Acts 9:31-43 | Resurrection Power

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

In a few moments, we're going to participate together in celebrating the Lord's table.

I don't know of a better way to do that than by drawing our hearts and minds together to consider the Lord Jesus Christ and how we ought to respond to Him.

So please take your Bibles again and open them to Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

The second half of this chapter feels tame compared to the previous chapters.

There are no dramatic conversions.

No murderous persecutors are chasing Christians.

Saul has come to faith in Christ.

He's preached the gospel.

He's debated with Jews in Jerusalem.

That has led to death threats against him, making the church send him to his hometown of Tarsus.

And the church has peace.

Pretty tame.

We have a period of time in which things are calm.

Luke tells us that the antagonism against the church had died down a bit in chapter 9, verse 31.

He tells us that the church had peace and was being built up.

So we've already seen in our study of Acts how the good news about Jesus spread.

It spread throughout the area of Jerusalem and beyond.

We've seen how there are Christians to the south, with the Ethiopian.

We've seen that there are Christians to the north, as far as Caesarea and Damascus, and now even further north in Tarsus, modern-day Turkey, with the Apostle Paul going there.

The church is growing through persecution in the early years.

Groups of disciples are springing up in community after community after community, further and further and further from Jerusalem.

But that's what we ought to expect in Luke's account.

Don't you remember how in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus told the disciples, You're going to be my witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then you're going to spread out to the rest of the world.

Acts 1:8

So we expect a kind of expansion of the gospel, and not just of the gospel itself, but of the church, of people being made disciples, coming together, gathering together as groups of disciples.

That reality is a bright thread running through chapter 9.

This chapter is heavy on disciples.

We find disciples in verse 1, verse 10, verse 19, verse 25, verse 26, and verse 38.

It's a lot of times in one chapter when we have only seen that once before in chapter 6 and three different verses in chapter 6.

For the first time in the book of Acts, we see the church is in existence.

There are disciples in community after community after community.

And it becomes more prominent again in chapter 11.

But in this peaceful time, Peter is traveling around to follow up on the groups of disciples in various communities.

The resurrection power of Jesus is on display in the making of disciples.

We don't see all of the evangelism.

We don't see all of the discipleship.

We see little pieces of it.

We see mostly the results.

Everywhere someone goes, there's a group of disciples.

How did they get there?

How did they get there?

Simple answer is someone told them about Jesus.

People made disciples.

Northwest of Jerusalem was one direction that Peter traveled.

He traveled down from the heights of Jerusalem, we're told, down to the plain of Sharon, next to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

He came to a village, we might call it a town, where a group of saints lived.

Verse 32 says, he went down there among them all.

He came down also to the saints.

Saints is a New Testament word that you should be familiar with.

It means holy ones.

People who have been set apart.

It's a New Testament word that is a common designation for Christians, for those who have been set apart by Christ for himself.

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a saint.

You are a holy one.

They're the new temple of God.

It's not the temple in Jerusalem that matters anymore.

It's the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now the action begins in a small town of Lida.

A man by the name of Aeneas is healed, and then Peter shifts to Joppa, where a beloved woman is raised from the dead.

There you go.

That in broad strokes is the whole section.

A sermon in three minutes.

But you can't go yet.

The latter half of Acts 9 appears very simple.

Peter goes to strengthen churches, he heals a person, and he raises a person from the dead.

Sounds a lot like what we see in the Gospels, isn't it?

Jesus goes from one place to another to another.

We see miracles, we see some teaching, and then he moves on to the next section.

But that's exactly the point, friends.

As we look a little more carefully at this last half of chapter 9, we see that these accounts are not about the disciples.

They're not about the miracles, not even about the raising from the dead.

They're not about Peter.

They're about Jesus.

They're about the Lord Jesus Christ acting to build his church.

What all of this action tells us about Jesus, then, ought to generate specific qualities in us.

In other words, we ought to respond to what we see of Jesus in this section in such a way that the fruit of the Spirit is developed in us.

I think we can identify at least three ways that Luke reveals Christ's work here that have corresponding responses from his people.

The first corresponding response is humility.

And that humility comes by seeing that Jesus doesn't need us, but he chooses to work through us.

Jesus doesn't need you, he doesn't need me, he doesn't need anyone for that matter, but he chooses to work through us.

Now it might be best to clarify Luke's direction here before we get too far into it.

So notice two details that point out Luke's emphases.

The first is that he goes from person to person to person.

