A Life Redeemed | Sunday Sermon

A Life Redeemed | Sunday Sermon

Series: Acts: The Story Continues...

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Well, we're in the third chapter of the book of Acts this week, and it's just the book of Acts gets more and more and more exciting, more intense as we move on. And this week, where we are in the book is that Jesus has already ascended to the Father. The church has waited and prayed for the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has come in power and has filled the church. 3,000 people came into the church in one single day. The church has devoted itself to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to the fellowship, and to the prayers. And it says that great signs and wonders are being performed by the apostles, and the Lord is adding to their number day by day those who are being saved. And now the writer of Acts, the physician Luke, zooms in on one particular day as two of the apostles are going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. In verse 1, it said, Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. Peter and John, if you remember, are two of the apostles, the disciples, that were in Jesus' inner circle. They with James had been with Jesus from the very beginning. They had seen all of his miracles, all of his signs, all of his wonders. They had been up on the mountain as Jesus was transfigured into the glory that he had with the Father before the earth began. They saw him there speaking with Elijah and Moses. They were there when he was arrested. They were there when he was falsely tried, and they were there when he was executed and hung upon the cross. They saw as he was laid in the tomb, and they were there when Jesus revealed himself to them, resurrected from the dead. Jesus even appeared to these ones while they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and he was making fish and ate breakfast with them. And they were standing there before Jesus ascended as he told them to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that he had commanded them. And then going up to the temple, it says, at the hour of prayer. We don't know if they're going up to pray or if they're going up to preach. But this is about 3 p.m. This is the time for the evening prayer, when a lot of the Jewish people that were Orthodox, that were devout, you know, followers of Judaism, they would have gone up to the temple at this time to pray. In verse 2, it says, and a lame man, 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 who entered the temple. What I love about the Word of God is that it's not like other faith systems. It's not like Greek mythology or something where it has stories of mythological figures and places and events in time. The Bible is a real historical book about real historical people, real historical places, and real historical events. And there was a place called the beautiful gate of the temple. And the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote about this gate that was made of Corinthian bronze, and it was polished so beautifully that it exceeded the beauty of even those that were covered with silver and of gold. Okay, and so he was seated at this place, and it says a few things about the lame man here in this passage. It says he was carried. Now he was likely carried by his family members, his friends, and he wasn't coming up at the hour of prayer because he wanted to pray, was he? He was coming up because there would be a lot of people there. It says he was arriving around the same time as the apostles, so he probably hadn't collected anything yet. The verse says that he was lame from birth. In other words, he was born this way. He was born handicapped, his feet and his ankles were deformed, they didn't function properly. He had never walked, he had never stood on his own, he had never lived independently, he had always been dependent upon others. And in chapter 4, verse 22, we're gonna learn that the man is more than 40 years old. And so he had been this way his whole life. This was just his reality. And because he's brought here daily, he would have been a standard feature at this location. People would have become used to seeing him there over years and years or even decades. And I'm thinking there's probably people, you know, if he's over 40 years old, he's probably been coming here since he was at least an old teen older teenager, right? He's probably been here for long enough that there were children that came to the temple with their parents and saw him there as children. Now they're grown and they're bringing their own children, and this same man has been sitting here this whole time. And can we just acknowledge something for a second? His life sucked. He had a hard life. And we all go through hard things, don't we? But this wasn't just a season. This was his reality. This was just his life, his one chance, his one life on earth, and this was it. And it was just hard. And another thing is he would have been judged by other people because if you were born with any kind of difference like this, when you're born, people automatically looked at it like, oh, you must have done something, or your parents did something, and so God's cursing you. And so he would have been looked at and judged. There would have been an assumption that there was something wrong with them. And the hard part about all of this is he didn't choose any of it, did he? He didn't get to choose this, and it wasn't his fault. Now there are times when we suffer in life