Silver and Gold

If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it, I invite you to open up with me to Acts 3. I want to start with a question for you guys, maybe a couple of questions actually. The first question is this: Is there a difference between thinking that you need something, and I strongly emphasize the word need, and actually having what you truly need? Yes, I would say that there is a huge difference between truly needing something and thinking that you need something. I could think that I need the ability to fly but just because I think I need it, that does not mean that I will actually possess it and it is in no way essential for my survival. So, the next question that I want to ask you guys is this: What is something that you think you need and what is something that you know that you need? What we will probably see or have seen is that the line between thinking and truly needing is often blurred. The things that we think we need are not often the things that we do truly need and the things that we truly need, we often don’t even talk about, or we may even think that the needs that we want are so far out of reach that we could never possibly get them. In many ways, we are going to talk about all 3 of these mindsets in our passage today so let’s go ahead and read Acts 3:1-16

Acts 3:1–16 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. 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.

The Lame Man’s Needs

What is going on here in this passage? I’m sure a lot of it is pretty obvious in terms of the actual event that happens but let’s look beyond what is at the forefront and look at the heart of what is happening. We see that a miracle does happen and this is exactly what Christ told the Apostles would happen. The Holy Spirit is coming in power and in truth by the hands of the Apostles, Peter specifically in this chapter. Jesus tells His followers in John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” The Holy Spirit has been poured out on the Apostles and we see that what Jesus promised in John 14 is coming true. We know that Jesus did many miracles during His earthly ministry, and John even says at the very end of his Gospel that Jesus did so many signs and wonders that the world could likely not contain all the books that would be written if every single miracle was written down. Let’s talk about the lame man here in Acts 3. We read in verse 2 that he has been lame from birth and his condition is so poor, that he needs to be carried to the temple every day and it is there where he begs for alms, which could be money, food, or any type of resource that could help him out and he is very strategic in his placement. He goes to the temple where scores of people would be coming every single day, and he sits down at one of the most popular entrance ways into the temple, and he picks the perfect time to be there. We don’t know the date but we know the time of the miracle: Luke records for us that Peter and John go to the temple at the hour of prayer, which is the 9th hour, or 3 pm. The lame begger knows that this is the perfect time to ask people for help because there are scores of people going there at this time to pray and his thought process is likely this: the people that are coming here to pray are going to be moved by their prayers to help me. Strategically he is thinking, “Someone will be so caught up with religious affection that they will help me out. How could you come to this place, offer heartfelt prayer and worship to God, and then see me here in my misery and do nothing?” Now let me ask you this question: knowing what you know of this lame man, without necessarily knowing what happens past verse 4, what would you say this man’s greatest needs are? We would probably say that he needs the alms, that food, water, clothing, and shelter are his greatest needs and this is absolutely what he was saying about himself because those are the things he is asking for! Here’s the situation that he finds himself in: he sees Peter and John walking into the temple and he asks them to give him something and instead of looking away like so many do when they are asked to help, Peter and John look directly at him. They aren’t just acknowledging him, they are peering deep within his soul, and the man assumes that he is about to get something from them but instead, what happens? What does Peter say to him? He says in at the beginning of verse 6, “I have no silver and gold.” What? You know what the lame man is thinking at this point is this: “Well, what good are you if you don’t have what I need? I’m here desperate and you don’t have anything?” But Peter doesn’t stop with just, “Sorry, I left my wallet at home and I don’t have anything to give you.” No instead he says, “What I do have I give to you.” Well what could he have that the lame man could want? What else could he give that the lame man could truly need? Peter doesn’t give him the thing that he thinks he needs, he gives him something far greater than he could ever imagine, he gives him something that he truly needed and not just something that he thought he needed. Peter looks at him and says, “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” What happens after this command? He gets up and walks. In fact, we read that he doesn’t just sluggishly get up, he bounds up. He walks, leaps, and praises and what is happening in these responses to this miracle? Every true need that this man had is met. Did he need resources? Sure, everyone in some way needs basic things to survive but that which he truly needed was to be healed, not just physically but spiritually. It wasn’t just his feet and ankles that needed to be made strong, his heart first needed to be made right. This man had just enough faith when he heard the command from Peter to pull himself up and what happens? His life is changed not just in this life but in the next. At this moment, this man truly had everything that he needed to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Now let me also say this: the man’s physical health did not trump his need for spiritual health. The problem of the soul was far greater than the problem with the feet and the same is true in our time today. The problems of man’s souls far outweigh the physical problems but here is the beauty of the Gospel, here is the beauty of Christianity, here is the beauty of the Church. Jesus never treats our physical problems like they are nothing. When the Church lives out what it claims to believe, it never treats man’s physical problems like they aren’t important, but instead ministers to both needs together! Let me give you 2 quick examples from this in the earthly ministry of Jesus: first think of the feeding of the 5,000. We read in that account that not only does Jesus feed the people, He also taught the people. He is addressing the physical problem and the spiritual need. He doesn’t say, “let me address the spiritual problem and maybe tomorrow we work on the physical.” No, He ministers to both! Second think next to the raising of Lazarus from the dead in John 11. Jesus again here ministers to both the physical and the spiritual. Recently, I have fallen even more in love with this passage, so let us quickly read John 11:32-37