We start in Acts chapter 2 with Peter preaching the gospel on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 4, we we move from Peter to Peter and John and all of the apostles.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 6, Stephen comes to the forefront, preaching the gospel and being murdered.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Then we move from Stephen to Philip, going from area to area, proclaiming the gospel.

From Philip, we go to a man named Saul.

And from Saul we now move all the way back to Peter.

We move from one individual to the next to the next.

And all throughout, Christ's resurrection power is on display.

Now his power should be clear to his people.

There's no one else.

Anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ should understand that there is power in his resurrection.

Unequaled, unparalleled.

Jesus has power that no one else has.

That kind of power doesn't belong to human beings.

Jesus could do his kingdom work without anyone.

Jesus doesn't need human beings.

He can do his kingdom building all by himself.

But his acts in human history show us that he graciously chooses to work through frail human beings.

We see this as Luke switches from one person to the next, and one person to the next, and then the next, and then the next, and we go on and on.

Luke isn't interested in showing us the abilities, the power, or the influence of human beings.

Luke switches from one person to the next and then returns to Peter, showing us that the Lord doesn't need any particular person to accomplish his purpose.

We can look at it differently.

So far, we've seen apostles, we've seen servant deacons, and we've even seen a converted murderer employed as instruments of the Lord Jesus Christ.

These are diverse characters whom the Lord uses to accomplish his purpose.

Jesus didn't need Peter.

He didn't need John, Stephen, Philip, or Saul.

But he graciously chooses to use people as his instruments in his hand.

If you remember, that's exactly what we saw in Acts chapter 9, verse 15.

Acts 9:15

Where Jesus said to Ananias, who went to heal him from his blindness, I'm going to show him that he's an instrument in my hand.

He's an instrument.

Christ's people function as vessels that Jesus fills with his spirit to do his will.

That is the most significant element of this section.

Let me show you how.

Notice first how Peter, Luke, I'm sorry, describes the amazing miracles by Peter's hand.

First, in verse 34, Peter comes to Lydda, and there's a man there named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.

We don't know why he was paralyzed, how he came to be paralyzed.

All different kinds of options that lead to paralysis.

We're not told that.

We're just told he's not been able to walk for eight years.

So this is not a minor sickness.

This is not something from which he will recover.

This is a permanent disability.

Peter says, Aeneas, in my own power I command you to rise up and make your bed.

No, of course not.

But notice how Peter says it.

He says, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.

Jesus Christ heals you.

Do you hear that?

Peter talks to the man, but he is not the one performing the healing.

Peter's merely the vocal instrument seeking the Lord's action Luke is portraying Peter as acting like an Old Testament prophet.

For example, in the next section, we we see the raising of Tabitha, also called Dorcas.

Tabitha is an Aramaic name.

Dorcas is a Greek name.

In verse 40, Peter puts everybody outside outside, kneels down, and prays, and then tells her, Tabitha, get up.

Why?

Because Jesus is doing the work.

Before he says anything, he kneels down and he prays.

And in the book of Acts, that represents the instrument seeking the Lord's action.

Jesus is the one acting.

Luke's portraying Peter as an Elijah or as an Elisha who raised people from the dead in similar ways.

And both of those prophets recognize the power was not in them, but the power was in God to raise the dead.

Similarly, Peter is traveling and ministering to disciples in the power of Jesus.

Jesus is working.

And Peter is an instrument.

As great it is as it is, I don't think Tim's saxophone is going to play by itself.

At least I hope not.

It's an instrument that is used to accomplish a purpose.

Peter is Christ's instrument.

John, Stephen, Philip, Saul, you, me.

Jesus is the one who's acting.

We function as mere instruments.

The same is true with Peter at Pentecost.

Stephen and his and his speech before the Sanhedrin, Philip with the Samaritans and the Ethiopians, Saul in the Damascus synagogues where he's debating the Jews.

Jesus is building his church.

God is the one who's acting, and he's employing instruments to accomplish that purpose.

So the hero is not Stephen.

Yes, he's the first martyr.

He's not the hero.

The hero is not Philip.

The hero is not Saul.

The hero is not Peter.

Jesus is the hero.

And that truth ought to humble every follower of Christ, every disciple.

My friends, Jesus doesn't need us to accomplish his purpose.

But he is glorified by choosing to use people of all kinds as instruments in his hands.

And that means we need to be careful to not take credit for any spiritual successes.

That can be hard.

That can be difficult.

All the credit goes to Jesus.

There's nothing in us that accomplishes kingdom purposes.

