerce guilds of. Silversmiths, artisans and
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merchants relied entirely on the Pilgrim traffic coming to buy
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idols and offer sacrifices. So when Pasha's up in Ephesus
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and starts preaching that gods made with human hands are not
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gods at all, he is not just presenting a casual
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philosophical alternative in a university debate.
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No, he is striking at the core economic pillar of the city.
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He is telling tourists to stop buying the silver shrines.
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He is threatening the livelihood of the silversmith guilds.
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He is effectively telling the locals that the foundation of
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their banking system is a spiritual fraud.
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Which explains why the opening of a wide door for effective
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work in these metropolitan centers resulted in massive
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public riots, economic boycotts and severe physical beatings.
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The local silversmiths saw their wealth threatened, so they
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dragged Paul's companions into the theater.
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So the doors got open. We're located in the middle of
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intense spiritual warfare and severe physical danger.
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An open door in the 1st century almost always guaranteed a
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violent cultural collision. This brings us to the stark
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reality of Roman prisons. Paul wrote to the Colossians
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asking them to pray for an open door for the Word while he was
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literally sitting in a Roman prison.
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We need to clarify what a Roman prison was because our modern
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minds immediately picture a state funded Correctional
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Facility. Right with a cafeteria, a
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library and a mandate for human rights.
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The ancient Roman penal system was nothing like that.
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Prisons were not designed for long term rehabilitation or
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punishment. They were holding cells.
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Just a place to keep you until your trial.
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Exactly, or until you were executed, scourge or exiled.
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The conditions were notoriously brutal.
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The sources mentioned the Mamertine prison in Rome, right?
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Yes, places like that were essentially dark subterranean
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dungeons. They were cold, filthy, and
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plagued by disease. There was no habeas corpus.
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Furthermore, the state did not provide for your basic needs,
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no. If you were a prisoner, you were
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entirely dependent on outside friends with a local church
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family to bring you food, water and clothing.
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If no one came to feed you, you starve to death in the dark.
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It is a horrifying reality. So consider the scene.
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Paul is chained to a Roman soldier facing possible
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execution, relying on friends to bring him a piece of bread so he
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survives the weak. And from that horrifying
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environment, he looks at his situation, picks up a pen and
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writes to the churches saying this is a providential platform
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for the gospel. He views his chains not as a
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tragedy, but as a sovereignly designed opportunity to reach
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the elite Praetorian Guard and the household of Caesar.
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His perspective is radically, unflinchingly sovereign.
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He did not view the prison as a defeat.
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He did not view it as a closed door.
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He viewed it as the precise mechanism God was using to
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penetrate spaces that were previously inaccessible to a
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Jewish tent maker. Because a rabbi could never just
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walk up to the elite imperial guard and demand an audience.
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But as a prisoner chained to them and shifts, he had a
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captive audience of the most powerful military unit in the
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ancient world. I want to highlight the sheer
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irony of this. It would be like a modern
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corporate executive viewing A hostile corporate takeover at
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public smearing of his reputation and his subsequent
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firing as a brilliant, divine networking opportunity.
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Paul's definition of success is completely inverted from the
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world standard. The world sees containment,
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humiliation and loss. Paul sees a captive audience and
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the unhindered advance of the message.
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The historical context provided in the sources was intended to
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have a highly specific effect on the original audience and on US
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today. It is meant to destroy what we
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might call circumstantial defeatism.
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Because when the early Christians saw their primary
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apostle locked in a maritime dungeon, the natural human
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response would be despair. They would logically assume Rome
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was winning, the mission had failed, and God had abandoned.
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Them. But Paul writes to them and says
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the word of God is not bound. Hardship does not equal divine
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abandonment. Sometimes hardship is the exact
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shape the open door takes. He wanted them to realize that
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the Sovereign Lord uses the apparent defeats of his servants
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to accomplish his greatest victories.
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If a dark Roman holding cell is not a closed door, then the
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believer is freed from the burden of measuring God's favor
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by their personal comfort or physical safety.
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But that raises a massive practical tension if hardship is
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a standard feature of an open door, and danger is something we
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should expect rather than flee. Well, how did the early church
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navigate? I mean, how did they handle
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planning their missions without falling into either fatalism or
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reckless presumption? They had to make decisions.
