Acts 3:1-26 The Healing Power of Moral Clarity

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all,

would you pray for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people

like yourself? The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian

checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would bring this part of your Word to us. Bring it deep into

our hearts. And Father, in the context of the gospel, bring this, your Word, into our hearts,

so that your Word will rule in our hearts, that it'll form our hearts, and that we will live lives,

Father, that are free, and that bring you glory. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son,

and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. I don't have a lot of people that I know that are Jewish,

or at least that might have more people that I know that are Jewish. I just don't know that they're

Jewish, just as lots of people might know Christians and not realize that they're a Christian.

But for those that I do know are Jewish, as I've bumped into them over the last few days,

I've made a point of going up to them and asking how they're doing. I ask them how their family and

friends are doing, if their family and friends are safe. And then I tell them if there's anything I

or my church can do to help you, just to let me know, or let your rabbi know if you have a rabbi,

and we'd be glad to do what we could to help you at this time. And they've all been very

appreciative. One person that I talked to this week, she's an older woman, and she uses a walker,

and she's a real character. And she shared, she said, I really appreciate that. I know you're a

Christian, and I really appreciate that you would say that to me. And then she said, you know,

many of my friends, I guess around her own age, were very frightened. And then she burst into this

big smile, and she said, but I just feel like I have to tell everybody I meet that I'm Jewish.

And I just sort of completely defy those types of fears. And she's a real character.

You know, in the providence of God, as you know, it's very rare that I would sort of switch my sermon

to talk about something which is quite contemporary. And I'm not doing that this week. But in the

providence of God, the text that we're going to look at today is actually very relevant to what's

going on right now in the world and in Canada. Because, in fact, what I can tell you is if you

had brought a Jewish friend to church today, I only had Josiah read the first 10 verses. We're

going to look at the first, all 26 verses in chapter 3. And if they had been sitting beside

you, your Jewish friend, when they come to certain verses, you would have felt your Jewish friend stiffen.

And you would have felt them, you would just feel that all of a sudden, they went from just sort of

being relaxed to being very tense. Because in fact, in this text of scripture that we're going to use,

are one of the main texts that people who call themselves Christians throughout the centuries

when they wanted to kill Jewish people, have used as a justification to kill Jewish people.

It's in the text that we're going to look at today. And so when they hear, if we had a Jewish

friend with us and they, that you hear these things, they would, you, they would just noticeably get very,

very tense. And given that in Canada, we have people yelling, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,

which is very unambiguously a call for the death of Jewish people.

And the erasing of the Jewish nation.

It is exactly that.

So it's very telling. It's very providential that we will look at a text that seems to support what some

Christians, or who call themselves Christians, have done throughout the centuries when they've

initiated a violent, murderous tax on Jewish people.

So let's walk towards this. And we're going to look at Acts chapter 3. And actually, Acts chapter 3 and 4 are really,

Acts 3 · chapter mention Acts 3 · chapter mention

in a sense, one story in four parts. And today, we're just going to look at chapter 3, the first two parts.

And then next week, we'll look at the rest of the story, parts 3 and 4. And it's actually very,

very ironic, or I didn't say it's ironic. It's actually very telling that this text that has been used by

Christians to justify murderous actions towards Jewish people actually begins with a remarkable healing.

But I'm just going to say something here. Any person who calls themselves a Christian,

who hates Jewish people, doesn't know the Bible.

They are completely,

I'm not exaggerating,

they are completely and utterly

ignorant of the Bible.

But unfortunately, that has happened

much in the past. Anyway, let's look at it.

So here, chapter 3,

what's happened, we're reading an ancient history,

eyewitness history of Jesus,

I mean, sorry, not Jesus, an ancient eyewitness

history, written by an eyewitness

and based on eyewitness

testimony of sort of the first 30-ish

years of the Jesus movement.

It begins in Jerusalem, it will end

in Rome. And so it is

really, literally, a Jesus movement

that starts to encircle

the empire and ends

right in the very center of the empire.