because we're dumb and we do dumb things, and so we pay the consequences of the dumb things, right, Tom? Can I get an amen, Tom? Me and Tom know that because we've experienced that. But the problem for him is he didn't choose this. This wasn't his fault. He didn't get to have a say in it. But this kind of suffering, this kind of life, that kind of pain has a way of becoming a person's identity after a while. It has a way of defining us. It starts defining what we believe about ourselves, about our potential, about what God can do for us or what he even will do for us. And some of us in this room are like this man. That we've been shaped by things in our lives that we had no control over. The home that we grew up in, the relationships in our lives that fell apart, maybe when we were children, or maybe even as adults, the losses that we've carried, the wounds that we didn't ask for, but that won't go away. Maybe we've been divined by some diagnosis that we didn't see coming. And over time, these things have begun to divine our lives and our expectations and our hopes and our prayers. And so, as this man sits at the gate, sitting on the fringes of life, sitting on the outskirts, he's watching other people come and go. He's watching other people live, he's watching other people experience life and community and worship and God, and he never gets to enter in for himself. And in verse 3, it says, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asks to receive alms. And so as he's just getting settled in, his family's just dropped him off, he's probably just arranging himself, and he sees his first prospects coming. Peter and John, they're coming up to the temple at the hour of prayer, and so he puts out his hand to receive some money. And this is just, you know, it's nothing new for him. It's just what he did. He's just hoping for some spare change. Because this is what life has taught him that he can expect to receive. It's all he knows how to hope for. And in verse 4, it says 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. Do you have your Bibles, Church? I'm like looking out. I'm not seeing many Bibles out there. If you have a Bible in your hand or on your phone, lift it up for me. Oh, look at that. We go, okay. All right. I was judging you. I'm sorry, okay? All right. Just gotta check. That's my job. I gotta check and make sure you're reading your Bible. So Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and he said, look at us, and the man fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something. So Peter looks at the man and gets I'm assuming this is probably something that not everybody did, right? Have you ever noticed that tendency to look away when you see someone with their hand out? You guys haven't noticed because you're not as big a sinner as me. The fact is we all do it. We all do it at times. We have our moments. But it's an instinct to look away from brokenness and poverty and pain because we don't want to face it. We don't want to see it. We don't want to feel responsible for someone else's pain or need or poverty or brokenness. And yet, church, we're the redeemed, aren't we? We're the ones who have been redeemed already out of our poverty, out of our need, out of our brokenness. We carry in aside of us the very cure for the brokenness of the world. And Jesus calls us as his people not to look away. He calls us to look need and pain and brokenness right square in the face with both eyes open and see it. Peter and John look at the man. They look him straight in the eyes, and Peter tells them, look at us. Now, how many people do you think actually spoke to this guy? I mean, not many, right? I mean, probably not. And so it got his attention. And so it says he fixes his gaze on him. He's expecting to receive something, and he's thinking, all right, this is gonna be a good one. You know, these people actually stopped and they're talking to me and they want me to look at them. I'm gonna, I'm gonna receive something. You know, but his life had set his set his expectations, right? So all his life had trained him to expect, I'm probably gonna receive at least a couple bucks right here. Maybe they'll give me like a five spot. Like they're actually talking, maybe they'll be really generous and give me 20 bucks, right? But God was about to do something way bigger. In verse 6, it says, Peter said, I have no silver and gold. And you must have been like, ah, man, thought this was gonna be a good one. But then Peter finishes the sentence. He says, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Stand up and walk. And it says he took him by the right hand, raised him up, and immediately his feet and his 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 can you even imagine, like for one second, how this guy must have been feeling right then? It must have felt surreal. Maybe he thought he had eaten some bad gefilterfish or something, and he was having like a vision. No? Too soon, huh? From the first moments of his life, his ankles and his feet had been twisted and weak and malformed. And maybe as a small child, he probably had some dreams. Like someday I'll get to walk like other kids do. I'll get to run around and play. But at this point in his life, he's over 40 years old. He's given up on childish dreams. He's resigned himself to a small life, to a life of limitation, to a life of being a burden, to a life of being avoided, to a life of being judged, a life on the outside, on the fringes of community, and now suddenly he's healed. And he stands up to