Where is Your Focal Point?

When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognised the man as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Peter speaks to the onlookers. While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over to be killed, and you disowned Him before Pilate, though he had decided to let Him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead.

We are witnesses of this. 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. Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your leaders, but this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets, saying His Messiah would suffer. Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you, even Jesus.

Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. For Moses said, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to everything He tells you. Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from their people. Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days, and you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers.

He said to Abraham, through your offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed. When God raised up His servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. I thought, congregation, we'd go to Acts 3 this morning. Those of you who've been here when I've preached are aware that I've been preaching from Acts every time I'm here, and we're somewhere up about chapter 11 or 12 I think. But the last time was Ascension Sunday and Pentecost the week after.

So we went back to Acts chapter 1. And so I thought I'd pick up on chapter 3, which we missed earlier in my coming here. So one look at this chapter, and there's a key verse that I want to focus on especially this morning, and it's verse 12. Although, keep your Bible open because I will be referring to many things in this chapter, but verse 12 in the ESV reads as follows. And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people. He said, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

As if by our own power or piety we have made him walk. That's our focal text. I'm sure, brothers and sisters in Christ, that it's happened to you, and I'm sure more than once, that you've not seen something that other people have seen. Sometimes that can be very frustrating. You're trying to see it but you can't.

Maybe a key example are those stereogram pictures. I have one daughter who gets very, very frustrated. Lots of patterns and squiggly lines, and I look at it and I say, that image that is embedded in all those things, and she says, I can't see anything. She can't get her focus exactly right, and sometimes that's our problem. Our focus is in the wrong place.

I recall a very vivid example of that back in the nineties when I joined our cadets into Woonan Wind for a hike with them along the Scenic Rim, and we were taking a break in a place called Lizard Point. And as we're having lunch there, we hear the roar of a jet engine, and we're all looking skyward, nothing to be seen. We were going, what was that all about? And then after a little while it happened again, and this time one of the boys looked down and he saw an F-111 down in the valley below us doing ground hugging, terrain hugging exercises, and we were actually looking down into the cabin of the F-111. Our problem had been we were looking in the wrong place. That's why we missed it.

Our focus was wrong. And so often, friends, we miss something because we're looking in the wrong place. We can do that when it comes to church. We can do it when it comes to faith. We can do it when it comes to the Bible, and we can do it when it comes to this story in Acts 3.

For example, I could preach to you this morning a sermon about the importance of compassion, because after all, Peter and John were compassionate to this lame man. If I did that, congregation, then my focus would be in the wrong place, and we would fail to see something that is absolutely central and vital in this chapter. On the other hand, I could preach a sermon this morning about us needing to do justice to the miraculous as Christians, because here we've got the first of many miracles in the book of Acts. But again, if we did that, my focus would be wrong, and we would miss what is central and what is absolutely vital in Acts chapter 3. It's not that we can casually ignore miracles.

It's not that we can forget about compassion. Those are important issues for Christians. But friends, that's not what Acts 3 is all about. To understand Acts 3, we need to put it in the context of the previous chapter and the event of Pentecost, and that is that God is growing His church. The Holy Spirit came and 3,000, we read in Acts 2, were added to the church on the day of Pentecost.

Then look at the last verse of Acts chapter 2, if you've got your Bible open. Last verse of Acts 2 says, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Now it's in that context, God adding to the church those who were being saved, that we read something else at the end of Acts 2 verse 43. And it says, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. So miracles were done by the early church, and that does raise some issues for us this morning, doesn't it? I mean, it's perfectly understandable that Jesus did miracles.

Hey, He was the Son of God. But the church doing miracles, and the church doing them back then, does that mean why can't we do them now all the time? What happens in this chapter is so obviously a miracle. We're told this man was lame from birth, so he's not an elderly stroke victim, unable to walk. Acts 4:22, the next chapter, we're told he was 40 years old and he'd been lame from birth, four decades of immobility.

And here in this chapter, he's running around, dancing around, prancing around in the temple praising God. And that's a miracle in anyone's language. So why can't I do miracles like that? Well, you know, there's some Christians, and I've been told this by some of them, that I can heal people if only I have enough faith. Others will say, well today miracles still happen of course, but usually they happen these days through medical science.

