The X-ray and Preview (SDSU)

  • David Fairchild
  • Apr 15, 2007
  • Series: Acts
TEXT

 

 

Acts 3:1-11: “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 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. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 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!’ 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 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. 11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's, astounded.”

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

Final Redemption is Restorative and Comprehensive

 

 

Before we get into this passage I need to speak about what God is planning to do with this world in the future.  The reason this is important is that it gives shape to what He’s doing today in His world and how we are part of His comprehensive plan of the restoration of all things. 

 

 

At the end of the last chapter, 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. 

 

 

When we speak of Kingdom, Salvation, End Times, and Final Restoration, we should never make the mistake of breaking them up into disconnected bits.  Each of these is interconnected and shows us what God’s plan is for this world.

 

 

When God set out on the long road of redemption, His ultimate destination was the restoration of the creation which will again be His kingdom.  Humanity will one day no longer rebel against Him and the effects of sin upon this world will be removed.  When Jesus Christ came and accomplished what He was sent for by the Father, He not only accomplished redemption but demonstrated that God would progressively march until His goal is complete.

 

 

History is heading somewhere.  God is renewing His creation today and will fully restore it when Christ returns.  All things will once again submit to His gracious rule. 

 

 

When we speak of the end times we usually step into a hornet’s nest of debate.  The problem with our current thinking about the end times is that people are overly focused on looking at certain timetables and lining them up with current events by reading the newspaper into the Bible.  The debates often center on when Christ is returning rather than what He’s currently doing and promises to do.  Our energy and attention then focuses on reading the signs of the times rather than focusing on what we do agree upon about history. 

 

 

There are a variety of views of the end times, yet there are four main elements of our end-time hope that is clear from the biblical story.

 

 

First, it is clear from Scripture that Jesus Christ will return again.  Jesus promises again and again that he will return to finish the work He has begun (Matt. 16:27; Luke 21:28).  Whatever the exact timetable, we know that Jesus Christ is returning to finish the redemptive work and will come to destroy sin and renew creation.

 

 

Second, there will be a bodily resurrection of the dead to life or death. 

 

 

Third, all humans will stand before God in final judgment.  Every person, without exception, will stand before God; their deeds, words and thoughts will be judged in light of God’s will.  One text drives this home most clearly.  In a parable Jesus speaks of the judgment in terms of a shepherd separating sheep from goats.  To those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, invited in the stranger, clothed the naked, took care of the sick, and visited the prisoner, the Shepherd-King will say “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, and the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25:34-35).  Those who lived their lives for themselves rather than for others, who didn’t do what the righteous had done He says to them: “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). 

 

 

The final judgment is one of the firm elements of a Biblical understanding of the end.

 

 

Fourth, the kingdom will finally come in fullness.  Paul pictures this: “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power.  For he must remain until he has put all enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:24-25).  The righteous will enter into the kingdom that has been restored.

 

 

Final salvation is not an escape from creation to heaven but of restoration of creation on the New Earth. 

 

 

Is going to heaven when you die the end goal of God’s redemptive work?  If it is, it shapes all the elements of our future hope.  Or is the goal of the story of God’s redeeming work a renewed creation?  The return of Christ, the resurrection, the final judgment, and the restoration of God’s kingdom will take on a different meaning. 

 

 

The whole Bible leads us to expect a glorious renewal of life on earth, so that the age to come will be an incredible and joyous adventure of living with God on the New Earth.  We will be more human than we have ever been.  We will be liberated from sin, death, and all that hurts or harms us. 

 

 

Instead of the kingdom being a spiritualized kingdom, we are looking forward to a kingdom where creation is restored.  It will not be “up there” but will fully come “down here.”  Creation will not be destroyed but renewed.  It is only sin and its effects that will be destroyed.  Therefore, it isn’t an individualistic and selfish hope but a cosmic hope.  Human life and all its relational and creational connections will be renewed.  And this is not only in the future; we have begun to taste of that kingdom that we will enjoy fully when Christ returns. 

 

 

Final redemption is restorative and comprehensive.

 

 

With this said, what does the healing of the lame man have to do with final restoration and redemption?  The leaping of the lame man is a sign of final restoration.  And, it is a compass for the work of the Church today.  

 

 

 

We’re going to look at the story of this healing as both an X-ray and a preview.  As an X-ray, it makes visible to the outside observers the unseen inner cure that faith in Jesus produces.  Astonishing as it is for a man of forty who has never walked to leap in the temple, the cure of hearts paralyzed in sin is even greater.

 

 

As a preview, it shows the final completion of Jesus’ restorative work, when believers’ physical bodies will fully experience the salvation which we already taste in the form of firstfruits (Rom. 8:18-25).  Astonishing as it is for the lame man to leap, it is nothing when compared to the cosmic restoration to come, “the restoration of all things” (v. 21). 

 

 

Let’s look at both.

 

STUDY

 

 

I-The X-ray (making the invisible visible)

 

         

 

a. The apparent need

 

         

 

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.

 

 

Neglected

 


He was certainly in need, not because he was disabled, but because he was neglected by those who should have helped him!

 

 

What does this tell us about the failure of the Old Testament church at this point of history?  Suppose a member of Kaleo was left to beg at our church door every Sunday—what would this say about our church?  It would tell us and the world that as an organization (the body of Christ) we didn’t want to be bothered by their suffering. 

 

 

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. 

 

 

But there is a need deeper than this.       

 

 

          b. The real need

 

 

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.             

 

 

                   i. Peter didn’t neglect this man (he saw)

 

 

Verse 4: “And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’”

 

 

                             a. He directed his gaze at him (compassion)

 

 

b. Do we see the broken?  This is one of Satan’s greatest devices, to blind us from seeing those in need.

 

 

c. How do we as the church look at people who are lame in spirit?  What is our gaze?  How do we see the strippers, prostitutes, drug dealers, addicts, thieves, prisoners, the

 

molested, broken, hurting, and mentally damaged? 

 

 

                   i. Peter understood this man’s real need (he spoke)

 

 

Verse 6: “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!’”

 

 

                             a. He spoke of Christ (what I do have I give)

 

 

                             b. How do we as the Church speak of and to the lame in spirit?

 

 

                   iii. Peter helped (he acted)

 

 

Verse 7: “And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.”

 

 

                             a. He took him by the hand and raised him up

 

 

b. How do we as a church extend a hand to the lame in spirit?

 

 

                   iv. The man’s response (showing the world what happened)

 

 

a. He confessed the goodness of God from a transformed heart.

 

 

b. He went joyously to worship the Lord.

 

 

c. He gave witness to the mercy of the Lord in public.

 

 

d. He was given a new life to live and it would never be the same.

 

 

          c. Our real needs have been met for a reason

 

         

 

                   i. Charles Simeon’s quote

 

 

“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.”

 

 

II-The Preview (it shows a preview of Jesus’ final restoration to come)

 

 

a.      The world is in need (it is lame/crippled)

 

 

b.      The world is watching (verse 11)

 

 

          c. Salvation beyond ourselves (cosmic restoration)

 

 

Isaiah 35:1-10: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon . They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

 

 

III-Both on Display (this is transformissional living)

 

 

a.      The importance of future hope

 

 

          b. The importance of past accomplishment (Christ was not inadequate)

 

 

 

 

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