Something Better Than Gold
(or, Rise up and Walk)
The Healing of the Lame Man
Acts 3
For all of us there are momentous events in our lives that change us forever.
•Meeting that special person you will “Your eyes meet across the room...”
•Having your first child; or adopting first child. You hold that bundle of joy, your eyes meet, and you know, you will never be the same.
•Maybe that first big career break. That job that opens up whole new vistas of opportunity.
•Maybe a medical procedure or organ transplant that will prolong your life.
•Maybe receiving a large amount of money; inheritance or winning lottery (though I know no one here plays the lottery)
In Acts 3 we meet a man whose life is about to change.
•For over forty years his life has been the same (4:22).
•But now he is about to receive the greatest gift of his life.
•Turn with me to this passage in Acts 3.
His life had not been an easy one. He had been handicapped since birth. Unable to walk.
•Life was not good in the first century for those who could not walk. No electric wheelchairs. No handicapped parking zones. No ramps into entrance-ways. Very few social welfare structures at all.
•We don’t know about his family or friends. All we know is that they could not support him so he had to resort to begging.
After 40 years he has learned the ropes.
•He knows the best times and places to beg.
•He knows to go to the Temple gate where religious minded people go; they would be the most generous.
•During the times of prayer, especially 9:00 am, and 3:00 pm. It’s 3:00 and
•I’m sure he had small hopes and expectations. To make enough money so as not to go to bed hungry. To face one more day as he had faced every day of his life.
But this day is going to be different.
Because two strangers were about to cross his path. Their names are Peter and John.
•To the beggar they are just a couple of ordinary guys among the crowds heading to the Temple.
•But these guys are special. They are been the disciples of Jesus, the Messiah.
•They had been commissioned by him to take his Gospel to the ends of the earth.
•Since the day of Pentecost they had been filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s task
Read 3:1-5.
He sees them and calls out to them, “Alms, alms for the poor!” And rattled his cup.
•I’m sure he was pleased when Peter stops and says, “Look at us!”; he expects to get something.
•But Peter says, “Sorry, I don’t have any money.”
•What do you think was his reaction? “This is your idea of a joke?” Teasing an old man. Why don’t you get out of the way so more generous people can see me.”
But then he gets the shock of his life.
•Read v. 6: Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
Think of the scene! After forty years of lying on the ground, he can walk. He is suddenly feels strength coming to his legs. Now shouting and screaming.
But I want you to notice something: Peter and John don’t give him what he asks for. They give him something much better.
There’s a great principle here for us. Sometimes God doesn’t give us what we want. Because what we want may not be what we need.
•God doesn’t let us win the lottery.
•God doesn’t give us perfect health.
•God doesn’t even give us perfect relationships.
But God always gives us what we really need. God allows things in our life that may cause; but that produce spiritual growth; things that produce real change.
T- I want you to see three things that this story reminds us are now available through Jesus’ power.
First he healing of the lame man reminds us that through Jesus’ power, we can have:
1. True Healing, vv. 1-16
This healing reminds us that God really does have the power to heal.
•We in evangelical churches sometimes forget that. God still heals today.
•We have become so affected by our Western rationalistic mindset that we become practical agnostics.
I read an amazing story in a letter sent out by the Jesus Film project. You may have read it.
•It occurred in the Malto tribe of north India, in the state of India.
•A team using the “Jesus” film approached the Malto tribe but faced such resistance, they moved on.
•A few days later a 16 year-old girl died in one of those tribes. In the evening as they were had prepared her body for burial, family was gathered around, she suddenly, miraculously awoke. She told them she had been to the place of the dead, but that God had told her to come back. She was to tell the people that the people using the Jesus film followed the true God. She found the film team and brought them back, and then traveled with them, announcing fearlessly her story. Seven days later, she collapsed and died again.
•Paul Eshleman, director of the JESUS film project and the person who wrote the letter was almost apologetic for telling the story, saying he knows this is hard to believe, and they were skeptical, but they have done everything we can, and the story checks out. Our most credible leaders have verified it.
Now I admit. I am skeptical; and Christians need to be skeptical, to check out. But we must never become unbelieving; we must realize God still has the power to heal; to raise the dead.
•After all, the same Holy Spirit that empowered Peter and John to heal, is with us today. We have the same power and potential that they did.
•We need to pray more for healing. We need to truly trust and believe that God can heal and that he will heal.
Now don’t get me wrong. There is also abuse on the opposite side.
•Some people assume that God will always heal if we have enough faith.
•Some even demand that God heals. I have heard people pray, “God you said you’d heal, so do it! and do it now.”
•When I hear that, I usually want to step out of the way so that the lightning won’t strike me.
•Hey, we don’t order around the awesome God who created the Universe.
•We seek his will and submit to him.
