The Ministry Begins

Acts 3:1–7 ESV

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

A few weeks ago, we read in Acts 2 about the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came and baptized all the believers who were gathered together that day. Fire fell, a sound like wind roared in their midst, and everyone began to speak in languages they did not know. A crowd gathered, and Peter boldly preached the gospel to that crowd, leading approximately 3000 souls to the Lord.

That was the birth of the Church. The first church was Pentecostal!

The end of Acts 2 tells about how this large body of believers became a community where everyone looked out for each other. They provided for each other’s needs.

Today, we are reading Acts 3. Peter and John head to the temple to pray and preach the gospel. As they reach the gate, they find a paralyzed man begging. He asks them for help, expecting money. Peter and John have something else in mind. They heal him of his paralysis!

To be a Christian means to recognize that we are born under the curse of sin and have no power within ourselves to break that curse. Heaven is a kingdom of which we are not natural citizens. We recognize that Jesus is the perfect son of God and that he came to this earth to save us from our sin by dying on the cross in our place. Because Jesus died and rose again, we have been forgiven our sins and given the opportunity to become citizens of Heaven. The one stipulation for admission into that kingdom is that we must submit to the kingship of God and his son Jesus.

For those of us who have accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation and become citizens of heaven, God has given us each a job—namely, to bring the kingdom of heaven to others so that they too can be saved.

Sharing the Gospel

So how do we do this? How do we fulfill our calling to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus?

Preaching

The first way that typically comes to mind is preaching, directly talking to someone about Jesus, sin, and the plan of salvation. Most of the time, we think of preaching as what is going on right now, where someone like me is standing in front of a group and speaking. But preaching the gospel happens any time when someone gives clear teaching about what Scripture has to say about who Jesus is and why we need him in our lives.

But preaching is not enough. What we say needs to be backed up by our actions.

James 2:15–17 ESV

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Which leads us to another part of being a witness.

Service

This is what we see being demonstrated by Peter and John in our opening passage. A lame man asked for help, and they helped him—just not in the way he expected. Peter didn’t just tell the man to stand up and walk. He took the man by the hand and helped him stand up.

It’s what is demonstrated at the end of Acts 2, when we read about how the new believers, of their own desire, immediately began sharing their resources with one another. The wealthy began selling possessions to financially provide for their less fortunate brothers and sisters.

They were following the example of Jesus, as should we all.

If all we do is talk the talk without walking the walk, we are preaching an empty message. How can I believe God loves me when his followers act like they don’t care? How can I believe God is all I need when his followers don’t even go to him in their time of need?

You see, service is more than just doing good things for other people. There are lots of folks out there doing good things, who are still lost in sin. Our service needs to be a reflection of our faith in Christ, which includes the very way we live our lives. Our service, the way we live our own lives and interact with those around us, either reinforces or detracts from whatever gospel message we may be preaching.

Ministering the Right Message

But, just as it is essential that our preaching be backed up by our service, it is equally essential that our service be accompanied by our preaching.

The opening passage shows Peter and John healing the paralytic. That’s great. It’s the kind of thing Jesus did. But the story doesn’t end there.

Acts 3:8–16 ESV

And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 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? 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. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 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.

Acts 4:1–4 ESV

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

When Peter and John healed this man, it was in the name of Jesus, and it served a purpose beyond helping the man. What they did pointed the man directly to Jesus. As a result, the man followed them into the temple, dancing and praising God. The people took notice. They recognized the man who had been paralyzed and realized the miracle that had happened. They gathered around to find out what had happened, giving Peter the opportunity to preach the gospel.

When Jesus performed miracles, every miracle pointed to the kingdom. When the early church built a community of sharing, it reflected the values of the kingdom. Others started coming to Christ because they saw the love demonstrated by the body of Christ.

As followers of Jesus, our first duty is to spread the gospel and make disciples. We are to share Jesus with anyone who will listen. We are to live in a way consistent to what we say we believe.

It also means that whatever we do must be done with intention. There are lots of good things to be done in the world, but does that mean we are supposed to do them all? When thinking about what we ought to be doing, we need to ask ourselves, how does this bring glory to God? How am I going to communicate the gospel through this?

Matthew 5:16 ESV

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

When Jesus ministered, he made sure that everything he said and did pointed directly and solely to the Father. He did nothing to glorify himself.

What is our message? What is the message we are preaching? What is being communicated in what we are doing?

If the gospel is not clearly communicated in our what we say and do, we need to rethink our methods.

Since coming here, I have tried to make every event a clear presentation of the gospel. The fifth Sunday sings, the dinners. My involvement with the ministerial alliance. It’s more than just trying to be a good member of the community. Everything I do is to make sure people hear the gospel.

When Steve Watson came to me about working with the middle-schoolers, I was happy to do it, because it was an opportunity to disciple those kids. Of course, it turned out that they were really only interested in using our gym. When our they found out that we would spend more time studying the Bible than playing basketball, the numbers quickly dropped, until they ultimately stopped coming altogether. Others who were supposed to be our ministry partners showed less interest when they realized we were more about discipleship than entertainment.

One pastor, many years ago, dismissed his worship band and went strictly to a single guitar or piano and one singer for his church’s service. Why? Because his band, as talented as it was, had become a distraction from actual participation in worship. People were coming for the show, disregarding the message. When the pastor did this, people got mad, and some left the church. But ultimately the church grew healthier. Why? Because the acts of service aligned with the message preached so that real ministry could take place.

In two weeks, we are having an event here. There will be music of different styles. There will be activities for all ages. There will be a car show and food trucks. There will even by fireworks. Why are we doing it? To reach our community with the gospel. We are doing things that will hopefully draw people here so that we can tell them about Jesus.

Whether they come to the church or not, most of the people who live in town will hear what is going on. My prayer is that someone will come to Jesus through what we are doing. Otherwise, it’s just a community event. And while there is nothing wrong with community events, that is not why we are here. We are here to point people to Jesus.

In the same way, each of us who calls ourselves a child of God must ask ourselves, “What am I doing to point people to Jesus?” I may be doing all kinds of good things, like giving to charity or driving my neighbor to the doctor’s office, but if I am not making an effort to clearly talk to people about Jesus, I’m not fulfilling my calling as a priest in God’s kingdom.

Faith without works is dead, and works without faith is empty. Each of us is called to be a minister of the gospel. We have a message to share, and that message needs to be both in word and deed. May everything we say and do clearly bring glory to the Father through Christ Jesus.