We Are Resurrection People

WE ARE RESURRECTION PEOPLE

An Exposition of Acts 9:32-43

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: October 12, 2025

Series: The Book of Acts

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Good morning, everyone. I invite you to turn to Acts chapter 9, and I'll be reading verses 32 to 43. Acts 9, beginning in verse 32. This is God's word to us who have gathered together in his name this morning. Holy Scripture says:

³² Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. ³⁴ And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. ³⁵ And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶ Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. ³⁷ In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.³⁸ Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹ So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. ⁴⁰ But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. ⁴² And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. ⁴³ And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. (Acts 9:32-43)

This is the word of God, and it is for our good. Let's pray:

Father, we thank you for the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is like a lamp shining in a dark place, to guide our feet, to make a straight path for our feet, to show us the way. Father, I pray that this morning that these words would come to dwell richly in our hearts and transform our lives. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

WE ARE RESURRECTION PEOPLE: INTRODUCTION

The title of the sermon this morning is obviously, “We Are Resurrection People”. And what I mean by that is a few things. What I mean is: our lives as Christians and our life together are marked by resurrection.

First of all, we worship the Resurrected One, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection and the life. He is the living one. He was dead, but behold, he is alive forevermore. And he holds the keys of death and Hades. He is the slain Lamb, who is also the lion of the tribe of Judah, seated on the throne of God and worthy of our worship.

We worship the Resurrected One and we proclaim his resurrection story, which the Nicene Creed did beautifully – I didn't know Tom was going to do that. I was going to borrow some terminology. He, the Son of God, came down from heaven and became a man. And the God-Man perfectly embodied the grace and truth, the faithfulness and steadfast love, of the Father. He lived a perfect life. He brought with him the reality of the kingdom of God and he taught his disciples how to live in it. And in the end, he was betrayed by his own people and he was delivered over to the Gentiles, and he suffered many things, and he was crucified on a Roman cross. He died for the sins. And then he rose again from the dead on the third day and eventually ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And from there he exercises absolute and total sovereignty over heaven and earth. That's the story, the true story, the biblical story that we proclaim.

And in him – not only do we worship the Resurrected One, and not only do we proclaim his resurrection story – but in him we are resurrected people. Of course, we do look forward to the bodily and physical resurrection of the dead that we will partake in at the end of the age. But even now in Christ, we are resurrected people. We have been made alive. It says in Ephesians chapter 2: though we were dead in sin, God made us alive and raised us up. We've been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are resurrected people.

And consequently, and fourthly, we live and serve and love and advance the mission – his mission – through his resurrection power. He is actively at work in our midst.

And therefore we are not limited by our past. We are not limited by our sins, the sins of 10 years ago or the sins of 10 minutes ago. We are not limited by our weaknesses or our natural abilities. We are not limited by worldly perspectives or fleshly resources. Because the living God, the Spirit of the living Christ, indwells us individually and as a community. The living Christ stands in our midst, exercising his power for our good, advancing his gospel, building his church, transforming our lives, comforting us in our trials, sustaining our faith and hope, preserving us through many trials and afflictions, producing acts of sacrificial love in and through his people, and revealing his beauty, glory and power for all to see.

And since Christ stands in our midst and is doing these things, what you can expect, what we should expect, is that remarkable resurrection stories are going to spring forth in the midst of this present world, such as we have been seeing throughout the book of Acts, and such as we see right here at the end of Acts, chapter nine.

So we are resurrection people.

THE BIG PICTURE AND ACTS 9:32-35

Now I want to help us meditate on the riches of this passage, and I hope that you will meditate upon it far beyond the 40 minutes that I'm standing up here. But this is the big picture that I see in these verses. and I'm going to put this before you and then talk through the passage:

Our resurrected Lord stands in our midst, causing resurrection stories to spring forth from the resurrection community with resurrection impact, drawing more and more people to our resurrected Lord.

That, I think, is what is going on in this passage. So with this big picture in view then, I want to look at verses 32 to 35.

It says “Peter went here and there” (v. 32). The last time that we encountered Peter was in chapter 8, verse 25. He had gone down to Samaria. And then Peter and John, as they returned to Jerusalem, they were preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritans and eventually made their way back to Jerusalem. And so, Peter had a traveling ministry in the region. And in this particular instance, “he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda” (v. 32). Lydda was about 24 miles northwest of Jerusalem.

