He asked for alms and was given legs!
Acts 3:1-10
Over the next few months we will hopefully have some mission events taking place in the church. So this morning I thought I would speak about mission.
All around us are many people who are hurting for one reason or another.And God has given us the responsibility as Christians and as churches to reach these hurting people.
That’s mission. Very simple. The church above all else is a place for people who have problems. The church was designed for the single mother who has two jobs to support her kids. Church is for the drug addict who can’t stop his habit. Church is for the person who can’t stay away from pornography on the internet.
Church is for the young person who struggles with self esteem. The church is for the young couple who live together and don’t know it’s not the best way to build a home. The church is for the alcoholic who is ready to admit he needs help.
Church is for the person whose marriage has broken up or is not all that it should be. Church is also the place for the lonely. Mission can be found right through the Bible, for instance
Ezekiel 34:16 tells us, “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. “
But you know the problem with so many of our churches is that we often pass by the hurting people in our world. We ignore them and in doing so we miss an amazing opportunity to lead them to Christ. Because it is often hurting people that make the best converts to Christ. They are broken and they have nowhere to turn and Jesus is the visible answer to their problems.
We need to be perceptive enough as Christians to notice the hurt in people and give them what they need, and that need is Jesus.
I. THE EXPOSITION
Acts 3 is an account of a disabled beggar who Peter and John met one day outside the temple in Jerusalem. This beggar was a hurting man. He had sat near the temple everyday of his life and no one really noticed him sitting there. To me this crippled beggar represents one of the kind of people the church should be trying to reach. Those who have been hurt by life’s circumstances. From this story I think we can learn some valuable lessons about how to minister to those people around our churches who are hurting like this beggar.
Acts 3:1 says
1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.
Let’s stop here for a moment and keep in mind that this is at the beginning of the church and so believers in Christ still went to the Temple to pray because there was nowhere else. . So it wouldn’t be uncommon to see Peter and John going to the Temple to pray because they were still probably observing many of the Jewish religious customs.
Acts 3:2 continues 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
The temple gate called beautiful was one of the favourite entrances into the temple and thousands passed through it on a daily basis. That is why we see this disabled man being put there.
He knew exactly where the most people would enter the temple at one time. And the more people who entered, the more money he could get. This verse says that the crippled man was carried to the temple and left every day to beg. So he probably had family members who helped him.
We have beggars on the streets in Edinburgh. If a beggar finds a good spot on the street where a lot of people pass by, he can make good money. And this disabled man was a professional beggar like that.
He knew exactly what to say to get people’s pity. He knew exactly the best times to be at the temple.
We need to understand that the giving of alms, giving money, to the poor was an important part of the Jewish faith and so many Jews going to the temple would give to these beggars over and over again as a way of fulfilling their religious duty.
Verse 3 says, “When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter, said, ‘Look at us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.”
This man called out to Peter and John perhaps because he recognized them. But something on this day touched Peter’s heart and he stopped. There were probably scores of beggars at the gate that afternoon but Peter talked to this one. Maybe it was the Holy Spirit that tugged at his heart, but he gave this man his full attention.
Now the Bible says the beggar expected to get something from Peter and John.
But Verse 6 records Peter’s words.
“"Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.".”
And verse 7 says,
“Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk..”
Peter had no money for this man, but he had something much better. He had healing. Peter healed this man in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. What that means was that he was doing the miracle “by the authority and the power of Jesus Christ.” Peter wanted to let this man know that it was not him, who was doing this. It was Jesus.
Peter would take no credit for it.
Verse 8, “Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
This man was no longer restricted to sitting outside the temple, he now entered the holy place and gave praise to the Lord. And those around him noticed that this was the same man, who just seconds before was begging outside.
There was no mistake, a miracle had taken place. Jesus, through Peter, had made the lame walk.
Now what I would like us to see is that this disabled beggar represents the people who we as churches are trying to reach! There are many people, trapped in crippling situations who need the church’s help to find the power of Jesus Christ. Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Peter and John and see how they were able to help this man and lead him to the life changing power of Jesus Christ.
Notice four specific things Peter and John did in order to minister to this man that we as Christians and churches should do to minister to those in around us.
First, notice that
PETER AND JOHN GOT OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY AND MET LOST PEOPLE.
Peter and John went as a team to where the people were. They didn’t simply sit in their church waiting for people to come to them. They went out.
The temple was a place they knew that they would meet many who didn’t know Jesus. The temple was a gathering place for many in Jerusalem. Peter and John were not hiding themselves away from the world.
They weren’t content to sit around the church and discuss the Bible with the other apostles, they got out into the culture of Jerusalem. They weren’t satisfied to just associate with Christians and those like them.
They got outside the church and were intentional about mingling with the crowds in Jerusalem. That’s why they went at three in the afternoon because that was the hour of prayer and they knew people would be flocking to the temple.
We must do what Peter and John did. We’ve got to go out into the streets and meet the people around us. My last church had a bookshop in the East End of Glasgow. We had a stock of about 7000 books, about 1/3 were Christian.
We also had had some comfortable settees and armchairs and gave away free tea and coffee. We had a mother and daughter from the local area who became Christians. They came into the shop to look at the books and have a coffee but for us this was an opportunity to offer them help.
