Some people serve God by preaching to millions on the TV or radio or internet. Some people serve God by brining thousands to Christ. Some people serve God by using their God-given talents to write songs and sing them to huge crowds all around the world … or write dozens of books … or write and produce major motion pictures. Some leave everything dear and familiar to serve as missionaries in distant, often hostile lands. Some go to jail for their beliefs and others are martyred for their faith.
Others serve God by folding church bulletins … by bringing a bag of food for the church pantry or community kitchen … by changing light bulbs in the sanctuary or fixing a leak in the parsonage …
Some people serve God by balancing the church finances … by singing in the choir … sewing prayer blankets or crocheting prayer shawls … by visiting shut-ins or giving them a ride to the grocery store or to the doctor … dropping off clothes, shoes, and jackets at one of our local rescue missions … by tithing … by putting up chairs and then putting them away after a church luncheon or dinner.
Some people serve by greeting everyone with a smile and a hug … by sending out encouraging e-mails or cards or texts … by praying for family and friends, their neighbors, co-workers, our government, our church, and our church family …
And then there are some … like Tabitha … who serve God by sewing clothes. [Read Acts 9:36-42.]
The first thing that we learn about Tabitha is that she was a “disciple” of Jesus Christ (v. 36) … a rare title for a woman in the New Testament So rare, in fact, that she is the only woman in the entire Bible who bears that title … “disciple.”
A “disciple” was a student or follower of a particular teacher who not only desired to learn as much from their teacher as possible but to model their teacher’s habits and behavior and become as much like their teacher as possible. For example, people could tell if someone were a disciple of John the Baptist or Rabbi Hillel or Rabbi Shammai right away … usually without having to ask. One of the highest compliments someone could give a disciple was to say: “You are the mirror image of Rabbi So-and-So.”
That could be said of Tabitha. She tried as hard as she could be a mirror image of her teacher … Jesus. You see, Jesus didn’t just go around “preaching” about God and the Kingdom of God or God’s love and compassion … He lived it. He showed it through His actions, the way that He lived and carried Himself. He was constantly doing good works and charitable deeds, wasn’t He?
Luke says that Tabitha was always doing good deeds. The literal translation of the Greek says that Tabitha was “full of good works” (Acts 9?36). “Good works” refers to “general acts of kindness,” but Luke said she did more than just “general acts of kindness.” She also did “charitable” acts too. “Charitable” acts are different from “good deeds.” “Charitable deeds” are acts that relieve the burden of the poor and the needy. For example, I can do a good deed for any of you sitting here and it’s nice but your life is fine and my act is just a gesture of friendship or love or good will. “Charitable” means doing good deeds and acts of good will for people who are poor or in desperate need and my actions relieve their suffering in some way.
When Tabitha died, her friends sent for the Apostle Peter. When Peter arrived, “he was taken upstairs to the room” where her body was being prepared for burial (v. 39). What Peter encounters is a very emotional scene. “All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them” (v. 39).
Wait a minute! I thought her name was “Tabitha.” Who’s “Dorcas”? Dorcas and Tabitha are the same person. “Tabitha” was her Aramaic name … “Dorcas” was her Greek name. So why does she have an Aramaic and a Greek name? Because both names … Tabitha and Dorcas … mean the same thing: “Gazelle.” The gazelle is a symbol of grace, beauty, swiftness, and speed in the Bible.
There’s another reason that Tabitha was known by two names, one Greek and the other Aramaic. She did good deeds and charitable works for all her neighbors and the citizens of Joppa … be they the upper class and wealthy and educated who spoke Greek or her Jewish neighbors who spoke Aramaic.
Tabitha … Dorcas … the “gazelle” of Joppa … was more than “moved” by the needs of the people around her. Like her name sake, “gazelle,” she sprang into action whenever there was a need. She did more than just feel pity for the plight of her less fortunate friends and neighbors. She did something about it. She was full of good deeds and charity just poured out of her. When she saw a need, she was swift to respond and take care of it or the person … Greek or Jew or whomever.
