Lessons from Dorcas

Introduction · 4 min

Introduction

Hook

Most people in Scripture are remembered for what they said. Dorcas is remembered for what she made. She lived in Joppa, a disciple “full of good works and almsdeeds which she did” (v. 36). Then she fell sick and died. When Peter came, the room was full of widows, weeping and holding up the coats and garments she had sewn for them (v. 39). Peter prayed, said, “Tabitha, arise,” and she opened her eyes, and many in Joppa believed on the Lord (vv. 40–42).

Need

Most Christians will never preach to thousands or work a miracle. We wonder whether what we do for the Lord matters at all, or whether faith is mainly something we believe and talk about. And when we bury someone we love, we wonder how far faith can reach. Dorcas’s short story answers all three: faith acts, quiet service shapes a whole church, and faith in God does not stop at the grave.

Read

Read Acts 9:36–43 aloud. Ask the congregation to listen for what Luke says Dorcas did (v. 36), what the widows showed Peter (v. 39), and what the disciples did when she died (v. 38).

Luke introduces Dorcas as a disciple and in the same breath calls her “full of good works”; we are not justified by works of the law, but a faith that never acts is dead, and a disciple with no fruit has to ask what they are doing.

• A disciple full of good works: the first thing Luke tells us about her, after her name, is that she was a disciple, and the second is that she “was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did” (v. 36). Her faith and her works are introduced together. Paul wanted Christian women adorned “through good works” (1 Timothy 2:10), and a widow to be “well reported of for good works” (5:10).
• Not justified by works: “no man is justified by the law before God… for, The righteous shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:10–14). We cannot keep a law perfectly and so earn our place; “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” Dorcas did not sew her way into heaven. “By grace have ye been saved through faith… not of works, that no man should glory” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
• But faith acts: “faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself… show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith” (James 2:17–20). The demons believe and shudder; they do not obey. Paul and James do not contradict each other: we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10), and “by works a man is justified, and not only by faith” (James 2:24).
• What are we producing? “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also” (Matthew 6:19–21). “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit… Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 7:17–19). If we are not producing good works, then what are we doing?

On screen, one click each

1. Full Luke names her a disciple, and the next thing he says is her good works. Acts 9:36
2. Not earned We are not justified by works of the law; Christ bore its curse for us. Galatians 3:10–14
3. Faith acts Faith that never moves us to act is dead, however sincere it sounds. James 2:17–20
4. Fruit A good tree bears good fruit. If we produce nothing, what are we doing? Matthew 6:19–21; 7:17–19

Illustration

When the Son of man comes in His glory, the King will say to those on His right hand, “I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat… naked, and ye clothed me.” The righteous are surprised: “Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee?… or naked, and clothed thee?” They were not keeping score. They had simply been feeding and clothing people. “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me” (Matthew 25:35–40). Every coat Dorcas made for a widow, she made for the Lord.

Potential Activity to Recommend

Think about the last time your faith cost you something: an evening, a meal, a little money. James warns against saying to a brother in need, “Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled,” and giving him nothing (James 2:15–16). This week, when you see a need you can meet, don’t only pray about it. Meet it, the way Dorcas met the widows’ need with coats.

Transition

Dorcas was not a preacher or an apostle. But when she died, a whole room testified to what her service had done.

Dorcas’s service was quiet, but when she died the room was full of widows holding up what she had made; God honors service done in secret, leaving good undone leaves a void, and faith is a way of life, so find your way to serve, however small.

• Quiet but powerful: “all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them” (v. 39). No sermon of hers is recorded, only clothes. Yet the disciples sent two men ten miles to say, “Delay not to come on unto us” (v. 38). A whole church felt the loss of one woman with a needle.
• God honors those who serve in silence: “let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee” (Matthew 6:3–4). “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints” (Hebrews 6:10).
• Neglect leaves a void: “To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). When the Grecian widows were neglected in the daily ministration, murmuring filled the gap (Acts 6:1). When Christians leave the good undone, someone or something else fills that place, and not always for good.
• A lifestyle, not a location: “whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Dorcas’s ministry did not happen in an assembly; it happened at home, one garment at a time. “Pure religion and undefiled… is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27).
• Find your way to serve: “according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Not everyone can preach; Dorcas could sew. “Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days” (Ecclesiastes 11:1). A cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple “shall in no wise lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42).

