Have you ever had to say this to someone in your house? I have to say this to my kids all the time because my kids have this tendency to stand right in front of our tv. I mean, they just stop dead in their tracks, it’s like they’re hypnotized by what’s happening in that moment on the tv and I always have to tell them, I always have to say, you make a better door than a window. How many of you have used that line before? Yeah because they are obstructing my view and that’s what doors do.
The thing that you and I need to remember though when it comes to the doors of this life, and this is the point of today, this is going to be so helpful for you today, is that on the other side of the door, things aren’t always as they seem. They’re not always as they seem.
I want to set this up with a funny thing that happened over at our Hampton Campus a few weeks ago. Some of you know our worship leader at our Hampton Campus, Josh Fowler. If you know him, you love him! Right? I mean he’s amazing, but Josh is the stereotypical musician. How many of you know what I’m talking about when I say stereotypical musician? Yeah! What I mean is that with artists and musicians, there comes a certain sense of “laidbackness” if you will, kind of a take it as it comes mentality. You’re not quite sure if they’re stoned or sober, you’re just not quite sure sometimes with artists. And most of them don’t necessarily prioritize things that the rest of prioritize in our lives. Let’s just say things like schedules and cleanliness and sometimes personal hygiene. I’m just explaining the stereotype ok? Ok! Let me take it one step further, because in the world of Christian artists and musicians, particularly worship leaders like Josh, there’s a stereotypical apparel. They all typically wear skinny or as some call them, girl jeans, the occasional scarf, a beanie on their head, and a particular brand of shoes that look more like bedroom slippers than shoes called Toms.
So with that as the background, one day a couple of weeks ago, Josh was defrosting the refrigerator from the backstage green room in Hampton and he took it outside and he hooked up a water hose and he didn’t want to get his Toms wet so he took off his shoes and sat them to the side and when he was done, he left everything there for it to dry, goes inside, closes the door, only to come back a few minutes to discover that his shoes were gone! Josh’s worship leader Tom shoes were missing! So Josh searches, eventually even getting on his hands and knees looking under cars in the parking lot thinking that perhaps they blew away in the wind, but they are nowhere to be found and then, Josh remembers. We have security cameras. And what you’re about to see is what Josh couldn’t see on the other side of the door, but remember, things aren’t always as they seem! So let’s roll the security camera footage.
Now that’s not the end of the story, because eventually the property manager gets involved and the police get called for this stolen pair of Toms and they confront the man on his lawnmower only to discover that man thought he was just doing his job. He said my job is to pick up trash and when I saw those old shoes out there, I picked them up and threw in the dumpster and sure enough, he took them over to the dumpster where Josh recovered his stolen shoes and he’s wearing them proudly today! How about that! Things aren’t always as they seem!
Hey, I’ve come to tell you today that there are some things happening on the other side of the door in your life that aren’t always as they seem. Your vision is obstructed. You’re not seeing the whole picture, you don’t know the whole story. Your perspective is limited, things aren’t always as they seem in that situation, with that person, in that relationship. They’re not always as they seem and this is true of every situation in life and today I want to show you what your response should be when you realize that things aren’t always as they seem.
I want to go to one of my favorite characters in the Bible today, a character named Joseph, and I want to just pull some scenes from Joseph’s life, just some snapshots of his life and show you today, that things aren’t always as they seem. Let me start with this, and you may want to write this down, capture some notes today. There’s a notes page in the seat pocket in front of you or for those online, there’s a little notes tab you can use, but from Joseph’s life we learn this: Things Aren’t Always As They Seem When Doors Are Open. With open doors. When there’s a door in your life and mine that just seems like it’s wide open, just like wow, God has opened this door and it’s going to be perfect.
• Look at this person I just met, he or she must be the one.
• Or look at this job position that I’m applying for it, it fits my skill set perfectly!
• Or look at this open door of a financial opportunity, I’ve got to jump on this, or
• look at what’s happening right now in my life, things just couldn’t get any better.
When you’ve got a wide open door, just remember, things aren’t always as they seem. Let me show you a snapshot of Joseph’s life, he had a wide open door. This is scene one, I call it the door is wide open, it says, Genesis 37:2-4; 12-14 NLT: This is the account of Jacob and his family. (Jacob is Joseph’s dad) When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. (he’s a tattletale! But look at this) Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.” “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied. “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.
