"Peter was Available" (Acts 9:36-39)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/9/2018 8:44 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  Peter was Available

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 9:36-39

            Message of the verses:  “36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. 37 And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, "Do not delay in coming to us." 39 So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.”

            The miracle that the Lord did through Peter to Aeneas was healing, but the miracle that would be done in Joppa would be the raising of the dead from a person who was a wonderful believer.  In our sermon last Sunday evening which was done by a guest speaker he asked a question that is answered in this section of Scripture.  The question was if a person moved from our church would there be a big hole left in the church or not.  The answer in the case of Dorcas was that there was a huge hole left in this church after she died, so much that as soon as she died two men went looking for Peter who happened to be very close to the Joppa.  Why was Dorcas missed so much?  “This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.”  We also see in verse 39 that she had made cloths for people.   

            John MacArthur writes the following about the word disciple:  “Mathetria (disciple), the feminine form of mathetes (‘disciple’), appears only here in the New Testament.  Dorcas was certainly an appropriate model of what a Christian woman should be.  She fulfilled her calling as a disciple, as described by Paul in Ephesians 2:10: ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them’; and Colossians 1:10, ‘That you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.’  She was a New Testament example of a Proverbs 31 woman, one who ‘extends her hand to the poor; and…stretches out her hands to the needy’ (Prov. 31:20).’”

            We learned from Acts chapter five that a person who died was buried the same day that they died.  Jerusalem is on the same line as Tucson Arizona and especially in the summer it would not be good to have a dead body lying around as the Jews did not embalm a body like the Egyptians did.  However in this case there must have been a good reason why they laid her body in an upper room.  The reason of course was that they had heard that Peter was in Lydda, and the people in Joppa surely had heard of the miracles that had been done through the Apostles of Jesus, and so their plan was to send for him.

            We have mentioned that Peter spent much time in preaching and teaching the masses, and yet he had time to do one on one ministry as we have now seen in both of the cases where miracles were performed through him.  Once Peter heard the request he arose and went to Joppa with these men as he knew the urgency of this situation. 

            Once Peter was there he went to the upper room and this surely reminds me of the young girl who died, whose father was the head of the synagogue as the story is found in Matthew chapter nine and also in Mark and Luke too.  Peter was with Jesus when He raised this little girl from the dead along with when He raised others from the dead, but this story is very similar as that of the little girl.  One of the things that was different along with the age of these two women is that the people who wanted to see Dorcas raided from the dead were happy to see Peter, while the people around the little girl who were hired mourners laughed at what Jesus told them about her being asleep. 

            We can see from this text that Dorcas was helping to care for the widows in this town, and mostly the New Testament does not take this as serious now as it did then, and I suppose that government funding of entitlements is a reason this ministry is lacking at this time.

            John MacArthur concludes “Many believe that to deny women leadership roles in the church is to deny them the opportunity to minister.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Dorcas neither preached nor led the newlyborn church, yet her ministry in the Joppa church was so crucial as to endear her to all.”  Her loss would have put a large hole in the ministry of this church at Joppa.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Reading again this story has blessed my heart as I can see what kind of things can be done at our church can give a blessing to others.  It had to take a lot of work for Dorcas to do what she did, and working for the Lord is always the best kind of work as the retirement plan is out of this world.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Not take any shortcuts in my work for the Lord.

Memory verse:  Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Pillar of cloud by day and fire by night” (Exodus 13:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who judges those who are outside the church?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/9/2018 9:36 AM