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They had to plan routes. Let's look at how they balance
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Apostolic flexibility with the warnings they received.
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The sources take us to two specific passages to illustrate
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this tension perfectly. First Corinthians chapter 16,
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verses 5 through 9, and Acts chapter 21.
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Let's start with First Corinthians.
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Paul is outlining his intention to visit the church in Corinth.
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He makes a wise, orderly, logical human plan to travel to
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Macedonia and spend the winter with them.
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He is making an itinerary. But then he inserts a massive
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contingency. He says, But I will stay in
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Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has
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opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
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Let's look closely at the Greek grammar in that verse.
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The phrase has opened translates the perfect active indicative
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verb anishkim. An agent?
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OK, what does that tense tell us?
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This specific tense denotes a past action that was completed,
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but it has continuing permanent present results.
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To put it simply, Paul is saying God didn't just crack a door
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open for a fleeting second. He kicked it open and propped it
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permanently wide. God had sovereignly established
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this massive opportunity in Ephesus.
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But notice what Paul couples with this great and effective
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door, he says. And there are many adversaries.
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The Greek coordinating conjunction chi, translated as
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and binds these two realities tightly together.
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The great door and the fierce opposition are not mutually
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exclusive. They are companion realities.
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In the modern church, we tend to view adversaries as a sign that
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God is closing a door. Paul views adversaries is the
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natural consequence of walking through an open one.
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An open door often acts as a magnet for spiritual and
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cultural hostility. So Paul plans a trip, God opens
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a different door filled with enemies, and Paul dynamically
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submits his human itinerary to that providential disruption.
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He stays in Ephesus because the fight is there.
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But what about Acts chapter 21? This is where things get
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intensely complicated for our modern sensibilities.
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In Acts 21, Paul is traveling toward Jerusalem.
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A prophet named Agabus comes down from Judea, takes Paul's
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belt and literally binds his own hands and feet.
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A very dramatic visual prophecy. Very.
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And Agabus declares that the Holy Spirit predicts Paul's
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imminent arrest and delivery over to the Gentiles if he
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continues to Jerusalem. And his friends panic.
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They weep and beg him not to go. These, these are not unspiritual
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people. These are his closest godliest
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companions. They equate the prophecy of
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danger with a closed door. They assume that if God is
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warning him about pain, God is giving him an out.
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He is telling him to stop. But Paul proceeds anyway.
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He says he is ready not only to be imprisoned, but to die in
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Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
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The literary placement of this prophetic warning was not to
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forbid Paul from going, but to prepare him.
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Prepare him and the surrounding church for the painful,
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restrictive manner in which God would open his next major
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missionary door. God was preparing him for the
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chains that would eventually give him access to Rome itself.
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I have to push back here on behalf of the listener, because
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this sounds incredibly dangerous.
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It is a tough text. If you have an open door that is
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guaranteed to result in your arrest and your closest, most
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godly friends are weeping and telling you to stop, how do you
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know you aren't just being stubborn?
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How do you distinguish between a genuine call to suffer for the
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Gospel and just having a reckless martyr complex?
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Right. If someone today said I'm going
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to a war zone because I know I'll get arrested and that's an
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open door, we would probably try to institutionalized them.
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That is a crucial question, and it is where we see the
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brilliance of biblical ecclesiology.
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The texts provide a definitive safeguard against that kind of
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rogue individualism, don't they? You Do Missions is not an
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individualistic enterprise. It is deeply corporate.
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It requires the confirmation and oversight of the Covenable
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Church community. You do not just decide you are a
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missionary, declare your own authority and run off into
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danger. You submit to the evaluation of
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the church you operate under authority.
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Consider Acts chapter 14, verse 27.
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Paul and Barnabas return to their sending church in Antioch
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after their first missionary journey.
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They do not act like independent contractors.
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They gather the church together and report to them.
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They attribute all the success to the sovereign work of God,
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stating that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
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The validation of an open door is the regenerative response of
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saving faith and the confirmation the messenger comes
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from the local elders who sent them.
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The sources mentioned that true missionaries submit to the
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evaluation of their local elders regarding their doctrine, their
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character, their family order and their general readiness.
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If you are a novice, if you lack basic theological clarity, or if
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you cannot manage your own household, the Church should not
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send you into a hostile environment just because you are
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enthusiastic. Enthusiasm does not equal
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qualification. Individual burden is never
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enough. You need corporate validation.
