Acts 3:1-10
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.2 Now a man who was lame 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.3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do 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.9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,10 they 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.
Acts 3:1-10 WHEN WE RECEIVE STRENGTH
Springford Baptist Church: May 28, 2023.
“Why does this surprise you”? (Acts 3:12) That is what Peter says to the crowd after this miracle of healing has taken place.
We recognize here the power of the risen Lord Jesus who had so recently died on the cross (crucified) and then been raised back to life (resurrected).
When we think about this incredible display of God’s power overcoming death, then a man lame from birth raised up to walk and jump and praise God is not really surprising is it?
Here we are aware that the power of Jesus Christ to heal while he was walking around on earth, continues after He returns to heaven. Through His name, the name of Jesus Christ which Peter invokes, there is healing power available.
This crippled man had no idea that he was going to encounter God as he did on this day.
I am sure that he thought it was a day like any other day when he would be carried to the Temple and placed at the gate called Beautiful.
He would be hoping that once again some of those who were coming to pray at the Temple would see his need and give him some money to help meet his needs.
The best that he seemed to hope for was some generous gifts that would permit him to buy food to eat and what clothes he needed to wear.
He was after all, a beggar dependent on others in order to experience mercy.
God had something very different in mind that day.
It was something far better than that for which this crippled man was prepared to ask.
Do you think this crippled man got tired of being unable to walk? I expect that he did. He always had to rely on others for help.
He had not been able to walk from the time that he was born.
When he wanted to go somewhere, he had to wait for someone to take him.
People would have identified him by his infirmity. “Oh there’s the crippled man.” This is what made him different from others.
People have a tendency to do that. They refer to someone as the blind man, or the lady in the wheel chair, or the child with crutches, or the man with the cane…
These realities may make certain people different from others around them, but what makes us all the same is this deep need to experience God and to know that He loves us and is always with us. Experiencing the profound love of God for us is truly what gives us strength.
I highly doubt that this man was in the habit of thanking God for the fact that he was born unable to walk, that he was crippled.
But don’t you see, that it was as a result of his weakness, his infirmity, that he did experience God in such a dramatic and life changing way? He received strength from God so that he could walk and his faith in God was also strengthened and fortified.
What he could not do for himself, God did for him and this is precisely what happens for each of us when we rely on God to save us.
What we cannot do for ourselves, (overcome the grip of sin) God does for us through the power of the risen Lord Jesus!
We do not know about how this man experienced God before he was healed…
Did he feel sorry for himself?
Did he dare to pray that God would heal him so that he could walk?
Did he resent that he had been born unable to walk?
Did this affect his relationship with God?
We do not know about how this man experienced God before he was healed, but we do know how he responded to God after he was raised up to walk.
Of course he was not just walking, but he was running and leaping (jumping) and praising God! Children love to run and jump and this man had never been able to do that as a child so he was making up for it now!!
And clearly this man recognizes that his new experience in his life is a gift from God.
He becomes an unmistakable testimony that God is at work and his open expressions of praise draw everyone around to have opportunity to encounter God too. When we receive strength from God for what we are facing, we too have been given an unmistakable testimony of God at work.
When this crippled man appealed to Peter and John for money, he thought that was the best that he could hope for.
Plenty of people have the idea that all their problems and challenges will be solved by money. I guess that’s why people buy lottery tickets.
But we know that no matter how much money this man received, it could never be worth as much as this chance he had to experience God!
How is it with us?
Do we limit our expectations to the best that we think we might receive in this lifetime, while there is so much more that God can give us of Himself?
And I want to come back to consider how our infirmities, the weaknesses or struggles that we face, might become the means for us to encounter God in the most powerful and compelling ways.
When we like the crippled man find ourselves lying helplessly waiting for mercy, we are in places where we can recognize God most clearly.
As long as we think we have everything under control, there is not that sense of deep need that opens us to see and to experience God’s close Presence.
The miracles that people came to expect from Jesus continue to be a means of people encountering God in unexpected ways. Every time you and I experience something large or small that convinces us that our God is alive and active, we too can encounter Him in convincing ways! This does strengthen our faith in God!
All of these experiences are God’s story in our story. The Living God intersects our path through the risen Lord Jesus.
Why does this surprise you? Why does this surprise us?
If we believe what we celebrated at Easter that Jesus Christ is our risen Saviour, and we do, then of course we are going to experience Him in our everyday lives as this crippled man did.
Sometimes it will be in quiet, gentle ways and sometimes in ways that will make us want to run and jump and praise God!
Do you think that after this happened, people referred to this individual not as “the crippled man”, but as the man who was “healed by the power of God”? He had been given strength!