Acts 16:11-15 

Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 10, 2009

Acts 16:11-15 (New International Version)

Lydia's Conversion in Philippi

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. ¹²From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. ¹⁵When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

“God Deserves All the Credit.”

I. For opening our hearts to believe in him,

II. In opening our homes to live for him

When a new jar of peanut butter or a new jar of pickles needs to be opened, usually that’s a job for dad. Did it ever happen in your house that dad would loosen the jar cover without opening it, then gave it to a child who opens it thinking that he had the strength to do something even dad couldn’t do? If that has ever happened everyone seems to cheer but everyone knows dad deserves the credit for opening that jar.

There are a lot of things we can open in life like peanut butter jars, doors that are stuck, and envelopes that contain Mother’s Day cards. But there is one thing you and I could never open, and that was our hearts to believe in God and to live for him. Only God could do that and this is the truth we consider today from the account of the conversion of a woman named Lydia. As we consider these words let’s be reminded and rejoice in this” “God Deserves All the Credit.” I. For opening our hearts to believe in him, II. In opening our homes to live for him

Our sermon text is taken from the book of the Bible we call “Acts.” Did you know that the entire title of this book is “The Acts of the Apostles?” It’s a sacred narrative of what the apostles did in carrying out Christ’s command to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. It shares with us some sermons the apostles’ preached of baptisms and miracles they performed, of how the apostles were imprisoned and persecuted for the sake of Jesus, and how God used them to bring thousands to faith through word and sacrament. But as one reads this sacred account about the Acts of the Apostles, it is rather clear who really deserves the credit! God alone deserves the credit.

Such was the case with the woman we meet in our text named Lydia. What we are told about her is that she was a businesswoman and a convert to Judaism who worshipped the true God. One day when she was at the synagogue in Philippi, Paul was there. As was his custom, Paul began his mission work in new areas by first going to the Jewish synagogue. He would do that because the people there knew the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul could then show them how Jesus was the Savior whom God had promised because he fulfilled all the Old Testament Scriptures. It was through this message from Paul about Jesus that God performed a miracle in Lydia’s heart. The Bible tells us “God opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message!” What that means is that God put faith into her heart, a faith by which she trusted in Jesus to save her from sin and hell itself!

As we hear this account of Lydia let us rejoice because God has worked that same miracle in our hearts! He had to do it because we couldn’t. From Scripture we know that by nature every human being is spiritually dead in sin and unbelief. By nature we could not know God, love God, believe in him, nor serve him. In other words, every human heart is shut to saving faith in Jesus Christ and no one can open a human heart to believe, except God!

And how does God open human hearts to believe? The same way he opened Lydia’s heart. Through the good news about Jesus! When people hear that Jesus is the Son of God and took on human flesh through the miracle of the virgin birth, that he lived a perfect life of obedience that no one else could, that on the cross he suffered the eternal punishment of hell that sin deserves, and that God has forgiven the sins of all people of all time through what Jesus did, God creates faith in the hearts of people to believe that all of that is true. This is what we call the miracle of conversion! In conversion God opens hearts to believe the truth about Jesus and by that faith one then receives the righteousness of Christ which alone avails before God!.

What that means dear friends is this: if it is God alone who deserves the credit for opening our hearts to believe, then it is inconsistent for any one to think or to say things like “I opened my heart to receive Jesus as my Savior,” or “I chose Jesus as my Lord and Savior,” or “I made my decision for Christ.” If any of that were true, then who would get the credit for faith and ultimately for salvation? We would! But that simply isn’t true. God deserves all the credit for saving us and for bringing us to faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast!”

Having said that, let us not underestimate the importance of the people God uses in our life to bring us the word through which God opens our hearts to believe. Just as God used Paul as the messenger to open Lydia’s heart, so God has used people to bring us to faith too! Can you think of someone whom God used to bring you to faith? Who was it that saw to it that you were brought to the baptismal font as a baby, there to have your sins washed away? Who was it that saw to it that you learned those Bible history stories and how to pray and how to come to church and sit quietly and listen to the sermon? For most of us was it not our Christian mother? That’s how God used Lydia. After God opened her heart to believe in Jesus, she saw to it that her whole household was baptized and brought to Jesus too! And so, on this Mother’s Day weekend, let us thank God for opening our hearts to believe and forgiving us Christian Mothers to help in that whole process. Let us pray that God continue to give us more Christian mothers, just like Lydia, that more might be brought to faith! And let us encourage the Christian women and young girls of our congregation to remember how important a role Christian mothers play in God’s plan of salvation. To God alone be the glory!

II.

But God did something more for Lydia. He not only deserved the credit for opening her heart to believe in him, he also deserves the credit for what she did afterward. He moved her to open her home to serve him. “14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.”

Again, these words are so simple and plain there is the danger of just skimming over them in a “matter of fact” kind of way. But these words describe an amazing miracle and they tie right in with what Jesus said in the gospel reading, “I am the vine you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. Without me you can do nothing!” By opening her heart to respond to Paul’s message the Lord grafted Lydia into himself the true vine. By faith she not only had eternal life, she bore fruits of faith for him. And what fruit did she produce by her connection to Christ? She opened her home to receive the gospel and then opened her home to support the spread of the gospel through Paul’s ministry! God deserved the credit for all that! He opened her heart to believe in him and he moved her to open her home to live for him.

I know that our homes are not perfect places. I know that because sinful people live in those homes and they do sinful things in those homes. Yes, moms and dads can get angry with another and argue even on Mother’s Day. Kids can fight and be disobedient even on Mother’s Day. In the privacy of our homes we can do and say and think things that would make others question even our Christianity. That’s the very reason why we need Jesus. That’s why he opened his heart of love to us and was willing to leave the glory of heaven and live in an earthly home. In his parents home he lived a perfect life for us. And then, even though he did not own his home with a wooden roof over his head he was willing to have a crown of thorns placed there and to die on a wooden cross. His precious blood has washed away the sinful things we do in our homes so that one day we could live with him in a heavenly home. Yes, we are sinners. But by faith in Jesus, we are now God’s saints and in our homes we want to live for him who lived and died for us. It is there we ask God to bless the food we eat. It is there we study his Word at our family devotions. It is there we plan our schedules making sure we have time to go to church. It is there we plan our budgets as we contemplate what we can do like Lydia to support the spread of the gospel. It is there we pray with our loved ones, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” It is there many of us have a religious plague or paintings with this Bible verse: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Who gets the credit for turning our house into a Christian home? On this Mother’s Day weekend we think of the blessing of God-fearing mothers and fathers who strive to make their home a Christian home. On this weekend it is appropriate to honor and say “thanks” to mom for all she does in working to do that. But on this Mother’s Day weekend, let us honor and thank God for giving us Christian Mother’s because in the end, God does deserve all the credit for opening our hearts to believe in him and for opening our homes in which we live for him. Amen!