Session 4 – Lesser Known Women of the Bible; Lydia, Acts 16: Dr. David Fleming, 11/03/24

Womwn Lesson 4
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[00:00:00] Good morning. So glad to be back with you. Literally, uh, when Mark, uh, decided to launch a series called Lesser Known Women of the Bible, he had all these great ideas, but so far I will have taught three of the four- ... of these lesser-known women of the Bible. And by the way, congratulations to the Lanier's on the arrival of their 11th grandchild.

Uh, he'll give you more information on that, of course, next week, but we are so happy and congratulating, uh, to them. Uh, so this is the third of the four of, of this series so far, a- and I'm very happy, uh, to, to jump into this one. But I do wanna make sure you remember that we added a little subtitle to this, not just lesser known women of the Bible, but also lesser known aspects of the known women of the Bible, and [00:01:00] today may very well be that one.

And the two I've covered, if you recall, no test, but Achsah was the woman who had the courage to ask, and of course, her husband, who was a mighty warrior, didn't have the courage to go to his grandfather, it appear... or his father-in-law, it appears, Caleb, and ask for water, which is kind of important for living, you know what I mean.

Uh, Achsah. And then in the New Testament we talked about Joanna, who was one of those around Jesus during his ministry in the Galilee. And, uh, as we learned from, uh, uh, his, uh, ministry time, not only was she a follower of Christ, she was a funder of Christ. Uh, she was one of those women around Jesus who, through their means, supported the itinerant work of Jesus and the disciples.

So, uh, we talked about her, and that's had me thinking ever since about another New Testament example of someone very similar. But I wanna do a little pretest first, and, and I'm sorry, I'm gonna give away the punchline, uh, by just giving this pretest, but I wanna know how many of you know who the first recorded [00:02:00] Gentile convert in Europe was?

In other words, the first Christian in Europe. Just raise your hand. Don't say it out loud. One. Anyone else? The first convert in Europe. Two. Larry. Anyone else? Three. Charles. Good. All right. I got, I got Hank. He's the f- he's first. Larry's second, Charles is third. Anybody else? Okay, good, good. I picked a good one then, uh, because, uh, I thought that might be a lesser-known aspect of a pretty well-known lady in the New Testament.

Her name is Lydia. Now, how many of you have heard of Lydia? All right. So she's not all that unknown, but I found something maybe that might be new. So here's our roadmap. Today we're gonna take a look at her story, and that is the before the story aspect. And then we're gonna look at the story of her conversion, her salvation experience, and then we'll look at the story that's still being written.

And of course, we'll try to save some time for our points for home, 'cause I always want you to [00:03:00] have something to walk away with. So let's jump right in. Uh, the story, meaning the context. What's happening in the life and world of Lydia that gets our attention and may have something for us to notice? And to get there, we'd have to understand this is during the second missionary journey of Paul, his second tour.

And as you recall, uh, there's a series of closed doors followed by a vision, a little more on that later, where we have something called the Macedonian call. You heard of it? So Macedonia is this area to the west. Of course, Jerusalem way down here, up into Antioch of Syria, across. This area is Asia Minor, right?

And then way over here is Macedonia, where Paul was invited to come and preach the gospel. So that's kind of the backstory of the Church of Philippi and Liter- uh, Lidi- Lydia's encounter with Paul. Here's Acts chapter 16. If you have a Bible, go there with me. You can follow on the screen as well. So Paul is on the [00:04:00] journey.

He has now responded to this invitation, a call to Macedonia, "Come and help us." "And on the Sabbath day," this is Paul, but also Silas, "we went outside the gate to the riverside." Where we suppose there was a place of prayer. This is packed with information, by the way. This is loaded with details. So they go outside the city gates, outside of the heart of Philippi, and they find there a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

Now, some of the information that's in this part of the story is really amazing. Uh, for example, uh, Paul's pattern would have been, as you might recall, to go into a city and to find the synagogue and begin to engage there with the Jewish people in the synagogue and begin to share the gospel with them.

That's time and time again, we see that pattern. [00:05:00] The problem is, in Philippi, apparently there is no synagogue, and the likelihood cause of that is there are fewer than somewhere around 10 adult Jewish males in Philippi. Remember, we're no longer in the Promised Land. We're not even in Asia Minor. We're way over now to the west in Europe.

We're in Greece. And in this particular city, a Roman colony, uh, not the largest in this particular province, not even the capital city, but a very important city because it's the gateway from Asia Minor into Europe. So they go into Philippi, and apparently there's no synagogue and no gathering of Jewish men there to teach or to have an interaction or conversation with.

