HAVING FAITH IN A CRIPPLING SITUATION
Acts 14:8-12
My brothers and sisters in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 first verse we’ve read, Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence we have not seen. And while we often quote this text, we still show evidence that we are fellow statesmen of the show me state. We’ve bought into believing the philosophy, which tell us “seeing is believing.” And while some are yet struggling to believe that the Lord still works miracles today, in-spite of what I’ve learned in a prominent east coast bible college. We must learn to trust what we find in the bible more than what we find in some of our quote “bible colleges” end quote. I read a funny story about faith the other day on SermonCentral.com, listen to this.
Two longstanding church members were in a boat fishing with a new Christian. Fishing is a great time for conversation and each was proclaiming his fervent faith and devotion to God. As they were discussing their faith, one’s hat blew into the water. So he stood up, calmly stepped onto the water, walked over to his hat, picked it up off the water, and walked backed to the boat. The new Christian was amazed how this Christian could seemingly walk on water. As the new Christian was pondering this, the other church member’s hat blew into the water. He also very calmly stepped onto the water, walked over to his hat, picked it up off the water, and walked backed to the boat. The new Christian was overwhelmed at how spiritual these men must be to have walked on the water as they did. Then the new Christian thought to himself, "Well, if these guys can do it, so can I,” and he "helped" his hat blow into the water. He very calmly stepped out of the boat and was inhaling water instantly. As he fought his way to the surface, gasping for breath, one of the long-standing church members turned to the other and said, "I think we should have told him about the sand bar on this side of the boat." That is the way some of us are. As long as we see someone doing something amazing, we believe it can happen. But what kind of faith do you have when it comes to believing God’s Word?
In our last lesson we were instructed to never give up. Paul and Barnabas after being expelled out of the city of Antioch for preaching the gospel, is found preaching in Iconium. There they are found just like in Antioch, in the synagogue preaching to the Jews and the Greeks with overwhelming results. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and filled their minds with evil against Paul and Barnabas. But Paul and Barnabas never gave up on the call to evangelize. They continued to preach with power in-spite of the opposition they faced from Jewish and pagan sympathizers.
This week we find these champions of evangelism, in the cities of Lystra and Derby preaching this powerful gospel. There they discovered a man that was feeble in his feet. In fact he was described in the text as crippled from birth. But if we can find any encouragement in the text, it is that they found this man not on the city streets, but he was found where he could receive what he needed. Let’s take a look at his faith.
First of all verse eight lets me know that . . .
1. HIS CONDITION AS A CRIPPLE WAS NOT HIS DISABILITY (V.8)
“And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from birth, who never walked.”
The first thing to be noted is the condition of the man in the text. It said that he was impotent in his feet, crippled from birth and he never walked. These things my brothers and sister are reasons to be called handicap. There are people with less, which runs down to their local DMV to pick up a handicap placard to place in their car, just for the benefit of convenient parking. But this man, as far as the text is concerned is not found looking for handouts outside of a synagogue, but is found where his needs could be met. I’m not saying that he never did that, but I am saying what the text has brought to my attention, and that is that he is in the best place to receive and that is in the presence of these Godly men. Too many times we hear of people with physical afflictions, being seen at different places, doing different things, while still being found on the prayer list as convalescing at home, with the convenience of Deacons taking them their communion. But this is not in the case of this man in the text, he is found in the place where deliverance can be obtained. It starts off like a regular morning, no one knew that on this particular morning, his life would be changed in a way that he was unfamiliar. And that is for the first time in his life he will walk.
Secondly, verse nine shows . . .
2. HIM BEING DELIBERATE IN HIS WORSHIP (V.9)
“The same heard Paul speak; who, steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed.”
