Sermon: Evangelism – Acts 16:6-15

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon: Evangelism – Acts 16:6-15
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
May 9, 2010

Listen to this sermon.

Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the congregation. I am happy to report that I spent a day this week in Northern Virginia visiting my parents. Grace and I celebrated my father’s birthday and Mother’s Day by taking them out to dinner. So I hope and pray that all of you mothers will have a blessed day today. And here is a Mother’s Day Card for all the mothers in the congregation from the book of Proverbs.

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.

Today we will be looking at a very distinguished first century woman. Her name is Lydia and she is a very successful business woman, dealing in expensive fabrics. She is also a gentile God-Fearer and attends a synagogue near the river in Philippi. But before I tell you her story please pray with me.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Acts 16:6-15 6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.

13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.

14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth.

The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

Let’s talk about evangelism. Evangelism is a spiritual gift we receive from God. With this gift we proclaim the good news to people of little or no faith and rely on the Holy Spirit to strengthen their faith and become a part of the community of God, the church. So God gives us evangelists to begin the process of conversion and church growth. One person who had the gift of evangelism was the Apostle Paul.

In today’s passage we see the beginning of Paul’s attempt to convert people to belief in Jesus Christ. After his own conversion experience on the road to Damascus, Paul joined the church at Antioch and was there as it experienced tremendous growth. Trying to duplicate what he saw there, Paul made two attempts to start new ministries and both of these were complete failures. Trying to take a strategy that works in one church and use it in another will probably not work. Each church has to find its own way of bringing people to faith and this involves trial and error and the likelihood of many false starts. Like Paul we need to be persistent, get up from our failures and move on.

After his first two failures Paul had a dream. He had a vision of a man from Macedonia in northern Greece. This man needed help and asked Paul to come. Paul acted on this dream and set sail for Europe for the church’s first overseas mission trip. We don’t know anything about the man in Paul’s dream and there is no record that Paul ever met him. So Paul’s dream seems not to be a literal summons to respond to a need but an indirect action, by the Holy Spirit, to get Paul into Europe. We can expect from this that evangelism is less about our plans and more about what the Holy Spirit is doing in the community through us. Churches tend to think that they will grow with new programs or new music or even a new pastor. All of these might be good things to do. But ultimately evangelism is about what the Holy Spirit doing in the community and the church being an obedient servant following the Spirit’s direction.

Paul probably had no idea how to convert the people of Europe to faith in Jesus Christ. So he did what he usually did in times of uncertainty. He engaged in spiritual disciplines, Sabbath keeping and prayer. He went down to the side of the river where he supposed that there might be a synagogue engaging in prayer on the Sabbath. This shows us that evangelism always begins, not with a new program, but with spiritual disciplines like , prayer, Bible study, worship, and Sabbath keeping. Taking care of our own spirits helps us to be aware of the Holy Spirit and its work in our community. That is why a church that wants to grow must first immerse itself in daily prayer and meditation on scripture. This leads to spiritual growth which precedes numerical growth.

Paul entered the synagogue and began praying. There he met a woman named Lydia. She was a businesswoman. She sold purple cloth which by law only the upper class could wear. So she was probably very prosperous and had many contacts among the leaders of the community. And in her encounter with Paul we see the elements of successful evangelism.

We see, first of all, that Paul encountered Lydia on her turf. She was in a place that was familiar and comfortable, her synagogue on the Sabbath. This is important. When we want to approach people about faith we have to go to where they are. We can’t just sit here and hope that people will come to church on Sunday mornings to find Jesus. We have to go out to where the people are, to Hardees, or Rotary meetings, or tractor supply stores, or PTA meetings, wherever people meet. There we can meet people where they feel safe and are comfortable and therefore are receptive to what we have to say.

Paul started to talk with Lydia about faith. This is how conversion starts – in conversations with people. Paul talked about the good news of Jesus Christ and his own personal experiences after his encounter with Jesus. This is all we have to do in evangelism: tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the impact it has had on our lives. We all have compelling stories to tell. Others need to hear these stories before they can come to belief. And scripture promises that if we talk to others about our faith, the Holy Spirit will work though us and our words to bring them to belief.

After Lydia heard what Paul had to say, she wanted to hear even more about Jesus. So she invited Paul and his companions over to her home where the conversations about faith could continue. You see, people are on spiritual journeys. They are all satisfying their spiritual needs is some way. Maybe they do it with books and videos. Maybe they listen to Christian radio. Maybe they attend church or a small group. But we have the only thing that will satisfy their spiritual needs, the gospel Jesus Christ. So if we share the good news and our stories with people already on a spiritual journey they will want to know more about what we already have. This is our great opportunity for evangelism – to enter into the conversation about spirituality happening in American today and contributing our faith in Jesus Christ as an authentic spirituality. Paul brought the gospel into Lydia’s spiritual journey and this led to her conversion and the establishment of the church of Philippi.

So how can we do evangelism in our church? We start by determining what spiritual gifts are present in this congregation. According to demographers, about 10%, of us have the gift of evangelism, but only about ½% of us realize it. Those who have the gift of evangelism must be identified and nurtured. The rest of us have to be ready to help the evangelists with prayer and hospitality and by using the other gifts the Holy Spirit has given us to build up the church.

Once we have determined who the evangelists are, then we need to turn our attention to entry points in the church. An entry point is a place where people can interact with the church. For example the choir is an entry point for people in the community who love to sing. Our groups for women and men and Sunday morning classes are entry points for people looking for opportunities for Bible education. Our Sunrise Prayer Service is an entry point for people who need prayer. Special events and Sunday worship can all be entry points. Anything could be an entry point so long as it is something we are excited about and provides us something of interest or personal value. Those with the gift of evangelism should focus their efforts on bringing people into the church through these entry points where new people will find a fellowship of people with like interests with whom they can share their spiritual pilgrimage.

After we have determined the gifts of the congregation and entry points into the church our next task is to find bridge people. Bridge people link groups in the community with the entry points in the church. For example a bridge person might be a member of the choir and of the PTA and could invite people at the PTA who like to sing to be a part of our choir. Farmers in the church could invite other farmers to come to our Bible study on Fridays. Teachers in the church could invite other teachers to early morning prayers before school starts.

In Acts we saw what could happen when a person with the gift of evangelism, Paul, meets a bridge person, Lydia, and they develop an entry point, fellowship in her home. A house church was started in Lydia’s home and she began inviting her family, friends, customers and business associates. The church of Philippi, the first church in Europe, was born.

Later Paul wrote these words to Lydia and this new church.

Philippians 1:1-11 NRS Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Let us share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Pocomoke and pray that this work too will be completed when Jesus returns. Amen.

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