Let’s get a quick idea of the context of these verses, so we know what’s going on in God’s story. Now, most scholars agree that the book of Acts was written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke. Whether this Luke, known as Luke the Evangelist, is the same physician Luke as was mentioned by Paul in Colossians 4:14 is still up for debate. The traditional classic view is that they are the same, but many scholars have disagreed with that idea. Since even the scholars still debate about this authorship, I won’t get into the details of which “Luke” the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were written by. But nearly everyone agree they had the same author. So this book of Acts basically picks up right after the Gospel of Luke ends. As with every book in the Bible, the point of the book of Acts is to obviously give God glory, and reveal some part of God’s plan or His character. The way the Book of Acts does this is by describing how a Jewish Messiah eventually becomes the savior to not just Jews, but the whole world, including Gentiles. Basically this question or mystery faced the people who heard the story at that time. Today, we all kind of just know and understand that Jesus is the savior to the world. It’s something that is so familiar that we don’t really even question it. But at that point in history, Jews were very selective and distinct people. They didn’t associate with Gentile sinners, or heathen Pagans. They wouldn’t even eat with them or get to know them.

In His ministry, Jesus kept his message primarily to Jews, but he turned their theology around on them. He told a parable of the Good Samaritan, where the hero, or the Godly one, was basically an outsider. He was the man who you’d least expect to be a good neighbor. (Interestingly enough, the Good Samaritan parable is only found in the book of Luke). Another time, Jesus basically compared a Canaanite woman to a family pet dog, and that his bread of life was for God’s children, the Israelites. Her response was humble and a theologically correct way to see our smallness and God’s greatness. She knew that a blessing from God is so large, she didn’t need the bread for the children, just a mere crumb. Jesus praised her great faith. And he did this despite having condemned Jewish Pharisees and Teachers of the Jewish law as hypocrites. Jesus even called his own disciples dull. But his favorable response to this Canaanite, Greek “dog” was one where he lauded her faith. He also healed her daughter’s demon possession. The Jewish worldview at the time was a very Israel or Jew-centered idea, and Jesus’s ministry began to turn that on its back. His final instruction when he appeared to his Disciples after his death was Luke 24:46-49

“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

At this point, the Jewish disciples had already seen Jesus come back from the dead, as a human in the flesh. So what’s shocking about his final words in Luke 24:45-49?

Jesus tells them “the Messiah will suffer.” They saw that. Jesus says he will “rise from the dead.” That’s probably the craziest thing imaginable, but He just did that and proved it to all of them. He ate fish, and let them touch his wounds and his physical body. Jesus didn’t return as a ghost, but a risen man. So they saw that too, so no shock. Then he said the gospel will be preached beginning in Jerusalem. That’s where they already are, and that’s where everything basically just went down.. So there’s nothing shocking about that. Then Jesus promised to send them a gift of power from the Father, and to stay in the city. Now, getting a gift that is the power of God is a nice promise. But it’s nothing earth shattering, especially since they saw God’s power at work in Jesus ministry for the past few years. What is probably the biggest shock to the Jews is that repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to ALL NATIONS. This is the head scratcher. And this is where Acts picks up.

What’s weird about Acts is it starts out as a book about Peter, but turns into a book about Paul. And that’s kind of how the Christian church changes. It starts out as a very Jewish institution, but it is largely rejected by the Jews, and ends up becoming the salvation of the Gentiles, and the whole world. Salvation comes to all who are called to believe. So that’s the overview of Acts. We are reading in Acts 3, so what happens before that?