And

Jesus has died

and risen from the dead, and

50 days later, the Holy Spirit falls.

We Christians now

call it the day of Pentecost.

And then, right after that

happens, Peter preaches the first

Christian sermon, and then we get

a bit of a summary of the early church.

And now we have this next story.

And we don't know exactly how late it is,

they don't give enough specific time markers,

but probably within a couple of days

or a couple of weeks, this next story

happens, and here's how it goes.

Now, Peter and John, that's two

of the apostles, were going up to the temple

at the hour of prayer, the ninth

hour, which sort of is three-ish.

So at three-ish,

they went up to the temple to pray.

And a man

lame from birth was being

carried,

sorry, I have to move my notes.

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. And asking for alms, I mean,

he was asking for money, he was a beggar.

Now, just pause here for a second.

This is a very important

and very contemporary

little image, this picture that we're getting.

In the original language,

it actually says something

very poetic.

Like, I don't know actually why they don't

just translate it more poetic.

And it says at the beginning

that he was lame from birth.

It actually says,

lame from his mother's womb.

Which is actually quite beautiful.

Lame from his mother's womb.

And the other thing about this story

is that in many ways,

this is a story that couldn't happen

in very many places

other than Jerusalem.

And that's because

the custom of the ancient world

was that if they had seen a baby

come out of the womb

and be born,

and there's obviously something

massively deformed

about his ankle and his feet.

And they would look at it

and they would know

that there's just something

massively deformed

about his feet and his ankle.

He's never going to be able to walk.

In the pagan world,

they would have taken that baby

and they would have taken him

to a wilderness area

and left him there to die.

But what we call our Old Testament

and our Jewish friends

call it the Tanakh

forbids that.

And so the Jewish parents

would have kept the baby

and loved the baby.

And of course,

it would have been

a great strain on them.

He would not be able to work.

So he goes to his regular place

to beg.

For those of us

who are downtown a fair bit

and have regular patterns,

one of the things

you'll often notice

is that there's regulars.

Like, you know,

like you go to that certain spot

and you know that

there's going to be

the same one or two

or three different people

who beg at that corner

all the time.

They're regulars.

I make it a point

of trying to befriend

the regulars,

at least give them

the dignity of treating them

like a human being.

And occasionally

buying them coffee

or maybe a piece of pizza

or something like that.

But so this fellow,

who's nameless,

has been not ever able

to walk

and he's a regular

at the temple.

It's going to become

more and more clear.

And by the way,

we're going to discover

in the second half

of the story

in chapter four

that he's over 40.

So he's been lame

for a long time.

He's over 40.

So verse three,

what happens?

So Peter and John

about to go

into the temple,

sorry,

seeing Peter and John

about to go

into the temple,

the beggar

asked to receive

some money.

And Peter directed

his gaze at the man

as did John

and he said,

look at us.

Now this guy,

he's probably all

getting hopeful.

Like maybe this is going

to be like a lot of money.

Look at us.

And so the beggar

fixed his attention

on them,

verse five,

expecting to receive

something from them.

But Peter said,

I have no silver and gold.

And his heart would have,

oh,

I have no silver or gold.

I'm not going to get

a lot of money.

But Peter continues,

but what I do have,

I give to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ

of Nazareth,

rise up and walk.

And Peter takes the man

by the right hand

and starts to help him up.

And immediately

the man's 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.

Now,

actually,

we'll keep going

for the next few verses.

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 all filled

with wonder and amazement

at what had happened

to the man.

Now,

it's not a surprise

that many people,

not only in our modern world,

but especially over the last

150 or 180 years,

one of the reasons

they would say

that what I'm reading

isn't an ancient eyewitness history

is they would say

it can't be an ancient eyewitness history

because we know

that things like this

don't happen,

that science and medicine

have proven

that things like this

don't happen.

And so,

therefore,

what you're seeing

is a little bit of like

Aesop's fables

or stories about

the great pumpkin

or Santa Claus

or the Easter bunny.

