Paul, as Jewish man, would have been raised to pray daily thanking God he wasn’t a slave, a Gentile, or a woman. In Acts 16, we find these are the first three categories of people who respond to Paul’s message. Wow! Not only are these people recipients of God’s grace, they also serve as conduits for God’s grace.

One of the current joys of my life is serving alongside a dear friend, Rob Rosenbalm, in the teaching ministry of Fairfield West Baptist Church in Fairfield, Ohio. I help with the planning for the sermon series and speak there about once a month. It really is a highlight for me each month.

Rob is one of the most community-minded pastors I’ve ever worked with, serving as a chaplain to local fire departments. I’ve spoken with fire chiefs who have told me, to my face, that Rob has been used to radically change their lives. He’s the kind of pastor who spends more time with people, serving them, befriending them, and quietly filling a needed role in the community, than he does buried away in an office barricaded from parishioners. I could have made this whole series just about his life, which really is worthy of imitation.

But my purpose here is what I discovered in the passage I was recently assigned to teach.

A Diverse Line Up

Acts 16 gives a bit of an introduction to Paul’s ministry in Europe. It describes the occasion where Paul is locked up in prison and ends up singing the doors off the place. You can read about it here. In reading over the passage, I was kind of taken back by the diversity of the individuals God uses starting with Paul, for example, who used to murder Christians as a devout Jewish leader. If God can use a murderer, well, maybe we’re not too far out there to make a difference too. Amiright?

One Bible commentator noted that Paul, as Jewish man, would have been raised to pray daily thanking God he wasn’t a slave, a Gentile, or a woman. In Acts 16, we find these are the first three categories of people who respond to Paul’s message. Wow! Not only are these people recipients of God’s grace, they also serve as conduits for God’s grace.

For example, the chapter begins with a young man named Timothy who came from a mixed faith family with a mother who was a Jewish believer and a Greek father. We will later learn that Timothy often feels too young to be used (1 Timothy 4:12), can be sickly (1 Timothy 5:23), and is prone to be fearful (2 Timothy 1:7). Nonetheless, Timothy was used in amazing ways.

We also meet Lydia, a business owner from Thyatira – a place known for the production and export of fine clothing, particularly using a purple dye. Lydia is introduced as a seller of purple clothing (Acts 16:14). That could likely mean she managed the selection of clothing, the process of dying, and also the end process of customer service and sales to the wealthy, now living in Philippi where she meets Paul.

In short, Lydia was a fashionista. And she was a believer. She used the resources provided by her business to bless others (Acts 16:15, 40). Although Paul never visited her hometown, a church was eventually planted there (Revelation 2:18-19).

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