Sermon: A Businesswoman Comes to Christ

A Businesswoman Comes to Christ
Acts 16:11-15
Acts Series Part 29
By Dave Redick

In an interview with INC. MAGAZINE, Philippe Kahn related how he launched his software company, Borland International, in 1983 by setting up an elaborate scam to deceive an ad salesman. He wanted to stake everything on one full-page ad in the computer periodical, BYTE MAGAZINE. This plan had only one obstacle: He didn’t have the money and knew the magazine wouldn’t extend credit to a company without customers. So before the ad salesman arrived at his two-room office, Kahn hired extra people to make the company look busy and well-capitalized. He then prepared a bogus chart that represented a media plan in which Byte had been crossed off.

When the salesman arrived, Kahn made sure the phones were ringing and people were scurrying around. While talking to the salesman, he casually pushed aside a chart that the salesman thought he wasn’t supposed to see. The salesman saw it, noticed his magazine crossed off and took the bait. He insisted he could get Borland International into the magazine. Kahn said it wasn’t the right publication for him. The media plan was done and there was no money left for another ad. So the salesman offered Kahn good terms if he’d let him run the ad just once.

On the strength of that ad, Borland sold $150,000 worth of software, and a new company was born. Kahn voices no regrets according to the interview. Today he laughs about it.[1]

If you operate a business, before you try something like that, I need to tell you that it doesn’t always work.

A butcher of a few generations ago who had just one chicken went into the back of the store to make it appear that he was picking out the best one from a coop full. He went back, slammed the coop, and cackled like a chicken and came back with the one and only chicken that he had to sell to Mrs. Jones. He weighed it and said, “Mrs. Jones, that comes to $1.98.” Mrs. Jones said, “Well, if you don’t mind I would like one just a little larger.” So he returned to the back of the store and made more noises, came back with the same chicken, and said it cost $2.25. Mrs. Jones replied, “I believe I will take both of them.”

A lot of things today are done in the business world to make money, some ethically, some not. For many, pragmatism is the bottom line. If it works and makes a profit, it’s O.K. For the Christian, though, the ethics of the Bible must to be entered into the equation.

Some of you who are or have been in business for yourselves are familiar with the pressures of maintaining your Christian ethics while also trying to turn a profit. You’ve struggled with the issue of integrity.

In the sixteenth chapter of Acts we have the story of a successful businesswoman who became a Christian. Her name was Lydia. She too was probably familiar with the ethical tensions involved in running a business. As we continue our Acts of the
Apostles Series this morning we’ll look at her brief story in this message which I’ve called A Business Woman Comes to Christ. Please join me in your Bibles at Acts 16:11-15.

It is important that we note the context of these verses because they are the fulfillment of something we considered in the last message from Acts. Lydia was the first convert of Paul and Silas after they answered the “Macedonian Call. In the verses immediately before these, verses 9-10 we read:

9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

11 Therefore putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.

There is a possible clue to the religious conditions in Philippi contained there in verse 12. Normally Paul and his companions went straight to the nearest Jewish synagogue to begin their preaching. However, when there were not enough Jewish men to make up a synagogue in a city, whatever worshippers present would meet outdoors near a river. This allowed them to utilize the available water for some of their rituals. In such a place Paul met Lydia.

13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

14 And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

It may seem at first to be irrelevant to discuss this woman’s name, since it says clearly in verse 14, “A certain woman named Lydia...”

However, I call your attention to it because some scholars believe this could be better rendered, “the Lydian” instead of “Lydia.” If that is the case then what we have here is not her name but a reference to her place of residence. The text says she was from Thyatira. Thyatira was a city in the Roman province known as Lydia.

I guess it doesn’t make a lot of difference to us living 20 centuries later except that it may be when you and I get to heaven and ask to see and talk to Lydia, we might be introduced to someone who had an entirely different name while on earth...

Anyway, whether that is true or not, we’ll follow the lead of the New American Standard translators and call her “Lydia” for our purposes today. It was a very common name in New Testament times. Let’s look now at...

There are three things mentioned in verse 14 that tell us all we really know about Lydia’s business.

Thyatira was a city in western Asia Minor (which is modern day Turkey). From the names discovered by archaeologists on some of its monuments, we understand that the city was a melting pot of many nationalities and customs.

Thyatira was famous for its trade guilds (organizations similar in some ways to our modern day labor unions). The archeological record indicates there were more trade guilds on Thyatira’s chamber of commerce register than any other city in Asia. As some might put it today, the business of Thyatira was business.

Membership in these trade guilds, necessary for financial and social success, often involved pagan customs and practices such as superstitious worship, union feasts using food sacrificed to pagan gods, and loose sexual morality.[2] Most business people know that to be successful, you often have to mix and mingle with your clientele. This was probably the business atmosphere that this woman Lydia was exposed to daily. Knowing it can help us identify with what was involved in the conversion of this brave lady.

