Study in the Acts of the Apostles

Study in the Acts of the Apostles Presentation 09

The Crippled Beggar Chapter 3:1-10 Presentation 09

Introduction What do you expect from attending a church service? It is a blunt question designed to hold our attention. But it is also a very serious question. The well known Welsh preacher Martin Llyod Jones had this to say: “The thrill and ecstasy have gone out of our churches, we no longer expect conversions, and we no longer get them, for it was the essence of Christ's teaching that you get from God precisely what you expect or pray for with your whole heart and soul believing.” Presentation 09

Introduction That is a very searching statement. You see it is easy to slip into a religious routine. We come to church not necessarily just out of habit, some come because they believe that by coming it can do them a little bit of good. God wants much more for us than ‘a little bit of good’. Surely Luke, under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, by choosing to record this particular miracle out of all the miracles that took place in the early days after Pentecost, was making this very point. Presentation 09

The Deadness Of Temple Religion This passage begins by painting a tragic picture. ‘Ah yes’, you say, ‘the picture of this poor cripple is a great tragedy’. Our attention is drawn to the utter helplessness of this man. He is conscious of the fact that his life lacks wholeness and fulfilment. He does not have the freedom or mobility shared by those around him. Consider that Luke uses this man to illustrate a whole world of need; to point to a crippled humanity. A world of men and women whose lives are far from whole. Presentation 09

The Deadness Of Temple Religion Such people look out of the windows of their lives and they know that something is missing. They know that their lives are incomplete. We can be crippled in a whole variety of ways, not just physically, but emotionally, psychologically, and of course spiritually. The knowledge of our condition can produce an awful sense of frustration. The picture which the Bible paints of a crippled humanity is a truly tragic picture. Presentation 09

The Deadness Of Temple Religion Luke in singling out this particular event is surely drawing our attention to yet another tragedy. And that is the tragedy of a dead, formal religion. In the eyes of many the temple was a great success. Its services were well attended. Its sacrifices were lavish. The music was well prepared. The scriptures were clearly read. The sermons were delivered by those considered theologically literate. It was a place with a great tradition, it had great wealth and influence! Through its doors passed the famous, the wealthy and the powerful. Many would have said, it was a great success! Presentation 09

The Deadness Of Temple Religion The great tragedy of the temple religion was that there was a helpless man sitting outside its gates week after week, year after year to whom it held out no hope, and no encouragement! At best the temple provided a good begging pitch but no more than that. It had nothing substantial to offer. It was like the fig tree which drew out Jesus’ anger. From a distance its display of leaves signalled to passers-by that it was able to satisfy and refresh. But on closer inspection they found that they had been deceived. There was no nourishment no satisfaction to be found! Presentation 09

The Deadness Of Temple Religion Luke not only contrasts the tragedy of a spiritually powerless Judaism with the transforming dynamic of the gospel but he tells us that the disciples, in this case Peter and John, still had contact with a dead church. They came to the temple to pray. To the headquarters of the men who’d been responsible for Jesus’ death. I wonder if, in Peter and John’s position, we might have immediately cut ourselves off from the temple and begun our own little worship group on the outskirts of the city. Presentation 09

The Deadness Of Temple Religion Why still keep contact with the temple? It was one way of witnessing to the fact that Jesus was the fulfilment of messianic promise. In addition, had they abandoned the temple the poor cripple would not have discovered God’s alternative to a dead religion. And the 5000 mentioned in Acts 4v4 wouldn’t have responded to the gospel that day. Before prematurely breaking contact with dead and formal worship situations we need to ask, ‘Has God done all he intends to do through me in this place.’ Premature withdrawal can mean that we are cutting ourselves of from the very people and situations God intends us to reach. Presentation 09

Low Level Of Spiritual Expectancy Luke by recording this incident reveals not just the tragedy of the human condition and the tragedy of a dead, formal religion but also tragedy of man’s low level of expectation. Every day in life the cripple was brought to the gate of the temple to beg. It was a good pitch. He would often find folk in a generous mood. Sometimes a worshipper would want to impress others with the size of his gift! Now from the corner of his eye the cripple saw two men approach. As they stop in front of him his expectations rise - but only a little for they were Galileans! Presentation 09

Low Level Of Spiritual Expectancy One of the men told him to look up - was this jackpot time? Any hope he had of financial gain that he may have had quickly changed to irritation when Peter told him that they were broke. If they had no cash handout how could they help? Even a few coins would have put bread in his stomach. Do you see the tragedy ? His highest expectation was seen in terms of material gain. The best he hoped for was something to make life a little more bearable, a little more comfortable. He was happy to be on religious welfare but was not expecting too much. That’s the tragedy! Presentation 09

