Lydia
The story of the growth of the early Church is one of crossing many boundaries; some social, some geographical, some ethnic, some religious and the reading this evening (Acts 16:11-15) marks the crossing of yet another boundary, and it’s a very important one for us. It marks the crossing of the boundary from the Middle East into Europe.
Paul was on a trip through what today is Western Turkey and has a dream. He wanted to continue North but the Book of Acts tells us that ‘The Spirit of Jesus did not allow him to do so’ (Acts 16:7), and then he had this dream where a man from Macedonia asked for help. Macedonia was a strip of land connecting Turkey and Greece – Athens was only 100 miles away.
And it was on this trip that Paul met Lydia. We are told a few things about her – first that she was a worshipper of God, secondly from the city of Thyatira and thirdly that she was a dealer in purple cloth. Then we are told that the Lord opened her heart and she and her household were baptised. And finally in this section we are told that after her conversion she invites Paul to go and stay at her house.
And so Lydia, not a well known character from the Bible, became a tremendously important one – the first European convert to Christianity.
Lots of people have used her as a great example of the power of women. After all, Lydia was, in an incredibly male dominated culture, a businesswoman, and a successful one at that. She was selling purple cloth. Today purple cloth could be easily obtained but then apparently it was the height of luxury – today it may be the colour of bishops, but then it was emperors and the richest of the rich. It was the equivalent of the Gucci bag or the Rolex watch of the day.
Lydia, simply to have afforded her stock, must have been a wealthy woman. There is no mention of her husband, but she owns a house, to which she invited Paul to stay. Perhaps she was a widow who had continued the business of her husband. We don’t know. But whatever the details about her, she was strong enough to carry on the business. She was also strong enough to be prepared to join those praying down by the river in Philippi – an incredibly secular place.
Lydia was a remarkable woman whose CV would have looked like many modern day business people, but the most important thing she did was to let God open her heart, and when that happened her life changed.
We can only speculate how much her life changed. Immediately she invited Paul as a guest, and a short time after as he was arrested and thrown into prison I wonder what the neighbours thought ! Perhaps even she wondered what she’d done – who she’d made friends with ! From a respectable business woman to a friend of criminals overnight !
But of course she knew better – Paul had been arrested for a stupid offence – in fact only because he had helped out another woman who was suffering. Some people didn’t like it and had Paul thrown into prison as a Jew, and for not observing the Roman customs.
Paul of course had a trump card – he was actually a Roman citizen – it was a get out of jail free card. More than that the way he had been treated could easily have caused him to make a complaint. After Paul had eventually received an apology he agreed to leave the city, but first he went to see Lydia. And once again Lydia welcomed him and he saw and encouraged others before leaving.
I am now recovering after Neighbours took a break for Christmas – 2 weeks back in we have had a storyline about a rather scary business woman – a fashion designer called Saffron. She is the stereotypical lady in business – hard and unfeeling, ruthless… The reality of course is different. There are good women in business just as there are good men, but in the case of a woman this picture is often built up of someone hard.
In biblical times the picture of a woman was very different – it was the picture of someone who looked after the house, who cared for the family, who sat and listened to anything the man would say, but that wasn’t Lydia and neither was the hard nosed business woman.
Lydia listened, both to God and to other people, and this resulted in her conversion, but perhaps equally important was the fact that she invited Paul to stay immediately after she was converted. Straight away her conversion was making an impact on her life, and when Paul visited her after his imprisonment, she welcomed him again.
In other words Lydia became ready to serve God and other people straight away, and that’s a wonderful message for his Church today. We are people upon whom the gospel has made an impact, and therefore we must be people who are prepared to show the results of that impact. No conversion and no discipleship can be done in private…
For Lydia we can only speculate on the life changing effects the meeting with Paul had, and her relationship with God had, but for ourselves we can do more than speculate – we can consider what he has done for us, what differences he has made, and most importantly of all, what difference we want him to make in the future.
In the lives of every one of us God wants more involvement – the Lord is ready to continually open up our hearts as he did for Lydia – all we have to do is be ready and to respond.
