Acts of Kindness

We're gonna have our reading now from the book of Acts chapter 9 versus 36 to 43. So grab your bibles or you can read along on the screen as well. And Peter is traveling around, visiting the Lord's people, and he was in Liddeh and then he goes to Joppa. In Japa, there was a disciple named Tabitha. In Greek, her name is Dorkus.

She was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time, she became ill and died. And her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lida was near Jopa, So when the disciples heard that Peter was in Litter, they sent 2 men to him and urged him. Please come at once.

Peter went with him. 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 Dorkers had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room. Then he got down on his knees and prayed.

Turning towards the dead woman. He said Tabitha, get up. She opened her eyes and seeing Peter, she sat up. 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.

This became known all over Japa and many people believed in the Lord. Peter stayed in Japa for some time with a tanner named Simon. Well, good morning. We're taking a little break, just a week's break in our series in the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. And because it's it's act of kindness this week, It doesn't mean to say that it's only this this week or this month that you have to do an act of kindness, and then after that, we can be horrible to each other.

We're just trying to encourage each other in these strange days. So we're gonna have a look at this this woman. We're gonna have a look at acts chapter 9, this little reading that we've just had. And I hope I hope it's a blessing to us. Let me pray.

Father God help us now, please give us ears to hear, touch us where we need to be touched, rebuke us, encourage us, spur us on, where we need all of those things. And help us to be people that do that to others as well. So help us in this lovely, real event that happened in the first century, help us to see truths today for our own lives in Jesus' name, amen. Well, as you can see, the title of this sermon is is quite in your face, I guess. And it is a question that's worth asking because it it really shows us what our priorities are and what we're what we're really about.

Will the church cry when you die? Will the church cry when you die? When you die, will people be sad and Jesus be glad. When you die, will the Lord of glory say, well done good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things.

I will put you in charge of many. Come and share your master's happiness. Well, that's what it will be when you die. I love 1 pastor advising his young people. I just love this when he talked to his young people and he said, When you were born, you alone were crying and everyone else was happy.

The important question I want to ask is this, When you die, are you alone gonna be happy and everyone else crying? It's a great question, isn't it? And the answer really depends According to the Bible, in whether you're a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ or you're a servant of self. It's basically the 2 choices. If you're living as a servant, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, the church will cry.

When you die. If not, they may put on a few sort of sympathies, and a few of us turn up. In acts chapter 9, we we we meet this church in Joper, which is now modern day Jaffa. But it's Jopper. And there was a very famous profit who came and it had something to do with fish.

If you want this prize from from Dean, then he's gonna have to pay up. You're a very famous person who went to Ninevah. Just think about who that is. And then, if you can find that out, then Dean will give you a prize, and he'll he'll be very kind because it's active kind this month, and it'll be nothing under 10 quid. Anyway, we we go to Jopper, and we find this church.

And the church is crying, because someone's died. A disciple of Jesus called Tabitha has died, and they're crying. Look at verse 36, In Joper, there was a disciple named we'll come on to that in a minute, actually. There was a disciple named Tabitha in Greek name was Dorcus, She was always doing good and helping the poor, then verse 37. About that time, she became ill and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.

And then verse 39, the second half of it, the widow stood around him. That's Peter crying. And showing him the robes and the other clothing that Dorcus or Tabatha had made while she was still with them. Do you see that? The church are crying because a disciple has died, Tabitha Dorcas.

And you notice that the members that are crying the loudest are the poor ones, the widows. The ones that the society would have seen as pretty unimportant and unimpressive people. They're only widows. They're only poor. She helped them.

She served them. She served the lowly. And they're crying because they miss her, and they miss her input into their lives. So let's go on to have a look at Tabatha. That's what we're doing.

Just very briefly today. We're looking at Tabitha. And the first point is Tabitha, the beautiful 1. Verse 36, In Jopper, there was a discipled named Tabitha. In Greek her name is Dorcas, she was always doing good and helping the poor.

Now it seems interesting to me that the writer Luke who wrote this, he wrote the gospel of Luke, and he wrote acts. Sort of is trying to draw our attention to her name by mentioning it these number times. And perhaps he's trying to show us something beautiful and graceful here. I think that could be the case. In Hebrew, the word Jopper, the place where Tabitha lived and died, means beautiful, radiant, shining.

So we're introduced to this town called beautiful, Shining, Radien. Tabatha, that's her name in Arameik, and it means Gazelle, And Dorkus, that's her name in Greek and it means Gazelle. Yeah? So you could read verse 36 like this. In the town beautiful was a discipled called gazelle which in Greek is Gazelle and she's always doing good and helping the poor.

