A Church of Impact Shows Compassion. Acts 3:1 says, “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.” There is such a casual tone to this verse. It was customary for Jews to pray three times day—morning, afternoon, and evening.
One Rabbi explains how the mornings are filled with enthusiasm and excitement. But as the day advances our energy slowly drains away. And then comes the night. Tasks we hoped to complete remain undone. We realize the daylight and warmth don’t last forever. (http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/217169/jewish/The-Night-Belongs-to-Jacob.htm)
Now when do you suppose we encounter some of the greatest needs? It’s not usually the morning, when we feel the most refreshed and resourceful. It’s often later in the day, when our energy and patience are in short supply, when were hoping to wind down! It’s three in the afternoon were told in Acts 3:2 that, “a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.”
Chronic needs are some of the hardest needs we encounter. This guy was brought every day to the temple courts to do the same thing every day he’d been doing most of his life. He was stuck. He was without faith, without hope, and didn’t have a path forward. And nobody had any ideas for him, but that maybe he should beg.
The only thing Acts 3 says about the man, is that his faith was in money. Acts 3:3 says, “When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.” He was laying before the temple of the Living God, but he’d never considered looking to God, nor trusting God, nor seeking God. No, he saw people. And he knew people had money. And if he could put himself in the midst of the foot traffic, maybe some godly person would pity him. And if he did it late enough in the day, like 3pm when people were already tired, they’d be more apt to toss him some gold and silver than have any kind of real interaction with him.
How many times (at three in the afternoon) are you tempted to pass by somebody holding a sign, destitute, begging, defeated, worn out by life? Now don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about! You know, the person w/the sign, standing at the temple intersection… don’t make eye contact! Just awkwardly stare ahead! Pretend the guy doesn’t exist! Make sure your doors are locked before you get to the intersection. Because if you wait too late, the guy might hear you clicking the locks and think you’re scared, or freaked out, or judgmental, or rude!
Actually, you don’t have to worry about making eye contact, because their usually too ashamed to look up anyway. It’s a risky proposition to make eye contact. Because if you make eye contact, you might get entangled in a situation you can’t easily resolve. Again, no worry. The reason that person is asking for money, is because they want the whole ordeal to be just as impersonal/transaction for you as it is for them! At three in the afternoon, their banking on the fact that your tired, and you just want to get through the end of your day, and that you won’t bother them with anything more!
Acts 3:3-5 says, “When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. But Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.” What do you suppose he was expecting to get? One thing Peter and John immediately gave him was dignity. They looked at him. And they told him, “Look at us!”
Do you realize that when you look someone squarely in the eye, you’re giving them the gift of dignity? That’s true whether you’re giving someone a handshake or giving them a handout! That’s true whether you’re looking up to someone (because you want to get something), or looking down at someone (because they want to get something)! We can never let a person’s level of prestige determine their worth. Instead of looking at people in terms of their value to us, we need to first see their value to God!
At three in the afternoon, our default is to see people as a hindrance, or an unwelcome disruption. At three in the afternoon we’re most apt to blow a person off. But Peter/John looked him in the eye, and made a deeper connection. The man was expecting silver and gold, something quick and transactions. Peter and John give the man permission to be known. When is the last time you looked at your spouse in the eye, looked at your child in the eye, looked at a coworker, or a neighbor, or a person in need in the eye… and really saw them?
Now I want to say, this isn’t a sermon about stopping and helping every guy standing on a street holding a sign. The other day there was a man in an electric wheelchair, who was spilled out on second street near the park. Lara and I were getting a bite to eat and I thought, that’s sure odd. What’s a man doing driving an electric chair down second street? There is no sidewalk, no shoulder. When we came back that way he was laying in the grass, and looked quite distressed. So I pulled into the park, ran over to him, and asked, “What’s going on?”
He pointed to some part on his chair and said, “it’s broke.” Now I’m a tad bit mechanical, enough to know that there wasn’t anything broke where he was pointing. I asked him, “where did you come from?” A bus had dropped him off at Walmart. I asked him, “Where are you going? There’s nothing out here! There are a few gas stations by the interstate, is that where you want to go?” The only thing he would tell me was, “I’ll know it when I find it.” I told him, “Let me take my wife home and I’ll be right back to help you.” So I came down to the church, I grabbed Brad/Jay, and grabbed a trailer, and we raced back to help him.
