On vacation, our family stayed in a cabin near Mount St. Helen’s in southern Washington. My wife’s brother and his family were in the cabin next door, and that morning the eleven of us gathered around the picnic table and read God’s Word and prayed together. When I later commented to my little girl that we had just had church, she said, ‘That’s not church!’. See, she already is under the illusion that church is what goes on in this place, and worship is what we do here on Sunday mornings. But those things are not church. Church is people, and wherever God’s people put themselves under God’s Word to hear and to live it, that is church.
The next Sunday, we attended a Presbyterian Church. There, worshiping with people we had never met, God’s Word was opened up to us in a way that brought me under conviction and caused me to repent of an attitude I had been harboring toward someone. I was reminded again that church is bigger than my own experience of it here at our ‘church’ every Sunday. Jesus has people all over the world and we in our life as a ‘church’ are part of something great, global, and historical.
The history of the church in Klamath Falls, Oregon and our church here in this city both trace our roots back to the church in Jerusalem in the book of Acts. There are Christians today because of what the followers of Jesus were doing then. Not only that, but we understand what it means to be the church of Jesus in 21st Century North America only because we get to see what it meant to be the church in 1st Century Jerusalem, as we read and observe the life of the first followers of Jesus.
We are walking through this book of Acts, and today we come to Chapter 3. Chapters 1 & 2 have given us the narrative of the ascension of Jesus, his commission to his followers to be his witnesses, their empowerment by God’s Spirit to do that, and Peter’s Pentecost sermon proclaiming Jesus as both Jewish Messiah (or Christ) and Lord of all. On that day three thousand people receive that word and find forgiveness of sins through Jesus. They are baptized, and the community of Jesus – the Church – is born.
The last thing we read, at the end of chapter 2, describes the life of that community: their worship, their spiritual life, their mutual love and generosity, and that description includes these comments: They devoted themselves to the prayers… Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles…. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Then, as a way of letting us know what that looked like, the author Luke includes this account of the healing of a crippled man.
Luke sets the stage by introducing us to the players in the encounter just before it happens in 3:1. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, that is, about 3 in the afternoon. They were Israelites, and rightly saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Judaism so they also were still devoted to the worship practice of the regular, corporate prayers.
The other player in this scene is the beggar, verse 2: And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate, to ask alms of everyone entering the temple. Here is a man who had never taken a step. Never. He is lame from birth and had to be carried wherever he needs to go. Like others in his day with some congenital condition (like blindness or paralysis) he is destitute. He is utterly dependent on the generosity of others for his livelihood. So every day he is brought to his post to beg from pious Jews who would consider it a religious good-deed to give to the poor. At the hour of prayer there is an influx of such people (only pious Jews would come to the prayer), and so the beggar’s prospects are good. What he doesn’t know is that this is his last day as a beggar.
The stage is set: the beggar is at his usual post, and Peter and John among the crowd coming to the temple for prayers.
Now we come to the action, in verse 3: Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he (the beggar) asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ This is great! What is the unspoken rule when encountering a street person or panhandler in our day? ‘Don’t make eye contact.’ And how many people, I wonder, had passed this beggar by and not really seen him? He was there day after day. He was such a familiar sight so as to be unnoticed.
But when he calls toward Peter & John, they stop. They don’t just glance at him. They ‘direct their gaze at’ him. He’s not faceless. They see him but they also ask the same from him: ‘Look at us. Don’t just see us as part of the faceless crowd, or as an easy touch for money. Look at us.’
And he does. Verse 5: And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. That is, expecting to receive money because that`s what he thought he needed. But God had something different, something better:
But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Now, the healing of this man is not the point of this passage. The point is what happens next, but before we go there, let’s park here for a minute and notice a couple things:
First, notice the miracle itself. What happened? Was it just a matter of a man couldn’t walk, and then he could? Let’s not gloss over it and miss the transformation that happened. Remember, he had been lame from birth. That means there were muscles that had never developed, bones that were thin and small. What he needed in order to walk was not just for what he had to begin working. He needed to be made new. He needed muscle mass where there was no muscle mass. He needed bones that were bigger than what he had. If we had been there, we would have seen physical changes right before our eyes. That’s why the comment is made: Immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Something happened to him visibly.
Second, notice the difference between what he asked for, and what he needed. The beggar thought he needed money, but what he needed and got was something he didn’t know was possible. How many of you have ever thought you needed something, but got something different, and it was what you needed? Some of you came back to church thinking you needed moral grounding for your children, and you found Jesus yourself. Some of you have had some crisis or hard circumstance forced on you and discovered that in that God formed your faith and character in a way you would not now trade for anything.
