A Really Good Lady – Acts 9:36-43

Besides being one of the oldest, I think that Psalm 90 is one of the most beautiful of all the Psalms.

It is a blend of theology, instruction, exhortation, and faith.

It was written by Moses – not by someone with the name of Moses, but it was written by Moses.

After an exquisite introduction: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

After the introduction Moses reminds us that – before the Lord, man is nothing but a worthless worm.

Standing beside the eternal God, we are no better than withering grass.

And what’s worse is that we are sinners, deserving only wrath from this eternal and holy God.

“For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.”

But God is gracious, and therefore we can come before Him with the prayer of Moses:

“O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us.”

In the midst of describing the comparative weakness of humanity, Moses describes us by saying:

“We spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”

Generally speaking our lives are only as substantial as a short-story, which is read and then forgotten.

How important it is then that we learn from the eternal God “to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

It is only by the grace of God that the story of our lives will be sweet or long remembered.

“O God, teach us to apply our hearts unto wisdom.

O God, remind thy people that it is Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30).

Moses concludes his most beautiful Psalm with the words:

“And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us:

and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”

I bring this Psalm before you this morning, because I think that the woman in Acts 9 appears to have learned its principles.

The few years of Tabitha’s life was a tale that was well told.

As we shall see, Tabitha was a Christian and a disciple of the Lord Jesus;

Jesus was her “way, truth and life.”

Christ was also her “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”

We see in Tabitha that in some cases the grass withers and fades more quickly for some than others.

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:”

But we also see in this woman a way to make our story worth telling and enjoying for years to come:

Tabitha was a Christian and the work of her hands was established by God.

So Tabitha was a GOOD LADY because she was a GOOD CHRISTIAN.

She was a woman of GOOD WORKS.

She died a GOOD DEATH because she was a good Christian, and she had a very GOOD END.

Tabitha was a GOOD LADY.

In passing let me point you to her NAME.

I think that Luke wanted to give us her name to add evidence to the miracle of her resurrection.

It was probably possible in his day, late in the first century, to visit Joppa

And mentioning her name meet people who knew her and who could verify this miracle.

But the name also means something:

“Tabitha” is the Aramaic form of the Greek name “Dorcus.”

And both of them meant “gazelle, deer or doe.”

And it appears to have been a fitting name, speaking of daintiness and beauty.

Of course, we don’t have any photographs, paintings or statues of Tabitha, so we can’t see her beauty.

But a wise man once said, “Handsome is as handsome does.”

Judging from the way that she spent her life, and from the sense of loss that her friends expressed, it appears that her name was very fitting.

She was a beautiful person whether her skin was like alabaster or not.

She was beautiful whether she would hired as a super-model or not.

She was beautiful whether she weighed 100 pounds or 200 pounds.

Ladies, and especially, you young girls –

True beauty is not what you find in fashion and glamor magazines;

It is found described, and even created, in the pages of the Word of God.

Again, the last verse of Psalm 90 says; “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us.”

That is the only beauty that can last a lifetime and it’s the only beauty that really matters.

It’s a beauty that endures throughout eternity.

And this was a beauty which was found in Tabitha.

You see, Tabitha was a DISCIPLE OF CHRIST.

The word “disciple” has become like so many others – polluted and diluted.

But originally it spoke about a person who was a devoted student.

Tabitha was a learner of Christ.

Like Mary she took every opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet soaking up every word that He spoke.

She was just as industrious as Martha, but she didn’t forget to worship while she worked.

I believe that the house of God was her second home.

Now here is that little tidbit that I promised you last Wednesday:

The word “disciple” here is in the feminine form just as you would expect, because Tabitha was a lady.

But this is THE ONLY PLACE in all the Bible where we find the feminine form of “disciple.”

And one scholar that I was reading said that this form of the word cannot be found in secular literature either, because the ancient Greeks knew nothing about female disciples.

Plato and Aristotle had lots of disciples, but they were all men.

The Jews took giant steps forward when it came to gender,

But as I read in one place, the court of the woman in the temple was like a sheep-pen.