That kind of demand is a misunderstanding of the reason the disciples did miracles, and the reason Jesus did miracles.
Don’t forget who these disciples are: they are Jesus’ representatives.
•Notice how they heal: They heal in Jesus’ name.
•They are continuing Jesus’ work: Remember: Acts of Jesus, Part II; they are continuing his work. Luke says that while the Gospel of Luke tells what Jesus began to do, the book of Acts is what he continues to do through his church.
So we have to ask, “What is the significance of the healings in the ministry of Jesus?”
And I have to tell you, Jesus did not come to earth first and foremost to heal people of their physical diseases.
•That was not his ultimate purpose in coming.
•If he had, he could have done a better job of it. Setting up clinics, in Galilee and in Judea. Delegated his healing to his disciples. Recruited transportation services to bring people in; Peter’s donkey and camel service.
•If he had, he wouldn’t have wasted so much time teaching the people.
•He especially wouldn’t have wasted so much time training his disciples.
•We also have to realize: while many people were healed. Many were not. How many people were still blind when Jesus left this earth? How many were still lame? How many still had leprosy? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands.
So why did Jesus heal?
One reason was because he was compassionate. Saw needs; felt pain.
But there is an even more significant reason. It was an object lesson. A way to reveal his real purpose on earth.
•Hold your place here and turn to Isaiah 35:1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.... Look down at verse 5: Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
•What is being described here? This is the time of God’s final salvation. When God will restore the earth to the glory he created it to have.
•Let me ask you a question: Why are people sick today? Why are they blind? Why did tornados wreaking havoc in the Midwest? Why are there troubled youth who enter a high school in Littleton Colorado with guns blazing? Even more fundamentally, why do people have to die?
•The answer to all of those questions is the same: We live in a fallen world; a broken world, that has become twisted and distorted through sin.
But God promised through the prophets of the OT that one day he was going to step in and bring healing to this fallen world. Then the desert would bloom; then the blind would see; then the lame would walk.
•When Jesus came to this earth at his First Coming, he accomplished the spiritual side of this salvation. Through his death on the cross he brought salvation.
•His healings were the evidence that God’s salvation was arriving. They were a taste of the complete restoration that will occur at his Second Coming.
•While bodies may still be broken, our hearts can be transformed.
There is a great passage in Luke 5, the story of the healing of the paralyzed man.
•It’s delightful because of the way the story happens.
•Jesus is teaching in a crowded room and four men come carrying their friend.
•They can’t get in, so they do a remodel job on the house. They rip the roof off. I would love to see homeowner’s face.
•So Jesus is teaching and this guy drops through the roof.
•And everyone is waiting to see the Master heal him and he says, “Friend, your sins are forgiven!” The response must have been, “What? Aren’t you going to heal him?”
•Then Jesus says, “I just did!” “But so that you may know that I have the authority to forgive sins, Arise take up your bed and walk.”
There is a great lesson here. Jesus healed the man to demonstrate that his real purpose was to bring spiritual healing.
•Peter and John heal this man to show that Jesus has brought spiritual healing.
I was at lunch with a friend a few weeks ago, and he was sharing with me a story about a mutual friend.
•She is in a wheelchair and has gone through extraordinary physical problems in her life. The kinds of problems that would wear most people out.
•And yet her spiritual life is just vibrant. She just has the love of Jesus all through her life.
•But he was telling me she was at a meeting. I’m not sure if it was a healing service or whether it just became that, but one of the men present saw her and made a beeline over to her, and began praying for her that she would be healed.
•The prayers continued and he grew more and more intense and more and more agitated. And his prayers began to make it sound as though it was her lack of faith that was the reason.
•He’s supposed to be praying for her, but he’s almost praying against her.
•And she patted him on the shoulder and said, “It’s ok, I’m already healed. Jesus has healed me on the inside. I don’t have to be healed physically on this side of eternity.”
To me that was an extraordinary statement.
•Don’t get me wrong. As I said I believe God heals.
•But that physical healing is secondary to the true spiritual healing that is at work in us.
The Church of Jesus Christ, the people of Jesus Christ, needs to be about the business of healing.
•But that healing is not just physical healing.
•It’s healing relationships that have been broken.
•Lives that have been damaged by emotional of physical abuse.
•Ultimately, it means bringing spiritual healing, the forgiveness for sins.
There is a story of Thomas Aquinas that has been recounted many times.
•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.’" (J. David Hoke)
That’s an indictment on the Church that is still true today. In many contexts the Church has lost its healing touch.
•The apostles didn’t have silver and gold, but they had the power of God.
•We don’t need more possessions; we don’t need more programs. We need more power.
-Power to touch people’s lives with the presence of the God; to really love them
-Power to bring the healing touch of Jesus.
T- Peter and John heal the man. But not just for its own sake. They have a greater message they want to share, and they are about to get a chance to share it...
