| “DORCAS WHO?” Third in the series “Underappreciated Gifts” Numbers 1:44-54; Acts 6:1-7; 9:36-43 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 6/20/10 |
Today we’ll be looking at spiritual gifts that are sometimes referred to as “helps” or service. Maybe some of us have never
even heard of “helps,” or if we have, we’re not quite sure what it means. The fact that there is not one definitive list of spiritual
gifts in the Bible with precise definitions of each gift sometimes further complicates our efforts to understand all these gifts!
For example, some Christians say that the gift of “helps” has a financial component to it, meaning that those with this gift
contribute monetary support to fill a need. But scripture also mentions the gift of giving, which seems to better define that
special gift of financial giving. The reality is that spiritual gifts often overlap. That’s why I think that each of us has more than
one spiritual gift. One may stand out more than others, but usually there are other gifts operating which empower us to use that
one major gift in a special way.
For instance, someone with the gift of hospitality probably also has the gift of mercy underlying and motivating their gift of
hospitality. That may also be the case for those who have helping gifts. We can think of these gifts as the special ability and
passion for identifying and supplying needs within the church so that those with other gifts are freed up to more effectively use
their spiritual gifts. Hopefully, this will become clearer as we look at the scriptures and see some of the different ways these
special gifts were manifested in other communities of faith.
There are a wide variety of helping gifts, but they are all exercised in response to particular needs that arise in the
community. In Old Testament times, spiritual gifts were not yet given to the community at large, and so leaders had to choose
helpers based not on gifts but solely on needs. Sometimes people were assigned particular helping tasks whether they had a
passion or a gift to carry them out or not. Even so, we can find some excellent examples of what it looks like when helpers
provided much needed service to the whole community.
From the book of Numbers, we heard how the Levites were separated out from the rest of the fighting men for the
particular task of taking care of everything having to do with the Tabernacle. This was the movable tent where Moses met with
God in the desert. As this faith community developed and began to implement the commands and laws which God had given to
Moses on Mt. Sinai, it became clear that there would have to be an organized division of labor in order to survive in the
wilderness. Fighting men were needed to protect the people from other warring tribes, but even more important was the
Tabernacle, the holy place of worship where God made himself and his will known to the people. This was a huge and elaborate
tent which they carried with them wherever they wandered in the desert, and so they needed men who could carry it from
place to place and set it up, take it down and care for it during all the times in between.
As we heard, all the other tribes of Israel were counted for their fighting men. But not the tribe of Levi. At first glance,
this makes the Levites sound like wimps. We might be tempted to think that there was something wrong with them, that they
couldn’t measure up as soldiers. We might assume that they must have felt less important or even impotent, kept away from
where all the action was taking place. Their role was not glamorous; they were “merely” helpers and servants, and it would be
easy to think they were more like slaves than real men. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth—and here’s why.
Back when Moses lingered on the mountain of God, receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites had rebelled and set
up a Golden Calf to worship instead of God. Yet when Moses finally came down the mountain and asked who would fight to
defend the Lord, the Levites were the only ones who rallied to his side during that travesty with the Golden Calf. So the Levite
role of helping and service was not given to them because they were weak and useless, but because they were strong and
dependable. They had the strength of character to stand against the rest of the crowd. They had a deep faith and the wisdom
to know what was really important when the chips were down.
They also had to be physically strong—perhaps stronger than soldiers-- strong enough to carry the very heavy loads that
made up the Tabernacle. In fact, the work was so heavy that the Levites were only allowed to keep this job between the ages
of 25 and 50. After that, they were forced into retirement, because the work was too physically demanding to be safe for men
over 50. But even that didn’t mean that they were expendable or no longer needed. Those over 50 could still assist inside the
Tabernacle, as long as they didn’t do the work themselves. At that point, they were expected to coach and advise and lead and
direct the younger Levites. That would insure that the younger generation was continually being trained to carry on the work.
I think we can see in this early community of Israel a wonderful and very healthy model for the work of the church, and
the critical role for those with gifts of help and service. These gifts are critically important in the life of every faith community.
If we were all preachers or teachers, the walls of this “tabernacle” would be falling down around us—and we don’t even have
to carry it anywhere! We should never fail to appreciate the folks who have and use these gifts to glorify God and build up the
body of Christ. Just like those Levites, these helpers have been set apart for a place of honor, and we need to recognize the
importance of the ministry they provide to the church. And while we’re on the subject, last Sunday when our building was hit
by lightning, spewing brownstone from the peak of this building all over the street, I was certainly thankful for Ted Thorne,
Brian Burke, Scott Green and Barbara Judge, who rushed to the scene to help clean up the mess! And then for the next few
days, both Ted and Barbara spent hours on the phone with contractors, arranging for repairs and then making several trips to
the church to meet the workmen here.
