In this message, we learn about how two great miracles that were done through the Apostle Peter point to the example, glory, kingdom, and salvation of Jesus.
Teaching Notes:
Peter’s Miraculous Ministry
Acts 9:31-43
9:31. As we come to Acts 9:31, we come to one of those brief, summary statements sprinkled throughout the book of Acts. This verse summarizes for us in a single verse the condition of the church at that time. Remember, that Saul, the great Persecutor of the Church had just been converted. So, in the wake of Saul’s conversion, persecution ceased for a time. And during that calm between storms, the church enjoyed Peace, Fear, and Comfort. Peace because the raging persecution of believers had ceased. Fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit because of the ongoing powerful ministry of the Spirit in their midst. Notice that the location of the Church is mentioned: Judea and Galilee and Samaria. Jesus had said that when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples they would be His witnesses in Jerusalam, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth. Well, Luke is telling us that Jesus’ promise is being fulfilled. The disciples had witnessed in Jerusalem in Acts 1-7, in Samaria in chapter 8, and in chapter 10 even the Gentiles will start to be converted. “Upon this rock I will build My church.” Jesus is being true to His Word. Christ will sovereignly bring His eternal plans to fruition! Notice also the closing words, “it continued to increase.” The church was growing. We’ve seen how the church grew so quickly and Jerusalem. Then when Stephen was martyred, all the disciples were scattered, preaching the gospel wherever they went. Philip made many disciples in Samaria, and then won the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ. Saul was converted and began preaching immediately in Damascus and then in Jerusalem. Now, it was not just the apostles, but the entire church which is spreading the gospel and as a result the church is increasing.
Having given us a status report on the life of the Church, Luke now leaves Paul, and brings us back to the ministry of Peter whom he will focus on for the next 3 chapters. Luke selects 3 stores related to the ministry of Peter: a double miracle story (Aeneas and Tabitha), a conversion story (Cornelius), and an escape story (Peter rescued from prison). In each case there is an obstacle to overcome (paralysis and death, Gentile alienation, and political tyranny), and in each case Peter overcomes the obstacle through the power of the Spirit.
This morning we are going to focus on 2 miracles in Peter’s ministry – healing a paralyzed man and raising a dead girl to life. First we are going to simply walk through these 2 stories, and I’ll seek to explain anything that is not clear. Then we are going to go back and take the majority of our time to draw out application from these 2 stories.
EXPOSITION:
1. The Healing of Aeneas: 9:32-35
As Peter was traveling through all those regions: We last left Peter in Acts 8:25 starting back to Jerusalem from Samaria, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. On his way, he must have stopped off in Lydda to preach the gospel and minister to the saints. No doubt the church in Lydda was planted when the believers in Jerusalem fled during the great persecution. Peter is exercising a ministry much like Paul would exercise later. They both traveled about preaching the gospel to the lost, and building up the saints.
Aeneas…who had been bedridden 8 years, for he was paralyzed: Can you imagine what it would be like to be bedridden for 8 years?! I have known of some pregnant women who have had to be bedridden for 4 or 5 or 6 months, and to them it seemed like an eternity! Would would it be like for 8 years? And there was no hope that things would ever change. He was a paraplegic for life as far as he knew. For him it would seem like a living hell which would never end until he died. He had to be carried every where he went, because he was unable to walk or even crawl on his own. He was totally dependent on others for everything. He would not be able to work, so would have to beg to eke out any kind of existence at all.
Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you: notice that Peter didn’t tell Aeneas that Jesus Christ will heal him if he will only exercise faith. Peter wasn’t speaking of a future miracle, but one Jesus Christ was doing in that very instant. How did Peter know? I believe Jesus told him, through a gift of the word of knowledge. I don’t believe that Peter could automatically heal everyone he met, as if the power was resident within him. He could heal only those that God had determined to heal, because God worked through him giving him a gift of healing for a particular person at a particular time. Even Jesus did not heal everyone He met. At the pool of Bethesda in John 5 Jesus healed only 1 person, although there were a multitude of sick folks there. So, just like in Acts 3 with another paralytic, Peter gives a command, “Get up and make your bed.” The man responded and was healed instantaneously.
All…saw him and they turned to the Lord: The fame of this miracle spread rapidly throughout the town, and all came to see the paralyzed man who could not walk. Whenever the story was told, the people spoke of how Peter did the miracle through the power of Jesus, so those who saw turned to the Lord.
2. The Raising Of Tabitha: 9:36-43
Disciple named Tabitha: Tabitha and Dorcas both mean “gazelle”. This was a common word to express the grace and beauty of the woman. We do the same thing today when we name someone Grace, Charity, or Joy. She abounded in good works, proving the reality of her faith in Jesus. She was a living example of Titus 2:14. She was zealous for good deeds. Luke says she abounded in these deeds, and did so continually. This was her way of life; what she lived for; what she gave herself to, as a man gives himself to his job.
Since Lydda was near Joppa: In actual fact, these 2 villages were about 12 miles apart, almost the same distance from our house to the Salas’ house. Imagine walking from here to Folsom. It would probably take you about half a day, but in those days that was a short journey. Makes me glad I’ve got a car and can make it in 20 minutes! Evidently the disciples hoped that Peter might be able to raise this woman from the dead, for they sent for him, and implored (urged, begged, called for earnestly) him to come to them.
