Acts 16:1-10
What do a merchant, a fortune teller, and a prison guard have in common? In today’s text, God changed all of their lives! This passage is a powerful reminder that God is in control and that He is sovereign over all things. It is a story of faithfulness, courage, and salvation. It is a story that speaks to us today, reminding us of the importance of trusting in God and His plan for our lives.
The text tells us that Lydia was a worshipper of God meaning that she was a practicing Jew. Lydia was from Thyatira which was in Asia Minor on the way to Mysia which is where God would not allow Paul to go last week. According to the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, that she was meeting beside a stream on the Sabbath for prayer suggests that there were not enough Jewish men in Philippi to make up a quorum and establish a proper synagogue. We see here a subtle but important point that Luke is trying to make—while Lydia could not be a founding member of a Jewish synagogue, she can be and is the first European convert to Christendom, and in fact is the founding member of the Christian community which begins to meet in her household [1]
This alone should cause people to lay aside any lingering doubt as to whether women should be leaders and preachers. The first European Christian community was led by a woman.
[1] Witherington, Ben, III. “Lydia (Person).” Ed. David Noel Freedman. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary 1992: 422–423. Print.