00:00:00 – 00:01:59
Clint Loveall
Hey, welcome back, everybody. Thanks for joining us as we start out the week on a Tuesday this time in the book of Acts, the third chapter. And again, we just begin to progress in this look at the early church and the people of the early church and some of the activity and the things that were happening. And I think Luke makes some significant points today. We'll read this through, jump in and read about 10 verses or so, and then we'll come back and and see if we can walk through it together. One day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, about three in the afternoon, and a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple, called the beautiful gate, so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go in the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, did John. And they said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who sat and asked for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. So a couple of interesting things on the front end here. The first is that Peter and John are going to the temple, as would be the routine. They remain committed.

00:02:01 – 00:03:39
Clint Loveall
At this point, I think we would call them committed Jews that could be problematic on our side of the equation where we understand there's a significant split. But they understood themselves to be Jews who had received the truth of the Messiah of the Christ. And so they're doing what Jewish men do and what has been their practice, most likely they're going to the temple for an hour of prayer. And then this second part of the story, we know this reality in our own societies and around our world, people who don't have a lot of resources, in this case a man who isn't mobile, and people help him. He's a beggar. People help him beg. He's there at the gate, which is probably a good place to set up because people going to the temple are likely to do these good things for him, etc. And the first thing I think that's instructive, Michael, is Peter looked at him. And I suppose there would be a mini sermon in this about seeing people who are in need. And so often we look past those people or we don't see those needs. And in this case, the first thing I think that's important is Peter and John are going to prayer and they see this man. They see and then, of course, they respond.

00:03:40 – 00:06:12
Michael Gewecke
So it's a really interesting first foray in a way into the story because we've had this set up. We've had Jesus ascend, we've had the coming of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, and then we had this proclamation that Peter gives. And then our last conversation was about the beautiful description of a vital, vibrant, growing church, and how that church worshiped together, they fellowship together, and they shared the things that they had in common. And those details are moving forward here, because here's a man, Clint, who's asking for alms at the temple at the place of worship. Very clearly, we now have the disciples entering into a witnessing capacity, a evangelistic mode, because as they are going to worship, they come into the presence of this man who has lack, and this man lacks for financial resource. His body is broken, and we know the gospel stories of Jesus, how his attention was always given to those who were the loss to the least, the brokenhearted, the broken body. And here we have all of that right now at the front end of this story. Here, this man whose sickness has, he's been lame from birth, we're told, he is brought by those so that he can get the resources that he needs. And yet, Peter doesn't start with some kind of magical incantation. He doesn't demonstrate some kind of superhero, superhuman response. He starts with looking intently at the man. And I think, Clint, that there's something really deeply personable and there's some teaching happening here about what the Christian encounter with the world looks like, as now these disciples are going and they're engaging with those who are, they're sent to. And the first thing that they do is not hand out attract or not argue with them. No, it's immediately to see those people who we know that Jesus saw. And yet on their way, Peter sees this man. And it's on that encounter upon that moment that the rest of the story is going to turn. From that moment forward, the question is going to be, yeah, but what can these Christians do? We're no longer asking what can Christ do, but what can these followers of Christ do? And this story is the first pivotal transition to answering that question in the rest of this book?

00:06:12 – 00:08:51
Clint Loveall
I think that's exactly the right path into the story, Michael, that for Luke, the church now is the physical entity of Jesus in the world. And the church is called, through the power of the Holy Spirit, not on its own merit, but because of the Spirit of Christ, the church is called to do those things that Jesus did. And we understand. I think it's clear to us that the church will go out and preach, that the church will teach, and maybe that the church would give people food and do nice things. But for Luke, that includes the miraculous as well. That includes that the disciples here embody by the power of the Holy Spirit the gift that Jesus exercised and demonstrated, the gift of healing. And so if you read the gospel of Luke, this does sound familiar. sounds like an echo of a Jesus story, and I think that's exactly how Luke intends it. Peter says, I don't know that. We don't have silver. We don't have gold. But I give you this in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. And notice, whereas Jesus would say, I say to you, stand up and walk. Now it's in his name. And that's the difference of being church here. But the work is the same. take him up. They raise him up. His ankles are strong. Then there's some beautiful language here, jumping up. He stood, and then he walked. He's walking and leaping and praising God. And the people saw him walking and praising God. And they recognized him. And again, this has some of the feel of a gospel story. And then they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. And so I think, on one hand, this feels like a familiar story. If you jump back into basically any of the gospels, you'll encounter stories like this. On the other hand, don't miss the incredible twist that this is not Jesus doing the healing now. It's being done in Jesus' name, but it's being done by these leaders of the church. The church is now the body of Christ on earth, and it is setting about doing the things Jesus did up to and including miraculous healings for people. And that's, I think, a very clear point that Luke is going to try and make.

