"Overhearing Gospel" Acts 16: 6-15

When I picked this text, I was thinking about Fred Craddock, a preaching professor, whose taught a story-telling style of preaching in which the listener "overheard" the Gospel in the stories that the preacher told, although the preacher might never directly connect the stories with the particular text being preached.  I am generally more direct about referencing Scripture in my preaching, but I often think about how this approach to preaching might mimic how we live our lives.  How might people "overhear" the Gospel as they listen to us or watch our actions?

Scholars assume that Lydia was a Greek (or maybe Roman) woman of some stature because she is mentioned by name and because she sells purple cloth.  It was not that unusual for Lydia to be a woman of means (there were other examples), but it was unusual that she was mentioned by her first name (The Acts of the Apostles:  A Socio-Rhetorial Commentary, Ben Witherington, 42).  Luke has a pattern of mentioning people of the upper class who converted to Christianity, in part because the audience to which he writes has upper class people in it (Witherington, 492).

Note that vs. 14 tells us that the Lord opened Lydia's heart.  Conversion is not an act of God.  We cannot compel people to believe; only God can.

Lydia's conversion leads to the gift of hospitality.  Luke often connects conversion with some type of response (witherington, 493).

Note that Luke continues the pattern of pairing stories of a man and a woman -- Lydia converts and is baptized; then the jailer converts and is baptized.