25 April

I wonder if we are ready for each of our worlds to be turned upside down?  Well that's what could happen if God starts taking us at our word when we pray one of our most familiar prayers: "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven"  Have we really thought about what we are asking for when we pray that part of the Lord's Prayer I wonder.  'Thy kingdom come' - well the Kingdom of God is a kingdom that's quite unlike any other kingdom.  Scripture speaks of it in terms of, what theologians describe as, the 'already' and the 'not yet.'  The 'already' in that the Kingdom has already invaded the present with the coming of Jesus; and also continues to break into the present. The 'not yet' in that it's when Jesus returns that we shall see the Kingdom come in all its fullness, a time which some New Testament writers describe as 'the age to come.'  This is what Bishop Tom Wright says about it:  "Everything will be upside down and inside out... the first will be last and the last first."

The first will be last and the last first.  Well our reading from the Book of Acts this morning makes me wonder whether one of those upside down and inside out consequences might be that some of those who love to occupy the limelight and draw attention to all that they are doing might be amongst the last and conversely some of those of whom little is known and quietly get on with God has called them to do to might be first. 

And it's with that in mind I would like to look at this story of Tabitha (or Dorcas as she is known when her name is translated from the Aramaic into Greek.)  I suppose Tabitha is fairly well known because she is in the Bible but she's not known as a leader or teacher or anything like that.  She's just an ordinary person with a heart for God and a rather unusual story. 

And as I read this story of Tabitha, it makes me think that there are many faithful servants of God like her who are some of the great heroes of the Kingdom. They don't make a great fuss about what they are doing but quietly get on with the work to which they believe God has called them. Often what they do might go unnoticed but there is one who does take notice and takes great delight in them.  

Well we don't know a great deal about Tabitha, in fact all we do know about her is contained in six of the seven verses I read to you from Acts.  But I believe these few verses still have a lot to say to us today about how we can be an effective witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.

One thing we do know about Tabitha, and this comes over loud and clear and that is she is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Luke, in fact, tells us this about her before he tells us anything else.  Look at verse 36: "In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha."   Tabitha was a disciple - and that is my first heading for this morning.

Tabitha was disciple

Tabitha belongs to a fellowship of Christian believers in Joppa.  I have looked at what a number of Bible commentaries say about this and there seems to be a general consensus that the church to which she belongs was planted through the ministry of Philip the evangelist.   So it may well have been the case that Tabitha first heard the good news of the Kingdom and how she could receive new life in Christ from Philip or, alternatively she may have heard it from a friend - we don't know. 

But whatever the case there was a time when she invited Jesus to be the Lord of her life.  This was not just a mental assent to a statement of beliefs.  No - it was far more than that.  In coming to faith, the Lord Jesus Christ was now a living reality in her experience through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.  And her desire now was to live a life pleasing to him and this is reflected in the area of service in which she is called and it's this which brings us to my next heading.

 So firstly Tabitha was a disciple and now secondly:

Discipleship is a call to service

Well as followers of Jesus we are called to share in a role that Jesus made so very much his own; the role of a servant.  Do you remember what he said:  "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."  Graham Kendrick sums it up very well in the song we sang earlier:
"This is our God - the servant King, he calls us now to follow him, to bring our lives as a daily offering - of worship to the servant King."

And if we look again at verse 36 we can see how the servant role is expressed in the life of Tabitha.  This is what it says:  "In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha.... who was always doing good and helping the poor." 

Tabitha was one of those people who instinctively knew what God had called her to do.  She had looked around and saw a need and knew there is something she could do to help meet that need.  She knew she was good at sewing and making clothes and that this was a gift she could use to help others in desperate need.

And this is what she did without making a fuss or song or dance about it. We might not be called to be a leader or a preacher.  We might not be very good at talking about our faith (although I hope, as the Apostle Peter says in one of his letters, we can all be ready to give a reason for the hope that's within us.)   We might not be confident at the thought of joining the intercessions rota and we might run a mile at any suggestion of being part of the Healing on the Beach team but there are things we can do for him.  Martin Luther has an interesting take on this.  This is what he says:  ".....in making shoes, the cobbler serves God, obeys his calling from God, quite as much as the preacher of the Word."   So although our special area of service might not get us noticed it does not mean it is less important in God's sight.