And in reformed churches and Presbyterian churches, we're more likely to say signs and wonders were for those early days when the church was young and in its infancy and it was vulnerable, and they didn't even have a complete Bible the way we have it today, and in any case weren't signs and wonders the marker of an apostle and their authority? Well, it's all very fine as long as we don't try and put God in a box and tell Him what He can or can't do today. The actual story of this miracle, friends, is profound in its simplicity. This man is carried every day by his friends and he's put down at the temple gate. When you think about it, makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

I mean, in Judea in those days there was no government disability pension. There was no Centrelink, and maybe that was a good thing in some ways, and no sheltered workshops where disabled people could do meaningful work. And so he sits there day after day after day rattling his beggar's cup, spare a coin for a lame man, sir. What better place to do that than at the temple? We've always learned, haven't we, congregation, that love for God and love for our fellow man go hand in hand.

And we who worship God know that we have a duty of care for our brothers and sisters, for our fellow humans, and so what better place to get a few coins than at the entrance to the temple. Peter and John pass, they hear the same words they've always heard. Every time they've gone, spare a coin for a lame man, sir, but this time they stop. It's not to give him money, but something much better. And then we hear those well known words, silver or gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.

I had to smile, brothers and sisters, at the title of a sermon on this text that I came across. Years ago, we used to call gifts to the poor alms, and in our ESV Bible actually has that, alms, a-l-m-s, and that word for charity, the preacher made a pun on that. His sermon title was the man who asked for alms and got legs. Well, that's funny, but alms is what the man wanted. Right?

Charity. And he asked Peter and John for some coins. Instead, he gets to walk for the first time ever, forty years an invalid. Can you imagine it? And as Peter grabs him by the hand, pulls him to his feet, he feels strength in his feet and ankles he's never felt before, and he jumps up and he walks. And all that highlights all those things that I mentioned at the start.

Surely this is about compassion and about care. I mean, John and Peter could not have been more caring. So can't I preach a sermon this morning about health care and the gospel, for example? Surely this is about miracles. First of many, many great miracles in Acts.

In fact, you want to talk about where to look, about a focal point, have a look at verse 4. Peter says to the man, look at us, make us your focus, and we read the man gave them his attention. So doesn't that give me the right this morning to make the miracles the focus of my message? I want to say no, congregation. Peter only does that to prepare this man for the great things that God is going to do for him through them. And then God does that miracle, and the result is a man who's walking and leaping and praising God.

Today, you want to put all the emphasis on the miracle, then we've got a few questions we need to face up to this morning. Today in some Christian circles, those kinds of miracles are spoken of in terms of faith healing. Over the years I've known people who went to healing services. I remember one of my parishioners in a wheelchair went to a healing service in a Pentecostal church and she was prayed over. In some instances like that, God graciously hears the prayers and miraculously answers them.

But in this case, nothing happened. The lady came in the wheelchair and she left in the wheelchair, and she was told by people there that her faith wasn't strong enough or that maybe there was unconfessed sin in her life. That lady went into deep depression as a result of those charges. It's shattering. So was this healing here in Acts 3 a case of faith healing?

At first glance, congregation, we could seem to make a case for that. If you look at verse 16, it actually mentions the word faith. It says, by faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. But I have to say this morning, friends, that contrary to the faith healers, that man was not exercising faith. Verse 5 contradicts that idea.

Does it say in your Bible that in verse 5 that the man looked to Peter and John in faith? My Bible doesn't. Verse 5 in my Bible states that he did look to the apostles, but expecting to receive what he had asked for, coins, money. The only faith that is active in this story, congregation, is Peter's faith. He trusted in the power of Jesus to heal.

I mean, to say Peter had passed this man on his way to the temple perhaps many, many times without healing him. But Peter knew that this was the day in which the power of Jesus would work through them and heal that lame man. So where in this story should our focus be, friends? Verse 12 helps us to get our focus right. In that verse, Peter asked two questions, and the questions are aimed to get our eyesight focused where it should be.

First question Peter asked the crowd that has gathered, he says, men of Israel, why does this surprise you? You people who witnessed what happened, why do you marvel at this? Why are you so amazed that this lame man is healed? Now I don't know whether that strikes you at first glance as a strange question to ask. I mean, let me paint a scenario for you.

Imagine today a 40 year old has spent all of her life on a disability pension. Forty years relying on others and on Centrelink. Forty years in a wheelchair. And then suddenly she's running around on a basketball court. Wouldn't we all be amazed?

Wouldn't that totally surprise us? And so surely surprise and marvelling at this is a natural expected response to a miracle. Or is it? Maybe Christians shouldn't be surprised. I recall a neighbour of mine back in Toowoomba in our street who was telling me on one occasion how he ended up in hospital after a stroke.

