What was that you said?

Acts 3:1-10

The text this morning tells a story that is quite dramatic and is one of the stories in the Bible that I understand better after having lived in Rabat for six years. Beggars in Morocco have assigned places where they sit each day. I don’t know how it is worked out, but I see the same beggars in the same places and have seen one beggar chase another away when she intruded into someone else’s spot.

Begging, in fact, is an industry in Morocco. Babies are rented for the day to help more effectively beg. There are some middle class beggars who beg in the morning and then go out in nicer clothing to enjoy the rest of the day. There must be a system of payoffs for getting the prime spots where more people pass by. I would be interested in reading some time a study of this part of Moroccan society. I am certain it would be fascinating reading.

Let me set the stage for today’s story.
At the end of Acts 2 there is a summary of the early church and one part of it says:
Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

Now in Acts 3 one of those stories that was quite dramatic is told.
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.
The Jews observed three times of prayer: morning (9 AM), afternoon (3 PM) and sunset. This was the afternoon prayer time and since Peter and John still considered themselves to be Jews, they continued to be obedient Jews and prayed at the appointed times. As they walked to the Temple, they passed a gate called the Beautiful Gate.

This gate was most likely the Corinthian Gate through which most people coming to the Temple would pass. The Jewish historian, Josephus, described this gate in great detail. It was made of Corinthian bronze. The doors were 18.3 meters high and the gate itself, 22.9 meters high. On the bronze doors were thick plates of gold and silver. When the sun hit this door the brilliance was even more impressive. This was a prime location, a prized spot for begging, and it went to a man who was born lame at birth.

Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

Each day his friends carried him there and he would sit and beg. Now you know how this is because we walk past beggars all the time. As you pass, a beggar looks at you and asks for money. If you are the only person walking by, the beggar follows you with his or her eyes. If there are many people walking by, the beggar asks and quickly decides if you are worth asking again and if not, then his or her attention moves to someone else. If you beg for a living, you become expert at reading faces and body language and assessing who will help and who will not.

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.  4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”  5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Peter and John were not alone on the street going into the Temple. Since it was the time for the sacrifice and prayers, many were passing by this gate to go to the Temple. So this man sat, asking for money, calling out over and over the words he used to get the attention of those who walked by. He asked Peter and John and then his eyes went to someone else walking by  and asked someone else for help until he heard Peter speak. Look at us!

This man who had casually looked at Peter and John as they passed by now gave them his full attention to see what they would give him.
Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Peter may have pointed to the gate called Beautiful with its bronze doors decorated with gold and silver. Silver and gold was what the beggar thought he would get but what he received was more than he expected. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.

And then:
Taking him by the right hand, [Peter] helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.  8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.  9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,  10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

I don’t know how you react to this story, but when I read it a couple weeks ago in preparation for this sermon, my first reaction was to wish that this kind of dramatic healing would take place where we are. Part of the explosive growth of the early church came from the dramatic healings that took place in the name of Jesus. I long for a genuine movement of God in this country and I see what happened in Acts and pray that this will also happen here as a way of stirring and expanding the church.

But then as I reread the passage and thought about it I had some other observations.

Why didn’t Jesus heal this man when he passed this gate on the way to the Temple?
Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
The tense indicates that every day this man sat there begging. He had been lame from birth. It had been many, many years that he had sat under this gate begging. Jesus came to Jerusalem for the three annual festivals and must have passed by this man many times. Jesus must have walked by when this man begged for money and passed on without doing anything to help him. We read in the Gospels about the many people Jesus healed. Other beggars called out for help and Jesus healed them. Why not this man?

Remember that Luke wrote a two part story of the history of Jesus. In part one, he wrote about Jesus from his birth to his resurrection. Now, in the second part, the book of Acts, he is continuing the story of Jesus. When Peter turned to the man and declared he could walk, he did so in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus did heal this beggar but he did it through Peter.

All healing is done in the name of Jesus. Jesus is the healer. Healing is done through the power of the Holy Spirit but it is in the name of Jesus that people are healed.

Jesus healed when he walked the earth before his crucifixion and resurrection, he continues to heal to this day and one day when we are gathered into heaven with him, we will all receive healing of our bodies and souls.

Jesus walked by the man begging at the gate called Beautiful, but even though he did not heal him then, he healed him later through Peter. When you ask for prayer for healing and your prayer is not answered, if you are in a relationship with Christ as your Savior and Lord, you can have confidence that you will one day have your prayer answered. It may be answered in this life but it will definitely be answered in your eternal existence.

God has his purposes which we do not always understand. It was not his purpose that the man be healed when he walked past him. It was his purpose that Peter be the one to pray for and announce his healing.

