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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends.
Here’s my question for this morning… what difference does your Sunday church experience really make Monday – Saturday in your life…really?
In recent weeks Sunday worship in every church in North America has changed from live to ‘on line’, what about where you live? How has that affected your relationship with God and your daily life?
Let’s rejoin a group of people 2000 years ago, in the days immediately following Jesus’ ascension back to heaven, and the dramatic arrival of the Holy Spirit. Both events significantly impacted thousands of people in Jerusalem. In the past few days we’ve looked closely at both events, so if you missed it, just go back and read/listen to the past few “Walking with Jesus” episodes, in our archives section.
Today, let’s look at how the question I started with today, was seen in their day. Let’s dig into Acts 2:42-47. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” ‘They‘ are the 120 upon whom the Holy Spirit had come, while they waited for 10 days, after Jesus’ ascension. But “they” are also the 3000 who responded to Peter’s powerful message of explanation (Acts 2:14-41). Daily they gathered around the apostles, who were the 11 men who had been with Jesus for those many months, and they listened, hour after hour, as these men explained what Jesus had taught them, and done. They also enjoyed listening to the rest of the 120, and their experiences, and quickly a bond of friendship and fellowship developed between them all.
Evidently they ate meals together and even celebrated what we call ‘Communion’ together, as they remembered Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, just as Jesus had instructed them. And finally they spent lots of time praying… thanking God for what He was doing among them and asking God to guide them in this new journey of life, as followers of Jesus Christ!
Dr. Luke, the author of the book of Acts, tells us the people were absolutely amazed as they saw the apostles do some amazing miracles during these days. We’ll see one of those in a few moments in Acts 3.
Do you see in verse 44 God gave these 3120 people a compassionate love for each other, and they shared of their means with one another, as they became aware of personal needs. Do you remember Jesus had said “as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples.” (John 13:34,35) Remember Jerusalem was overflowing with visitors from all over the Empire, and I suspect many were simply sleeping on the ground under trees or large bushes, since the few ‘inns’ were full, and many pilgrims did not know anyone in Jerusalem. And where do you suppose these thousands of people found food to eat each day, of their more than a week spent in Jerusalem? I think verse 44 means those of these 3000 who lived in or near Jerusalem opened their homes and invited as many of these visitors as they could accommodate, to sleep and eat in their homes! That’s what Jesus would have done isn’t it?
Do you notice vs 45? “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” Now this is simply outrageous! Remember many of these 3000 people may not have even known each other prior to Peter’s powerful sermon, and their response of faith in Jesus and baptism. Yet the Holy Spirit has so much given them the same sacrificial love for others as Jesus had, that they were sharing their financial means with fellow new Christians, even though they really didn’t know them! “Every day they continued to meet together in the Temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46,47)
It’s not difficult for us to imagine this or even put ourselves into the middle of it, is it? We’ve all been to big family reunions where we meet extended family we have never met before, or seen in many years, right? We’ve been to graduation reunions many years late,r or even big wedding receptions, where you don’t know most of the people at the party but you all know the bridal party so you quickly become friends. That, my friends, is what was happening here!
Everyone had one thing in common…their new, exciting, life changing relationship with Jesus, the Messiah, the resurrected from the dead, ascended back to heaven Jesus, who had sent the powerful Holy Spirit to live WITHIN each of these who have trusted Jesus to save them from their sin condemnation! I think it’s safe to say it was a festive environment that was simply contagious. And you see in verse 47, every day more people joined the party, they couldn’t help themselves, they were drawn to Jesus by the happiness, the generosity, the compassion of those who were engaging with Jesus!
We’ve all had the experience… a wonderful vacation we hope never ends; a fantastic concert we hope will have endless encore’s; a family reunion we hope will go on forever! That’s what was happening here in Jerusalem day after day. Most of these folks were pilgrims who should be going back to their homes far away, but no one wanted to leave, including the apostle close friends of Jesus, most of whom were from Galilee and probably felt they should be heading back home. But everything had changed… their priorities, their values, their purpose in life, everything was now focused on telling the story of Jesus, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives, every waking hour, every day!
