Just look at him: an ordinary beggar, one among thousands who filled Jerusalem streets... And today was just another day, no better and no worse then all the other days that had made up the life of this poor crippled beggar. Who was he, we don’t know. The Bible reveals nothing about his life up to this day, and nothing about his life after this day. But this ordinary day would be written about and read about by millions of people all over the world. Acts 3: 1.2 (read it)
This story of the healing of a congenital cripple is the story of my life and your life. It demonstrates that Jesus Christ is
- truly raised from the dead,
- that he ascended into the heavens,
- that he is seated at the right hand of God,
- that he is the Lord of all and Savior of his people, and
- that he has the power and authority to continue to perform miracles in history, especially the miracle of saving sinners.
Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth, and so, in Acts 3, we find this illustration of the type of miracle the apostles performed in the Name of and by the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE CONGENITAL CRIPPLE.
I will like to make some points about this Bible passage. First, let’s look at the crippled man, who is a type of a sinner. On that day, Peter and John went into the temple. They had to go through the Gate called Beautiful, which opened to the Court of Women. This beautiful gate was huge - 50 cubits high and 40 cubits wide and overlaid with bronze, it was truly a work of art. Here Peter and John encountered a congenital cripple who was begging for money.
In ancient times, poor beggars often were found by rich people’s houses as well as by busy streets, markets, and anywhere else people would pass. They were especially found near the temple gates and this still true today. Gypsies-beggars are all around churches in Romania; the same in France and UK. Paris and London’s churches are literally homes for many beggars. Chased by police, they return always there.
During my last trip in Europe I saw a large number of beggars. There were so many beggars, there was no way one could respond to all of them. The solution was often not to “see” any of them. But the beggars made this difficult. They would press themselves on you. They would approach you, tugging at your sleeve and pleading loudly for help. Some beggars are aggressive, something like some salespersons as you try to walk through the appliance section. You would concentrate on not seeing them as they converged on you, and you hurried to get through before you were trapped.
Did you get the picture? A beautiful gate but repulsive beggars all around it - what a contrasting picture!
Go away beggar, I cannot shot pictures of this place because of you… I came to this church, and I entered trough this beautiful gate to enjoy myself, to admire the view, to listen nice music and a good sermon… But you, miserable beggar, you destroyed my peace!...
This particular beggar was 40 years old and had been a cripple all his life. He was not suffered an accident and become paralyzed kind of Superman - Christopher Reeve type. No, this beggar was crippled from his mother’s womb. He don’t know how wonderful is to walk. Actually, he don’t know to walk and he never tried to walk. Look at him in his childhood - every kid running, jumping, climbing… he can’t. Frustration. As a young adolescent, he is looking depressed how others go for a diner with their girlfriends. He can’t. He will never find a girl willing to date and marry a crippled man, unable to work and to sustain a family.
No social security benefits or a monthly pay check from care institutions… He had to beg to support himself. Not easy, isn’t? To beg… to stay like this in a visible spot and to keep the hand opened: “Pleeeease, have mercy, give my some coins to buy food, please”! (Go away, go to work for yourself, oh, you can’t? OK, ask your relatives to help you, I have my own problems!)
Ha, I remember Joe Biden gafe during an electoral meeting, asking a guy in wheel chair to stand up!(Apply... church-sinner-insensitive speaker/pastor...)
I am sure that the crippled beggar knew about Jesus. I mean "all Jerusalem knew about Jesus and His crucifixion (see Luke 24:18 - rethorical question of Cleopas...). He heard something about Jesus: Jesus teachings and Jesus acts, miracles… However, either he could not trust in those spread news about the divine healer; either he postponed a meeting with him. So the day when he finally decided to ask his carriers to bring him to Jesus, he realized that Jesus was crucified. And after Jesus teachings and Jesus miracles, he understood something about Jesus’ sacrifice.
But the time passed, the Holy Spirit came into apostolic church in Pentecostal day and the apostles begin to accomplish the great commission: to preach Jesus expiatory death and his resurrection! And the crippled find something new again: Jesus’ teachings, Jesus miracles, Jesus resurrection, and now he understood that Jesus died for everybody sins, including his! He knows the religion basics.