In the very early days of the church in Jerusalem, we heard of the need that arose within that faith community requiring
men who had gifts of helps and service. At this point, the church was meeting in small groups in homes and wherever else
they could find a safe place to gather. And it wasn’t strong backs that were needed but faith, wisdom and the ability to speak
Greek. As the Jerusalem church grew and minority believers were added to the church, the system of taking care of the needy
widows was breaking down. The Hebrew widows had no trouble communicating their needs to the church, and so they were
receiving the daily food distribution. But the Greek widows, who couldn’t speak the language, were being overlooked, and the
Greek Christians were concerned that the church was showing favoritism. It’s unclear whether that was true, but the church
recognized that there was a problem and some people were being neglected. As the church grew, there were more needy
people than the core group of disciples could properly care for, especially since they already had their hands full with the work
of preaching and teaching and discipling. So like the first Israelites, these first Christians set some special people aside to help.
They determined that what was needed were men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom, who could literally “serve the
distribution” or as most translations of the Bible refer to it, could “serve” or “wait on tables.” This would allow the other
disciples to give their full attention to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. So they called all the disciples together, and very
democratically selected seven men, all with Greek names, who we can assume were not only full of the Spirit and wisdom, but
bilingual and therefore able to minister to the Greek-speaking widows in a special way and see that their needs were met. We
know something about two of these men, Stephen and Philip, from their subsequent stories recorded in the Book of Acts.
Stephen was stoned to death as he attempted to witness to the Jews about Christ, and Philip witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch,
helping to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.
This work of “serving at tables” or distributing food to the widows was a special form of service in addition to the
fundamental calling of every believer to witness to Jesus Christ as we go about our work. But for these seven, that work of
help and service was to be a priority so that the other work of the church could go forward. Without this division of labor, the
early Church would have drowned in social work, and the ministry of the word might have been lost. But thankfully that did
not happen. The Church recognized that just as Jesus had demonstrated, both spiritual and physical needs had to be met. And
so God gave the Church different people with different gifts to fill all those varied needs.
Among those with the gift of helps whom God gave to the early Church was a woman with the Hebrew name Tabitha, or
Dorcas in Greek. One of our first reactions to her name may be something like, “Dorcas who?” If you’ve ever heard
anything about this woman, it’s probably the story of her death, which emphasizes Peter’s role in praying for her and
miraculously restoring her to life and to her friends. Or maybe, in passing, you’ve heard that she was a seamstress who had
sewn robes and garments while she was alive. Unfortunately, we just don’t know a whole lot about her, and her name doesn’t
come up much in general conversation.
But maybe it should. I think that these three short paragraphs about her reveal a lot more than the fact that she had a talent
for sewing. First of all, they give us her name in both Hebrew and Greek, which must mean that she had a special role in both
of those Christian communities. And that role must have been using her talents as a seamstress to make beautiful garments for
others. We’re told that she was always doing good and helping the poor. That’s why the widows were so upset when they
thought she was dead. Apparently this Dorcas, whoever else she was, was a one-woman welfare operation to the poor widows
of Joppa. It may have been a very strange calling in that male-dominated society, but Dorcas found a unique way to contribute
her helping gifts to the life and work of the church. Using her talent as a seamstress, she served the needs of the poorest in her
midst.
However, if it weren’t for her death and miracle recovery, we might never have heard of what she did to help further the
Lord’s work. And even what we do read in our English translation of her story doesn’t reveal the fact that in the original Greek
she is referred to specifically as a female disciple, the only woman in the whole New Testament who is described in this way.
The only one. Not Priscilla who taught Apollos about the Holy Spirit or Lydia who had the church in her house or even Mary
who ministered to the needs of the Twelve, received this special recognition.
My point here is not to minimize the contributions of these other women in the life of the early church, but to emphasize
the importance of every person. Whether we receive recognition in this life or not, what matters is that we identify and use our
gifts to help build up the body. That’s the only way the Church will ever be healthy and whole and fully empowered by the
Spirit to live out its particular calling. That’s why we need to remember and encourage people like Dorcas. Dorcas who?
Dorcas the disciple, who used her gifts for helping the needy, and who made it possible for others in the church to use their
gifts. Dorcas the disciple, who by sewing and serving in the background, was instrumental in helping that particular body of
believers grow in faith and in numbers.
