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Unsung Heroes of the Faith
Hearts Open to the Holy Spirit
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While my sermon will bring into focus the life of a woman the Book of Acts calls, “Lydia”, we must first lay some historical groundwork, and then we will see how she fits in with God’s great plan for spreading His Gospel throughout the world. History and parts of the New Testament tell us that The Apostle Paul conducted three, and possibly four missionary journeys in his lifetime. In about AD 49 to 51, Paul took his second missionary journey, crossing into Europe and going much farther than on his first journey. This expedition took Paul and his companions over 2,800 miles, from Antioch, Syria, across what was once called Asia Minor and is now modern-day Turkey, into Greece and back again.
Let’s read the first part of our passage this morning from Acts Chapter 16: 1-10;
16 Paul (and Silas) came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. (Acts 15:29: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.)
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul started this second major journey with a man named Silas. The two passed through Derbe and on to Lystra, where years earlier Paul had been stoned by the Jews and left for dead. They added Timothy here in Lystra, the Timothy who would grow so close to Paul over the coming years. These three went on to the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, hitting these from east to west, not west to east as in the first journey Paul took.
As these three traveled they were directed by the Holy Spirit not to preach in Asia. Later it says the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to go north into Bithynia, which was a northern Roman province on the Black Sea. The word Paul was given here was “koluthentes”, “you are forbidden”. Keep in mind that the Asia of that day was not a designator for the continent of Asia that we know today; a region that contains 1/3 of all people and 1/3 of all the land mass of the world.
So, as we take this look into Paul’s second missionary journey, we must remember that Paul’s mind was clear; “I must preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentiles”. At this point Paul had no self-will, no selfish desire to “be the boss”, “be famous” or “be rich”. We see so much of that nonsense today in the American church; pastors and preachers are literally hell-bent on fame and fortune and doing what they want. Not Paul. Paul kept moving and when the Holy Spirit said “no” Paul moved on obediently, and the only direction he and his companions could go was west, because they did not sense a directive to go back home. But it is interesting that no plus no then led to yes… They bypassed Mysia when told no by God and went on to Troas. It was in Troas that God gave Paul a vision; a man pleading with Paul to come preach the Gospel in Macedonia, which is the eastern part of Europe in what is primarily called Greece today. Once Paul had this vision the group got ready to depart at once for Macedonia. The Ancient Greek word Luke used here is “sumbibazonetes”, a conclusion; one that was reached by the four men together that they should head for Macedonia. What we are given a glimpse into is how God leads His people. They sense a “no”, then another “no”, then a vision is given, and then the four men converse and pray and confirm that the Lord is directing them west. Keep this in mind. And, once the men got a clear picture of the Lord’s will for them, they did not hesitate. They moved out.
And note, too, that we see here a fascinating change in the writing. Up to this point in Acts the wording used by the writer, Luke, is third person, as in “they did this or that”. At Troas there is no discussion by Luke that these men met up with and began including him, but in fact as the writer of Acts, Luke does begin to use the term “we” beginning with verse 10, when Luke says, “We got ready at once to leave”.
With this background, let’s pick up the story of Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke traveling from Troas to Philippi:
Acts 16:11-15,
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
It was while Paul, travelling with Silas, Timothy and now Luke, were in the bustling Roman Colony of Philippi that Lydia and Paul met up and Lydia gave her life to Jesus Christ. According to Luke here in Acts 16, Lydia became the first convert to Christianity in Europe.
So, let’s take a look at Lydia; she hailed from the city of Thyatira (modern day Akhisar, Turkey). Interestingly enough, “Lydia” may actually have been some kind of nick name given to Lydia while she worked and lived in Philippi, as she was from the wealthy and prosperous region of Lydia, famous for its rich textiles and bustling businesses. Anyway, her town of origin was a prosperous, successful place with many businesspeople thriving there. Though this was Lydia’s home, and she was of Anatolian (Turkish) descent racially, at some point her business took her to Philippi, perhaps because Philippi was more prosperous and offered more opportunity for Lydia’s international business to grow.
So, here we see a great work of God beginning in Philippi; Paul and his companions have come with little yet are resolute in their commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They begin to teach the truth of Jesus Christ, interestingly enough, to women. Is that not often the case? God so often uses women to get things going! We are not sure exactly why things happened that way, but we do clearly see that God provided a safe haven place for these missionaries to stay by connecting Lydia to Paul and his fellow missionaries. Anyway, Lydia is moved of the Spirit to accept the truth of the Gospel, and then moved again to take these men in, is moved to help them and provide for them.