It's the power of Christ through the Spirit of Christ filling his instruments to do his work.

So our response must be thankfulness and praise that leads to humility, a humility that is ready and willing to be used by the Lord in any situation, in every situation.

That means, friends, you don't need to be worried, you don't need to be anxious about having spiritual power, about having prepared yourself to share the gospel, or about knowing what words to speak.

You need to be aware and ready and willing to be used by the Lord.

We see that in our second element here about Jesus that leads to our trust.

What we see about Jesus here is that Jesus doesn't need us, but he chooses to direct our paths.

Notice how Luke describes Peter's ministry work in verse 32.

Now, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lidda.

Do you hear how unplanned that sounds?

Peter went here and there.

Among them all.

Now that doesn't mean that Peter was indecisive or disorganized.

It meant that Peter went where Christ's people were.

And he generally followed Philip's route.

After his encounter with the Ethiopian, especially, going up the coastline to Jerusalem and then back to the coastline on his way up to Caesarea.

And there were believers almost at every juncture along that route.

As the apostle's leader, Peter is encouraging and strengthening the church in various places extending out from Jerusalem.

And then all of a sudden, Luke recounts a specific direction in the going here and there.

The first is Lida.

And in Lida, he encountered the man whom Jesus healed.

By the way, on your own, you can compare the healing of Aeneas with Jesus' healing in Luke 5.

Jesus healed the man in Luke 5, very similar.

Only this time Jesus heals the lame man from heaven.

In Luke 5, he heals the lame man in his presence, right there.

But here, Jesus shows he is powerful and working even from heaven.

Jesus is alive and well doing his powerful work from heaven.

Just because Jesus isn't physically present doesn't mean he can't work powerfully.

The result of that ministry in Lida, in verse 35, is that many people turned to the Lord.

But it's clear that Jesus not only moved Peter to go to Lida for the healing, but so that he also might be close to Joppa.

Close enough for the Christians there to hear that Peter was in Lidda, and we need to go get him.

So as Peter was going from here to there and going wherever he felt like he needed to go, Jesus ensured that he would first arrive in Lida and then in Joppa.

Now look at verse 38.

Since Lidda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay.

So do you see what Luke's doing?

Peter's going about his regular business of life, and he ends up in Lidda so that he could happen to end up in Joppa.

Do you think that's chance?

Do you think that's chance?

That Peter's just going from here to there, and oh now he ends up in Lidda so that he can end up in Joppa.

Is that just chance?

No.

It didn't just happen.

Do you know why?

Because Jesus is working.

These are his acts.

And when Jesus acts, he directs his instruments to where he intends to use them.

You see, in Joppa there lived a patroness upon whom the believing widows relied.

She was a servant of God's people, a servant who provided for the needs of God's people.

And she died, crushing the believers there.

But Jesus already had Peter nearby.

Jesus had healed Aeneas, and now Jesus would raise Tabitha from the dead.

This is a miracle much like Jesus' miracle of raising a 12 year old girl from the dead.

Peter followed the exact same pattern as Jesus, dismissing the people from The room calling her to arise.

Jesus said Taletha.

Whom?

Taletha, arise.

This just happens to be Tabitha, arise.

Sounds the same.

Playing off of what Peter's doing is Jesus' work.

This is Jesus working.

Jesus didn't need Peter there.

He could have kept the woman from getting sick or from dying.

Isn't that what Martha and Mary told Jesus?

Lord, if you had been here, they knew that.

He could have raised her from the dead without Peter being there.

But our history, our church history is about the acts of Jesus working through his people, even to the point of directing his people to the right place at the proper time.

There's even more to this idea.

We've seen the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Ethiopia.

The gospel has impacted Jews, the not quite Jews, the Samaritans, and those other people, the eunuchs.

In chapter 10, the gospel will go to the Gentiles, the non-Jews.

And there God instructs a Gentile Roman soldier named Cornelius to send for Peter, who will bring the good news of Jesus.

Do you remember where Cornelius was told to send for Peter?

Joppa.

Joppa.

He told Cornelius, send for Peter because Peter's in Joppa, staying with a certain tanner named Simon.

Some Jews held tanners at arm's length.

A tanner is someone who takes animal skins and tans them for various uses.

Some Jews thought that tanners would come into contact with the carcasses of dead animals, which would make them unclean.

So Luke may be hinting at that general perception.

Simon Peter goes to the home of an unclean Jew.

Generally thought to be ceremonially unclean.