And now I would like to ask you a question: what is worth it for all this knowledge? Is it any good for the crippled man to know religion? Is it any good for us to know, to know about Jesus’ teachings, Jesus power to heal and Jesus sacrifice, while we remains crippled? Paralyzed? Unable to walk? Can you answer? It is any good for a paraplegic to stay in front of his TV set watching a program showing how similar paralyzed people are cured (or at least seems that way)?
THE BEGGAR AS TYPE OF SINNER.
The text tells us that he was carried to this beautiful Temple gate, daily, and placed there to beg. The beggar is found not into the TEMPLE but outside, at the gate… Inside the Name of the Lord is praised.
Inside = worship. Outside = begging.
I am afraid that many worshipers still yet outside in their spiritual approach. Many worshipers, stay and beg at the gate: Pleeeease Lord, give me this, give me that, be with me, conduct me, help me. Religion as a continuous begging. Asking God all the time to give us blessings, but forgetting to praise him. And the reason is this: because we think God did so little for us. We used to say God did wonderful thinks for me. But inside we compare with others and we are not satisfied... It seems that God helped, healed, and enrich others but not us...
And God did so little for us because we didn’t ask him for real! Seriously! Not just playing religious theatre. We just want him for some coins, that all…
And I have something else to say it. We share the same story as this crippled man did: we can’t walk and others carry us. The pastor, the elders, church board, somebody from your family… your religion is a second hand religion. Others are carrying you… You are just passive watcher, crippled spirituality (hold your hand to beg!) And now, beggars, perfectly satisfied with their status, are begging at the gates.
They even compare the gates and proudly say:
- I am begging at the Beautiful gate! How about you?
- Well brother, I am begging at the Sheep gate.
- Sheep gate? Oh, I feel sorry for you, it is an ugly gate, with many doctrines, and interdictions... Come on here, let’s begging together at my gate, brand new gate, megagate! They have everutying on satelite TV live! And zero doctrines, and no self-sacrifice... just religious show.
We need to understand. Doesn’t matter how the gate looks like: this wouldn’t change the fundamental problem: people still crippled and begging at the gate instead of walking and praising.
On this particular day, Peter and John, came to the temple for prayer at the same time that the beggar carried to the Beautiful temple gate. The beggar asked Peter and John for money but, unlike the others, they did not toss him a coin. Instead, the Bible tells us, the apostles looked straight at this man and Peter commanded him to look at them. Acts 3: 3.4 (read it). Look at us! Peter told the man. In other words, "Man, pay attention to us! Do not focus on money. Look at us. Do you recognize us, we Jesus’ disciples?"
This cripple is a type of every sinner. He is the perfect picture of every man who came from fallen Adam. Like this man, we are all born crippled. We all suffer from total depravity in the sense that sin has radically and fundamentally affected our thoughts, our wills and our affections.
David writes about this in Psalm 51: 5, Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. In Jeremiah 17:9 we read, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Jesus said several times that out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, and so on.
BEFORE AND AFTER.
This cripple had a serious problem, but he was used to it. I am sure he didn’t even give much thought to his problem any more. We are the same. Have you read any articles about SIN recently in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal or Time magazine? Just speak about Jesus Christ and his claims and see how the anger and hatred rises against you and your God. If you desire their attention just talk politics. The problem of man is serious. Now, in this country we often hear the slogan, "It’s the economy, stupid!" Now more than ever before... We say that, thinking that only if we ge at enough money, all our problems will be solved. We can be bail-out by goverment, like Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae...
But the truth is, money cannot help man in the fundamental sense. In fact, psychology, philosophy, and technology cannot help man either. All of these can only superficially help us who are moral cripples. They can only give us a little good feeling like we might get from drugs. They are band-aid solutions, which leave us congenital cripples without any cure. The tragedy is that no human being is able to even diagnose man’s problem, let alone cure it.
It is tragic that we, like this cripple, accept deformity and abnormality as normal. So Peter was saying, "What about the possibility of standing on your own two feet? What about going inside, into the Temple and praising God yourself?" The cripple did not think about these. He thought that all he needed was money. We are the same today. No one is interested in understanding human depravity. All we need is a little more money, we think. A little more money and our problems will be solved!
