God Uses Ordinary People: Tabitha Series

1. How long have you been coming to PBC? What led you to come?

2. Describe what happens inside of you when you see someone in great need.

3. Can you give us a couple examples of how God has prompted you to help the hurting?

As I studied this passage, I began to wonder why Dorcas was raised from the dead while someone like Stephen was not. He was publicly martyred for his faith in Jerusalem and it seems to me that it would have been incredibly powerful if he had been brought back to life in a very public way in the capital city. But he wasn’t. And yet here’s a quiet woman raised to life in a private upper room in a small town.

Why was she raised? Was it because she was a great teacher that could never be replaced? Was she a huge financial contributor? Was she a miracle worker? No. And then it hit me. She was raised because God does not want compassion to die in the church! Of all the things the church is to be known for it is that we compassionately care for people in their time of need. When Tabitha died, there was a compassion crisis in the church.

Peter called on Tabitha to get up and she did. God is calling each of us to get up and be involved in acts of compassion. The Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We’re raised to new life in order to serve like Tabitha, using what we have to do what we can. To be devoted disciples who are doers of deeds and helpers to the hurting. The true measure of our effectiveness as a church is not defined by what happens “in here” but by what happens “out there.” James 1:27 says: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” We’ve said this before but it’s so true: No one can do everything but everyone can do something.

In a New England village a home and barn burned down. Some furniture was saved and four cows, but not much else. The victims needed almost everything. A neighbor drove up to look at the smoldering ruins and to poke around. Shaking his head as though in disbelief and clearing his throat, he told his long-time neighbor, “If there’s anything I can do, just say the word.” Other neighbors came too, but instead of asking what they could do, they went back home and returned with help: a motor home, beds, mattresses, potatoes, vegetables, cooking pots, clothes, hay for the cows, a heifer to start up the man’s herd again, and a back-hoe to clean up from the fire. I love what I hear Pastor Jeff say on occasion: “Just do something.”

James 2:14-16 is a very penetrating passage of Scripture: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

I wonder if Tabitha was raised because there wasn’t anyone else who would get up and take her place. Why was there no one else? Is there a devoted disciple here who needs to get up and do good deeds on behalf of the hurting? It’s time to get up! We cannot let compassion die in this church!