Some years ago on 20/20 there was a story about a guy named Craig Kielburger. Craig who? At the time, Craig was a 16
year-old Canadian youth who traveled around the world speaking about the plight of children in slavery and raising funds to help
set them free. He was doing this about 70 days a year, when he wasn’t busy earning straight A’s in school. It all began when
he was 12, after reading an upsetting newspaper article about child slavery and murder of a child in Pakistan. It led Craig to
begin researching worldwide injustice against children. Once he uncovered the disturbing facts, he convinced his grade-school
buddies to form a group that would advocate for children’s rights. The group became Free the Children, now international in
scope. Craig has gone on to start other human rights organizations as well.
My first response when I was listening to Craig’s story was “What is a 12 year old kid doing getting involved with
something like this? What can he hope to accomplish?” Of course as I found out, the answer is, a lot! When it comes to
finding out what is happening in the lives of other children, sometimes children are the best people for the job. But did Craig
have any idea what his gifts or talents were when he began this work? I don’t really know. But what I do know is that he
wanted desperately to help. He didn’t know what he could do, but he saw a definite need and decided to do something to help.
During the TV interview, the reporter asked him, “Why you?”, and Craig’s answer was “Why not me? If everyone says, ‘Why
me?’ how is anything going to get done?” What a remarkable young man, this Craig. Craig who? Craig Kielburger, the helper
of helpless children. Do you think he might have the gift of helps or service?
Even more important, do you think you might have those gifts? Do you see a need here within the body of Christ, and
want to find a way to help fill that need? Many times, when God shows someone a particular need in the church, it’s because
He has already given that person the gift to help fill that need. Is there some special talent you may have that could fill an
important need here, like sewing or baking or hammering or calling on visitors or answering the phone or cleaning or singing or
painting or praying or visiting the sick… so that others can focus on using their gifts to fulfill their particular ministry?
We need all the help and all the helpers with gifts of service that we can get. Every church does. Every church depends
on these folks. Only here we don’t call them Levites, or Dorcas, or even Craig, but you know their names. You can find them
helping in the kitchen or driving the elderly to doctor’s appointments, or cleaning up the parking lot or doing repairs around the
building. But it’s a big list of needs, and the only trouble is there are never enough of these gifted helpers to go around. Unless,
perhaps, some of you just haven’t discovered your gifts yet. Your name wouldn’t by any chance be Dorcas, would it?
Let us pray.
even heard of “helps,” or if we have, we’re not quite sure what it means. The fact that there is not one definitive list of spiritual
gifts in the Bible with precise definitions of each gift sometimes further complicates our efforts to understand all these gifts!
For example, some Christians say that the gift of “helps” has a financial component to it, meaning that those with this gift
contribute monetary support to fill a need. But scripture also mentions the gift of giving, which seems to better define that
special gift of financial giving. The reality is that spiritual gifts often overlap. That’s why I think that each of us has more than
one spiritual gift. One may stand out more than others, but usually there are other gifts operating which empower us to use that
one major gift in a special way.
For instance, someone with the gift of hospitality probably also has the gift of mercy underlying and motivating their gift of
hospitality. That may also be the case for those who have helping gifts. We can think of these gifts as the special ability and
passion for identifying and supplying needs within the church so that those with other gifts are freed up to more effectively use
their spiritual gifts. Hopefully, this will become clearer as we look at the scriptures and see some of the different ways these
special gifts were manifested in other communities of faith.
There are a wide variety of helping gifts, but they are all exercised in response to particular needs that arise in the
community. In Old Testament times, spiritual gifts were not yet given to the community at large, and so leaders had to choose
helpers based not on gifts but solely on needs. Sometimes people were assigned particular helping tasks whether they had a
passion or a gift to carry them out or not. Even so, we can find some excellent examples of what it looks like when helpers
provided much needed service to the whole community.
From the book of Numbers, we heard how the Levites were separated out from the rest of the fighting men for the
particular task of taking care of everything having to do with the Tabernacle. This was the movable tent where Moses met with
God in the desert. As this faith community developed and began to implement the commands and laws which God had given to
Moses on Mt. Sinai, it became clear that there would have to be an organized division of labor in order to survive in the
wilderness. Fighting men were needed to protect the people from other warring tribes, but even more important was the
Tabernacle, the holy place of worship where God made himself and his will known to the people. This was a huge and elaborate
tent which they carried with them wherever they wandered in the desert, and so they needed men who could carry it from
place to place and set it up, take it down and care for it during all the times in between.
