Text:\u00a0 Acts 16:11-15<\/p>\n
11 <\/sup><\/em>From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12 <\/sup>From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n 13 <\/sup><\/em>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. 14 <\/sup>One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul\u2019s message. 15 <\/sup>When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. \u201cIf you consider me a believer in the Lord,\u201d she said, \u201ccome and stay at my house.\u201d And she persuaded us. <\/em><\/p>\n When I was in my teens I took an interest in gardening.\u00a0 You know, the usual things:\u00a0 tomatoes, carrots, string beans.\u00a0 My dad had a book that I remember going through.\u00a0 I came to the section on grafting.\u00a0 Grafting.\u00a0 I never heard of that.\u00a0 You could cut a branch from one kind of apple tree and graft it, attach it, to another.\u00a0 By itself of course, that branch could do nothing.\u00a0 But grafted to that new tree it would live and grow nice red apples, a whole new variety.<\/p>\n Today in our Gospel lesson our Lord Jesus uses the same kind of picture to teach us about our relationship with him.\u00a0 I am the vine.\u00a0 You are the branches,<\/span> he says. What is Jesus teaching us? \u00a0Only by our faith connection to Him do we have life, life with God.\u00a0 For when we are a branch on that vine, then his love, his forgiveness, his will, his strength flow into our hearts.\u00a0 Then naturally something happens.\u00a0 Like that branch laden with grapes, we bear fruit in our lives.<\/p>\n This short section from the book of Acts tells us about one such branch.\u00a0 Her name was Lydia.\u00a0 I am excited to tell you about her.\u00a0 \u00a0For here I hope you can see yourself.<\/p>\n One more Branch attached to the Vine<\/strong> <\/strong>It seems the Lydia was a prosperous business woman.\u00a0 Luke tells us she was dealer in purple cloth.\u00a0 Back then, people prized cloth dyed purple.\u00a0 It was very expensive to make and buy.\u00a0 So it seems Lydia was doing better than most.\u00a0 Yet she had what everyone has who is born into this world.\u00a0 She had a God-shaped hole in her heart.\u00a0 Of course, people try to fill that hole with all kinds of things, with pleasure, with fun, with power, success or just lots of stuff.\u00a0 Some even invent their own gods.\u00a0 But nothing really fits in that place where the one true God belongs.\u00a0 Something inside of us tells us that when we\u2019re wandering someplace without Him. After all, He made us for Himself.<\/p>\n And Lydia wasn\u2019t a Jew.\u00a0 She came from a place called Thyatira in what we now call Turkey.\u00a0 So she grew up not knowing the Lord.\u00a0 But somewhere along the way, she got to know some Jewish people.\u00a0 She listened to them talk about their book, God\u2019s Word, what we now call the Old Testament.\u00a0 She \u00a0listened to them talk about their hope for a Messiah, a King and Savior from God.\u00a0\u00a0 Lydia became a worshipper of God.\u00a0 In Phillipi, she would gather with the Jewish women out by the river.\u00a0 But she still didn\u2019t know his Son, her Savior. None of them did.<\/p>\n It\u2019s amazing how God works.\u00a0 Have you ever done this? Think back in your life to all the things God had to arrange, the people he had come your way in order to make you one more branch on the Vine.<\/strong> Think of Lydia and how she came to hear the gospel of Jesus.<\/p>\n The apostle Paul was across the Aegean sea in a place called Troas.\u00a0 He had no intention of coming to Philippi or anyplace in Macedonia.\u00a0 But Paul went to sleep one night and the Lord gave him a vision. In it he saw a Macedonian man begging him to come and help them.\u00a0 With that, they got up the next morning and got ready to go to Macedonia up in northern Greece.\u00a0 They must have had a following wind.\u00a0 For they sailed straight for Samothrace an island and then on to Neaopolis.\u00a0\u00a0 But Paul didn\u2019t stop there.\u00a0 Like he often did, he went on to one of the main cities, a city named Philippi.<\/p>\n Normally when Paul came to a town, he and the others would go first to the Jewish synagogue.\u00a0 But Philippi did not have enough Jews to have a synagogue.\u00a0 Instead he learned that a group of Jewish women met by the river for worship and prayer.\u00a0 So when the Sabbath came they went there to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \u00a0He would take them through the Old Testament and show them that Jesus was the One God had promised.\u00a0 Jesus was the One who they were waiting for.\u00a0 In so many words he told them. He is the Son of God who was crucified for your sins according to the Scriptures.\u00a0 Then he rose from his grave to show us that we are justified through faith in Him.\u00a0 God looks at us \u2018just as if\u2019 we never sinned.\u00a0 And now through him, we have hope, the sure hope of life with God.<\/p>\n So Lydia listened and decided for Jesus.\u00a0 Right? \u00a0Like a branch she picked herself up and attached herself to the Vine. Right?\u00a0 Wrong.\u00a0 Listen.\u00a0 The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul\u2019s message<\/span>. (14b)\u00a0 Did you hear that?\u00a0 The Lord opened her heart.\u00a0 The Lord brought her to faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same with you and me.\u00a0 One more Branch attached to the Vine, grafted in by the Holy Spirit. <\/strong>And nothing has changed.