“The Leaping Cripple” March 27, 2011
Acts 3:1-10
Sermon Series Acts: God’s Vision and Power for Shell Point
Pastor Allan Kircher
Introduction
Surprise upon surprise in the early months of the church is joined by an attitude of pushing through barriers,
Exploring the new, and sailing with the fresh winds.
Anytime we open ourselves to the breath of the Spirit, we are in for surprises and are pushed to new frontiers.
Peter and his friends surely did not know much about what was happing to them.
I’m still in a state of surprise of what is happening to me!
Every day held a new adventure in their lives. They were on fire and excited for what God was doing in their lives.
Do you have a new spiritual adventure everyday, doesn’t God create and speak mysterious words upon your heart?
Now Peter and his friends surely did not know much about what was happening to them.
But two things they did understand;
All that was happening was from God; and they would sail in convoy with those new winds.
In Acts 3, the Holy Spirit selects one of the “many wonders and signs” mentioned in 2:43 as an illustration.
This astounding miracle of healing a man lame from birth gathers a curious crowd and prepares them to hear Peter’s sermon.
It also confirms that Peter and John represent God.
The gospels and Acts reveal that Peter and John were closely associated.
They were partners in a fishing business before their call as disciples.
They were also in the inner circle with Jesus along with John’s brother James.
They alone of the twelve followed Jesus to the high priest’s house after His arrest.
They were the first of the two to visit the tomb after the resurrection.
So here, and throughout the early chapter of Acts we see them traveling and ministering together.
Verses 3:1-3
On their way to the temple, the two apostles encountered a certain man who had been lame from his mother’s womb.
Luke tells us the beggar was over 40 years old and had been lame since birth. (Acts 4:22)
His case was hopeless; his affliction was not one the doctors of his day could cure.
Being an invalid since birth, he has never known a healthy day.
He’s never stretched out his legs and walked to the market or to a friend’s house.
In fact, his legs are just useless appendages-two perpetual reminders of the lifelessness he feels deep within his soul.
Beggars in Palestine favored three location; the houses of the rich, main highways, and the temple.
Of the three, the temple was the best site. Not only did crowds throng the temple daily, but they also came to impress God with their piety.
One way to do that was to give alms to the poor.
Further, the temple treasury was where people gave their offerings to the Lord.
They would therefore be in a frame of mind to give money when they came to the temple.
Well apparently every day his friends would carry him to one of the Temple Gates-
Luke says it was referred to in his day as "the Gate Beautiful."
This particular gate was very ornate and made of Corinthian bronze that looked like gold when polished.
According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, it was so large it took 20 men to close it.
Well, this same cripple had been sitting here in this same spot every day begging for decades.
I mean, he was a regular fixture at this entrance to the temple.
Everyone saw him every day.
Jesus Himself probably passed by this guy during His ministry in the temple area numerous times.
I imagine the disciples had to wonder why He would not heal this man as He had so many others but Jesus had His reasons for waiting-as we will see in a moment!
I mean the extent of this beggar’s physical deformity would have been obvious to everyone, so his cure was obviously genuine.
And the people who frequented the Temple would have known that there was nothing fraudulent about this miracle healing.
The sign 4-8
In Response to the beggar’s cries for alms, Peter and John fixed their gaze upon him.
Where do you think this gaze came from? The light of God was radiating through the apostles into this desolate soul.
They focused on the unhappy cripple and commanded him, “Look at us!”
According to verse 5 this man expected to receive something from Peter and John.
He did not know what he was going to get, he obviously thought it would be money, but his faith was quickened by Peter’s words.
This is very necessary to receive anything from God. You must expect something from him.
Just like this beggar who sat at that temple for 40 years, still some today only come for alms with their hands out.
Unfortunately there are those, young and old alike, who turn off their minds when they get into a church service.
They start thinking of all kinds of other things, start taking mental trips and playing mental games.
…But unfortunately, the life-changing truth that goes out from the Scriptures misses them, passes right by, and they can sit here for years and never be changed.”
How many know that God does "exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think"?!
The problem is that 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 choruses, pray, take communion, and providing that preacher does the right thing we’ll be out and home for lunch by 12.00pm.
It’s so important to come to church longing to hear God speak.
Nothing is sadder than going to church when you aren’t expecting anything to happen - and worst still when you are positively sure that nothing is going to happen!
God wants to move in your life. He wants to restore you from your desperate predicament.
The message of this man is that there are needs to be met in all human lives today.
And those needs exist in lives of people who seem outwardly wonderful.
How many of our co-workers or friends or neighbors appear outwardly to be doing OK, yet inwardly they are struggling?
They are over-extended financially. They don’t know what to do with their children. Their marriages are falling apart. Their job is hanging by a thread. They’ve lost all self-esteem. They’re guilty and depressed and don’t know where to turn. Behind every door there is human need. Every person has a story to tell. We’ve all been hurt, we’ve all been used, we’ve all failed, and we all need healing.
