Lydia The Business Woman Series

We may not see them very often, but they are out there in the world, and they have always been

there, and in our day there number is increasing. I am not talking about UFO's but about those

women who are wise in the ways of the world of wealth, and, thus, are rich and successful women of

business. Murial Siebert, for example, the superintendent of banks for New York State where she

supervises the management of 4 hundred billion dollars in our nations largest state banking

department. She was the first woman to attain this kind of power in the financial world. She was

the first female member of the New York Stock Exchange, and she owns her own brokerage

company.

Vera Newmann, the Jewish grandmother, who is co-chairman of Vera Industries with retail sales

over 100 million. She made the first designer signed articles, and the top selling designer sheets.

Her merchandising vice-president and executive vice-president are both women. Joan Cooney is

head and co-founder of the multimillion dollar Children's Television Workshop, which produces

Seseme Street and Electric Company. Her commitment to Christian principles are important to her,

and those values play a major role in the work she does in teaching children on TV. She is and

honored and respected business woman.

These three I mention, out of numerous contemporary examples, have something in common

with Lydia the business woman of the Bible. They are all single for one reason or another. Lydia

was likewise single. She represents the millions of women who have been thrust by circumstances

into the world of business. We don't know if she was a widow, or divorced, or never married, but it

was a matter of survival for her, as well as many others, to use their gifts to become successful in the

world of business. Corrie Ten Boom learned watch making, and she became so good at it she

became Holland's first licensed female watchmaker. When women discover their gifts they can be

successful in any endeavor.

We do not know how rich Lydia was, but the evidence we have suggests that she was quite

successful. She was a seller of purple goods from the city of Thyatira. We find her far from home in

the city of Philippi. She was a traveling sales woman of the ancient world. Not only is her business

one that takes her over a wide territory, but it is one that provides well for her and her household, for

she had a good size house there. She invited Paul and the others to come and stay at her house. It

was obviously a large and lovely home able to accommodate more than her own family. Lydia was

obviously selling some of that purple stuff, and doing alright in the business world. Ancient

accounts tell us that this purple she sold was used by royalty and the upper classes, and so she was

dealing with the money people of her day. She was one of those women who put her whole heart

into everything she did. We want to focus on her heart as we see it functioning in three ways. First

let's look at-

I. HER OBEDIENT HEART.

The only reason we even know about Lydia is because, in spite of her being a busy business

woman, she closed up shop on the Sabbath and joined some other ladies for a prayer meeting by the

river. She put God before gold in her value system. There are only women referred to, and so we

see there were others like Lydia-women who had no place to go to worship, for there was no

synagogue or church. This little group of women by the river provided the base for the beginning of

Christianity in Europe. God led Paul to this ladies prayer meeting, and out of it came the first

convert in Europe, and the first church in Europe.

Paul did not look at this group and say there is nothing here but women so we just as well move

on until we find a more important group. God led Paul to Lydia because she was woman with an

obedient heart. She lived up to the light she had. She was a Gentile who by some means had heard

of the God of Israel, and she was convinced He was the true God, and she worshipped Him. God

honors those who obey the light they have received by sending more light. The reason Lydia

received the Gospel from the Apostle Paul is because God knew she would respond to this good

news as she had to the previous light she had been given.

The book of Acts is filled with stories of resistance and opposition to the Gospel, but remember

there is also the other side. Many have hearts where the seeds sprouts immediately, and there is the