Is it possible that what you think you need now is not what you need at all? Health, or things to shape up at work, more energy or time? Maybe God knows you need something different, and he wants to give that to you: Joy, wisdom, re-ordered values, or to learn to receive help and love from someone. Some years ago I would visit an older lady who was often quite distressed because she felt useless. For decades she has been useful to God, busy in ministry. She thought her value lay in what she’s always been able to do for God. And I would tell her, ‘Maybe you don’t need to be healthy so you can do things for God. Maybe what you need is to rest, and to know that God doesn’t love you for what you do.’
Maybe I think what I need is more of a sense of God’s presence and what I really need is to trust when I don’t feel trust Maybe I think I need a feeling of greater authenticity when I worship every Sunday morning and what I really need is to remember that authentic worship by God’s own definition is to actively care for the needs of the widows, the poor, the oppressed, to be engaged in social justice issues.
Maybe we think we need to address issues of attendance and budget, to seek ‘revival’, when all we ever really need is to love, listen to and obey Jesus.
Often what we really need is not what we think we need.
Then, thirdly, notice that Peter can only give away what he has, and what he had was the power and presence of Jesus: I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
You can only give away what you have. Those grounded in the Word of God can speak God’s wisdom and hope to someone. A stressed and anxious person cannot impart peace to someone. How can I speak joy to someone if I am negative and critical by nature? You can’t lead someone to a place you’ve never been.
I was talking just last night to a person who has been feeling in a bit of a funk about the vitality of her own faith. She has been praying for a good friend for many years and is meeting with her next week, wanting to invite her friend to a life of faith. But she said, ‘But what am I inviting her to? I can’t just invite her to church life, because church life just seems like so much busyness and program and so little joy and depth!’
Francis Chan, on the back cover of his book Crazy Love, says, It’s crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe – the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor – this God loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs and try not to cuss.
Jesus didn’t die for us so we could go to church. So what are we inviting people to? We are inviting people to a life-transforming, world-impacting, profoundly significant and joyful existence that is only possible by knowing, loving and obeying Jesus. Can we invite people to what we don’t have? No.
If we seek to bring the reality of Jesus into the lives of others, it is those who know the reality of Jesus themselves who do this most naturally and effectively, and Jesus is experienced primarily in his Word. He said to his disciples in John 15: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
We abide in Christ as his Word abides in us. Nobody has a growing relationship with Jesus who does not have a regular intake of the Bible. Nobody. If Sunday morning is the only Bible you’re getting, your faith is as crippled as the man outside the temple, and the most you can invite people to is the life of the cripple: hope that the religious people will help you feel better about being crippled.
When we are people of the Scripture, God is glorified. Then we know and pray for what we need, not just what we think we need. Then we bear much fruit. Peter could give to the beggar what he had – the healing power of Jesus – because Peter was devoted to the Scripture, to the prayers… to Jesus. He was, in the Apostle Paul’s favorite phrase, ‘in Christ’, and the Spirit of Christ was in him.
How is your experience of Jesus? Are you in the Bible faithfully?
I talked with someone just a couple weeks ago about their LifeGroup. He said, ‘I think our LifeGroup needs to spend more time in the Bible itself than in the other books about the Bible.’ He’s right. A cookbook is only good if you eventually eat the food.
We go to the Bible not purely as a discipline, or out of some kind of religious obligation. We go to the Bible because it is how our need for Christ and desire for Christ is met. Because Christ and his Word cannot be separated. If you want more of Christ, it is in Scripture primarily that you will encounter him.
If you’re not reading much Bible, you can start by simply reading a chapter a day, maybe of the Psalms or one of the Gospels or Genesis. And as you read, ask questions like:
1. Is there a promise, or a truth, or a command here?
2. Is there a sin to avoid?
3. What does this chapter reveal about God? About Jesus?
And pray, ‘God, help me to see and know Jesus in your Word as I read.’
So…
The lame man is healed. This man who has lain at the gate of the temple every day for so many years now is leaping and praising God. All the people see him and marvel at what has happened.
However, this is not the end of the story. His healing is not the point of the story. What is? Twice, in 4:16 & 22 this healing is called a ‘sign’. Sign of what?