There were still great restrictions upon women.

It wasn’t until the Lord Jesus that “honourable women, not a few” gathered around him.

There has been nothing – no movement, no political party, no social organization – which has so elevated and honored women more than true Bible Christianity.

It tears me apart to hear men, especially in the name of Christianity, try to push ladies back into Old Testament or even into some sort of heathen social status.

Tabitha was a true disciple of Christ, a Christian, born-again by the grace of God; a student of Christ.

And by the way, THIS is what made her “GOOD.”

The Bible says that all of us are sinners.

“There is NOT a just man or woman upon the earth that DOETH GOOD and sinneth not.”

“And there is NONE that doeth good, no not one.“

Tabitha might have APPEARED to be a good woman in the sight of other sinners,

But until she was born again by the grace of God, the Lord saw her only as a sinner, without a single good or redeeming feature.

And that is exactly the way that He looks at all of us as well.

Until you become a new creature in Christ Jesus you are just a sinner and rebel in the sight of God.

Tabitha had a pretty name; she was a disciple of Christ, and she helped others.

Unfortunately that is about all that we know about her.

Did she have a family?

Without anything to substantiate my opinion, I think that she probably didn’t have any close family.

Why weren’t family members mentioned along with the references to others mourning her death?

I think that there was a good likelihood that she didn’t have any family,

Or perhaps she didn’t have any family who acknowledged her now that she believed on Christ.

What about her age?

You have every right to picture her as a widow,

And I have just as much right to picture her as young and never married.

Doesn’t the scripture seem to say that she was a blessing to those people who were widows?

We simply have no substantial information about these things.

Now, would you permit a little interesting etymology lesson this morning?

“Etymology,” by the way, is the study of words.

IF Tabitha had never married, and if she was middle-aged we might say that she was a “spinster.”

The dictionary defines a “spinster.” as a lady who is unmarried after some arbitrary age, when society thinks that women should all be married.

Have you ever considered the origin of that word?

It is etymologically correct to say that you ladies who own spinning wheels are “spinster.”

The word comes from unmarried women in old England who spun yarn for a living.

In the case of Tabitha, she may have been a “spinster.” in a couple different ways.

She may have never been married.

And she made clothes to give to people around her who were in need.

Much of what we know about this lady was in regard to her GOOD WORKS.

Verse 36: “This woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.”

Tabitha was a disciple but she was not qualified to be an apostle.

She was a Christian but she wasn’t a Christian pastor.

She was a child of God but she wasn’t an ordained missionary for the Lord.

But she did what she could for the glory of the Lord.

How much stress do you suppose we should we put upon the language that our Bibles use in verse 36?

Does this verse say that Tabitha was noted for her alms-giving?

Does it say that she was wealthy and every time that she saw someone like Aeneas she gave him a few shekels or that she took hungry people to the local cafeteria?

Does this say that she was full of good intentions?

None of the above.

It wasn’t that she wanted and wished that she could help people; she actually did.

But she wasn’t full of alms-giving, but alms-doings.

When Peter arrived there was an army of people who showed him the clothing that she had made and given away.

Doesn’t this verse simply declare that Tabitha was busy doing things to help her neighbors?

Even though it does, notice the verse says that “TABITHA WAS FULL of good works.”

It doesn’t say that her journal recorded lots of good works.

It doesn’t say the church records indicated she had made 30 quilts & 20 coats to give to the homeless.

The Bible says that Tabitha herself was full of good works.

That, to me, suggests that this lady’s HEART was full of good works.

She wasn’t a member of some lady’s group which required each member to knit one coat every year.

If we could interview this lady, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to hear her say that God had given her a gift, a talent to sew, or knit, or crochet, or spin, or embroider, or something else.

And since she didn’t have a lot of other responsibilities, and since she really enjoyed her needlework shed wanted to use it to be a blessing to others.

Not only that, since it was a gift of God, then she wanted to use that gift for the glory of the Lord.

When she gave away a new coat, or a robe, dress, she gave it away as a gift from the Lord Jesus.