The reading from Isaiah (49:1-7) talks of the nature of the servant, wonderfully created by God, and who he calls to be a light to the nations, that his salvation will reach to the ends of the earth… The conversion of Lydia represented the first European conversion – today we need many more, and so we pray that God will use us to be his light, shining in the darkness, and that his Church will grow, and his kingdom will become stronger day by day. AMEN
Paul was on a trip through what today is Western Turkey and has a dream. He wanted to continue North but the Book of Acts tells us that ‘The Spirit of Jesus did not allow him to do so’ (Acts 16:7), and then he had this dream where a man from Macedonia asked for help. Macedonia was a strip of land connecting Turkey and Greece – Athens was only 100 miles away.
And it was on this trip that Paul met Lydia. We are told a few things about her – first that she was a worshipper of God, secondly from the city of Thyatira and thirdly that she was a dealer in purple cloth. Then we are told that the Lord opened her heart and she and her household were baptised. And finally in this section we are told that after her conversion she invites Paul to go and stay at her house.
And so Lydia, not a well known character from the Bible, became a tremendously important one – the first European convert to Christianity.
Lots of people have used her as a great example of the power of women. After all, Lydia was, in an incredibly male dominated culture, a businesswoman, and a successful one at that. She was selling purple cloth. Today purple cloth could be easily obtained but then apparently it was the height of luxury – today it may be the colour of bishops, but then it was emperors and the richest of the rich. It was the equivalent of the Gucci bag or the Rolex watch of the day.
Lydia, simply to have afforded her stock, must have been a wealthy woman. There is no mention of her husband, but she owns a house, to which she invited Paul to stay. Perhaps she was a widow who had continued the business of her husband. We don’t know. But whatever the details about her, she was strong enough to carry on the business. She was also strong enough to be prepared to join those praying down by the river in Philippi – an incredibly secular place.
Lydia was a remarkable woman whose CV would have looked like many modern day business people, but the most important thing she did was to let God open her heart, and when that happened her life changed.
We can only speculate how much her life changed. Immediately she invited Paul as a guest, and a short time after as he was arrested and thrown into prison I wonder what the neighbours thought ! Perhaps even she wondered what she’d done – who she’d made friends with ! From a respectable business woman to a friend of criminals overnight !
But of course she knew better – Paul had been arrested for a stupid offence – in fact only because he had helped out another woman who was suffering. Some people didn’t like it and had Paul thrown into prison as a Jew, and for not observing the Roman customs.
Paul of course had a trump card – he was actually a Roman citizen – it was a get out of jail free card. More than that the way he had been treated could easily have caused him to make a complaint. After Paul had eventually received an apology he agreed to leave the city, but first he went to see Lydia. And once again Lydia welcomed him and he saw and encouraged others before leaving.
I am now recovering after Neighbours took a break for Christmas – 2 weeks back in we have had a storyline about a rather scary business woman – a fashion designer called Saffron. She is the stereotypical lady in business – hard and unfeeling, ruthless… The reality of course is different. There are good women in business just as there are good men, but in the case of a woman this picture is often built up of someone hard.
In biblical times the picture of a woman was very different – it was the picture of someone who looked after the house, who cared for the family, who sat and listened to anything the man would say, but that wasn’t Lydia and neither was the hard nosed business woman.
Lydia listened, both to God and to other people, and this resulted in her conversion, but perhaps equally important was the fact that she invited Paul to stay immediately after she was converted. Straight away her conversion was making an impact on her life, and when Paul visited her after his imprisonment, she welcomed him again.
In other words Lydia became ready to serve God and other people straight away, and that’s a wonderful message for his Church today. We are people upon whom the gospel has made an impact, and therefore we must be people who are prepared to show the results of that impact. No conversion and no discipleship can be done in private…
For Lydia we can only speculate on the life changing effects the meeting with Paul had, and her relationship with God had, but for ourselves we can do more than speculate – we can consider what he has done for us, what differences he has made, and most importantly of all, what difference we want him to make in the future.
In the lives of every one of us God wants more involvement – the Lord is ready to continually open up our hearts as he did for Lydia – all we have to do is be ready and to respond.
The reading from Isaiah (49:1-7) talks of the nature of the servant, wonderfully created by God, and who he calls to be a light to the nations, that his salvation will reach to the ends of the earth… The conversion of Lydia represented the first European conversion – today we need many more, and so we pray that God will use us to be his light, shining in the darkness, and that his Church will grow, and his kingdom will become stronger day by day. AMEN
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