Now, if you know anything about the bible, the old testament, Gazelle is often a description of a beautiful woman. She's like a gazelle. Yeah? Here's what 1 bible scholar says about the use of gazelle. He says the gazelle is distinguished For its slender and beautiful form, its graceful movements and its soft but brilliant eyes, It is frequently introduced by the Hebrews as an image of feminine loveliness.

Yeah? So if you wanna cheer up your wife, you say, God, you're like a gazelle. You know? You're a gazelle. It's female beauty.

Now, Luke, clearly isn't interested as the bible isn't really in her physical outward bodily looks, although she may well have been gorgeous physically. But she is beautiful as a disciple, and that's what he's on about. There's a beautiful, slender, soft beautiful Gazelle like approach to this woman called Tabitha, who is called Dorkus, who means Gazelle Gazelle. So you could translate verse 36 like this then. In the town beautiful, There was a true follower of Jesus called Gisele, gracious, and gorgeous in her care and love for others.

She was always leaping into acts of kindness even to unimportant people like widows. God chose a beautiful place to do what we'll see as a beautiful miracle for a beautiful woman who was devoted to doing beautiful deeds to 1 beautiful people. And that tells us something about who God is, isn't it? That tells us just what God loves. And he's showing us the early church and what God loves about the early church.

That leads me to my second point then. Tabitha a disciple. She's beautiful because she's a disciple. A disciple is a follower of someone, a learner. Someone that's putting into practice the 1 that they're following.

In the new testament, the disciples are often called disciples because they have been with Jesus. It talks about the disciples have been with Jesus. How do you know there are follower of Jesus? Because they have been with Jesus. Now clearly, Tabitha is a disciple of Jesus because she walks like Jesus, She follows Jesus and his priorities, and you could honestly say it looks like she's been with Jesus on a daily basis.

The word disciple used here is only used here in the whole new testament, this word disciple, It's the feminine form of disciple. It's used no other place in the whole of the New Testament. The feminine approach to discipleship or the feminine use of the word disciple. So she is Tabitha, a great example to us as as disciples, but particularly a great example to women. That's what it's telling us.

He's she's showing us all of us how to what a disciple looks like, but particularly what female disciples looked like in the early church. She's a follower of Jesus. She puts on his priorities. Let me read a parable of Jesus. It's a long 1, It's in Matthew chapter 25.

Let me read it and see whether you can spot Tabatha in it or her obeying this this this very interesting and challenging parable that Jesus gives. Let me read the whole of it. When the son of man, that Jesus comes in his glory, and all the people all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people 1 from another as a shepherd, separate sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come.

You who are blessed by my father. Take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 4, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger and you were invited me in. I needed clothes, and you clothed me. I was ill and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord.

When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing cloves and clothe you. When did we see you ill or in prison? And go and visit you. The king will reply, truly I tell you, Whatever you did for 1 of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

The king replied, truly I tell you, whatever you did for 1 of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me. Then he said to those on his left, depart from me, You who are cursed into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you did nothing. You gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.

I needed clothes, and you did not clothe me. I was ill and imprisoned, and you did not look after me. And they will answer Lord. When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison and did not help you? When did when did that happen?

And he replies, truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for 1 of the least of these, you did not do for me. He replied, truly, I tell you whatever you did not do for 1 of the least of these you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment and the righteous to eternal life. That's powerful, isn't it? Did you hear what Jesus is saying there?

That's really powerful stuff. And it's a challenge to us, isn't it? What you did for the least, the most insignificant person in the church, you actually did it for me, and what you didn't do, you didn't do it for me. Tapatha, I can hear her saying to Jesus, can't you? Lord, when did Lord, My Lord.

The 1 that I love, when when did I see you needing clothes? Jesus, the king, the Lord will say, you did it for the widows in Jopper. So you did it for me. She was a disciple. She was a disciple.

She was beautiful. Because she was a disciple of Jesus, and that leads to my third point, Tabitha and the good works that she does. Because She was a disciple and believed the priorities of Jesus the Lord, she did good works, and she did them as we've already seen. For the least people, the widows. Verse 36 again, in Jhopper, there was a disciple named Tabitha.

In Greek, her name is Dorcas, She was always doing good and helping the poor, and then verse 39, all the widows stood around to Peter crying and showing him the robes and the other clothings that Dorcus or Tabitha had made while she was still with them. Her heart was in tune with God the Father. Look at these look at these words that you could choose lots of them. Psalm 68, sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds, rejoice before him. His name is the Lord.