They're just not there. So they take part-- Plan B, which is to go outside of the city gates near a body of water or river, and there would be there a place or a house of prayer. Not a synagogue, just a place to gather and to pray. The water's important, of course, because of the [00:06:00] ritual washing, ceremonial cleansing.

It's very important that they find a river, and that's exactly where they end up, along the riverbanks. And in all interesting detail, they sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. Now, I just want to point out... I'll come to the text later, but I just want to point out that there was a man from Macedonia in the vision that Paul had who said, "Come over and help us."

I wonder if Paul was looking for the man. And I wonder what Paul's thinking. I have an idea because of how he acted and what he did. I think he answers the question. But I wonder what Paul was thinking when he gets an invitation from a man from Macedonia, and he shows up, and there's just a bunch of women hanging around the prayer house out by the river.

Where is the dude? Where's Mr. Macedonia? Where's the Macedonian man who called us out of our comfort zone and away from Asia Minor and into this new [00:07:00] European theater, this new context, this new place? Where is he? Uh, if Paul had been a

You know, if I, if, if I had gotten back Friday, I probably wouldn't do this, but I'm gonna take a chance and use it as an excuse. I just got home. If Paul had been the male chauvinist that he's often made out to be, what do you suppose Paul would have done that day by the river when he discovered after a Macedonian man call that there were only some women out by the river?

If he was the chauvinist, if he didn't like women, what do you suppose he would have done? Walked away. See ya . I'm speculating, I acknowledge. I admit I'm fully speculating. But I'm just thinking if he was who he's made out to be in this conversation, my suspicion is this would have been the end of the deal, and Philippi would have been in the rear view mirror, nothing but dust, 'cause there are no men here.

There's no man to discuss. There's no man to teach. [00:08:00] Forget the whole, uh, chauvinistic thing. If he were just an average, run-of-the-mill, ordinary male rabbi in that context, what do you suppose Paul would have done? Left. See, I, I shared with you weeks ago, only it's been months ago, but... and I think in Psalm 2 about Joanna.

But in this time, not, not Old Testament teachings, don't, don't misunderstand, but in the rabbinical Jewish sort of thinking, women had been devalued so that they weren't even worthy of receiving the teachings of Torah. Remember? And a rabbi's not gonna have a conversation with a woman who's not his wife and in public.

No, thank you

So what does Paul do? He's a rabbi, he's a teacher, he's Jewish, he's a man. What does he do? "Hi, ladies. Pull up a chair. Got some good news for you." See, I don't think that's an [00:09:00] unimportant aspect of the story, that when Paul responds to the call from the Macedonian man, he finds only women, and yet, what'd he do?

He sat down and spoke to the women who had come together So I wanna pause, and I just wanna remind you of what we've discussed in times past and what many of you know full well. This is a new day, ladies. This is a new day when Jesus, not Paul, when Jesus invites women into his company, when Jesus allows them to sit at His feet and teaches them the truths of Torah, teachings of the kingdom.

I think of Mary and Martha. You remember what Martha's doing? She's cooking supper. What's Mary doing? Growing her soul and her faith. And what'd Martha do? "That's not appropriate. Tell her to come and help me. She's got no business at your feet." And [00:10:00] what'd Jesus say? "No, no, no, no. You should order pizza." You should get takeout 'cause this is supper, y'all

The women who followed Jesus along and throughout his ministry, who, as Joanna, supported through her means his ministry, his itinerant work, who followed him from Nazareth-- or from, uh, G- the Galilee into, into Jerusalem. Women who were there through all the suffering, and the women who stood by while he was crucified, and only the women who showed up at the tomb on Resurrection Sunday.

And you remember this, you've gotta keep this in mind. If you ever wanna perpetuate a hoax in this day and time, don't send women to the grave to bear witness to the resurrection. They're not qualified to give testimony. They're unreliable I'm not saying that. I'm saying in the context and the culture, that's the perception.[00:11:00]

And you know, there's even proof in this part of the story because they go and tell that he's alive, and the men don't believe them

So what I'm hoping you sense and see through all of this teaching is whatever the thought, the teaching, the context and culture, Jesus changed all that, ladies and gentlemen. Jesus radically transformed the, the thinking about the woman and her role and her place and her... You ready? Her responsibility in the kingdom.

This is a new day when Jesus begins to teach, and that translates into Paul's day. I want you to be clear. There's no reversal of the gospel. There's no undoing of the kingdom coming in Paul's ministry. He is carrying the torch. That's helpful to keep that in mind as you read some of [00:12:00] what has... what's been said by Paul and, and some of what hadn't.