Whatever we believe God has called us to do, the important thing is that we do it for his glory as working unto him.  This is something Jesus talked about in his Sermon on the Mount.  Let me quote to you what he says from the Message translation: "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it.  It might be good theatre, but the God who made you won't be applauding." 

Let us now move on to next part of Tabitha's story, which takes us to my third heading.  So firstly Tabitha was a disciple; secondly discipleship is a call to service and now:

Discipleship is doing what Jesus would do

It seems that the church in Joppa was a very caring one.  We see this not only in Tabitha's life but also when the story takes an unexpected turn and she is overcome with a sickness from which she dies.  She might not have had any high profile role but even in these few verses we get some insight into how much she is thought of by those who know her.  In fact, they are so concerned about what has happened that two of them arrange to ask the Apostle Peter to come over as quickly as possible.  Exactly why they think he can help is not too clear but they know he is in the area and they seem to think it would be good if he could come.

Peter hurries to get there as soon as he can and as soon as he arrives they take him to the room in which Tabitha's body has been prepared for burial but it seems the funeral has already started.  But there is a touching scene here in which some of the ladies from the church start showing Peter some of the things that Tabitha had made in a way that shows how much she meant to them.  "Look she made this and she made this."

And at this point I try and imagine what might be going through Peter's mind; "Lord, what are they expecting me to do?"  In fact it reminds me of an Anglican clergyman invited to speak at a meeting I had been involved in arranging a few years ago.  And at the time he was quite well known as having a healing ministry.  But one of the things he used to say was that, when he was at theological college they taught him how to bury the dead, whereas Jesus taught his disciples how to raise the dead.

Well Peter was taught well, Jesus did, in fact set an example of modelling a pattern of ministry which he commissioned his disciples to follow.  Peter no doubt remembered quite vividly the time when he, James and John were with Jesus and Jesus was called to the bedside of Jairus' daughter who had just died.  He will have recalled how Jesus spoke God's word of life into that situation and how the little girl was raised to life again. 

So in the case of Tabitha we see Peter following, almost exactly, what he had seen Jesus do.   He first of all prays.  Look at what it says in verse 40: "Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed."  And as we follow the narrative through Peter speaks God's word of life to Tabitha and tells her to get up.  And this is one of those occasions when we see God's Kingdom authority breaking into the present.  Tabitha opens her eyes, and seeing Peter sits up and he takes her hand and helps her to her feet.

The outcome in the case of Tabitha, of course, is quite spectacular, but what about some of the everyday, but sometimes difficult situations which affect us?  Are we prepared to speak God's word of life into them - to pray for his Kingdom to break into the situation; for his light to be brought to the darkness, or does our everyday experience and cultural conditioning cause us not to expect anything to happen?

There is a story told of St Thomas Aquinas who as a young man went to see the Pope.  Before being granted his audience he is met by a well-dressed cleric who, as he looks disapprovingly  at Thomas' black robe and dirty feet, turns to the gilded ceiling and declares with some pride, "I suppose the church can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have we none'.  But Thomas quick in his response says and:  "perhaps that's the reason the Church cannot also say, 'Take up your bed, rise and walk.'"

So where do we stand?  Are we prepared to let God be God or do we seek to put limits on what we feel he can do?  Well let us remind ourselves of some words of the   Apostle Paul who, in one of his letters says, that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even begin to imagine: according to his power that is at work within in us.

So if we want to experience God moving in the way that Paul describes, something is going to have to change; we have to the move from believing in God to believing God and, of course, for many of us that can be a big jump to make.  But if we long to see the eternal breaking into the present and God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven we seriously have to ask the question: 'Are we ready for it?' and it's one we need to ask because if we really mean what we pray for, it may well have the consequence of turning our world upside down and inside out.