And so right there, you can see that there was in Lydda a believing community. I'm calling it a resurrection community, a community of brothers and sisters who had been made alive by Christ and were following him. And as we've been going through here, the Book of Acts, we've seen how this big resurrection community came to be in Jerusalem. But since the beginning of chapter eight, that's been spreading out throughout the region of Judea and Samaria and in places like Damascus (we looked at that last week) and now we can see here also in Lydda.

So Peter visits the resurrection community in Lydda, and he found a man. Now Luke, the author here, doesn't specify whether this man was part of the believing community or not. He specifies in verse 36 that Tabitha was indeed a disciple. He doesn't specifically say whether or not Aeneas was. But in any case, Peter found a man named Aeneas who was paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. And Peter knew – Peter was an apostle, he had a special commission – and Peter knew that in this very moment, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen One, standing in the midst of his people, willed to heal Aeneas through the instrumentality of the apostle Peter. He wasn't guessing, he wasn't supposing, he wasn't hoping, he wasn't wishing, he wasn't saying, you know, ‘if it's the Lord's will’. You should say, ‘if it's the Lord's will’, if you don't know if it's the Lord's will. But Peter knew, right? ““Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.” (v. 34)

Jesus himself performed many such healings that are recounted for us in the four gospels. And now, like Jesus, so his follower Peter does. And Jesus Christ raises Aeneas up – to the amazement of “all the residents of Lydda and Sharon” (v. 35). By the way, Lydda is the town, and Sharon is the region. So it'd kind of be like saying, you know, and all the residents of Paris and the Oxford Hills “saw him, and they turned to the Lord.” (v. 35)

So we have a resurrected Lord standing in our midst working through Peter, and a remarkable miracle or healing takes place with the effect – with the impact – that many people in the area see it and, in conjunction with obviously hearing the message of the Gospel, they turn to the Lord.

The resurrection storyline in v. 33-35

Now I want you to notice the resurrection storyline in these verses. This is very simple concept, but I want you to see it. So Aeneas was bedridden, he was paralyzed. He wasn't dead, but he was down, okay? And then he was healed. And then he was seen. And the impact that that had was that many people turned to the Lord. So you can see the flow of thought, right? Bedridden, risen, seen, believed. Does that sound familiar?

THE BIG PICTURE AND ACTS 9:36-42

Okay, hold that thought while we go to Peter's ministry in the next place. Again, I want to put up the big picture, the big picture thought:

Our resurrected Lord stands in our midst, causing resurrection stories to spring forth from the resurrection community with resurrection impact, drawing more and more people to our resurrected Lord.

And let's look at verses 36 to 42.

Joppa (v. 36) was another town, a coastal town. Joppa was about another 10 miles to the northwest of Lydda. Joppa was also in the region of Sharon, which helps to explain why, how it is that the disciples in Joppa knew that Peter was in Lydda.

And so we're introduced to the resurrection community, as it were, in Joppa. And it's obviously, it's a remarkable community. Luke is highlighting one particular woman, a female disciple named Tabitha. That's the Aramaic name. The Greek name is Dorcas. Both Tabitha and Dorcas mean gazelle. Now Tabitha is representative of what all Christians are what all the early disciples were, right? “She was full of good works and acts of charity.” (v. 36)

She was, in the first instance, full of the Holy Spirit. We've been reading all throughout the book of Acts how God's people were filled with the Holy Spirit, and that led them to powerfully minister in the name of Jesus. We saw Stephen back in Acts 6:8 – Stephen was “full of grace and power” (Acts 6:8). The apostle Peter would be full of the Holy Spirit and speak forth the word of God. And here we understand that most fundamentally, Tabitha is full of the Holy Spirit and she's bearing the fruit of the Spirit and she's evidencing a life of love.

We're told, “She was full of good works and acts of charity.” And again, that was characteristic of these early believers, right? In Acts chapter two and Acts chapter four, we're told how they were doing life together, they were in each other's homes, they were meeting each other's needs, even to the point of selling property. They didn't selfishly hold on to what they had for themselves, but they shared generously as any had need. And Tabitha caught that vision and had that spirit of love, the spirit of Christ within her.

And she had a powerful impact on her brothers and sisters in Christ, especially upon these dear widows who were the special object of her care. She made many garments of clothing, meeting practical needs and blessing these sisters in Christ. Again, we saw in Acts chapter six how the early church was making it a point to care for widows. And when they had a little hiccup in Acts chapter six, they fixed it, because it is important to care for orphans and widows in their distress.