It's some type of a metaphor

or a nice story

to try to inspire

some types of thoughts

amongst you.

Now,

I just want to

mention it very briefly

and I'm going to probably,

you've heard me talk about this

more in some of my earlier sermons

and I'll probably come back to it

in a later sermon,

but just a couple of things

about this.

The first thing is

everything about this book

shows that they're trying,

that they believe

they're writing history.

There's nothing in it,

there's nothing

in the original language,

everything about it,

all of the historical tie-ins

that you'll see.

Like,

as we go through

the book of Acts,

scholars will be able to say,

we know that this happened

in the year 49,

we know that this happened

in the year 51

because the book

has so many constant references

to things known

in the ancient world

and so it's,

and there's been other studies

to show that even things

like the titles

that they get

for the Roman officials

and the use of names,

that everything about it

points that this was

an historical book written,

they're claiming

that this actually happened.

I mean,

that's the bottom line.

They're not claiming

that this is metaphor

or poetry

or just a fable.

They're claiming

this actually all really happened.

And the second thing is,

and this is where

I don't have time

to go into it,

but in fact,

science and medicine

by its very nature

can't disprove

that this happened.

Science can say

that there's no science,

they can't come up

with a scientific reason

for it happening,

but as it's going

to be very obvious,

Peter's not claiming

that there's a scientific

reason for it happening.

He's claiming

it's a miracle.

And science,

by its very nature,

can never disprove

miracles.

In fact,

the only thing

that science and medicine

can do

is increase the wow.

So now,

you know,

probably the only thing

they could see

because of the clothes

he would have been wearing

is his ankles

and his feet.

But the wow is

that we now know

that if you'd lifted him up,

that you would have seen

from his buttocks down

that he had next to no muscle

and we would know

that because he's never

been able to walk,

he had next to no bone density

and his tendons

and his ligaments

would have been

basically atrophied

and he would have

no muscle memory

or knowledge

about how to walk.

So we would look at that

and say,

that's a wow.

Like,

God didn't just sort of

fix his ankles

and his feet.

He built muscle

and tendon

and ligament

and bone

and muscle memory

and all of that

so that he could go

from doing this.

Like,

that just increases

the wow.

I'm not saying

it proves that

the miracle happened,

but I'm just saying

that's what the very claim

of the book is

that it happened.

And by the way,

all of this

is very downstream.

One of the reasons

I believe in miracles

is because I believe

the historical evidence

is very good

that Jesus really

rose from the dead.

And if Jesus really

rose from the dead,

then there's miracles.

Like,

that's not impossible

to believe

that God would do miracles.

And then the third thing

is that actually

what the skeptic

doesn't understand

is on one level

he is correct.

There is a profound

metaphor here

that's going to be

developed throughout

the epistles

and throughout

the book of Acts.

And the profound metaphor

is that one of the ways

to understand

what salvation is,

when Jesus saves you,

when he makes you

right with God,

one of the ways

to understand that

is this shows you

that it's a healing.

Salvation is to be

healed by God.

He heals

your relationship

with himself.

Part of the reason,

not part of the reason,

the reason we die

is that because our soul

has been in rebellion

against God,

then our soul,

in a sense,

is not properly

attached to our body

and our body

withers and then dies

and our soul

and our bodies

go their separate ways

and the body dies.

And so what salvation is

is a profound healing

of who you are,

a healing that goes on

into eternity.

So there is, in fact,

a very profound metaphor there,

but there's no metaphor

unless it happened.

I can't say to you,

give your life to Christ

and you will begin

to experience

a profound healing

that goes into

all of eternity

if Jesus didn't actually

rise from the dead

and if miracles

like this don't happen,

then there's no metaphor

whatsoever.

There's just foolishness.

But you might say,

well, okay, George,

that's all very,

very interesting,

but I don't see anything

about this which is

anti-Semitic.

Well, that comes next

because what's going

to happen next

is Peter explains

what's just happened

and its significance.

So let's look at

how he explains it.

It begins at verse 11.

