Acts 16:11-15, 40 “Lydia”

I want you this morning to consider the Trojan horse. Nobody expected that a bunch of Greek soldiers would hide inside of a giant horse. And, it was that lack of expectation that made the idea so profoundly successful.

Now consider Hannibal’s march across the Alps with his African elephants to conquer Rome. His campaign was so outrageously successful because nobody expected Rome to be attacked by Carthage via coming down from the North. It was unthinkable that somebody would do that. That is why it worked.

Consider, if you will, the Allied landing at Normandy. Hitler was absolutely convinced that the invasion was going to be at Calais. The idea of landing at Normandy or other points south was again simply unthinkable. And, that is why it worked!

Historically speaking, I think we all realize and can acknowledge as the truth that one of the best ways to win a war is to catch your adversary off guard. Doing what is unexpected usually gives one the greatest chance at success. However, as we know this to be true, most of the time that we are in conflict or arguments with others, we do the same thing over and over again somehow expecting that the results will be different. They never are of course.

Please take a moment now to consider all of the stories that we find in the Bible. This book is a collection of God doing the unexpected! From the parting of the Red Sea, to Noah’s Flood, to Jonah’s being swallowed by a big fish, to Elijah’s being fed by ravens, to Jesus rising from the grave, to end times in Revelation. If it is outrageously unexpected, it is in this book!

This morning I want to encourage you as Christians to do the unexpected. Christianity is all about the unexpected, isn’t it? Really, who would have expected that the guy on the Cross would have popped back up out of the grave after three days after taking all of our sins upon himself?! To believe in Christ means to believe in what is beyond the ordinary and everyday banal happenings. It means that you believe in miracles. Or, even more basically, it means that you believe simply a different way of doing things.

The story of Lydia is completely unexpected! This is how Christianity takes over the Roman Empire. Saint Paul does not march into the synagogue in Athens or Rome and argue his point about Jesus as he has done again and again. No, the story of Jesus comes to Europe with a group of women singing down at the riverside in Philippi. Recently I did a baptism down at the Waimea River. And, I was thinking that that is how we should bring people to God. Just before Easter we had a foot washing with our sister churches down at Salt Pond. What an incredible witness of faith that was! And, it was miraculously unexpected.

The first European to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior is Lydia, a woman and former slave. That is super unexpected. The first European conversion takes place in the little town of Philippi, not Athens or Rome, and so that is also unexpected. It is so unexpected it is downright sneaky!

A little bit of the back story is needed here. Saint Paul has been going all around Anatolia, what is today Turkiye, preaching the Good News of everlasting life through faith in Christ. He has a dream, and in the dream he hears the invitation to go to spread the Gospel in Europe, specifically in Macedonia, Greece. He starts out from Troas, which is where he runs into another Saint, that be Saint Luke, the Gospel writer. So, you will note that in this story, we do not just have a report in the third person about what happens. No, we have a first hand account by Luke who is traveling with them to Philippi. We read “Then we set sail from Troas directly and goodly to Samothrace. . . .” (16:11)

When this group of Apostles with Paul reach Europe, they land in Neapolis, which simply means the “new city,” a name given to the port closest to Philippi–about eight miles away. That is like from here to Port Allen. Now, Philippi was a small but wealthy town back in the day (53 AD). It was considered a Roman Colony. It had three things going for it as a town. It had a gold mine, a mint for minting coins, and the main Roman Road went straight through it. Oh, and the fourth thing is that Lydia lived there.

Lydia was not her real name by the way. This is the district that she came from. We actually do not know what Lydia’s given name was. That is because she was a slave in the town of Thyatira–or a trusted bonded servant in those days. It seems that she was sent by her master to establish a branch of the family business in Philippi. That business was purple cloth for royalty. The dye that was used was extremely expensive and had the color more like “royal red” or magenta.

The business in Philippi was successful and Lydia’s family became quite well-to-do. As the cloth was sold to royals, that is people of the imperial house, we should assume that Lydia was politically well-connected.

The Bible does not say that Lydia was a Jew. However, it is clear that she is celebrating on the Jewish sabbath, and praying to one God rather than going to the multiple pagan temples and praying to Zeus or Apollo or any number of pagan gods. Also, she knows some songs, which means she is following some religious tradition; she is most likely what is known as a Hellenic Jew. Yet, she is not worshipping in a synagogue, and that is because most likely there is no synagogue in Philippi.

Paul and Luke and the others that are with them, head down to the river and find these women already praying to the one true God. Paul then tells them the story of Jesus and Lydia is so moved that she asks right then and there to be baptized along with her entire household. So, Lydia becomes the first European, a woman by the way, to convert to Christ.

She does something that is now quite unexpected: She invites all these strangers to come to her house to stay with her. The bible says that she urged them, meaning that they must have declined, but then she “prevailed” upon them. She wanted to be part of their company, to hear more about Jesus from these men, and in her own way to minister in return to these Apostles.

I want to specifically point out this language: Lydia “prevailed” upon them. Now, I have to say that when we talk about ministry and sharing fellowship as Christians, we do not think generally in these terms that we must “prevail” upon others. This was also so unexpected because women in those days really would not have been so bold. But, Lydia is that bold and she does prevail. The men do end up staying at her home and continue the conversation that started down at the riverside. This would therefore be the first house church in Europe. The first church building is used. It is Lydia’s house.

We did not read what happens next: Paul and his companions get into trouble in the market when they confront a false prophet–a slave girl. The owner gets mad and has Paul and Silas thrown into prison. This most likely was a covered cistern. God sends an earthquake and the doors collapse to the prison. The prison guard is afraid that his prisoners would have escaped, He is prepared to fall on his sword, but then he hears Paul and Silas are still in the prison, still happily praising God. The jailer himself is then converted!

Finally the magistrate decides to release Paul and Silas. One can imagine that Lydia probably had a hand in arranging for their release. Or, in the least Lydia would have provided for their meals when they were imprisoned. Actually the authorities end up apologizing to Paul! That is also so unexpected and must have come because of Lydia’s influence.

In verse 40 then, we read how it was that the men when they were released immediately went back to visit Lydia. This implies that they understood that Lydia was the one that had arranged for their release.

The Lord has given us this wonderful Scripture today to let us reconsider how we typically do things in our lives. As God’s people, we look at how we can get God’s Will to be accomplished on this planet. That means that like Lydia we must prevail upon others in order to prevail in ministry. Lydia was so compelling! We should be too.

Amen.