But the beggar came back day after day after day.
We need Jesus—and that’s the biggest need that anyone has. People need a heavenly touch from God.
How many times have you just held out your hands for alms instead of receiving His mercy?
The beggar no doubt wondered what these men could give him that would be more valuable than money.
Peter said to him, “Silver and gold I have not. Verse 6
For some people, to say silver and gold I do not have is about the worst thing anyone can say.
They feel the church is in ruins if it must say “silver and gold I do not have.”
But how much worse it is if the church does not have the spiritual power to say, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”?
The apostles didn’t have silver and gold, but they had the power of God.
They received the power of God to energize them to be witnesses to Jesus Christ in a secular society.
The power of the Holy Spirit was for people;
to enable the disciples to reach out and touch human need and share the liberating truth of the Gospel of Christ.
It’s all about personal caring for people.
We must never be content to sing "Standing On The Promises" while all we’re doing is sitting on the premises.
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.
This was the ministry of the emissaries of the spirit-filled church and this is our ministry as well.
Like all of God’s works, this miracle was based on God’ sovereign will.
There were hundreds of other beggars in Jerusalem, many of them undoubtedly crippled as well.
But it was this man that God sovereignty chose to receive healing.
Expecting only some money to help momentarily ease his desperate situation, the beggar instead received far more than he would have ever dreamed possible.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene—walk 3:6
The beggar had little reason to believe in Jesus Christ. He had been coming there for 40 years, everyday, same time, same place.
Jesus had not changed his plight.
He therefore must have found Peter’s words Jesus Christ the Nazarene overwhelming.
How many times does it take us to come to the reality of our Savior being the true God.
The true Christ to take us from our hurts, our fears, our detrimental lifestyles.
Well, the beggars confusion did not last long, Peter seized him by the right hand, Peter raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened.
Our Lord’s healings are instantaneous, there was no gradual process involved.
Scripture knows nothing of “progressive healings.”
The beggar did not even need to be taught how to walk.
He received his coordination and balance instantly.
The healing of this beggars permanent disfigurement is no different than Christ healings of today through salvation.
The glorious rebirth of our souls to eternal life.
We share the same characteristics as this crippled, disfigured and unhappy soul.
We are all marred by the corruptiveness in our lives and we are all hopelessly lost at the temple gate of beautiful.
We all have waited for the cure, for the hope, for the power and the presence of our almighty God.
The difference is, do we hold out our hand for alms or look into the eyes of our Savior?
Verse 8 says it was complete, “and with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping.
Peter did not have to manhandle the beggar to get him on his feet.
As soon as he felt the strength, the surge of the Holy Spirit, he couldn’t help but to leap with joy.
His symptoms completely gone. The old is gone and the new has come.
His joy and excitement knew no bounds. No limits.
Mere walking was not enough for him, he had to leap also.
Like a child with a new toy he could not resist using his new-found ability.
Do you still feel this way today? Do you yearn to live your life for the surge of the Holy Spirit that saved you?
Or are you still living in that crippling lifestyle today?
What right do we have to sit dormant and complacent after God has delivered us from eternal punishment?
Get up and leap for joy, excite in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and see how God will richly bless you with your new life.
Unfortunately, this is not the attitude of many people today.
They hurt, but they hurt in silence, not being willing to share their intimate hurts with anyone else.
And the church is the last place they want to go.
Many of them view the church as a judgmental society of self-righteous hypocrites anyway.
But even if they have a good view of the church, there’s not much to motivate them to drag their tired bones out of bed on a Sunday morning to church.
This crippled man was not tired! He continued to seek a way out.
But God changed his life. He not only changed temporal but the eternal.
It is time to enable that Spirit to speak and flow, and move freely.
So what is the sequel to this healing?
Verse 8-11 There were three results of the miraculous healing of the lame beggar.
First was joy to the beggar himself.
He expressed it by praising God.
He entered the temple with the apostles.
In there, all those souls who have seen this beggar for years in his crippled way now see the act of God Himself.
The sedate, stately ritual of the evening sacrifice was now suddenly shattered by his loud cries of joy and praise.
And you can’t rightly blame them.
It is God’s desire that all His children experience this joy.
John 15:11 say, “these things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full”
Is your joy made full today? Are you as elated as this crippled beggar?
God says that it should be. There is no unhappiness, strive, malice, gossip, unkindness in God’s will.
Your days should be filled with the heavenly peace that transcends all understanding….no matter what the world throws at you.
Addictions, financial distress, slander, divorce, adultery, pornography, are all of the world.
The world stares at you with these tempting you to fall, but God stares at you with the answer.
Greater is He who is in you, then who is in the world.
The things of this world are temporal, instant and ever changing.
God does not change. God is consistent, ever loving and ever true in all things.
Don’t reach out for the alms in need, turn your eyes upon Jesus.
The second result was praise and worship toward God.
Mere participation in a religious service does not in itself guarantee true worship.
