Sermon Tone Analysis

Call to worship:

Reading 1, for perspective:

Habakkuk 1:4–5 (ESV)

4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

5 “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be ASTOUNDED.

For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

Reading 2, main text pt.

1:

Acts 3:11–26 (ESV)

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly ASTOUNDED, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.

12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.

To this we are witnesses.

16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Theme for prayer of illumination, or optional Psalm reading:

I.

Last week when we left off, we talked about access and welcome, of a lame man who had been cast aside and rejected at the temple gate—but who at the end, was “immediately” healed, able to walk, and able to leap and run right into the temple and the presence and the people of God.

We also concentrated in that time, remarkably enough, on the idea of seeing (i.e., the “sights” that our message title alludes to).

In a healing of a lame man, who previously was unable to walk and perhaps to use his hands, there was the strange focus in Luke’s account of the focus on eyes, and attention:

Key operating words like “seeing,” and “fixing attention,” and “looking.”

Today we come to the last parts of our message mini-series here.

And we take up two other key and operating words that are happening here in this Acts account of a strange prayer meeting.

And the words here are of “sounds,” as we’ll find in this portion and account we just read—and then we’ll see “suspicions” later as we close, when Peter and John are confronted (and incarcerated) by the actual temple officials.

II.

Our scene this morning gives us a change of scenery of course—a dramatic “scene change” of people and place—and we find ourselves no longer at the Beautiful Gate where we were last week.

But we’ve moved now to, Luke tells us, Solomon’s Portico.

It’s not a far switch, if the best commentary guesses are correct.

It’s just a move of a few paces—straight across from the entry to the Court of Women and Court of Israel where the Beautiful Gate was believed to be, where the lame man had been lain and dropped off everyday while his friends presumably went about their temple business.

And now in the grand porch of “Solomon’s Portico” as it was known, we find ourselves straight across from the Beautiful Gate, running along the temple’s southern wall.

The porch of course wasn’t built by Solomon himself.

The temple was Ezra’s—rebuilt after the return from exile, and built on and embellished by Herod so that it was called “Herod’s Temple.”

(But Solomon’s grandeur was still strong in Israel’s mind, even though his temple had been destroyed—and so still in Herod’s temple much later Solomon still gets this grand namesake in the temple porch and colonnade.)

Solomon: David’s royal son, wise and prominent.

It’s important here that he built Israel’s original temple, in part that the LORD would “give ear” and attention to his people.

This “hearing” theme is exactly where Solomon starts his prayer in dedicating the temple and its work:

1 Kings 8:28–30 (ESV)

28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, 29 that your (eyes) may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.

30 And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place.

And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

It’s such an important theme and concept to Solomon’s dedication of the temple.

And we come later in Acts 3 to words of ears and hearing.—

But Luke’s account and Peter’s speech for now continue the previous theme of seeing and the eyes.

V. 12, Peter sees a crowd running to him, and he says: “Why do you STARE?”

He’s doing a thing, of course, of redirecting.

— Why do you stare AT US?

Why are you looking AT US, as if it was US making the man walk?

(You understand, Jesus did promise “power” would come down on the apostles, i.e., in the chief promise and verse of all of Acts, Acts 1:8.

He promised “power” on the apostles, and he promised their place as “witnesses.”)

But Peter redirects the credit for the miracle, the source of the miracle and the man’s healing.

Jesus in Acts 1:8 promised it was the SPIRIT’S power.

So Peter says, “Don’t look to us—look to Jesus!”

Do you know yourself this morning as the representative of Jesus, his “hands and feet?”

It would only be two generations later for Herod the Great, whose temple this was, and Herod’s grandson Agrippa (in Acts 12) would forget this important thing.

And Luke tells us that, for “not giving the glory to God” (Acts 12:13), a sudden attack of worms overtook him, and he was struck down by an angel of God.

But you and I are the representatives of Jesus, the carriers of his Word and his works.

We are the conduits of his Spirit.

And the “works” are Jesus’, purely and solely, as Paul says: “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand” (Ephesians 2:10).

It can be a temptation even in preparing a sermon like this, to say it is my word and my works (at least when the sermon goes well!).

But the goodness in us, and any glory, HAS to be turned back to God.

The goodness may be poured into us, but ultimately our representation and responsibility is to return the glory to our God.

So complete the works as you’ve been given them—but give credit to their source and cause, the Lord Jesus Christ!

III.

So Peter chides the crowd the same way that the angels chided the apostles for “staring” at the ascension, Acts 1:10-11.

(You remember, the angels appear and the apostles are caught “staring” rather than “moving” and returning to Jerusalem.)

The angels chided for the activity of staring— “staring” rather than “moving.”

But Peter chides for who the people are staring at—staring at the apostles and not giving the glory to God.

And then in the next section, vv.

13-26, Peter gives what will be his second public and massively soul-winning address in the Book of Acts—after his first public speech that was in the upper room in Jerusalem at Pentecost.

It’s interesting, as Peter starts out too in his address, to note that he has a supportive crowd here.

They’re interested and amazed at the man’s healing—

This isn’t by any means a persecuting or attacking crowd.

And any sort of conflict or suspicion isn’t coming until the arrival later of the temple priests and officers.

And still, while the crowd is supportive and interested—yet, Peter puts pressure (accusation) into his material:

Acts 3:13 (ESV)

13 ...The God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

Then 3:14 and 15, too:

Acts 3:14–15 (ESV)

14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and [you] asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.

To this we are witnesses.

How’s that for a model of evangelism??

Stand on the corner with this message, and see how it goes...

But remember as we said last week, this is all happening not even 60, or 70, or 80 days after the trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

All the events happened in Jerusalem, too.

All the events happened in the town of the temple, where this crowd now stands.

All this is relatively fresh.

The crowd is interested.

They may even have been in, and participating in, the trial and crucifying events!