Like this cripple, we good Christians also almost believe this heresy that a little more money will solve our problems. Suppose we want to send out some missionaries. All we need is what? Money. And so we develop programs to raise money for these missionaries. Sometimes I get letters and e-mails from my home country, Romania, like this: "Dear Pastor Ovidiu, I know you are now pastor in US and you have a good support from your church. I just need $2,000 to finish my MA/ or to built a church in Zimbabwe, etc. This is my bank account number...." I mean, it’s unbelievible, those people. Christians! Worse, some of them are Pastors!!!
From millions of prayers, many of them imply God for help. Do you know what the majority asked for? To win the lottery ticket. See Evan Almighty, the movie!
What was the cripple’s true need? An electronic wheel chair, computer assisted? No, but restoration to perfect health and, more importantly, restoration to God. Jesus Christ only could help him, and so Peter told him, Look at us! Why? This man could not find out about him unless he moves attention from money to apostles faces reflecting Jesus’ face, Jeus’ love, Jesus’ character.
What about us? Our true need is also restoration to God in all ways, physical and spiritual. Therefore, may God help us to spend our time in his word and may we become so familiar with it that we can give an answer to the hope that is within us when someone asks us. Then you can say, "Husband, wife, kids… look at me. Neighbors, look at me. We have something infinitely greater than money. Look at us!"
And verse 5 says: "The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting... what? A gift"!... How terrible is this human limitation, our limitation not his. We are the ones described in this Scripture! How awful is to have this spiritual deformation, not physically one. I am certain that the heaven’s inhabitants are amazed and shaken. We hear about God’s love, salvation, redemption, we know John 3,16 and how God give everything to save us. He gave everything and we still having almost nothing:Revelation 3:17 - "You say, ’I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked"...
We are beggars asking for a coin of good time, for a nickel of good feeling, for a dime of personal proud. God gave all he has had, but we still beggars. Because we don’t realize that in God’s gift, is everything... The beggar mentality: hey sir, I think is a mistake, you give my all your wallet instead than a regular dollar! Hey Lord, I think is a mistake, you give me all that you have instead of a little blessing.
RISE AND SHINE!
Now, if Peter had told this cripple, "Silver and gold have I none, but why don’t you be like us? Why don’t you just rise up and walk?" then he would have been speaking cruelly to this poor beggar. But Peter said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." It is Jesus - his power and his authority - who makes the difference. It is not Peter or John, Benny Hinn or anyone else.
It seems that the first crippled thought was: “Come on, to be healed... Words and nothing else but nice words... sermons and sermons, I heard thousands of them. That is theory! I need something more. I am a practical guy!"... Is somebody present that he think this way? Come on, salvation, Jesus inside, eternal life... WORDS... Church is just a social Saturday morning meeting, nice, good occasion to meet my friends, and that’s it! It will be terrible and I hope that is not the case. I am certain that Jesus can do for me everything I need it in order to heal me. And for you. To make me walk again! To save me from Satan and from myself! And for you too.
And in that moment, Peter lose his patience. Ignoring his hand,he... verse 7: Peter took him by the right hand, (the same one, his tool as beggar) and lifted him up. Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. This was a miracle!
Acts 3:8 - he jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
I like this. Nobody had to tell him to go into the Temple. Nobody told him he should thank God but he knew he had to. His very first act was one of praise and thanksgiving.
The most inappropriate reaction: - OH NO, NOW I’LL HAVE TO BUY SHOES, or GREAT NOW I’LL HAVE TO GET A JOB.
The crippled man was healed immediately and the Bible tells us he leaped to his feet and stood. The soles of his feet were strengthened and he was able to stand for the first time in his life. That indicates health. But not only was he healthy, but he was vigorous. He began to walk. An very unusual activity for somebody who never did it before. And not only was he vigorous, but he was exuberant, so he began to praise the God who healed him. He was worshiping, walking and leaping and praising God. Not at the gate anymore. Inside, in the Temple! What freedom, what joy, what exuberance, and what enthusiasm he was experiencing!
Get on your feet, but don’t forget to kneel. The true Jesus’ church is composed by walking people, jumping full of joy, praising God. Begging no more at the gate.
The gate could be prettier than the Temple – it is another paradox of modern religion. Big gates, large ways coming trough, but no worship at the gate. Be cured and praise the Lord. Acts 3:8.9 (read it).