A second observation is that Peter did not make a big deal of this healing. In fact, it seems rather straightforward. Peter walked by, God spoke to him in some way, he stopped to announce the man’s healing, extended his hand, raised the man up and he walked.

I have been in several healing services. I have seen people come to Morocco to have a ministry of healing and deliverance. There is lots of song and prayer so we all get in the right frame of mind. Then there is a bit of teaching and explanation about healing. Then there is the invitation to ask for healing. Someone or several people come forward. They are anointed with oil and then they are prayed for. It is fervent prayer. It starts out softly and raises in pitch to a crescendo. Then it dies down to soft mutterings of praise. And then there is the tentative look to see if the person was healed.

There is a lot of time and effort made to create the proper atmosphere for healing. Some will say that if anyone is doubting, they should leave the room because their lack of faith will inhibit the healing.

Look how different it was with Peter. He and John were walking along. Perhaps they were talking about something, perhaps just observing all that they saw. This was not the first time they had passed this beggar but this time Peter in some way heard from God that this time this man would be healed. Peter stopped, told the beggar to look at him and declared his healing,
“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Peter extended his hand, pulled the man up, his feet and ankles became strong and he could walk.

Peter did not need to create the proper atmosphere, he did not need to have singing and praise as preparation for the healing. It was really quite simple. Peter heard God speak to him, announced the healing and then went in to the afternoon prayer time.

Why is there such a difference between what Peter did and what most of us do when we want to pray for someone to be healed?

The difference is that Peter responded to God’s direction whereas we most often are trying to push what we want without waiting for God’s initiative.

John White wrote that faith is our response to God’s initiative. When God wants to do something, all we have to do is be obedient and it will be done. We do not need to make a big production out of it. God is the one who is at work, not us. All we need to do is obey.

On the other hand, if I am determined that I will have a ministry of healing and deliverance, then I do need to make a big production out of it because it is no longer something that God is initiating but something I have to create. I have to create the proper mood so human forces will operate and someone will be caught up in the excitement and feel better and say they are healed. This explains why studies of people “healed” at faith-healing services show that most people revert back to their condition within a couple days of the service. Emotion and adrenalin only takes you so far.

But the beggar at the gate called Beautiful did not have to take up his seat by the gate the week after he was healed or anytime after that because this was a work of God, not the manipulation of men and women. When God heals, real healing takes place.

If I were God, I would heal people left and right. If I had the power to heal someone, I would use it pretty much indiscriminately. I would walk through hospitals and after I had gone, the only people there would be doctors and nurses with no work to do.

God has his purposes and although we cannot understand why he chooses to act or not act, he still has his purposes. God sees us through an eternal perspective and what makes sense to him and what he sees as best for us is something we most often cannot see.

So the point is not that I set out to heal someone, but that I listen to God and hear him when he speaks into my life. Peter and John did not set out to heal a beggar that day. It was not that John said to Peter over breakfast, “You know, I think it would help our ministry if we healed a man born lame today.” They were walking along when God spoke to Peter and he stopped and turned and announced the beggar’s healing.

The point is not that I have a healing ministry but that I develop the ability to hear God when he speaks to me and that I develop the faith to obey God’s direction when it is given to me.

A friend of mine was walking on the streets around this church one night, waiting for a prayer meeting to begin. As he walked along he was praying. He stopped to buy something and in his change there was a 20 dirham bill. Normally he put those in his wallet but he had the thought that he was supposed to put the 20 dirham bill in his front pocket and so he did. As he walked along he saw a woman, well-dressed, and it came to his mind that he was supposed to give her the 20 dirhams. This did not make sense and in this culture would be offensive. For a man to offer a well-dressed woman 20 dirhams when she was not asking for any help is not something that is done. So he walked on but it kept coming back to him. He had passed this woman but then she came into view again and he went up to her and said, “Forgive me, but I want to give you this 20 dirhams.” She was stunned and he walked away. He continued walking and praying and when he came to the church, she was standing nearby and came up to him. She asked him why he had given her that money. She said she needed to know.

My friend told her he was a Christian and had been praying and God told him to give her the money. He said he knew it was strange because she was well-dressed but he felt strongly he was supposed to help her. She began to cry and told him she had bought something for her baby and thought she had more money but then found out she did not have enough to get back home and this was what she needed.

Now this is not healing a man born lame, but it is nonetheless a miracle accomplished because my friend was listening to God and was willing to obey. How will God use this experience in the woman’s life? It is all God’s plan and it is not our business to know why and how we are being used, only to obey when we are called by God to do something and then allow him to work.

God has a plan for his church. I would do certain things if I were God to help grow the church but God has a plan, much better thought out, much more effective, much more beneficial to people than any plan I would be able to create. I would not, for example, be able to direct someone to give 20 dirhams to someone else and make that an entirely appropriate thing to do.