See what happens next, verse 11: While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s, astounded. And when Peter saw this he addressed the people…
Peter is preaching again. We just had a sermon from Peter in chapter 2. Here he goes again. The call of the church was (and remains) the proclamation of Jesus. The healing of this man provides the context for the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The crowd is astounded at the healing. Peter says, ‘Let me tell you about the healer.’ Peter does several things in just a few words:
– he deflects the attention off of himself and points the people to Jesus
– he gets very personal in terms of their responsibility in the crucifixion of Jesus
– he testifies to the resurrection of Jesus, with he and John as witnesses
– he explains the healing as the activity of Jesus
– he calls them to repentance and to the forgiveness of sins in Christ
– and he declares Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy
In fact, his sermon has the very same elements as his sermon in chapter 2 at Pentecost. Look at this:
God’s affirmation of Jesus:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God (2:22)
The God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus (3:13)
The suffering of Jesus as predestined by God:
This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God… (2:23)
What God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled (3:18)
The death of Jesus:
This Jesus… you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (2:23)
Whom you delivered over and denied… You killed the author of life. (3:13,15)
The resurrection of Jesus:
God raised him up.. (2:24)
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses… (2:32)
… whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. (3:15)
Jesus as the cause or explanation for what the crowds were witnessing:
He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing (2:33)
His name – by faith in his name – has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all (3:16)
Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy:
This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel… (2:16)
For David says concerning him… (2:25)
What God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets… (3:18)
Moses said… (3:22)
All the prophets that have spoken have proclaimed these days (3:24)
And a call to repent and find forgiveness in Jesus:
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. (2:38)
Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out (3:19)
The basic Christian proclamation is so simple, and it is this: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, was crucified for sin as prophesied in the Scripture. He was raised from death by the power of God and then exalted to the throne of heaven. Forgiveness of sin comes only through him, and you are therefore called to repent of sin and come under his Lordship. That`s it. That’s the message.
That was the message at Pentecost. That’s Peter`s message here. That is the Christian gospel. And the truth of Peter`s proclamation was borne out by the fact that in the name of Jesus, a man who had been crippled his whole life, was now waltzing around the temple on legs that were strong, healthy. The healing of the man was not the point. The healing was a sign that what Peter proclaimed about Jesus was true, that he had God`s stamp of approval.
Something similar happened early in Jesus’ own ministry, in Mark chapter 2. There, a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus, thinking that what he needs is healing. But Jesus instead pronounces his sins forgiven. The religious people are scandalized that Jesus is asserting for himself a prerogative that belongs only to God: namely, the authority and power to forgive sin. But Jesus says, ‘As evidence that I have the power to forgive sin, I’ll demonstrate my divine power this way…’ and he says to the man: ‘Get up.’ The man does. In other words, Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man was a sign of his divine identity. He does the lesser miracle – physical healing – as a sign that he is the God who can do the greater miracle – forgive sin, restore spiritual life.
It was a compelling sign, both in Mark 2 and Acts 3: the proclamation of Christ accompanied by the evidence of God’s power bore fruit: Many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000 (4:4).
This is the miracle of this passage. Not the healing of a congenital cripple, but the saving of people from their sins through the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Saviour. That was the result. That was why it happened. In Acts, the miracles and healings accompany the preaching of Christ and are the sign that the gospel is true. For the reconciling of sinners to himself is God’s great aim, and it is the great calling of the church and of you and of me to be his agents by which he does this. God is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance and to a knowledge of the truth.
So here are two questions that need reflection:
Where are the things in our lives and in the life of the church that cause people to marvel? I’m not talking about physical healings. I do believe that God wants to heal a lot more people than we think, but in our day, that wouldn’t necessarily cause people to marvel at God. Our culture is generally more likely to challenge and explain away and doubt God’s activity in such an event. In our day, people are more likely to marvel at the transformation of character: when the angry abuser becomes a man of peace and self-giving, or when the grump in the office becomes radiant with authentic joy, or when the collapsing marriage becomes a union of two people seeking one another’s interest, or when the crisis that would destroy most people is faced with a peace and strength that can only be divine, or when – in a culture defined by pursuit of comfort, convenience and wealth – people see radical generosity, simplicity and service. These are the kinds of things that astound people and make them ask, ‘Who is your God?’ Ties and guitars and choirs and ‘church’ don’t astound anyone. Jesus does, and the reality of Jesus experienced and lived out publicly does. Where are these things?
The second question is: whom do I walk by every day without seeing but whom God may want to use me to demonstrate the reality of Christ? My co-worker? My family member? My neighbor? The clerk at the store or gas station? They might need a marriage restored, or a sin conquered, or wisdom at school in the face of bullying. The real need, as it was for the cripple, is a need for Jesus.
I don’t have a counseling degree, or a psychological skill-set, or gifts in working with kids, but what I have I give you: Jesus who makes your life whole again. He may not take away your problem (though he might!), but he will make you strong again, strengthen your muscles so you will stand. So, in the name of Christ, stand.
Amen.