Simon the Tanner.

And there, at the home of Simon the Tanner, Simon Peter would surely eat with Simon the unclean Jew and maybe even touch him, give him a hug and a kiss, whatever they would do at that time.

Simon Peter then would soon be sent to the unclean Gentiles to touch and eat them as brothers and eat with them, not eat them, as brothers and sisters in Christ.

So do you see how Jesus is preparing Peter for that significant encounter with unclean Gentile Cornelius by directing his steps away from Jerusalem to Lida and then to Joppa, so that at Joppa he might be sent to the unclean Gentiles to eat with them and bring them to faith in Christ?

Do you see how Jesus directed Peter?

Without Peter really even knowing it.

He was just going here and there, and on that here and there, he ends up in Lida and then in Joppa.

Do you see how Peter was directed by the risen and ascended Christ as a second Jonah who would not run away from Joppa, but would go from Joppa to the Gentiles to bring the gospel of forgiveness and grace to them?

Do you see how, if you desire to be used by the Lord, you don't have to wait for him to tell you where to go or what to do?

Peter merely went about his regular business as an apostle.

Jesus guided his steps in the right direction at the proper time to the right set of people to accomplish his purpose of getting the gospel to the Gentiles.

Because a man named Saul, who will soon go by the name of Paul, will become the apostle to the Gentiles.

That reality should stir trust in us.

And along with trust, a willingness to be used by Jesus to do what he asks of us.

Friends, we can rely on him because he chooses to display his power through us.

He knows where we're going because he knows where he wants us to be and what people he wants us to be in contact with and knows when we need to be in contact with them so that we can speak of Jesus to them.

So leave the worrying to him.

Leave the anxiety with him.

Leave the results to Jesus.

Because you cannot affect results.

The results are not in your power.

Only Jesus can produce the results.

You have to know he is working, he is powerful, and he will do what he has purposed with willing vessels.

You can trust him to use you.

That leads us to our third element here, and that is the development of hope in us.

That is what what scripture calls hope, a confident hope.

Not an uncertain, oh, this might or might not happen, but a certainty.

Jesus doesn't need us.

But in his grace, he chooses to draw people to faith in him through us.

Look at where we are now.

We are a third of the way through Luke's history of the early church.

Paul and Barnabas haven't yet been sent on their first missionary journey.

However, the response to Jesus' work through his disciples is generating more and more disciples in one community after another, after another.

Everywhere you go, there seems to be a group of disciples there.

Disciples are obediently making disciples as they go through their lives.

That's exactly what Jesus said at the end of Matthew.

He says, as you're going, wherever you go, whatever you're doing, make disciples.

And those disciples make more disciples.

All of that effort and effectiveness resulted from the power of Jesus through his spirit working in his people.

Willing vessels filled with his spirit, empowering them to accomplish the work of God in an outpouring of effective obedience.

Jesus acts by his spirit through his people to draw others to him.

Jesus doesn't need you.

Jesus doesn't need me.

As the Lord issued the command for the wind and the waves to be stilled, and they obeyed, he could merely issue the command, and people would respond in obedient faith.

But he receives greater glory by using his people to tell an incredible message about a crucified Lord buried, risen, ascended, and coming again to magnify his power, display his glory, and draw people by his grace.

The Lord's use of Peter resulted in people believing first in Lida and then in Joppa, and soon it will be Cornelius in Caesarea.

You see, when we have a proper view of Jesus, when our faith is deeply rooted in an understanding of who he is, of his deity and his power and his way of working, we can be confident that he will use us.

You don't have to be trained in theology or Bible or evangelism.

We don't need church outreach or church program events.

Luke shows us the pattern.

The Lord's disciples are willing vessels used by him in ordinary life.

You happen to find yourself in a place, speak of Jesus.

That's what Philip did.

The Lord's disciples do what is in front of them for him and to him as his instruments in his hand.

That's the essence of Christ's resurrection power.

It emboldened those first disciples to be humble, to trust the Lord day in and day out, and to confidently hope in his acts.

And there's no reason why it can't do the same for us.

Let's pray together.

We confess to you that we are not always filled with hope and trust.

We're not always humble.

We ask, because we recognize our our falling short of bringing you glory.

At the same time, we ask that you would use your spirit to develop these qualities in us so that we too might be like the early church.

That you might fill us and use us as your instruments.

Lord, we want to be willing.

We want to be ready.

We want to be available.

Bring glory to yourself as only a holy God could do by using us for the praise, honor, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.