Sharing the Good News
Acts: Sent, Scattered, Scorned
05_Sharing the Good News (Acts 3:1-26)
At the end of Acts 2, Luke gave us a summary portraying the community life of new believers in Jesus. Luke records a second event that signals the arrival of the Kingdom of God through Christ and the last days. As a result of this new community in Christ, we begin in chapter 3 to see the church sent into the world with the good news. The problem is that the world is often times looking for a quick fix, not the ultimate answer to their real needs. In our passage today, we will come to realize the power of God through the good news of Jesus Christ. The world is waiting on an answer to its sickness and death. It is longing for redemption and restoration, but doesn’t know how to get them. In this passage we get a snapshot of what God longs to do in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Let’s start in Acts 3:1-5 Looking through the Beautiful Gate with Peter and John. 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. When we read this passage we will be inclined to think that the beggar was in need because of his disability. But he was no ‘drop-out' from society. He wasn't lazy. He just happened to be crippled and all he could do was beg. He was certainly in need, not because he was disabled, but because he was neglected by those who should have helped him! The church of the Old Testament neglected the need of the poor and lame at its own door. It closed its eyes to its God-given responsibility to care for its own poor and needy. As individuals and as a church, We must not NEGLECT the harassed and helpless at our DOORSTEPS. The beggar was used to being neglected and begging. If the church had no vision for his need, he also had probably lost sight of his real need and had no vision of his own life. He was just trying to survive and get by, no more, no less. He was forced by his circumstances to exist from day to day on the hand outs of worshippers. He had no future to think of but to beg and make it through another day. His real need was something far greater than money. He needed a place within the fellowship of the community of God's people who would recognize his dignity as a child of God and who would integrate him into the work and witness of the people of God. This seems hopeless in view of the decayed spiritual state of the Jewish church, but this is in fact what he needed. He needed a truly caring community, with encouragement, help, a place of usefulness, a sphere of work, and a place to serve God with a thankful heart. But it isn't just a job, money, and a new pair of legs he needed. There is a deeper dimension to this need which alone can give meaning and substance to these temporal helps. We must BECOME a church again that has something to OFFER. We have to be a place where people can find hope and healing. We have to be a place in our community where people look for help and answers. We have to be a place where people are restored back to God.
In the remainder of our passage today, Acts 3:6-26, we discover from Peter How to Restore People Back to God. The first thing that we see is that we must Make the INVISIBLE VISIBLE to them. Look at verses 6-10, 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. The Action: Peter SHARED (v. 6 He spoke of Christ (what I do have I give). How do we as the Church speak of and to the lame in spirit?) and SERVED. (v. 7 He took him by the hand and raised him up. How do we as a church extend a hand to the lame in spirit?) The Result: The beggar WALKED and WORSHIPPED. He showed the world what had happened to him. He confessed the goodness of God from a transformed heart. He went joyously to worship the Lord. He gave witness to the mercy of the Lord in public. He was given a new life to live and it would never be the same. God is in the business of dealing with our real needs in our lives; He in the restoration business. C.S. Lewis gives us a great analogy of what this looks like, “Imagine yourself a living house. [You ask God to make some repairs.] At first…he is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on…But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of…You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.”