And though we won’t be reading the next section, very quickly these “Men of God” find themselves in a real pickle. The group appears to have been spending quite a bit of time preaching in Philippi and going about the city. Paul ends up casting a demon out of a slave girl being used by her owners to predict the future and otherwise do demonic things. The people of the city attacked them, and dragged them before the magistrate, where Paul and Silas were stripped and severely beaten. Interestingly, it does not appear that Timothy and Luke were caught up in this mess, but Paul and Silas were imprisoned. While the men are shackled and held as common criminals, God causes an earthquake to shake the jail doors open. Paul and Silas end up leading the jailer to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the narrative eventually shows Paul and Silas being released and finding their way back to Lydia’s home;
40 “After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.”
We don’t know the length of time Paul and his companions were in Philippi, how long they were jailed, nor how long they stayed with Lydia. However, verse 40 does say “they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them”. This was indeed the beginning not only of the first church in Philippi but the very first church in all of Europe. That is a massive event! And think about it; this all started with an immigrant businesswoman, a foreigner to the people in Philippi, along with her family, a delivered slave girl and a Roman jailer and his family! All brought together with four traveling ministers who didn’t all know each other until recently!
Here are the take aways I want you to hold in your hearts and minds; just like Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Lydia and their families, we are not simply spectators. We are participants in what God is doing in this world. As we look at these actors on God’s stage, we see the Holy Spirit embedded in each of their lives; in Paul and Silas called to move out and begin a 2800-mile journey filled with excitement, zeal and yet great hardship. In Timothy, who’s heart was stirred to partner up with Paul and Silas and strike out into the unknown as a young and impressionable man. With Luke, already a believer but meeting up with three unknown men, vagabonds really, to move west not knowing where they were even headed. And with Lydia, she at some point in her life travels over 300 miles via land and sea from her home in Thyatira to Philippi, taking roughly 14 days to do so, and finds herself living in Philippi, a foreign country to her, doing business there, and seemingly waiting for the missionaries to bring God’s Word to her!
So, truthfully, we must realize that for these five people to travel from the disparate places they did, to meet up on a Sabbath morning by a creek in the busy metropolis of Philippi, and after God closed all these other doors along the way; just so Lydia and her family could come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and thus be the first persons to do so in all of Europe. And then from there, because these people all were obedient and listening in their hearts, the Lord’s Church began to grow and grow.
So, what I said about us not simply being spectators is so vital; just like each of these people back then had a part to play in God’s greater plan for humanity, so do we. For God is continuing to weave the work of the Holy Spirit into the very fabric of our lives, and into the lives of people like Lydia, her family, the jailer and his family and all the other folks. Today, we each have a story to live and share; we each have people that God wants to touch with His love through us. So, let us prayerfully live our lives in such a manner as to be aware, like these folks in first century times, of what God wants us to be about. Where can we be listening for His purpose? Who can we touch with hospitality and grace like Lydia and the jailer and all the rest?
Let’s Pray.
Let’s read the first part of our passage this morning from Acts Chapter 16: 1-10;
16 Paul (and Silas) came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. (Acts 15:29: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.)
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul started this second major journey with a man named Silas. The two passed through Derbe and on to Lystra, where years earlier Paul had been stoned by the Jews and left for dead. They added Timothy here in Lystra, the Timothy who would grow so close to Paul over the coming years. These three went on to the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, hitting these from east to west, not west to east as in the first journey Paul took.
As these three traveled they were directed by the Holy Spirit not to preach in Asia. Later it says the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to go north into Bithynia, which was a northern Roman province on the Black Sea. The word Paul was given here was “koluthentes”, “you are forbidden”. Keep in mind that the Asia of that day was not a designator for the continent of Asia that we know today; a region that contains 1/3 of all people and 1/3 of all the land mass of the world.
So, as we take this look into Paul’s second missionary journey, we must remember that Paul’s mind was clear; “I must preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentiles”. At this point Paul had no self-will, no selfish desire to “be the boss”, “be famous” or “be rich”. We see so much of that nonsense today in the American church; pastors and preachers are literally hell-bent on fame and fortune and doing what they want. Not Paul. Paul kept moving and when the Holy Spirit said “no” Paul moved on obediently, and the only direction he and his companions could go was west, because they did not sense a directive to go back home. But it is interesting that no plus no then led to yes… They bypassed Mysia when told no by God and went on to Troas. It was in Troas that God gave Paul a vision; a man pleading with Paul to come preach the Gospel in Macedonia, which is the eastern part of Europe in what is primarily called Greece today. Once Paul had this vision the group got ready to depart at once for Macedonia. The Ancient Greek word Luke used here is “sumbibazonetes”, a conclusion; one that was reached by the four men together that they should head for Macedonia. What we are given a glimpse into is how God leads His people. They sense a “no”, then another “no”, then a vision is given, and then the four men converse and pray and confirm that the Lord is directing them west. Keep this in mind. And, once the men got a clear picture of the Lord’s will for them, they did not hesitate. They moved out.