On screen, one click each

1. Quiet power Her service was quiet, but the widows held it up, and God sees and rewards it. Acts 9:39; Matthew 6:3–4
2. The void Good we know to do and leave undone is sin, and leaves a gap others fill. James 4:17
3. Everywhere Faith is a lifestyle, not a location: do all in the name of the Lord. Colossians 3:17
4. Your gift Find your way to serve, however small it seems, and cast your bread. 1 Peter 4:10; Ecclesiastes 11:1

Illustration

At Bethany a woman broke an alabaster cruse and poured precious ointment over Jesus’ head, and some in the room called it waste. Jesus answered, “She hath done what she could… Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her” (Mark 14:3–9). She did not do everything; she did what she could. Two thousand years later we are still talking about her, and about a woman in Joppa who made coats.

Potential Activity to Recommend

Dorcas used what she had: a needle and thread. Use what you have this week, whether a kitchen, a car, a phone or a free afternoon, for someone in the church who needs it: a widow, a shut-in, a young family, a new Christian. And don’t announce it; let your Father see it in secret (Matthew 6:4).

Transition

Her friends wept over her body. But they did more than weep: they sent for Peter.

When Dorcas died, the disciples hoped and sent for Peter; Martha and Mary had let their faith stop at the grave, but David trusted beyond it, and God’s delays are not abandonment.

• Hope that sent for help: she died, they washed her and laid her in an upper chamber (v. 37), and instead of only preparing to bury her they sent two men to Peter: “Delay not to come on unto us” (v. 38). Luke does not say what they expected, only that they would not leave it there. Peter “kneeled down and prayed” and said, “Tabitha, arise” (v. 40), “and many believed on the Lord” (v. 42).
• Faith that stopped at the grave: Martha and then Mary met Jesus with the same words, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:21, 32). They believed He could heal; they did not expect Him to raise. At the tomb Martha objected, “by this time the body decayeth,” and Jesus answered, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11:39–40).
• Confidence beyond death: when David’s child was sick he fasted and wept, but when the child died he rose and worshipped, and said, “I shall go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:22–23). David could not bring the child back, but he knew death was not the end. Christians “sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–14).
• Delay does not mean we are forsaken: “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah” (Isaiah 55:8–9). Mockers ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” but “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward” (2 Peter 3:3–9). God’s waiting is patience, not neglect.

On screen, one click each

1. Hope Her friends wept, but they also sent for Peter: “Delay not to come.” Acts 9:37–38
2. If only “Lord, if thou hadst been here”: Mary’s faith stopped at the grave. John 11:32
3. I shall go David lost his son and still said with confidence, “I shall go to him.” 2 Samuel 12:22–23
4. Not forsaken God’s ways are higher than ours; His delay is patience, not neglect. Isaiah 55:8–9; 2 Peter 3:5–9

Illustration

When word came that Lazarus was sick, John writes, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was” (John 11:5–6). He loved them, and so He waited. To Martha and Mary those two days looked like He did not care. Jesus told His disciples, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe” (11:15). Then He stood at the tomb, wept with them (11:35), and cried, “Lazarus, come forth” (11:43). What looked like delay was the way to a greater glory.

Potential Activity to Recommend

Bring back to God the prayer you stopped praying because the answer was slow, or the situation you decided was past His reach. Pray it again this week the way the disciples in Joppa sent for Peter: expecting God to act, and leaving the how and the when to Him (Isaiah 55:8–9).

Transition

Dorcas rose, and she would die again. But the Lord in whose name she was raised has promised a resurrection that does not end.

Conclusion · 4 min

Conclusion

Recap

Faith acts: Dorcas was a disciple full of good works (v. 36). Faith influences: her quiet service filled a room with witnesses (v. 39). Faith hopes without limits: her friends sent for Peter when others would have sent for the undertaker (v. 38).

Gospel

Dorcas rose, but she died again. Lazarus rose, but he died again. Jesus Christ rose “and dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him” (Romans 6:9). He is “the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). That is the hope that made Dorcas’s good works worth doing and her friends’ faith worth having: “your labor is not vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Invitation

Dorcas was a disciple first, and her works followed. If you have not obeyed the gospel, begin where she began: believe in Jesus, repent, confess Him, and be baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38; Romans 10:9–10; Galatians 3:26–27), and rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3–4). If you are a Christian whose faith has gone quiet, find your way to serve this week; and if you are carrying a grief or a prayer that seems past hope, let the church pray with you (James 5:16).

Close

Read 1 Corinthians 15:58 together, and let it be the last word.