

Paul meets Lydia and the women at the river.
“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 worshipper 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, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us.” (Acts 16:12-16)
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)
Is there a correct way to evangelize the world? Some people would lean toward having to walk up to perfect strangers telling them they have to be saved. That seems to be the approach that Paul and Timothy took in Macedonia that led the conversion of Lydia and her household, whatever that meant in those days.
Others would say to take a more passive approach to evangelism that allows your lifestyle to speak for itself. Again, that seems to be what Jesus is saying in the famous Sermon on the Mount. So which one is correct? I think most of us are smart enough to say, “Well, both are correct depending on the circumstances,” and that is fair enough.
But I think both miss the point in a major way because both are being used from the wrong starting point. The general sense in which most view these scriptures comes from a version of the Gospel that goes something like this:
When Adam and Eve fell, God was pissed, so he threw them out of the Garden. From that point mankind spent its time trying to get back to God. This was not possible of our own, so we invented our own religions or tried what God gave us but our way. So the Word came to be made flesh as Jesus and die for our sins because there was a legal requirement of death to pay for sin. But Jesus also rose from the dead showing the power of the atonement for sin and eternal life that was offered. He went back to his follower and told them to scurry about preaching the Gospel of this atonement and how God was offering them a choice. They could either follow Jesus or they could burn in hell. Those, and only those, who heard the message and followed Jesus would spend eternity in Heaven and everyone else could go to Hell; and we followers better make sure we’re doing it, or else.
OK. I don’t want to get into the depth of theology necessary to analyze this. If you have followed my posts at all you know most of the points I would argue. I think I’ll just limit my comments to a couple of things that just don’t make sense.
1) This version of the Gospel has Jesus working at odds with the Father. The Father is pissed and Jesus offers himself up to satisfy the Father’s anger toward humanity. Logically, this doesn’t make sense. God has existed in perfect harmony and unity for eternity before our creation. How do we have such power over God to change that nature?
Jesus and the Father are one. (John 10:30) They always have been one and always will be one. So whatever Jesus is doing to reconcile humanity, he is doing it with the full knowledge and approval of the Father. Not only that, but it is the Father’s plan that humanity would be saved.
2) This version of the Gospel puts the power and responsibility for salvation in the hands of us people. Didn’t we already say that we’ve tried our ways of getting back to God with abysmal results? What makes us think we can do a better job now? And before you start saying, “Because the LOOORRRDD will guide us by the Holy Spirit,” let me immediately respond to you with a few reminders: Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, Free Will Baptist, Methodist, Four Square Gospel, Grace Communion International. These are just a few denominations who all have their own idea of what it means to be Christian and who gets to be one.
No, God is NOT relying on us to get people saved. That is a gift of God to humanity by grace. (Ephesians 2:8-10) God gives us the blessing, even the responsibility of telling people what He has already done. It is a blessing to tell people God loves them and sent Jesus to bring them home.
So now, what do each of these portions of the Scripture mean in that light? What is evangelism in that light? First and foremost is Christ’s example and teaching. Our first responsibility is in our transformation. As we respond to the Spirit and are changed and people notice.
I was told a story about a woman who was really unapproachable. She was rude to people. She was judgmental and just very difficult to be around. One day she was rude to a woman at church and the woman was offended. She sulked home angry about how she had been treated. She really wanted to give that woman a piece of her mind.
She went home and in the course of prayer, told God how angry she was. The woman offended told me God’s response to her, “How do you know how far she has come since she got to know me? How do you know what she has experienced in her life that makes her this way?”
This woman told me that her heart melted. She knew that regardless of how that woman treated her, she needed to apologize and reconcile with her. The next time they were at church she threw her arms around her and begged her for forgiveness. The offending woman was overwhelmed and the two became very close. The offended woman, who was younger, cared for the offending woman, who was older, even after the offending woman entered an assisted care facility. It was the overwhelming love of God that transformed both women, but it was the willingness of the offended woman to respond to the work of the Spirit that caused this reconciliation.
That being said, are we just supposed to sit back and wait? No. We also have the responsibility of going to people. What does that mean in light of the love of God?
Each of us has a sphere of influence in which we exist. People accept and trust us in that sphere of influence. Christ is asking us to be his spokesperson in that sphere of influence. We can reach out and tell these people about God’s love because they trust us.
There are two well-documented statistics that you can find in the research of George Barna. One says that the overwhelming majority of people who surrender their lives to Jesus did so because of the influence of a close friend, co-worker or relative on their lives. The other is that the overwhelming majority of those who do not attend church don’t because no one has asked them. So we really do have lots of opportunity to reach out and share the love of God with those we love. We just have to do it.
Lastly, what about meeting strangers? I have learned that to become someone “who doesn’t know any strangers.” Although an extrovert, I am fairly shy when it comes to meeting new people. I can’t just walk up and introduce myself to someone I don’t know. Yet I know it is important for me to share the love of God with as many as I can. How do I solve the problem? Icebreakers.
Icebreakers are people I know who introduce me to people I don’t know. In conversation I look for places where we have interests or experiences in common. I’m a husband and a dad. I’m a teacher and coach. I have experience in business and love sports. I use those interests as starting points for conversation.
Inevitably, conversations will get around to the fact that I am a minister (some like to say, “preacher”) or some problems people are facing. Those are doors the Holy Spirit is opening for me to help (and I do mean help) reveal God for who He is in love; to reveal who Jesus is and what how he helps us.
This is the example we are seeing from Paul and Timothy. They went out to pray. The Spirit opened the door for conversation with the women at the river. Notice it doesn’t say, “Paul walked up to Lydia.” Instead, notice how it came about, “We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia.” Lydia was among those with whom Paul was having a conversation. She was probably dyeing stuff purple with her “household.” It doesn’t say Paul gave a sermon. We make that connection because of a cultural belief based on the itinerant preachers of the 19th Century who went from place to place preaching.
Paul and Timothy probably were welcomed by the women and after they had prayed. Then they got into the conversation of who they were, where they were from and why they were there. Paul probably talked with Lydia about her business. That was how the door likely opened. It was a natural outpouring of the love of God in each individual identifying itself and joining the “strangers” in the communion of conversation. It is after that that Lydia has her heart opened, that she and her “household” are “dyed white” in baptism, and she invites them to go to her home to eat and continue the conversation with the rest of “those in her household.”
It is easy for some of us to talk politics, but we had to learn about them first. It is easy for some to talk about sports, but we had to learn about them first. It is easy for some of us to talk about child rearing, but we had to learn and experience it first. In the midst of our natural conversations about the things that interest us the door will open and we will have to choose to share or not share what our experiences are with the love of God through Jesus.
The power of the transformation of Jesus on our lives, our experiences of the love of God are the things we can talk about naturally. We can talk about God while gardening, while sharing coffee and cake, while watching our kids at the playground or tae kwon do class, while talking on Facebook. It becomes a natural outpouring of our experiences. The Spirit is opening the doors, it’s time for you to walk in.