By the time we got back, several park workers had also pulled up. An army of people were ready to help him. I said, “Lets put your wheelchair on this trailer and take it downtown where we can get it fixed. We can help you find food and shelter, and get you out of this heat.” Suddenly his wheel chair began working. As he hustled to pick up his belongings, I noticed he had several cardboard signs stuffed into his wheelchair.
I figured he would end up in one of two places. He would either drive up second street at end up by Lakeside, or he could turn up Woodside and end up by Cherry Hills. Either way I had a plan. Sure enough, he drove up Woodside road toward Cherry Hills. Several hours later I drove up behind him, and parked my jeep.
When he looked at me I asked, “Have you found it yet?” He looked confused. So I reminded him, “You told you’d know it when you found it…have you found it yet?” I pointed at Cherry Hills Church and I said, “You’re in luck. I know the pastor of this church. You could park your chair, recharge your batteries, we could get you a warm meal, and help you find a place to stay.” But no, he didn’t want all that, he made up some story about the church calling the cops, and the cops chasing him off.
A lot of the sign people only want silver and gold, and nothing else. When you offer to really help them, you’re inadvertently testing their sincerity. In the gospel’s there is a story like Acts 3 where Jesus even asks a guy, “Do you want to get well?” This message can be about helping the guy with the sign on the corner, but what I want to say, not everyone in distress is holding a sign. Not everyone in distress is physically lame. For some people, you only need to look at their face, or look at their body language, or look into their eyes to see “signs” of distress. For some people, it’s their lack of enthusiasm, their lack of a smile, their lack of connection that’s the sign.
Some people brilliantly mask their distress. Some deny it. Some medicate it. Some drink it away. Some work it away. Some family it away, hobby it away, exercise it away, sport it away, web-surf it away, entertain it away... Whether a person’s needs are visible or hidden doesn’t mean they’re any less in need! Are we paying attention?
In Acts 3:6 Peter says, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” One reason we don’t look at people is because we don’t want to disappoint them. They expect one thing, but we’re not sure how to best respond, or even if we want to respond. This guy in the temple wanted money. But was this only need? Was this even his greatest need?
As a young Christian I assumed money was the only way to help people. But money is often one of the most superficial and inadequate and short-sighted things we can offer a person in need. What if when we saw a need, we spent as much time taking spiritual inventory as we did taking inventory of our gold and silver? What else might we offer a person in need, beyond gold and silver? What else do we have?
“In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk.” There is no reason to “spiritualize” what Peter says. This man had a physical deformity. His feet and ankles were weak, or lame. He couldn’t walk. He couldn’t stand. He couldn’t dance or leap. In the name of Jesus, Peter and John command him to walk. And they “take his hand and help him up.”
Acts 3:7-10 says, “instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went into the temple, walking and jumping, and praising God. And when all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging in the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.”
Now, passages like this are extraordinarily challenging to us. Was this a one-time miracle? Should we be walking up to people and commanding them to walk? When Peter and John are asked to explain this miracle they say two things. In Acts 3:12 they say, “Why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had make this man walk?” And in Acts 3:16 they explain: “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.”
I’ve concluded that the most powerful and compassionate thing I can do, is ask a person to place their faith in Jesus Christ. Whatever a persons’ immediate need, if they’ll trust Jesus Christ, he will help them walk. We might need to take their hand, and help them stand up, but Christ will make them stand.
The reason we don’t like to be compassionate is because it makes us feel so inadequate and powerless. The moment we make eye contact with a person in need, we immediately realize, we’re already over our head! That’s because we are. Nothing happens by our own power or even our own godliness.
As amazing as it may be, that this man was healed, that’s not the greatest thing that can happen for a person. In Matthew 9, Jesus comes upon a paralyzed man, laying on a mat, much like Peter/John. The first words out of Jesus mouth are, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” The Teachers of the Law were outraged, that Jesus had the audacity to claim he could forgive the mans sins! But so they’d know Jesus had the authority to forgive sin Jesus commanded the man, “Get up, take your mat, and go home. Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe, and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.”
What we don’t know is what the crowd was more impressed with… Jesus authority to heal or his authority to forgive! One declaration matters for this life, one declaration matters for eternity. In Acts 3, Peter and John make sure not just the man, but the whole crowd, experiences “complete” healing.
Read Acts 3:17-26… blessing in healing… blessing in repentance… in turning.