It's important to keep in mind that it's a working out of what Jesus worked in, that it's a new day, a better day for the ladies in the kingdom and in the church. That's true with Paul, and I think you can very easily see it's true in the early church. So One who was a woman... By the way, we're still setting the table.

This is the context. Next verse. "One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God." And good gracious, again, this is loaded, y'all. This is so full of information. We don't get biographical information like this on almost anybody else.

None in Philippi. But we're getting lots about her. We know that she's named Lydia, and, and what's interesting is her name is actually an ethnogram indicating her [00:13:00] place of origin because Thyatira is a city in Lydia, so she's called Lydia. Now, she probably has other names, of course. You know that Mark's always reminding us of names and, and the s- and the, uh, resume aspect of a name and time and place use of a name.

But in this case, Luke writing this tells us her name is Lydia. She's from a city in Thyatira, which is in Asia Minor, okay? Western Turkey, where Paul was trying to preach the gospel but became frustrated and was sent by virtue of a vision to Europe, where he met a woman from Asia Minor in Philippi. It's famous for its purple dye.

Not just the cheap red stuff that anybody could get, but this very special, very luxurious, very royal, expensive kind of purple called Tyrian purple, and she is a [00:14:00] dealer or a seller of this Tyrian purple. By the way, if you love sort of insignificant details, it's made from the marine mollusk. It's very expensive, hard to come by.

Could only get it from a few places, and in this case, could only get it from a few people, and she's one of the few So we know about her that she is the businesswoman. And what we see from the context and other details, she's a pretty successful businesswoman. Uh, no mention of her husband, which in all likelihood, if she had one, would have been named.

It's a part of that culture and context. We'd know who her husband was, but we don't. So she might have been widowed, maybe never married, maybe divorced. It was easy to get a divorce in a Roman colony, no problem. We don't know, we don't know, but what we know is she is the tradeswoman here. She's the person who's in commerce, and she's dealing with this very expensive, luxurious product that only the elite and only the super wealthy can afford.

[00:15:00] So she's gotta have some means to be invested in this trade, and she's got to carry inventory, as it were. She's gotta run a business. She's gotta manage funds. She's got employees, no doubt. She's got trade routes to cover. She lives in Philippi. The product comes from Thyatira. So what I'm saying is, is we're meeting a woman here who's unlike many m- women we've met yet in the, the New Testament, Joanna being one, Lydia being another.

And she is prominent, no doubt successful. And, and by the way, Philippi is a Roman colony, a part of the... And she comes from the Greco-Roman world, so this is, this is a little different than the contextual Jewish setting. She's not in that. That's not what we're talking about here. In fact, I, I've been blessed to come across some additional writers and authors and speakers and bloggers and such.

One of them, Cynthia Westfall, said women in the [00:16:00] first-century Roman world like Lydia, quote, "Were entering the public sphere in business and as patrons." So w- we don't wanna set Lydia up here as the exception in that cultural context. She's just one of probably many successful businesswomen who are trading and selling and working and making a profit and running a business.

It's not that uncommon in that context. It's just not. There are women in Rome, there are women around this era and this era and this area who are doing quite well, have great influence, are people of prominence. I'm, I'm gonna leave a blank there a- after that quote and, and hold me accountable to come back to it.

Don't worry, it's in the slideshow. It'll come back. So one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, seller of purple goods, and we learn one more thing about her. She was a worshiper of God Worshiper of God. [00:17:00] That's really important. The word in the Greek is seb- sebomene ton Theon.

Charles tells me I speak Greek with a Spanish accent. I don't know if that's possible, but apparently I do. Well, there it is. You can read it for yourself, and Dr. Capes will come up and read it for us if we need to. What it means is she's a God-fearer or a Gentile adherent to Judaism. She's not Jewish, although there have been some scholars who have speculated that she was, in fact, Jewish, but in all likelihood not.

But she was a worshiper or a God-fearer or someone with respect for defer- defer- deference toward the one true God. So she's coming out of a context of paganism. Thyatira is known for its pantheism, many gods, pagan and idolatry. Uh, she's coming out of that background. That's sort of where she's from. But somewhere along the way, she's come [00:18:00] across some teaching or, or maybe something in here has said, "This can't be right.

This doesn't make sense. There must be a God, a God." So she's on a, a journey. She's sort of on the road, the pathway here, and, and moving towards an understanding of who God is as a single entity, the, the person of God, and apparently she's to the point of believing in and worshiping the one true God.

That's how she ends up by the river on a Sabbath with perhaps other Jewish women or perhaps other God-fearing Gentile women. There she is. So the stage is set. She's been on this journey, you, you feel. You get a sense of she's been on a journey from Thyatira to Philippi, from paganism into monotheism, from knowing about God and having a reverence toward God and a worshipful attitude to, to God, uh, from that to about to have a personal encounter [00:19:00] with God.