As we heard, all the other tribes of Israel were counted for their fighting men. But not the tribe of Levi. At first glance,
this makes the Levites sound like wimps. We might be tempted to think that there was something wrong with them, that they
couldn’t measure up as soldiers. We might assume that they must have felt less important or even impotent, kept away from
where all the action was taking place. Their role was not glamorous; they were “merely” helpers and servants, and it would be
easy to think they were more like slaves than real men. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth—and here’s why.
Back when Moses lingered on the mountain of God, receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites had rebelled and set
up a Golden Calf to worship instead of God. Yet when Moses finally came down the mountain and asked who would fight to
defend the Lord, the Levites were the only ones who rallied to his side during that travesty with the Golden Calf. So the Levite
role of helping and service was not given to them because they were weak and useless, but because they were strong and
dependable. They had the strength of character to stand against the rest of the crowd. They had a deep faith and the wisdom
to know what was really important when the chips were down.
They also had to be physically strong—perhaps stronger than soldiers-- strong enough to carry the very heavy loads that
made up the Tabernacle. In fact, the work was so heavy that the Levites were only allowed to keep this job between the ages
of 25 and 50. After that, they were forced into retirement, because the work was too physically demanding to be safe for men
over 50. But even that didn’t mean that they were expendable or no longer needed. Those over 50 could still assist inside the
Tabernacle, as long as they didn’t do the work themselves. At that point, they were expected to coach and advise and lead and
direct the younger Levites. That would insure that the younger generation was continually being trained to carry on the work.
I think we can see in this early community of Israel a wonderful and very healthy model for the work of the church, and
the critical role for those with gifts of help and service. These gifts are critically important in the life of every faith community.
If we were all preachers or teachers, the walls of this “tabernacle” would be falling down around us—and we don’t even have
to carry it anywhere! We should never fail to appreciate the folks who have and use these gifts to glorify God and build up the
body of Christ. Just like those Levites, these helpers have been set apart for a place of honor, and we need to recognize the
importance of the ministry they provide to the church. And while we’re on the subject, last Sunday when our building was hit
by lightning, spewing brownstone from the peak of this building all over the street, I was certainly thankful for Ted Thorne,
Brian Burke, Scott Green and Barbara Judge, who rushed to the scene to help clean up the mess! And then for the next few
days, both Ted and Barbara spent hours on the phone with contractors, arranging for repairs and then making several trips to
the church to meet the workmen here.
In the very early days of the church in Jerusalem, we heard of the need that arose within that faith community requiring
men who had gifts of helps and service. At this point, the church was meeting in small groups in homes and wherever else
they could find a safe place to gather. And it wasn’t strong backs that were needed but faith, wisdom and the ability to speak
Greek. As the Jerusalem church grew and minority believers were added to the church, the system of taking care of the needy
widows was breaking down. The Hebrew widows had no trouble communicating their needs to the church, and so they were
receiving the daily food distribution. But the Greek widows, who couldn’t speak the language, were being overlooked, and the
Greek Christians were concerned that the church was showing favoritism. It’s unclear whether that was true, but the church
recognized that there was a problem and some people were being neglected. As the church grew, there were more needy
people than the core group of disciples could properly care for, especially since they already had their hands full with the work
of preaching and teaching and discipling. So like the first Israelites, these first Christians set some special people aside to help.
They determined that what was needed were men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom, who could literally “serve the
distribution” or as most translations of the Bible refer to it, could “serve” or “wait on tables.” This would allow the other
disciples to give their full attention to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. So they called all the disciples together, and very
democratically selected seven men, all with Greek names, who we can assume were not only full of the Spirit and wisdom, but
bilingual and therefore able to minister to the Greek-speaking widows in a special way and see that their needs were met. We
know something about two of these men, Stephen and Philip, from their subsequent stories recorded in the Book of Acts.
Stephen was stoned to death as he attempted to witness to the Jews about Christ, and Philip witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch,
helping to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.
This work of “serving at tables” or distributing food to the widows was a special form of service in addition to the
fundamental calling of every believer to witness to Jesus Christ as we go about our work. But for these seven, that work of
help and service was to be a priority so that the other work of the church could go forward. Without this division of labor, the
early Church would have drowned in social work, and the ministry of the word might have been lost. But thankfully that did
not happen. The Church recognized that just as Jesus had demonstrated, both spiritual and physical needs had to be met. And
so God gave the Church different people with different gifts to fill all those varied needs.