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This process protects the church from reckless zealots who create
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international incidents for no biblical reason.
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And it protects the individual from unnecessary self
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destruction. The texts present a very
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practical argument. A man who will not evangelize at
22:25
home under the oversight of his local elders should not imagine
22:29
that crossing an ocean will suddenly grant him courage or
22:32
effectiveness. Faithfulness in small, local,
22:34
mundane opportunities reveals readiness for larger, more
22:38
dangerous ones. This level of bold public
22:41
witness, especially in hostile environments, requires an
22:44
equally rigorous standard for private daily living.
22:47
You cannot live a careless, morally compromised life and
22:51
expect to be a credible witness when the pressure is on.
22:54
Which brings the discussion right back to the practical
22:56
ground level instructions Paul gives in Colossians Chapter 4.
23:00
After dealing with the cosmic scope of missions and his own
23:03
imprisonment, he brings it down to the daily habits of the
23:06
congregation. He pivots from his own Apostolic
23:09
ministry to the everyday conduct of the Colossian believers.
23:12
The passage outlines 3 specific commands for how believers are
23:15
to interact with the unbelieving world around them.
23:18
Let's breakdown those 3 commands.
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The 1st is found in Colossians 4.
23:22
Verse five. Walk in Wisdom court, outsiders.
23:26
The verb walk is a common biblical idiom describing the
23:29
overall pattern of a person's life, their daily conduct.
23:33
And Outsiders identifies those who are beyond the visible
23:36
covenant community of the Church.
23:38
Right. The command to walk in wisdom
23:40
means maintaining moral consistency and situational
23:43
discernment. The Church must not imitate the
23:45
world's sins, fear the world's threats, flatter the world's
23:49
pride, or despise the world's brokenness.
23:51
It must live wisely in full view of it, because an unbeliever
23:55
will often read the Christian long before they ever read the
23:57
Bible. A careless life obscures a
23:59
faithful message. If a believer is known in their
24:02
workplace for hypocrisy or a harsh spirit, or a chaotic
24:04
household, or cutting corners on their expense reports, it
24:07
undermines any public zeal they claim to have for the gospel.
24:11
Wisdom requires immense discernment.
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It means knowing when to speak and when to stay silent.
24:17
It means knowing when to press a theological issue and when to
24:20
show patient, quiet love. The believer does not retreat
24:23
into a holy huddle, insulating themselves from the culture, but
24:27
they also do not dissolve into the surrounding culture to the
24:30
point where they are indistinguishable from it.
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The second command in that passage is to redeem the time or
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make the best use of the time. This speaks directly to the
24:39
concept of seasonality, doesn't it?
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It does. The Greek term for time here is
24:43
Kairos, which points to a fitting season or a specific
24:47
opportune moment, rather than just chronological seconds
24:50
sticking on a clock. Opportunities are temporary
24:53
windows. They open and eventually they
24:55
close. A conversation with a Co worker
24:57
in the break room opens up organically and two minutes
24:59
later the subject changes. A neighbor is going through a
25:02
severe illness and is unusually receptive to spiritual
25:05
conversations. And then the crisis passes, and
25:08
their heart hardens again. A missionary visa is granted by
25:11
a foreign government and two years later a regime change
25:15
causes it to expire. Time is charged with
25:18
stewardship. It is not neutral.
25:20
Every day is a depleting resource.
25:22
The text presses an intense urgency onto the believer.
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You cannot squander relationships or lazily assume
25:30
that a relational door will stay open indefinitely.
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The Believer must recognize that Providence gives seasons, and
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those seasons must be actively utilized, not passively watched.
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The third command concerns our actual words.
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Colossians 4 / 6 says Let your speech always be gracious,
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seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer
25:50
each person. Speech must be gracious.
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It must reflect the grace of the Gospel message itself.
25:56
But Paul adds A fascinating caveat.
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It must also be salty. That is such a vivid image I.
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Want to spend some time on this analogy of salt?
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Because if you think about it, historically and culinarily,
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salt does several completely different things simultaneously.
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OK, let's look at that. First, before refrigeration,
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salt was primarily used to preserve meat from rotting.
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That is a picture of how truth restrains cultural corruption,
26:18
right? But salt also stings violently
26:20
when it hits an open wound. Our speech should sting the
26:24
conscience when we are dealing with unrepentant sin.