You sense that. And by the way, in all my years of, of ministry and teaching, I've always enjoyed hearing stories of how people came to faith. And, and I love to ask questions because oftentimes what you get is the elevator version. "Well, you know, I da-da-da, and I trusted Jesus," or, "I was born again," or, "I got saved."

But hold on. It's, it's almost never a single event in time, right? If you step back and think about it and look at it and m- maybe ask a few questions, how'd you get to that moment in time? So yes, salvation is an event in time. Don't, don't misunderstand. I don't think you transition into salvation. You know, I'm-- I'll come to that in a moment.

I think there's a point in time. But what's interesting is the process that leads to event. Who's praying for you? Who's living out a gospel witness before you? Who occasionally engages you in a conversation? Who answers your questions when you have them? What books [00:20:00] did God put in your hand? What people in your path?

We think about that. We all owe a great deal of gratitude to someone else for coming to faith. Of course, God through the Holy Spirit, but years ago I had a sense that this looked sort of like a spider web. There are all these different strands that lead to the moment of our conversion or of our salvation.

And it wouldn't hurt once in a while to think about how God has worked through this and through this and through these and through those and through him and through her to bring us to a point of understanding where at that moment in time we say, "I give up. I'm a sinner. I repent, and I place my faith and trust in you, Jesus.

Save me and be the Lord of my life." It's a process followed by an event. It's a great point in time where we find Lydia. She's at that point in time where it's all coming together. So that's the backstory or the before the story. Let's move now to the story [00:21:00] itself, and it's the story of her conversion. By the way, you'll start to catch on.

If any of you have ever written your personal testimony, your salvation story, we typically want you to say three things. We want you to talk about your life before Christ. We want you to tell us how you came to know Christ, and then we want you to talk about your life after meeting Jesus. That's what we're looking at in Lydia's life.

Back to Acts 16, now verse 14, the second part of that verse says, "The Lord opened her heart." Uh, let me go back to that. Who opened her heart? The Lord. So I wonder if in Philippians 1:6, that this is a great connection, "He who began a good work in you." Who began a good work in you? God did. "He who began a good work in you."

So this process, regardless of who's used throughout the, the journey, that there's the guy who kicked it off. God began a good work in you. And [00:22:00] then what? The Lord opened her heart, opened her heart to pay attention. Hello, is there any human response necessary? Yeah, pay attention. By the way, if you don't know Jesus, listen.

Put your phone away. Don't play solitaire right now. Pay attention. It's the most important message you will ever in your life ever hear if you've never heard the story of Jesus and His offer of salvation to you. Listen very carefully. Listen closely. So the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

So there's the vehicle through which she hears the gospel and comes to faith and trust. I'm reminded also of God's plan to use us, human, fallen, weird, broken, messed up people, to accomplish something of eternal significance and value, in this case, Paul. I, I'm reminded of Romans 10:13. Do you remember? "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [00:23:00] will be saved."

Do you remember Acts 4:12? "There is salvation in none else for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." It takes me back to Romans 10, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they've not believed? And how are they to believe in Him in whom they've never heard?"

She'd not heard. She was a good person. You might even say she was a godly person in the sense of outward conformity to Jewish moralism and, and ethical system of teaching and living. But she's not heard yet of Jesus. Now she's hearing. "And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" Who's preaching?

Paul. To whom? A group of women. Where? Out by the river. And how are they to preach unless they are sent? How'd Paul get there? The Macedonian man [00:24:00] in a vision, God, in other words, called him there, and he's sent by the church in Jerusalem and throughout Asia Minor. As it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, who tell others about Jesus.

You wanna have good-looking feet? Sorry this is weird. Sorry. But if you, if you're looking for pretty feet, tell somebody about Jesus. You'd be amazed at how pretty your feet are. Not because they look pretty, but because of what they accomplish. This morning coming in, we were going through some words that describe our grandson over here, and, uh, he initiated it when Ma-- when Nana asked him to have the phone so she could send a quick text, and he, of course, he gave her the phone.

I said, "You are such a good boy. I know some other little boys that would go, 'No.'" And he smiled, and he said, "Not me." And I said, "Right, because you're sweet and kind." And then we had a long list, didn't we, buddy, of, uh, good ears, listening ears, and a kind person. And, and then he said, uh, "And, and, and running feet."

