YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE IN LIFE
Acts 16:13-15
Her name was Lydia. She wasn’t your everyday ordinary woman, at least not in her day! Today she would fit right in with so many women becoming more and more prominent in the work place. But in her day it was almost unheard of for a woman to work out side of her home. It just wasn’t her place!
After all, everybody back then knew that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, cooking, and cleaning, and doing household chores and stuff like that. But as I said, Lydia was more than just a little different! You see her place wasn’t in front of the stove, it was in front of the stall where she sold fine purple linen. An out of the ordinary color for an out of the ordinary person! Lydia was a person who found her true place in life, an accomplishment that many people throughout the years have tried to achieve.
Some people have gone to drastic lengths to find their “Place In Life.” Leaving their friends and families, selling their homes and moving to different areas trying different jobs, always wondering why they can’t seem to fit in or find the joy they know they are supposed to have but can never seem to experience. If that describes your life then you need to know that there is hope!
Lydia found her place, and in turn shows us our place, and it’s in front of the Lord, where all women and men should be!
Chapter 16 starts out describing Paul’s second missionary journey. In verse 9 God gave Paul a vision of a man of Macedonia saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”
I don’t know about you, but it just fascinates me sometimes how God works, the call comes from a man, yet the first convert to Christianity through Paul’s ministry was a woman! That says a lot about a woman’s place. Even today with the ERA amendment, and the great strides that women have made in equality, and the efforts of women’s organizations, some people still have a problem with following a woman. I can remember when I worked at the mine and they proposed making one of the women on our crew a supervisor, several of the guys, and even one of the women, said they would quit first! Not because she wasn’t qualified, but simply because she was a women!
But I think that women have a lot to show us, I truly believe that there is a lot we can learn from a godly woman like Lydia.
For instance, think of how often in scripture it is the woman who is the vehicle for ministry.
Who prompted Jesus to perform His first miracle? A Woman!
Who ministered to Christ during His public ministry? The women!
Who anointed the body of Jesus? The women!
Who stayed with Jesus throughout his trial and crucifixion? The women!
Who were the first witnesses to the resurrected Savior? The women!
Who makes up the majority of the population of most churches today? The women!
Yes, God gave Paul a vision of a man who needed Christ but that man was simply symbolic of those in need. It was the women who provided the ministry.
We should thank God for the spiritual strength of women like Lydia, and their willingness to show us our place, in prayer, in church, and in good works before the Lord. If you have your Bibles please open them to the Book of Acts, chapter 16 and lets read verses 13 to 15.
I. YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE IN SMALL GROUP PRAYER.
Do you want to know where your place in life really is? Look at verse 13 again and understand that you can find your place in small group prayer.
“And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.”
By Jewish law, there had to be 10 men in order to start a Synagogue, and evidently there either weren’t ten Jewish men in the area or the ones who were there weren’t interested in Godly things, because there wasn’t a Synagogue for Paul, and his companions to worship in. So they did what many people in a new place do, they went sightseeing and they discovered a place by the river in Philippi where people customarily met to pray on the Sabbath day. Among that group was a young gentile woman named Lydia. She loved God, so she met with those who also loved God for prayer.
Why is meeting together with others to pray so important? Reconsider what Jesus taught in Matthew 18:19 & 20:
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Christ spelled it out for us. Prayer has even greater force when we unite! We can meet the challenges of life with much more confidence and spiritual success if we are part of a group of praying believers.
I’ve said it before we’re living in a society that is addicted to instant gratification. We want what we want, and we want it not now, but right now! That’s especially true of our desire to communicate with one another. We live in an age when science fiction has become science fact. We have the Dick Tracy phone watches, we have cell phones that send pictures, we have laptop computers and fax machines that you can use to wirelessly communicate from your car anywhere in the country, we have instant cable Internet service so you never have to dial, you’re always on line. You name it and we have it. We are a generation that wants to be in touch with one another and we’re willing to pay almost any expense for the gadgets that help us stay “connected.”
Can you imagine how our lives would be blessed if we applied the same intensity to staying in touch with God and one another by praying together?
I’ll be the first one to admit that I like my gadgets, but I also hope that you realize that gadgetry cannot take the place of prayer.
I like my computer and the ease and convenience of email, but I hope you realize that our families need intercession more than they need the Internet.
We need supplication more than cell phones, and fasting more than faxing.
A few weeks ago we asked the Wednesday night prayer group to pray for Callie and her school. She was afraid that her chances of graduating with honors was in serious jeopardy because of one class that she was getting a poor grade in, and not because she couldn’t do the work but because of the professor’s grading system. We prayed for her and guess what? When she got her final grades
she had 5 B’s and three A’s and yes she will be graduating, “Cum Laude,” with honors. Yes, I know she worked hard for those grades, but I also know that God worked in the heart of a teacher to change a failing grade into a passing one!
God answers the prayers of our Wednesday night prayer group. Callie keeps a great prayer journal you should ask to look at it sometime, because you will find page after page after page of answered prayer! God really does answer prayer, always!
You say, “I’d like to see God do things like that in my life.” You are more than welcome to join our prayer group. Like Lydia, you just might find that your place is in prayer! She found her place in life by getting together on a regular basis with other believers to pray.
