Acts 16:11-16: Lydia

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1) (Make the point at the end): God works in small ordinary ways.

A)   Paul, Silas, Timothy, and now Luke have been working their way west through Turkey.

1) They wanted to go to Asia (Ephesus) and God said no.

2) So they turned north for Bithynia and God said no.

3) So they went to the very edge of the continent where Paul saw a vision and they sailed to Europe expecting…something.

4) I imagine Paul had complete faith in God’s direction, and I also imagine that he thought God was leading him towards something important.

B) Philippi

1) v. 12 – “a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.”

(a)   42 BC – Battle of Philippi to end the civil war that happened after Julius Caesar was assassinated.  

(i) Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius (Caesar’s assassins).  

(b)   After a big war like this, you need a place to settle thousands of heavily armed, lethal, newly retired, bored veteran soldiers, because you can’t just drop them in Rome.

(c)   Generals would take defeated cities, like Philippi, and gift them to these soldiers and call it a colony.

(d)   They basically copy/pasted Rome onto these cities.

(i) The city was built up to look like Rome.

(ii)  They were given a special status so they could be governed exactly as if they were on Italia soil.

(iii)          They could make their own coins.

(e)   Philippi was designed to be loyal to Rome and to be as much like Rome as possible.

2) So when Paul, who is a stranger from the east, walks into town talking about a new religion ruled by a new king, the city was specifically designed to repel exactly things like this.

C) v. 13 – The Sabbath by the river

1) Jewish tradition required 10 Jewish men to formally establish a synagogue. I assume that (probably because of the colony environment of Philippi) there weren’t ten Jewish men in the city, or if there were, they didn’t have a synagogue.

2) Paul’s homebase was Antioch, and he wanted to go to Ephesus (major hubs). Now, he was following a vision and looking for the Macedonian man (v. 9). He crossed the sea to get here. And now he has to leave the city that doesn’t even have a synagogue to go down by a river and finds a handful of women at an informal gathering praying together. Was he disappointed or frustrated?

3) Even so, he sat down and started to teach about Jesus.

D)   POINT: This is how the Gospel wins (not only in a Roman stronghold, but everywhere).

1) Not with a massive stadium events or influential leading men of the city.

2) The Gospel wins in the margins talking to women outside of the city gates.

3) Who would have ever guessed that these few verses would change the cultural and philosophical landscape of the entire Western world!

E) LESSON

1) You might have an idea about what success looks like or what you would like, or how YOU think is the best way to move the Gospel forward.

2) It’s a really bad idea to overlook small ordinary life events as insignificant in God’s big picture.

3) Side note: I wonder if this wasn’t just as much for Paul’s benefit as it was for all the things that God will make happen through it. The Gospel doesn’t only spread in cities like Antioch and Ephesus. It works just as well on a river bank outside the city walls.

v. 14 – Lydia

2) v. 14b – “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”

A)   This text is great for showing how human action and God’s will work together.

B) On one hand, both Paul and Lydia had to take some initiative. 

1) Paul travelled to this spot and spoke to these people. He’s not just some guy either. He was from Tarsus, which was a premier university city like Athens or Alexandria. He was educated under Gamaliel. He was an apostle. In summary, he was prepared and willing to do the work.

2) Lydia, a God-fearer, was also was active in being present and listening.

C) BUT we can’t ignore that the text says that “the Lord opened her heart to pay attention.”

D)   POINT

1) We all have to do our part.

(a)   Seminary: Student: I’ll just let the Spirit work through me. Teacher: How about give the Spirit something to work with.

(b)   I am responsible for being prepared and being faithful to God’s message.

(c)   Speaking boldly and kindly.

2) The people who we are talking to have to do their part too.

3) But then we need to remember that God also has a part to play in this operation.

(a)   1 Cor. 3:6 – “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

(b)   Many others. Heb. 4:12, etc.

4) There are two extremes for us all to avoid:

(a)   Arrogance of thinking that we saved someone.

(b)   Despair of thinking that we failed them.

3) (Make point at the end): Use what you have right where you are.

A)   v. 14a – She was from Thyatira (irony: in Asia where Paul wanted to go).

B) She was a seller of purple goods.

1) Tyrian purple, or Imperial purple was the ultimate undisputed status symbol in the ancient world.

2) It came from sea snails that had to be collected from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Then, you had to extract a tiny gland, crush it and leave it to ferment and oxidize in the sun. These dead snails stunk so bad that ancient cities had rules that this had to be done outside the city. It took 10,000 or more snails to make a single gram of dye.

3) Rome eventually passed laws about who was legally allowed to wear the color.

(a)   A victorious general or high-ranking magistrate might be allowed a purple stripe on their toga.

(b)   The emperor wore solid purple.

4) I think we can assume that Lydia was a wealthy, high-status woman. This will be important shortly.

C) v. 15 – Come stay at my house.

1) Lydia provided the base of operations (and probably financed) taking the Gospel into Europe.

2) This is a common things in the Scripture:

(a)   Barnabas used what he had to further the Gospel

(b)   Acts 12:12 – John Mark’s mom, Mary

(c)   Acts 17:4-6 – Jason in Thessalonica

(d)   Acts 21:15-16 – Mnason

3) When God opens a person’s heard to obey the Gospel, the next step is to take what you have right where you are and ask, “How can I help spread this message to others?”