Among those with the gift of helps whom God gave to the early Church was a woman with the Hebrew name Tabitha, or
Dorcas in Greek. One of our first reactions to her name may be something like, “Dorcas who?” If you’ve ever heard
anything about this woman, it’s probably the story of her death, which emphasizes Peter’s role in praying for her and
miraculously restoring her to life and to her friends. Or maybe, in passing, you’ve heard that she was a seamstress who had
sewn robes and garments while she was alive. Unfortunately, we just don’t know a whole lot about her, and her name doesn’t
come up much in general conversation.
But maybe it should. I think that these three short paragraphs about her reveal a lot more than the fact that she had a talent
for sewing. First of all, they give us her name in both Hebrew and Greek, which must mean that she had a special role in both
of those Christian communities. And that role must have been using her talents as a seamstress to make beautiful garments for
others. We’re told that she was always doing good and helping the poor. That’s why the widows were so upset when they
thought she was dead. Apparently this Dorcas, whoever else she was, was a one-woman welfare operation to the poor widows
of Joppa. It may have been a very strange calling in that male-dominated society, but Dorcas found a unique way to contribute
her helping gifts to the life and work of the church. Using her talent as a seamstress, she served the needs of the poorest in her
midst.
However, if it weren’t for her death and miracle recovery, we might never have heard of what she did to help further the
Lord’s work. And even what we do read in our English translation of her story doesn’t reveal the fact that in the original Greek
she is referred to specifically as a female disciple, the only woman in the whole New Testament who is described in this way.
The only one. Not Priscilla who taught Apollos about the Holy Spirit or Lydia who had the church in her house or even Mary
who ministered to the needs of the Twelve, received this special recognition.
My point here is not to minimize the contributions of these other women in the life of the early church, but to emphasize
the importance of every person. Whether we receive recognition in this life or not, what matters is that we identify and use our
gifts to help build up the body. That’s the only way the Church will ever be healthy and whole and fully empowered by the
Spirit to live out its particular calling. That’s why we need to remember and encourage people like Dorcas. Dorcas who?
Dorcas the disciple, who used her gifts for helping the needy, and who made it possible for others in the church to use their
gifts. Dorcas the disciple, who by sewing and serving in the background, was instrumental in helping that particular body of
believers grow in faith and in numbers.
Some years ago on 20/20 there was a story about a guy named Craig Kielburger. Craig who? At the time, Craig was a 16
year-old Canadian youth who traveled around the world speaking about the plight of children in slavery and raising funds to help
set them free. He was doing this about 70 days a year, when he wasn’t busy earning straight A’s in school. It all began when
he was 12, after reading an upsetting newspaper article about child slavery and murder of a child in Pakistan. It led Craig to
begin researching worldwide injustice against children. Once he uncovered the disturbing facts, he convinced his grade-school
buddies to form a group that would advocate for children’s rights. The group became Free the Children, now international in
scope. Craig has gone on to start other human rights organizations as well.
My first response when I was listening to Craig’s story was “What is a 12 year old kid doing getting involved with
something like this? What can he hope to accomplish?” Of course as I found out, the answer is, a lot! When it comes to
finding out what is happening in the lives of other children, sometimes children are the best people for the job. But did Craig
have any idea what his gifts or talents were when he began this work? I don’t really know. But what I do know is that he
wanted desperately to help. He didn’t know what he could do, but he saw a definite need and decided to do something to help.
During the TV interview, the reporter asked him, “Why you?”, and Craig’s answer was “Why not me? If everyone says, ‘Why
me?’ how is anything going to get done?” What a remarkable young man, this Craig. Craig who? Craig Kielburger, the helper
of helpless children. Do you think he might have the gift of helps or service?
Even more important, do you think you might have those gifts? Do you see a need here within the body of Christ, and
want to find a way to help fill that need? Many times, when God shows someone a particular need in the church, it’s because
He has already given that person the gift to help fill that need. Is there some special talent you may have that could fill an
important need here, like sewing or baking or hammering or calling on visitors or answering the phone or cleaning or singing or
painting or praying or visiting the sick… so that others can focus on using their gifts to fulfill their particular ministry?
We need all the help and all the helpers with gifts of service that we can get. Every church does. Every church depends
on these folks. Only here we don’t call them Levites, or Dorcas, or even Craig, but you know their names. You can find them
helping in the kitchen or driving the elderly to doctor’s appointments, or cleaning up the parking lot or doing repairs around the
building. But it’s a big list of needs, and the only trouble is there are never enough of these gifted helpers to go around. Unless,
perhaps, some of you just haven’t discovered your gifts yet. Your name wouldn’t by any chance be Dorcas, would it?
Let us pray.