Running [00:25:00] feet. And I said, "Yeah, you've got running feet." And he said, "And walking feet." Feet can be lovely. Feet can be wonderful if they carry someone with the gospel to someone who's not heard, like a Lydia or someone you may know. Uh, by the way, I guess the side note on that is don't waste your, your steps, eh?

'Cause wherever you go, there you are. So let it out. How beautiful the feet of those who preach the good news. So skipping a verse or two for brevity. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. So Lydia hears the gospel from Paul's teaching in Philippi, and the story is complete in the sense of her pre- and mid-conversion story.

She is getting it now. The light came on. "Ah, that's what I've been missing. That's the thing. He's the one." And, and all of it just sort of clicked. Now, that's a spiritual experience. [00:26:00] Some people call that regeneration. That's like being born again. Like, "Oh my goodness, Jesus is the answer." You know about that, right?

When, when God who initiated this whole conversation brings you to himself, Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except the Spirit draws him." So the, so the Spirit of God is drawing us in truth to Jesus, the Son of God, and suddenly it all clicks and it makes sense, and we go, "Oh, Jesus, that's what I've been looking for the whole time."

And I, and I love it when people say, "I found the Lord." And I'm a little smart aleck, you know me. I like to say, "You only found him 'cause he was looking for you first." That's the, uh, reformed guy in me. But I do understand the search, and I do understand the journey. Lydia's on a journey, and she's moving, she's growing, she's discovering, and finally she hears what she's been looking for all along, only to discover that God was hemming her in a- and bringing her along and now leading her into a faith [00:27:00] relationship with himself.

So Lydia's drawn, and here she hears. She believes, and she becomes a follower of Jesus, a Christian, a Christ follower. N- now, here's the part maybe that you agree is the lesser-known part, is on that afternoon she became the first European convert. Now, just think about what that means, the first European Christian.

Now, is it possible he could've led somebody to the Lord before Philippi after he crossed the state line? I... Maybe, but the Bible doesn't tell us. What the Bible does tell us is the first convert in Europe is Lydia. Now, the next time you get asked, "Who's the first convert in Europe?" what are you gonna say?

Lydia. Lydia. Maybe a lesser-known fact of someone who's not as lesser-known as others. She's the first recorded convert. And you might remember, and we'll try to do this quickly, she's the result really of a lot of [00:28:00] frustration and disappointment on Paul's part. Remember the map? Yeah? So Paul's second missionary journey didn't go quite the way he intended or planned.

I- if you could, you just follow along this map. They went through from verse six, by the way, same chapter of Acts, Acts 16, and went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forgi- forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. So Paul's m- Paul's vision, Paul's plan is to come on up here with the gospel and, and maybe get it up here into Galatia, maybe here into Phrygia, uh, maybe we even get up into Bithynia, way up there in purple.

But there are closed doors all along the way, and for some reason, God's just not giving him the freedom to preach the gospel, which leads him all the way over into Mysia, and he's finally gonna land all the way down here on the corner, the furthest westernmost point it seems, almost at least, from Asia Minor and from Israel.

And, and he lands there in, in, in Troas, as you can follow along here. "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of [00:29:00] Mass-- A man," oh my goodness, "of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help.'" Well, it wasn't a huge ask. I mean, he's, what? He's right there. It's just right there.

But how he got right here is he couldn't get anywhere over here where he wanted to be. So God brings him to the very border and then says, "Yep, now you gotta cross that comfort zo- zone. You gotta get out of your, your comfortable place. You, you're gonna take another step in another direction." So Paul had seen the vision when he had, and immediately we saw it, 'cause I think Luke's writing and we've got Paul, we've got Silas, we probably have Timothy.

He's there in early 16. Luke is likely there coming and going perhaps, so we get the transition from we to they. But this case, there are at least four of them and across into Macedonia they will go, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to whom? Them. Them. Who are they? Men in Macedonia.[00:30:00]

No, I'm kidding. It's the people that had never heard the gospel. "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia standing there urging him saying, 'Come over. Help us.'" including the God who called us to preach the gospel to Lydia Now just for a minute, stop and think. Of all the people in Europe at the time, God had a mind for a woman named Lydia in Philippi, a Roman colony.

Think that for a minute If y- if you don't know a God who's big enough to have known your name before, you need a bigger concept of who God is. Can I just tell you something? God had you in his mind and heart a long time before you ever thought about him. Or as David says, "Before my mother knit me in the womb."

Before. When you think about the bigness and the grandness and the greatness of God, you have been on [00:31:00] his mind forever

I like to think that if Lydia had been the only European convert to Christ, he'd have still sent Paul through all of those frustrating t- twists and turns to Philippi. And I like to think maybe it's narcissistic, maybe

So I'll invite you into this. If you're the only person to come to faith in Jesus, to turn from your sin and trust in Him for s- for salvation, forgiveness, heaven, eternal life, you're the only one, Jesus had still gone to that cross for you. Amen. I don't get that. That's huge. That's bigger than me, but I like it.

