You will notice the PowerPoint slides today project images of earthen vessels, i.e., clay jars of various sizes and shapes and uses. The images are lifted from II Corinthians 4 where the bible says, “We now have this light shining in our hearts but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God and not ourselves.” II Corinthians 4:7
As people go, there is certainly a lot of fine china and crystal around and God uses them as such. But, as people go, most of people are pretty much every-day dishes – clay pots or earthen vessels and God uses them as well. And we should understand that whatever we do to the glory of God and good of others is Holy Work!
So whether you identify as a piece of fine China or a pretty ordinary earthen vessel, God wants to shine his light and life into you and God wants to demonstrate his heart and his power through you.
Title: Just Do What You Do
Text: Acts 9:36-43 and Ephesians 4:16
Thesis: God calls you to serve him and others with skills and passions you already have.
Introduction
Our story today is about the power of God at work in the life and ministry of the Church very early on after the resurrection of Christ.
Toward the end of the Gospel of John, John wrote, “The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” John 20:30-31
This is the Season of Easter so it is appropriate that we continue to celebrate God’s miraculous, resurrecting power. There was:
1. The Widow of Zarephath’s son, I Kings 17:17-24 (Elisha) – oil and flour during famine. Son died.
2. The Shunamite woman’s son, II Kings 4:20-37 (Elisha) – stayed in their home. Son sun-struck and died.
3. The man tossed into Elisha’s tomb, II Kings 13:21 (Elisha’s bones) – Raiders coming so hurried burial.
4. The Widow of Nain’s son, Luke 7:11-16 (Jesus) – Jesus stopped a funeral procession…
5. The Synagogue Ruler, Jairus’ daughter, Mark 5:35-43 (Jesus) – Asked Jesus to come but daughter dead…
6. The friend of Jesus, Lazarus, John 11:1-44 (Jesus) – Mary and Martha called Jesus…
7. The Son of God, Jesus, John 20 (God) It is the resurrection of Christ that inspires our hope of
resurrection from the dead unto eternal life.
8. The seamstress in Joppa, Tabitha, Acts 9:36-41 (Peter) – Much loved woman died.
9. The sleeper in Troas, Eutychus, Acts 20:7-12 (Paul) – Guy fell out of a window listen to Paul preach.
At the heart of our story today is Number 8 on our top 9 list. Her name is Tabitha, but your bible likely adds, “which in Greek is Dorcas.” Tabitha died and was raised from the dead, which is story enough to illustrate the power of God.
But there is a story within the story today that illustrates the power of God not only in raising the dead but in using a person in ways that glorified God and blessed others.
This story follows right on the heels of another story about how Peter met a man in a town called Lydda who had been paralyzed and bed ridden for eight years. His name was Aeneas and Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and roll up you sleeping mat.” And he was healed instantly. The bible says that when the population of the communities of Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around they turned to the Lord. Acts 9:32-35
Miracles have always been a way God demonstrates his love for people and convinces people to turn to him in faith.
We here in western culture have become pretty jaded when it comes to miracles. It takes quite a lot to get us to raise even our eye-brows in wonder. We live in a time of stints, pacemakers and defibrillators. We live in a time of hip, knee and shoulder replacements. We live in a time of heart, kidney, liver and cornea transplants. We live in a time of chemo and radiation therapies and revolutionary pharmaceutical discoveries. While most people around the world have bought the farm… we are not only getting older, we are living longer. We live in a wonderful time when through palliative and hospice care we can live longer and comfortably to the very end. It would never occur to us to pray for someone to rise from the dead… and even if it did, I know I would be hard-pressed to have the courage to suggest it.
But when Tabitha got sick and died, her friends took her upstairs to a room and prepared her body for burial. But the bible says that when they heard Peter was just up the road… only 12 miles or so from Joppa, they sent for him asking him to come ASAP!
They were not calling for the #1 disciple of Christ to come and comfort them… they called him because they hoped he could and would do something. And he did. In verse 40, when Peter arrived on the scene he asked all the ladies to leave the room. He knelt and prayed. He turned toward her body and said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes and sat up. Peter took her hand and helped her up and presented her to all her friends… alive!