Within the trade guilds were dyers who specialized in exotic colors of fabric. That leads us naturally to the second piece of information we have about Lydia:

There was some specialization among those involved in the dying trade as to color types. In a day before synthetic dyes those in the trade would search all over the world to find the colors they wanted as they occurred in nature.

The color purple was one of the hardest to find and most prized. It was extracted from tiny shellfish. Each creature yielded only a few drops of the precious liquid. As you might guess, purple was very much in demand – and very expensive.

Since Rome came on the world scene, the demand for purple had skyrocketed. It was used to dye the toga, that skirt-like garment worn by Roman men of nobility. For Lydia this demand provided a seller’s market. She was in the right place at the right time – something every business person dreams about – a situation where demand outstripped supply.

Verse 15 tells us that Lydia was a homeowner. “Come into my house and stay,” she said. Home ownership was enjoyed in that day only among those who were wealthy. Later in the passage where it says “she and her household,” probably the word “household” refers to her servants or maybe her employees who lived with her.

So a part of what Lydia dealt with in her life was the age-old businessperson’s dilemma of maintaining faith amid the trappings of success. She would be familiar with the struggle of keeping God first in her business life.

By the way, though it isn’t mentioned here, let me say that the Bible doesn’t oppose competition in business. Striving for excellence is generally what we are supposed to do. Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men.”

Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”

I mention this because there are those on the political and social scene today who wish to restructure our society and remove the issue of business competition under the guise of equality. If someone is successful, the government should confiscate most of what he or she makes and redistribute it to those who are not successful. Christian people who know the Bible shouldn’t fall for it. The natural result of doing your work “heartily” and becoming skillful is that some end up being more skillful than others and their businesses move ahead. You will not find a place anywhere in the Bible that says such competition is bad or that such a person who succeeds should be penalized. Actually, such activity is commended and rewarded.

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the two men who worked hard and had an increase were the ones rewarded. The man who had his goods confiscated and given to others was the lazy one who buried his talent. Today there are political efforts to take away the rewards of those who succeed and give it to those who are lazy. What am I saying? I’m saying that there is nothing wrong with competition and success in business as long as it is done with integrity and the right attitude. Those who are rich as a result are not to be fleeced by a government. Rather they are rather to be generous and ready to share.[3]

There were two grocery stores in the same block of a certain town. A young, aggressive man who was determined to make his business a success owned one. An older gentleman who was wiser than he looked owned the other. Eggs were the subjects of their frequent price wars, with the younger man one time lowering the price of his eggs by half. The next day the older man met the price. So on the third day the younger man lowered the price another third. This pattern continued until finally the younger man went to the older in despair and said, “I surrender. We’ve both been selling eggs at a loss for a long time.” “Not me,” laughed the older man. “I’ve been buying my eggs from you.”

Striving for excellence in business and the resulting competition is a good thing according to the Bible and it certainly is among the principles that have made our nation great.

Whether Lydia was ever married is something we are not told. Apparently she was single at the time she met Paul. Was it that she had never married and built the business herself? Had she inherited her business from a shrewd father? Was she a widow who went on to keep her deceased husband’s business going? We just don’t know.

Since nowhere is there an indication she was Jewish, most commentators believe Lydia was a proselyte. History shows us that the Jews made more converts among women in those days than among men, perhaps because in that society, women were degraded by the Pagan religions. The Law of Moses offered certain protections to women that were not widely available in the Roman world.

I think it is notable that we find Lydia worshipping God even though it does not appear that there was a Jewish synagogue in her vicinity. She and a group of women gathered at a place of prayer beside a river each Sabbath to honor God. According to Roman law it took ten men living in a certain city before there could be a temple or place of worship erected to a god. Thus, it appears that there could have been no synagogue in Philippi since all the worshippers mentioned were women.

In the absence of a synagogue, as I’ve already pointed out, Jews and proselytes usually met near a body of water in order to be able to carry out their ceremonial washings. Often, the only structure was a circle of stones beneath some trees to mark the spot. So it was here, down beside the river, that Lydia met with the other women to worship each Sabbath.

Apparently, Lydia didn’t let her business get in the way of her worship. When the Sabbath came she closed her fabric shop and went to prayer. That is especially commendable since the Sabbath wasn’t observed by the Pagan religions that dominated Philippi. Presumably, the rest of the purple fabric dealers in town, her competitors if there were any, would do business on Saturday. Lydia’s business was closed because the Law of Moses dictated that there was to be no work on the Sabbath. Did it bother Lydia that the competition kept their stores open and that she might lose some of her business to them? Was such a decision difficult for her? Do you suppose God honored her devotion in a special way? It is always appropriate for a businessperson to honor God in the ways He has prescribed, even if there is an apparent risk of loss in business.

Let’s look at what happened down by the river that day as Luke describes next:

“And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized...”

That is all that is said, but it seems that the Lord was involved with Lydia before Paul spoke to her and her friends at the river that day. In giving the “Macedonian Call” we spoke of earlier, Lydia was probably one of those God had in mind when he called Paul to this region.

