Acts 16:9-15
Reading from the New International Version:
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
After 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.
From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace and the next day on to Neapolis.
From there we traveled to Philippi a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
On 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.
One 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.
When 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, "came and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.
Dreams + Goals =
To give a bit of a background, at the end of chapter 15, Paul and Barnabas have decided that they should visit the churches that they had already established.
Before they left, the two are engaged in an argument that causes both of them to go their separate ways.
It is interesting that in many translations, this argument is not reported as causing a rift between the two.
I may even be reading too much into the passage, but an argument that causes two friends to go their separate ways for now, must have caused some sort of emotional and perhaps spiritual anxieties.
Ever notice that when we are angry, there is an emotional and even spiritual anxiety that causes us to lose something of ourselves.
They say that no one ever wins in fighting a war. I would like to suggest that no one really wins in arguments, that there are casualties on both sides.
While Barnabas goes on to Cyprus, Paul goes on to Syria Cilicia teaching and strengthening the churches, ending in Troas. It is here in Troas that Paul has his vision.
A man calls out to Paul to come and help them in Macedonia. It is at this point, that Dr. Luke writes this account in the first person until about verse 40. It would appear that at this point Luke has joined up with Paul and this new becomes an eye witnessed account.
There are four observations I would like to bring to your attention.
First: A dream without goals us just a dream.
Dreams can be events that we have when we are asleep, or they can be the desires we seek as we live our adventures in life.
I dream of going to Disney World. As of yet it is just a dream as I have never been there.
Paul had a vision, and within that vision was a goal.
Martin Luther King, in one of his greatest speeches said "I have a dream". His dream contained a goal which was that every person would come together as brothers and sisters. The goal of unity in order to change society for the better. That there was no difference in colour, ethnicity, female or male.
We all have had dreams or desires in our lives. Many of these dreams and desires have given us goals to achieve. Goals that have challenged us. Goals that have inspired us. Goals that have given us the lives we have lived and have been a blessing not only to us but to others.
We need to understand, that even though we may be retired, or we feel that we have done all that needs to be done, God is not finished with us and we still have desires with goals as God challenges us and directs us.
There is truth in the saying "Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet."
The second observation is: In order to achieve the goals of our dreams and desires, we must apply discipline and consistency.
When Paul awoke from his vision, Luke tells us that Paul and everyone with him made preparations to move towards the direction of Paul's goal.
It has always amazed me, when I hear individuals say; "If it wasn't for my parents, if it wasn't for my grandparents, if it wasn't for a mentor, a friend, a coach, I would not be where I am today.
Goals take preparations. Everything we do in life, everything we have done in life, where we have achieved our desires, our goals, our dreams, they have all been achieved through discipline and consistency.
Let me repeat that. Everything we do in life, everything we have done in life, where we have achieved our desires, our goals, our dreams, they have all been achieved through discipline and consistency.
We sometimes take this for granted as being a normal course of action in order to achieve our goals. Athletes regardless of their sport commit themselves to their sports to achieve their goals. No one just wakes up one morning and decides that they will be on the Olympic team without hard work and effort.
Many of you here may remember my mother as the Tupperware Queen of Norfolk. She had worked her way up to being a manager and we profited from her business ability. What people don't know is that she committed herself, those whom she managed, and her Tupperware business to God daily.
Her discipline and consistency was contagious and was blessed by God right up until she decided that it was time to stop selling.
Luke writes that Paul and his companions moved out, and embraced this adventure with discipline and consistency.
I am sure that there were obstacles in their way. I am sure that Paul and those with him just didn't set out and travelled without any problems.
One thing we do know about Paul, is that he was disciplined and consistent in his faith and was able to go around obstacles that may have been presented in his journey.
We have the ability to find a way to get around obstacles that hinder our faith journey in our quest to achieve our goal. Prayer is the communications we have with God.
We often don't see God's answers right away. We sometimes wish he would just speak to us. By being aware of what is around us we can discern the directions God is leading us.
The third observation is: Don't confuse movement with progress.
Progress is never measured by movement. Progress is measured by the end results in how we achieved our goal.
The goal that Paul desired was to establish a church of believers in Philippi. His progress was measured by what he achieved. To see this achievement, we need to read the letter to the Philippians and the two letters to Timothy to show that a church was established in Philippi.
It is in these letters that show us Paul's goal and the progress made in establishing the church where there was none. It is the church at Philippi that demonstrates to the rest of the Christian world what following Jesus was all about. The Philippian church demonstrated the gifts of the spirit in everyday living.
It was the Philippian church that gathered a collection to take back to Jerusalem to help with the poor. It was the Philippian church that demonstrated hospitality, sharing, and spreading the Gospel of Jesus to others.
This leads me to the final observation: It's what you do with what you have.
We read that Paul and his companions found a group of people who already believed in God. We are not told how these individuals obtained an understanding of God. We are not told if this was a place of worship in Philippi.
Some researchers suggest that there wasn't an actual building where those who believed in God gathered. According to many researchers, there wasn't even a synagogue in Philippi as one needed 10 men or families of the Jewish faith to establish a place. We do know however, that there were people who worshipped God and that these believers gathered at the river for prayer.
This gathering of a handful of believers gathering by a river, reminds me of the gathering of Israelites by the river of Babylon during the Babylonian captivity. These people gathered there and lamented that they could not go to Jerusalem to the temple to worship God.
This is one of the many reformations for the Jewish people, as it was at this time that synagogues were established as a substitute place of worship. It what they had that enabled them to grow in their faith.
The people already had an understanding of God. With this understanding they were spiritually opened and cognitively available to learn and understand more and Paul was there to teach them more.
Remember Paul's vision? There was a man who called out to Paul and asked for help. Notice he asked for help and not come over and convert us. This tells me that there were some believers in God and that they needed further direction. We are not told who taught them first. We are told that they desired further teaching, further help in establishing their faith.
Luke makes this clear when he writes about Lydia. She was a believer in God. She already had an understanding of God and the goodness and grace of God. Paul was there to teach her what she needed to know, the Gospel of Jesus.
Luke writes that after she listened to Paul and his teaching, she was baptised. Luke's attention to Lydia enables us to see Lydia was a leader in a male dominated society. Even though Luke doesn't say it out right, Lydia was a successful business woman. She was a manager, a person who was of some wealth, a person who had control of her wellbeing and those who were under her care.
From historical understanding, we know that Lydia had the respect that equaled any other business person in a male dominated society that was Rome. This in itself tells me that Lydia was a person who was an achiever, a dedicated individual, that worked harder in order to achieve her goals in life.
We are not told who all was in Lydia's household. We can only speculate, suggesting that there were servants, possibly children, and perhaps a husband. We just don't really know. But what we do know from what Luke writes, that Lydia had care over a number of people and that these people all were baptised into the fellowship of believers in Philippi.
We also know that Lydia was a persistent woman as she insisted that Paul and his companions remain in her house therefore under her care while they remained in Philippi. Hospitality is a gift that she demonstrated her desire to follow the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus said that the world would know His followers by their love, by their actions, by their desires to follow the teaching, and most all by their demonstration in their everyday living, their living faith.
In conclusion I would like to leave you with this challenge. God is not finished with us as individuals, as a congregation, as a community of believers.
He is giving us dreams and desires with reachable and obtainable goals. It is what we do with what we have that enables us to move forward in our faith journey as individuals and as a congregation.
Amen.
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