Ministry for the Rest of Us
Notes
Transcript
[Announce text] Please look with me in Scripture at Acts 3:1-10.
[Scripture introduction] The third chapter in Luke’s second volume in the book of Acts begins with a miraculous healing that resides outside the Jerusalem’ temple. It is in this historical event where disabilities and exclusion intersect with renewal and community.
[Reannounce and read text] Read with me about the lame beggar being healed in Acts 3:1-10. [The preacher reads the Scripture passage out loud.]
[Prayer for illumination] Pray with me as we ask God to direct our hearts and minds into his sacred word. [The minister offers a brief prayer asking the Holy Spirit to bless the understanding of the preacher and hearers as God’s Word is proclaimed.]
[Introduction] As one travels around the world, it is hard not to be captivated by the majesty of some of the world's most iconic churches. These churches, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica, Westminster Abbey, Sagrada Familia, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Visitors to these churches are also welcome to take part in the daily services or attend specific prayer events, such as the vespers or evening prayer services.
In addition to the scheduled services, many of these churches are also open for private prayer and contemplation throughout the day, providing a peaceful and sacred space for individuals to connect with God.
Inside these church walls are dedicated sacred worship spaces where Christians offer up prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, intercession, and petition.
It is where the believers communicate with God when holiness touches the heart of a sinner. Likewise, the recently converted Jews who were baptized on the day of Pentecost continued their hour of prayer. It was built into their spiritual rhythm.
17 Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
It was proper Jewish custom to regularly visit the temple multiple times a day in observation of the burnt offerings and then to be given into steadfast prayer at these hours of the day. Formerly, the the God’s presence resided in the Jerusalem's temple, so if you wanted God to receive your prayers and worship, this would be the location you would go.
It was at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm when hundreds to thousands of people would flocks to the the temple to give God his due.
This was what was happening when Peter and John were going to the temple. But who they saw catch their eyes. A lame beggar who has been crippled since birth, 40 years to be exact.
This lame man was brought by the Beautiful gate to beg for alms. While the masses passed over him to gather at their time of worship. The man was left behind and forgotten.
It seems to me that some disabilities, and vocations can hinder people into the life of the church. Perhaps, there are others who would come, but have not been welcomed.
[FCF] How should I respond to those who are excluded from Christian fellowship?
The appropriate response is located in the within the pages of Scripture. [Scripture bond] Acts 3 illustrates how we should respond to those who excluded from the fellowship of God’s church and what needs to be offered to them.
[Background] In this scene Peter and John are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven. Christ has now empowered his followers to continue his earthly ministry and incarnation through their words and deeds. And now they witness the lame man begging outside the temple.
But again, how will should anyone respond to those outside looking in…well, we respond to the marginalized, sickly, and impoverished through the power that lives inside of us.
[Main Point 1] Christians live in the power of Jesus, the promised and exalted Messiah.
The lame man sought alms, but the Apostles offered a greater gift. The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It is in the power of Jesus that the man could be healed and saved (Acts 3:16, 4:12).
It’s in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that makes a cripple man well.
Peter lifts him up and the man is remade and miraculously made well. Everyone knows it too - look at him skipping around. There’s something in this name.
[Main Point 2] Christians reckon with the power of Jesus to work miracles today.
This story parallels of when Jesus healed the paralytic man who was brought by his friends (Luke 5:17-26). A man unable to worship is made well and then afterwards he is restored because the authority of Christ. Likewise, the same power to heal is in us through Jesus.
Here’s the cavort, it must be in God’s timing and will.
Illustration of Lola Brown’s anointing compared to Jessica’s cancer healing.
You never know what will happen, but there is power in the name of Jesus. So much power that even Peter can lift up a crippled man. What if you believed in this power that is in heaven, wouldn’t it change how you approach people? God can do anything…as he heals in his will and this beggar will be changed too.
But the best part comes later. What happens after the man is healed? Where does he go? He goes with the Apostles to the temple to pray.
After the power of God is released from the Apostles, the man who once was disabled and excluded becomes part of the family. He is the living proof that Jesus has ascended into heaven. His Spirit is now with us and through Christ’s authority people can be healed and church.
What else do we see Peter and John doing to those stuck in life? We see them help the helpless, and befriend those who are forgotten.
[Main Point 3] Christians are actively involved in helping the poor, the sick, the depressed, the challenged.
Christianity is a religion of service. We serve because in doing so, we serve Jesus (Matthew 25:31-39). “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
We serve at nursing homes, food distributions, house visitations, prison checkups. Essentially, the church is missionally focused on those outside these walls.
But the most important lesson is found at the end of the healing of the beggar.
[Main Point 4] The goal of Christian ministry is ultimately not that the poor, the sick, the depressed, the challenged are being helped, but they can fully participate in the community of the people of God, as believers who have found true salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.
The ministry we're all given is the ministry of reconciliation and invitation to worship. Through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth everyone can be made well spiritually and enter into the presence of God.
[Proposition] We have the power to invite and reconcile others to God through the name of Jesus Christ.
[Conclusion] Don’t neglect to see those around you. Pray for them, invite them, care for them in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
[Prayer for Transformation] Pray with me as we ask the Lord to transform us. [The minister prays for the congregation to reflect, repent, and renew themselves to Lord and to drink of the salvation of Christ.]