“Divine Intersections”
Acts 3:1-10 5.27.07
There’s a running joke in the Harvey family. When we moved here, somebody told me that the intersection of Austell and the East-West Connector was the most dangerous one in Atlanta metro. After that, two or three times running, I made the mistake of telling my family this fact—each time. After I told them this several times, forgetting that I’d already said this, it became a pattern, so that now, no matter which family member is in the car, if we approach that intersection, one of them is bound to remind me, “hey Dad, did you know that this is the most dangerous intersection in Atlanta metro?” I honestly have no idea how a sweet guy like me managed to raise a family of smart alecks…
Intersections can be dangerous—but they are necessary to getting anywhere. It’s rare that we can go anywhere without taking turns at intersections to navigate our way to a particular place. Mapquest is a help to us—most of the time, helping us to navigate intersections. I say “most of the time”, because sometimes it is more confusing than it’s worth; try navigating past downtown Marietta on Powder Springs Road, and you’ll find out what I mean; it’s really more confusing than it’s worth!
I want to talk today about some intersections, not intersections of roads, but divine intersections. Let’s read today’s text together!
I want to set the stage for today’s ending Table Talk by giving it to you ahead of time, because I want you to be focused on these questions as we look together at today’s text: Talk about some “divine intersections” in your life, and the life of Red Oak. At which intersections do we see God working? At which intersections should we be more open to His work? How can we be more aware of these intersections? How can we be more effectively used of God at these intersections?
Be thinking about those questions as we look today at 5 intersections that we find in the text, and their importance for our own lives. Let’s pray together!
Luke began this book by talking about the commands Christ had given to His followers, and about the work that they would do in His name. In this passage today, we find both their obedience and an example of one of the many powerful works that they’d do in Jesus’ name. Note first:
I. Two obedient disciples & a helpless man :1-2
The disciples obeyed Jesus. They waited for the coming of the Spirit there in Jerusalem, and now they began the outreach ministry of the gospel right there where they lived, just as Jesus had told them to. Doing what God says always brings God’s approval. And now they understood a lot of things post-Pentecost that hadn’t made sense prior to the coming of the Spirit. It must have been like a fog had lifted; Jesus had so disrupted their expectations and mangled their paradigms that they’d been pretty confused at times—but in the light of Pentecost, so much began to make sense to them. Now, with greater understanding than ever before, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, they were ready to do some of the “greater things” that Jesus had promised them.
They didn’t change the form of worship that they’d known; they continued to worship in a significantly Jewish context. We sometimes get all wrapped up in particular forms of worship—and complain when they’re not what we’re used to (or conversely, get excited when they’re not what we’re used to!), but the truth of the matter is that the form of worship is never the concern of Scripture, but rather the object and the attitude of the worshipper. When Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well, she tried to evade the subject of her own sinful life by talking about worship logistics. Jesus didn’t spend much time talking about logistics, but rather about heart attitudes, and folks, today we’ll have folks ask, “what’s your worship like?”, and by that they almost always mean, “do you play contemporary music or traditional? Do you sing hymns or choruses?” Logistics—and logistics aren’t really the issue!
About three in the afternoon, shortly after the evening sacrifice, Peter and John arrive at the temple, and their arrival coincides with that of a lame beggar, one crippled from birth, one accustomed to begging for a living from the pious who went there, and who thought that dropping a few coins into his cup would earn them favor with God—this was the teaching of Judaism.
A crippled child is one of the saddest things we ever see, isn’t it? This was the man’s experience; he’d never known the joy of running with all his friends—and he might not have had all that many for that very reason. He’d never kicked a ball; never held a job; probably never known married love, or so many of the things we take for granted.
This man had been in this begging habit all his adult life—and he was over 40 years of age, we learn from Acts 4:22, living off others because he saw/knew no other way of making a living.
“Beautiful Gate” – one covered in Corinthian brass, doors about 75 feet high, one which Josephus said greatly excelled those covered only in gold and silver. This gate guarding the city of Jerusalem was so large that it took 20 men to close it! The juxtaposition: a beautiful, ornately-decorated gate, under which sat a deformed beggar. There was no ADA when this man was sitting at the temple gate; whatever he accomplished, he did so with the help of friends, because nobody was really looking out for the beggar save them.
He sat daily in the shadow of the Beautiful Gate, lavishly ornamented with gold, silver, and shining with bronze in the mid-afternoon sun, and yet he was poor and crippled. Fat lot of good all that shiny metal did him…
What would he have said if you’d offered him the choice: all the money represented in that Beautiful Gate, or the ability to walk? The latter, I believe; something that every one of us takes for granted, and yet something so much more precious than money. This isn’t the point of the text, of course, but a moment’s reflection on the simple blessings that we enjoy that aren’t shared by many is certainly in order as we consider this text.
