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HEALING IN JESUS’ NAMEACTS 9:32-4332Now as Peter went here and there among all the believers, he came down also to the saints living in Lydda. 33There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, for he was paralyzed. 34Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed!" And immediately he got up. 35And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. 36Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, "Please come to us without delay." 39So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.INTRODUCTIONSAINTSThe word translated in verses 32 and 41 as ‘saints’ literally means ‘holy person’ and is found three times in this chapter, although it was a word that Luke used on only one other occasion in his writings.The apostle Paul was especially fond of using that word in his letters as he wrote to ‘the saints’.The Scriptures of the new covenant always used that word in the plural meaning the body of Christians rather than any individual believer.Furthermore, the word ‘saints’ did not refer to a special class of people of saintly character as it came to mean in later centuries.In those days the word signified a “group of believers who belonged to God as his own people”.That significance would certainly not have been lost on the Jewish leaders of that day, and neither would it have been lost on the Jewish believers back then.Orthodox Jews in those days would have been outraged at Paul – a Jew – writing that Gentile Christians were God’s own people, and Luke began that thought in his writing.HEALINGSAeneas was from Lydda, some twenty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, and his healing caused all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon to turn to the Lord.It moved the worship of those people from whatever idol they worshipped and transferred it to Christ.Tabitha was from Joppa, which was thirty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, and it was the sea port of Jerusalem – the modern Jaffa, which is a suburb of Tel-Aviv.After Tabitha was raised, many people believed in the Lord.Once again, the people’s worship was removed from idols to be fixed on Christ himself.We should take careful notice that these people turned to follow the Lord; they did not turn to follow Peter.The glory resulting from these events went to Jesus the Christ alone, and well-known Christians today should learn from that.TANNERIt is very interesting that after Tabitha (Dorcas) was raised, Peter stayed on in the house of Simon the tanner.A tanner was ceremonially unclean in Jewish eyes because he handled dead animals, and his shop had to be in the outskirts of any town because of the bad smell that came from it.In the Babylonian Talmud there appears the statement: “Woe to him who is a tanner by trade.”Yet Peter chose to stay there – showing that he had no longer any prejudice in him.OVERSEERThe language that Luke used in this passage indicated that Peter had an overseeing pastoral role of the churches around Palestine in those days as he travelled ‘here and there’.It is also noteworthy that, although there would have been Christian leaders in Joppa, the believers there asked for Peter to make the journey to come to Tabitha.This highlights Peter’s pastoral oversight of the churches in quite a large area.Although Peter was well-known and recognized as an apostle who had special oversight of a group of churches, he wasn’t a Christian superstar celebrity – because all the glory went to Jesus.As we consider how Jesus wants to move in our midst today, let’s look at some dangers that we face as we work through what it means to be a community of faith, hope and love.DANGERSThe first danger – and it is especially applicable to gifts of healings – is that any Christian should believe that they actually own that which God gives.The second danger – and it is a very widespread danger – is that we do not learn how to use that which God gives.The third danger – and it is also an easy danger to fall for – is that we rely on formulae and previous experience, rather than on the Holy Spirit.The fourth danger – and it is so widespread as to be virtually an epidemic – is that we restrict healing to only physical healing.The fifth danger – and again it is a very real danger – is that we seek signs and wonders to further our own aims and to enhance our own reputations.The sixth danger – and non-charismatic churches are especially vulnerable here – is that we dispense with the miraculous because we do not like it and because it does not fit into our idea of what church should look like.The seventh danger – and it is closely related to number six – is that we want God to be God in our image of him, and not as he really is.In relation to healings, there are some realities that we should face up to in our lives together as a community of faith, hope and love.REALITIESThe first reality is that each and every single one of us ought to be being continually healed every single day of our lives.The second reality is that we need to be a people who continually welcome Jesus into our midst and so welcome whatever he wants to do in our lives.The third reality is that we need to see each other as people who are on a healing journey and who therefore need our love and care – not our negative, aggressive criticism of the people themselves and nor our destructive condemnation of them. (Of course there is a place for positive and encouraging criticism and for condemnation of evil deeds.)The fourth reality is that Jesus heals far more through relationships than he does through signs and wonders.The fifth reality is that we should rejoice and praise Jesus for what he is doing in people’s lives – not criticize how he chooses to do it.The sixth reality is that God often works in waves or seasons, and that we are moving into a very special time of God on the move – both together here and also on a wider scale.The seventh reality is that we need to be intimately close to our father in heaven in order to see what he is doing and join in with him.Let us then consider some practices that are appropriate for us as a community of faith, hope and love.PRACTICESWhen Peter was called to Tabitha (Dorcas), he needed to know what his father in heaven was doing.That was why he emptied the room and then knelt down and prayed.Only after she was raised from the dead did Peter call other people to come and see her.We would never have known what had happened in that room if Peter had not made it known – so why did he make it known?Peter made it known so that people would know that he was guided to do what he did, and that he was not simply relying on a formula or on his own experience.Neither was he just doing his own thing.And Peter certainly was not making himself look good.He was giving the glory to Jesus.That is why these Scriptures say: “Many believed in and turned to the Lord”.The Scripture does not say, “many believed in Peter”.We need to be a community that causes people to turn to the Lord and to believe in him.We need to be a community that heals first and foremost through relationships.If we are not healing and growing to be like Christ, then it is valid to ask if we really are God’s own people.This is the God ordained way: Healing flows primarily in the midst of and through his people.That is supremely reflected in:How we treat one another.Our expectations of one another.Our expectations of our leaders.Remembering whose church it really is. ................
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