She may have even said that she didn’t do nearly enough to glorify her Saviour.

I know that I’m putting words in her mouth, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t true.

In His Sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus gave to His people, the laws of His Kingdom.

In Matthew 5:13 he said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Ephesians 2 is one of the most heart warming scriptures in the word of God to those who love the doctrines of grace, but very often they take their favorite verses out of their context.

“God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Like Tabitha we are suppose to be people of good works as well as Biblical worship.

Paul told Timothy: “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

But (which becometh women professing godliness) with GOOD WORKS.”

Another scripture which is a favorite among fundamental Baptists is found in II Timothy 3:

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

And another is Titus 2:

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

Tabitha was a good woman, filled with good works.

She was what we are all supposed to be for the glory of God.

The Lord has called us and saved us for several reasons, one of which is to be a blessing to our neighbors in the name of our Saviour.

Tabitha was a good woman, filled with good works, who died a GOOD DEATH.

What was it that took this lady’s life?

Last week I encouraged you to think about and thank God for the elimination of polio.

An even greater medical victory has been the eradication of small pox.

Again, another deadly, deadly disease has been whipped out around the world.

It might have been small pox that took this lady’s life.

If it wasn’t small pox it was something else;

Was it consumption or tuberculosis?

Here is another disease which in the past has taken millions of lives, but which today is almost ancient history.

The Lord has been so kind to all of us.

Tabitha died, and I called it a “good death.“

The people of Joppa didn’t think that it was a good death; they mourned and wept at her death.

How could it be a good death?

Any time a saint of the Lord leaves this world to join his Saviour it is a good death.

II Corinthians 5 could very easily been the theme song of Miss Tabitha:

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”

Tabitha laboured with her hands in order to be acceptable to her Saviour.

And one day her earthly tabernacle dissolved and released her spirit to the Lord.

In Philippians Paul testified, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”

The widows of Joppa were ready to say that it was needful for Tabitha to remain with them.

But for at least a couple of days, it was needful that she depart to be with Christ, which was far better.

Tabitha also died a good death, if we measure that death by the size of the void that she left.

This lady was highly appreciated, and greatly missed.

I suppose that this might be said of nearly everyone:

But there will be some people missed more dearly and painfully than others.

Such was the case of this lady.

But as we studied last Wednesday, Tabitha’s DEATH ENDED WELL in the estimation of all her friends.

Peter was summoned from Lydda, and he hurried the ten miles or so to Joppa.

It doesn’t appear that he was informed about the tragic death of this woman.

It’s unlikely that he knew Tabitha, but I may be mistaken about that.

The fact that the other ladies showed the Apostle the things that Tabitha had made at the very least indicates that he didn’t know anything about that part of her life.

And apparently the church besought Peter to raise her from the dead.

He prayed about the matter and apparently was informed that it would be the will of the Lord.

With the assurance of the Holy Spirit, he turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, arise.”

She immediately opened her eyes and seeing Peter bolted up-right.

Do you suppose that when she opened her eyes she was surprised?

For hours if not for several days Tabitha was living outside her body.

I would really like to know what she had been seeing and experiencing, but speculation would be pointless if not actually dangerous.

I believe that when the body gave up her spirit, that she was immediately in the presence of the Saviour.

Did the Lord tell her that she would just be visiting because in a few hours she would be sent back?

Did that disappoint her?

I would think so, but then on the other hand, to be commissioned directly by the lips of the Lord Jesus must have been a thrill to anyone.

And then probably like Paul in II Corinthians 12, she was told that it was not lawful to utter on earth what unspeakable things she saw in the Third Heaven.

They may have been unspeakable because their were indescribable.

This good woman, filled with good deeds, died a good death, but that ended up even better.

All those who die in Christ Jesus shall be raised from the dead.

No matter how we live or how we die, we are going to hear the words, “Christian arise!”

And at that time, we’ll look into the face of Christ Jesus our Saviour.

Will there ever be anything greater than that?

The question is: are you, like Tabitha, ready to meet the Lord?