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It's not just pleasant. No, salt also brings out the
26:30
flavor of a meal, making it appealing and savory.
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And finally, salt makes you thirsty.
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Our conversation should awaken a spiritual thirst in the
26:39
listener. Our speech has to do all of
26:41
that. Preserve truth, sting the
26:44
conscience, awaken thirst, and avoid being bland or needlessly
26:48
cruel. That breakdown of the metaphor
26:50
is highly accurate to the ancient world's use of salt.
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The Gospel itself will inherently offend human pride.
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The cross is a stumbling block. But the messenger must not add
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the secondary unnecessary offense of personal arrogance,
27:03
impatience or ignorance. You have to know how to answer
27:06
each person. That implies tailored,
27:09
thoughtful engagement. The proud and haughty need a
27:11
stern warning from the Law, the broken and contrite need the
27:14
comfort of the gospel, the self-righteous need their
27:16
hypocrisy exposed, and the despairing need the solid
27:20
promise of grace. You cannot use A1 size fits all
27:23
script. What I find so encouraging about
27:25
this section is how it totally democratizes missions.
27:27
Yes, the sources point out that you do not have to be an elite
27:31
apostle sitting in a Roman dungeon to have a genuine gospel
27:34
opportunity. You simply have to interact
27:37
wisely with your unbelieving Co workers or with your family
27:40
members at the Thanksgiving table.
27:42
Opportunity is the ordinary field in which the whole Church
27:45
operates. It is not an exceptional
27:47
category reserved for a professional clerical class.
27:50
If you are praying, walking wisely, looking for seasons to
27:54
redeem, and speaking with salty grace, you are actively engaging
27:58
in the missionary task of the church right where you live.
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But every open door, whether it is in a maximum security prison
28:05
in Rome or a suburban cul-de-sac today, is ultimately, well at
28:11
bottom, a conduit. It points to a singular cosmic
28:15
reality, and this is where the theology gets incredibly high
28:17
and removes all the weight off our shoulders.
28:19
The texts insist that we anchor all this practical instruction
28:22
in its theological source. Which is the mystery of Christ
28:25
and his cosmic authority. The actual content of the
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mission, the exact message that goes through the open door, is
28:31
the mystery of Christ. We need to define mystery here
28:33
because in modern English a mystery is a puzzle to be
28:36
solved, like a Hudoonit novel, or it sounds like secret
28:39
knowledge for religious elites. In Paul's writings, the mystery
28:42
is God's once hidden saving purpose that is now fully
28:46
revealed in the gospel. It is the astonishing reality
28:49
that Gentiles nations outside the Commonwealth of Israel, are
28:52
included in the saving blessings of the Messiah without having to
28:55
become Jews by ceremonial law. Christ is the substance of the
28:59
mission. He's the sent One who perfectly
29:01
fulfills the threefold office of prophet, priest and king.
29:05
Let's look at those three offices because they define
29:07
exactly what we're supposed to be preaching.
29:09
If we lose the offices, we lose the gospel.
29:11
As Prophet Christ reveals God finally and savingly to
29:15
humanity. The missionary is not out there
29:17
announcing novel subjective revelations or personal
29:21
spiritual theories. They are.
29:22
Proclaiming the final word made flesh as.
29:25
Priest Christ offers himself as the perfect substitutionary
29:28
atonement, securing redemption by his blood, not by our moral
29:32
improvement or religious ritual. He intercedes for his people
29:35
based on a finish to sacrifice. And as King, he rules the
29:38
nation's subdued sinners to himself, governs his Church, and
29:42
holds absolute sovereign authority over human history.
29:45
If a missionary or a local evangelist loses those offices,
29:49
they reduce Jesus to a mere life coach, a spiritual therapist, or
29:53
a symbol for progressive social reform.
29:56
But he is the sovereign king, and the sources draw a profound,
30:01
I mean a striking theological connection using the metaphor of
30:05
the door itself. In John chapter 10 verse 9,
30:08
Christ declares I am the door. If anyone enters by me, He will
30:12
be saved. He is not just the opener of
30:14
external circumstantial opportunities.
30:17
He is the objective, singular and exclusive portal of
30:20
salvation. So the open door Providence
30:23
serves the open proclamation of the only saving door.