"So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage..." I love it when God calls you, "Go." "... a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city in the [00:32:00] district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we remained in this city for some days." And you know what the next verse says?

They went out to the river on the Sabbath day for prayer and met there a woman, a prominent businesswoman, successful, wealthy, in all likelihood, businesswoman named Lydia. Shared the gospel with her, and she came to faith and trust in Jesus. The first Gentile European convert to the faith. But just think about that.

The first, but not the last, 'cause there were an awful lot of people behind her. Amen? I- in Philippi and in Thessalonica, and then on around through Greece, there were a lot more, to this day, people coming through the door of faith after Lydia. And I just wonder, have you thought much about the possibility that there's a line behind you?

A line behind each of us, the people who came to faith and trusted in [00:33:00] Jesus behind us. Maybe a spouse or, or parents or, or maybe your children or your n- nieces and nephews or your, or your grandchildren or your neighbor or your coworker or a fellow student or someone you've known years ago but lost contact with, but it's suddenly a point in time that you're brought into their life for times such as this.

And, and what you're seeing is, is you, you came through ahead of somebody else, and the door's still open, by the way. Thank God for that But to stop and think for just a moment that y-you could put your picture in this and imagine the line of people behind you coming to faith after you because you came to faith before they And maybe even just sort of let that ruminate or settle or marinate or whatever the word I'm looking for is.

Just think about that for a moment, that there's the potential for a long line of believers behind you

I suppose since we're gonna talk about the resurrection and apologetic [00:34:00] things this weekend, we might also be reminded that there is a point at which there is the last in line So that ought to motivate us. So what have we done? We've covered the story before. We've covered the story of her conversion.

She's now a believer, a follower of Christ. Now let's take the few minutes we have and talk about the story that's still being written, because it is. Chapter 16, verse 15, "And after she was baptized," Lydia, "and her household as well." Which by the way, household is from oikos. It doesn't mean, you know, like brick and mortar.

It's not the square walls of the building. It's the people living within her household. So if she'd had a husband, this would've been a, been a good place to note him, her husband. Uh, she doesn't. It doesn't. Luke doesn't. He's pretty good with historical details, so think about that. But her household could be family members.

It could be extended family members. It could be servants. It could be friends. It [00:35:00] could be fellow business associates. It could be any number of people living in this house. And, and whatever the size of it, she just invited four or five more to come on in and stay a while. So you're getting an idea about success and, and her potential for gospel patronage, because she apparently got a rather large house in, in this part of the world, and she's got all these people living with her.

And the first thing she does after she hears the gospel and comes to faith is go right home and spread the news. Isn't that what we're supposed to do? I mean, she became a disciple, a follower of Christ, who said, uh, "Go and share the gospel. Uh, go and make disciples." So what's the first thing she did? She went home, told everybody in her household about Jesus.

Can you imagine that story? How, how would she have told it in the heat of the moment? "Hey, hey guys, come here. Sit, s- everybody, come here. I wanna talk to you. I've just had the most amazing, wonderful experience. After all these years of searching and looking and praying, I finally found [00:36:00] the answers. His name's Jesus.

Let me tell you about him. Oh, and by the way, I brought some house guests home. Make them feel welcome." What an amazing conversation that would've been. Oikos, her household. She urged us saying, "If you've judged me to be faithful to the Lord..." So apparently this is an authentic conversion because she says, "If you think I'm for real, come and stay at my house."

And she prevailed upon them, which basically there's a long Greek phrase for that, a big word that I have a hard time pronouncing, that basically means she wouldn't take no for an answer And I think the polite thing to do is to refuse the invitation. A-And then the hospitable thing is to repeat the invitation until the person gives in and says, "Okay, we'll come."

So that's sort of what we have happening here. She just wouldn't take no for an answer, and she keeps asking, and they finally agree, and they go. And so they went out of... Oh, this, by the way, let's fast-forward very quickly. Not long, several weeks at least. Uh, same [00:37:00] chapter toward the end. Give you one more connection, and then we'll make some points.

So they went out of the prison, and what happened in between is Paul and Silas are thrown into prison, right? Remember there was a girl, and she was prophesying in a devilish sort of way, and they cast the demon out, cost these people some money. So the people don't care for that very much, so off to jail they go.

