Acts 3:1-9
Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
The story of the lame man in Acts 3 was the theme of my very first sermon. I was excited to have the opportunity to present it. I sincerely thank Pastor Stevens and the St. Luke Disciples of Christ Church family in East Orange for my first engagement. I fondly remember pouring over the scriptures, researching various ankle and foot disabilities, and trying my best to sympathize with the lame man in the story. I really tried to get a grip on his his character, his struggle and possible mindset. And I think I achieved some small semblance of success in recreating a reasonable simulation.
Can you imagine his plight? He was born lame. And due to no fault of his own, he lacked the ability to walk to the places he desperately needed to go. You have to feel sorry for this guy. He was carried daily to sit and beg for money to help support himself. That had to be embarrassing, degrading, insulting and and just downright depressing. But on one fateful day, the lame man ran into two of the most important people in his life. Actually three. Peter, John and Jesus. And although he initially was looking for money, he got something much more valuable.
I dare say, at this point in his life I doubt the lame man ever dreamed of walking like everyone else. I’m sure he long ago lost all hope of running, walking, leaping and dancing. Although everybody else could do it, walking (it seemed) wasn’t in the cards for him. So he settled for silver and gold. Not that it would answer his deepest desire, or cause him to meet his goal. But it was all he could consider reasonable or doable for someone in his position.
Those facts, set up in that order make preaching about the healing of a lame man powerful and productive. Powerful because it’s clear to see what faith in Christ can do. And productive because we all can aspire to be like Peter and John. God truly wants to use us too. But there’s one more impact I hadn’t before considered. While sympathy for the lame man was easy, empathy with him is a total different experience. But that’s just where the Lord took me this morning. While I was busy comparing myself to Peter and John, the Spirit challenged me to see myself more like the lame man.
Let me see if I can explain it. The lame man was at the right place (the beautiful gate), addressing the right people, (Peter, John and other believers) but had his disability on his mind instead of his vision. There was healing at the location he was in. There was power in the location he was in. But because of his self view, he only saw those in close proximity as patrons to beg from. He was unable to see their true value because he was so absorbed believing his plight was hopeless. The incredible thing is even if he got millions of dollars, he still wouldn’t be able to walk. No amount of money would answer his greatest need or desire.
May I preach it now? What the lame man needed was some folk with power, purpose, anointing and understanding. With the right partners he didn’t need money. I guarantee you if we could ask him if he’d rather have the money of be able to walk, he’d choose walking.
Dear Children of God, after looking at this story again I must admit I’ve too long settled for things that have proven to be spiritually unsuccessful. Unsuccessful preaching. Unsuccessful singing. Unsuccessful teaching. Anything and everything not producing fruit is by definition unsuccessful, right? Well, no more silver and gold for me. I need partners with power and anointing. In other words, I need you. Not what money you can give. I need you. The anointed you!
God Bless