The healing has its expected response. News of it spread throughout the Temple area, and people began to run to see what was happening. See verse 11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.
•A crowd gathers and like every good preacher, Peter takes the opportunity to preach the Gospel.
The gist of the first part of the sermon is, “God brought you your Savior, the one promised for ages, but you crucified him.”
•Look at verse 12: 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
Peter essentially says, “You have blown it. You waited for centuries for this, and now you have blown it.
Ever wait expectantly for something? Ever long for a day, and then miss it, or fail to live up to your role?
•Imagine, guys, you meet a sweet, beautiful young lady. You court her, and after months you ask for her hand in marriage.
•You have a whole year to plan. Buy flowers, cake, reserve the church, hire the pastor, get tuxedos and bridesmaid dresses.
•Everything is perfect. Each day you long for that day you will take your bride
•Then the day comes and you forget. It slips your mind. You go to work; come home. Just as you are popping a T.V. dinner in the oven, you remember.
That’s the gist of Peter’s sermon. “You waited so long for your bride, and now you have missed her. Worse yet, you crucified your Messiah.”
The bad news is Israel’s worst nightmare has come true. She has missed God’s salvation. She has missed her salvation.
But then we get to the good news. Look at verse 17 “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
But you have a second chance.
The healing of the lame man reminds us that we have been given:
2. Forgiveness and a second chance in life, vv. 11-23
Aren’t you glad that we have a God of second chances? Who takes an old life, a failed life, and he makes it brand new.
This past Wednesday just before my class, our receptionist at Bethel handed me a note.
•It informed me that a childhood friend of mine had died, and I was to call another friend.
•Something about the way the note was worded was odd, and late that night after class I called. I learned that this friend had committed suicide last Saturday.
•His name was Mark. Mark had been feeling despondent, over a struggling marriage, over the loss of a job.
•He took a rifle, went to a graveyard where his grandfather was buried, and there he shot himself.
•He left a grieving wife; he left a beautiful little daughter.
•He also left a note. I haven’t seen it but his best friend told me it said that he blamed himself for everything. It was all his fault, the troubled marriage, the grief he had caused others.
•His viewed his life as a failure.
As I was looking at this passage, it dawned on me that Mark forgot the great truth: that God is a God of second chances.
•That God can take failure and turn it into success.
•God can take a damaged marriage, and heal it around.
•That God can take a broken person, and can heal them.
You see the unique thing wasn’t that Mark had failed.
•We all fail; I fail all the time. I fail as a father. I fail as a husband. I fail as a friend.
•But the good news is that God is a God of the second chances, and the third chance, and the fourth chance and the seventh chance, seven times seventieth chances.
Remember when Peter asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive my brother, up to seven times?” And Jesus said, “Not seven, but seven times seventy”
•Why does God call us to forgive seven times seventy?
•Because that’s how much he forgave us. Seven times seventy. An eternal debt.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not excusing irresponsible behavior or perpetual sin.
•But the Christian life is a slow trek upward. Two steps forward and one step back. Slowly, progressing toward the goal.
•Paul says it so well in Philippians 3:13-14: ...I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
When we fail, we get back up, we brush off and we take another step forward.
T- And God is always there to pick us up when we fall, to give us another chance, and ultimately, to bring us into his presence forever.
And that’s our third point.
The healing of the blind man reminds us that we have:
3. A certain future through our relationship with him, vv. 24-26
Look at verse 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
The hope that we have as believers is in Jesus Christ. Because he rose from the dead; because he ascended to heaven; because he promised to return to restore all things, we have hope.
I love the hymn:
My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
One day God will restore everything. He will bring us into his presence for all eternity.
A woman got up at Mark’s memorial.
She had had an amazing dream. Jesus Christ was standing there. And he had a look of extraordinary love.
•Suddenly she saw Mark standing at a distance. His head hung down in despair and dejections.
•But Jesus began walking toward him. He reached out his hand and touched Mark on the shoulder. Mark looked up into his eyes, and his look of despair turned suddenly to one of joy, and peace and happiness.
I know, I know, we Western Christians are skeptical of dreams and visions and all. But I’m convinced that’s just how it happened.
•You see when Mark was in 5th grade he trusted in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.
•And Jesus saved him for all eternity.
•That salvation was not based on anything Mark had done, but wholly on Jesus’ death on the cross.
My friend Mark made a terrible mistake. He forgot about the love of Christ. He forgot the free gift that had been offered. He forgot about the second chance that God had offered him.
•My message to you today is don’t you forget.
The pastor who did the memorial service, a good friend, read from Ephesians 2:8-9, and kept coming back to that verse over and over again. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.
•That gift is not based on anything we do. It is based completely on what Jesus did.
•My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
•That gift of God is being offered today to you. I hope you will receive it.