Well, the man clung

to Peter and John

and all the people

utterly astounded

ran together to them

in the portico

called Solomon's

and when Peter saw it,

he sees it,

there's a crowd,

he addressed the people.

Now, note what he does.

The very first thing

he does is very important

and it fits with as well

that there's a claim

of a miracle.

He says,

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?

So very clearly,

right up front,

he says,

listen,

it has nothing to do

with how holy we are,

it has nothing to do

with anything we've done.

We haven't discussed,

it's not like they've gone

back in a time machine,

you know,

from up in the future

and they have some ray

that can heal.

No, no,

it has nothing to do with us.

That's the very first thing

they claim.

Well, what does?

Well, here's how he begins

to explain

the meaning

and the significance

of what's just happened.

Verse 13,

the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac,

and the God of Jacob,

the God of our fathers,

glorified his servant,

Jesus,

uh-oh,

whom you

delivered over

and denied

in the presence

of Pilate

when Pilate

had decided

to release him.

But you

denied

the holy

and righteous one

and asked

for a murder

to be granted

to you

and you

killed

the author

of life

whom God

raised

from the dead.

To this

we are

witnesses.

And your Jewish

friend

stiffens.

The cry

of people

claiming to be

Christians

who wanted

to murder Jews

throughout the centuries

is said,

you killed

Jesus.

You killed

Jesus.

Jesus.

And maybe

if your Jewish

friend is with you

this morning

and they're

shocked

at what I just

read

and they'd be

even more shocked

and said,

good grief,

they get it

from the Bible.

Like they can't

just say this is

some other type

of cultural thing

that's come up

or some later

church teaching.

Like they get it

right from the Bible.

It's written in the Bible.

You killed.

You killed

Jesus.

From the river

to the sea

Palestine

will be free.

You killed

Jesus.

Now

let's

also be clear

it's actually

very hard

for us

in our

cultural moment

to understand

what's going on

in the text.