• Acts 1 is about them getting a new disciple to replace Judas.
• Acts 2 is the Pentecost. And that’s an interesting story, which should be it’s own post, so I won’t go into a huge amount of detail, but here’s the brief overview. The Holy Spirit of God comes down from the heavens and there are tongues of fire above the disciples. It’s kind of like a Pentecostal church, in that there are miracles and speaking in tongues. Except, in the Bible the real Pentecost is orderly, and glorifies God, and there’s a reason for it. Everyone hears their own languages, and this spiritual gift is one that has a distinct purpose for a distinct audience. A lot of people from different backgrounds are in Jerusalem, and they need to hear the Gospel. They need to understand what just happened and why it’s important. The Pentecost is the first massive event where believers of Jesus received a miraculous spiritual gift. The gift was not just a random “gift” where some guy starts saying a few things that don’t make sense. There was mass translation to a large number of people from different countries. It was coherent, and opened the door to preach the Gospel of Jesus to people from all over the region. And now we’re on Acts 3.

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.

What is going on here? A man who was lame since birth was typically brought to the temple to ask for money. He was placed there every day. And on this particular day, he saw Peter and John. He asked them for money and Peter stared straight at him. So did John. Peter replied “Look at us”.The man then looked at them.

So before going any further, let’s think about this a bit. This guy is asking for money. But what he needs the most isn’t money. His mindset is wrong. His goals are wrong. His motivation is mixed up. So first things first, he goes to temple or church to receive something.

• Problem #1. He is going to a spiritual place in order to receive a physical benefit. We do the same thing sometimes. We end up going to the right place for the wrong reasons. Sometimes we go to church with the expectation to take or get something, when really we should be here to give our praise. Our goal is sometimes to be served, instead of to serve. Our goal is to take from God, when we really should be here to give to God. Sometimes we go to church to meet a friend or to see somebody, when we should go primarily to meet with God, or to encounter Him. So the first issue is misdirection. He wants to receive instead of give. He wants to take, not bless. His plan is to encounter other people, not God.
• Problem #2. The thing he wants to take is not what he really needs. We look at him and we see a man who is lacking. We don’t know anything about him, except that he can’t walk. He never could since birth. We don’t know what he can do, or what he’s capable of, but his very identity is “guy who can’t walk”. He doesn’t even have a name in the Bible. There’s Peter, John, and look.. even the temple Gate is named “Beautiful”! This guy. Who is he? He’s just the lame beggar. That’s incredibly limiting to do this to a human being. And it happens all the time. Our first thought is, “what’s wrong with this person” How is it that they don’t fit in? And that’s how things happen today. The worst part is the Jews back then probably saw that as not just a physical deficiency, but one of his character or his morality. It’s sad, but we still do this too. We can’t look beyond the faults or shortcomings of others, even though God tells us to not judge others on those things. Someone is overweight, another person is socially awkward. Somebody walks with a limp, or has a few crooked teeth. At best, it’s becomes a nickname and acceptance. At worst, we are judging our brothers and sisters based on what we see. This is a crucial thing to teach our youth. There are suicides, virtual bullying and shaming, knockout games. Some of the hardest years of my life were in the 6th and 7th grade, when every day was some sort of social torture. We can stop it from happening. Or we can at least not stay silent while it happens. We owe this to the next generation. We can be peacemakers and friends to the outcasts. There’s a lesson here for us, and we make these mistakes. We should learn to look beyond our perceived shortcomings of other people. We are guilty of that, but in this story, so is the man himself. He’s programmed to see how he doesn’t stack up. And so he asks for money, but he doesn’t need money. In my mind, he needs to walk more than money. But that’s still just my human mind categorizing this guy by his deficiency. What does he think himself? Does he believe that God is sovereign over all things? Does he go to the Temple because that’s the house of God, for whom all things are possible? No, he’s collecting pocket change from the guilty feeling worshippers. He put himself in a box or a category. But then he also put God in a different box or category. Subconsciously, he is thinking that “God isn’t powerful enough or capable enough to heal me.” Maybe he isn’t thinking this, but his actions are saying that God is incapable. That’s a lie. But also, his thoughts are centered upon his existence here on this Earth. What’s the greatest need for all of us? It’s the need to be reconciled with God. The need to have our sins forgiven and for us to be made right before God. Our biggest need isn’t spare change. Our biggest need isn’t even to walk, or to see, or to hear. It’s to be known by God, and despite being known to be forgiven. So another take away is that sometimes we get an idea of what we need, or what we want, and we don’t give ourselves any opportunity to really ask God about our needs.

