Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Grace Synder was born in 1885 and grew up on a lonely prairie in Nebraska.

She lived in a sod house that cost about twelve dollars to build.

Water was scarce, and so they used their Saturday night bath water to water the flowers.

There was not much to do, and so Grace took up quilting.

She started with a quilt for her doll.

As a teenager she accepted Christ, and was baptized in a pond where the ice had been cleared away.

She went on to become a teacher, and marry a cowboy, but she was always quilting.

In fact, she became the Queen of the Quilters in her state, and one of the most skilled in all the world.

Her quilts are featured in leading quilt magazines, and are flown to quilt fairs all over the country.

A museum in Lincoln, Nebraska has a Grace Synder room where her handiwork is on display.

She was a godly woman who became famous by means of her creative skill.

When it comes t winning prizes for creativity with thread and needle, women have it sewed up, and we want to focus our attention on a woman who sewed herself right into the fabric of biblical history.

Dorcas is her name, and her needle was her fame.

Here is a biblical woman who is so unusual because there is nothing unusual about her.

Most of the women of the Bible got into its sacred pages because they were married to famous men, or because they had famous sons, or because they did some great an unusual deed.

Dorcas is one of the few women who became famous for simply doing a womanly thing, which was sewing.

She is also famous for being the only adult woman in the Bible who was raised from the dead, but this never would have happened had she not been so faithful in using her needle to meet the basic human need for clothing.

She was not a multi-talented female.

She was just a simple loving woman who used the gift she had to be a blessing to others.

There are three things that stand out in our text that I want to focus on.

The first is-

I. THE GOOD WORKS OF HER LIFE.

She is not portrayed as a brilliant and learned woman who could speak before groups, and lead the women's Bible study.

She is portrayed simply as one who is always doing good and helping the poor.

"I was naked and you clothed me," is the testimony of the poor about Dorcas.

Those who otherwise would have been cold were kept warm because of her labor and generosity.

The poor got a taste of God's grace through her, for none had any claim on her.

She freely gave of her time and talent to meet their need for clothing.

God was the first to provide clothing for sinners in the Garden of Eden.

Dorcas was carrying on this ministry of grace.

Because of her example Dorcas societies are now world wide, and women by the thousands have provided clothing for the needy.

Only in eternity will we ever begin to know the full impact of this one woman's good works.

She is an outstanding example to both men and women of the importance of good works in the Christian life.

For millions of Christians this is the only way they can make their lives count for the kingdom of God.

Everyone who knows the Gospel knows that we are saved, not by our own works, but by the work of Christ on the cross.

Salvation comes by faith in His finished work for us.

Good works are not a means for our salvation, but they are an expression of our salvation.

If we truly trust in Christ, and love Him as Lord, then we will obey His command to love our neighbor as our self.

This can only be obeyed in a meaningful way by good works.

That is why Paul writes in Titus 3:8, "Affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."

Paul implies that it is easy for Christians to forget the importance of good works.

We need to be constantly reminded not to become weary in well doing.

Arthur W. Pink, the famous Bible expositor, said, "This expression 'good works' is found in the New Testament in the singular or plural number no less than 30 times; yet from the rarity with which many preachers use, emphasize, and enlarge upon them, many of the hearers would conclude that these words occur but once or twice in all the Bible."

The reason for this neglect is that they don't want people to think they can be saved by doing good.

To avoid this the church has produced millions of Christians who feel they can be good Christians and not a thing.

The poet rightly questions this emphasis.

If a man would be a soldier

He'd expect of course to fight;

And he couldn't be an author

If he didn't try to write.

So it isn't common logic,-

Doesn't have the right true ring-

That a man, to be a Christian,

Doesn't have to do a thing.

The lack of emphasis on good works is what leads Christianity to become a spectator religion.

Jesus meant for all believers to be involved in the ministry of meeting human need.

The good news about good works is that everybody can do them.

Those who feel ungifted can still do many works of kindness.

Vance Havner, the great American evangelist, wrote, "We ought not to belittle the do-gooders.

Our Lord went about doing good.

Good works are not enough, but any faith that is without good works is not enough either.

Some of our ultra-conservative Bible students could mix in a little do-gooding to great profit.

A cup of cold water in His name sometimes means more than a gallon of theology."

A college student who is late for class said, "I am sorry I am late, but my watch was wrong.

I guess I should not have faith in this watch."

The professor replied, "What you need in that watch is not faith, but good works."

That is what we need in the Christian life as well.

Someone said that faith without works is about as powerful as a butterfly's hiccup.

James went even further and said, "Faith without works is dead."

It is true that we must warn the self-righteous who hope to pull themselves into heaven by their own works, that salvation is in trusting, and not in trying.

But let's not keep telling this to those who are already saved by trusting, for to them good works and trying are the key to the growing Christian life and eternal reward.

The choice is not to either trust or to try, but rather, there is the third choice which is the uniting of the other two, and both trust and try.

Depending on God to guide and the Holy Spirit to produce fruit, you'd give your life to deeds and actions that are beneficial to others.

As Meg Woodson says in her attempt to get Christians back to the stream of good works, "Paul did not say I can't, but Christ can.

He said, I can through Christ.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

She warns Christians to get away from the defeatism of constantly teaching Christians they can't do anything.

This leaves them with the excuse when nothing is done that Christ must not have willed it.

This is a cop out of our responsibility.

Good works happen because we choose to obey Christ.

They don't happen because we choose to wait and see if Christ will do them without our efforts.

All we will learn is that He won't.

We are always in danger of taking the exception and making it the rule.

In the Old Testament the Jews fought many battles.

In one against Moab God said in II Chron.

20:17, "You will not need to fight in this battle; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf."

God won that battle for them.

Had they taken this as the pattern for all their battles, and just came to watch, they would have been destroyed.

God in His sovereignty does much without us, but His basic pattern never changes.

He expects us to put forth energy, and use all our gifts and talents to be channels of His grace in the world.

Without women who did good works the world would be without so much that has been the salt of the earth.

Examples are near endless of widows who have devoted their lives to Christian service.

Henrietta Feller lost her husband and child to death.

She decided to leave Switzerland and go to Canada to be a missionary.

She was robbed and persecuted, and suffered greatly, but she persisted in love.

She started a school in 1836.

A Baptist pastor in Montreal helped her raise funds for a building.

It grew to over 300 people, and its graduates have gone into all the world as missionaries.

Thank God for the Dorcas's of history who have been doers, and by their good works have made it a world with much good news to balance out the bad.