Tabitha didn’t do anything heroic like Ester or Ruth … or risky, like Rahab. She simply served her savior by … sewing! Now … we don’t know whether Tabitha was a seamstress by trade or just like to sew but apparently she was very good at it.
In one of his letters, the Apostle Peter said that “each one should use whatever gifts he [or she] has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1st Peter 4:10). I wonder if he was thinking about people like Tabitha when he wrote this.
The Apostle James asks us: “What good is it, brothers [and sisters], if a [person] claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save [them]? Suppose a brother [or sister] is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to [them], ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed’ but does nothing about [their] physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead” (James 2:14-17).
In a New England village, a home and a barn burned down. Some furniture and four cows were saved … but not much else. The victims needed everything. A neighbor drove up to look at the smoldering ruins and to poke around. Shaking his head in disbelief and clearing his throat, he told his long-time neighbor: “If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
Other neighbors came by too … but instead of asking if there was anything that they could do, they went back home and returned with a motor home … beds ... mattresses … potatoes … vegetables … cooking pots … clothes … hay for the cows … a heifer to start up the family’s herd again … and a back[hoe to clean up the damage from the fire.
We all know the Nike slogan, don’t we? “Just do it.” Well, our slogan should be “Just do something” … amen?
Tabitha was continually at work, trying to meet the pressing needs of those around her … particularly the widows … people who had no one to care for them. I can picture Tabitha looking at a beautiful piece of cloth or remnant, picturing in her mind all the things that she could do with it, picturing who she was going to make it for, and then taking that thought and putting it into an action, making that thought into a beautiful reality for someone. She didn’t just do charitable deeds once in a while … she was always working on some project or another. It just poured out to her … easily … naturally. It was her lifestyle. It was just what she did.
As Peter enters the room where they are preparing Tabitha’s body for burial, the weeping widows gather around Peter and put Tabitha’s deeds on display by pointing to their clothing. When Luke says that the women were showing Peter the tunics and other clothing that Tabitha had made for them, the Greek means they were showing Peter their undergarments as well as their outer wear. In other words, the women were trying to tell Peter that everything they had on was made by Tabitha’s own patient, caring, loving hands. Their tailor-made outfits revealed how Tabitha saw each of them as individuals. A red headdress would bring out the color in Miriam’s eyes … a floral design might cheer up Deborah, who lost her husband a year ago. A lot of love and thought went into the clothes they were showing Peter.
While Tabitha’s gifts were generous, they probably did not solve or alleviate the financial problems of the destitute women in her community but I am as sure as I can be that she made life a whole lot better for them. How do you feel when you step out in new clothes? You stand a little straighter, a little taller, don’t you? New clothes were a luxury in Tabitha’s day. And when those women put those clothes on … clothes that Tabitha made just for them … it made them stand a little taller … feel a little better about themselves. Tabitha’s clothes made them feel something they probably hadn’t felt in a long, long time. They felt dignity. They didn’t have to hang their heads in shame because all they had to wear were the dirty rags on their backs. Tabitha’s gifts made them feel better about themselves. She help raise their self-esteem. It was Tabitha’s own unique way to let them know that somebody not only cared about them but was willing to actually do something practical for them more than “wish them well” and “do nothing about their physical needs” (James 2:16).
Yes … the widows gathered around Peter, showing him the tunics and other clothes that Dorcas made for them but it really wasn’t about the clothes, was it? It was about her friendship … her love and concern for them. The clothes were a representation of the connection that she had with them … even in death they still had a “piece” of her. Their clothes were graphic, tangible symbols of the way in which she touched the hearts and lives of these often forgotten and over-looked women. Tabitha literally and figuratively “wove” her way into their hearts and lives.
Tabitha … Dorcas … lived among them … interacted with them on a regular, sometimes daily, basis. She knew who they were and gave a coat when someone need it … sometimes a word of encouragement … a hug … kindly advice … maybe even food or shelter if they needed it. She didn’t just make the clothes and send them off to the local Joppa community women’s shelter. She didn’t just recycle old clothes with the Joppa version of the Salvation Army. Verse 39 says that she made them “while she was with them” … personally involved with them.