That's who God is, and you can sing his praises. But listen, who is he? A Father to the Fatherist. A defender of the widows. Is God in his holy dwelling?

That's who he is. God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious live in sun scorched land. That's who God is. Look at this in James chapter 1 in the new testament. Religion that God our father accepts us pure and fault.

This is this. To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted from the world. So Tabatha is a disciple of Jesus, and she's doing good works, and she knows their good works because they're utterly in line with God the father. She's in tune with God the Father. She's a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, and she's doing good works.

Tabitha is her name, and her needle is her fame. That's who she is. Simple, Unassuming needlework that needed doing, needlework that needed doing. When it says robes and and other clothing in our version, it's not really a great translation. It really means essential gear.

It means undergarments, and outer garments, underwear, and outward clothing. She's making underwear that people don't see You know, I mean, I'm not sure well, I know. Sorry. People wear their trousers so low that when they bend over, we see we see Kelvin Klein. But I never understand why everybody's wearing his underwear.

But, you know, but normally, we are not meant to see under clothing. They're unseen, undercooked. These are ordinary things. And yet, if you don't wear them, you'll be noticed. Or if they're filthy and got holes in them, you'll be noticed.

But they're totally unnoticed normally. She was doing a work in many ways that was just so ordinary, but people without them, it was a disaster. Do you see what I'm saying here? Cabbatha is working away, and you may not notice her work unless she wasn't there, then you'd notice her work. She's betrayed as someone always doing good.

Always looking after the poor. I was naked is the testimony, and you clothe me. What am I gonna do now you've gone, Tabitha? What am I gonna do now? Say the widows.

Tabbatha saw the need, and like a gazelle, she jumped into action, always always doing good. The word always doing good means devoted, totally controlled by it, taken up by it, morning and evening, dreaming about it, waking up in the morning, she was devoted to good works, this tabatha. She wasn't just sort of filling in for an act of kindness this month. This was her whole lifestyle. This was her.

I think you should laugh if you say, Tabitha, I think we're doing act of kindness this month. What are you talking about? It's it's my life. You see, we've got to get this. The Christian life is not just about knowing certain theological doctrines.

It is that, doctrine and and theology is absolutely essential and very important, but it's not just that. Being a Christian, the Christian life is not just having a certain character, it is that Your character is so important. Much more important than your personality. Your character is vital important. But it's more than knowing doctrine and it's more than having a character, it is in fact doing good works every day.

Here's some verses, and you could choose so many of them. Here's just a few. Titus chapter 3 in the new testament, verse 8, and then verse 14. Listen to these words. This is a trustworthy saying.

Now Paul has already said there is a trustworthy saying about who the lord Jesus Christ is, so he's into theology. But now this is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things. So he's writing to titus this pastor of a local church and says, you better stress this? So I better stress it then.

I want you to stress this. Can I stress this? You should be stressed about this. We're all stressed up and everybody talk about all the great stress I'm under. Here's a stress I wanna lay on you.

Yeah? I wanna make you more stressed and more pulling up so stressed. Good. I want you to be stressed about these things. Listen.

So so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. You need to devote yourself to doing what is good. Big finger. Big preacher. I wish my finger could go right up to the camera.

You, you sitting there with the coffee and that nice bun that all of us want and we're freezing here. You, you, Yeah? Be careful to devote yourself to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Then verse 14, look, our people must learn.

You must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. I mean, goodness, this year feels like it's been unproductive, but don't let it be unproductive anymore. God is interested in you and the sacred work you do daily. Here's ephesians. Look at ephesians.

Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 10. For it is by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourself as a gift of God, justification by works by Christ alone, not by works. Yeah? Nothing to do with your works. Let's argue justification by faith and never do anything.

No. Verse 9, not by works, so no 1 can boast, so stop boasting. For, we are God's handy work created in Christ Jesus to do good works. You're not saved by good works, but you're created to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do. He has strata strategically place you whoever you are in this time to do strategic good works for the church.

I don't know what that is. It may be sewing. Well, so then. So be it. So when Tabatha died, she left a legacy, and it was a legacy of lives touched by God's love.

She became sick and died, and her good work ceased and dropper Joper City Church was devastated and cried. They cried. I think this is quite amazing because she died, and she was just about to hear the words from the Lord Jesus Christ. Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things, a few needles, I'll put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master's happiness. She's just about to hear that and she's called back to dropper. Which leads me to my fourth point. Tabatha, because Elle leaps to life again. Verse 38 of our passage.

Litter was near Jopper. So when the disciples heard that Peter was in Litter, They sent 2 men to him and urged him, please come at once, 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 clothings, the outer, and the inner clothing that Dorcus had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them out of the room. Then he got on his knees and prayed, turning towards the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up.