All the widows stood weeping… Apparently Tabitha had been in the habit of making these tunics and garments for the widows, who would have been poor and unable to provide for themselves.
Peter knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body: I believe that the reason Peter knelt down and prayed was because he did not know if God was going to raise this woman, and he asked the Father to reveal this to him. Evidently God did reveal this to Peter, and so he turned to the body and commanded the woman to rise. Can you imagine the wonder and excitement when her eyes started to flicker and then open, and then when she sat up?!
Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon: tanners were in constant contact with dead carcasses, and so were considered half unclean. On top of that, their trade would create a great stench, so that they were required to live some distance away from the rest of the town. In fact, if a woman found out the man she was betrothed to was a tanner, she could legally divorce him. It was considered a disreputable trade. So, the fact that Peter willingly stayed at a tanner’s home shows his humility, and that he was already being freed from Jewish scruples and legalism into the freedom of grace.
APPLICATION: Both Miracles Teach Us Something About
1. The Example of Christ: Aeneas’ healing reminds us of the paralyzed man who was let down through the roof into the room where Jesus was teaching. Mk.2:11 – Jesus said “get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” Tabitha’s resuscitation reminds us of the raising of Jairus’ daughter in Mk.5:35-41. In both everyone was put out of the room. In both, they spoke to the dead person and commanded them to get up. In fact there is only 1 letter between what Jesus said and what Peter said: “Talitha kum!” and “Tabitha kum!”
Jesus was training his men for 3 years, and he did so mostly by modeling ministry for them. The best and most powerful training is a combination of teaching and modeling. Teaching with no example is not effective, and example without teaching is not as effective. Parents, teach your children, but model what you teach! Incarnate the truths you are giving them. Let your children see you as a Man of prayer, as a student of the Word, as one who shares the gospel with others, as one who generously gives to others in need. Those who are discipling others, there is power in inviting others into your home so that they see how you discipline your children, teach and pray for your kids, love your wife, or how the wife is submissive to her husband. Example is extremely powerful! Jesus knew this. We need to learn from Him! Since we want to make disciples who make disciples, this is going to mean that we are going to have to set the example for younger disciples. They must be shown, not just told.
2. The Glory of Christ: In Aeneas’ healing, Peter says, “Jesus Christ heals you.” Peter didn’t say, “Aeneas, I heal you!” In Tabitha’s resuscitation Peter first knelt down and prayed. Since no one else was in the room, Peter must have told this detail to Luke. Peter was careful to make sure that everyone knew that it was Jesus’ power that did these miracles. Likewise in Acts 3 when he raises the paralytic at the Gate Beautiful he is careful to make sure that everyone knew it was Jesus and His name that healed the man.
Are you careful to make sure that when God moves, blesses, saves, heals, answers prayer, everyone knows it was Him? It can be tempting to take a little of the credit. “Oh yes, I really had to fast and pray hard in this instance.” If God begins to bless this church and people come to Christ it will be tempting to think that somehow we are special, perhaps just a little better than the other churches around us. If that begins to happen, it spells death to any movement. The men and women that God uses are those who give Him all the glory for what He is doing.
3. The Kingdom of Christ: Both these miracles resulted in multitudes of sinners being swept into the kingdom of Christ. Notice 9:35; 9:42. These miracles resulted in getting a lot of people’s attention, so that they heeded the word of the gospel. Many people say, “We really don’t need miracles today. God used them in the 1st century, but we have the Word of God.” The problem with that thinking is that Peter had the Word of God too! He had the very words of Jesus Christ and all the inspired books of the OT, yet God still used miracles to draw people into the kingdom. It is interesting how often in the book of Acts, conversions are linked with miracles.
Maybe we should start praying that God would do miracles through us so that we really get the attention of the lost. Let’s not be bashful about praying for the sick. And when we pray, let’s expect God to show up and do something.
4. The Salvation of Christ: Peter uses the same Greek verb in both miracles in 9:34 and 9:40. Peter is commanding a man who can’t move his legs to get up! He’s commanding a dead body to get up! This same Greek verb is the same word used of God raising Jesus from the dead. I just can’t believe this is coincidental. I believe that the Spirit of God is demonstrating in these miracles what is involved in a sinner becoming a Christian.
Becoming a Christian is like a paralytic, getting up and walking! Rom.5:6 – we were still helpless, like a paralytic. Even more, becoming a Christian is like a dead person getting up and walking! Eph.2:4-6; Rom.6:4. Healings and dead people being raised are great miracles. But the greatest miracle of all is when a person is born again. Becoming a Christian cannot be done in your power. Only the power of God can do it. It’s not an easy little thing that can be done almost in your sleep as we are often told. It’s not as easy as Admit, Believe, and Confess, or just go through the 4 Spiritual Laws. Conversion requires that God Almighty overcome your sinful and depraved heart and cause a heart that hates God to begin to love God. The sinner himself can’t cause that to happen. How can a person change his own nature. It’s like asking a Black man to change the color of his skin, or asking a leopard to change his spots (Jer.13:23). When the disciples said, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus replied, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
Therefore, whenever someone begins to love Christ with all their heart who once ignored and despised him, mark it down. The Almighty power of God has been at work in their hearts. Never come to the foolish conclusion that conversion is just the mere decision of the sinner’s free will. No, it is the purpose of God’s sovereign will!
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