The news of the miracle then spread throughout the whole town and many believed in the Lord. Acts 9:42
So it is that this is the primary story. God demonstrated his power and people came to faith.
But, as said earlier, there is a story within the story that also illustrates the way God works his power through people in ways that glorify him and bless others.
I want in the next few minutes to expand a bit on how God used Tabitha not only in death but in life to bring glory to him and be a blessing and encouragement to others… and hopefully to us.
She did what she did, so we may follow her example and do what we do.
I. Do what you do
“There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha… and she was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.” Acts 9:36 (What Tabitha did was kind things for others and helped the poor…)
When Bonnie and I served at Central Church in Lincoln, NE where Bonnie was Director of the Day Care Center, there was a little old man we called Grandpa Hertz who was always there in the day care fixing things. Grandpa Hertz wore very thick glasses and shuffled when he walked but if there was something bent or broken, he was on it like a duck on a June bug. Grandpa Hertz made the world a better place and he loved doing it.
I am sure that Tabitha was a very caring person and I suspect that she enjoyed doing what she did. Tabitha did kind things for others and helped the poor not only because there was a need… she did it because she felt good about doing it.
IKEA is a really cool place. The first IKEA I visited was the one next door to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. The store is very cleverly laid out so that once you enter you cannot escape the place without doing the entire tour… there is no way out but the other end. My favorite thing about IKEA was their Swedish meatballs until the European horse-meat scare.
Two of the tables in my study are IKEA products. They came in two boxes and I assembled them right there in my study.
Researchers from three universities have identified a phenomenon they call “The IKEA Effect.” They say that one of the reasons IKEA is so wildly successful is because their products require some assembly. Their conclusion was that customers experienced an increased valuation of their self-made products. The idea is that when you are personally involved in a project you have greater affection for it. And while in fact your workmanship may be amateurish, you think it’s great because you made it. (PreachingToday.com) There is a certain joy and satisfaction in doing what you like to do even if it isn’t always perfect.
Not only did Tabitha do what she did, she also did it for others. So we too may do what we like to do for the good of others.
II. Do what you do for others
“The room was filled with widows who were… showing Peter the coats and other clothes Tabitha had made for them.” Acts 9:39
Tabitha was first and foremost a follower of Christ. She was a Christian who also happened to be a seamstress. She knew how to wield a needle and thread. And what she did was sew, undoubtedly for a living but also to bless the poor… particularly widows who were at the very bottom of the feeding chain in that culture. If they had no husband or sons or daughters they were essentially destitute. Remember the story of Ruth and Naomi. Orphans and widows were the most vulnerable in that society… In James the bible says, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27
Our text today says that when she died the room was full of widows showing Peter the coats and other clothes Tabitha had made for them.
Mother Teresa would have loved Tabitha. She said, “Giving needs not be confined to money and material gifts. I would like more people to give their hands to serve and their hearts to love… to recognize the poor in their own homes, towns and countries, and to reach out to them in love and compassion.” (My Life for the Poor, Mother Teresa)
We often speak of the Christ given Great Commandment as, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind.” And, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
We speak of the Christ given Great Commission as, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you…” Matthew 28:19-20
Stories like The Good Samaritan remind us that our neighbor is anyone who is in need. Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 give us specific ways we may love our neighbors as in feeding the hungry, giving a drink to a thirsty person, giving clothing to someone who has no clothes, visiting and caring for a sick person, and visiting people who are in prison. Jesus went on to conclude, “As often as you did it for one of these, the least in our society, you have done it to me.” When we love people we are loving God.
The Great Commandment and the Great Commission are inseparable… we are called to be like Christ in the world. In John 20:20 Jesus said, “Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you into the world.” We are here as Christ to live out the Gospel in word and deed.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men unto Christ, to make them little Christs.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952, Harper Collins, P. 199, 2001)
Yesterday a crew of volunteers showed up to unload two-hundred bales of straw and laid out a straw bale garden to raise produce for the Growing Homes Food Pantry. People who have a love of gardening and a heart for others and out community did what they do.