\u00a0 For how did the Spirit graft us in?\u00a0 Just as it happened here long ago with Lydia.\u00a0 The Sprit grafted us to Christ by the preaching of the gospel and the sacrament of Holy Baptism.<\/p>\n Think about it.\u00a0 Jesus said:\u00a0 Go and make disciples of all nations<\/span>, But not just by teaching.\u00a0 Also by baptizing.\u00a0 For what is baptism?\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a ceremony.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just an opportunity to confess your faith in Jesus.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word tells us so much more.\u00a0 It\u2019s a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit<\/span>.(Titus 3:5) \u00a0\u00a0In baptism we are grafted into the Vine.\u00a0 We are united with Jesus in his death for us and his life assuring resurrection.\u00a0 We are born again as children of God.<\/p>\n And notice who was baptized here.\u00a0 Not just Lydia but also the members of her household<\/span>.\u00a0 What\u2019s that tell us? You know some churches will not baptize children.\u00a0 They say, the Bible gives us no example, no command.\u00a0 But aren\u2019t children often members of a household?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t children included in all nations?\u00a0 So when we baptize a little one, we celebrate one more branch attached to the Vine.\u00a0 One more child brought to Christ, just like Lydia.<\/p>\n And what do we see in Lydia?\u00a0 What do we see in this branch grafted into the vine?\u00a0 She\u2019s a branch that bears fruit for the Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n You see, there\u2019s something that happens in the heart of every believer touched by God\u2019s love in Christ.\u00a0 Martin Luther spoke about it this way:\u00a0 Faith is a living and active thing.\u00a0 It cannot help but do good works.<\/em> Jesus pictures it this way.\u00a0 He will bear much fruit<\/span>. We will bear much fruit.\u00a0\u00a0 Not because we have to but because we want to.\u00a0 It\u2019s the very nature of faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n Look at Lydia.\u00a0 Luke writes:\u00a0 15 <\/sup>When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. \u201cIf you consider me a believer in the Lord,\u201d she said, \u201ccome and stay at my house<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 She offered these missionaries a place to stay while they shared the gospel in Philippi.\u00a0 It was like she was saying.\u00a0 This is important.\u00a0 Jesus is important.\u00a0 Let me support you in this mission<\/em> And if you know the apostle Paul from his letters, you know he didn\u2019t want to be a burden on anyone.\u00a0 But what are we told?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She persuaded us.<\/span> Lydia was not about to take no for an answer.\u00a0 She was bearing fruit for the Lord.<\/p>\n But that fruit doesn\u2019t all look the same.\u00a0 It comes from the same heart, a heart that wants to serve Jesus, but the fruit is different. It is like going to the produce department in the store.\u00a0 What do you see?\u00a0 All kinds.\u00a0 One person steps up to help with Easter for kids.\u00a0 Another asks to visit a shut-in.\u00a0 One says I\u2019ll do the church calendar.\u00a0 Still another gives his time to do the church finances. \u00a0One takes charge of keeping the bulding and grounds in good repair while another asks the pastor.\u00a0 Can you teach me to share my faith?\u00a0 Or Can I call someone to encourage him?<\/p>\n But don\u2019t get the wrong idea.\u00a0 This fruit is not just about the church.\u00a0 Think of Lydia again.\u00a0 The fruit of her faith had to show itself in other places in her life.\u00a0 For instance, by the way she did her business, by the way she treated her customers.\u00a0 Think about that.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it a blessing when you deal with a business person that doesn\u2019t just tell you I am a Christian but acts like one.\u00a0 He is honest and fair.\u00a0 That too is fruit for the Lord.<\/p>\n Do you see where I\u2019m going with this?\u00a0 What is it you do?\u00a0 Are you a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a worker?\u00a0 Are you taking care of someone?\u00a0 Are you a teacher or a student?\u00a0 What is it you do?\u00a0 If you are a branch on this life-giving Vine, it\u2019s going to show.\u00a0 It is showing.\u00a0 Like Lydia, there is fruit for the Lord.\u00a0 There is fruit because of the Lord.<\/p>\n How can there not be?\u00a0 He lived for me and died for me.\u00a0 Because of Him, I am forgiven.\u00a0 I am loved.\u00a0 I have a peace this world can not give.\u00a0 Because of Him every promise of God is my own. \u00a0And I have hope.\u00a0 A hope that will not disappoint me.\u00a0 A hope that will make me forget every sorrow in this life.\u00a0 How then can I not leave this place wanting to serve and honor him.<\/p>\n So think about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty good to be a branch attached to this Vine.<\/strong> Isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Now go, tell someone.\u00a0 Love someone. Help someone.\u00a0 Bear some fruit. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Acts 16:11-15 11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. 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\nI.\u00a0 Grafted in by the Holy Spirit
\nII.\u00a0 Bearing fruit for the Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n