Remember from last week’s message, Paul and his companions were steered out of Asia, stopped by the Holy Spirit from going into Bythinia, passed by Mysia and ended up at the Seaport city of Troas where God further steered them by a vision to come to Philippi. Then as they asked for directions to the synagogue of that Pagan city, they were further guided to the banks of this river a ways outside the gates of the city to this group of women. What do we call that kind leading by God? We call it providence. Does God work providentially in the lives of those who have not yet heard about Christ? Indeed He does!

If you are with us this morning and you are not a Christian, it is no accident that you are here. It is the result, in some way or other, of God’s leading. He has brought you here at this particular stage of your life to hear His message. That’s the way He works. You, of course, will always have the final say as to what you do in response to it, but you need to know that God is active in your life when you hear the gospel preached.

What was it that Paul taught Lydia? Luke doesn’t say. Why? Probably because he assumes by this point in his book of Acts that his readers would know since he described the conversions of many others in detail before this.

Everyone comes to Christ in the same way and on the same terms.[4] They realize they are lost and cannot go to heaven on their own merit. If they die without a Savior, they will face condemnation. Then they see the significance of God’s remedy for their situation in Jesus Christ. He came to earth to pay for their sins by His death on the cross. When they believe this message about God’s Son they openly confess it. They are called upon to repent – a word that means to make up one’s mind to turn away from sin. Then with this mind change still fresh, they immediately are baptized.

Yes, Lydia was baptized – immediately. That’s the way it was done in the New Testament. We find nothing in the Bible of the so called “sinner’s prayer” that so many put faith in today. It just isn’t there. Neither do we find some of the other modern practices for becoming Christians either. We don’t find “coming forward.” We don’t find “praying through.” We don’t find “raise the hand.” What we do find is immediate immersion in water of penitent believers.

“He that believes and is baptized shall be saved,” Jesus said in Mark 16:16.

“Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,” Peter said in Acts 2:38.

“Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins,” Paul was told by Ananias in Acts 22:16.

There are many good people walking around today who want to serve God but have never been taught these things. They believe in error that they do not need to be baptized for salvation. Many leading radio teachers cut baptism completely out of the process of salvation, or reduce it to something of an afterthought. Baptism, however, is the final step that brings a person into Christ. Romans 6:4 says,

“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death.”

How does one get “into Christ”? According to this He or she is baptized into Christ.

So Lydia was baptized, just like everyone else who believed and wanted salvation in the New Testament. If you have never been baptized you have not completed your part of the salvation experience. You need to complete your obedience for salvation.

Lydia got right to work after she was converted doing what she could to see that others had the chance to come to Christ.

15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.

Paul and his companions usually didn’t take support from new converts. But they did here with some reluctance. It is my guess that it was Lydia’s insistence that prevailed on them. She had a house. It only seemed right that she should offer it to be used in the service of Christ.

What do you and I have that could be used in the service of Christ? Could we not say, “Listen I have a (you fill in the blank: house, car, talent, some time, money, an afternoon, an evening a week, a carpentry skill, some office time, a piece of equipment, some influence in a certain place, a love of people, a love of children, etc.). I want to use it for God!”

As Paul worked in Philippi with Luke and Timothy helping, other people were won to Christ and added to the little group of believers meeting at Lydia’s house. Among them was a certain Philippian jailer described in the rest of this chapter. I guess they continued to meet there for some time since we find them still doing it in verse 40.

40 And they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

About twelve years later there was a strong church in the city of Philippi. Paul wrote to those who lived there, recalling these tender days of their beginning. You can read all about it in his letter to the Philippians.

The only thing that disappoints me about the Philippian letter is that we don’t find Lydia mentioned. What happened to her? Had she died by the time it was written? Had she moved to another area of service? This story will be continued tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year, or whenever you or I get to heaven and find out.

Last week I was watching a TV program called, “Angler’s Edge,” a show dedicated to (what else?) fishing. Host Al Lindner is an excellent fisherman and is also a professing Christian. He often has a brief segment at the end of the show where he tastefully speaks of his faith. In this particular program he spoke of having read a book that contained “The ten biggest reasons why men don’t attend church.” He quickly read through the first nine reasons, starting with number ten, then working in reverse, countdown fashion. Finally he stated what he said was reason number-one. Do you care to guess what it was? He said it was, “too many hypocrites in church.”

He then told a story about himself. It seems that earlier in his career when he worked for another media company, he and his partners received a lucrative offer to advertise for a prominent alcoholic beverage company. It was the kind of offer that could move a company ahead very quickly. But, after much consideration, he and his partners declined the offer, stating that such ads were not in harmony with their family oriented programming. Linder said that he felt very good about the decision until an associate came to him afterward and called him a hypocrite.

“You drink and your brother smokes, yet you self-righteously turn down ads of companies that promote both. That makes you a hypocrite.”

There is a price to pay for those who would live godly in Jesus Christ. If you are in business, are you willing to pay it?

Footnotes:

[1] Vital Speeches
[2] Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers
[3] 1 Timothy 6:18
[4] Acts 15:11