Next Saturday a crew of volunteers will show up at Swanson Elementary to paint classroom walls. People who have the ability to use a paint brush and have a heart for children and our community will do what they can do.
I like what Mother Teresa said… the part about wishing more people would give their hands. Whatever you do, do it not only because it gives you satisfaction but do it to be a blessing to others as well.
Illustration: When a woman in Louisville, KY learned that 21,000 people receive chemotherapy every year in Louisville, many of whom lose their hair. She learned that patients would wrap towels or pajamas around their heads at night to keep warm. So she created Lynette’s Project. Now Lynette and six volunteers make seasonal caps and turbans for chemo patients. People using their hands for the glory of God and the good of others.
Just as Tabitha was missed by others, may we do what we do so that we will be missed when we are gone.
III. Do what you do, so that you (and what you do) will be missed
“The room was filled with widows who were weeping…” Acts 9:39
I do not make this point to suggest any of us is indispensable or irreplaceable because we are.
This year, during a March Madness, Elite Eight basketball game between Louisville and Duke, Kevin Ware jumped to block a shot and when he came down he suffered a devastating and potentially career ending, compound fracture. It was such a gut wrenching and horrendous injury.
Kevin Ware was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery and the game resumed. Ten strong, fit, athletic, graceful young men ran up and down the court… the game went on.
Kevin Ware’s injury is a bleak reminder that everyone is fragile and no one is indispensable. But we may all live in such a way that we will be missed. (And maybe someone will even shed a few tears for us.)
Heather Horn of The Atlantic Magazine, interviewed anthropologist Robin Nagle, who recently published a book on New York's sanitation industry. Her facts and anecdotes are fascinating (For example: sanitation workers have twice the fatality rates as police officers and seven times that of firefighters) and a powerful reminder of the necessity of things that we take for granted. Like garbage trucks. Some of the most essential roles in the world are the "invisible" ones. The lowly duty of "garbage collector" is a key, indispensable cog in how our society functions. In this, trash collectors are much like God who uses the many humble, earthen vessel servants of his church, who labor without recognition to do the messy, forgettable, invisible jobs that keep everything together. The importance of the forgettable, common things cannot be understated.
So when the likes of a seamstress named Tabitha, who was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor dies… she was missed. Tabitha was an earthen jar Christian who loved God and loved others.
Conclusion:
This week we have been tragically reminded of just how precious a fragile life is. We have been reminded that when someone dies they are missed. But in the tragedy of this week we have also witnessed selflessness and heroism. Fire fighters, I might add, volunteer fire fighters stood firm against a fire that took their lives in West, Texas. Just regular, earthen jar people doing what they do.
In Boston highly trained professionals moved to care for the medical needs of those who were so in desperate need of medical attention. But did you notice all the regular, earthen jar people bent over the suffering, offering comfort and reassurance. Did you notice all the earth jar people putting pressure on gaping wounds to stop the bleeding?
Dilbert (of the Dilbert comic strip) once said, “If you don’t know what to do, walk fast and look worried.” As we all know, walking fast and looking worried is probably not what doing means.
I think in citing the life and work of Tabitha the seamstress, we might consider this: It is likely that the thing God wants you to do is what you can and enjoy doing… for the glory of God and the good of others.
It is not my intent to single anyone out because there are a lot of people in our church family who do what they do and no one notices other than God and sometimes those who are blessed by their kindness.
There is a lady in our church who drops $5 in the Samaritan box every Sunday. There is a group in our church we call “The Noodle Group” who make homemade noodles and give the proceeds to support the life and ministry of our church. There is a group of quilters we call “The Piece Makers” who make lap blankets and other useful things for others. There is a couple in our church who conduct a devotional service in a nearby healthcare center every month. There are ladies in our church who wheel healthcare center residents to meals, activities and chapel services. There is a man in our church who changes the church sign every week. There are men in our church who show up to repair broken pews. And you know I am just scratching the surface. I mention these things because they are not high profile or headline grabbing in nature. But they are people of God just doing what they do for the glory of God and the good of others.
It takes all of us earthen vessels, working together, doing what we do, to glorify God and bless others. “He, Jesus, makes the whole body fit together (or knit together) perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians 4:16