They were not very well off and not particularly well educated. And their language was not always polite. But in that bookshop they found a space where they were made welcome, where they were accepted as they were, where people would listen to them. Where they weren’t judged.
We also met a few asylum seekers, some from other religions, some who were simply lonely and who loved having a place where they could meet others. We need to look outside the four walls of our church and start looking for people in our lives who need Jesus.
Peter and John had possibly met this disabled man before, they probably knew who he was. They had possibly talked with him before. They had maybe built a relationship with him. They possibly walked by him everyday, deliberately, just to greet him.
Do you have some places you go every week, maybe the hairdressers, or a charity shop, a cafe where you go regularly. Maybe you could build a relationship with a waitress or your hairdresser, or another regular customer like yourself and then get an opportunity to tell them about Jesus?
I go into Costa Coffee in Graigleith most days. I know the names of most of the staff. And the manager has asked me to take his wedding next year.
Secondly,
PETER AND JOHN WERE PERCEPTIVE AND RESPONDED TO THE MAN’S HURT.
Peter and John were not too busy or in too much of a hurry to notice this hurting man. The Bible says that Peter looked at him attentively. Thousands of religious people walked by this man every day, oblivious to his condition, but Peter and John, two Christians, noticed.
They were perceptive. Peter responded in exactly the opposite way that most people respond to beggars. Most of us try not to make eye contact with them. We do our best to avoid them. But by the spirit Peter perceived that God was about to do something for this individual. Peter did not feel drawn to everybody at the gate but only to this particular man. But so often we are not like Peter and John.
We are too distracted by the routine of life to notice a hurting person. There are people we come in contact with on a daily basis who are hurting and crying out but we never notice. Think about it, here were Peter and John. People were still talking about them after the events of Pentecost just a short time ago. They were just ordinary people. They had no theological or missiological training.
It’s likely that they were nervous or even scared as they preached and prayed with people. But It’s likely that thousands of people were flocking to hear them preach each day, they were famous and yet they noticed one single little beggar.
Notice also that
PETER AND JOHN WERE WILLING TO TOUCH THE UNWANTED.
Verse 7 says that Peter took this man by the right hand and helped him up. Peter was the only one amongst thousands of people that day who was willing to touch the untouchable.
I mean, would you be willing to reach down and touch a filthy homeless crippled beggar on the street.This man was an irritant to society, harassing people as they entered to worship! No one wanted anything to do with him, except these two disciples of Jesus Christ. The world had kicked him to the gutter. But Peter and John wanted to bring him into the church.
As churches we need to be willing to help people like this man who the world has kicked and dragged through the mud. The single mother who has been abandoned by her husband. The widower whose wife committed suicide. The drug addict, whose pusher still calls him everyday trying to hook him again.
The homosexual who has HIV.
The teenager whose parents kicked her out after she told them she was pregnant.
The guy who is covered with tattoos and is pierced in all kinds of places.
Sadly, most churches are not willing to deal with the untouchables.
Many churches wouldn’t want these problem people taking up all of the Minister’s time. Instead we want perfect people who come dressed in a suit and tie and come carrying a leather bound Bible.
People who don’t dance, don’t play cards, don’t drink, swear or take drugs..
We have an idealised person who belongs in church and it is certainly not someone with AIDS or with tattoos. Sadly many of our churches are certainly not wanting to touch the stripper or the prostitute or the teenager with blue hair.
But Peter and John show us who as Christians we need to be trying to reach. Those who are crippled by circumstances. Those who are hurting. Those who are untouchable and who the world passes by. And if we as Christian churches say we really want to reach lost souls then we had better be willing to touch some “beggars.”
One last thing,
PETER AND JOHN GAVE THE MAN WHAT HE TRULY NEEDED.
What he truly needed was Jesus! He didn’t need money like he was begging for. He needed divine intervention. He needed Jesus.
And that is what Peter gave him.
Silver or gold I do not have but I have Jesus, he told him.
And that is what he gave him. And we must keep in mind that what people really need from us as churches is Jesus. They don’t need a club or friends or a place to hang out as much as they need Jesus. They don’t need a sermon or a program or the right kind of music or a class for their kids as much as they need Jesus.
They don’t need to discuss doctrinal issues or debate theological ideas. They don’t need to know who wrote the book of Isaiah. They need Jesus and when they come to our churches they ought to be able to find him. Peter and John gave this man Jesus. And it does very little good to bring people to our churches if they aren’t a place where non-believers can encounter Christ.
There is a dying hurting world out there and we must look around and we must give them Jesus. It’s no good sitting in our comfortable churches waiting for people to come to us. Jesus tells the Church very clearly that we should GO into the world. Perhaps into places that we would rather not go.
But Jesus went into those places. Jesus met a lot of undesirable people who had been rejected by religious people. It’s no good expecting others to do the work. God wants YOU to do it.
So Jesus should be our example.
Let’s pray. Lord help us to reach out the hurting and the dying. Help us love people enough to notice their pain. Help us to love you enough to want to bring people to you. In Christ name, we pray. Amen.
