EASTER
6
May
8-10, 2021
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Acts 9:36-42 (EHV)
“SHOW AND TELL!”
1.
Show
the love of Jesus
2.
So
you can tell the love of Jesus!
Acts 9:36-42 (EHV) “In Joppa there
was a disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was always doing
good deeds and acts of charity. 37At that time she became sick and
died. After they had washed her, they laid her in an upstairs room. 38Since
Lydda is near Joppa, when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent
two men to him, who urged him, “Come to us without delay!” 39Peter
got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs.
All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothing
that Dorcas made while she was still with them. 40After Peter sent
them all outside, he got down on his knees and prayed. Then he turned toward
the body and said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw
Peter, she sat up. 41He gave her his hand and helped her stand up.
After he called the saints and the widows, he presented her to them alive. 42This
became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.”
It’s
another one of those fun things you get to do in school. Show and Tell. Maybe
you got your first chance in kindergarten. Remember how excited you were to
bring your own thing from home to show and tell. Maybe you had a special
collection or grandpa’s war medal. Fun thing to do. I’ve brought something today
for Show and Tell. It’s called Spirit Lifters. Some of you have heard me talk
about it before. It was a gift from my mom to all her children. For every day
of the year, even Leap Day, to has an encouraging or inspiring Bible passage,
hymn verse or saying designed to—you guessed it! Lift your spirits. What is
also interesting is who made these little beauties. St. Paul’s Dorcas Society,
Brownsville Wisconsin. A Dorcas Society.
A group of women who got together to serve and make nice things. Now where do
you think that name came from? You know. You heard about it in our reading. “In
Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was
always doing good deeds and acts of charity.” A disciple, a believer in
Jesus. Tabitha, also known as Dorcas. And why is her story in the Bible? She’s
going to teach us how to Show and Tell.
First show the love of Jesus. We
aren’t told a whole lot about this woman named Dorcas. We aren’t told if she
was married or had kids. Was she widowed or working? No, the Spirit draws our
attention to what we need to see. She was a disciple, a believer in Jesus. She
knew the love of Jesus. Like you and I do as well, she understood Jesus’ great
love for her, a love that moved Him to take care of her greatest need at
greatest cost to Himself. He took her sins on Himself and paid the awful price
of Hell. This changed Dorcas. She understood her purpose in life. Show. Show
the love of Jesus. Kindly meet the needs of others at cost to herself.
“In Joppa there was a disciple
named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was always doing good deeds and
acts of charity. 37At that time she became sick and died. After they
had washed her, they laid her in an upstairs room. 38Since Lydda is
near Joppa, when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to
him, who urged him, “Come to us without delay!” 39Peter got up and
went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs. All the
widows stood beside him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothing that
Dorcas made while she was still with them.” Dorcas showed the love of Jesus
by making robes and clothes for widow women. Back then, there were no
retirement pensions, no investments, no Social Security. Widowed women often
found themselves poor and dependent on their church and others to survive.
Dorcas saw a need and she showed the love of Jesus.
Now remember all Scripture is God
breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness. What does the Holy Spirit want us to see? A woman showing the
love of Jesus in a way that she could. Why? To encourage and motivate us to do
the same. How many years of training do you think Dorcas received before she
started showing the love of Jesus? What degrees did she hold? No, Dorcas was
just herself. She obviously had skills as a seamstress but there were
undoubtedly many seamstresses. Why does the Spirit focus our attention on
Dorcas? She showed the love of Jesus. She saw a need and met a need. She was
kind.
And you know what? Every one us can do the
same. We know the love of Jesus. We have experienced it. Through faith we see
Jesus loving us sinners and suffering for us sinners and happy to do so. We can
show how Jesus has changed us. What nice things can you do for others?
Neighbors need help with the garbage can? A ride to a store? You know one of
the loneliest groupings of people in our society are the elderly. Kids you
could make a card, sing a song, take a flower. So many ways to show the love of
Jesus and on a weekend like this we have to think of how moms and grandmas do
that. Show the love of Jesus as they raise kids and grandkids.
But friends we need to dig a little
deeper here. Why is the Spirit putting the spotlight on Dorcas? Surely there
were other people who did nice things too. Well the book of Acts is the history
of the early Christian Church. It’s put in the Bible to show how the living
Lord Jesus was with the early Christians and how the fact that He lives changed
the way they lived, their priorities, their purpose, and how Jesus used that to
bring more and more people into the family of faith. It’s there so the fact
that Jesus lives will change the way we believers live, our priorities and our
purpose. Let’s see how.
“After Peter sent them all outside,
he got down on his knees and prayed. Then he turned toward the body and said,
“Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41He
gave her his hand and helped her stand up. After he called the saints and the
widows, he presented her to them alive. 42This became known all over
Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.” We’re not told but somehow Peter
knew what Jesus wanted him to do. While all these people were gathered at the
death of this beloved woman Tabitha it was time to use the power Jesus had
given the apostles to do miracles. With Jesus’ power he raised Tabitha from the
dead. How cool was that? But that was not the really cool part, was it? This
was: “This became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.”
Many believed! The purpose for Tabitha’s life and Tabitha’s death and Tabitha’s
back to life was the same. Opportunities for her or others to tell the love of
Jesus so more believe and are saved.
And this, brothers and sisters, is how
Jesus works through you. When you show the love of Jesus in your daily living
you will gain opportunities for you or others to tell the love of Jesus. And
the neat part is it does not require any classes or degree. It just requires
you to be yourself but always to remember the greater purpose of connecting
people to Jesus so they can be saved eternally. Dorcas did nice things for
others. Doing nice things built relationships and those personal relationships
became to bridge to building the only relationship that matters for eternity,
faith in Jesus.
So go ahead and be nice and do good.
Help the poor, feed the hungry, help a neighbor, give a ride, make some
cookies, rake some leaves but don’t be content with just being nice. Use nice
to get to Jesus. Pray for an opportunity to let the reason behind your nice
come out. I believe in Jesus. He loves you too. When it’s right leverage those
relationships. Kids, when we start up next year, “Say, I’m going to sing at
church, will you come see me?” With that lonely elderly neighbor, “Would you
like to come over for Thanksgiving Dinner? How about you come to church with me
and join our family for our Thanksgiving meal?” So many opportunities once you
show the love of Jesus for you or others to tell the love of Jesus. In your
life and in your death.
You do know that this Tabitha who was
raised to life later died—again. She went to heaven. Her body stayed here. What
do you think they talked about at her funeral? How many people were there? Your
death could do the same. Show the love of Jesus and when you go to heaven we
will tell the love of Jesus to everyone there. It’s Show and Tell!
You know, someone once said that “Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten.” In many ways that is true. Like Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. Like I am Jesus little lamb. Like be nice and kind to everyone. And like Show and tell—the love of Jesus! Amen.
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