One day a large male lion decided to make sure that all the other animals knew he was the master of the jungle so he went to the gazelle and roared, ’Who is the king of the jungle?’ Trembling, the gazelle answered, ’Why, you are, mighty lion.’
He went next to the zebra and roared, ’Who is the king of the jungle?’ Fearful, the zebra answered, ’Why, you are, mighty lion.’
Then he went to the monkey and roared, ’Who is the king of the jungle?’ Startled, the monkey answered, ’Why, you are oh mighty king!’
Finally, full of himself, full of his own importance, he went to the elephant and roared, ’Who is the king of the jungle?’ The elephant reached out and grabbed the lion with his trunk, whirled him around in the air, and body slammed him to the ground several times, then threw him against a large boulder.
The beaten, bruised, and battered lion struggled to his feet … he looked up at the elephant said — ’Look … just because you don’t know the answer doesn’t mean you have to take it so personally!’"
Now to that lion … the purpose of his power was to make sure everyone else knew that he was king! The purpose of his power was to ensure that everyone else knew that he was dominant, that he was in control. And in our world, power is often used as a tool of intimidation and subjugation … for many that’s what the perks of power are all about — dominating, dictating and sometimes even destroying!
Acts Chapter 1 verse 8 says – ‘You will receive power…’ And the whole of the book of Acts, the whole foundation of the early church, the whole ethos and lives of those early christians was built on that verse – ‘You will receive power…’
But listen, listen carefully — Power in the kingdom of God has an entirely different purpose to power in the world… the power that Jesus promised and the power that Jesus provided through the Holy Spirit is not power to intimidate people, nor is not power to impress people… it is power to impact people!
Aaron last week was talking about the Unstoppable Church in Acts Chapter 2. And that church was unstoppable because it was filled with power – power to impact people, power to change lives, power to set the captives free – And it says, ‘the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved’.
This was an infant church, this was a baby church, it was only hours old yet already it was making an incredible impact and people were being saved and lives were being changed. You know I would love to see this church filled to overflowing. I would love to see the seats stretched right out to the back of the church. I would love for us to have to talk about the need of having to build on so that we can fit everybody in.
And the growth I want to see is new growth – I’m not interested in attracting Colchester’s nomadic congregation. I’m not interested in stealing people from other churches – and there’s an awful lot of that goes in Colchester – there are a number of ministers out there who are only interested in building their kingdom rather than the kingdom. But I want Acts 2:47 to be true of us here at Orchard – ‘The Lord added to their number daily, (who? Not those from other churches, not those from the Nomadic congregation – the wanderers from church to church, not those who look for the ‘in’ church of the month) but – he added to their number daily - those who were being saved’.
And I want to see this church being filled with ‘those who are being saved’ - because we are a church and a people that have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and we are impacting lives, we are changing lives, we are setting captives free. I want this church to be an unstoppable church because we’ve been filled with the power of God Almighty, and his presence dwells amongst us.
Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’. You know often when we think about that verse we somehow envisage the church being under attack and that it is floundering against the gates of hell. But actually the opposite is true – gates are a means of defence - not attack! And Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail – they will not hold out against an advancing church. A church that is filled with power to impact people and to change lives.
Commentator Lloyd Olgivie puts it like this - "The power of Pentecost is for people. What happened at Pentecost is for the paralysis of the world. The Holy Spirit, is Christ in the present tense, and it is for the healing of people in the present age. The excitement and enthusiasm of the infilling of the Spirit was to create a people through whom the Lord could continue his ministry of restoration and healing. A new age was born, Christ was alive in his people, and they were now equipped to do what he had done and the greater things he promised — communicating his love and bringing people to him."
"The power of Pentecost is for people… it is God’s answer for the paralysis of the world!"
The early Church in power
And this early church was a church that was filled with power. In Acts Chapter 1 they were promised power. In Acts Chapter 2 they were filled with power – by the end of chapter 2 you can already see the impact this power is having as people are being saved every day! And Luke says in 2:43 that - “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” But he doesn’t give us any indication what those miraculous signs and wonders may have been. But now, when we come to Acts 3, we have an account of at least one of them, the story of the crippled beggar.
Now this man had been crippled from birth. Think about the tragedy of that. He had never been able to stand or walk, he had never been able to run and play like the other boys. And now that he is a grown man – Acts Chapter 4:22 tells us that he was in his 40s, and his friends have to carry him, every day, to the Temple so that he might beg for a living. Just imagine this poor man’s despair - there had never been a day in his life when he had not been a burden to somebody. He could not walk; he could not work. All he could do was beg, sit there, and hope that people would have pity on him.
