Good morning, dear “Walking with Jesus” friends and welcome to a new week…
Are you a person who loves water? I mean lakes or oceans or rivers type of water. This weekend I left you standing on the riverbank of a river outside the city of Philippi in the region of Macedonia, toward the beginning of the year 50ad. We weren’t there alone, for we had followed the apostle Paul, Silas, Timothy and Dr. Luke.
Why to a river? Because it was the Sabbath and normally Paul would always seek out the Synagogue of a new town on the Sabbath, seeking the opportunity to speak there as a former Pharisee and then introduce the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah. But for the first time, on this Paul’s second missionary journey, Paul and his team had reached a large city, to which God had led them, but there was no Synagogue, or at least Paul had not yet found it.
But it was the Sabbath and so they went outside the town, to the nearby river, looking to see if perhaps what few Jews might live in that city had gathered there. But alas, they were surprised to only find women at the river.
Now, for there to be a Jewish Synagogue in any town it would require a minimum of 10 Jewish men resident in that town. Fewer than 10 Jewish men evidently did not warrant a Synagogue. So, Paul found himself in a totally pagan city with very few if any Jewish men in that town!
This would be for Paul a new evangelistic adventure, for he would now be dealing with exclusively Gentile people and Paul should assume all his years of training as a Jewish Pharisee had little value to the Romans of Philippi! And to make matters worse, on this Sabbath day Paul and his team found only women at the river!
As in both Jewish and Muslim parts of the world today, Paul had some very strict Pharisaical guidelines about any relationship with women who were not part of his biological extended family. Yet, Dr. Luke records this for us in Acts 16:13 “On the Sabbath we went outside the city [Philippi] gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”
This was another defining moment in Christian history, even though as these four men came to the river and saw women there, they had no idea what God had done to prepare this strategic encounter. Let’s pause for a moment to look in the mirror.
How often do we miss God prepared, strategic moments because we are so busy, or so focused on our agenda and what we are trying to accomplish in that moment? How many God prepared strategic encounters has God led us into, but we simply missed it, we were unaware, not alert to discern the Holy Spirit speaking to us about the importance of the moment?
Why these women had gathered at this particular spot near the river, we don’t know?! Who any of the other women were, or exactly what Paul said to them, we don’t know!? Luke wants us to see the Holy Spirit of God was working in this unexpected river rendez-vous and it was soon discovered Lydia was a God worshipper and a business woman, not from Philippi but from Thyatira. I presume Lydia was in Philippi on a business trip! If you travel on business, watch that! Be alert, God may be preparing an unexpected connection with someone and it may have eternal consequences!
As you probably know a dealer in ‘purple cloth’ would likely have been an important and successful businesswoman, for purple was the color of royalty, thus the cloth she dealt with was likely used for a variety of purposes in the homes of royals and dignitaries! Perhaps she was meeting with some of her merchant distributors here in Philippi or perhaps the servants who purchased on behalf of their royal masters.
It appears Paul’s intellectual education and his communication style connected with Lydia, who was probably accustomed to interacting with well educated people in society. Look at them standing over there by the river talking, while the three men who accompanied Paul, and the women who were meeting with Lydia, are all simply in awe of what they are watching. Lydia seems so interested in what Paul is saying. See her asking questions, nodding her head in understanding of what Paul is explaining. Of course Paul must surely be talking about Jesus, that’s the only topic Paul finds both interesting enough and important enough to talk about!
Now look at what Luke writes next: “When Lydia 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.” (Acts 16:15) Baptism requires water. They are talking at the river outside the city of Philippi! Does this suggest that Lydia trusted what Paul was saying to be so true that she entrusted her life to Jesus Christ as her Savior right there, in this first conversation at the river?
And when Luke writes: “Lydia and the members of her household were baptized” does that mean those women who were there with Lydia were somehow members of her household? That could mean servants or other extended family! We don’t know for sure, but clearly this was a historic moment. Lydia, a business woman, is the first person in Macedonia to become an authentic follower of Jesus Christ!
Furthermore, do you see Lydia is so moved by what she has heard and her trust in Jesus and her baptism, that she extends an invitation to Paul, Silas, Timothy and Dr. Luke, to come and stay at her home. We can presume with such an invitation to four men she does not really know that she has a very large house in Philippi, with several guest rooms.
Because she is a dealer of cloth, perhaps it also serves as a type of distribution center, large enough to accommodate traveling customers or vendors. We don’t know how long the conversation lasted, but it seems clear they all sensed the Holy Spirit was giving them both permission and guidance in this unexpected encounter which has now become a strategic beachhead for the Gospel in the region of Macedonia!
Lydia’s home would become a launching point from which the Gospel would penetrate the geographical region of Macedonia! Now ponder the strategicness of this riverside encounter my friends, and consider again how many times you and I have likely missed very strategic opportunities God had drawn us into, but we simply missed recognizing what God was doing!
As we follow Paul, Silas, Timothy, Dr. Luke, Lydia, and the women back into Philippi let’s simply be amazed at what God is doing here. Do you see it? Paul and his team did not know one person in all of Macedonia. They evidently found no Rabbi, no Synagogue in Philippi.
Thus, their normal strategic plan was useless, meaningless in this totally pagan, Roman city. But God was working and rather than Paul giving up or turning angry, Paul and his friends went to pray, outside the city, and walked right into a God prepared rendez-vous which changed history! Now that my “Walking with Jesus” friends is what I call living the adventure with Jesus!
What would it take for you and me to live our lives aware, alert, available to God like that? It’s time to pause, reflect and worship, and here’s a great song for this moment. . . And I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow and we’ll see what God did next!!
Today’s Scripture is Acts 16:13-15.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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