Community Covenant Church - Sermons

May 13, 2007 (Mother’s Day)

“The Faith of a Woman”

Acts 16:9-15

Proverbs 31:10-31

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Acts 16:9-15

9During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

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.

Message

Mother’s Day is not a Christian holiday per say, though it is certainly one which inspires most Christian to action. I have heard compelling Christian arguments for the omission of Halloween from one’s “celebrations list”, but nary a whisper of blowing off Mother’s Day.

As most of you are probably aware of, this second Sunday in May celebration, began in the early 20^th century out of West Virginia, and became a national holiday in 1914. Some credit our celebration of mothers as far back as ancient Greece where Rhea, the “mother of gods”, was given special honor. Others refer to 15^th century England, where their “Mothering Day” allow servants to go home with cakes in hand to honor their mothers with a visit.

As I said, Mother’s day is not a Christian holiday per say, though it is one celebrated by almost all Christians. And yet, I have a concern, as I find myself falling into the cultural trap of a yearly celebration, which diminishes my calling as a Christian. For despite what some may believe about the Bible, the Bible is definitely pro-mother & pro-woman. God included that in His “top ten” list when He communicated through Moses that we are to honor our fathers and mothers. While cultural practices and prejudices have been notably transformed in the 4,000 year span of the Bible, the Old Testaments consistently proclaims the value of women.

- from Eve being called Adam’s “helpmate”, not his helper; a being who completes another, not waits on another.

- to the courageous prostitute named Rahab,

- to a gutsy Judge names Deborah,

- to the devoted daughter-in-law Ruth.

- to a noble queen named Esther.

- to Hannah, the trusting and faithful mother of Samuel, who gave back to her God what she had promised... her very son.

The New Testament ascribes even more value to women as we are introduced to Mary, she who was “highly favored” by God. Then, time and time again, we see God in human flesh breaking down walls between men and women as Jesus:

- speaks and reveals God’s salvation to a relationally-unbalanced woman at the well,

- as he welcomes a thanksgiving-offering of perfume from a prostitute,

- as he offers peace to the bleeding woman whose faith drove her against cultural rules to touch Jesus and be healed,

- as Jesus’ willingly touches the dead body of a boy so that his widowed mother would have her only son restored to her.

- as Jesus welcomed Mary, Lazarus’ sister, into his teaching circle of disciples, and

- as Jesus accepted the financial help of women of means, women who were followers of Jesus and helped to support His three years of earthly ministry.

My point here is simple; God Word, both written and incarnate in Jesus, affords a worth to women which we are called to emulate, but I am concerned that our once a year celebration of Mother’s Day may be hindering our calling to honor women and mothers everyday of the year.

This concern struck me in a funny way this year as I shopped for cards for Carole and for my Mother. For it seemed to me that 9 out of the 10 cards I looked at fell into what I would categorize as “the confession of guilt” genre. Do you know what I’m talking about?

They are the ones with the beautiful pictures of flowers on the front cover, and words on the inside that begin with something like “I know that I haven’t always said so....”, or “If I could do things all over again......

Imagine if you will, our Lord Jesus shopping for a Mother’s Day Card for Mary at his local Walgreens (I put that plug in there for Jim Hatch. Cindy? – Brooks) Can you, in your wildest imagination, see Jesus selecting a card that said “I wish I knew how to express my love for you...”! Of course not... because Jesus was always demonstrating love and respect to women and to men. Tough love, at times, but always and continuously. After all, here was a son who, while dying on a cross, made sure His mother was cared for in the future. (John 19:26-27)

I believe today’s retailers know the guilt that people have for failing to love 24-7, and their “big ticket” Mother’s Day items go to those with big money and big guilt for failing to show their love more than they do once a year.

I short, I guess I’m encouraging us all to celebrate Mother’s Day today... but also tomorrow, and the next day.. and the next... and the next...... celebrate fathers too... and children... not because there are cultural holidays set aside to do so, but because it is the will of your Father in Heaven to reflect His love for all people at all times.

But today, as one of many ways we can honor Mothers, and women whose motherly love sustains our lives, I want to turn our attention upon a woman named Lydia. I want to ask God to teach us important things through her example, for when people, through faith & service glorify God, they are worthy of our attention and appreciation at anytime of the year.