his full height and he stretches legs that he's never used in his life. He stands up and he looks Peter and John straight in the eye. His normal perspective is this. And he gets to stand up and he gets to look straight at them. And he begins leaping for joy and he begins praising God. And for the first time in his life, he does something that he probably never dreamed he'd ever be able to do. He stands up on his own two feet and he walks into the beautiful gate, into the courts of the temple. And all he had asked for was a couple of coins. And it was okay that that was all he asked for. You know, like that's he wasn't sinning by asking for too little, he wasn't sinning by not expecting enough. His life had taught him that that's all he could hope for. But sometimes, church, we're just like this guy, aren't we? No, not me. I'm not like that guy. Sometimes, church, we're just like this guy, aren't we? Yes, we some we also are broken, we also are limited, we also can be defined by things that we did not choose, and we also sometimes ask God for things that are far less than what He desires to do for us. And we think we know best. That's the problem. We think we know best, we think we know what we need. And so we pray small, we believe small, we ask God to give us what we think would be best for our lives, and we get frustrated and we get angry because let's face it, he doesn't always give us what we want, does he? Does he? Sometimes God doesn't give us what we want because what we want is too small. It's smaller than what he wants to do for us. In Ephesians chapter 3, after lifting up prayers for the church, Paul the Apostle ends his prayer by saying, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think according to the power at work within us. See, the problem, church, is that we don't even know what's possible, but God does. We don't know what we need, but God does. We don't know what our future holds, but he knows. We don't have any idea of the potential that he's placed within each and every one of us, but he knows how much he did, and we don't have any clue of the eternal magnitude of his plans and his purposes for our life or what he's able to accomplish through our pain and through our suffering and through our trials and through our bruising, as he redeems it all to serve his purposes for restoration and redemption of the people around us. And what's so hard for us in this is that our focus is almost always on our own temporary comfort and blessing. Because we're so connected to this world and this life. And it's tough to see beyond it, but God's focus is always on our eternal well-being. He's always, his focus is always on the bigger picture. He sees the end from the beginning, he sees what he wants to do, he sees what he designed us to do, and his purpose is bigger than ours. Amen? And so in verse 9, it says, 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. So the people saw him and they recognized him. All these years that he sat at the gate watching the world pass him by, watching other people live, watching other people love, watching other people worship and enter in, he must have wondered, God, why? Why me? How could you let this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? Don't you love me? Don't you even care about me? And all the prayers he must have prayed for all the years until he finally just stopped believing that it was even possible anymore. And now suddenly he's healed, and he's standing in the temple, and he's shouting and he's leaping, and then something amazing happens. Because for years and years, the people of the community had passed by his place at the beautiful gate. They had seen him there, asking for alms. They knew his face. Some of them maybe had even given something to him, and now they see him inside the temple, standing and leaping and praising God, and they recognized him. All those people who had passed him, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, who knew his face so well, they said, That's the lame man. That's the lame man that sits at the beautiful gate asking for alms. He's him, that's him, but he's what's he doing? He's standing, he's leaping, he's inside the temple. And it says they're filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. And verse 11 says, While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. So after he had been healed, John and Peter and the lame man walked into the temple. They went to the right and they went to Solomon's portico. It was the same place Jesus used to teach before he had gone to the cross. And the people see him, and they all recognized him and they knew him, and so they run to him to find out what happened. And in verse 12, it says, 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, 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 this man this perfect health in the presence of you all. And so they see him healed, and they come running to see, and they must have been staring at the apostles like because finally Peter's like, What are you staring at? Why are you looking at me? Why are you looking at me and John as if we did this? We didn't do this, Jesus did. Don't look at us, look to Jesus. You know Jesus, right? The one you denied and crucified? Yeah, that Jesus. The one you thought was just a troublemaker, the one you thought was just some normal rabbi, the one you were jealous of, guess what? God, the father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has exalted him to his own right hand. And he's raised him from the dead, and