30:26
We see this expanded in Revelation chapter 3 verse 7
30:29
where the ascended Christ is portrayed as holding the key of
30:31
David. This is a direct Old Testament
30:33
allusion to absolute administrative authority over
30:36
the House of God. Christ possesses total cosmic
30:39
sovereignty over history, governments, borders, and human
30:42
hearts. He is the one who opens and no
30:44
one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
30:46
This observation completely removes the burden of producing
30:49
results from the shoulders of the Christian.
30:51
If Christ holds the key of David, then you are not out
30:53
there trying to kick the spiritual door down with your
30:57
clever apologetic arguments, your cultural relevance, or your
31:00
slick marketing campaign. You cannot pry a dead heart
31:03
open. You are simply walking through
31:05
the circumstantial door the King has already unlocked, declaring
31:08
his truth and trusting him to open the heart.
31:11
It strips away all the anxiety of modern pragmatism.
31:15
We constantly worry about what methods work best, but the texts
31:18
highlight a beautiful, redemptive historical shift.
31:22
Under the Old Covenant, the nations had to physically travel
31:24
to Jerusalem to a physical temple.
31:27
Which had literal, physical, highly restricted doors
31:30
separating the holy places. But in the New Covenant, those
31:33
physical doors have been shattered, the veil is torn,
31:36
Christ has ascended, and now the spear goes out globally to open
31:40
metaphorical doors of faith in the hearts of the elect across
31:43
all nations. The mission is unstoppable
31:45
because the King has already secured the authority.
31:48
The results are entirely in his hands.
31:50
But taking this high theology of Christ authority, we must apply
31:53
it to the harsh statistics of the modern global landscape that
31:56
we mentioned at the beginning of the show.
31:58
We have to confront the idol of convenience.
32:01
This is where the texts demand application that cuts deep into
32:05
our modern Western sensibilities.
32:08
If Christ holds all authority, and if an open door is defined
32:12
by gospel access rather than personal comfort or safety, then
32:16
modern Christians must repent of their intense love for
32:19
convenience. The sources specifically call
32:21
out the false promises of the prosperity gospel and modern
32:24
therapeutic religion. These systems view God primarily
32:27
as a cosmic Butler or a means to personal self actualization.
32:31
They assume that if an opportunity involves financial
32:34
loss, social ostracization, physical danger, or severe
32:38
discomfort, then God must not be leading you there.
32:41
Which is a complete contradiction to the life of the
32:43
Apostle Paul, the history of the early church, and the explicit
32:46
teachings of Scripture. When we evaluate ministry
32:48
opportunities purely based on career advancement, neighborhood
32:52
safety, or proximity to good schools, we are using the
32:55
metrics of the world, not the metrics of the Kingdom of God.
32:59
And the statistics provided in the text revealed just how
33:02
systematically this idol of convenience has infected our
33:05
global mission strategy. Let's lay out those numbers
33:07
again and dig into the mechanisms of why this happens.
33:11
We noted that 3.4 billion people live in unreached people groups.
33:15
Yet 77% of all foreign missionaries labor in heavily
33:18
reached or evangelized areas. And a staggering 98.3% of all
33:24
Christian missions funding goes to work in those reached areas.
33:27
Only 1.7% goes to the unreached. How does this happen
33:31
systemically? It happens because mission
33:33
boards, donors and sending churches have become incredibly
33:36
risk averse. Funding often follows aesthetics
33:39
and measurable quick results. Donors want to see pictures of
33:42
smiling orphans, packed church buildings and safe, thriving
33:45
communities. They want quarterly reports
33:47
showing massive numerical growth.
33:49
The unreached frontiers are often hostile, legally
33:52
restricted and incredibly dangerous.
33:55
Missionaries might labor for a decade without a single convert.
33:59
Sending organizations face massive insurance liabilities
34:02
and PR nightmares if a missionary is arrested or
34:05
killed. So systemically, the funding
34:07
gets routed to safe, familiar places where the gospel has
34:11
already been established for centuries.
34:13
We are hoarding resources in places saturated with churches.
34:16
The texts use missiologist Caleb Suko as a prime example of
34:20
rejecting this trend. He deployed to Ukraine, stepping
34:23
into a difficult, physically dangerous frontier, especially
34:26
in the context of ongoing conflict.