If you want to find your place in life, then give serious consideration to adding a prayer group to your weekly schedule. You can join us on Wednesday night at 7 PM for Bible study and prayer, or you can join us Monday through Thursday mornings from 6 to 7 AM, or you can even start a prayer group in your living-room with your family and friends whenever it will work for you. But start praying! It will show you your place before God, and it will richly enhance your spiritual life!
II. YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE IN LIFE IN WORSHIP
Friends, do you really want to know your place in life? You can when you look for it in worship. Look at verse 14 again.
“Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.”
I said earlier that Lydia was an unusual woman, one who found her place outside the home, and in the workforce. Now if you’re one of those who work outside the home and then have to come home and clean, cook, and do the laundry you don’t need me to tell you how busy Lydia was, you know it because you live it! But think about this, for all of her busyness, Lydia still took time out to worship God.
I don’t know of a better place for us to shed the weight, and the worries, the stress and the concerns of this world, than sitting in a worship service listening to the Word of God, hearing the very voice of God speak to our hearts and minds! Do you?
I think that we can all agree that our society is maxed-out. We’re overworked, over booked, and overloaded. And we all know something just has to change, unfortunately what do we usually drop from our busy schedules? Yeah, going to church on Sunday! You know it, you’ve heard it, you’ve maybe even said it yourself “Sunday is my only day off!”
The problem with not coming to church is that you’re like the radio operator on the USS California. They called the ship unsinkable. They claimed it was the safest ship on the Seas. But as the night of April 14th gave way to dawn of the 15th the British ocean liner, the Titanic, of the White Star line, on its maiden voyage from London to New York, hit an iceberg. The accident occurred some 1600 miles northeast of New York in the middle of the frigid North Atlantic Ocean. The collision tore a 300-foot gash in the side of the great ship. And unfortunately because it was considered unsinkable it only had lifeboats or life-vests for less than one half of the 2,200 passengers it carried. The ship sank in about 2 and half hours, and only 750 people survived that night. The losses from one of the greatest tragedy at sea might have been kept to a minimum, except for one man. The radio operator of the USS California! You see the California was only 12 miles away when the collision occurred; they could have been there in a matter of minutes and been able to save many of not most of the passengers, except the radio operator took off his earphones to take a nap. You see it was his day off too and he wanted to rest. So he never heard the repeated cries for help; he didn’t pass on the message that someone was in danger. He wasn’t there when others needed, and as a result 1,625 people perished. When you don’t come to worship, you’re a lot like that radio operator, you can’t hear other’s cries for help, you can’t respond with help, and similarly neither can others hear your cries or offer you the help you so desperately need! Remember what Jesus told the devil when he was being tempted in the wilderness?
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
If you have been trying to live by bread alone its not enough. If you have been trying to fill your life with material things, it’s not enough. If you have been working yourself half to death so your family can take a nicer vacation or drive a better car or have more toys, you need to know, its not enough! You need to feast on spiritual things! You need to be filled with the things of God! You need to find your place at the dinner table of God!
III. YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE IN LIFE WHEN YOUR GOOD WORKS SHOW
Folks, are your really wanting to know your place in this world? Then look at verse 15 and realize that you can find your place in life when your good works show.
“And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us saying, ’If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she constrained us.”
The first thing that Lydia did after accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior was to be baptized. The members of her household were baptized also, indicating they too had accepted Christ.
Baptism is the first good work of a Christian that the world can see. If you sincerely believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you should find your place in the baptismal waters and show the world that you are a new creation. Show those around you that they can die to the things of this world and live for Christ.
But notice her good works did not stop there. She immediately began to exercise her spiritual gift of hospitality by inviting the missionaries to stay in her home.
All believers don’t have the same spiritual gifts but all believers do have spiritual gifts. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:7 that each of us have been given gifts by the Spirit of God so that all believers might be benefited.
The members of Lydia’s household could clearly see that her commitment to Jesus was real by the way it affected her lifestyle.
What do the members of your household witness in your life that indicates your faith is genuine? Remember the words of James 2:18;
“But someone will say, ’You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Your works will never save you, but they might show someone else what it means to be saved! Your good works might be the instrument that God uses to lead someone to know His love and forgiveness.
Now some of you might be thinking to yourself, “But pastor Jeff, what do you mean by good works? Isn’t it good enough just to come to church, or sing in the choir, or put money in the offering plate?”
Well, let me answer your question by asking some of my own.
What does it take to feed the hungry? The do it!
What does it take to house the homeless? Then do it!
What does it take to see someone come to that point in their life where they are ready to trust Jesus’ promise of love and forgiveness? Then do it!
Take a walk down the card isle of any store and recognize that each card represents an opportunity to put your good works to work.
Encourage those who are ready to give up.
Give support to those who are suffering.
Be a shoulder someone can cry on, or an ear that will listen, be a voice that will speak for those who have no voice of their own.
Become hands that do, and feet that go.
It really doesn’t take much to find your place in life by letting your good works show to the world around you. Then again, it takes all you’ve got. Colossians 3:17 says,
And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through him.
Finding your place in life is really not as hard as some people seem to think. It doesn’t take leaving your spouse or family for someone younger or richer. It doesn’t mean quitting your job and traveling around the world in search of the hidden, “real you”. Nor will you find it in selling your house and moving into the country to try to get back to nature.
If you really want to find your place in life, follow a woman’s example and get involved in prayer, start attending worship on a regular basis, and let everything you do be a good work that can lead others to Jesus.