She opened her eyes and seeing Peter, she sat up. He looked at her, he took her by the hand, and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. What an amazing miracle. Yeah?

I love the fact that Peter was getting on with the work, but as soon as he was asked, by the church to go back and comfort the widows. He was on it straight away. I mean, he could've said, look, I'm what? I'm the apostle peter. I've got a campaign going on up the road here.

I I kinda need, you know, if it was an important person, if Caesar or someone wanted to talk to me, but that's a bunch of old widows. Probably over 60 if you read the scriptures and, you know, work out the ages of these people. They're, you know, there's a bunch of old people, aren't they? So they can wait, but he's immediately on it because he doesn't think like that. They aren't just a bunch of old widows that are unimportant.

They're the Lord's people, and so he's on it. And they're important. And he goes for it, and he raises Tabitha to life. Tabitha is the only adult woman in the bible to be resurrected. In this way.

Actually, there are only 2 adults, as far as you can see in the bible. It's lazarus and and Tabitha, 1 man, 1 woman, and they're raised to life, all the others are children or young people. So this is a noteworthy thing And both of those, by the way, are noted for their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Says something, doesn't it? So Peter sent them out the room, and then he says Tabitha, get up.

The actual Greek is Tabitha Kume. Tapitha comes. Does that remind you of anything? When Jesus said to the little girl, to Leatha come, little girl rise. See, this is Peter's ministry being authenticated the same as as Jesus.

And this is the New Testament Church. It's full of these sort of people that have come alive and are vital to the church. And then I love verse 42. Just look at verse 42 of the passage. This became known all over Japa, and many people believed in the Lord, Peter stayed in Jhopper for for some time with a a towner named Simon.

There's a revival going on, loads of people believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, why because of the simple life of Tabitha, that's why, a woman with her sewing kit, working the simple people, the widows. She, in her serving, saved souls, her sowing saved souls. She was much needed in the church, as much needed as Peter, the preacher. And so revival comes. Why?

Because of tabitha, it wouldn't have happened without her. Do you see the simple sowing of good works brings the Word of God to the whole area. So let me finish. I want to encourage you to be a gazelle. Don't you want to be a gazelle?

Look at my pictures here. There's a gazelle. They're wonderful. They leap about that picture there. Have you ever seen them when they're in the when they're when they're in the savannahs and the grass is this high and a gazelle is trying to find another gazelle.

But this the grass is this high. It leaps up like that and looks around, what done then goes down? That's what I'm asking you to be. Leep and look. Leap and look and see who needs serving.

Leap and look. Leap into good works. Most of us when we're young have a desire to do something meaningful. Don't you want to be meaningful? You don't just wanna be a pleb with just another young person and nothing in life.

You want you wanna be meaningful. You wanna be significant. You want people to look at you and to be significant. Well, God will honor the desire to be meaningful if you serve. The world may think you're wasting your life, but God doesn't?

You serve a widow and he sees it. It's so wonderful. The good news is that you are created in Christ Jesus, you were created to do good works. So leap and look, see where you can do them and fall down again. Think outside of yourself, and your little world.

That gazelle would just be in its little world surrounded by grass thinking of itself and, oh, it's got a scratch on its back, unless it leaped up and looked and said, okay, where can I serve? I think I saw someone over there. Let's let's make headway. Look outside your world. No wonder we're small minded and we get so fed up because we're just looking at our tiny little world.

Look into someone else's world. Leap up. You don't need to save the planet. All that stuff young people must say, no, you don't need to save the planet. Just need to get your sewing kit out and serve someone.

Start there and guess what, you'll save the planet. That's what happened to her. She just looked after the widows and there was revival in Jopper. You see that? She served and got on at it.

Be a gazelle. Practice being beautiful. They are very beautiful things, aren't they? Practice, being beautiful, practice doing good, simple act of kindness, perhaps every day. Before you go to sleep, think about what you could do.

A thank you to someone is an act of kindness, is there someone you could thank. We have all the resources, texts, emails, messaging, things to say thank you to someone. If you are naturally a grumbler, stop it. If you look at your texts and your emails and it's truly, you see most of them are or some grumbling aspect, stop it and try and think of something that you could thank someone for. Challange yourself.

Be beautiful for a change. Yeah? So that when someone gets a message from you, it's not like, oh, not even gonna bother to read it. But it's like, oh wee. And there's a gazelle jumping in the air.

Yeah? Encourage. Ask around. How can I serve Jesus? I want to know, ask.