You remember the whole story of the Philippian jailer who comes to faith and trust. He's not named, by the way. We'd never know his name. Na-- Give me the name of the Philippian jailer. The Philippian jailer. That's the answer. That's all we know. He comes to faith, his whole household. Anybody know any names in his household?

Not me. So after they leave prison, before they leave town, where do they go? Back to Lydia's house. Why? is they wanna say goodbye. They want to encourage them. So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia, and when they had seen the brothers... Now If there'd only been women there, I suppose he would've said [00:38:00] sisters.

The fact that he said brothers could be men and women, sort of the generic, but you probably wouldn't have said brothers if there weren't any, Monty? Men by then So there were women at the river, and now several weeks have passed, and there's a gathering of people at Lydia's house in Philippi, presumably the church.

Several weeks into this, Paul and Silas come back to Lydia's house, the church, and encourage the brothers. And I note they departed. Now, many times in the scripture when Paul departs, what does Paul do? Leaves somebody behind In this case, who does he leave behind, leave behind to lead the church? Don't know.

Some have speculated Luke stayed behind, which is why we have, again, the changing of, of pronoun use. But doesn't say. I have a suspicion. [00:39:00] M-my suspicion is that women in the first century Roman world, like Lydia, were entering the public sphere in business and as patrons. Now I'll complete that quote. And they impacted the early church in those roles as well That again from Cynthia Westfall.

So it would not have been uncommon in the city of Philippi for a woman to lead, to organize, to direct, to care for. Wouldn't have been uncommon at all in Philippi or I suspect in the Philippian church. And I think a strong case can be made here for Lydia's prominence, not just in Philippi and that part of the world, but also in the church at Philippi as its founding member, but in all likelihood, a leadership role.

I, I don't mean to stir anything up [00:40:00] for y'all, but I think the details about her from what she did for a living, her name, opening her house, and of all people, the only person really until Eu- Eunodia and Syntyche, uh, later, she's the only one named in this whole story of founding the church at Philippi, which is a very important church and especially to the heart of Paul.

This is all an indication of her prominent role in that church, not as a wealthy businesswoman before coming to Christ, but as a prominent figure in the church after Paul... What'd he do? Hang on, let me get back. What'd he do? Departed. He's gone. He's moved on, and she's left there with a church meeting in her house for at least some season of time, with others who have come to faith after she came to faith, and she's got all these skills and all these abilities and all this experience.

I think now it's just the most natural thing in the world that she begins to apply all that she's learned and experienced and come to know through business and through [00:41:00] commerce and in her household now to care for the church And by the way, her impact is still being felt today. I took that picture.

That's the river where Lydia was baptized, outside Philippi. That's a monument that's set there so that people who go to that place, and many do, can see where Lydia, the first European convert, was baptized. There's a church there to her commemoration. And by the way, if you look closely, some of these people might look familiar.

This is a group of folks from Champion Forest Baptist Church who joined Beverly and I to follow the steps of Paul, the journeys of Paul in 2015. Long time ago. And I recovered this picture from my, uh, computer, and I looked at it, I thought, "Good gracious, where are the men?" We, we did not take an all-women trip to Greece.

We did not. There were men there. A lot of those women had husbands, and they were there, but they are not in this picture, and there is no other picture of the men. [00:42:00] So I don't know if they just made me mad, and I didn't want to take their picture or if, or if they were mad and told me I couldn't take... I don't know.

And then, uh, it, it sort of struck me. Hang on a minute. This is Philippi. Hang on. We've been to the, to the river, and to the monument, memorial, and to the church of Lydia. I think I know what we were thinking. We were thinking, "Hey, ladies, let's have a moment to acknowledge and to show appreciation and honor for all the women like Lydia who are responsible for our salvation today.

Girls, let's take a picture." And there you go. Some of the women of Champion Forest where the first European convert came to Christ. Recognize any of those? Can't see it closely enough? That's all right. I didn't get their permission to show it to you, so it's probably better. To sum it up nicely, let me add this additional quote: "Women such as Lydia were not at the margins in the first decade," sorry, "of the [00:43:00] Jesus movement."

They weren't in the margins. "They were not silent in the churches or i- ineffective in evangelism. They cared for local congregations and were vital and strategic players at the forefront of the expanding Christian mission. A church was established in Philippi because of Lydia's open heart and her open home, and it grew because of her patronage, her initiative, her courage, her ministry."

I love that quote. Lydia was probably one of the people continuing Paul had in mind when he wrote this to the church at Philippi. Paul said in Philippians 1, "I thank my God because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day." When was the first day? By the river on a Sabbath with a group of women, one of whom was named Lydia.

