Bible Questions
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Popular
    • Steps to Salvation
    • Seeking a Church?
    • A - E >
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
    • F - J >
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
    • K - O >
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
    • P - T >
      • P
      • R
      • S
      • T
    • U - Z >
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • Z
  • Lessons
    • Baptism
    • Bible Basics
    • How to Study >
      • Interpreting the Bible
      • Effective Bible Study
    • Bible Surveys >
      • Beginner Bible Survey
      • Advanced BIble Survey >
        • Old Testament Survey
        • Major and Minor Prophets
        • New Testament Survey
      • Old Testament Characters
    • Book Surveys >
      • Ecclesiastes
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Acts of the Apostles
      • Romans
      • 1 & 2 Thessalonians
      • 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus
      • James
      • 1 & 2 Peter
      • 1, 2, 3 John
      • Jude
    • Christian Living >
      • Adding to Your Faith
      • Christian Evidences
      • Parables of Jesus
      • Personal Evangelism
      • Practical Christianity
      • Prayer
      • Self-Assessment
      • Supernatural Power
    • The Church >
      • Leadership
      • Work of the Church
  • Podcasts
  • Ask Question
  • About Us
  • Study Aids
  • Blog
  • Sermons
  • Baptism Debate 2011
  • Privacy Policy
<...Go back

Full of Good Works


Introduction.  “At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did” (Acts 9:36-43). Her example is exactly what Paul later told Titus to do as “a pattern of good works.” Jesus died to “purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” and Dorcas showed exactly how this could be done. All should “affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works” as Dorcas did. She exemplified the duty to “let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” (Titus 2:7,14; 3:8, 14).

Are we full of “good works” like Dorcas? Most of us have made prayer and reading Scripture daily priorities and they are important enough that we monitor them. Yet are we as “zealous for good works” as we are for these? Evangelists are to “affirm constantly” that believers in God should be “careful” (meaning take care, concentrate upon, consider, reflect, take thought, give heed) to their “good works.” Are we as careful as Dorcas to be full of them? In the same way we flee every temptation and confess every sin, we must also concentrate on “maintaining good works”.

Jesus told us that “good works” are necessary for our salvation. “His own special people” must be “zealous of good works:”
  • “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. ... 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You... 40 Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Mt. 25:31-45)
This is exactly what Dorcas was doing for the widows in Joppa. She was clothing “His brethren.” Jesus’ praise was for those disciples who gave Him food, drink, shelter, clothing, and visitation. Yet no Christian ever saw Jesus in the flesh. He was at God’s right hand the day the church began. Hence they asked, “Lord, when did we see You?”  His answer: Any good work done to even “the least of My brethren you did it to Me.” Who are His brethren? “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” His brethren are those who are being sanctified as Christians (Heb. 2:11).

Our entrance into the eternal kingdom will be based on our “good works” If we are not zealous for them and careful to maintain them we are “unfruitful” and “cursed of My Father.”
  • "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; ... 45 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'”
When Dorcas died, “all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.” She had recognized the needs of the widows and had busily fulfilled it with a skill she possessed and wanted to share in the church.

She shared her gifts with those who needed them. That is exactly what good works are! We take our gifts and serve our brethren with them: “according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” and “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them” (1Pet. 4:10; Rom. 12:6).

Every local church is a body of Christ filled with Jesus’ brethren. Our gifts (time, money, ability, sacrifices, etc.) must not be squandered or we will be unfruitful. We must share them with our brethren. Just as the garments Dorcas made blessed the church at Joppa, making it a happier and healthier body, so it is today. So what gifts are we ministering to those in our local church? Those who “minister” and “use” their gifts for the brethren are doing it to Jesus. Dorcas “ministered” and “used” her gifts. She was so full of good works that when she died the widows wept at her loss. Would anyone weep after our death because the gifts we ministered and used were gone? Will we be sorely missed? 
 Bible Questions is a work of the Holly Street church of Christ in Denver, CO. 
Copyright (c) 2023 Holly Street church of Christ. All material within the website may be freely distributed for non-commercial uses by including a reference to the website.