This is a wide open door for Joseph. Can we all just agree? Everything seems perfect for old Joe. He’s loved the most, he’s got the robe to prove it and now he’s been given an instruction by his father and so he does what he’s told, he walks right through the open door because that’s what you do when doors are wide open. I’ve got to make sure you know this. When God’s will is clearly defined in your life, when you know what you’re supposed to do, your response is to do it. Obedience is the way you respond to doors that are wide open. So if everything is lining up, last week we talked about the five fingers of God. You need to listen to that message if you missed it. The five fingers of God, God’s hand…and if God’s hand has opened a door, your response is to walk through it…to walk through the open door like Joseph did.
Let me give you some examples. These are just a few that are like really clear open doors, I’m sure there are others. But can I just encourage you about baptism for a minute? We’ve got baptisms happening on every physical campus next Sunday. Online, you might just have to fill up your bathtub ok? But if you’re a Christ Follower today, 498 of you became Christ followers on Easter, so if you’re a Christ follower and you’ve never been baptized, baptism is a wide open door for you to enter and your response should be like Joseph’s response. Go through the door!
How about this one? If there’s somebody you need to forgive, you’re like holding onto unforgiveness, guess what? Forgiveness is an open door for you to walk through. Your response is to walk through the door. I’m telling you today, when God’s will is clear, when the door is wide open, go through it, obedience but let me help you understand something, things aren’t always as they seem. What started out as perfect, may not end so perfectly. What you thought was Mr. right, may turn out to be Mr. wrong. That job that was so wonderful might very well turn out to be horrible. Go through the door, obedience is your response, but listen to me, sometimes when you get on the other side of an open door things look very different than you thought that they would and that doesn’t mean that you made a mistake and it doesn’t mean that you missed God’s will, it doesn’t mean that you didn’t obey, it just means that things aren’t always as they seem.
So you might get baptized next week. I’ve talked to some people who have gotten baptized on Sunday and then on Monday they have had the hardest week of their lives and they’re thinking, man did I make a mistake? Should I have not done that? Was that the wrong door? And the answer is no! You walked through an open door and it was right and you obeyed God, but things aren’t always as they seem.
How about this one? A couple times a year we do this thing called the tithing challenge. Tithing is the biblical command of giving 10% back to your local church. So in the tithing challenge I challenge you to tithe for 90 days and if you regret it at the end of 90 days, we give you your money back. That’s an open door that you should walk through by the way. You should obey God with your money. But there’s been a couple of times when at the end of the 90 days people have been like I thought things would be different. I thought I would get a raise in those 90 days and instead I get laid off in 90 days. Or I thought this would change or that would change financially for me because I walked through the door. What’s that about? I’ll tell you. It’s not that you made a mistake, it’s not that you misinterpreted the open door. It’s not that you should’ve stayed out and never entered or that God is punishing you or that things are going to be like this forever now that you’ve walked through this door. It’s that things aren’t always as they seem.
And you might very well obey God in an area of your life, you might very well walk through an open door, just like you should. You might start a relationship or marry a person or accept a job or make a decision or purchase a house or move your family or forgive someone and though the step was perfect, the door was perfect, your obedience was perfect, the outcome might not feel perfect, but please hear me, it’s because things aren’t always as they seem with open doors. You can only see one step ahead of you while God can see eternity.
I’m going to show you this for Joseph and it will all make sense. Joseph did what he was told. Joseph went through the open door. Joseph obeyed, but watch what happens next. It says Genesis 37:18 NLT: When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. And they almost did, but instead, they dropped him into a deep hole, left him there and then eventually pulled him out and sold him to some Median slave traders who carried him off to Egypt as a slave. Hey, you talk about an open door gone wrong! This isn’t what was supposed to happen. This isn’t the way it was supposed to go down. This isn’t the prefect outcome to a perfect door, but remember, things aren’t always as they seem. That’s why number two, write it down Things Aren’t Always As They Seem When Doors Are Closed. This is going to help some of you with your perspective. Life is a series of opened and closed doors and God uses every one of those doors in our lives for a reason, for a purpose, and for our own good and our response when a door is open is obedience…we walk through it, we do what we’re told. And our response when a door is closed is we trust God. That’s our response.
