ACTS 15:30-41; 16:1-15
“A DIVINE OPENING”
Much has happened since we last gathered. A council has convened in Jerusalem to resolve the issue of whether circumcision is required of new believers and an encouraging letter explaining it has been distributed far and wide. All is well in Christendom once more! Well, not quite! Paul & Barnabas are having a bit of a tiff! Barnabas wants to bring John Mark again but Paul adamently disagrees. The young whipper-snapper abandoned ship before it barely embarked, Paul argues. “Their disagreement was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways.” (Acts 15:39) Things got ugly!
(Calvin walks to sacristy and opens door to Hobbes...)
Hobbes: I'm tellin' ya, germs are life's hidden enemies; that's why kids shouldn't go out in public.
Calvin: Whaddaya Mean kids can't go out in public?! At least kids don't have fleas!
Hobbes: That's only because fleas can't stand the way kids smell!
Calvin: By golly, you're asking for a fist sandwich in the mouth, bucko!
Hobbes: You can't threaten me! I've got fish sandwiches too! (showing fists, then slapping each other's hands... tiring, H leans on C) You know, maybe we don't need enemies.
Calvin: (pangint) Yeah, best friends are about all I can take. (...Jungle Cat, p.48)
Okay, maybe it didn't look quite like that, but by cross-referencing Paul's recent letter to the Galatians we discover Paul had other issues with Barnabas than his choice for an assistant. As Paul later writes: “Other Jewish believers followed Peter's hypocrisy, even Barnabas was led astray...” (Galatians 2:13)
So it is that Paul and Barnabas have a falling out. When the dust settles, Barnabas and Mark set sail for Cyprus, while Paul and Silas hit the road for Galatia. So their tiff results in not one but two mission trips. It would seem, that nothing gets wasted in the kingdom of God!
The stoning of Stephen led to the scattering of believers and the spread of the gospel, Saul's trip to arrest Christians in Damascus led to his conversion and now his tiff with Barnabas has led to the doubling of their missionary efforts. God loves to turn the tables on the schemes of the enemy!
Not only that, Paul's parting with Barnabas launches not one but three more Kingdom players into action – the first of which is Silas of Jerusalem. He's introduced as “being a prophet, who had spoken at length to the believers (in Antioch), encouraging and strengthening their faith.”
(Acts 15:32)
Silas will be Paul's right hand man throughout his second mission trip – beaten alongside Paul in Ephesus, taught their guards praise songs while in chains in Philippi, proclaiming the gospel together wherever the Spirit sent them - and look where the Spirit sends them – right back where Paul had been brutalized before. Taking the Via Sabaste..., they travel thru Syria and then Cilicia, passing through Paul's hometown in Tarsus, and then on to the churches Paul planted in Derbe, then Lystra, then up to Iconium, before returning to Antioch of Pisidia. In each place they read the letter from the Jerusalem council, “and the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew in numbers.” (Acts 16:5)
Along the way they recruit another traveling buddy, young Timothy, Paul's future protege'. He came to faith during Paul's first mission trip to Lystra convinced, thru a combination of proclamation and demonstration... This is the same Timothy, for whom two letters are addressed in the New Testa-ment in which Paul writes: “Timothy...: Fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you....giving you the spirit of power, love & self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
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Ever since Paul laid his hands on Timothy and he was filled with the Holy Spirit Tim's mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, have been discipling him in the faith. Pastor Sam did the same.
One Sunday, as he gave that morning's children's message, he said, “You know that God loves you, right? So why do you love God?” The kids squirmed but Sam didn't let it go: “I'm sure you do but why do you love God?” Finally little Kim replied: “I don't know – I guess it runs in the family!”
That would be Timothy. He's got family support! But God still has one more traveling buddy to add to this mission team, changing it from a terrific trio to a formidable foursome!
The fourth enters the adventure inconeudo! His entrance is so subtle that he's never even men-tioned by name. You can find him only by listening for the narrative to shift to the third person plural: “They went on thru Mysia to the seaport of Troas. That night Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man pleading with him, 'come over to Macedonia and help us!' So we decided to leave for Mace-donia at once, having realized that God was calling us to preach there! ” (Acts 16:8-10)
So Paul picks up another traveling buddy in the seaport of Troas evident in Luke's abrupt shift to the third person plural – from 'they went thru Mysia', to 'we decided to leave'! Enter our author...!
They're the original Fantastic Four, only they're not superheroes, they're ordinary men relying on the leading of the Holy Spirit. Over and over again they get redirected, so instead of heading to Asia as planned they wind up in Greece by way of Galatia! “They traveled thru Galatia because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching in Asia” even providing a vision of a Macedonian...