This guy has been doing the same thing daily, and he’s placed his thoughts and mind in a rut. We can do the same things. Our understanding of God, or the present situation, or whatever it is that consumes our thoughts can be wrong. We can continue doing something over and over again, even when we know it isn’t right. Or we can form these habits because we put blinders on ourselves, and we put limitations on an all powerful God. Then we don’t even bother to think about whether or not what we’re doing is right or wrong. We don’t think about whether what we are doing is the best use of the lives that God gave to us. The blame doesn’t belong on that lame man alone, or the people who put him on these temple courts daily. As humans we ALL don’t think great all the time. We miss out on big concepts, or fail to see the forest from the trees. That’s a reason to come to church and study the Bible . That’s a reason to pray and fellowship with each other. We might totally overlook the obvious, over and over again.

So this guy saw Peter and John about to enter and asked for money. And how did the two respond? They looked straight at him. Both of them. The lame beggar didn’t even notice, because he wasn’t really looking at what was going on. Peter replied, “Look at us”. Then the man finally gave his attention. He was in this rut, where he asked for money from people every day. He saw hundreds of people passing by, but he never looked at them. He never paid attention or acknowledged the other person. You almost get the idea that Jesus himself could have passed by, and he wouldn’t have noticed. He would have just delivered his typical line, “spare some change?” as the Savior walked right past. But finally on this day the Spirit was moving, and Peter talked back, and he said “Look at us”. The man looked at them, but really still just gave attention, but his thoughts were still on himself. Look at verse 5. He was expecting to receive something.

Lucky for us, God is a God who loves to give gifts, even when we’re a people who don’t deserve gifts. That’s what grace means. Unmerited favor. Despite our selfish, sinful nature, God pours out his grace on us. And that’s exactly what happens to the lame beggar.

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.

 

It doesn’t have to take a lot of time to snap us out of a mental rut. For this man, his experience was instantaneous. God can work faster than we can possibly imagine. Empowered by the Spirit of God, Peter told him to walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Instantly, the power of an all powerful sovereign God healed the lame man, and the formerly lame man began to praise God. God is a God who gives us much more than we can even ask for or dream of. The man wanted spare change, and God gave him working legs. And if this guy kept listening to Peter’s speech to the crowd of onlookers, he would realize that in Jesus Christ, God was offering something even more important than legs, and that’s forgiveness of our sins. God healed this lame beggar because He’s a merciful God and a loving God, but he also did this miracle because it gave him a glory that will be recorded forever. God’s glory was shown through this lame beggar, and it needed to be seen by the people in Jerusalem. A crowd gathered when they saw the beggar who sits by that same gate every day walking, jumping and praising God. Peter then gave a speech so everyone knew what it was that they just saw.

Peter Speaks to the Onlookers
11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, 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?

Peter addressed the crowd of Jews, and said “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you?” We can see here that Peter thinks of himself more as a Jew or Israelite than something different. At this point in church history, Christians were primarily still just a subset of the Jewish faith. Even Peter identified as a Jew, and throughout the book of Acts, we find Peter learning more and more that followers of Jesus can be Gentiles or Jews. It was an issue that really confused many people, including Peter himself. As a quick side note. We were reading in the Kid’s bible study about how Peter was summoned from Joppa to the home of Cornelius, and it was difficult for him to do, and then difficult to explain to other Jews. Peter was to have a vision about all sorts of animals, and God told him to Kill and Eat. Peter, and many other Jews, were in their own mental rut. They knew the law, and had gotten very good at identifying things that were unclean, or impure. They took that mindset and applied it to people, like Gentiles. God told Peter that he shouldn’t call anything impure that God has made pure. It applied to animals that they eat, but more importantly it applies to people that God redeemed. God took an impure human race, and made it pure. Holy.  So anyway, Peter says to the Israelites “Why does this surprise you?” Peter has been part of Jesus ministry for some time. He had been alongside Jesus and witnessed firsthand the Power of God. So healing a man that was crippled is well within the power of God.

