Tuesday, May 20

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The book of Acts tells the story of the birth and the early growth of the Christian Church.  It is a remarkable story of how the message of the Gospel spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire and captivated the hearts and lives of thousands.  How did this happen?  It happened primarily through the love, sacrifice and service of the men and women who had given their lives to follow Jesus Christ!

Early on in the book Acts, we read about thousands of people coming to trust Christ in a single day.  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41).
But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand (Acts 4:4).

It is easy to forget that each one of those thousands is an individual person that matters to God. The book of Acts shows us God’s Spirit moving on a large scale amidst the masses of people, and it also shows us how God works in the hearts and lives of individuals.  In fact Acts 16 chronicles the account of three people who encounter God’s people and have their lives transformed by the Gospel.  The first such story is about a woman named Lydia...

 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.  And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.  - Acts 16:12-15

Who was Lydia?  She was a wealthy business woman (16:14).  Purple dye was extremely expensive.  She was a fashion retailer.  Imagine a fashion boutique owner on third street in Geneva.  She was also a “worshipper of God.”  This term indicated a Gentile reading Hebrew Bible and seeking the Hebrew God.  She was moral and religious.  “Place of prayer”, this was a gathering place for Gentile worshippers, imagine a kind of first cent. Beth Moore Bible study for women.

So here is Lydia – a moral, religious, wealthy, fashionable, respectable business woman.  Sound familiar?  Any wealthy, moral and religious people out there?

How does the gospel come to her?

(Notice 14b) “The Lord opened her heart.”  How?  Through the truth of the message – a rational discourse, discussion and Paul sharing the truth of Christ.  It made sense to her; she got it; she understood.  Paul took the time to explain and share the Gospel withe her because she was curious and seeking God.

She would have been reading portions of the Hebrew Bible, but she did not fully grasp its meaning.  It is as if Paul said to her, “Let me give you the key to it all—the key to unlocking the Bible – Jesus!”  Jesus is the truth, He is the fulfillment of all you have been reading about.  He is the one you have been seeking.  Jesus is the message the church has been given.  There is no other!

(Back in Acts 2:42, we read that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.”  What were they teaching?  Jesus!)

The message may come in many different cultures, different contexts, and different forms, but there is only one message!  A Gospel focused church is a church where the truth of Christ (the Gospel) is central!  Lydia was moral and religious, but she still needed Jesus!

Too often we stop short in cases like Lydia’s.  We assume that because a person is morally upright and/or seemingly religious, that they are okay with God.  Religious people need the gospel as much, and maybe more than anyone else.  The truth of Christ transformed Lydia from a religious person into a person secure in her relationship with God through Jesus, and it can still do that today!

Jeff Frazier