When I was in seminary, they taught us in homiletics class, to make eye contact with the congregation. The reasoning of this is to make others feel like you are having a private conversation with them. Now there is a down side to that also. While you are scanning the congregation, you will also see, those who are distracted, those who are struggling with sleep and those who don’t like what you are saying along with those who are the sermon’s self appointed time keepers. Regardless, we were taught to make eye contact. As we find this man, his posture is evidently positive. He may have been listening intensively to the message that Paul was preaching. Paul seeing that he was genuinely interested could not take his eyes off of him. The Spirit let him know that he had enough faith to be healed. This man did not go to church with the question, what can the church do for me? He did not go to church to be entertained, nor to hear the latest gossip. But it is evident that he went to church with one purpose in mind and that was to hear the message that Paul and Barnabas had been preaching. He had probably heard by word of mouth or from the published word from Antioch in chapter 13:49 that Paul and Barnabas had spoke life changing trues, and here in this text he is taking full advantage of the opportunity to hear it first hand, not knowing that his life would be changed both spiritually and physically. So he is found in the synagogue listening intensely to the word spoken by Paul. So this made him deliberate in his worship.
Finally, also found in verse nine and 10 we see . . .
3. HIS FAITH ELICITING THE POWER FOR HIS HEALING (Vv. 9&10)
“The same heard Paul speak; who, steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, 10. Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.”
I cannot say enough about the faith of this man. He could have given up and be settled with the fact that he was a cripple. But he heard it through the grapevine, that these men had something that he needed. Now the text does not tell us how he got there, but the thing we must consider is that he was in the right place at the right time. And as Paul stood to speak, I can imagine him thinking about what he might hear on that day. He probably heard about the lame man being healed by one of Paul’s colleagues named Peter (Acts 3). He saw a resemblance between what happened in Jerusalem and what could happen to him. The lame man was found in the temple, that’s where he is. The man in Jerusalem was born lame, and so was he. The lame man got Peter’s undivided his attention, and he hoped to get Paul’. And he heard that the man in Jerusalem got up and walked, and that would be his desire. So, when Paul started to speak, his words grabbed the man, and he embraced every word that Paul had spoke. He listened to every word passionately, and this got Paul’s attention and the Spirit let Paul know that he had the faith to be healed. Oh, my brothers and sister if we would just learn to have a passion for God’s word. If we would embrace the word we hear in the bible then you will no longer be crippled in the church, but you too could get up and walk in the joy of the Lord. We just need to embrace His Holy Word. Paul told the man with a loud voice in verse 10 “Stand up on your feet,” and the man, the text said leaped up and walked. Oh, if we could only embrace the words of the preacher like this man had done.
CONCLUSION
In closing, in case you’re in a crippling situation. First you have to learn to identify it. The man in the text knew that his disability was physical. It was something that he had learned to live with because he was born that way. He probably had a spiritual disability as well, and that he could correct. So we found him it the synagogue. At that point, there might not have been any miracles there, but he kept showing up Sabbath after Sabbath. There probably was no message of deliverance there. But he learned what God did for the children of Israel. The doctrine might have been strict and the law taxing, but he kept on showing up. Then one day God sent two chosen men to deliver a powerful message, and his life was changed forever. Finally he heard the word about the One who can give sight to the blind. He heard about the One who was the balm in Gilead and the One who can make the lame walk. I ask what’s His name? Do you know Him?
It was Jesus in Matthew 9:6 that told the paralytic man “Arise, take up your bed, and go into your house.”
It was Jesus who also told the impotent man at the pool in John 5:8, “Arise take up your bed, and walk.”
Peter joined in and in Acts 3:6 said to the lame man at the temple, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
And Paul in this text told this crippled man in verse 10, “stand upright on thy feet,”
I hope you’re getting the message. There is power in the name. Wonder-working power. In the blood of the Lamb. All those I mentioned was told to get up from their crippled positions and if I can paraphrase the text. I would say “get up don’t just lay there, do something.”
We got to get up, stop waiting for others to do what we can do.
Get up! Don’t let the enemy keep you down.
Get up! Stop listening to those who would rather stay where they are!
But get up, and get a little faith to tame your crippling situation.
