WHAT A MIRACLE!
Acts 3:1-10
Luke described the early church by saying, Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles Acts 2:43. Up to this point Luke does not give us any indication what those miraculous signs and wonders may have been. But now, as we come to chapter 3, we have an account of one of them, it is the story of the lame man who was healed at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. Read Acts 3:1-10
Chapter 2 and chapter 3 are inseparably linked. The gift of the Holy Spirit was to make the Spirit-filled people a gift to the world. What happened to the apostles, the 120, and subsequently the 3,000 who where saved and baptized that day, was what the Lord wanted to happen through his people for the entire world.
No sooner had the Holy Spirit been given that the disciples, Peter and John, were confronted by human need focused in the paralyzed beggar at the temple gate.
I believe Luke tells this story because it is this miracle that causes the first arrest of the disciples, the first collision with the Sanhedrin, and the first civil disobedience by Christians to an order from the government banning the preaching of the Gospel.
I want this miracle to speak to our lives this morning. You and I have been called to walk by the Spirit, to live in the supernatural. So, pay close attention so you can learn the five truths the apostles learned and showed here. What are these truths?
1. No put-downs
First, God does not put people down who have real needs.
Here is a man who sat daily at a begging place where people entered the temple through the Beautiful Gate. From historical accounts, we know that this gate was indeed an impressive sight. Much of it was made from Corinthian bronze. It was inlaid with ornately decorated gold. As the sun would shine on it, its brightness could be seen for miles. Yet, sitting under its magnificent beauty was a suffering human being.
What this man needed was the power of the Holy Spirit made available to him. But how was he to get it? Every day he was brought to the Temple. Every day he sat and begged. He wasn’t in the group at Pentecost. He didn’t know what was going on. He lived his life out of the main stream.
Every day he sat begging. It takes time to become known, and the fact that people later recognized him suggests he had held his position for some time.
Sitting there at the gate he heard all the community news. The talk lately had centered on the signs and wonders being done by the apostles (2:43). Every day joyful believers were passing him as they entered the temple.
It would have been quite easy to say, Hey beggar, why haven’t you been healed yet? Surely you know Peter and John are performing miracles, why are you asking for money? Jesus was here a few weeks ago, why didn’t you ask him? It was here that he healed the blind and the lame, where were you!
Peter and John could have asked those questions but they didn’t. They could have rebuked him, how come you haven’t had faith before? Or, Why is it that you beg instead of finding a useful job for a handicapped person?
It is clear to me that Peter and John have matured since they met Jesus. Only a few months before they treated sick people as a theological problem. Faced with a blind man in Jerusalem, they asked Jesus, who sinned, this man or his parents? John 9:1.
Several years ago Don Merrill’s father was in the hospital dying of cancer. A couple of folks from the church had gone to pray for him. Instead of praying, they began to ask him if he’d confessed all his sins. They spent their time asking this elderly Christian man to examine the sin in his life that had kept him lying there. They made him feel sicker than he was!
What right do we have to theologize over another person’s suffering?
Our task is to say, what I have I give you. There is always something to give in the name of Jesus. Be that a word of encouragement, a hug of comfort, or a cup of water.
Sometimes you and I are like the lame beggar in that we’ve missed previous opportunities to become well. We may have given up all hope of significant change occurring and have settled for a maintenance view of life.
We need to allow this story of healing to raise in us the faith for God to do the miraculous in our lives, rather than settling for a maintenance level.
No put-downs!
2. What to give
The second truth of this story focuses our attention on what we choose to give others in the name of Jesus.
Peter answered the request, Silver and gold I do not have... 3:6. We do know that he had access to silver and gold. Thousands of new believers had been selling their property, bringing the money and laying it at the apostles’ feet. No, they were not wealthy!
Peter and John, however, chose not to say to the beggar, make an appointment with us later and we will see that you are taken care of from the general fund. They had something better to give than money.
Too many people today believe that money will cure all their problems. The book of Acts does illustrate that money solves some problems, such as food and housing. That is why the Jerusalem church had a common fund from which they lived. But there are needs that go so much deeper that the financial ones.
Let me ask you this morning, who is the crippled person in your life? Who is it that remains paralyzed to you, a person you no longer even think about ever being changed?
Let me encourage you to keep a regular appointment with God in prayer, just like Peter and John, and ask him to show you how you can minister to that individual.
There is nothing pretty about a beggar, nothing attractive. Nothing attracts you to know them better, but God can help you give that difficult person a gift of love and faith which will break their paralysis both physically and spiritually.
3. Amnesty
Third, God’s attitude towards sinners is one of amnesty.
Peter, addressing the crowd that had gathered as a result of the miracle, many of which participated in the crucifixion of Jesus, said, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders... Acts 3:17.
Peter knew the Old Testament very well. He understood the distinction it makes between deliberate premeditated sin (which was unforgivable) and non-deliberate sin for which atonement was possible. Numbers 15:22-31
Here’s the awesome truth. Even though the crucifixion of Jesus, the Author of life, the Holy and Righteous one, was first degree premeditated cold blooded murder, God announces amnesty. He is willing to treat the sin of killing His son as one of ignorance.
This same God is calling you this morning, right in the midst of your sin, and is declaring a state of amnesty. You can come home, free and clear. All is forgiven. He is welcoming you back.
What an incredible truth, God stands at the door with open arms welcoming us back home.
4. Duties
The fourth truth of this story has to do with the duties of having received amnesty, repent, then, and turn to God... Acts 3:19
Salvation is much more than just believing. The demons believe in God, yet they are not saved. Salvation requires repentance and conversion. To repent is to change your mind, to change your direction. Paul commended the believers at Thessalonica for having turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. 1 Thessalonians 1:9
Conversion is a change of my nature. You need to understand that following Jesus is not a religious ritual. Conversion is a decision to follow God and His ways. The thief no longer steals, the liar now tells the truth, etc. I choose to allow God to work in my life to change my nature.
For example, when I am hurt by someone my natural tendency is to withdraw into myself and wait for the opportune time to lash out and nail that person who hurt me.
By allowing God to work in my life I begin to understand that a soft answer turns away anger Proverbs 15:1. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life Ephesians 4:26. And, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good Romans 12:21. That truth changes my nature, that is conversion.
Have you repented and turned to God? If so, are there areas that still need conversion in your life?
5. God’s promises
The fifth truth comes in response to the taking up of our duties, God’s promises. As Peter finishes his sermon he assures us that God commits himself to do three things.
First, our sins will be wiped out.
Some things are easy to erase, chalk on the blackboard, pencil writings on paper, files from your computer. But what about those things written in permanent markers, those decisions that are with us for life? God removes those.
I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Isaiah 43:25
Second, God will send times of refreshing.
For me, a refreshing time is two weeks on the beach with my family and no phones, no cares, and no worries. Sound good?
What was Peter referring to? I believe he was referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit (2:38), just as he did in his previous message in chapter 2. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, his presence in our lives that enables us to worship God, to feel his presence, and to experience Jesus in our lives. Nothing in this world even comes close to that experience.
Third, we are promised that Jesus will return.
Jesus is in heaven right now preparing everything for our arrival, as well as waiting for the time when God will restore all things, as was promised by the prophets.
Restoration. We hear a lot about that concerning our downtown area. They are doing some good work. God’s restoration is much more than that. He will restore our universe, but he starts with us. The lame man’s healing is a restoration. Your salvation is a restoration. But a far greater restoration is coming. God is going to make all things new for all who love Him!
We must be careful not to let the things of this world get in the way. There is the old story of 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. This was the ministry of Peter and John and this is our ministry as well.
