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 did 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 pleas 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
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