I’m a church member. I have been baptized. I have taught a Sunday School class. I give money to the church. I go to church every Sunday. I sing in the choir and the list can go on and on and on. The question that was posed is: Do you know the God you worship?
In Acts 15 Paul and Barnabas are working together, serving together in Antioch. Paul tells Barnabas that it is time to go to other churches, so Barnabas decides John Mark should go with them. Now this did not sit well with Paul and the discussion became heated, in so much Paul and Barnabas are going to part ways. Barnabas takes John Mark with him, and they head toward Cyprus. Paul decides to take Silas with him. In their travels they would go to Syria and Cilicia. Once then arrived at Derbe and Lystra they would meet Timotheus, or Timothy. Now Timothy begins to travel with them.
As they served in Lystra, they would go to Iconium through cities preaching and teaching. A fascinating verse to me is Acts 16:5: “ And so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number DAILY.” Eventually Paul and the group would go to Macedonia to a major city, Philippi. On the Sabbath day, Paul and those with him went out of the city to a river side where people would gather and pray. As they sat down, there was a group of women there who Paul spoke to.
Acts 16:14: “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. “
Lydia, a woman who apparently had a business had come to the river to worship God. How many times had Lydia been to the river? How many times did she worship God? Why is she worshipping God? As you read the above verse it says she listened, she heard what Paul was preaching. Paul knew the only way to Heaven is through the redemptive work that Jesus did at Calvary. It was by grace. Paul had come out of religion and works, knowing grace. Wherever Paul went, He proclaimed Christ. As Paul is speaking, Lydia hears Paul and the very next phrase…. WOW……whose heart the Lord opened.
Lydia was worshipping someone she did not know. Her heart had been closed, she did not understand Jesus, His sacrifice, that He was the only way to Heaven….and yet she is worshipping God. Was she there because she thought this is the right thing to do? Was she there because someone said you must go there in order to go to Heaven one day? Was she going out of ritual or tradition? I don’t know. What I do know is, she did not know God and yet she worshipped Him.
You know what is really scary about this? If she had not heard and her heart had not been opened and she died in that very state, one day she would hear these words spoken by Jesus in Matthew 7:23:” And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Was she a bad person? Was she doing horrible things? She was there to worship and yet she did not know God. When Jesus says, I never knew you, depart from me. He is saying, you were not my child, we had no relationship, you tried to do this on your own. We have no recourse to reconciliation outside of the work of Christ. There is no: I did pretty good in life, I gave to others, my good outweighs my bad. No, the Bible says There is none righteous no not one, that all our righteousness is as filthy rags.
So here is Lydia, taking time out of the Sabbath to go worship someone she only has a head knowledge of. As you finish the verse it says she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. What did Paul speak? He always spoke of Jesus, he spoke of Who is the way to Heaven and how to get there. Lydia responded to the Holy Spirit speaking and receives Jesus into her heart. Now she is known by the Heavenly Father, now there is a reconciled spirit, she has become a child of God. She then follows with the next step of obedience, she is baptized. She goes home and tells her family about the God she now knows in her heart, and they too are saved and baptized.
A head knowledge can say a prayer without repentance, and think I am good with God and one day will go to Heaven, which will not happen. A heart knowledge recognizes I am a sinner, and I deserve Hell. There is a debt that must be paid. I can pay the debt which means eternity in Hell OR I can accept a gift. Ephesians 2: 8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
For you the reader, this subject will either give you assurance or will make you restless. If you are restless, you really need to check yourself. Did you really repent and ask Jesus into your heart? If so, do you have unconfessed sin in your life? Or maybe you have never asked Jesus into your heart. If there is a tug at your heart, please reach out to me or your pastor, but don’t wait. We have no assurance of tomorrow and if you do not have tomorrow and take care of this today, it will be too late. Thank God, Lydia heard, Lydia listened and one day I will get to meet the Lydia I am writing to you about.
Look Up, Keep Serving Jesus, He is Worthy!