I want to see the church grow but to grow it the way I think best would probably be a disaster. So although I want to see a healing ministry operating among us and I think this will one day come, what I need to do is wait to hear God speak and respond in faith to his initiative. He may use me or someone else, it does not matter. What matters is that we obey when he speaks to us about what we are to do.

This is the tricky part. We need to be able to hear God when he speaks to us. What can we do to develop our ability to hear God speak to us?

The fact that Peter and John were on the way to pray is not an insignificant detail. The tense indicates that just as the beggar was carried every day to the gate called Beautiful, so did Peter and John go everyday to pray. And in fact prayer was an integral part of the life Peter and the early church.

After Jesus ascended, the followers of Jesus stayed as he had instructed in Jerusalem and
They all joined together constantly in prayer

The disciples prayed when they chose someone to replace Judas.

In the description of the church in Acts 2
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

In the story today, they were on their way to the afternoon prayers.

When Peter and John were threatened for speaking out about Jesus, they came back and prayed and
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

In Acts 10, Peter was praying on the roof about noon when God spoke to him about what was clean and what was unclean and the Gentiles were brought into the church.

Read through the book of Acts and over and over again the disciples prayed.

Do you want to hear God’s direction in your life? Then take time to pray. Don’t dutifully check off a list of people as you pray for them. Pray and then reflect, write in your journal, listen.

There are so many voices screaming at us it is very difficult to hear the voice of God. I get so caught up in the events around me that I am often deaf to anything God might want to say to me.

From time to time crises pop up and I find myself caught up in the tensions they produce. I become worried and anxious about how to resolve these crises and when I sit down to pray, I have a difficult time because these concerns fill my mind. I get caught up in thinking how to resolve these crises, how to help.

We have to take time to step aside and listen. We have to take time to step away from the pressures of the world. We have to fight to hear God speak into our lives.

I know that is it difficult. Work, school, children, friends, all these are important but our responsibilities that arise from them can choke us so that we cannot hear God speak to us.

You don’t have to go to Erfoud to the desert as we did a couple weeks ago but you do need to step away and find time to sit and think and read and reflect as you pray.

If you want to hear God speak to you, you have to push away the lusts of the world.

There is a story about Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century philosopher and theologian, when he visited Pope Innocent IV and found him counting a large sum of money. “Ah, Thomas,” said the Pope, “the church can no longer say, ‘silver and gold have I none.’” That is true, Your Holiness,” said Aquinas, “but then, neither can it now say, ‘Arise and walk.’”

One of the reasons we do not hear God speak to us is because we have divided loyalties. Peter and John did not have divided loyalties. Paul did not have divided loyalties. They were single-minded. For them it was all about Jesus. What they wanted out of life was something the world was unable to supply.

It comes down to what you most want? What are you pursuing? Pursue wealth and possessions and you may or may not get them, but what you will not get is a relationship with God where you can hear him speak to you and where you will have the privilege of working with him as he brings healing and life to people around you.

Step aside from the pressures of the world to pray and listen, be single-minded in your pursuit of God and then when God does speak to you, you need to act. The beggar was healed by the power of Christ but it was the hand of Peter that raised him to his feet.

God is at work in this world but he often uses us to accomplish his purposes. We are his hands and feet and voice. When we fail to act, God’s purposes will not be thwarted. God will find someone else to work with him or he may have to work without our help if we are all resistant to him. But God wants to use us to accomplish his purposes.

It takes courage to act for God. It took courage for my friend to go up to the woman and give her 20 dirhams. It took courage for Peter to act.

Imagine yourself in Peter’s place. I would be nervous. What if it was not God who told me to announce this man’s healing? What if when I pull him up he falls and breaks his legs and I make his condition worse?

Although I am just a beginner in learning to listen to the voice of God in my life, I believe that as we develop our ability to listen to God’s directives, we will also grow in confidence that we can act on what we hear.

I don’t have three practical things you can do to better listen to God speak to you. It comes down really to this: what do you most want in life? If you are pursuing the comfort and ease that the money of this world offers, you may find it but you will miss out on the opportunity to work with God.

Are you submitted to God? Is your relationship with God really the most important part of your life? Not just words from your lips but deep down in your inmost being, is your relationship with Christ of first importance?

Are you living with the reality that everything in this life will fade away and only your acts of obedience to Christ will last into eternity? Are you living with the reality that one day you will stand before God and it will not matter how much money you earned or how much prestige or power was yours or what title went with your name?

What is your priority? Where is your focus? It cannot be Jesus and something else. It must be only Jesus. This is what allowed Paul and Peter and John to be used by God as powerfully as they were used.

What can God do with us if we are focused only on him? I long to see the answer to that question.