we're witnesses of it because we saw him face to face. And he calls him Jesus the Holy and Righteous One, Jesus the author of life. I mean, these are big, big titles. I think part of the problem here is that these people who stood here just didn't realize who Jesus is. But maybe that's our problem too. Maybe sometimes we forget who Jesus is. Because we like to think of him as a gentle carpenter, as a kindly rabbi, as a voice for the marginalized and oppressed, as a worker of miracles. We have lots of ideas about Jesus, and to be honest, all of those things are true and they're wonderful. But you know what else the Bible says? He's the author of life. He's the holy and righteous one. You know John 1 that says that he's actually the word that was with God and was God. He was in the beginning with God, that all things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that was made, that in him was life. The life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Or Colossians 1 that says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, that by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and without him nothing was made that was made. It says that in that he's the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, because in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself. Or Hebrews. He's the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And listen to this part he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Maybe sometimes we forget who Jesus is. But maybe it's because of who the apostles understood Jesus to be that they could stand what was going to come their way right after this conversation. As the persecution began, as the pain began, as the trials and injustice and hunger and suffering and floggings and even executions would begin. Paul the Apostle, when he talked about his suffering and everything he lost for Jesus, he said this: Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss that I might know Christ and be found in him. I count everything I lost. I count it as rubbish compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. The apostle Peter and John, who stood there this day next to this man who had been healed, knew the real Jesus. And so when the people came looking at them, they pointed to him and said, Don't look at us, you look at Jesus. And then he turned they turned to the people that gathered and they call them to repentance. In verse 19, he said, Repent, therefore, and turn again that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. Says, turn, repent, turn to Jesus that your sins may be blotted out. Even you, the ones who betrayed him and denied him in the presence of Pilate, your sins can be forgiven and redeemed by the mighty name of Jesus. And from this point on, we're going to start seeing the persecution of the church begin. Because right here in this scene, the religious leaders, the temple guard, they come and they find them preaching in the temple and they don't like it. And so they have them arrested and taken to jail, but not before this. Acts chapter 4, verse 4. It says, But many of those who heard the word of word of heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000. And so I wonder if as he stood there watching the apostles be led away in shackles, while standing on a pair of perfectly functioning legs that had never worked a moment before in his life. As he began to realize the magnitude of what had just happened to him and the people around him and what this was going to mean for the rest of his life, if the lame man who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms didn't just have a moment of clarity, a realization that this had been the purpose all along. And that God hadn't abandoned him through all of those long years of waiting as he suffered. That God wasn't mean and cruel and callous and unfeeling, that God had heard every single one of his prayers, he had seen every one of his tears, and that God's purpose and plan had always been to redeem his pain and his suffering in order to redeem his soul. And more than that, the souls of thousands more, who, because they had seen him sit at that place for all those years, knew his face and came running to hear all about Jesus. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says, So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. This man sat there for forty years, day after day, year after year, wondering why, crying out to God, living a life he never chose, and then in a single moment everything changed. But remember that the miracle didn't happen to him, it happened through him. Amen. What if God's doing the same thing in our lives? What if the thing that we've been asking for him to remove from our life is the very thing that he wants to use to redeem not only us but the people around us? Sometimes we don't get what we ask for. But it's because God has a better plan. Not because he doesn't love us. But the thing is we can trust him because he sees what we can't see. And he's able to redeem every part of our lives for his eternal purpose. And if you're struggling to trust God today, if you're struggling to believe that he could redeem what you've been through, I just want to invite you to come forward as we sing. And I'm just going to be ready. And if you want to come forward, I want to pray for you. Whether you need healing, whether you need restoration, whether you need faith, whether you need a prayer to help you surrender to him, if you want to pray for hope, if you want to pray for salvation, just come.