24th Jul 26 | 04:00
Studies by Book
Work as worship
📖 Avts 16:14-14
Acts 16 - Series 03/Episode 11 - Tue, 07th July 2026 - Work as worship - Acts 16:11-15 - LYDIA'S CONVERSION - Genesis 02:15
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Acts 16:14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
Lydia, as "a seller of purple", tells us that she was a woman of influence, economic strength, and social reach. It was the Lord who had prepared Lydia to hear the word of God with her inner ears. She was the elect of God. Paul and the team were at the right place at the right time for the Lord to accomplish His purposes.
In the first century, purple cloth was a luxury merchandise. It was produced from the murex shellfish dye, rare and extremely costly. Purple was associated with royalty, nobility, and the wealthy. It was sold to high-status clients. So, Lydia was a successful businesswoman, economically wealthy, well-connected socially, a person of influence in Philippi and a Gentile who worshipped the God of Israel. Thyatira is in Asia, but she was doing her business in Philippi, in Europe. She was therefore an international businesswoman.
Lydia's conversion tells us that the Lord is reaching and reconciling people from all walks of life. The Lord is restoring all things to Himself, including business. An individual's conversion is significant, but the Lord is restoring all of society to bring about God's shalom. Lydia's conversion is a signpost of God's larger mission-He is restoring people, households, and entire spheres of society (including business) into His shalom.
Acts 16 is very interesting and exciting because people from all walks of life and different circumstances are restored to God. The slave girl (Acts 16:16-18) represents the oppressed. The jailer (Acts 16:25-34) represents the working class and Roman authority. Together, Acts 16 shows the Gospel touching the marketplace, the margins of society, the governmental system and the family unit. (Acts 16:14-15) Lydia and her household. The Lord is transforming the whole of society, culture and nations. We must be one with God in His redemptive purposes.
Colossians 1:19-20 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, (20) and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Lydia bridges for us the sacred/secular divide. She was a businesswoman, but she was also the pastor of the church that met in her home. Acts 16:40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.
Let us consider work. Work is not for preservation or for our success, but work is to worship God and to also serve humanity through the work that we do. This is the meaning of the word tend, which is _Avodha_ in Hebrew. Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. The Hebrew word to keep it is Shamar. Shamar is to fulfil God's righteousness and to take care of and protect our workspaces.
The four concepts of work that we understand from _Genesis 2:15_ are 1. Worship God in and through our work. 2. Serve humanity through our work. 3. Fulfil God's righteousness in our workplaces. 4. Take care and protect our workspaces.
God blessed us and gave us the Creation or the Cultural Mandate. Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
We must be fruitful, which is to be a blessing to others in all that we do. In the work that we do, we must bless others and not look out only for our own interests. Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
We must multiply the fruit bearers. Are we intentionally multiplying the fruit bearers? Are we raising disciples of Christ? Jesus invested in His disciples, and so must each of us. We must consider how we can pour ourselves into the lives of others so that the learning that the Lord has given us will be passed to others.
We must fill the earth. Filling the earth is to occupy every sphere, for the earth is the Lord's. Psalm 24:1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. / Deuteronomy 10:14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.
We are to subdue the spheres that we fill. Subduing is to conquer our workspaces. We must be people who are subject matter specialists in all that we do.
We are to have dominion over all of creation. It is the Devil who is ruling through us. In Christ, we have been set free from the clutches of the Devil to once again be co-rulers with God over His creation.
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