Lame at the Gate
The Bible says Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer.
Hour of prayer:
We cannot expect to offer any measure of profitable service to our fellow man without an established prayer hour in our lives, It is through this prayer connection that the resources of heaven are diffused into the earth.
They met this need on the way to the temple, outside of the temple, before they got to church, on their way to church.
Lame from his mothers womb.
Lame:
1 : having a body part and especially a limb so disabled as to impair freedom of movement marked by stiffness and soreness
2 : lacking needful or desirable substance : weak, ineffectual
Let me first say: It’s one thing to have had your strength, the use of your limbs, to have the needful and desirable substance and then lose it.
At least for that person there is a point of reference to look back to, and remember how good it was.
Or let’s say: you were raised around the church and in your youth you experienced the touch of God at least in some measure, and you felt the presence of God and the peace of God and you had at least some measure of Joy.
( You are a blessed person, because somewhere in your Psyche there is a God consciousness)
Like the person who had their sight and then lost it, or had their hearing and then lost it, at least you have the memory of how good it was, how it used to be..
You remember how beautiful a sunrise can be, or how wonderful to hear the rain or the voice of your loved one.
But what about that person who is lame from birth?
Their life has been one long nightmare.
Rejection, abuse, deception, confusion, No father in the home, one bad relationship after another, from one disappointment to the next.
They have never been raised in church, in fact they were taught that church was for weak people and Jesus was just a crutch.
They have no point of reference.
And here they are just outside the church ( Lame at the Gate).
Gate: A door-like movable barrier in a fence or wall, a portal or entrance a hinged barrier used to close an opening in a wall, fence, or hedge.
So the gate speaks of entrance, acceptance, passage, but it also speaks of restriction, of a barrier, of a movable barrier
Too many times the church has been guilty of putting a wall where God has put a door.
The text says this gate was called beautiful.
Beautiful: The dictionary defines it as: delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration;
But the Strongs exhaustive concordance defines it as:
Belonging to the right hour or season (timely), i.e. (by impl.) flourishing
The most beautiful thing in this world is the church fulfilling her ministry, filling the need of the hour, being what is needed when it’s needed.
But many times we are guilty of Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.
What that basically means is that we are called beautiful but not living up to our name.
To one of the 7 churches of Asia the Holy Spirit said: Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
It’s a hard question, but are we truly beautiful = (filling the need of the hour) or are we just called beautiful?
I can call myself Holy, but am I ? I can call myself Spiritual but am I ? I can call myself Compassionate but am I ? I can call myself Faithful but am I ? I can call myself Committed but am I ?
Then question number two:
Who calls us beautiful ?, Is it a name we have ascribed to ourselves, Is it because we have a nice church, and great music, and gifted musicians, and a great pastor, is it because we have great programs, and youth ministries, is it because we are prospering financially, Is it because we speak in tongues, and feel the Holy Spirit.
I have come to understand that if we really want know whether we as individual believers and a corporate body are beautiful or not, we have to listen to what the world is saying about us.
They were first called Christians at Antioch,
They were called Christians because they were acting like Christ,
That’s beautiful.
Peter said: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth:
In the character, in the authority, In the life and strength of the person of Jesus Christ.
Rise up and walk:
Do what it is impossible to do in your own name, own character, own strength own life.
Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up.
Lifted:
egeiro, (through the idea of collecting one’s faculties); to waken i.e. rouse (lit. from sleep, from sitting or lying, from disease, from death; or fig. from obscurity, inactivity, ruins, nonexistence):--awake, lift (up), raise (again, up), rear up, (a-) rise (again, up), stand, take up.
Here is the church in action: Lifting people, raising people, giving worth and purpose and value, raising people out of the ruins, and the nothingness and emptiness of life outside of Christ.
By the right Hand:
Right hand speaks of acceptance, and it speaks of authority, it is the honored place.
This means peter accepted him and raised him from a place of dishonor to a place of honor, from a place of weakness to a place of strength.
The true beauty of the gate beautiful was not it’s appearance but that it was a place where the suffering and less fortunate could go and expect to receive some measure of benevolence from those who entered.
I am concerned today that our focus has been shifted, and we are more enamored today with the beauty of a thing than the reason for which it exists.
Our focus shouldn’t be are we beautiful, can we sing, can we preach, can we teach, can we have church, but are we touching people?
Are we making a difference in this world?
I am concerned today that there is a world that is lame at the gate
But we are too busy enjoying ourselves to notice.
We’re just inside the gate called beautiful having the time of our lives, But is it really beautiful if just outside there is a world that is lame, lost, dying, and going to hell. And we‘re not doing anything about it ?
We used to hear songs about reaching the lost, we used to hear songs like ( Lord lay some soul upon my heart and love that soul through me,and may i ever do my part to win that soul for thee).
but to a large measure the church has lost it’s focus and we are more concerned with things than we are with people.
If I’m calling it wrong then just ignore what I’m saying, but I’ve been in the church all my life and I have not only seen the decline of the churches passion for the lost ( I have experienced it) I have been guilty of focusing on things instead of people.
Prosperity is wonderful, but it is only true biblical prosperity as it enables and empowers us to fulfill our mission which is to evangelize the world.
Peter didn’t just See the need and rush on by, he didn’t just shake his head and hurry on to church, No He took time to minister.
I think to some degree, we have forgotten what ministry is, we have made it a church thing and it was always intended to be a people thing.
Such as I have give I thee
You cannot use the lack of money as an excuse for not ministering, because the need is not always money in fact the truth is, The need is always Jesus, but starving people have a hard time hearing the message.
Sometimes the such as I have is time, sometimes it’s just a kind word or a hug.
Sometimes it’s a sandwich or a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
Peter by the power of the Holy Spirit didn’t just change this mans condition, He changed his position, (He lifted him up).
Thats what we are called to do (lift people up) we are suppose to be Holy ghost elevators lifting people up.
7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Here is what makes the gate truly beautiful, when it is the place through which those who have lived the weak, and beggarly life of sin, crippled by guilt and shame, bound by satans power, come walking and leaping and praising the Lord.
Lu 16:19-30
Tells the story of a rich man and a beggar, the beggar laid at the rich mans gate desiring to be fed with his crumbs, the rich man despised the beggar.
The beggar was his opportunity to manifest Christian charity, But to the rich man the beggar was a problem, an inconvenience, an eyesore that ruined his beautiful landscape.
I believe that this gate beautiful is symbolic of the church, And what makes it beautiful is when the church meets the need of the hour.
When we become the hands of Jesus reaching out and ministering to hurting people, when we are more concerned with helping people than having a good service or driving a new car or living in a nicer house.
The sin of the rich man in Lu 16:19-30 was not his wealth and riches or his lavish lifestyle, his sin was that he wasted it all on himself and despised the beggar who sat at his gate.
We must take care to make sure that we are not guilty of the same crime as this rich man.
There is a world lost and dying just outside the gate, they are our mission.
They are the reason for our prosperity.
When the lame, the sick the diseased the oppressed can find release and healing and deliverance at our churches, then the gate truly is beautiful.