The second thing that we must do if we want to restore people back to God is to Point them to the TRUTH of Jesus. Luke continues the story in verses 11-16, 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. Peter now moves from the healing of the lame man to explain the truth of Christ to those who are curious about what just happened. He moves the focus off of the man, off of himself, and onto Jesus and the truth of Jesus. What we have in this sermon is Peter explaining that what it means to be a Christian is to be someone who has a new relationship to truth. When you come into Christianity, the understanding of truth is something which is coherent, or in other words, it is consistent and connected together. Over the last several years we’ve had the great honor of watching several people come to a living faith in Christ either as new believers or as nominal believers whose faith has been ignited in ways which before was not experienced. We’ve also had the pain of watching many who have come to investigate what’s going on here leave and not come back. One of the things we’ve seen is that when it comes to love, they’re interested; when it comes to peace, they’re interested; when it comes to power, they’re interested; but when it comes to truth, all of the sudden a problem surfaces and they may or may not choose to stick around. Here’s where Peter shows us that it is possible to know final truth, the truth of Jesus. Peter is talking about the prophecies of Moses, Isaiah, Hosea, and Jeremiah. He’s saying that didn’t simply bring us words about God, but that they brought us the words of God. He doesn’t say that they foretold but rather than God was telling us through them. These aren’t words about God they are words of God. If Isaiah said it, God said it. This is what God said. The New Testament Christians believed that the Holy Spirit empowered and spoke through the writers of Scripture. They didn’t have a mystical out of body experience. God used their knowledge, their personality, and even their writing style, but He spoke through them His words and believers knew it. What we have in the Scriptures is a completely and thoroughly true book. This is truth from God. Peter doesn’t just say that we have a Bible filled with ultimate truth alone. He says that the truth is actually a person. Regardless of their response, if we want to restore people back to God, we have to point to the truth of Jesus, because it is only by FAITH in His NAME that we can experience LIFE. Back out a little bit and look at what Peter is saying in this sermon. He’s saying that everything in the Bible is ultimately about Jesus. It is the truth of Jesus who Christ came to earth to live a perfect and righteous life in the face of great hatred, persecution, anger and bitterness, gossip and slander, opposition outside His group of friends, betrayal in His group and ultimately He was murdered for the truth He taught. Our faith should be focused on Jesus. Charles Spurgeon explains this need to remain committed to the truth of Jesus above all else, I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, "It is Jesus Christ."
If we want to Third and final thing that we must to restore people back to God is to Call them to REPENT and BELIEVE! Look at Peter’s boldness in verses 17-26, "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 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, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.' And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness." What Peter is saying is this: whenever the Gospel is preached, Jesus is present in the Gospel and comes to you and He blesses you and makes these truths real to you as He cuts you to the heart. Has this happened to you? Do you let Jesus deal with you personally in this way? Peter makes it very clear that RESPONDING to the good news leads to REFRESHING. Peter also makes it clear that REJECTING the good news leads to RUIN. If you are in the habit of dismissing and editing God, you’re not going to see true transformation deep in your heart. You might believe in the good news generally, but you don’t let it come in and cut you. If you continue to hold Jesus at bay, you will continue to head toward ruin. God longs to restore us to himself and it happens as we respond to His message of repentance and faith. Admit our sinfulness and turn back to him for forgiveness and healing. This is what the lost and dying world needs to hear. It is not a popular message, but it is an effective message for those who God is calling to Himself. Charles Simeon encourages us to live out this new life we have in Christ, "We expect you no longer to continue the poor, low, groveling creatures ye have been; but to show to all around you, that you are endued with power from on high, and enabled to ‘walk even as Christ himself walked.' We expect you to shine as lights in the world; yea, the world itself expects this of you. If you profess to have experienced the converting grace of God, the world will ask you, and with reason too, ‘What do ye do more than others?' And they should be made to see that there is divine grace and an energy and power to which they are utter strangers; and an efficacy for which they know not how to account. "Dear brethren, ye must live above the world: ye must delight yourself in God. Ye must not be afraid of man: nor if man ridicule and revile your devotion to God, must ye regard it as of the smallest moment. Gratitude to the Savior must fill your souls. To him you must consecrate all the powers he has renewed; and the whole of your life must henceforth be devoted to the praise of his grace, and to the glory of his name."
The Big Idea: The world is WAITING and WATCHING! The world is in need, it is lame and crippled. It is waiting for an answer to the emptiness and loneliness that it feels. It is watching for someone who will show them what the Lord is like; what life looks like. Are we ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ to a world that is waiting and watching?