Tabitha stands as the Biblical model of “servant evangelism” … although I’m pretty sure that this would be a title or a designation that she wouldn’t accept or be comfortable with. I absolutely believe that she didn’t do it for riches or glory or to get a crown in Heaven. I’m absolutely positive that she didn’t do it to get her name in the Bible. She just did it. She was in Christ and Christ was in her … and when that happens, you’re full of good deeds and charity just pours out of you … you can’t help it … you don’t plan it … you don’t think about it … you just do it … as natural as breathing.
Here’s the thing about “servant evangelism.” The Devil has a way of warping our motives and distorting our good intentions. In his book, “The Conspiracy of Kindness,” Steve Sjogren made this interesting observation. He states that less than 10% of Christians have the spiritual gift of evangelism but 90% have the gift of serving. Let’s see if he’s right. How many of you have the gift of evangelism? Raise your hand. Now … how many of you feel you have the spiritual gift of serving? Raise your hand. All of you who raised your hands …. I know your names!
Here’s the problem. I don’t like the title of Sjogren’s book, “Conspiracy of Kindness,” nor do I agree with his premise. “Conspiracy of Kindness” is about his church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sjogren developed a program whereby his church would go out and actively practice and participate in acts of servant evangelism. They washed cars for free … cleaned toilets for free … shined shoes for free … gave away free hot dogs in the park …
That’s great if you’re full of good deeds and charity is pouring out of you but not if its’ contrived … not if it’s a “conspiracy” to get people to come to your church … you follow me?
Dorcas met the real needs of the people around her. She didn’t go around randomly sewing on buttons or handing out scarfs so that she could create an opportunity to share her faith. She met real needs for real people with real love and real solutions. She may have shared her faith on occasion but she was always demonstrating her faith through her actions.
You see … by its nature, you can’t program servanthood because servanthood is an attitude … a way of life. Some of you really excel in expressions of servanthood because God has given you not only a special ability to serve but a heart that desires to serve as well. Perhaps you’re one of those quiet practitioners of kindness just like Tabitha was. You notice needs that others don’t even see … and you find joy in meeting them.
What makes this form of evangelism is that it is so authentic. It has the ability to touch people that nobody else can reach. Preach at someone and they will probably tune you out. But do something for them … something that shows you’re paying attention … and your witness may gain some weight. Serving breaks through cynicism … breaking down the myth that Christians are all talk and not a lot of action. A helping hand can soften a harden or skeptical heart. Whether it’s making meals, sewing clothes, fixing cars, giving rides to the doctor’s office, or working in a food pantry or homeless shelter, God can use you to point people to Christ while you are doing service … and when it came to Tabitha, God did that in a really, really, REALLY big way! He raised her from the dead. He brought her back to life. This was not only an amazing episode in the life of the early church but it can be an amazing episode in the life of any church. In the same way that God brought Tabitha back to life, He can bring a church back to life, amen?
No doubt Peter remembered the time when Jairus came to Jesus and asked Jesus to come lay hands on his sick daughter. Before Jesus even got to Jairus’ house, they received word that Jairus’ daughter had died … but Jesus continued on to Jairus’ house. When He got there, like the scene at Tabitha’s house, there were people there wailing and weeping.
Jesus told the mourners to go outside and then, with the disciples Peter, James, and John watching, Jesus took the little girl’s hand and said: “Talitha koum” … which means: “I say to you, get up.” “Talitha koum!”
Peter takes Tabitha by the hand says: “Tabitha koum!” “Tabitha, get up!” and Tabitha gets up. “She opened her eyes,” says Luke, “and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive” (Acts 9:40-41).
Unfortunately, we don’t know what happened next. I doubt that she went out on the speaking circuit to giver her testimony. I’m convinced that she probably went right back to her quiet and unassuming life of serving God by sewing.
Miracles always magnify God and work to spread the good news of His glory. “Thus,” says Luke, “this became known all over Joppa and many people believed the Lord” (Acts 9:42). She may not have sown for riches and glory … she certainly never expected to be raised from the dead ... but God surely used her resurrection to bring many to faith.