Listen for the needs of people. Look If you don't know the needs of people, you're not gonna be kind, you're not gonna help them. Acts of kind this month, I don't want to discourage anyone in Cornerstone, genuinely don't. I think there are thousands of acts of kindness. You can leave those pictures up.

Thousands of acts of kindness going on in Cornerstone all the time, and it's not fair just to put it to a month. The the the acts of kindness month is a kindness to you. Supposed to be. He's just trying to cheer us up. We're all stuck in.

We're all looking at ourselves in the mirror. We're all getting fatter, and we're all fed up. Well, it's just to cheer us up. So the acts of kindness is just trying to cheer us up. It's just trying to cheer us up.

I'm not saying you're not doing them. Just trying to cheer us up. And if you're a receiver of acts of kindness, don't take it for granted. Yeah? Don't demand it even.

And it's interesting when you look up, I started doing a whole study on widows. Because of this passage. And it's interesting what Paul says about widows, and there are obviously some people that are saying, I'm a widow, and they're just sitting around lazy, getting the church to do everything for them. And he says, no. Don't actually, don't even put a widow on the list unless they're over 60.

That's what he says. Let them go out to work. It's not an act of kindness just to make lazy people stay lazy. No. The church has got a strategically think how it helps people, obviously.

There's a lot of that. But if you're receiving acts of kindness, don't demand it. Don't be 1 of those things that I demand it. Why aren't I receiving it? You know?

And don't and don't take it for granted. Be absolutely kind back and very thankful, very thankful. And work out how you can actually sort of okay. How can I be kind to someone else when they're in difficult situations? But, however, I've said that, we do sometimes, and some of us need this, need to allow people to be kind to us.

Sometimes it's just a pride thing, isn't it? Where we we we're so self contained. We won't even allow anyone to buoying up and be kind to us. Sometimes we're just gonna allow people to be kind just and rejoice in it. God sees our acts of kindness.

A glass of water to someone who's thirsty, some underwear to people that haven't got it. You may think you're an unimportant tabitha But it's Tabitha's, Dorcus is, Gazelles that grows the church They are fundamental, the stitching in the church that pulls things together. So let's let's let's go let's go for this acts of kindness. Hey, listen, listen, blokes. I know what our potential is here.

I know it. Oh, Axicon is great. Yeah, Anne will bake a cake. Yeah. Well, I can't bake, so I can't do anything.

No. No. No. No. Here's the challenge.

Here's the challenge. Right? Let the women do that if they want to do that. Or so or whatever. But you blokes, you think of a blokey act of kindness.

Yeah? Some blokey act of kindness. Don't just write a check by the way. Although, that would be nice and, you know, but but, you know, and you think of some blokey thing that you do or you as couple do together, blokes, acts of kindness. Yeah?

And you you young blokes. You sit in there and all in I can see you. Yeah? Don't say no. No.

Wait. You do an act of kindness. Go go for it. Do an act of kindness somehow. Yeah?

And then those of us who receive it, let's be thankful and kind back. Tabitha. Woman, ain't she? Yeah. If there's any girl who's gonna be born, I don't know why you would take the name, not take the name Tabitha.

It seems very strange to me that any parents would call their kids anything but Tabatha. Over to you, Dean. So let's pray that the lord would help us apply this sermon. Follow God, we thank you again for your word. We thank you for this amazing story for this amazing woman.

And for the amazing gospel that had such an effect in her life that she was just changed into this beautiful Gazelle. We follow – we do ask that you would help us individuals to to to think through how we might obey you in in these words to us, Lord. That parable is so powerful how we serve you by serving the church and serving Christians. So to help us as a church to think through these things, these very, very strong warnings and powerful stories. We thank you so much that this is how you change us.

This is how you get into our hearts. You get past our our heads, all the logic, all the arguments we put in the way. Lord, thank you that you do give us these brilliant stories so that that gets bypassed and it goes straight to the heart. We pray that you would help us to think through help us to use our brains to think through how we can serve 1 another, how we can serve those who need it. Lord, help us to think through those in our home group, those who we serve alongside in ministries, whether that be Cornerstone kids or international cafe, Lord, in normal times, we would be seeing lots of each other and needs might be more obvious.

So we're going to have to work hard, but we do pray that you would help us to not just waste time watching a box set, but to sit down, get a pen out, get some paper, write some names, do some praying, do some reading, meditate and think this through. And lord, that you might be glorified, that the church, there might be revival, lord, And why would why would you not do that through cornerstone? And so, lord, once again, we thank you thank you for your great kindness to us, in speaking to us. And we pray that we might not just waste this but do something with it in Jesus' name, we pray, amen.