11We sailed straight from Troas to Samothrace, and the next day we arrived in Neapolis. 12From there we went to Philippi, which is a Roman colony in the first district of Macedonia. [c] We spent several days in Philippi. 13Then on the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to a place by the river, where we thought there would be a Jewish meeting place for prayer. We sat down and talked with the women who came. 14One of them was Lydia, who was from the city of Thyatira and sold expensive purple cloth. She was a worshiper of the Lord God, and he made her willing to accept what Paul was saying. 15Then after she and her family were baptized, she kept on begging us, "If you think I really do have faith in the Lord, come stay in my home." Finally, we accepted her invitation.
Lydia...we don't really know anything about her except what we read here. So, maybe this isn't about Lydia. Maybe it's just another in a long line of lessons the Holy Spirit is teaching the Apostles.
Which would be?
Well, they've already learned that Gentiles and Samaritans are To be viewed as equal in the Body of Christ. The short Epistle to Philemon shows us that slaves are to be treated as brothers within the Body (which, of course is a moot point in our country). We probably have only one disenfranchised group left...women. For Paul to accept an invitation to her home...on the strength of her faith...is tantamount to declaring her an equal.
So now, we can agree that God truly is not a respecter of persons. Unfortunately, the lesson has been lost somewhere in history. We spend a great deal of energy figuring out who is the "most equal" in the Body of Christ. We say women can't be elders and we use texts that have only incidental reference to gender. Yet, we will retain male elders who don't come within a country mile of satisfying the genuine intent of those passages.
I am not suggesting your church go out and ordain women if they don't already do so. I am asking if we honor God when we seek to marginalize anybody for whom His Son has died.
Live boldly out there today...
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