And note, too, that we see here a fascinating change in the writing. Up to this point in Acts the wording used by the writer, Luke, is third person, as in “they did this or that”. At Troas there is no discussion by Luke that these men met up with and began including him, but in fact as the writer of Acts, Luke does begin to use the term “we” beginning with verse 10, when Luke says, “We got ready at once to leave”.
With this background, let’s pick up the story of Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke traveling from Troas to Philippi:
Acts 16:11-15,
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
It was while Paul, travelling with Silas, Timothy and now Luke, were in the bustling Roman Colony of Philippi that Lydia and Paul met up and Lydia gave her life to Jesus Christ. According to Luke here in Acts 16, Lydia became the first convert to Christianity in Europe.
So, let’s take a look at Lydia; she hailed from the city of Thyatira (modern day Akhisar, Turkey). Interestingly enough, “Lydia” may actually have been some kind of nick name given to Lydia while she worked and lived in Philippi, as she was from the wealthy and prosperous region of Lydia, famous for its rich textiles and bustling businesses. Anyway, her town of origin was a prosperous, successful place with many businesspeople thriving there. Though this was Lydia’s home, and she was of Anatolian (Turkish) descent racially, at some point her business took her to Philippi, perhaps because Philippi was more prosperous and offered more opportunity for Lydia’s international business to grow.
So, here we see a great work of God beginning in Philippi; Paul and his companions have come with little yet are resolute in their commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They begin to teach the truth of Jesus Christ, interestingly enough, to women. Is that not often the case? God so often uses women to get things going! We are not sure exactly why things happened that way, but we do clearly see that God provided a safe haven place for these missionaries to stay by connecting Lydia to Paul and his fellow missionaries. Anyway, Lydia is moved of the Spirit to accept the truth of the Gospel, and then moved again to take these men in, is moved to help them and provide for them.
And though we won’t be reading the next section, very quickly these “Men of God” find themselves in a real pickle. The group appears to have been spending quite a bit of time preaching in Philippi and going about the city. Paul ends up casting a demon out of a slave girl being used by her owners to predict the future and otherwise do demonic things. The people of the city attacked them, and dragged them before the magistrate, where Paul and Silas were stripped and severely beaten. Interestingly, it does not appear that Timothy and Luke were caught up in this mess, but Paul and Silas were imprisoned. While the men are shackled and held as common criminals, God causes an earthquake to shake the jail doors open. Paul and Silas end up leading the jailer to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the narrative eventually shows Paul and Silas being released and finding their way back to Lydia’s home;
40 “After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.”
We don’t know the length of time Paul and his companions were in Philippi, how long they were jailed, nor how long they stayed with Lydia. However, verse 40 does say “they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them”. This was indeed the beginning not only of the first church in Philippi but the very first church in all of Europe. That is a massive event! And think about it; this all started with an immigrant businesswoman, a foreigner to the people in Philippi, along with her family, a delivered slave girl and a Roman jailer and his family! All brought together with four traveling ministers who didn’t all know each other until recently!
Here are the take aways I want you to hold in your hearts and minds; just like Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Lydia and their families, we are not simply spectators. We are participants in what God is doing in this world. As we look at these actors on God’s stage, we see the Holy Spirit embedded in each of their lives; in Paul and Silas called to move out and begin a 2800-mile journey filled with excitement, zeal and yet great hardship. In Timothy, who’s heart was stirred to partner up with Paul and Silas and strike out into the unknown as a young and impressionable man. With Luke, already a believer but meeting up with three unknown men, vagabonds really, to move west not knowing where they were even headed. And with Lydia, she at some point in her life travels over 300 miles via land and sea from her home in Thyatira to Philippi, taking roughly 14 days to do so, and finds herself living in Philippi, a foreign country to her, doing business there, and seemingly waiting for the missionaries to bring God’s Word to her!
So, truthfully, we must realize that for these five people to travel from the disparate places they did, to meet up on a Sabbath morning by a creek in the busy metropolis of Philippi, and after God closed all these other doors along the way; just so Lydia and her family could come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and thus be the first persons to do so in all of Europe. And then from there, because these people all were obedient and listening in their hearts, the Lord’s Church began to grow and grow.
So, what I said about us not simply being spectators is so vital; just like each of these people back then had a part to play in God’s greater plan for humanity, so do we. For God is continuing to weave the work of the Holy Spirit into the very fabric of our lives, and into the lives of people like Lydia, her family, the jailer and his family and all the other folks. Today, we each have a story to live and share; we each have people that God wants to touch with His love through us. So, let us prayerfully live our lives in such a manner as to be aware, like these folks in first century times, of what God wants us to be about. Where can we be listening for His purpose? Who can we touch with hospitality and grace like Lydia and the jailer and all the rest?
Let’s Pray.
