Title: The Gospel Lydia Heard
Contents
Bible text: Acts 16:12-15
Lydia's Gospel
The first Christians in Europe were women. Gentiles who attend synagogue services in Judaism and partially keep the Mosaic Law are called God-fearing people (Acts 13:16, etc.). These are distinct from those who entered Judaism. The town of Thyatira in Lydia was famous for its purple textile industry. The luxury purple cloth business was a lucrative syrup. Lydia must have been a wealthy single woman. He was baptized along with all the members of his household. The ancient extended family was not only a living and working community, but also a religious community. Because Lydia is the homeowner, she can make the last suggestion (see 10:2, 24, 33, 44, 48, 11:14, 16:30-34). Lydia's house became the first base of missions throughout Europe (verse 15). How did Lydia hear the gospel, how did she preach, and how was she saved?
A woman named Lydia heard the word.
A woman named Lydia was in the prayer room on the Sabbath. The Apostle Paul went to the prayer place where women gathered and preached the word. “I am speaking to the gathered women” (verse 13), and a woman named Lydia, who was serving God, heard what she had to say (verse 14). If there is a word, there must be a listener. It is not known how many people gathered, but the people who listened to Paul's message are classified as one woman. Not everything you say is what you hear.
Singing doesn't mean listening to everyone. Of course, it is possible to hear him sing, but it is not the same as listening. There are people who can see by looking at the picture, and others who can see it and not know it. In the world of pansori people, there is a saying, “You have to have an ear myeongchang to have a sori singer”.
Even if a singer speaks, if there is no ear singer who can hear it, it is just an empty sound. It's useless to say anything to people who can't understand it. God deplores not hearing. “Hear, O foolish and ignorant people, who have eyes, but do not see, and who have ears, but do not hear.” (Jeremiah 5:21)
Jesus told the parable of the sower and said, “He who has ears, let him hear” (Mark 4:1-9).
When the mind is closed, the ears are closed. Open your heart to open your ears. If you write the word Saint (Holy Road) in Chinese characters, it contains the character 'Gwi (耳)'. Saints are listeners. Those who hear the word of God are saints.
Look at verse 14. “The Lord opened his heart to obey Paul.” Another translation is, “The Lord opened his heart to obey Paul.”
To obey one's voice is to listen to what is said and approach it.
The easy Bible reads, “Lydia opened her heart to listen to Paul. translated as
To know whether you have understood spiritual things is to put into practice what you hear. “The golden rule for understanding the spiritual is obedience, not intelligence” (Oswald Chambers) It is important to listen and follow.
Listening is not easy. To listen, you have to be humble. If you're arrogant, you won't listen. The Pharisees did not listen. So Jesus rebuked their pride.
You can learn by listening. When you get ideas and listen to great people, you become great.
When you hear it, you get closer. Hearing the word of God draws you closer to God.
Hearing builds faith.
Therefore, faith comes from hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). A woman gained faith by hearing, and her family was saved through her faith.
Lydia and her household were baptized.
“He and his household were baptized… … .” (Verse 15) Through one Lydia, the whole family was baptized. Baptism means immersion in water or washing with water. It means washing away sins with the blood of Jesus and being born again spiritually, just like the resurrection of Jesus. Being baptized is a sign of conversion. He left Judaism and came to Christianity. The fact that an unbeliever was baptized is a sign of determination that he did not believe before, but will believe from now on.
It is a public announcement that we will wash away what we believe wrongly, wash away what we do not believe, and believe in the person we should believe. Baptism is a symbolic expression of accepting the gospel and a fundamental act of faith. Baptism is a sign of becoming a member of God's people.
Those who heard Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost said, "Pricked in their hearts, they asked, What shall we do?
Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and your children and to all who are far away, to whom the Lord our God may call. and be saved from this rebellious generation. (Acts 2:35-50)
In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, it is recorded that Jesus was baptized, came up from the water, and received the Holy Spirit. “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘You are my beloved Son! I am well pleased with you.” (Mark 10-11)
The phrase “who is baptized and is coming from the water” here means that baptism is the resurrection from the dead. Being submerged in the water symbolizes death, and coming up from the water symbolizes resurrection. Mark is telling us that the baptism of Jesus foreshadows death and resurrection.
Lee, a former Minister of Culture, was baptized in Japan in July 2007 and became a hot topic. At that time I was 73 years old. The reason I came to believe was that my daughter, working as a lawyer in the United States, was cured by faith from cancer and blindness on the verge of blindness. I prayed, “If you do not take the light from my daughter, I will live the rest of my life as a child of God.” His baptism was “self-destruction.” I have been criticizing the Bible since I was young. If he were Noah, he would not have built the ark to live alone. The person who criticized where God was during the 6.25 War was baptized. This time he has published a book called “From Mind to Spirit.” After experiencing God, he said that he realized that he was the person he had wanted before.
The fact that Lydia and her household were all baptized is the result of one man's conversion after hearing the word. Jesus said to his apostles, “Baptize all nations and teach them all things” (Matthew 28:20).
One Lydia believed and the house was baptized. I hope that my house will become a channel of grace through which we are saved.
Lydia persuaded Paul to stay in her house.
Lydia said. “If you know me as a believer in the Lord, I will tell you to come into my house and stay, and I will force you to stay” (verse 15). The size of your faith grows as you understand and trust in God. Lydia met the apostle Paul and her life was changed. He did not stop believing in himself.
Lydia opened her house. The gospel entered that house, and the house was put to use for the gospel. All the houses were baptized, and all the houses were dedicated to evangelism. Lydia took part in evangelism.
Philippi was a Roman colony. Lydia's house in the Roman colony became the beginning of the Philippian church and a forward base for evangelizing Rome. One person, one family, one family spread to one village and spread all over the world.
Lydia did what she could with what she had. But what he started was a seed of life that produced great results in the future. It was like “the leaven that a woman took and put into a horse to make it all swell” (Matthew 13:33). The Philippian church, which started with Lydia, was a church that participated for the gospel from the first day to the end (Philippians 1:5). What we must learn from that church is the church in which the saints participate (Philippians 4:15).
“… … .We ought to receive such ones, so that we may become fellow workers for the truth” (3 John 1:8).
Helping the evangelist for the truth, both materially and mentally, means that you are also for the truth, become an evangelist, and receive the same reward as the evangelist.
“Come into my house and stay,” he urged. This is a strong request. Lydia knew what I had to live for.
A law without coercion is like a fire that does not burn. Jesus said, “Comfort and bring them in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 11:23). The gospel must be compelled. Like Lydia, we too must receive the grace to exhort.
I hope that God will open your hearts to listening to the Word today. May the Lord open your heart to “hear” and follow His Word. When Lydia's heart was opened, the gospel came in, and the gospel came in and the house became a house used for God.
Lydia did not stop at saving that house, but built a church in the city of Philippi and made it a forward device of the gospel to evangelize Europe. The Philippian church was established through that one house through that one weak woman. He became the mother of the church.
“Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive the prophet’s reward.
Whoever receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward” (Matthew 10:41).
“Give me too!” I hope that you too have Lydia's coercive power, so that you too can coerce others.