Luke gives us a glimpse of this in Acts 3. This event likely happened only a few days, perhaps a week or so after the Acts 2 Pentecost miracle. Notice Peter and John are still in Jerusalem and good Jews in Jerusalem tried to stop whatever they were doing, several times each day, to pray, and if possible, walk to the Temple area, in the middle of Jerusalem, and pray there. This is very similar to what we know of modern day Muslims, stopping their activities to kneel and pray, 5 times each day. Please understand, while Peter and John had trusted Jesus to be their Savior and their Messiah, they did not cease being Jewish. They were now “Messianic Jews”… no longer awaiting the someday coming of Messiah, but celebrating He was Jesus, and Jesus had changed their lives!
Do you notice on their way to the Temple for afternoon prayer time they encounter a beggar at the gate, probably one of many beggars. This one was brought their daily, since he was crippled and had been so his entire life. He was doing the only job he could do… beg, relying on the generosity of Temple worshipers. This same scene is outside every major Temple, or house of worship, in every major city of the world in 2020, right? Why? Because people in need assume worship of God will give people generous, compassionate hearts.
Please stop here a moment and read Acts 3:1-10, and simply be amazed at this remarkable miracle. When asked for money, Peter and John had none. But suddenly, apparently moved by the Holy Spirit of God, Peter boldly said “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Can you imagine the look on John’s face and the beggar’s face? John was probably thinking, “Peter, have you lost your mind, what are you doing”? The beggar also probably thought, ‘what have I got to lose, i’ll try to stand’!
I see no evidence Peter and John had come to the Temple gate that day having planned this or expected it? So what was happening here my friends? Do you remember in the upper room on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus had promised His disciples “I tell you the truth anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to My Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so the Son may bring glory to the Father.’ (John 14:12,13) And then the very last thing Jesus had said, before He left them to ascend back to heaven… “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…” (Acts 1:8)
I believe those statements of Jesus, along with the shoreline breakfast where Jesus had re-engaged Peter and commissioned him, along with his energizing by the fiery coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day, and 3000 people who responded to Peter’s spontaneous message… all these things were working together to give Peter an unusual alertness to the Holy Spirit, and courage in acting boldly in Jesus’ great Name! Do you see what happened?
“Taking the cripple by the right hand, Peter helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went into the Temple courts, jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the Temple gate… and they were filled with wonder and amazement…” (Acts 3:7-10)
Now my friends, I want to invite us to spend the next 24 hours in the middle of this remarkable, outrageous scene. A man crippled his entire life is healed, in an instant, at his faith response to the words spoken boldly by Peter! What does it mean? Is Peter suddenly some miracle worker, able to heal all diseases and open all blind eyes? No, I see no evidence of that? Is Peter suddenly a sorcerer able to do magic? No that is not happening here. This is a powerful, healing work of the Holy Spirit of God, in the life of one cripple who responds by faith in God, to powerful words spoken, in faithful obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit by a deeply committed follower of Jesus.
No doubt there were several other beggars sitting there… Peter only spoke to the one who had reached to him for help. As the man jumped and danced, I suspect Peter and John looked at each other, remembering a man who lay crippled by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, and Jesus had raised him up in the same way. That man had been a cripple 38 years, remember? John recorded that event in John 5:1-15.
God was inviting thousands of good, God fearing Jews, in Jerusalem for the Jewish “Festival of Weeks”, and Pentecost, to have various encounters with the obvious power of the Holy Spirit of God, sent into the followers of the resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ, for the purpose of proving the validity of the life saving, life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ! Tomorrow we’ll see how they responded to this healing.
I end with the question I began with today. . .what difference does you Sunday church experience, really make in your life Monday – Saturday? More specifically, what difference is the Holy Spirit of God making in your life this day? And how is Jesus reaching through His relationship with you to touch other people… people like this man sitting on the ground asking for a hand out. Oh what a difference between a few coins Peter might have put in his hand, and the miracle of God he experienced, as he jumped to his feet!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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