The question came to Dorcas as it did to Moses when he felt he was not the man to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage: "What is that in your hand?" And Moses answered, "A rod." (Exodus 4:2). And that rod became the symbol of delegated divine power. "What is that in your hand?" the Lord asked Dorcas. She said, "A needle," and He took what she had and she stitched for Christ’s sake. All praise then, to the needle that represented benevolence among the needy. The garments that Dorcas cut out represented Christian faith in action. - Herbert Lockyer

Please join with me in your Bibles at Matthew 25:31-46. When you find that passage, please follow along as I read it.

Jesus is pointing out to those bound for the eternal punishment that their lives were void of good works. In verse 45 He reveals that each time an opportunity to help someone in true need was missed, an opportunity to serve Him was also missed.

Some people struggle with the meaning of this passage. They wonder, "Why, if we are justified by our faith, does Jesus speak of works as the defining characteristic of those who are righteous? Our works don’t save us do they?"

The answer, of course, is that good works are an inseparable part of the faith the Bible talks about. The kind of do-nothing, "faith only" that is sometimes promoted in our day is dead and worthless if it is alone.

James 2:17 says, "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." James 2:26 says, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."

Good works, while not effective in themselves in earning eternal life, are nonetheless a natural result of saving faith. A child who has the measles will show it by breaking out on his skin. A Christian who has true, saving faith will show by his works.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast." It is grace that saves us, through faith. Yet the very next verse, verse 10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

This morning we continue in our series called Acts of the Apostles. If you have been following you’ll note that we’re back on track with the chronology of Acts in his message. Recall that we covered the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in three out-of-sequence messages. Today’s lesson will put us back on course, with Saul’s conversion again behind us. Our text today is Acts 9:36-43 and I’ve called it, "What is That in Your Hand?" In it we’ll consider Luke’s description of a woman who lived the kind of active faith that we’re talking about. Her name was Dorcas or Tabitha and Luke opens with a description of:

9:36 Now in Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did.

Notice right away that Luke pegs the nature of this woman’s faith by the mention of her works. She was a disciple and she was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity. Knowing these things, which side do you think she would be on in Jesus’ picture of the Great Judgment? Was she a sheep or a goat? While only God is the ultimate Judge, the answer seems rather obvious, doesn’t it?

We know nothing of this woman beyond what is written here. Both of her names mean "gazelle." It was common in that time to name women after graceful animals - similar perhaps to the way we sometimes name women after flowers - names like Rose, Violet, Lily, etc.

This graceful, gazelle-like woman was a seamstress who used her fingers and her funds for the comfort and relief of people in need. Especially it appears she helped widows. Widows who lived faithful lives and served others with their time in their younger years were of special concern to the early church. Dorcas reflected that concern. Luke says she was "abounding with deeds of kindness and charity."

The KJV translates the verse this way: "This woman was full of good works and almsdeeds."

That old English word "almsdeeds" is very descriptive. "Alms" are moneys given to help the poor. Almsdeeds are deeds of charity that usually involve money or things of worth.

Luke uses two adjectives that magnify the extent of the good deeds of this woman. She was abounding in good deeds and charity and she did these things continually.

No flash in the pan giving for this woman. No sudden and uncharacteristic dropping money in the bell-ringer’s bucket on a holiday shopping trip to the mall in December. From her purse flowed a steady stream of assistance and from her needle flowed a steady stream of garments. She knew what Jesus meant when He said, "I was naked and you clothed me..."

From this woman’s example that the Holy Spirit chose to record for us has flowed a steady stream of benevolence inspired by her giving even down to our present day. Type the term "Dorcas Society" into an Internet search engine and you’ll link to hundreds of benevolent organizations around the world that consider this woman their charter member.

Dorcas lived a giving life because of her faith. She was a Christian who loved the Lord – a "disciple" as Luke says here.

We saw in Matthew 25 that good works are a necessary part of our lives as followers of Christ. We are justified by grace through faith, but it isn’t an empty faith that has no works. It is a faith that willingly serves Christ with its life.

Apparently there are going to be people present on the Day of Judgment who are surprised by this. Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23, "Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"

What was it that these people missed? The verse immediately previous, verse 21 says, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."

