Rise Up And Walk

Rise Up and Walk

Acts 3:1-10

I really wish I had been here last Sunday to hear what Scott had to say, because the Day of Pentecost is such an important day in Christian history. It was the day when the promised Holy Spirit came upon the 120 disciples in the upper room and gave birth to the Church. Peter, filled with the Spirit of God, preached his first sermon and over 3,000 people were saved and baptized. The foundation of basic church life was laid, and those early brothers and sisters devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread (which means they not only ate together often, if not daily, but they also celebrated the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

The fellowship they experienced in those early days was unlike anything they had ever experienced before. It went far beyond the simple socialization we experience every day with the people we come into contact with, because they were daily in the temple, being of one mind, sharing meals together from house to house and with gladness, sincerity of heart, and praising God, they sacrificially cared for the needs of one another. This unity of heart and spirit caused the early church to have Act 2:47 …favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

It was such an important time in Church history because the Lord was causing a sense of awe among the people through the signs and wonders that were taking place through the apostles. Signs and wonders like the one we read about in chapter 3.

Act 3:1-10 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (2) And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; (3) who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. (4) And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." (5) So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. (6) Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." (7) And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. (8) So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. (9) And all the people saw him walking and praising God. (10) Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Every time I read this account I’m reminded of the account where Jesus healed the man who had been born blind. I guess it’s because they’re so similar in that both men were born in their condition. They had never seen anything or walked anywhere in their entire life. Now, all the healings we read about in the Bible are wonderful and miraculous, but it just seems to me that there’s a difference between healing someone who lost something through sickness, disease, or injury than healing someone who was born without an ability. It’s giving them something they never had. Does that make sense to you?

And you know, I think that the other people who witnessed such things might have felt the same way. The healing of both the man who was born blind and this man who had never walked caused such a stir that not only did the crowds become amazed and excited about what happened, but it also caught the attention of the religious leaders. Do you remember how the religious leaders intensely questioned the once blind man and his parents? Well, this lame man’s cure also caused such a fuss among the people that the religious leaders got involved and in chapter 4 we read about how they questioned Peter and John and then threatened and commanded them to quit preaching about Jesus.

Our lame man today, came into this world without the ability to walk. I’m thinking that his parents had probably seen his twisted and maybe deformed little legs at his birth, and they knew that he’d never be able to run, walk, work, or play with the other children his whole life. They knew that the only way he’d be able to survive in this world would be through begging, and so, after he became old enough, they would carry him to the gate called Beautiful, which we also know as the Eastern gate, and they would set him down in this prime spot to beg for alms as people walked into or came out of the temple.