The Israelites seemed to think that there was something special about Peter. They thought now that Jesus was gone, Peter was the one who wielded the power of God. Peter explained that it wasn’t by his own power, or godliness that the lame man walked. Peter knew what it was to fail by his own power, strength, and understanding. Peter had walked on water with Jesus, and saw firsthand the fruits of his doubting. Peter had tried to speak against the idea of Jesus’ death, and was told by Jesus himself, “Get behind me, Satan” Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times before a rooster crowed. Peter, of all people, knew that it wasn’t by the Godliness or Power of Peter that this man walked.

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. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

Peter then explained how the Jews had failed their king. “You handed him over to be killed, and disowned him before Pilate.” “You disowned the Holy and Righteous one, and asked for a murderer to be released.” But Peter knows that he did the same things. Every time he says the word disowned, he’s probably reminded of how he disowned Jesus and denied knowing him. When he said that they handed him over to be killed, he probably remembered being there in Gethsemane, when Jesus told him to put down his sword, and Peter allowed Jesus to be handed over to the soldiers.
Verse 16 is a little confusing in the NIV it says

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

In King James:

16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

The first underlined NIV “him” is not clear, because it isn’t capitalized. What is clear in the King James translation is that the faith in the name of Jesus isn’t something that we muster up. It’s not a faith that comes through us to give us power. The faith in Jesus’ name comes through Jesus to heal us. Peter isn’t some special guy who has a special power because of a special faith that he developed or something special he did. Peter is a normal guy, who makes all sorts of mistakes. But at that moment, Peter had a special power, because of a faith that God gave him; a faith in the name of Jesus, not because Peter is remarkable, but because God is. The Jews were quick to exalt Peter, but Peter knew that it was God who deserved the Praise. So let’s finish Acts 3.

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, 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 Messiah 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, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

Peter’s message is the Gospel. Jesus Christ fulfilled the predictions of the prophets. He suffered for us. Peter told the Israelites that they crucified Jesus in their ignorance. And like those Israelites that crucified Jesus, we also acted in ignorance. Our ignorant sins and disobedience lead to Jesus’s death. And this is true more for us than for those who don’t believe. In one sense, Jesus did die because of some actions that the Jews and Romans did nearly 2000 years ago. But the reason he allowed for that to happen was to bring lost sons and daughters to glory. The reason Jesus allowed for himself to die at the hands of ignorant Romans is because he wanted to reconcile ignorant sinners like those of us who DO believe. Read Verse 19, when we understand the depths of God’s mercy, we come to have a Biblical Godly hatred for our sins, and we repent. Our sins are wiped out, and there’s a promise that comes from all of this. We enter into a time of refreshing. We don’t worry about how far we walk on a Sabbath. We don’t freak out if we see blood, or we happen to eat a shrimp or pork, or cheese with our beef. We enter into a true Sabbath rest, where we experience freedom from the law. More important than worrying about regulations, We experience a freedom from the bondage of our sinful nature. In verse 21, it says Heaven has received Jesus and will continue to receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything. This church and everyone who calls upon the name of Jesus for salvation is evidence that God is in the process of restoring everything. There is hope for those of us who are in a mental rut. There is hope for all of us who come to God’s presence with a selfish motivation. There is hope for those of us who are imperfect. Not because we are Jewish by birth, or because we do great things, or we act accordingly. Because of what Jesus has done, We have been perfected in the eyes of God. Because we are called, we have the spirit, and because of the Spirit, we are being perfected, day by day. We have a promise of rest and restoration!