John 11:32–37 ESV

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

I wish I could put into words the passion of our Lord. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and when he gets to Mary in verse 32, he responds to Mary’s statement with weeping and He only asks one question: where have you laid him. When Jesus sees what is going on we read that He is deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. In the Greek, the words that John uses describes Christ as distressed, angered, and greatly grieved at what is going on. Now why is Jesus responding in this way? We know what happens with Lazarus, we know that Jesus knew what was about to happen in just a few minutes, so why is He weeping? Why is He pushed to such a limit? The answer is that He is perfect and His love is perfect and He grieves with us when we are in our trials. Jesus sees the heartache of Mary and Martha and He doesn’t just say, have faith and you’ll see Lazarus again. He doesn’t just say, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall live, although He does address the spiritual aspect in those very words. Instead, Jesus, perfect in love reaches in and touches the great physical need of Mary, Martha, and even Lazarus. How does Jesus attend to the physical need? By being aquainted with our emotional grief and emotional turmoil, meeting us where we are, and then He raises Lazarus from the dead. Here we see that we serve a Savior that is not so out of reach with His followers that He cares nothing for the physical hurt and the physical problems. Here we see a Savior that recognizes the greater need of spiritual rescue but also does not neglect the physical problems that we bring to Him. Now let me ask you guys this, what do you need to follow Jesus? Only Jesus. You do not need riches and glory to follow Jesus. You do not need the approval of this guy or this girl to faithfully follow Jesus. You do not need to be more popular or even have tremendous abilities to follow Jesus. God gives us wonderful things but those gifts should be reminders of our need for God and not tools that we need in order to follow Him. John Calvin said, “If this poor lame man was moved to thank God for a blessing to his physical body, are we not the more constrained to glorify His holy name for the many spiritual and physical benefits we receive from His goodness daily? Therefore, let us, insofar as possible, raise our voices in heartfelt gratitude to God for His many benefits.” Let’s quickly go to our next point: How do you respond to a miracle? I want to look at it from 2 directions because that is what I think we see in this passage.

How Do You Respond to a Miracle?

How do we respond?

How do you personally respond to a miracle? Let’s say that you had this incurable disases inside of you, 100% fatal, it’s so bad that the only good news is that the doctor says that they will at least get to name the disease after you, let’s say this is your current predicament. Unless a miracle happens, you are going to die. It is so certain that you are going to die that you call your family in to say goodbye, you sell all your things, and you hug and kiss them for what you believe is the last time. You go to bed that night thinking that it is your last, the doctor has told you that you only have a few short hours left and you will pass that evening, but something strange happens, you wake up the next morning and the disease is gone! You’re alive! There is no fatal mark of that disease left on you, so how do you respond to that? You get up and celebrate! You hopefully praise God that He has healed you because you had no ability to do it on your own. Others had no possible way of healing you, it was clearly a mighty work of God! How do you not respond? Well you don’t get right back in the hospital bed! The miracle in your life pushes you to action and this is exactly what the lame man does. His legs don’t start working and then he instantly sits back down. He runs, he jumps, he praises the God who saved him. He wasn’t saved to sit back down and we would all think that it was absolutely insane if he went right back and did the things that he did when he was paralyzed. We would think it was absolutely unheard of for him to turn around after this great moment and live his old life. Why? Because the new has come and the old had passed away. If you are a Christian, let me tell you this: this has already happened to you. The incurable, 100% fatal disease that I talked about, you have already had and it is called sin. Unless something miraculous happened to that sin, you would have died in your sins and would have been seperated from God forever. When all hope seemed lost, Christ died for you and through His life, death, and resurrection, removed from you that disease that you would have died from and He has given to you newness of life. Christians, what are you gonna do with it? I’ll tell you what you can’t do. You can’t go right back to what you were prior to Christ’s saving you. You can’t sit back down. If you are a Christian, you should be hardwired to leap and run and praise the God that has saved you and when the world sees men and women that have been saved and changed, really charged, by the Lord Jesus Christ, the world will respond in wonder. This is how the crowd responds in Acts 3.

