PURE RELIGION (ACTS 9:36-42)
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Do you know of any widows and orphans in your midst? Upon graduating from a Hong Kong university, a young man from China decided to take up a job of leading an orphanage in China. It was quite a challenge to return to China because he studied in England, where he met his bride from Hong Kong, which was show he ended up at my church. They decided to live in Hong Kong so she could make more money as a nurse and he could take a Master’s degree in social studies. Two years were up very soon and he was to leave in a few months after joining a Christian organization. I asked his wife if she was anxious moving to an unfamiliar town and earning less, she said, “I have prepared myself. Yeah, I am easy, as long as we can be together.” (August 15, 2018)
Our church in Hong Kong has a Dorcas fellowship for single parents and widows for years. My wife Doris was a big supporter and regular speaker for their fellowship before her untimely death on May 22, 2016. It was her favorite ministry group. The ladies really liked her, respected and missed her a lot. By God’s grace the fellowship has a few ladies who have gone on to serve the Lord in full-time ministry.
The Bible says, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” We are to honor widows (1 Tim 5:3). There are more known widows in the New Testament than in the Old Testament, from the poor widow who offered generously (Mark 12:42), 84 years-old Anna (Luke 2:37) and the widow whose only son died (Luke 7:12) in the gospels to the widows in the early church (Acts 6:1) and the widows who wept at Dorcas’ death (Acts 9:39).
How do you view the disadvantaged people in your society? What help is available to them? Why does God place people with special needs among us?
Be Useful in Practice
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.
The British Household Panel Survey reports that an increase in the level of social involvements is worth up to an extra £85,000 a year in terms of life satisfaction. Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness. The Terman study found that those who help others is healthier and live longer than those who feel very loved and cared for.
A writer suggests 100 hours per year (or two hours per week) is the optimal time a person should dedicate to helping others in order to enrich our lives.
The Journal of Happiness Studies published a study that that participants who made a purchase for someone else rather than on themselves reported feeling significantly happier immediately; most importantly, the happier participants felt, the more likely they were to choose to spend a windfall on someone else in the near future.
https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-incredibly-happy-wed.html
Tabitha was unlike any other woman in the Bible. What set her apart was that she was the first and only known female disciple, a “mathetria” (female disciple) instead of a “mathetes” (male disciple) – one of her kind, which I am sure there were many then, but she was the only person mentioned by name in the Bible. She was much admired for her earnest, exemplary and evident faith.
Not only was she renowned for a disciple, she was “full of good works and almsdeeds” (KJV). No one known individual in the Bible was attested to have “good works,” let alone “full of good works.” Her work was not in flashes - off and on, odds and ends, one and done, open and shut, but in full - time after time, on and on, over and beyond. The help was not conservative, circumstantial and coerced, but consistent, commonplace and charitable.
The noun “alms” (helping the poor, NIV) really means compassion, mercy and kindness in Greek. It is always plural, never singular in the Bible. Generous alms complement good works. Her good works and generous alms were of quality and quantity, in her attitude and amount, in the excellence and the extent. She picked up the slack when others did not, could not or would not. Nowhere in the text did it say she was rich, her family wealthy or servants were hired. She was more wonderful than wealthy as a person. It was in her being rather than her bank, in her heart rather in her heroism, in her passion rather than for her properties. It was open and obvious, not occasional or overhyped.
Be United in Petition
37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. 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.
Quotes on “Friends”:
My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. Henry Ford
A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. Grace Pulpit
A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked.
A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself. Frances Ward Weller
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Oprah Winfrey
True friendship isn't about being there when it's convenient; it's about being there when it's not.
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. Sicilian Proverb
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. Arnold Glasow
The only way to have a friend is to be one. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief. Swedish proverb
Upstairs room (v 37) means upper chamber, or third floor. Sick technically means without strength, but it is usually translated as impotent (John 5:3), diseased (John 6:2) or weak (Acts 20:35). Dorcas’ body was washed (v 37) meant it had happened some time ago. The account next swung to the disciples, who were full of faith. It was not a past event, but a present encounter to them. Delay in verse 38 (“please come” NIV) occurs the only time in the Bible. It means slow, slothful or sluggish. The disciples were unanimous and unapologetic to intercept Peter, invite and implore him to come, despite his busy schedule and burgeoning ministry. There was no one more likable or loved in the community.
When Peter arrived, the sight staggered him. Not a stranger to widows in the past in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1), Peter was still taken back by the scene and sorrow. All the widows (v 39), not one or some, stood by him crying and showing him the coats and garments Dorcas made with them. It was then Peter realized how beloved Dorcas was and how blessed the community was. Dorcas was beloved because she made for them coats and garments out of her own hands. We do not know if she had servants or not, but she worked for the widows, walked with them and won them over. She was a friend, a sister and a witness to the disciples (v 38), saints and widows (v 41).
Robes and other clothings include inside and outside wear, normal and bulky wear, but both are in the plural. Dorcas’ service was regular, repeated and relentless work, not resting, regretting or reserving. There was not a dry eye in the house. All were reflecting, recognizing and reiterating all the good Dorcas had done. The upper chamber was swamped with tears, tenderness and testimonies.
Be Urgent in Prayer
40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
An image sent to my phone say this:
You relax in a ship though you do not know the captain,
You relax in the train without knowing the motorman,
You relax in the bus not knowing the driver,
Why don't you relax in your life while you know that God is its controller?
Trust your Lord.
He is the best planner.
Although Peter was touched by the scene, he had no time to lose and no talk to waste. He hurried the men and women out of the room. “Hurried” is translated 45 times in the Bible as “cast out” and 11 times as “cast,” so it was a physical, painstaking and practical effort to thrust them out or throw them out. The crowd, their clamor and cries becoming a distraction, a din and a drama.
Peter had healed the sick (Acts 4:9, 5:15) but this was way above his league and limits. He did no miracle, but prayed. It was the miracle and power of prayer, not the miracle and power of Peter. He was depending not on a higher power, but the Lord most High (Ps 47:2), the most Mighty (Ps 45:3), the power of the Highest (Luke 1:35). The object of his prayer was God, not Tabitha. After his prayer only did Peter turn or return to Tabitha. He was not praying to the body or for the body, but to the Lord. It was an intensive, insistent and incisive intercessory prayer. The same word for “knees” refers to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41), Stephen at his death by stoning (Acts 7:60) and Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:36). Further it was God’s prerogative, not our perseverance; God’s authority, not men’s ability; His sovereignty, not our supplication.
All the imperatives “Get up” or “Arise” (KJV) in the Bible are surprisingly not found in the Gospels but in the book of Acts (Acts 8:26, 9:6, 34, 40, 10:26, 12:7, 14:10, 26:16), and a quote from Ephesians 5:14. It was a most stunning, simple and straightforward command. The same command was issued by God to Philip (Acts 8:26), Saul (Acts 9:6, 26:16) and Peter (Acts 12:7), so it was not novel or original to Peter, who gladly used it on Aeneas (Acts 9:34) previously and Cornelius next (Acts 12:7), followed by Paul who gratefully extended the command to a lame man (Acts 14:10).
Conclusion: Are there any needy widows, widowers or orphans you can help out financially, emotionally or practically? Have you forgotten the lowly, the lonely or those who feel lost? If there’s nothing you can do for others, you can always do it with them. If you are in no position to share a meal, spend the time or take others out, you can always write a note, say a prayer or make a call to them. The Lord cares for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (Deut 26:13). Do you see those who are hungry, thirsty, friendless, naked, sick, or imprisoned, and minister to them in the name of the Lord? Jesus said, In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matt 25:40).