Let us pray....

Holy God, as we consider now the example of one faithful women who glorified you with her life, we thank you for the women in our lives; for the formal or informal motherly love we have received from them; and how we are better off because of them. Where there may be bitterness with a mother we pray for healing and, if possible, reconciliation.

Open our heart now to your Word, In Jesus’ name. AMEN

The setting is Paul’s second missionary journey, around 49-52 AD. For those of us studying Thessalonians in our Sunday Bible Study, Paul’s experiences in Philippi, including our introduction to Lydia, immediately precede his arrival in Thessalonica.

Paul’s calling, which was revealed during his “Road to Damascus” conversion, was to bring the Good News of God’s salvation in Jesus to Jews and Gentiles living in the Diaspora; that wider region north and west of Palestine into which Jews and Jewish faith had found root following their return from Babylonian exile.

Paul’s journey into Philippi is a significant moment in Paul’s calling for most of us, for as our story in Acts 16 tells us, Paul has a vision which leads him into Macedonia. This past Friday night as we gathered for our Annual Meeting, we reflected again on how the Lord, our “Good Shepherd”, leads us into new pastures where the issue is not “where?” or “why?” but rather it is our willingness to exercise trust in a God who is faithfully loves us.

This is a significant moment because Paul has been lead to bring the Gospel into Europe. Prior to this time it has been proclaimed in Palestine and Asia, but by obedience to God’s leading, the Gospel will develop roots in Europe.... and specifically in Europe’s first Christian, Lydia. One might even argue that Lydia is our spiritual great-great-great-great... grandparent as we track back our ancestry.

So what does God teach us about Lydia,

the first European Christian?

1. She had an openness to God.

It is evident to Bible scholars that while the Jewish faith had a presence in Philippi, it was not a strong presence despite Philippi being a “leading city” in its district as well as a Roman colony.

The weaker presence of the Jewish faith was seen in that Philipp did not have a synagogue. When Paul entered a town he usually headed straight for the town’s synagogue to teach about Jesus. But here we find him going instead to a Sabbath prayer gathering by the riverside.

But despite its weak presence, the Jewish faith had found a home in Lydia’s heart. When the Bible refers to Lydia as “a worshiper of God” it is telling us that she was a Gentile who had come to know the one true God, but like Cornelius (the Caesarean centurion), Lydia was not a full convert to the religion of Judaism.

Lydia’s openness is not only evident in her Jewish faith, but also in that she was one who listened to Paul, and upon hearing about Jesus put her faith in God’s Messiah.

Time and time again the Bible teaches us that faith itself is a gift from God, it is born out of the Spirit’s ability to open people’s hearts to hear and respond to the Good News.

As I read of Lydia’s open heart to the Gospel message, I can only think of all the hardened hearts that reside in people of our day.

- Hearts hardened by tragedy, by a sense of the “unfairness of life”.

- Hearts hardened by abusive relationships that leave people searching for safety in solitary places.

- Hearts hardened by church politics rather than softened by Christian love.

- Hearts hardened by busyness in life which leaves no room for processing priorities, or allowing for personal transformation.

- Hearts hardened by an abuse of institutional power, rather than hearts softened by God’s healing powers.

Like Jesus’ parable of the soils, Lydia had “good soil”, an open heart which responded quickly and genuinely to “seed” of God’s salvation in Jesus. And such a genuine faith would affect not only her, but her entire household as well.

When I think about Lydia, I think of the importance of openness, and I think of factors which may cause people’s hearts to harden. I think of the workings of the Holy Spirit, who softens our hearts and gives us faith, and I wonder how we can better work with, rather than against the Holy Spirit. How can we, though words and actions, soften people’s hearts toward God, so that the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith can take root?.

2. Lydia is a “Supermom / Superwoman”

A second observation I want to make about Lydia is that she is what some might call today a “Supermom” or “Superwoman”, a woman balancing a household, a career and a relationship with God. And the key word here is balance.

In truth, we do not know if Lydia had children. Perhaps that is good on this Mother’s Day when I aim to honor both official and unofficial mothers. But chances are she did, and that she had established a balance in her situation, whereby she was also be a very successful “seller of purple cloth” or “purple dye” depending upon your translations, and a spiritual seeker.