Here was the intersection of two obedient disciples and a man who had been born crippled, helpless in his natural condition. Second,
II. Need & compassion :3-5
They stopped and looked intently at him. This is a key to this passage, because think about it: how many people “stop and look intently” at the needs of the people of this world? When Jesus wanted to make a point to His followers about the needs of the world, He said to them first, “lift up your eyes, and look on the fields which are white to harvest.” So many of us miss opportunities to witness; so many of us are oblivious to divine appointments, because we do not look at the people of this world through the eyes of Christ’s compassion. This was an eyeball-to-eyeball contact, punctuated by Peter’s admonition to the man to look at John and him!
Table Talk
Who are some of the “crippled beggars” in our world today, and what makes it difficult for us to “look at” them, to engage them?
How many had just passed the man by, looked the other direction, turned away from him, hoping to forget not only his presence, but his very existence, grotesque to so many. But an intersection took place between these obedient followers of Jesus and this crippled man at the Beautiful Gate. Third, we see the intersection of
III. Faith in Jesus & the power of God
:6-8a
The Spirit had come in a supernatural display at Pentecost, and the disciples there were covered by what looked like flaming tongues of fire, and they spoke in different languages that they’d never learned before, astonishing the Jews who had gathered from different parts of the world in Jerusalem. These miraculous, incredible things were signs from God to give validity to the message that was to be proclaimed by the apostles and the followers of Christ. Here, in chapter 3, we see different signs and gifts, again given preceding the proclamation of the Word of God to people by Peter. Here we see gifts of faith (incredible faith on the part of Peter; he had never healed anyone himself—or at least that’s not recorded in Scripture—and yet he healed this man) and healing (closely-related, of course).
This man was healed by faith—but by whose faith? Peter’s! Peter had likely passed by this man scores of times, perhaps dropped coins into his coffers before, maybe had a kind word for him or, knowing Peter, maybe a grumpy one on occasion, depending on his mood. Peter had something for him this day—faith! This man’s faith came after the healing event.
Peter pronounced healing “in the name of Jesus”. Peter doesn’t per se “ask” Jesus to heal the man, but rather speaks the name of Jesus over this man, releasing Christ’s power to heal the man. And it is the power of Jesus that heals the man! The point of contact between the faith of Peter, the need of the lame beggar, and the power of Christ produced an incredible healing!
Peter pronounced healing, but then helped the man to his feet; as Thomas Walker said, “the power was Christ’s, but the hand was Peter’s.” And we find in the man the fulfillment, literally, of Isaiah 35:6, a prophecy of Christ, the Messiah, “then will the lame leap like a deer.” The healing is instantaneous, accomplishing what would normally take a long time, and what in the case of this man would never have happened absent the supernatural hand of God! Fourth, the intersection of
IV. A changed life & praise :8b
This man began by walking, something Luke continually repeats, and leaping with joy and excitement. FF Bruce puts it this way: “First, he practiced standing, and when he found he could do that, he put one foot forward and tried to walk; when he found that he could walk as well, ordinary walking seemed too humdrum a means of progress. His exultation must find more vigorous expression, and so, leaping in the air and bounding along, trying to find out all that his new limbs were capable of doing, he accompanied the two apostles through the gate which led form the outer court into the sacred precincts themselves.”
When God acts in our lives, it affects our emotions as well as our spirits. I don’t understand professing followers of Jesus who seem reluctant to praise God by the simple act of singing in worship. Now, for those who aren’t following Christ, that’s one thing; they have little to sing about. But if Christ has saved me from sin, I have reason to sing, and the issue isn’t my singing ability, but my willingness to praise God. It makes me wonder if, when they refuse the opportunity to praise God by singing with others in a group, they also refuse to praise God at other times and in other ways. It’s a joyful noise, folks, that’s required, not the ability to read music or sing a particular part. Praise comes naturally to those who are being changed by the power of God, and we see it in the life of this man! Finally, the intersection of
V. A true work of God & witness to others :9-10
This was an unmistakable miracle, the healing of this man whom the people had seen day after day lying lame and begging, now walking around and leaping like a kid and praising God. And it was God Who received the praise, and this served as further testimony of the power of God, paving the way for Peter’s message of explanation, which we’ll study together in a couple of weeks.
In a moment we’re going to consider that Table Talk question that I mentioned earlier, but before we do, let’s consider some parallels between this man’s situation and that of our own, spiritually:
He had nothing to offer.
He was pretty much helpless.
He could not do anything himself to change the situation.
o He didn’t “believe in himself”, or if he did, it made no difference!
o He didn’t “meet God halfway”, by standing or even by believing.
He got far more than he expected.
He rightly praised God, Who had healed through the name of Jesus.
The physical healing wasn’t the only miracle that took place here; a lame beggar that morning, with little hope but for a life filled with sitting in the dust and taking what people could spare, was now a man of faith whose eternity was changed!
Table Talk
Talk about some “divine intersections” in your life, and the life of Red Oak. At which intersections do we see God working? At which intersections should we be more open to His work? How can we be more aware of these intersections? How can we be more effectively used of God at these intersections?