00:08:51 – 00:11:00
Michael Gewecke
The movement here, Clint, I think is really important for us to really capture, because ultimately this story is about going from the brokenness of the human condition, to seeing it, to engaging it in the name of Christ, and then moving forward, and that having a material impact upon the person who was sick, and then ultimately notice that that doesn't stop with this man. He goes walking and praising God. He's recognized for that because he's been at the Temple Gate, and then the people are filled with wonder and amazement. This, I think, is a really important cycle that Luke is teasing out for us more than just as a description of a thing that happened. I think what you're seeing here is how the seed of the gospel grows with the power of the spirit at play. This is what happens when the church is living out its mission, when we have that beautiful vision of the church supporting one another, if you had any question at that moment, so is that kind of like a club that just benefits itself? The answer is no, because now you see immediately the driving force of that, sort of like if you're spinning paint, right? And it starts spinning out in these circles. Like the thing that you're seeing happen, the waves of this are that people are going to be touched by the power of Jesus Christ, which means what? That means needs are met. it means that bodies are healed. It means that lives are restored. It means that people find themselves at the end filled with wonder and amazement, not because of Peter, not because of John, but because of what God has done, because of what Christ continues to do through the life of the church. So there's a real there's a real muscle to this story. This is, the gospel's not just idea. The gospel is the work of God and the world happening. Yeah,

00:11:01 – 00:12:06
Clint Loveall
I think one way to say that is that Luke is reminding us that even in this very first moment of church, witness is more than word. It's demonstration. The early church demonstrates the power of Christ. And I know for those of us that live in mainline church families like Presbyterians, we don't always know what to do with supernatural language. And yet, each and every week we pray over people believing that there can be healing. And in each and every church, there is a story of someone who was told that a situation might be hopeless only to then see a new possibility emerge as that congregation or as that community brought them before Jesus in prayer. And again, we don't tend to live in the part of the church family that,

00:12:08 – 00:12:46
Clint Loveall
how would we say it, Michael, that maybe pushes the agenda of the supernatural too often or certainly not our ability to maybe participate in it. But at every level, the church believes that we can do more, that God can do more through us then simply help us listen to sermons or sing songs. I mean, the power of the spirit undergirding and filling the church is important, regardless of how you understand the particulars of how that happens.

00:12:47 – 00:15:34
Michael Gewecke
I want to be very clear and set this up correctly here from the start. I'm taking a leap here where I'm on a goat path for sure. But I think there is something worth in sorting here, Clint. is one of the temptations of a supernatural story like this where a person is healed is to focus on the supernatural outcome for this particular man. But I want to submit to you that all historical evidence would suggest that it is very common for people like this man to be at the temple, to be at the beautiful gate asking for alms. That was a common place, and there are stories in the gospels of similar settings. The idea that there was one man that day who, healed should not in any way for us, I don't think, in my opinion, be an accusation against those other people there who were not. And I think the point of this story is not why one person got healed and why other people didn't get healed. That's not how the story's been told. The way that this story's been told is what happens when people of faith go to the temple to worship. And when they open their eyes to see the needs that exist, God by the power of Jesus Christ alive at work in the world through the Holy Spirit is able to work through those men to transform the life of another human. And that person is moved to worship such that it causes ripples of marvelous and amazement, wonder in the lives of those that are surrounding it. That, Clint to me is the reason why this story is told. And the danger when we focus on the supernatural is we miss the human of the story. This man was seen. This man's body was made strong again, that this man was moved to gratitude because of the thing that happened to him. And you may not have a story that fits the exact context of a temple and almsgiving, but I guarantee you that every single one of us, if we can look at our lives through the lens of what Luke is teaching, can see that God has showed up in our own lives, that God has caused moments of wonder and amazement. Those moments are there for every one of us. And part of the Christian walk and discipleship is praying that like Peter and John that day, our eyes might be open, that we could allow ourselves to be vessels to do something. It may not feel to you to be supernatural. I submit that within the way that the early church lived, eating together in their homes, worshiping in the temple was just as spiritual as this story. And we need to hold all that intention, I think.

00:15:34 – 00:16:55
Clint Loveall
I think that it's easy to imagine that our witness is what we do or what we say. But this is a nice reminder that maybe the most powerful witness is what we allow God to do through us or what we participate in that God is doing. And this phrase that Peter uses, in the name of Jesus Christ, that as we continuously keep our attention and our focus on Christ, then his power is at work in the church in communal ways, in practical ways, in ordinary ways, and sometimes in exceptional and unexplainable ways. And we should give praise for all of those things because they all constitute our witness. So people speak well of the church when they eat together and take care of one another. Here, people are filled with wonder and amazement because there is a miraculous healing. Neither of those are the point. The point is that all of those things point to Jesus instead of simply the people participating in them.

00:16:55 – 00:17:12
Michael Gewecke
I think that is well said. I'm not going to add to it. I'm only going to just say, please don't miss the study as we continue because that's going to be made explicit as we come along with the story. So thank you so much for being with us today. It's a blessing to have you with us here. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.