But this day was going to be different. This day he was going to come face to face with the church that was filled with power. This day his life was going to be impacted. This day his life was going to be changed!
I want to say a couple of things this morning about this passage.
1. This man was persistent
The first thing I want to say is – this man was persistent. It says that despite his disability, despite his inability, despite his total dependence on others – this man came to the temple gate ‘every day’! Verse 2 – ‘Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg…’
Why the Temple? Why was it the Temple gate he was brought to every day? Why not the market place or alongside a main road? He had his friends place him at the gate to the Temple every day. Why? Perhaps he thought that people who serve God would be more helpful and more generous to people like him.
But this gate was huge. Josephus tells us that it was made of Corinthian Brass, it was plated with gold and silver, stood 75 feet high, and was 60 feet wide! It would have been easy for those early worshippers to pass on the other side of the gate without coming anywhere near this cripple.
Oh maybe some would drop a few coins into his hand as they came to worship and pray. Perhaps some of them gave from good motives - trying to help out a fellow human being. Perhaps they gave from selfish motives - so that other people could see how generous they were, or perhaps they were hoping that God would take special notice of their sacrifice.
Perhaps this beggar sitting day after day at the temple gates got what he wanted – just enough money to buy some food, just enough money to get by – but he never received what he needed. What he needed was a heavenly touch from God. What he needed was the power of the Holy Spirit to touch his life. What he needed was healing.
He knew it could happen. He’d seen it happen to other people. Jesus had healed numerous people there not that long ago. Matthew 21:14 says that just before Jesus was arrested and crucified that the blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
Who knows how many –obviously quite a few. But despite being there every day – it hadn’t happened for this poor beggar! Not only did he have to suffer his own disability – but he also had to endure watching everyone else getting healed. Now there’s a question to ponder – if this man was at the temple every day – why didn’t Jesus heal him when he healed all the others?
But it never happened - but this poor crippled man knew that it could, he believed that it could, and that’s why every day he came to the Temple. Every day he came to where the people of God were gathering. Every day he came to where the presence of God was. Every day he came to where the power of God was.
And can I say that if you want to experience the power of God in your life. If you want God to meet whatever need there is in your life – you have to be persistent. Blind Bartemeaus when Jesus came to town shouted out ‘Jesus son of David have mercy on me’ – and all the people around him told him to shut up and be quiet - but the more they told him to shut up the more he shouted, the more he persisted – and he received his sight.
That woman who had an issue of blood – had to push her way through the crowds until she could reach the hem of Jesus garment – and her persistence paid off. Those four men who carried that paralytic to Jesus – and they couldn’t get into the house because of all the people, so they went up on top of the house and made a hole in the roof so that they could lower their paralysed friend down – and their persistence paid off.
And this man – every day he came to the temple – and for 40 years his miracle never happened – but still he came, still he persisted – until one day, until today, his persistence paid off. What would have happened, if he had got up that morning and said, ‘I can’t be bothered. I’m too tired. It’s been a busy week. I think I’ll skip it today’ – He would have missed his miracle.
Let me encourage you this morning – whatever you’re need, whatever you are seeking God for, no matter how long you’ve praying for it, no matter how long you’ve been seeking God for it. Be persistent. Keep pressing in to the power and the presence of God. Don’t give up – don’t skip church – keep on keeping on until you receive from the hand of God.
2. This man was expectant
The second thing I want to say is that this man was expectant. Verse 5 says that the man looked at Peter and John, ‘expecting to get something from them’.
The word "expectancy" means: "TO WAIT FOR SOMETHING IN SUSPENSE". There was something about these two men that made this lame man WAIT IN SUSPENSE, expecting something good to happen. He may have only been thinking about silver and gold - BUT AT LEAST HE WAS EXPECTING SOMETHING.
How many of you know the promise of God that he will do "exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think"? And yet so often we come to God not expecting anything at all! We come to church ready for "just another Sunday service"; we’ll sing some songs, we’ll pray, we’ll take communion, and providing the preacher doesn’t go on too long we’ll be finished by 12.00pm and home by 12.30!
No excitement, no anticipation, no expectation. But it’s so important to come to church expecting God to speak, it’s so important to come to church expecting God to move, expecting God to touch lives, expecting God to heal, expecting God to save. There is nothing sadder than people coming to church with no expectation that anything is going to happen. With no expectation of meeting with the living God. Friends, whether it’s at home in your quiet time, or when you come to the house of God YOU MUST COME WITH EXPECTANCY! What is it the Psalmist says, ‘I wait for the lord, I expectantly wait, and in his word do I hope’. (Ps 130) Micah 7:7, ‘But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation.’