From the first day until now, the story is still being told. I'm sure of this, that he who started a good work among you will bring it to [00:44:00] completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The story is still being told, the story of her salvation. A- a- and so some points for home, and we've got just enough time.

Number one Number one, Lydia's story should challenge us, all of us, and especially as we look at it through the lens of her testimony. How's your testimony? She had a pre-conversion story, so do you. We view that as past tense. This was my life before Christ. It's history. Then we have a conversion story. We do have one, don't we?

By the way, you'd be surprised in all the years that we taught h- people how to share their faith, the number of people who found out in the midst of learning to share their faith that they needed to have one. Right, Beverly? Many times in the first few weeks of teaching soul-winning evangelism, sharing your faith, whatever you wanna call it, somebody would, would come up after and say, [00:45:00] "I don't know how to say this, but through studying this material and understanding what a salvation testimony is, I've never done that."

So like Lydia, who's led many people to Christ by the river, as it were, on their way to writing their salvation story. And then of course, there's a post-conversion story. She's still having one. Her story's still being told. Her influence is continuing. Her impact is still ongoing. Is yours? Mine? 'Cause oftentimes when we share our salvation story, it sounds like it was something that happened in the past and stayed there.

But as surely as your salvation is an event followed by a process, your salvation is also a process followed by an event See? The event of our salvation wasn't the end of the journey, it was the beginning. Hello? It was the start. So we all ought to be having a post-conversion story. That story is still being written.

There's still people to be impacted. There's still truth to be told. There's still work to be done. There's still [00:46:00] giving to be given because that's how that works. So one, it should challenge us. Two, I think it should inspire us as well, and it does me. I think it should inspire us because as a gospel patron, which is a good word for Lydia, giving to advance the kingdom is a good thing to do, a very good thing to do, so that those who are called to go can afford to go Not all of us will go, but any of us can help those who are called to go afford to go.

So Lydia's testimony story should inspire us all. And finally, Lydia's story should encourage us all, and I think it does. 'Cause while we don't all play the same part, Lydia's no Apostle Paul. She's not Silas. She's not Luke. She's not Timothy. She's Lydia. But what does she do? [00:47:00] She plays her part. So we don't all play the same part, but we all have a part to play just the same And that I hope will really encourage us and challenge us and inspire us to think about what's ours, what's mine, what's yours 'Cause if we think about the Great Commission, go and make disciples of all nations, of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you.

And lo, I'm with you always. Where? As far as you go, as long as it takes. The imperative of the Great Commission, make disciples, teach them That's the imperative, and by the way, it's imperative on all of us. But we're not all teachers. We're not all preachers. We're not all itinerant evangelists. We're not all missionaries to faraway places.

But there's a place in the Great Commission for you. There is a part in the fulfillment of the gospel and the coming of the [00:48:00] kingdom of God for you. There is a part for you and me to play. There's a handle for us to get our hands on to see the Word of God and the ministry and the kingdom of God go forward.

I just have this last lingering question for you to think about. What's yours? What's your part? Where's your place? And if somebody, could be somebody in this class that does this to you, in the next day or two or in the next weekend or at the Christmas party, there might be somebody who comes up to you, "You know, I was thinking about Pastor David's message from a few weeks ago, and I, I'm getting a pretty good idea of what my part is.

What's yours?" Now, that would be either inconvenient and very uncomfortable, and might be even impolite. But it's fair, isn't it, that we ought to be able to ask each other, "Hey, say, uh, Greg?" What's your part?

What part do you play in the coming of [00:49:00] God's kingdom? Where's your handle? What have you gotten a hold of? What's got a hold of you? What do you do? You, you're unique. You're a person. What, what's your part?

Well, I'm still answering that for myself. Suppose I always will, 'cause I wanna give God the right and the freedom to move it around as He sees fit. Amen? But I know what I'm doing today. I know my part right now, and I'm grateful for it, but I know your part is more than sitting and listening. Your part has to have something to do with doing So will you bow with me and let's pray?

And can I just ask you in just a moment of silence to consider your part Lydia, tremendous, incredible example, wonderful story and testimony of a person, whether man or woman, who's [00:50:00] played her part

So Lord, we want to give you the freedom, even as I believe Paul did, to move us around on the board or to reorient us by way of direction or to refresh our call or renew our focus in the direction of what you have strategically called us and placed us to be and to do for the sake of the coming of your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

And I suspect, Lord, not a single one of us will hear you say, "Just sit there and watch." I, I feel pretty good about that, Lord, that what you will lead us to do is an understanding of your will and the strength and courage and the resources to fulfill it in our lives, in our day, in our time. Help us with that question.

Help us with the answer. We pray in Jesus' name. [00:51:00] Amen.