Lydia came from Thyatira a city known for rare purple dyes available only through the processing of certain shellfish. Those who had the money; those in power wore purple robes... and Lydia was at the very heart of such a business. She probably had a home in Thyatira and in Philippi, and yet was somehow able to balance a career and a household with her devotion to God.

Today we see at lot of people, women and men alike, just trying to balance too much. (You’re looking at one such person right now.) We see what others are accomplishing; actually, we’re imagining what others are accomplishing; and we set unreasonably high goals for ourselves, and we try to do more than we are capable of.

Easily we get off balance; family life or work begins to suffer. If there is a spiritual component to our lives, it takes third place as we simply try to “survive”.

But what I love about Lydia is that she appears to be a woman in balance. Busy? You bet! But more important than “busy”, Lydia is balanced.

- For she has the time to pray by the river on the Sabbath.

- She has time for her open heart to receive the Good News of God’s salvation in Jesus, and

- She has what people refer to today as “margins”; room in her already busy schedule, to immediately open her home for Christian ministry.

Lydia knew, as the Bible proclaims, that faith and works exist together, and that if we have no “margins” in our schedules or “reserves” in our energies to live out our faith, our faith will soon be dead. And so immediately, she opened up her home to Paul and his companions.

How many of us are willing and able right now, to accept God’s leading and welcome guests into our homes for a few days, a week, or maybe a month.

What I am really asking is, do we have in our schedules the flexibility to respond to God’s leadings? Or are we like the people in Jesus’ parable who was invited to a banquet, but had to miss it because we just had too many other things to do? (Luke 14:15-24) Do we, like Lydia, have a balance to our lives, which allow us to fit in a mission trip, attend a new Bible study, or gather by a riverside to pray with others? Do we have the ability, like Lydia had, to put our faith into action?

Earlier I read a familiar passage from Proverbs 31, highlighting the woman of noble character. In fact, these verses paint for us an idealized picture. (Barbie Doll) In the Hebrew language this tribute is written as an acrostic poem; in which each of the 22 verses begin with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in alphabetical order. By using this means, the author is indicating completeness & succinctness of the ideal. And if we were to read it again, like the story of Lydia, we would see a balance of household, commerce and respect for God.

3. Persuasive Hospitality

Finally, as I’ve already alluded to, when I read of Lydia I see a person modeling persuasive hospitality. While this gift is a powerful gift to exercise for growth in a family of faith (I grew up watching my parents’ hospitality expand their church family), I realize that not everybody has that gift. Those who do, if they make time to use it will make more difference in our church than any program we can run.

But as we watch the church in Philippi develop over time, we soon see how Lydia’s use of her gifts helps to define that church.

After she first persuaded Paul & his companions to stay with her, some time later, as recorded in Acts 16, Paul & Silas returned to Lydia’s house. By this time Lydia’s home had become what we call today a house-church, from which Paul & Silas encouraged new Christians before moving on to proclaim the Gospel in Thessalonica. The reputation of the Philippian church, as recorded in Philippians 4, would go on to distinguish them among other churches in Macedonia. The influence of Lydia’s faith in action may have started in Philippi, but has now influenced her whole world!

Again, as I mentioned at Friday’s Annual Meeting, we are, as a family of faith, who God created us to be; defined by our gifts, but only defined to the extent that we use those gifts.

Lydia is a good reminder of how powerful individual gifts can be, when they are exercised in the church setting.

If we learn nothing else from Lydia’s life this morning, I hope we see that amid our responsible, busy lives, if we leave an opening for God to lead us; to allow his Spirit to draw us closer into a relationship with Him and with others, He will accomplish great things with the time we give to Him. This is true whether your gift is like Lydia’s hospitality, or like Paul’s passionate evangelism, or like Luke’s gift to record the stories of Jesus’ life and the history of the early Church.

As you have come to God this morning to worship and to pray, is your heart open to hearing and responding to His voice? If you hear that voice, will you give God your time and obedience as you follow His lead?

Let us thank God for Lydia, and for the example she sets for us this special day. AMEN

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).