The scene here in verses 37 to 39 reminds me of the scene in chapter 8, verse 2. In chapter 8, verse 2, what had happened was that Stephen, that man who was full of grace and power, had been stoned to death. And what does it say in Acts 8:2? “Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.” (Acts 8:2) Isn't that exactly what we see in chapter 9, verses 37 to 39? After Tabitha “became ill and died” (v. 37), devout believers handled Tabitha’s body with great care, setting her in the upper room, and made great lamentation over her.

But they had a thought, right? This is rare – physical resurrections in this present age are rare. There are a few instances of them throughout the Bible. But they're not commonplace. But they had a thought, right? Peter's only 10 miles away. Let's send for Peter and see what he will do. And so Peter comes.

And now I'm in verse 40. Well, they had told him in verse 38 to come without delay, which presumably he does. And in verse 39 Peter can see the appreciation for this woman who has died, the tokens of her love, and all the deep, profound emotion over the loss of her life. And so Peter, being in the upper room, put everyone outside (v. 40). So it’s just Peter, and the resurrected Lord who stands in the midst of his people, and a corpse. And he “knelt down and prayed” (v. 40). He knelt down and prayed because the power and the will to raise someone from the dead is not in Peter. It's not in any mere man. It is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. He knelt down and prayed, and once again he knew that it was in fact the Lord's will to raise Tabitha up. And so he said to her corpse, “to the body”: “Tabitha, arise.” (v. 40) The Lord Jesus Christ once said to a little girl, ‘Talitha, arise’ (see Mark 5:41). And the little girl arose. And now a different scene: the apostle Peter says to this dear woman, “Tabitha, arise.” “And she opened her eyes” (v. 40) and she sat up. And Peter took her hand, “raised her up”, and presented her to the saints and especially to those widows who had a special heart for this woman (v. 41).And again, the news spread all throughout Joppa, and many people turned to the Lord (v. 42).

The resurrection storyline in v. 37-42

Now notice: the resurrection storyline in verses 37 to 42 is even more explicit, right? Tabitha was dead (v. 37). Then she was risen (v. 40-41). And then she was presented alive to those who knew her (v. 41). And then she was proclaimed alive to all Joppa with the impact that many turned to the Lord. And so again you see the flow of thought: dead, risen, presented alive, proclaimed, believed. Does that sound familiar? That should sound even more familiar than the first account.

RESURRECTION STORIES REFLECT THE GREAT RESURRECTION STORY

Our resurrection stories reflect the great resurrection story. I'm calling these accounts resurrection stories – Aeneas was bedridden, then raised up; Tabitha was dead, then raised up – these are resurrection stories. On September 7 (when several people were baptized here), you heard some resurrection stories, right? Right about here on the stage, people were standing and either sharing their own testimony or reading someone else's – their story of being raised up and transformed by Christ. And all of these resurrection stories are a reflection of and a participation in the great resurrection story.

So when we read these words (bedridden/dead, raised up/risen, seen/proclaimed, believed), we're supposed to think of the great resurrection story, the master story. Jesus suffered and died and was buried (Luke 22:1-23:56). He rose from the dead (Luke 24:1-49). We're told in Acts, chapter one, verse three, that he presented himself alive to those who knew him, to his followers, not to the world (Acts 1:3). Then he ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11) and he was proclaimed and continues to be proclaimed to all the world (Acts 2-28). And lo and behold, many believe and embrace him as their Messiah and King (Acts 2-28). We see this resurrection story told all throughout the Bible, all throughout the New Testament. Here's one particular verse that I think is really helpful:

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh [and of course, it was in the flesh that he suffered and bled and died],

vindicated by the Spirit,

seen by angels,

proclaimed among the nations,

believed on in the world,

taken up in glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)

And so the idea that I want to get across here is that because of the great resurrection story and all that it represents, and because of the fact that the living Lord Jesus Christ – the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth – stands in our midst and ministers among us by His Spirit, he generates all kinds of resurrection stories, little resurrection stories – that are built off of and that echo his master story.

Resurrection stories happen whenever the Lord stretches forth his hand in a tangible way, transforming or turning around people's lives so as to leave his imprint upon them. Such people become a visible sign of his resurrection power and a testimony of to the world: ‘Jesus came through for us.’