There's

a significant

part of what's

going on

in our culture

right now

that in fact

would make it

obvious

that the right

way to read

this text

is that when

I spoke to

the elderly woman

this week

who is Jewish

that rather

than comforting

her

and telling

her of my

support

and my willingness

to help her

in any way

I could

there's

a basic

way of

understanding

moral world

and relations

between peoples

today

which would

say that

in fact

the obvious

thing

for me

to say

to her

is not

I'll help

you and

support

you

but you

killed

Jesus

what do

I mean

see one

of the

things

is in

this

the way

it's been

used by

anti-Semites

throughout the

years

is that

literally

when I

meet that

elderly

Jewish

woman

or I

meet

another

one of

my

Jewish

friends

that

it really

is as if

they killed

Jesus

I mean

even though

they've

lived

2,000

years

after

there's

no possible

way

they could

be

responsible

for

killing

Jesus

but

they're

Jewish

and

that's

part of

what it

means to

be

Jewish

that

they

have

that

stain

upon

them

that

can

never

in a

sense

be

removed

you

you see

we live

in a

cultural

moment

and whether

it's

the

bureaucracy

the

courts

public

schools

universities

the

media

we live

in an

age

which

increasingly

thinks

in terms

of

group

responsibilities

some

of

you

here

have

immigrated

to

the

country

in

the

last

very

short

period

of

time

but

if

you

are

white

it's

as

if

you

are

responsible

for

what

happened

to

the

native

people

200

years

ago

and it

goes on

with other

people

groups

that's

the way

we're

taught

to

think

that's

the way

we're

taught

to

understand

moral

issues

it's

directly

analogous

to

anti-Semitism

I mean

the

motivation

behind it

is to

seek

justice

and all

of that

and I'm

not denying

that there's

often very

good

motivations

for thinking

in those

categories

but

increasingly

in our

culture

that's

how we're

taught

to

think

and so

if

you've

been

taught

to

think

in terms

of

racial

categories

and

other

types

of

categories

whether

it be

categories

connected

to

gender

or

sexuality

or

religion

or

ableism

or

anything

like

that

if

you're

taught

to

think

in

categories

and

you

see

a

thing

like

that

then

all

of a

sudden

it

makes

sense

that

that's

how

Christians

would

maybe

understand

the

issue

and

it

gets

all

complicated

because

the

whole

thing

ends

up

getting

very

complicated

with

who's

up

and

who's

down

and

how

you

parse

it

and

how

you

manage

it

but

in

some

ways

increasingly

in our

culture

it makes

it the

natural

way

to

read

this

text

part

of the

problem

with

this

way

of

thinking

is

that

there's

no

hope

there's

no

hope

the

more

we

think

in

categories

so

that

it

would

be

just

as

if

I

was

to

say

to

every

English

person

that

I

met

that

you're

directly

responsible

for

the

killing

of

my

ancestors

in

Ireland

during

the

potato

famine

if

an

Australian

we

have

an

Australian

in

our

congregation

he

was

to

meet

an

English

person

he

could

say

you're

directly

responsible

for

sending

my

forebearers

to

Australia

well

there's

nowhere

to go

with

that

there's

only

unending

recrimination

and guilt

and this

is not

what the

Bible

is saying

here

by the

way

actually

what you

see

here

is the

ground

work

and the

framework

for

moral

clarity

and

hope

profound

hope

when I

said

earlier

that

anybody

who

is

anti-Semitic

is

ignorant

of the

Bible

you'll

see in

a moment

why

because

if they

were just

to read

not only

the mere

fact that

this is

explaining

the

healing

should

make

them

wonder

whether

this

is in

fact

the

right

way

to

read

the

text

and

the

next

few

verses

will

definitely

bring

it

in

but

here's

the

thing

about

the

text

what

Peter

is

doing

here

is

actually

a

moment

of

very

courageous

moral

clarity

the

part

which

we're

going to

look at

next

week

is

that

after

this

speech

Peter

is

arrested

for

what

he

says

he's

arrested

for

what

he

says

because

and

what

if you

go back

and you

read

the rest

of the

book

of

Acts

and

if

you

read

the

other

epistles

all

of

which

take

place

after

the

book

of

Acts

what

you'll

see

is

they

never

say

this

again

why

do

they

never

say

it

again

because

the

Bible

teaches

that

you

are

responsible

for

your

own

moral

actions

there's

some

nuances

here

obviously

which

if I

was

doing

a

sermon

just

on

that

I

would

talk

a

little

bit

about

some

of

the

nuances

but

fundamentally

the

Bible

has

the

message

that

Josiah

is

responsible

for

Josiah's

sins

he

is

great

grandfathers

Josiah

is

responsible

for

his

own

sin

George

is

responsible

for

his

own

sin

Diane

is

responsible

for

her

own

sin

and

she

is

not

responsible

for

the

sins

of

her

forebears

she's

just

not

responsible

for

them

that's

the

biblical

message

and so

Peter

says

this

why

does

Peter

say

this

because

he's

literally

standing

in front

of

people

who

actually

did

do

this

and

that

takes

great

courage

you're

a tiny

little

we all

know

how much

courage