Low Level Of Spiritual Expectancy Surely the heart of God is distressed not that people expect too much of him but that they look for far too little. Sadly, some see the church only as an organisation that helps needy causes - sending clothes or aid to Africa, or helping diffuse tensions in community relations. In other words they see the church as no more than a good social worker! I am not saying that the church should not be involved in these ways, or implying that they are not important but simply pointing out that in terms of the perception and expectation of the world, that is the best they expect of the church. Presentation 09

Low Level Of Spiritual Expectancy How did Peter respond to the silent criticism of the crippled man who was discouraged to find that no coins could be thrown in his direction? He said, ‘what I have I give you’. Time and again Peter had seen Jesus giving men and women something that money cannot buy. He’d seen the broken made whole, and the hopeless given hope, rest given to those crushed by the burdens of life. Jesus had not come simply to pour oil into the wounds of a broken humanity thus making their life a little more bearable! He came to bring fullness and wholeness of life, which begins with a restored relationship with God. Presentation 09

Low Level Of Spiritual Expectancy The primary message of the church to a crippled world must ever be, ‘what I have I give you’. The message of the gospel transcends human expectations. Apply this personally. What do you expect when you attend church services? You may go burdened with family concerns? Do you expect Jesus to lift those burdens? Or you are grieving the loss of some loved one. Do you expect the God of all comfort to draw near and bind up your broken heart and minister to your bruised emotions? Perhaps your life needs some direction. Do you expect God to guide clearly? Perhaps you come aware of having backslidden and failed God. Do you expect God to forgive and restore you and grant a new beginning? Presentation 09

Low Level Of Spiritual Expectancy Too often we come to God’s house with low levels of expectation. Looking for no more than a piece of bubble-wrap, something to cushion us from the unpleasantness of life. We certainly do not expect more than that! Have we become cynical towards the things of God? This can happen, if like this cripple we have been exposed in some way to a dead and formal religion. If we see the sham and hypocrisy, which he must have seen, then that can lower our levels of expectation. Others say that they do not expect too much from God because they do not want to be selfish. That may sound very virtuous but it does not honour God. Presentation 09

The Scope Of Divine Provision Finally, this miraculous healing points to the nature of God’s provision. Peter took the startled cripple by the hand saying, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk!’ The paralysis of a lifetime was healed in an instant. The cripple’s once powerless limbs experienced new power. How was this possible? Jesus though ascended, was continuing to work in the lives of men. The early church discovered that the Word of God was the point of contact between the plight of man and the power of God. So too today anything can happen when the resurrection power of God is proclaimed in the gospel. There is nothing more humbling for a preacher than to stand back and see God’s word changing peoples’ lives. Presentation 09

The Scope Of Divine Provision Some ask should there not be a greater evidence of divine healing within the church today? In the history of the church, healing miracles seem remarkably restrained. God continues to heal through medical skills and sometimes independently of them. God continues to heal, miraculously in some circumstances, yet we must not lose a sense of perspective. Some have claimed that it is always God’s will to heal. When divine healing has been sought unsuccessfully, the ill person is often left with a great sense of guilt believing that their faith has somehow not been strong enough. We need to learn that God sometimes plans to do something quite different through our illness. Presentation 09

The Scope Of Divine Provision Luke points to much more than the mere physical healing of the crippled man is in view. His illness and cure brought him to a meeting point with God. The man, for whom religion had been viewed as merely a means of putting bread in his stomach, is now doing a jig to the glory of God. You ask, ‘Would not everyone in his condition reacted this way? No! Jesus once healed 10 lepers and only one returned to give glory to God. The real miracle in the cripple’s life is that the risen Jesus did for this man what a spiritually dead religious establishment could not do. Jesus brought about a spiritual transformation - newness of life. He met the man’s deepest need. Presentation 09

Conclusion Peter’s sermon, preached on the back of this miracle could be entitled ‘Broken in order to make whole.’ Jesus words, ‘this is my body which was broken for you’, remind us that the cost of our wholeness was his brokenness, his death upon the cross. We are all cripples who need to be made whole. What kind of wholeness will we settle for? Some merely want a measure of comfort and relief - a bubble wrap Christianity. But Jesus plan is to restore to our broken humanity to the glory God intended it to have. Jesus gives newness of spiritual life. If a lame man could leap when he was made physically well how much more ought believers to leap in their spirits as they worship God, who has given us his Son to make us whole. What are your expectations of God? Presentation 09

Study in the Acts of the Apostles