In Lydia’s Salvation story, we can discover how God continues to work in the world.
In Acts 16 we find the Holy Spirit actively directing, empowering, growing and furthering the ministry of the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ.
Paul was on his second missionary journey (53-58 AD) and was passing into the region of Asia and intended for himself, Silas, Timothy and Luke to preach in that province but the Holy Spirit forbade them to preach there. And then they went on northerly toward Mysia and planned to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit forbade that as well. They then passed by Mysia came down to Troas.
While there, in a vision one night, Paul sees a man of Macedonia praying and pleading with him to come there and help them. Paul recognized that it was the Holy Spirit calling for him to go there. Macedonia was the first time Paul had been called to preach in Europe.
So again, it is the Holy Spirit that orchestrates and arranges events and circumstances which will culminate in Paul going into Macedonian city of Philippi and other cities in the region.
In every place that Paul went, he always began at a synagogue, where he would prove through the scriptures that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, had been crucified for our sins and resurrected from the dead and once establishing that, he would offer them the salvation message of the Gospel. Some would believe and others wouldn’t but it was a start.
But after arriving in Philippi, they quickly find that there aren’t enough men to constitute a synagogue, perhaps because of the anti-Semitic attitude of the town which is described in Acts 16:20-21.
Jewish traditions require a minimum of 10 men, age 13 and up, to form a synagogue. They find out that the Jews living there go out to the river bank to pray on the sabbath, The Gangites River is just outside the city limits to the west and is the likely location.
In our text from the book of Acts, today there are two principal players – the Apostle Paul and Lydia whose paths are about to cross.
Lydia was a gentile and a widow. Her name means “kind” or “kindred spirit.” She was a well-to-do businesswoman. Her home city of Thyatira was well-known for its technology of producing purple dye from madder root, rather than from shellfish. Taking advantage of her contacts and knowledge, Lydia has set up business in Philippi dealing in purple goods to the wealthy.
So, Lydia acted as a benefactress of the church in line with the Roman model of patronage and was active and influential in the community’s public life. She was not subject to the same restrictions on women’s leadership that were customary in the synagogue and she was recognized as the leader of her own household.
She was attracted to the Jewish Scriptures and was already a God-fearer. Even though it’s written that Lydia worshipped God, prior to God opening Lydia’s heart, she did not know who Jesus Christ was or what he did and why or Paul’s salvation message of a future hope in her own resurrection.
On the Sabbath day, Paul and his companions went outside the city gates to the riverside hoping to find a small Jewish gathering. Sure enough, there was a small group of women praying and Lydia was among them.
Paul spoke to them of the Gospel of God’s Grace and of salvation and how to be saved by professing Jesus Christ and believing that God raised Him from the dead. Paul talks about repenting and being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, receiving the Holy Spirit and living a new life in Christ. He talked about hope in our own resurrection from the dead.
It’s stated that the Lord had already looked into her mind and opened her heart so that she paid attention to what was being said and she was ready to receive Jesus into her heart and believe Paul’s words of salvation.
Lydia and her entire household were then baptized and she constrained Paul and his companions to stay in her home while in Philippi and they did even though she was a gentile and a woman. But now, they were like brother and sister in the Lord and all the barriers that might have been raised fell apart because of what the Lord did in Lydia’s heart.
Lydia became the first gentile to be saved in Europe.
We read Lydia’s encounter with Paul here:
Acts 16:13-15 “And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.“
We know that God searches the hearts of all people and in Lydia he found someone that was searching for Him and through His Grace, He opened the “eyes” of her heart to pay attention to what Paul said so that she could believe in Jesus Christ and receive her salvation.
Does God still do things like He did with Lydia today?
1 Timothy 2:3-4 “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.“ It is God’s Spirit through His Grace that takes off our blinders and helps us see the truth. It is divine grace that precedes human decision. It is known as “Enabling Grace”. God does not just offer up the gift of Grace and step back but Grace in God’s eyes is a “verb” and He goes about actively saving those with a heart searching for him.