Chapter Three: An Act of Benevolence

Acts 3:1 CSB

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

Who are Peter and John?

Where are they?

When is it?

Who were they likely meeting at the Temple? (Acts 2)

Acts 3:2 CSB

2 A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.

Why was this man crippled/why do bad things happen?

Lets look at a story that might have influenced the actions of Peter and John

John 9:1–41 CSB

1 As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing. 8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?” 9 Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.” 10 So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.” 12 “Where is he?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he said. 13 They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. 14 The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” “He’s a prophet,” he said. 18 The Jews did not believe this about him—that he was blind and received sight—until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 “We know this is our son and that he was born blind,” his parents answered. 21 “But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, he would be banned from the synagogue. 23 This is why his parents said, “He’s of age; ask him.” 24 So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 “I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” 28 They ridiculed him: “You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’s disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don’t know where he’s from.” 30 “This is an amazing thing!” the man told them. “You don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him. 32 Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.” 34 “You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?” he asked. 37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 “I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?” 41 “If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Bad things happen in our world because of sin, but that doesn’t mean that every bad thing is a direct consequence of sin. Bad things happen because we live in broken world that needs fixing.

What is the solution?

The solution to the world’s brokenness is not healing or wealth, it is a personal relationship with Jesus. All those other things, although they can be important, mean very little compared to what we have in Jesus. Jesus is the only one who can fix our eternal ailment, and that is exactly what He came to do! For the blind man, it did not matter that he had his sight or that he was kicked out of the temple, what mattered was that he now had a relationship with Jesus and his life would never be the same. Receiving his sight made him thankful, but receiving Christ made him worship.

As Christians we have and eternal hope. This life is not all there is. If it were that would be a sad reality, this world is damaged and broken. In this world we lose loved ones, we get hurt, we get sick, we feel sorrow, all these things that will one day vanish in the blink of an eye. What would it look like to live each day from an eternal perspective? Like each day could be our last? Would we love others better? Would we show more grace? Would we be more courageous? Would we trust God more? When those difficult times come it is important to remember what God has done and what He continues to do in our lives, working all things for His glory and for our good and because of that we can always trust Him.

Acts 3:3–5 CSB

3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money. 4 Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.” 5 So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

The world looks at Christians expecting something from them.

How do we handle the expectations of moral excellence placed on us by both the culture and by Scripture?

Are they the same expectations?

Are morals/ethics relative or subjective?

Christian Ethics: How we ought to live from a Biblical perspective.

How does the Bible say we should live?

What are the moral principles we follow as followers of Jesus?

Internal/individual ethics or how we think/what we think about and External/corporate ethics, the words and deeds we say and do to others. How we act as Christians is important and, in some ways, it is easy to say that living a Christian lifestyle is legalistic. That is the pressure the world puts on us as Christians, and that pressure either makes us bitter or it makes us better. We can be encouraged that God helps us to do what is right, and that He has freed us from our sins so that we can choose to do good in every circumstance both internally and externally. We are motivated by love to use every word or action for the sake of glorifying God, and making His Kingdom grow.

Acts 3:6–10 CSB

6 But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7 Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. 8 So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

This miracle isn’t really important in and of itself. The man would eventually grow old and die and that would be the end of it. What this miracle proves however is that the Apostles ministry as well as their writings carried the same amount of authority as Christ’s (Matthew 28) and it opened the door for the preaching of the Gospel. It continued to prove the power of Jesus’ resurrection. That power is still alive today.

Acts 3:11–16 CSB

11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you. 15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

It is by this name alone that we are saved. Romans 10 says,

Romans 10:13 CSB

13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

This is what makes the preaching of the Gospel so important. It isn’t just enough to do good things and hope people come to Christ. Doing good things makes people think you are a good person, but sharing the hope of Jesus is what communicates that you are a follower of Christ.

Romans 10:14–17 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. 16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Likewise, faith without actions is dead faith. James says in the second chapter of his book,

James 2:14–17 CSB

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

Both our faith and our actions are necessary in how we represent Christ.

Acts 3:17–26 CSB

17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning. 22 Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you. 23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people. 24 “In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring. 26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

Abrahamic Covenant and Davidic Covenant

When God makes a promise, we can trust that He will always keep it.