This is how service evangelism works. We use our God-given abilities to serve God by serving others. “We” don’t bring anyone to Christ. It is the Christ in us, working in us and through us, that brings people to Christ. And that is the true miracle of servant evangelism.
Peter called Tabitha to “koum” … to “get up” … and she did. God is calling each of us to “koum” … to “get up” … and engage in acts of charity and compassion. The Bible has pronounced us dead … dead in our trespasses … dead in our sins … but … we have been raised to new life in order to serve as Tabitha served … using what we have been given so that we can do what we can do … to be devoted disciples who are full of good deeds and overflowing with charity. The true measure of our effectiveness as a church is not defined by what happens here, inside these four walls, but by what we do “out there” … outside these four walls. No one can do everything, but everybody can do something, amen?
Why did God raise Tabitha from the dead? Why did He bring her back to life? Was it because she was such a great leader or teacher who couldn’t be replaced? No. Was she a huge financial contributor to the church? Not likely. Was she a prophet? A miracle worker? No. We can only speculate as to why God raised this quiet woman from the dead in a private upper room in the small town of Joppa. Maybe Jesus raised her from the dead because He didn’t want compassion to die in that church or in that community. Of all the things that the church should be know for, it should be known by the way that we compassionately care for people in their time of need. When Tabitha died, maybe there would have been a compassion crisis in the Joppa church. Maybe her passing would have created a compassion vacuum. Maybe Tabitha was given new life because there wasn’t anyone else who would or could step up to take her place.
Is there a devoted disciple here this morning who needs to step up and do good deeds on behalf of the hurting? If so, “koum” … rise … get up. We can’t let compassion die in the church.
Koum, my brothers and sisters. Sometimes when we sit in the pews or behind the pulpit, we don’t look very “alive.” We are sometimes tired … sometimes drained … and sometimes we feel entirely too human and too vulnerable … and sometimes we need people to pray for us … to tell us “koum” … get up!
Sometimes we need someone to tell us “koum” softly … [softly] koum … get up. Sometimes we need them to get our attention … [shout] koum! Get up! We need to hear koum … get up … and then, when we hear koum, we need to get up and look around … look around and see what needs doing. Koum … we need to get up and make a difference in the lives around us, amen? You with me so far?
We need to let Jesus into our lives so that our lives will be full of good deeds and just gushing with charity … but that can’t happen if we keep Him in a box … if we lock Him up in this sanctuary, where we only let Him out once or twice a week. It can’t happen if we set Him on a shelf like a trophy and only take Him out once in a while to show Him off.
We need Him to shine on us and shine through us all the time. We need to encourage each other to koum! Get up! We need to constantly remind ourselves to koum … to get up! We may not be perfect, but with God’s help we can be perfect examples of those who koum and serve the Lord because we love the Lord.
Humble service. Genuine service that comes from the heart. This is what draws people to you … to the Christ in you.
I want to close with an old Chinese parable about a woman whose only child … a son … died. In her grief, she went to the local holy man and begged: “What prayer, what magical incantations do you have that can bring my son back to life?” Instead of sending her away or trying to reason with her, the holy man gave her a task to perform. “There is nothing that can be done to bring your son back to life, but if you fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow we can use it to drive the sorrow from your life.”
The woman set off at once and began her search for that magical mustard seed. The first house she came to was a beautiful mansion. She knocked on the door and when the owner answered, she explained: “I am looking for a home that has never known sorrow … is this such a place? It is important to me.” The owner shook his head. “You have certainly come to the wrong place,” he said, and then he began describing all the tragic things that had recently befallen him and his family.
Hearing all the problems this family had and all the troubles they had gone through, the woman thought to herself: “Who better to help these poor, unfortunate people than I, who has had such misfortunes of my own?” So she stayed with them for a while to comfort them and then went on in search of a home that had never know sorrow, but wherever she turned … whether it was a hovel or a mansion or a regular home … she heard one tale of sadness and misfortune after another. She became so involved in trying to minister to other people in their grief that she eventually forgot her own quest for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that her quest for the magical mustard seed had, in fact, drive the sorrow from her life.
Let us pray …