Hudson Taylor’s life motto was this: "Attempt great things for God, EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD!"
God wants his people to come before him with expectant hearts, expecting to receive from him, expecting to receive from him. Perhaps you’ve never given it any thought before, but let me ask you - HOW DO YOU THINK GOD FEELS WHEN WE COME BEFORE HIM WITHOUT A SENSE OF EXPECTANCY? If He is the great God who made all of heaven and earth - how insulting it must be to Him when we come not expecting anything to happen!
This lame man EXPECTED something - and he got far more than he ever expected. And we have to come with expectant hearts, expecting to receive, expecting God to move, expecting God to speak, expecting God to heal, expecting God to change and transform lives – and when we do he will give ‘"exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think"!
3. This Church was a giving church
The final thing I want to say is that this church was a giving church. ‘Silver and gold – have I none! But what I have I give to you’ (v6).
What this church had, wasn’t given to them so that they could keep it to themselves. What they had been given wasn’t for their benefit, but for the benefit of those around them. What had been given them, wasn’t given for them to keep, but for them to give away. They might not of had riches, they might not have had wealth ‘silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give to you’. ‘Freely you have receive’, says Jesus ‘now freely give’!
Here are Peter and John on their way to church. It was 3 o clock in the afternoon, and 3 o clock in the afternoon was church time, and they knew that when church time arrived there was only one place that they were supposed to be - in church. In fact it was a prayer meeting and they were on their way to pray. And they could have said ‘Well we’d love to help, but we’re in a hurry, we’re going to church to pray." Ever met someone so heavenly minded their of no earthly use. Prayer is often the biggest cop out for many Christians. "I’m praying about sharing my faith. I’m praying about tithing. I’m praying about serving in some area of church life." Sometimes prayer can be nothing more that holy procrastination – putting off until tomorrow what you should be getting on with today. And some people can’t even be bothered to do that – it’s no great secret that the mid-week prayer meetings are often the most poorly attended.
What’s that saying? ‘You can tell how popular a church is by how many people are at the morning service. You can tell how popular the pastor is by how many people are at the evening service. And you can tell how popular God is by how many are at the prayer meeting’.
But here are Peter and John going to the temple to pray. And I’m sure this wasn’t the first time they’d seen this poor beggar. And they could have come up with a number of good reasons to keep walking right on by – but this was a giving church. What they had, they had so that they could give it away. And something that day touched Peter’s heart and he stopped. "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give you.’ Peter didn’t worry about what he didn’t have. He didn’t worry that he had no money, he didn’t worry that he had no wealth, he didn’t worry that he had no status, he didn’t worry that he had no education. He didn’t worry that he had no real experience in healing. He didn’t worry that they didn’t have the permission of the church meeting give things away. He didn’t worry about what he didn’t have, but what he had - he gave. And what he had was the Power of the Holy Spirit flowing through his veins.
But before you can give to others - you first have to receive for yourself. Peter was only able to give because he himself had received. He could only give what he already had. And we are no different. If we today are not seeing lives being healed – perhaps it’s because we ourselves have never experienced the healing power of the spirit. If we’re not seeing lives being touched and transformed, perhaps it’s because we ourselves have never experienced the life transforming power of the holy spirit. If we’re not seeing lives being saved – maybe, just maybe, it’s because we ourselves have not experienced that life saving power of the holy spirit.
Silver and gold have I none – but what I have... I give – what have you received from the holy spirit that you can give to those around you? And are you sharing it? Are you giving it? I like what Selwyn Hughes wrote in his daily study notes the other day ‘The Holy Spirit is like electricity. He won’t come in unless he can get out.’ He doesn’t want you to be a consumer of his power – he wants you to be a channel for his power.
Conclusion
This man was persistent, this man was expectant, this church was giving – and the result was this man was healed.
There is a story told of St Thomas Aquinas when he visited Pope Innocent II and found him counting a large sum of money. "Ah, Thomas," said the Pope, "the church can no longer say, ‘silver and gold have I none.’" That is true, Your Holiness," said Aquinas, "but then, neither can it now say, ‘Arise and walk.’"
The apostles didn’t have silver and gold, but they had the power of God. What we need are not possessions, but power: Power to touch people’s lives with the presence of the living God; power to reach out to people and lift them up out of their tragic circumstances and give them hope and healing, friendship and fellowship. Power to reach and impact lives and bring them into a relationship with the living God.
May God help us to be persistent. May God help us to be expectant. May God fill us with his Spirit that we might in turn reach out and begin to impact those around us, that we might begin to see lives healed, that we might begin to see lives transformed, that we might begin to see lives changed, that we might begin see people saved by the power and the truth of the gospel.
