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BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD 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. Now a man crippled 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. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, ‘Look at us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 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.” This true and interesting story has spiritual lessons hidden in it. We will examine ten of them.
Peter
and John went “up” to prayer. The temple was
on a hill, so the disciples actually went physically “up” when
they went to the temple. There is, however, another sense in which
they went “up.” Whenever we go to prayer, we too, go “up” to
prayer. In prayer we focus on God, his power, his ability to help,
and his willingness to hear us. When we pray, with our spirits
we turn from the natural realm in which we live to the spiritual
real. In the natural realm we live with the consequences of what
is done in the spiritual realm. Those who try to solve problems
in the material world with mere material solutions experience a
distinct disadvantage. To try to solve earthly problems on our
own is equivalent to saying to God, “I don’t need
your help.” II. PRAYER SHOULD BE SYSTEMATIC. 1. “at the time of prayer.” Prayer is the most important thing we do. If we believe that, we need to regularly do it at length with consistency. Anything we value we schedule. We will pray more if we schedule it than if we only pray when we feel like it. Prayer should be a priority. Scheduling our priorities is more important that prioritizing our schedule. Take charge of your schedule. Schedule prayer. Set aside a regular and lengthy time for prayer. The New Testament does not say much about how to learn to preach, but it says a lot about praying. If we fail to recognize the difference between the important and the urgent, we will constantly be harassed and controlled by the urgent and never get to the important matter—prayer. Because Peter and John were men of regular prayer later in the story they could say, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” and the man walked. If they were not men of prayer, they could not have said that. If they were not men of prayer, they would not have had the faith to say that. If they were not men of prayer, nothing would have happened even if they had said that.
This is a lesson from the silence of scripture. Though Jesus often went to the temple in Jerusalem during his thirty-three years, and especially during his three and one half years of public ministry, and often healed men, he had not healed this man. Why had Jesus not healed this man? Jesus evidently didn’t heal all the sick in Jerusalem; Sometimes we learn something from scripture by what it does not say. We have to think more carefully to pick up these hidden messages from the silence of scripture, but when we do we are rewarded. The Bible does not say that Jesus walked past this man time after time. Of course, it is possible that, even though he had been crippled from birth, he was recently moved to Jerusalem from the countryside. It is also possible that Jesus intentionally saved this opportunity for Peter by carefully always looking the other way, or going to the temple only when this man had not arrived yet or had already gone home for the day. There may be other possible explanations, but the point is: no matter how many soul-winners, church-planters, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and other people of faith and power there are already serving, there is still a place for you and your work.
God does heal physically crippled people and that is one of the important lessons of this story. But in addition to that, this physically crippled man can also serve as an illustration of crippled humanity who does not know how to “walk” in the ways of the Lord. Some are crippled by drinking problems. They spend money on beer and wine and then make foolish decisions while they are drunk and are crippled by this behavior. Some are crippled by the use of tobacco. They waste money on tobacco products and then spend more treating medical problems caused by this poison in their bodies. They are crippled by tobacco. Some are crippled by extramarital affairs or involvement with prostitution. Always afraid their secrets will become known they tell lies in series and life becomes a falsehood. They are crippled by their habit. Some are crippled by drugs, idolatry, materialism, or pornography. These habits may not be problems for those of us gathered here, but these are the kinds of things that cripple humanity and we need to go to them in Jesus’ name and teach them how to walk. V. ONE OF HIS TWO PROBLEMS WAS HIS OWN CHOICE. That this man was lame was unfortunate, but begging was a different kind of problem. You can be lame without begging. The Bible portrays begging as a difficult situation of need—a circumstance to be changed if possible. The Bible does not idealize begging. The Bible encourages work; not begging. The Bible says that if we don’t work we should not eat. Some religions place value on begging, but the work ethic of the Bible is one of its strengths. We are not to be fatalistic, but rather to do something about our circumstances if we can. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I have a paraplegic friend in Korea who is bound to a wheel-chair. Yet he started a factory—assembling pieces of technology into useful instruments. He hired a number of other paraplegic people as his employees. He was lame, but was not a beggar. I played wheel-chair basketball with his employees one afternoon. They did not feel sorry for themselves; they had good jobs and healthy recreation. One of my professors in graduate school was paralyzed from his neck down when he broke it in a swimming accident at eighteen years of age. In his wheelchair he graduated from college, obtained a Ph.D. in linguistics in graduate school, and taught Language Acquisition to hundreds of Christian missionaries who now serve all over the world. He was lame, but he did not beg. We all have a handicap of some kind, but handicaps do not justify a beggar mentality. We may not be as strong, intelligent, educated, handsome, or well connected with important people as we wish, but none of that means we have to become beggars. Anyone who knows God through Jesus Christ has the most wonderful “connection” anyone ever knew and through prayer can overcome his disadvantage by using Jesus’ name to great advantage. We all need help from others at times, but that is different from having a beggar complex. VI WE SHOULD LOOK STRAIGHT AT PEOPLE. “Peter looked straight at him.” Peter and John saw and looked at the man. It is possible to see people, but not really see people. What if we asked God to help us see people when we see them? To some, people are scenery to look at, to others they are a curiosity to research, to still others people are competition to impress or conquer, and to some, people are customers—suckers perhaps—to be used to their advantage. Can we learn to see people as souls for whom Jesus died? What if we always saw people in the spirit? What would it do to our service for God if we saw every person as an eternal soul for whom Jesus died and whom God loves? What if we remembered that every person we see or meet has feelings of loneliness, anxiety, fear, anger, or helplessness just like we each feel sometimes? We would become less likely to judge them and more likely to pray for them. What if we prayed for everyone because we saw them this way?
This story has a wonderful ending because Peter and John did not give the lame man what he asked for. If they had given the lame man what he asked for he would have needed more the next day, and the next, and the next. There is a difference between what people want and their real needs. This man thought he needed money. He was there to beg for money. He was focused on what he thought was his need—money. He failed to realize there was a deeper need that God was ready to meet in answer to the apostles’ perceptive prayer. What he really needed was healing. Peter saw him in his real need and ministered to it. Jesus helps people with both felt needs and real needs, but he does so in a way often superior to our understanding by meeting real needs first. Then he helps us eventually address and alleviate the felt need too. For example, people may ask for a blessing, but it is better to teach them how to live and how to pray, then receive their own blessing directly from God. Jesus is better at answering prayer than we are at praying. He knows what we really need. Some people feel they need money; what they really need is Jesus’ salvation and the wisdom to accept personal responsibility and become economically self-reliant. Another may feel his need for health; but what he really needs is to know the Savior who can clean up the unwise or immoral physical habits originally causing his sickness. Then his health can return. Jesus will help us clean up our lives and he is the health-giver. Someone may feel he needs a better job because he keeps getting dismissed from his places of employment. What he really needs is an attitude change so that he is more responsible, willing to work faithfully, and have better interpersonal people skills. Then he could receive a promotion instead of repeatedly losing his jobs. In order to help people “walk” Jesus deals with the real problem. Conclusion: God can give us the wisdom and courage we need so that we can go up to prayer, pray at length, systematically, look straight at people, know where we are needed, understand crippled humanity, separate our handicaps from a beggar complex, and give people what they need, not merely what they are asking for. After all, we too have something to give that is better than silver or gold. << Back
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