The most genuine worship of God likely to have taken place that day in the temple was the praise of the beggar.
He was using an honest and humble sincere heart in reverence to the deliverance he experienced.
He genuinely wanted to show God how he acknowledged the abundance of that gift.
He had a reverent fear of God in obedience to his healing.
An attitude of gratitude, fulfillment, and it couldn’t help but to soak through the pores of his being.
Thirdly, the miracle was a testimony to the people.
The beggar’s outburst of praise caused shock and amazement on the part of the crowd.
This was a public testimony. It was an undeniable event.
Even the Jewish leaders did not deny that a miracle has taken place.
In Acts 4:16, they said, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.”
They couldn’t deny the miracle, but they continued to deny Jesus. How could this be so?
You see, God designed miracles to attract attention and point people to divine truth.
This healing did both. It certainly drew the attention of the crowd; they ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.
They had intellectual spirituality. They knew the OT and they knew that healings were to mark the beginning of messianic times.
Isaiah said of that age, “Then the lame will leap like a deer” (Isa.35:6).
Hasn’t Pastor Ralph and Alice leaped like a deer in their miraculous healing of the power of God.
Doesn’t their healings spur you on to stronger faith in the Risen Lord?
Wanting to diligently seek his will in your life?
Now some may say today, “wait a minute, I do rejoice and I’m glad, but I want God to heal me from my cancer or illness.
My friends, your faith will heal you. You are delivered from the bondage of sin. You have eternal life. Rejoice and be glad in all circumstances.
Jesus brought Lazarus back to life after being dead for four days but Lazarus still died eventually.
we all will face that victory in life.
Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”(Phil 1:21).
The ultimate healing is when God calls you home.
Think about it. Physical healing is temporary.
The effects of physical miracles in this fallen world of ours are always temporary-
So sometimes the MIRACLE people need most is not physical healing.
They need something more lasting. In Preaching Today Tony Camplo tells this story:
"I was in a church in Oregon not too long ago, and I prayed for a man who had cancer. In the middle of the week, I got a telephone call from his wife. She said, ’You prayed for my husband. He had cancer.’ I said, ’Had?’ WHOA I thought, it’s happened. This man has miraculously been cured!
Then, she said, ’He died.’ and I felt terrible. She continued, ’Don’t feel bad, Pastor. When he came into that church last Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger towards God grew, the more miserable he was to everybody around him.
It was an awful thing to be in his presence. But after you prayed for him, a peace came over him and a joy came into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing.’ And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, ’He wasn’t cured, but he was healed.’
Do you see what I mean?
The healing this man needed most was a soul-healing-not a body-healing
This story shows that the greatest miracle...most powerful miracle is NEW BIRTH.
I mean, the most amazing thing that happened that day was not that cripple’s healing as wonderful as it was.
No-it was the healing of the 2,000 souls who became Christians.
And it is still that way-the most powerful miracle is when a man, woman or child, invites Jesus Christ into their heart and life, has their sins washed away and is born again!
You see, the truth is all of us are born "spiritually lame"-unable to walk so as to please God.
It is symbolic in that what we see in the life of this man is a picture of the tragedy of the human condition.
This man symbolizes for us the reality of tragedy in life.
As we look at him, we are reminded of the fact that everywhere we look there is human hurt, human suffering, and human tragedy.
Sometimes it manifests itself through a physical affliction such as this man had, but more often it goes unseen to human eyes.
For every one who is crippled physically, there are literally tens of thousands who are crippled emotionally.
And there are hundreds of thousands who are crippled spiritually.
In fact we are bankrupt before God, unable to pay the tremendous debt that we owe Him. (Luke 7:36-50)
Our sin separates us from our Holy God.
But when we repent of our sin and ask Jesus to forgive us,
He does and miraculously our sins are washed away and we come into a personal relationship with God.
As Isaiah 53:5 says, "By His stripes-HIS WOUNDS-we are miraculously healed."
And that my friends is a miracle!
Salvation-that is the most powerful miracle-NEW BIRTH-that is the truest healing-Having your sins forgiven-THAT-THAT is POWER!
Do you remember the time those faithful friends broke a hole in the roof of the building where Jesus was speaking so they could lower their paralytic down to Him on a mat?
Matthew’s gospel said that when they did this Jesus was impressed by their faith and He said,
"Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." (Matthew 9:2)
This really ticked off the teachers of the law and Jesus knew it so He said,
"Which is easier: to say, ’Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ’Get up and walk’?
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..."
And then He said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." (Matthew 9:5-6)
Invitation:
Would you like to be a part of a genuine miracle right now?
Ask Jesus to take away your bitterness-or anger.
He’ll touch your spirit and remove that emotional cancer.
Ask Him to forgive you of your sin. Invite Him into your heart and life as Savior and Lord.
Ask Him to use your life-to empower you to minister to the hurting people who are all around us here in this county.
Ask Him to work in and through you as a member of this church family.
And-if you experience one of these miracles...then come forward right now and bear testimony.