This is a big time closed door for Joseph. Things aren’t turning out the way he thought they would. They’re not going the way he expected. If you’ve ever walked through an open door in obedience only to have a door close on you, then you can relate. If you’ve ever done what you were supposed to do, only to have the results turn out like you did what you shouldn’t have done, then you can relate. If you’ve ever walked into what seemed to be a perfect situation and had the outcome end imperfectly then you can relate. Joseph was obedient with the open door, so what’s he going to do with the closed door? Let me just tell you, he’s going to trust God. That’s what you learn to do because watch this…things aren’t always as they seem!
You know what happens next for Joseph? You’re not going to believe it! Another open door! I’m just going to give you snapshots. You gotta keep up. The Bible says this, Genesis 37:36; 39:2-4 NLT: Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard. The Lord was with Joseph, (because God is with you through every closed door and every open door.
That’s a word for somebody today. God is with you. He has not forgotten you, He has not forsaken you, He has not left you, He is not punishing you, it’s just that things are not always as they seem) so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, (there it is again) giving him success in everything he did. This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned.
Open door and Joseph walked through it but you can’t even turn the page, it’s only a couple of paragraphs later and the Bible tells us that Joseph is faced with a closed door. I’m telling you, this is life. It’s a series of one then the next. Open, then closed. Closed then opened and it’s all about obedience and trust! Potiphar’s wife the Bible tells us had the hots for Joseph and she begged him to sleep with her, but Joseph wasn’t going through that door, so you know what she did? She lied about him!
Liars are going to lie. Haters are going to hate. Hello! This is in the Bible. If you’re not reading your Bible you’re missing out on Desperate Housewives kind of drama! She made up this story that Joseph attempted to rape her and look at this, Genesis 39:19-20 NLT: Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. And it’s another closed door. You don’t get anymore closed that that!
Poor Joseph – just obeying, just doing the right thing, just going through the doors that God opens now experiences another closed door, but wait! Genesis 39:21-23 NLT: But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed. And another door opens and this is the story of Joseph’s life and not just his life, but of our life too and all along we’re to respond with obedience and trust.
I wish I could keep giving you these little snapshots, but I need to fast forward to the best part of the story. There’s been some more opened and closed doors for Joseph and now finally Joseph is the chief ruler of all of Egypt, he’s overseeing everything and with wisdom from God, he makes some strategic decisions about stocking up and storing up food and sure enough, a famine occurs in all the land and it’s Joseph who is in charge of divvying out any food supplies. Well one day, coming across to Egypt are these boys that are hungry and malnourished and looking for a handout and Joseph recognizes them because it’s his brothers and of course, they don’t recognize him. This is the last place they would expect for Joseph to be and there’s eventually a reunion and in the end Joseph makes this declaration and I think you and I would do well to make this the declaration of our lives. Joseph gives us some insight into why things aren’t always the way they seem and he says, Genesis 50:20 NLT: You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. It was through open doors and closed doors, obedience and trust, through good times and bad times.
I couldn’t see it in the moment, I didn’t know it was happening right then and there. I had a lot of questions and a lot of doubts and things didn’t make sense, but now I know. Now I can tell. Now I’m certain. God intended it for my good and not just my good but the good of others. Hey maybe there’s a bigger purpose, something you cannot see behind that open door you walked through or behind that door that closed so abruptly.
Maybe things aren’t always as they seem because through every open door and behind every closed door God is writing a story that’s bigger than you, he’s painting a masterpiece that’s larger than life, he’s weaving a tapestry that is beautiful and perfect and flawless so I’m going to obey God when the doors are open and trust God when the doors are closed because things aren’t always as they seem but watch this, whether the door is open or closed today, I’m ok with that because I know who holds the key! Today I’ve come to tell somebody that God holds the key to your life. He holds the key to
• your marriage
• to your future
• to your finances
• to your job
• to your relationships.
• He holds the key to your children,
• to your health to your house
• to your concerns
• and to your worries.
• He holds the key to you getting into college and
• He holds the key to you getting out of debt and
• He holds the key to your happy heart and
• to your broken heart.
To every door in your life, it might be an open one or it might be a closed one. That door might look perfect or pessimistic. I’m telling you though things aren’t always as they seem and the one who holds the key is loving and kind and faithful and true and He is for you, not against you. He is working everything for your good and the good of others. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He has a plan for you, to prosper you not to harm you, to give you a future and hope and it is He who holds the key and we can trust and obey Him. Put your hands together if you believe that today!