That is supposed to be the pervading testimony of our lives. Not that we did it, not that we figured it out. It's not as if Jesus saves us and gives us a title to heaven so that we know that we're going to go to heaven when we die, and then we're just kind of out here on our own for the rest of our earthly life, doing our best, you know, to make it to the end in our own wisdom and strength. That's not the picture of biblical Christianity. The picture of biblical Christianity is that through Christ, we get reconciled to God. Yes, our eternity is secure, but the more fundamental reality is that we are united to Christ, we are reconciled to God, and the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. And now our entire life is lived in fellowship with and in relationship to the living Lord, who is actively at work in our lives in all kinds of ways.

How many times does David in the Psalms say that the Lord delivered him? It's not as if he was getting saved in the sense of initial reconciliation to God over and over again. It's that in all kinds of different ways, in all kinds of different afflictions and trials, we need the Lord to come through for us. And he does. And when he does, we can say, he saved us, he delivered us, he rescued us, he came through for us.

MANY RESURRECTION STORIES FLOW FROM THE GREAT RESURRECTION STORY

And so let me talk about these many resurrection stories.

I want you to get the principle. I want you to get the principle. And by the way, this should be relevant to all of us – maybe you're in the middle of it; if you're not in the middle of it right now, then maybe you were recently in the middle of it or you're about to be in the middle of it. What I’m about to say should be very relevant. The principle is: the Lord superintends our life in such a way that we desperately need him. You know, sometimes I think – in terms of the way that I'm kind of naturally and fleshly wired – I just want everything to be nice and neat and tidy around me. And then I can, you know, if I wanted to, I could just relax on a Thursday night with the Prime football game and popcorn. Just relax. Nothing wrong with that. But the point is, I’d like everything to just be neat and tidy, and then I can just coast. But there are problems! There are problems in me and around me. That's the point. That's the point. ‘You need me to come through for you,’ the Lord says. Take your pick. Pick your problem. We need the Lord to come through for us.

Let me summarize 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. It's beautiful. Paul says that they had such a great affliction. He calls it a deadly peril. He says: we despaired of life itself. Why? Why? What was the purpose in it? What was God's purpose for it? He said: we despaired of life itself. And all of this was so that we would not trust in ourselves, but so that we would rely on the God who raises the dead. We are resurrection people. Remember the narrative. Remember the Lord.And so Paul says, okay, the Lord is coming through for us. The Lord is comforting us in our afflictions. The Lord is meeting our needs in our afflictions. And he's even doing it in part through the prayers of other people. Through your prayers, the Lord is blessing me – this is the experience. And then the Lord comforts us in our affliction so that we can comfort others in their affliction. You see, all of this is going on. We have to embrace the fact that being paralyzed or bedridden for eight years, that is long and protracted suffering. Or there is the deep heartache of someone dying.

Okay, so I have a number of things listed up here. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. But you can see there are physical healings. There are many physical healings all throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament.

There are physical resurrections, but they are rare.

There is deliverance from evil spirits. Demonic affliction is a real thing. And Jesus Christ has the authority and the power to set men and women free from the tyranny of the devil.

There is also renewal after a long season of darkness. Just think about Job. I mean, there's a death and resurrection story. Death-like: Job lost essentially everything, he had everything taken away, and he ws just a picture of illness from head to toe, and he's got nothing going for him. But in the end, the Lord raises him up. And the later years of Job's life were more blessed than his former years.

Now the next one is the most important one on the list. The list is not in order of importance. But the most important resurrection stories are the ones that have to do with regeneration and conversion. Think about it. How many resurrection stories are present in Acts 9:32-43? The apostle Peter (v. 32) is a resurrection story. Could you possibly imagine him ministering this way before Jesus ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit came out upon him? Every man or woman who was already a disciple or already a saint (v. 32, 38) was a resurrection story. Then, of course, you have Aeneas and Tabitha. And then you have all the people who turn to the Lord in the aftermath of that (v. 35, 42). Every single one is a resurrection story: ‘Christ met me in a mighty and powerful way, saved my soul and transformed my life.’ Oh, and don't forget, these two stories of Aeneas and Tabitha are happening right after the account of Saul's conversion. I mean, you talk about a picture of spiritual death or spiritual paralysis, and literal blindness after he met Jesus on the Damascus road, I mean, that's a picture of Saul, and yet the Lord raised him up to the great amazement of everyone, right? The man who was formerly seeking to destroy the faith is now proclaiming it. What's going on? But spiritual and moral transformation is actually even more unsettling to people than physical healings. We're glad for people to be physically healed. But, boy, if your life turns around spiritually, that can really speak powerfully to me. How do I need to change, right?