What then of all those who profess faith in Christ but have little or no desire to do the will of God? Churches are full of them. But then there are also many who believe they will be saved solely by their good works. Benevolent organizations are full of them.

Someone has said that it’s a lot like being in a rowboat with two oars. One is labeled "faith" and the other is labeled "works." If you row with either one without the other you just go in circles. Faith and works are inseparable.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3: "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Real faith will produce real works. These works have no merit in themselves, but they do provide evidence of faith.

Herbert Lockyer described Dorcas in an interesting way in his book, ALL THE WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. He wrote:

What is that in your hand, Christian? Surely your hand isn’t empty! What is there in your hand that could be used for God’s glory? Your time, your talents, your special abilities - do you use them solely for yourself or do they also benefit others in the Name of Christ?

Let’s move on now to Luke’s description of:

With a woman like Dorcas in the church at Joppa, it was a sad day indeed when she died. Look at verses 37 and 38:

I don’t know for sure why they called Peter. Did they think he might be able to raise her from the dead, or did they simply want him to come and minister to the grieving widows? Luke doesn’t tell us. What he does tell us is that Peter wasted no time in responding to their call.

One writer said of Dorcas’ death: "The vessel containing the costly ointment was now broken, and the fragrance filled the house as never before."

Dorcas left behind the fragrance of a life lived for Christ. What sort of fragrance will our lives leave behind?

Some years ago I spoke with an old friend who has faithfully served in a small congregation in California. I asked him how things were going and he told me that the recent years had been tough. They lost one of their key leaders in an accident. Then their minister’s wife died. Then another key family lost a young mother. After that their long-time minister was incapacitated with heart problems and had to move away. Their congregation was small when before these things happened, so losing these key workers and was difficult.

As my friend and I spoke we both agreed that we would not question God’s providence or intent in these matters, and all we could do was continue to trust that He knows what He is doing and allowing. But the pain was very real.

For that small band of disciples meeting in Joppa in Peter’s day, many who were widows, losing Dorcas was a huge blow. The tunics and garments she had made! The strength of her character and example! How could they ever go on without her?

Perhaps the way we are missed when we are gone will be the truest measure of how selflessly or how selfishly we have lived. If you can speculate ahead to that time and you’re not satisfied with what you see, why not determine now to make a change?

By the way, though the loss of Dorcas was keenly felt in that household Peter entered on that day, notice that none of the wailing and hopeless agonizing we read about in other places in the scriptures was present. There should be a difference between the funeral of a Christian and that of a non-Christian. Though the Christian will be hugely missed, those who survive him in this life know that the separation is only temporary. "The rest," wrote Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, "have no hope." They have good reason to wail.

We come now in this story of Dorcas to:

The sadness and weeping and sense of loss in this little band of Christians at Joppa was to be short lived.

Wow! Can you imagine? This was not one of the modern day "resuscitations" we hear about where a person has a "near death experience." This woman was dead at least half a day and probably more since it would take that long for the messengers to notify Peter and return with him.

J.W. McGarvey had an interesting application of this in his commentary. He wrote:

Have you thought about that? Imagine, as McGarvey did, what joy it would be to see just one of your loved ones returned from the dead! That would be joy of joys, wouldn’t it? Now, multiply that joy by millions. That is what it is going to be like for the saints of God when Christ returns!

Paul described it for us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

What a tremendous promise! What a fantastic hope! The records of the resurrections of the dead in the New Testament serve only to foreshadow that day when all the graves will yield up their dead.

And among those raised will be the ones we have just read about along with those who became believers as a result of the resurrection of Dorcas.

It is said that in a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, there is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. The grave belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. In her will she directed that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened." In time, a tiny seed, covered by the stones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged, the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.

The dynamic life force contained in that little seed is but a faint reflection of the tremendous power of God’s creative word that someday will call to life the bodies of all who are in their graves.

It is that day Christians long for. It is that day unbelievers will dread. A person might think he or she can skip the resurrection, but there will be no stopping it when it comes.

Jesus put it this way in John 5:28-29 :

Are you ready for that day? Are you a sheep or a goat? Do your deeds reflect your answer? What is that in your hand Christian? Are you using it for the Lord or for yourself?

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

[Archive]    [Home]   [Comments]   [Search]