(Acts 16:6)
So it is that they arrive in Philippi – a Roman colony and hub of northern Macedonia in Greece. The city was named after King Phillip, the father of Alexander the Great, and its ruins are an archeolo-gist's paradise! I'll never forget our day there made priceless as we had the place nearly to ourselves...!
As Luke describes, “We went a little way outside the city to a nearby riverbank,” (Acts 16:13), where a monument and little church are dedicated to a most remarkable woman, Lydia of Thyatira.
Luke tells us that “she was a worshipper of God”, (Acts 16:14) a title that infers that she is a Gentile, worshipping with the Jews in her area. Luke tells us that she is a woman of means, running her own business, a lucrative enterprise selling expensive dyed silk & cloth. She owns her own home and has brought along other women from her household there to the riverbank to worship Yahweh.
Sounds like the Greek woman whose adult daughter complained about her dad always saying he is head of the household. Her mama said: 'the man may be the head but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head anyway she wants to!” Lois and Eunice are not the only headturners here!
Lydia is an amazing woman, but it's not her prestige or financial savvy or even her ability to turn heads that gets her name in print. As Mother Teresa put it: “We are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful” (Mother Teresa) – and faith is precisely what sets Lydia apart! She's not only the first woman in her town to embrace Jesus as her Lord and Savior, she's the first person in all of Europe! Her entire household is baptized along with her and the church in Philippi is born!
As Claudia & I sat on that riverbank cooling our feet in the waters in which Lydia was baptized I marveled at the wonder of it all. Through Lydia, the Holy Spirit began a chain reaction that led to my own baptism as I'm of Europeon descent! Three times in ancient Phillippi I experienced the Holy Sp:
1) as wind blew the hollow scaffolding of an archeological dig, we were seranded by holy flutes; 2) I was moved again upon discovering an ancient baptismal; 3) we were filled with great joy & gratitude...
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In verse 14 Luke shares with us the pivotal moment that led to Lydia’s bold new faith: “The Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying.” (16:14) The expression Luke uses here is an echo of one found at the end of his gospel. Two of Jesus' disciples are heading to Emmaus when Jesus, risen from the dead, breaks bread with them. “Suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized (Jesus). They said to each other, 'Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us?'
(Luke 24:31-32)
The verb and the verb tense, 'opened' are identical, as is the impact – opened hearts, burning in recognition – and suddenly, “She's baptized along with other members of her household…” (Acts 16:15)
Lydia was a woman of incredible courage, running her own business in a male-dominated soci-ety! But as impressive as that was, it's not why her name is recorded in history’s most holiest of books. No, the reason Lydia is known to us by name is because the Lord opened her heart...and she her home!
It happened because Lydia’s worship and prayer life put her in a place where her heart could be opened. She was a Gentile worshipping with Jews because she knew there was more to life...!
In the film, The Shack, Mack is a man with a wounded, angry heart. Estranged from his father, and grieving the loss of his daughter, Mack is a man adrift. He's drowning in anger. The condition of his heart and soul is depicted in a scene where he's in a boat sinking in the muck of his own making.
Looking up, he discovers that Jesus in sitting in his boat. Something about this Jesus prompts him to slowly let go of his anger, leading him to a cosmic shift of inner healing and life-giving hope. [The Shack; 1:13:30 – 1:16:25; 1:30:30 – 1:31:00; 1:32:30 – 1:34:45]
It always works better when we do life together with Jesus by our side. Catherine Marshall:
“The search for God begins at the point of need. Most feel this need either because of some problem which we have no answer to or because of a nagging awareness we should be getting more out of life.” (Catherine Marshall)
Our point of need and the willingness to let others in, is the difference maker for Alpha guests over the years. Longings are met, inner walls crumble, friendships form and healing happens. So it was with Lydia. Something connected – perhaps her longing for deeper meaning alligned with Paul's vision of someone from her country appearing to him and pleading, “We need your help!” Or maybe it was Timothy's Spirit-filled conversion..., or Paul's msg made her realize that her husband's death wasn't due to God's anger or lack of love. Whatever it was, a wall crumbled, her heart melted, and she welcomed!
As God promised thru the prophet Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit in you!” (Acts 16:9) / (Ezekiel 11:19)
Jesus is still on the scene doing open heart surgery, jump starting our faith where it's flat lined, revealing that there's more to life than what we've settled for, filling us and guiding us with His Spirit.
What made Lydia extraordinary was her bold willingness to bring Jesus mission into her home, which was possible because Lydia’s worship and prayer life put her in a place where her heart could be opened. As Paul would later write to Timothy: “Fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you . For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. Never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. With the strength God gives you be ready to suffer for the sake of the Good News, for God saved us and called us to live a holy life…” (2 Timothy 1:6-9)
How are you fanning the flames of your faith? What would it look like for God to open your heart in some way? Would you be willing? Shall we ask?