And then you have just practical godliness and abundant fruitfulness. When you see someone like Tabitha full of love. She didn’t do just a few calculated good works to make a statement or play the part. “She was full of good works and acts of charity.” Imagine others asking: ‘What makes you tick, Tabitha? Why do you use all of the resources that you have to serve others?’ Imagine Tabitha answering: ‘Well, I’m glad you asked. Let me tell you about Jesus, who used all of his resources to serve me and you. Would you like to meet him?’

I think about this text and I think, wouldn't it be great right now to just sing – we're not going to do this – but it'd be great just to sing Way Maker right now. I mean, think about the words:

“You are here. You're moving in our midst”

“You are here, You're working in this place”

“You are here, touching every heart”

“You are here, healing every heart”

“You are here, turning lives around”

“You are here, mending every heart”

“Even when I don't see it, You're working”

“Even when I don't feel it, You're working”

“Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper

Light in the darkness, my God

That is who You are”[1]

That's what's happening here (in Acts 9:32-43). That's what Jesus wants to do here (in South Paris Baptist Church).

Where are you at? Is anybody here and you're just like on the outside, the door is closed, and you’re saying something like, ‘I don't know what in the world he's talking about, but whatever he's talking about, that's not working for me.’ Well, it won't work for you until your heart gets open to the beauty and the majesty and the grace of Jesus Christ.

A FEW QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Now I want to leave you with a few questions. And after I leave you with these few questions, I'm going to pray and the sermon will end. But I want to give you an opportunity, if anybody wants to share brief feedback or a brief testimony related to the message today, I'm just going to invite you to do that, okay?

But here are a few final questions.

Number one: are you telling your resurrection stories? Obviously, the proclamation of the great resurrection story is the priority, right? We preach the gospel. But don't miss the fact – what is Luke doing? Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling us little resurrection stories. The one about Aeneas, the one about Tabitha. And we see this over and over again throughout Scripture. Your resurrection stories are designed to testify to the reality of Christ. Your resurrection stories are designed to build one another up and strengthen each other in the grace of God.

Second question: what not yet resurrection stories are you longing and praying for? Who are you praying for, that they would be saved from their sin and reconciled to God? Who are you praying for, that they would experience a breakthrough and overcoming a besetting sin or a paralyzing issue in their life, physical or financial or emotional or otherwise?

It's good – Peter sets the example – it’s good to kneel down and pray. Tim mentioning that – Unplugged (a new prayer fellowship that is starting): gather together and pray for that which only God can do. And he doesn't call us to sit back and just reason to ourselves, ‘Well, he's sovereign, and so he's going to do whatever he's going to do regardless of whether I pray or not. And so I'm just going to watch that Thursday night football game. That's not what the Bible teaches. We're called to participate with the sovereign Lord in the work that he wants to do. He invites us to fast and to pray and to be desperate before him, to ask him to do what only he can do. Just like the early believers in Acts – I think it was Acts, chapter four – they were praying for the Lord to stretch forth his hand and to heal and to give them boldness that the word of God would go forward and transform lives and continue to build the church.

Final question: has your heart been set free to see the unlimited possibilities of what the Resurrected One can do in your midst, in your life, in your family, in your congregation, in your community, in your world? Or have you shut your expectations down? It's very attractive to shut down your expectations, because if you shut down your expectations, your expectations won't be dashed. You won't be disappointed. But you'll be missing out on the life, the desperation, the fasting, the praying, the longing, and the resurrection stories that spring forth not easily. It's easy for him to do it, but he does it through a people who want it, who long for it, and who seek it with all of their heart. Will you open your heart to what the Lord wants to do in and around your life?

Let's pray. 

Father, I pray that you would help each and every one of us, call these things to mind, to meditate on the lessons of this particular passage. I pray that you would awaken us from any laziness or dullness or paralysis in our own lives. I pray that we would be awake and alert to all that you call us to be and do. And Father, I do pray that you would stretch forth your hand and magnify the name of Jesus through the springing forth of numerous resurrection stories that can only be explained by the power of Jesus. Here in the power of Jesus, let us live. In his name we pray, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] “Way Maker” by Osinachi Okoro. © 2016 Integrity Music Europe (PRS) (admin. worldwide at CapitolCMGPublishing.com, excluding the UK & Europe which is admin. by Integrity Music Europe. Songs@integritymusic.com)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Patrick Schreiner, Acts (Christian Standard Commentary). Holman Reference, 2022.

Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.