it takes

if you're

you know

you go

to you

know

those

you go

to workplace

things

to express

views

and all

that type

of thing

and share

and you

know

that if

you're

the one

person

who disagrees

with everybody

in the room

you can't

say what

you actually

think

it takes

a very

weird

type of

person

who can

do

that

somebody

who's

sort of

socially

awkward

who can

actually be

the one

person

in the room

to say

against what

everybody

else

is saying

you know

God

love them

you know

God

raises up

socially

awkward

people

I used

to have

a guy

in the

congregation

and if

he's

listening

to this

this is

a positive

thing

about it

he was

that guy

who could

go to

a secular

university

and speak

to like

a thousand

people

950

of them

all let's

say

completely

and utterly

in favor

of these

you know

of abortion

and all

of that

type of

thing

and he

would be

the guy

who'd

stand up

and tell

them

they're

all

wrong

he's

that type

of odd

guy

now by

the way

he's an

odd

guy

I discovered

like you

don't want

him on

your

committee

why

because

he just

he doesn't

pick up

social cues

but he

was used

powerfully

by God

right

so this

is Peter

says that

to them

but you

go on

and you

read the

rest of

the book

of Acts

and when

Peter's

talking to

Jewish

people

in you

know

Berea

or

Thessalonica

or Corinth

he doesn't

say you

killed the

Jews

because they

didn't

he doesn't

say that

to them

you go

back in

the epistles

and they

talk about

Jerusalem

they don't

say you

killed

no they

don't

because they

didn't

do it

and so

you see

here

that

in fact

you begin

to see

how beautiful

this text

is and

how much

our culture

needs it

because we

need moral

clarity

as human

beings

we fundamentally

need moral

clarity

and if you

think in

group categories

you will

never come

to moral

clarity

you will

only be

lost in

a fog

of moral

confusion

and so

here

first of

all we

see that

Peter has

moral clarity

has great

courage

he says

this to

them

but the

next parts

are even

more important

because here's

the thing

you can

never have

moral clarity

without hope

there can

be no

moral clarity

without hope

without hope

of forgiveness

of reconciliation

if you don't

have that

hope

you're never

going to

have moral

clarity

you just

have

defending

your position

and pushing

back

oh yeah

you say

I did

that

well you

did this

that's

what happens

it doesn't

create any

type of

peace

without hope

and that's

what the

rest of

the text

shows so

beautifully

begin with

verse 16

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

the perfect

health

in the

presence

of you

all

and as I

said

in a sense

health

as we'll

see

if you go

back and read

the epistles

and if you go

back and read

the gospels

health is often

an image that

Jesus uses

of salvation

but here's

where the hope

comes in

verse 17

and following

and now

brothers

I know

that you

acted in

ignorance

as did

also your

rulers

now just

pause

the Bible

here is

making a

biblical

distinction

it does

acknowledge

that sometimes

you are

ignorant of

a wrong

thing you've

done

and in a

sense it

lessens the

punishment

but it

never erases

responsibility

it never

erases

responsibility

so he

acknowledges

that they

obviously

didn't

literally

think

I mean

when they

call him

the holy

and righteous

one

those are

means

they're saying

he's

God

author of

life

that's

God

right

and then

verse 18

we see

this here

but what

God foretold

by the mouth

of all the

prophets

that as

Christ would

suffer

he thus

fulfilled

he's partially

saying you

should have

actually been

aware of

this

because it's

so clearly

seen in

the scriptures

but here's

the hope

repent

just pause

here for a

second

before we

go any

further

see in

our day

and age

we'd say

you've

done that

you're

responsible

for it

that guilt

is with

you forever

you will

always be

tarnished

and stained

by it

it will

always be

with you

and if

I'm the

person on

the other

end of

that

because of

my sexuality

or my

age

or my

ethnicity

like what

can I do

with that

and if

Peter

are going

to say

repent

you just

need to

spend the

rest of

your life

feeling terrible

about what's

happened

and accepting

responsibility

for it

and making

reparations

about it

and accepting

when you get

punished for the

wrong things

that were done

by your

forebears

and that's

how the

modern world

speaks

but listen

again

what he

says here

in verse

19

repent

and turn

back

that your

sins

may be

blotted

out

in the

ancient world

the ink

that they

used

had no

acid in

it

so it

just

rested

on the

top

of

what they

were

writing

on

and it

meant

that if

you wanted

to erase

it

you just

needed a

damp

cloth

and it

would

completely

remove

what was

written

and that

that's

the image

all of the

things

all the

accusations

against you

all of the

things that

you've done

wrong

the true

ones

repent

verse 19

and turn

back that

your sins

may be

blotted

out

and further

the times

of refreshing

may come

from the

presence of

the Lord

and then

thirdly

that he

may send

the Christ

appointed

for you

Jesus

whom heaven

must receive