LYDIA

Dr. Richard J. Henderson May 13, 2007

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Psalm 67(responsive)
Acts 16:9-15

Introduction

People come to faith in many different ways. Lots of people recall their conversion happening in an emotional tent revival or a Billy Graham crusade. For some, like Paul, it is a vision - a blinding experience that physically and spiritually knocks him over. That is more the smack-up-the-side-of-the-head conversion experience.

Others have very different experiences: Barbara Brown Taylor became interested in Christianity when she was at Yale because she noticed that so many of the people protesting the Viet Nam War were active Christians. She decided she'd explore this faith in more depth.

On Wednesday, May 24, 1738, John Wesley felt his "heart strangely warmed" as he realized that what Christ did was personal for him. People come to faith in lots of different ways.

In this gospel account, Lydia comes to faith by talking to Paul in a one to one conversation. She listens eagerly to what Paul says and believes, and later she commits herself to the Christian faith. Her faith takes her a long way and she is a great help to the early church. We can learn quite a bit from Lydia.

I

She is open to the gospel and to change in her life. Paul goes out to a river which is outside the town of Philippi, and there he finds some women gathered in prayer. He talks to them about Christ and what God has done through him. The women listen to Paul, but one in particular listens intently. Lydia soaks us what Paul is saying.

Lydia is a wealthy woman. She's a businesswoman who sells purple cloth. The area of Asia Minor where she is from is famous for its dyeing, and purple cloth, which is very expensive. She would have to have a lot of money just to buy her product in order to sell it.

Lydia is open to the good news and she is willing to change. She listens eagerly and then she makes the decision to become a Christian. She asks Paul to baptize her and all of her family. She commits her life and is baptized along with all the members of her family.

II

Now we're going to take a little detour here for a while. If you don't want to come with us on the detour just stay right here and we'll be back in a couple of minutes.

Some churches say that infant baptisms don't count. Actually, they tell people that any baptism where the person hasn't specifically asked to be baptized in not authentic. In these churches, if you were baptized as a baby you have to be baptized again when you join their church. Even though these are so-called "Bible believing" churches, what they are doing is unbiblical.

Lydia's family is an example. It takes a real stretch of the imagination to believe that everyone in Lydia's family was an adult who asked Paul to baptize him. Some surely were people too young to understand what Christianity was about.

Paul baptized this family with the same trust in God's love and action as we do in infant baptism. Lydia asks them to be baptized with the same commitment to help them grow in faith, as parents do at their child's baptism.

Several times in the New Testament it says that a person and his whole family were baptized. Obviously, many of those were young people, too young to make a total Christian commitment. They were baptized trusting in God.

Also, the Bible is very clear that there is "one Lord, one faith and one baptism." When a person has been baptized in the Christian faith, we don't ever baptize them again. Only one baptism is needed.

OK, detour over. Now back to the main highway.

III

When Lydia hears about Christ, she not only believes, but she acts. She doesn't just accept Christ and feel good about it in her heart, she responds. Faith Community's mission statement is built on the progression of faith we call "Hearing God's word, trusting God's word, acting on God's word, sharing God's word." Lydia has heard and trusted; now she begins to act on her faith and share it.

Her first action is that she is baptized along with all of her family. She takes action to demonstrate her faith and to spread that faith through her family.

Her next action is gracious hospitality. She invites - no insists - that Paul and his colleagues stay with her in her home. As Paul begins to create the church at Philippi, Lydia insists that he and his friends stay at her house.

Paul doesn't have to work on the side to pay his room and board, as he did at every other church he started. Lydia takes care of his all of this so that he can concentrate on getting the new church started. This is unusual. Paul wouldn't let anyone take care of him like this in any of the other churches he started.

Lydia was different. I think she must have been a very good salesperson. We know from Paul's letters to the Philippians that it was one of his favorite churches. Lydia had a lot to do with its success. She must have been one of the pillars of that church.

IV

Lydia is also exceptional because she is a wealthy person who is raised up as a great example of faith. Often in the New Testament, the wealthy are seen as misguided or selfish or possessed by their own wealth. Remember Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God."

We remember the time the wealthy man came to Jesus sincerely asking, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus told him to follow the commandments. He said these I have kept from my youth. Then Jesus said, "One thing you lack. Sell what you have, give the money to the poor and come follow me." The wealthy man went away grieving because he had many possessions.

In the New Testament wealthy people are often seen as giving a higher priority to their wealth than to their God.

Lydia is an exception. She is wealthy and an example for other Christians. She is generous and uses her wealth to help Christ's church.

Clearly, being wealthy doesn't exclude a person from God's kingdom, but we have to use what we've been given for God's causes.

Wealth is a gift, and like all gifts, it must be used to help Christ's kingdom and to build up faith, rather than replace it. Those with wealth have to use it to serve Christ, in the same way that every other gift is used to honor God. "Those to whom much is given, much is required."

Conclusion

Lydia is a wonderful example for all of us. We don't know a great deal about her, but enough to see how she used the gifts she had been given to serve God and make a difference in the lives of God's people. Thank God for the gifts of Lydia!

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2007