How does the world respond?

Let’s read Acts 3:9-11

Acts 3:9–11 ESV

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.

The crowd is blown away and who wouldn’t be? They recognized the lame man because I am sure that there were many there who would come and go every single day and see him there. They have witnessed a living and walking miracle, literally! They’re in awe and they want to know what happened and this is what I promise you, when you live the life that Christ has given you to live, it will cause those around you to stop in their tracks and ask questions. If you are a Christian, you are dead man brought back to life, and just like we would all ask questions and be amazed if a corpse from our cemetary came walking in, we that have been born again, raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, will cause people to wonder and ask questions. Are you living a life that stops the world in its tracks? Are you living the Christian life to such a degree that it causes the world to be flabbergasted at what it sees and demand to know what happened? I pray that you are! So, what do we do when we live such a life that the world asks questions? Well, like Peter, we need to give the credit where it is due.

Giving Credit Where it is Due

Look again at what Peter says in Acts 3:12-14

Acts 3:12–14 ESV

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,

Then we read in Acts 3:16 “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.” Peter is saying, “Why are you looking at us as if we did something?” Peter recognized that he was totally powerless apart from Christ. Peter recognized that in order to do anything, Christ has to empower it and allow it. You are here this day because Christ has allowed it. Christian, what has made you different? What has caused you to stand out in this world? It’s Christ and because it is Christ, that should be what you display to everyone around you! What has made you different? Christ alone! God is the one that makes the difference! How do you as Christians make a difference in your world? The only way that you can make a difference that will last for eternity is if God is the one behind it and this is good news for us. Why? Because deep down, we are all very weak people. It’s true! Even the strongest person will reach a weight they can lift. Even the fastest person will reach a moment where he slows down from exhaustion. Even the wealthiest person will reach a moment where his money will be spent our there is something that he can’t afford. What does this tell us then? God is in the business of using ordinary people, just like you and me. Peter and John were ordinary people that God used to do extraordinary things and we will talk about this more next week. Did Peter do it on his own? No. How did it happen? Because God empowered it and God can empower you to make a huge impact for His Kingdom. You might say, “But I don’t have a lot of talents, I don’t have a lot of great resources, I don’t have a lot of skill, how can I?” Perfect, God can use you! Understand, God is not in the business of making you look great or emphasizing your talents. The world doesn’t need more of you believe it or not. It needs more of God, it needs a clearer view of the Lord Almighty. Bring your gifts, bring your talents, but don’t trust in those things to be that which changes the world. You can be the greatest preacher or speaker in the world but that will not matter a lick if God is not working and empowering you. There was a moment in history where a man named Thomas Aquinas, and he was probably the greatest theologian of the middle ages, and he is one of the most widely-recognized saints in history, and he went to visit the Pope in Rome and while he was there, Aquinas saw a beggar on the street and he reached into his pocket and gave the man a coin. The Pope turned to him and said, “See Thomas, no longer can we say silver and gold I have none. Aquinas turned to him and said, “Yes that is true but perhaps this is the reason why we no longer can say, ‘in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!’” What did Aquinas mean by this? He meant that when we only notice our own strength, own resources, our own talents, we will never rely on Christ like we should and we will never be able to make the impact in our world that we should. If you want to make a difference in the world, it starts and ends with Jesus Christ. Now this doesn’t mean that you Christians don’t have an important role in this. Like Peter, each of us need to put our hand out to the beggar, meet him where he is at, and call him to newness of life. Thomas Walker said, “The power was Christ’s, but the hand was Peter’s.” Each of us need to put out our hands, empowered by the Spirit of God, and call people to that which they really need: to be born again through the work of the Holy Spirit and by faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t neglect the physical needs, we don’t neglect the spiritual needs, instead, as the Church, we address both because that is what our Heavenly Father does for us. Let’s pray.