Ordinary or Extraordinary

New Living Translation Chapter 9

36 There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. 37 About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. 38 But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”

39 So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. 40 But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.

42 The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.

This is the Word of God for the People of God

Respond with me Thanks be to God

When we read this story it is worth while to ask why? Why was Tabitha raised from the dead? And why was this event note worthy?

There is not any evidence that Tabitha was a leader in this new movement. In fact when we read this passage she seems rather… well ordinary.

She was single maybe a widow herself…she was a seamstress as shown by the mourning widows actions.

There really doesn’t seem to be any reason other than she was a good person that Peter chose to resurrect her from the dead…and Luke for better or worse chose to make her the first story of resurrection by an apostle of Jesus.

As I wrestle with the why questions here I tend to lean toward the idea that...the fact that Tabitha was extremely ordinary was exactly what moved Peter to raise her from the dead and why Luke chose to record this miracle.

I think that Peter and Luke were moved by the gratitude and the deep sense of loss of the widows that were crying for the loss of this ordinary women of God. They showed off her seamstress skills and they probably told Peter of all the other ways that Tabitha showed them the love of Jesus.

Peter and subsequently Luke were so touched by this outpouring of love from so many people that they both knew this

There is something about a funeral in which people are legitimately and overwhelmingly missed…it is usually not because they were rich or did incredible things it was because they lived ordinary and incredible lives.

This leads me to think that Peter and subsequently Luke were so moved by this scene they learned that:

The Ordinary acts of love are the most important acts to building the kingdom of God.

I think if we are honest we are all guilty of overlooking the importance of just being everyday ordinary Christians.

Not only do we overlook the mundane I think we may also unintentionally take simple acts of kindness such as making dresses for widows, taking a meal to the sick, sending a card, volunteering in your local Church, or just simply taking time to go to coffee and listen to a friend for granted.

We all know people that do these types of things and we think a lot of them...

but we might not think about the difference they make by simply being an everyday Christian.

This has the potential to lead to leaving such work to “professional Christians”.

In other words we hire these things done. Instead of training people for works of service that God has prepared for them to do in advance we leave all of this work to the ‘professional clergy”.

This leads to faith communities that instead of being an army of compassion become instead a collection of consumers.

Always looking for the next big thing instead of being faithful in service to a world in need.

This has the potential to lead to leaving such work to “professional Christians”. That simply means that when we do not see ordinary as important to the kingdom we stop doing what God has called us to do everyday looking for the bigger miracles.

That simply means that when we do not see ordinary Christian service as important to the kingdom we stop doing what God has called us to do everyday looking for the bigger miracles.

It was obvious to Peter and Luke that Tabitha was building the kingdom by just being ordinary.

If you and I really want to be faithful to God we must stop overlooking the importance of ordinary acts of Love and Kindness.

This being mothers day I think that this truth has been played out in tangible ways for many of us. How many times have we maybe taken the ordinariness of our mothers love for us for granted?

According to a 2017 study “women with a partner and children are 5.5 times more likely than their male counterparts to do all or most of the household work.” Moms that were interviewed disproportionately performed tasks such as childcare drop-off and pickup, scheduling and attending medical appointments, researching enrichment activities, and purchasing supplies and clothes. To their partners, much of this work is invisible. To their employers, this work is irrelevant.

For those of us of have lost our Mothers we now appreciate not just the big things but we miss the little things our mothers did for us…the ordinary things…like a phone call, a card, or simple meal together with the women that brought us into the world and then raised us to become independent and successful.

We are a culture that often ignores the ordinary until we understand just how extraordinary that is. The same thing is true when it comes to becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

While it is wonderful and exhilarating to us when there are signs and wonders these are not the most impactful events for building the kingdom of God.

Even in this passage that highlights the ordinariness of Tabitha we focus on the seemingly more astonishing miracle of Peter raising people from the dead.

What if Peter brought this wonderful ordinary women back to life not so that his miracle would be remembered but so Tabitha could continue to build the kingdom of God with the miracle of sewing clothes for people that the rest of the would may have forgotten?

My mom was pretty ordinary. She did not have a masters degree in religion, she did not have a college degree. In fact my mom never even graduated high school. She was a cosmetologist (a fancy name for a hairdresser) however she was really good at it. She kept the house, kept all her kids fed and in clothes, made sure we did not get into trouble and raised 3 productive kids.

All of us married and had the skills to take care of ourselves. She went to work everyday and cut, colored and styled hair. She owned her own salon as well as managed a couple of salons for other people.

Then she retired from that and starting working in the office area of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. By all accounts she was ordinary. So when she died and we were planning the funeral we picked the little Huntsville Nazarene Church as the venue for my mom’s funeral because that is where we though most of the people that would come to the funeral would be from.

We were not expecting very many people so you can imagine our surprise when we stepped into that little church to see that it was almost standing room only. It seemed that every person that was close that she did hair for showed up, every stylist she ever managed, and every boss she ever had including some directors of the TDCJ showed up to pay respect to this ordinary lady.

This would have been enough for us…to know that so many people were willing to pay their respects, but then it happened…Person after person step up to tell the story of this ordinary women. Not how great a job she did cutting hair, working in the office or even raising such Awesome kids…but they told the story of how my mom’s willingness to listen and to give thoughtful biblical responses changed their lives for the better.

She never preached a message, raised anyone from the dead or healed anyone from an infirmity. She just used the talents she had to build the kingdom of God.

Instead of lamenting your ordinariness what if instead you leaned into it?

Make dresses for widows, take meal to the sick, send a card to someone for no reason, volunteer in your local Church, or just simply take time to go to coffee and listen to a friend, sit with a lonely stranger in a coffee house. The list is long.

The truth is that the greatest strength of the church is the ability for us to change the world around us by banding together doing ordinary things. By focusing our gaze on the example of Tabitha.

then they move to things like starting this new ministry, or creating something else that in their minds is more important..or things they belive will make a bigger impact.

The truth is that the greatest strength of the church is the ability for us to change the world around us by banding together doing ordinary things. By focusing our gaze on the example of Tabitha.

God wants to use your ordinary gifts, in everyday life to make an eternal difference in your world.

Buy the car behind youWhen you think of it part of the beauty of communion is that Jesus took an ordinary part of life the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup and turned it into something sacred.

When you think of it... part of the beauty of communion is that Jesus took an ordinary part of life the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup and turned it into something sacred.

There was no special silverware, or fancy table cloth needed only ordinary unleavened bread and regular wine. He did not make the bread appear from no where or turn a vat of water to wine.

He took what was in front of Him and He made it an important symbol of remembrance of why He came, Why He died and Why He is Coming again.

So as you come to the table do so inspired to let your ordinary become part of God’s extraordinary plan.

We are an open communion Chruch

Communion Slide here

Benediction:

Heavenly Father,

long ago, faithful women proclaimed the good news of Jesus' resurrection, and the world was changed forever. Teach us to keep faith with them, that our witness may be as bold, our love as deep, and our faith as true. Amen.