You have probably heard the cliché phrase that many may think is found in the Scriptures:
“When God closes a door, He opens a window.”
That is found nowhere in Scripture. In fact, the references to an open door don’t even always mean that the door is for you.
Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, gives the church several updates on his ministry activities as a defense of his actions and as a means of showing the church his love and affection for them.
Paul, in detailing this, describes how when he left and went to Troas, he went to find his brother Titus there and to do some ministry there. In just two verses, he details what led him to leave, and it connects to the heart of what Paul is doing in this letter. It shows us the heart we should have for God’s people and the trust we should have in the Lord.
2 Corinthians 2:13–14
“When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.”
A Door Opened For Me
This is the same language Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 16 when he says that he stayed in Ephesus because a wide door for effective ministry had been opened to him. Paul was referring there to his ministry in Ephesus, which was arguably one of his most effective seasons of ministry. Acts 19 records that Paul taught daily in the Hall of Tyrannus, and this teaching resulted in the gospel spreading throughout all of Asia. Between those who traveled through, heard the gospel, and went back home and those who would have been trained for ministry during this season, it was a very fruitful season of ministry.
Paul arrives in Troas and says essentially that a door was opened for ministry there. We know from Acts that Troas was a place where Paul had already experienced significant ministry. On another visit, Paul spent time with the believers there, and on the Lord’s Day they gathered together to hear him teach. Paul continued speaking late into the night, and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in a window, became drowsy, fell asleep, and fell from the third story. He was taken up dead, but Paul went down, embraced him, and told the believers not to be alarmed because his life was in him. God miraculously restored the young man’s life.
Yet even after this extraordinary event, the believers continued gathering with Paul, and he continued teaching until daybreak.
The Acts account gives us a picture of Troas as a place where Paul had experienced genuine spiritual hunger and fruitful ministry. So when Paul says that a door had been opened for him in Troas, we can understand why this would have appeared to be a significant ministry opportunity.
The door for ministry was open. The ground had been fertilized.
There was every reason to believe that Paul could have continued fruitful ministry there.
Paul, however, does not stay.
My Spirit Was Not at Rest, So I Left
Paul was in turmoil because he had expected Titus to be there, but he wasn’t. Paul expected to hear what God had done at Corinth through Titus, but upon finding this fertile ground for ministry, he does not abandon Titus or the Corinthians.
We don’t learn that Paul had heard from Titus until Chapter 7. Paul feels this deep burden and concern for this church and is working with them through this trial and this issue. Although he did not return to Corinth at this point, he wants them to know that he is being led and motivated by his love for the Corinthians.
Pastoral Application
What Paul does goes so against both the culture of his day and ours. We think that our success is the ultimate marker and determining factor in what we do. If it is ministry, it is the greener pastures of a larger church or a larger influence. In other areas, it may be a larger paycheck or more followers on social media.
For Paul, his guiding principle was the abundant love he had for God’s people and his desire to see God’s mission fulfilled. He trusted and knew that God in Christ was leading him, even if it was away from what looked like surefire success. He was following after Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth and who, through His death and resurrection, has brought life and victory through the cross.
If you are in ministry, does your love guide your ministry? What guides you in how you choose to do what God has called you to do? That a question when the church across the state calls and asks you to submit a resume or your looking at resigning on a hard Monday morning.
But it is also a question for the thousands and thousands of little choices you make everyday as a minister. Ministry for some can best be described as an infinite amount of tasks that are possible with an extremely finite number of resources. We have to trust the infinite creator of the universe who has called us into our position to guide us and give us rest each night. In ministry with every yes we are also shouting an infinite number of no’s out into the world. And often this can feel like we are abandoning God’s work in one area for another.
Paul did not view leaving Troas as abandoning God’s work. He immediately follows his account of leaving with these words:
2 Corinthians 2:15–17
“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
You see, the Apostle Paul was confident in God that, no matter what direction he was led, the aroma of Christ would be evident through his ministry. If you are a believer in Christ seeking to be a faithful witness, trust that Christ, who has authority over all of heaven and earth, has a ministry set aside for you. He works through your love for His people and brings the results He desires in all regions.