34:28
He rejected the comfort of a safe, predictable Western
34:31
environment to engage in a context where the need was
34:34
severe. The circumstances were volatile
34:36
and the personal risk was incredibly high.
34:38
Suka's example forces the reader to evaluate their own baseline
34:41
motivations. Why do we go where we go?
34:44
Why do we stay where we stay? It raises A poignant question.
34:47
A question that I want to direct right at you, the listener.
34:50
With numbers showing that 98.3% of funding stays and reached
34:54
areas, are we evaluating our callings based on where the
34:58
gospel is actually needed? Or are we just funding spiritual
35:01
vacations to places with good coffee, stable Wi-Fi, and a
35:04
favorable exchange rate? Are we using the banner of
35:07
missions to subsidize our desire to travel to safe, aesthetically
35:11
pleasing locations in Western Europe or Latin America while
35:15
completely ignoring the brutal realities of the 10:40 window?
35:19
It is a sharp, necessary critique.
35:21
However, the sources provide a balanced Spurgeon esque appeal
35:25
to follow it up. The point of looking at these
35:27
statistics is not to induce a paralyzing sense of guilt, but
35:30
to provoke obedient strategic action.
35:33
Not everyone is required to pack their bags and cross an ocean.
35:36
God's Providence places people in specific local context for a
35:40
reason. You might be called to stay
35:41
exactly where you are. But everyone is required to stop
35:44
hoarding the gospel. Whether you are called to go or
35:47
called to send, your life must align with the global gathering
35:50
of Christ's people. If you stay, you must view your
35:54
neighborhood, your secular workplace, and your bank account
35:57
as instruments for the advance of the gospel.
35:59
You support those who go to the hard unreached places.
36:02
You pray fervently for the unreached.
36:05
You leverage your resources to fund the 1.7%.
36:08
The conclusion drawn from these texts leaves no room for
36:11
mystical delay. If God has given you a desire
36:14
for the glory of the gospel and you are in a setting where you
36:16
can speak the Word, you have a providential call to action
36:20
right now. Stop waiting for a voice from
36:22
heaven, get to work in your local church, witness to your
36:25
neighbors, submit to the oversight of your elders, and
36:28
remain fiercely flexible to whatever difficult, dangerous,
36:31
or mundane doors the Sovereign Lord opens next.
36:34
Let's concisely recap the massive amount of ground we have
36:37
covered today. We started by diagnosing the
36:39
paralysis of waiting for subjective signs and move to the
36:42
historical Reformed reality of how God orchestrates
36:45
opportunities through ordinary, often painful Providence.
36:48
We defined A biblical open door not by human comfort or
36:52
financial gain, but by actual access for the gospel message.
36:56
We established that this access must be evaluated and validated
37:00
by the covenantal community of the local church.
37:02
We saw that walking through an open door demands wise conduct
37:06
and tailored, salty speech toward outsiders.
37:10
And most critically, it rests entirely on the absolute cosmic
37:14
authority of Christ, who is the true Door and the holder of the
37:17
Key of David. We also confronted the harsh
37:19
reality that our modern love for convenience has severely skewed
37:23
our global mission efforts, leaving billions without access
37:26
to the truth while we fund safe, comfortable endeavors.
37:30
Which brings us back to that X-ray machine metaphor.
37:32
From the very beginning, we want the clean, bright white line on
37:35
the black film telling us exactly what to do and where to
37:37
go. We want to guarantee of success
37:39
and personal safety. But the reality is that God does
37:42
not usually give us an X-ray of our future.
37:44
He gives us a compass, His sufficient inerrant word, and a
37:48
landscape of providential circumstances to walk through by
37:51
faith. He gives us a door, and
37:54
historically speaking, that door often looks like a massive
37:57
obstacle until we summon the courage to step through it.
37:59
It really does. So I want to leave you with a
38:02
final, challenging question to Mull over as you go about your
38:05
week. The early church turned the
38:07
entire Roman Empire upside down. They did it without political
38:10
power, without massive funding, operating out of damp dungeons
38:14
and facing execution. Look at your own life today.
38:17
Look at your workplace, your neighborhood, your finances.
38:20
What specific ordinary opportunity are you currently
38:23
ignoring or dismissing simply because it looks too
38:26
inconvenient?