Over the past three Sundays we have been reminded that our lives bear witness of the faith that is in our hearts, or that it bears witness of our lack of faith. Indeed, we are encouraged to love others as God first loves us, thus we live in our vocations as a response of all that God first does for us. We live as priest in the priesthood of all believers, living our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord, serving God by serving others. We were also reminded of the fact that because of our inborn sinful nature we do bear witness imperfectly.
In our text for this morning we continue to see God working through Paul, but even more, we continue to see the Church, that is the Holy Christian Church grow through the means of the preaching of the Word of God as well as through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Again, this morning we are reminded that God’s usual way of coming to us, of giving to us, of doing for us, of working in and through us, is through means and in particular the means of His Holy Word and His Holy Sacraments.
Our text begins with Paul’s vision, verse nine, “9And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (v. 9-10). Up until this time Paul was told “no,” you are not to go to Macedonia. Paul had a desire to go to Macedonia, but the Lord had prevented him from going by putting other obstacles in his way, but no longer.
With Paul, we continue to see God working outside His usual means of dealing with His people, that is, with Paul, God again comes to him a bit more directly, this time in a vision. God shows Paul a vision of a man from Macedonia calling him and urging him to go to Macedonia. And so Paul plans to go.
Our text continues with the rest of the story, picking up at verse eleven, “11So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, 12and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. 13And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.” (v. 11-15).
As we follow along here in Acts, Luke lays out the travel plans for Paul. The trip took the group from Troas, to Samothrace, to Neapolis, and finally to Philippi in Macedonia. Interestingly enough we are told that this is a Roman colony, which means, for Paul, being a Roman citizen, he has certain privileges that other non-Roman citizen do not have.
Anyway, we are told that on the Sabbath, that is on the day of rest, which for the Jews was the last day of the week or Saturday, Paul was looking for a place to worship. Here we are reminded that Paul’s usual custom is being in divine service and keeping the third commandment. “13And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together” (v. 13). Paul was new to the city and did not know what to expect, so he went to where he thought was a place of prayer and then sat down with those who had already gathered.
Because there were no men present to lead the service, the missionaries, Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke lead the service and Paul had the opportunity to preach the Word of God. We are not given Paul’s sermon, but from our reading of Paul’s letters, certainly we would believe that Paul preached a sermon of law, convicting those gathered of their sins, and a word of Gospel, presenting and proving that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, God Himself who gave His life for the forgiveness of those gathered and for all people.
And now we have our reminder, again, this morning, as we have had over the past few weeks, how the Lord works through the very means of His Word to give the gifts and blessings He has to give. We are told that those gathered paid attention to the words that were spoken, to what was said, and what was said was the Word of God and as God’s Word does what it says, we are told that it worked conversion. Through the very means of the Word of God which Paul spoke, Lydia was given faith, forgiveness and life.
But even more, we are reminded that faith’s response is the desire for baptism and so, Lydia and her household were baptized, giving faith to the rest of the household. Now, a couple important things to remember; when faith is given through the Word of God, faith’s desire is baptism. For a person to say they believe yet do not have a desire for Holy Baptism is to deny one’s faith. Also, as Peter reminds us in his Epistle, baptism is also a means of grace so that through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism one is given faith and we see this in our text as we are told that Lydia’s household was baptized and we understand that to mean that they too were given faith. Notice we are not told the ages of those in her family, because the age is not important. We are accountable to God from the moment of conception, and because we are conceived and born in sin, our need for forgiveness and baptism is evident. Notice also, that we are not told of the mode of baptism, whether by immersion or sprinkling, because the mode is not what makes for a valid baptism.
Finally, we are told that her response of faith was to offer hospitality, to have the missionaries come and stay at her house while they were in Macedonia so that she might tend to their physical needs. And Luke says, “she prevailed upon us,” in other words, they could not say “no.”
So, what does this mean and what does this mean for us today? This morning we are reminded once again, as we have been reminded over the past number of weeks, that God’s usual way of coming to us and giving to us, is not directly, but indirectly, not immediately, but mediately, that is through a mediator or a means. Remember the reason the Apostle’s had the ability to do miracles, to heal, raise from the dead and the like, was to attest to the validity of their work and their Words which were the Words of the Lord. As the Apostles died off so did this ability to perform miracles, signs and wonders, because they were no longer needed. So, as I have said before, what we often see today, especially on television, what is touted as a miracle, is either a “slight” of hand, a trick, simply a show or con, a work of Satan himself, or in very rare and I mean very rare instances, truly a miracle. Personally, when it comes to believing in miracles, I give more credence to what I would call the quiet, unassuming miracles, those miracles which give glory to God and to God alone and are not accredited to any human person.
What we see in our text for this morning is what happens in our world today, that is that God, is working through His usual means, the means of grace to call to and give faith, forgiveness and life, through these usual ordinary means. God’s call to faith is through the means of His Word, the Bible as well as through the means of the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is through these very means, these ordinary things, these common, earthly things, that God does great things and He does great things through these ordinary means because He is a great God. The Bible is a book unlike all other books. The Bible is a book with power, to do and give what it says. When God says we have forgiveness, we have forgiveness. When God says we have faith, we have faith. Holy Baptism is another powerful gift from God. As Peter reminds us in his Epistle, “Baptism now saves you.” We do not save ourselves, but Baptism, the very means of baptism, saves us. God, using the ordinary, earthly means of water, connected to His very Word, and in particular, His name, does and gives what it says. And the same is true for the Lord’s Supper. Though the very means of the ordinary food of bread and wine, connected to God’s very Word, He gives us His body and His blood so that we participate in His death and resurrection until He comes again. Yes, in the Lord’s Supper, Jesus life becomes our life, His death becomes our death and His resurrection becomes our resurrection, that is what “Do this in remembrance of Me,” means, we participate!
God gives faith, forgiveness and life through these ordinary, every day, earthly means. And we can add to these means, the means of confession and absolution. Every Sunday we come and we begin our service by confessing our sins and then when we hear the word of absolution, the words that our sins are forgiven, although we hear them from the mouth of the one God has called to speak them in this place, from our pastor, we know that they are God’s Word of forgiveness and as God’s Word of forgiveness, so it is so, His Word does what it says, His Word gives us forgiveness so that we can be certain that our sins are forgiven, by God for Christ’s sake.
And finally, God stirs in us a response of faith. Our response of faith is what shows that God has given us faith. Our response of faith is to not refuse and reject the gifts that God gives, “I don’t need any more gifts this week Lord, I have enough, maybe next week I will need some more.” Rather, our response is the desire to be where the gifts are given, when the gifts are given. Our response is not, “Do I have to go to church?” but “When do we get to go again?” Our response is that we simply cannot get enough of God’s grace, forgiveness, strengthening of faith, life and salvation.
God loves you so much. He has shown His love in the gift of His Son and His own life for you on the cross, because of His great love for you. God has so much that He wants to give to you. He has given you life, faith, forgiveness and eternal salvation and He has so much more He wants to give to you. My prayer is that He will continue to work through these very means that He has given to continue to move you to be given the gifts He has to give and to continue to live a life of faith, to live your life as a living sacrifice as a priest in the priesthood of all believers. So that your life bears witness of the faith He has given to you and so that your life says, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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