He told me how his pastor had come and visited him in the ICU and prayed with him, and two days later he's working in his backyard. He was so excited, God had done a miracle, and I shared his joy. I rejoiced with him. But at the same time, I found myself thinking, so isn't God always able to do this? I mean, can't the maker of the universe still do signs and wonders as He wishes?

I find it significant that in this verse 12, Peter addresses the people here as men of Israel, people of Israel. In other words, these were the people who knew the miracles God had done in Egypt and at the Red Sea. These were the people who had read the stories of God's miracles at the time of Elisha. More recently, they'd witnessed the signs and wonders done by that man from Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth. And if that's the case, why does this surprise you?

The point is that we who know the power of God and that God doesn't change should not be surprised. It helps us this morning to make sure that it's not the miracle that becomes the focus of this chapter, tempting as that is. Second question that Peter asked them is, why do you stand there staring at us? If we think that this story is about the early church doing miracles, we've got it wrong. Peter says to them, we didn't make this man walk by our power or our piety.

He's saying to them, your focus is wrong. You're looking in the wrong spot. The apostles didn't have it in them to do that miracle. They were ordinary men. I mean, Peter makes that quite clear a few chapters later where he's with Cornelius, the centurion from Rome.

Cornelius is about to bow to him and worship him. Peter stops him and says, woah, I'm just an ordinary man. It's a sense in which the heading of some English Bibles got it all wrong. NIV Bible has as its heading here, Peter heals the crippled beggar. I think the ESV has got it right.

It just talks about the healing of the lame man. I'm glad those headings are not inspired scriptures. They're put there by the publishers of the Bible. Peter tells the crowd they did not do it by their power or their godliness. I read Peter's question to the crowd, why do you stand there staring at us?

And then I think of today's so-called faith healers, or faith healers that I've seen in action in the past. People like Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Peter Popoff, who strut around on the stage as if they heal people. Maybe all our questions about faith healers today are the wrong questions, congregation, because Peter is showing us our focus needs to change. And then Peter turns the spotlight where? On God who glorified His servant Jesus in this miracle.

And later he says in verse 16 that it's by faith in the name of Jesus that this man stands before you well. And when he says in the name of Jesus, he means by the authority of Jesus this miracle was done. You see how Peter is putting the focus where it ought to be. The book of Acts, friends, is about Jesus. It's about what He continued to do after His ascension.

It's about how the Lord grows His church from Pentecost onwards, and that's what God's doing in Acts 3, growing His church also in this healing of the lame man, because it gives Peter and John an opportunity to turn the spotlight on Jesus Christ. The focus has to be on Him. Let me just highlight for you another way in which this chapter is not primarily about caring and it's not primarily about a miracle. Ask yourself, where is the emphasis in this chapter? Look at the breakup.

There are eight verses, the first eight verses dealing with the story of the miracle. Eight verses. Okay. Then there are three verses dealing with the reaction of the crowd. Three verses.

But there are 15 verses about the gospel of God who sent Jesus to be our Saviour. And as if that isn't enough, it leads to yet another sermon in the next chapter, Acts 4, because the Jewish leaders dragged Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, to explain what happened. So what's the main thrust of Acts 3? Where should your eyes and my eyes be turning? Peter is turning our attention to Jesus.

It's all about Him, about our glorious Lord and Saviour. It's about Him as His power continues to work through His church. This healing is the work of Jesus and the sign that in Him the kingdom of God has come. Reminded me of a story of the theologian Thomas Aquinas back in the Middle Ages who visited Pope Innocent the Fourth in Rome, and he happened to be there just as a load of gold was being brought in, and the Pope said to Thomas, he said, you see Thomas, the church no longer has to say silver and gold have I none. And Thomas replied, he said, true Holy Father, but neither can she say anymore to the lame man, rise up and walk.

It's a solemn reminder to us that there is no power in the church. The power is in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Not surprisingly then, Luke spends more time on the sermon Peter preached than on the actual miracle. It's Peter's preaching that receives the most attention. As a matter of fact, somebody once dubbed this chapter as a lame excuse for preaching.

That's funny, congregation, but there's a remarkable truth in that, isn't there? And it's a truth we see so often in the book of Acts. Something happens and it becomes an excuse to preach Christ. The miracle leads to the message. The wonder leads to the word.

Here we must notice that it is no accident at all that this happens at the temple, a place where it's busy with people coming and going. Hey, it's not even accidental that this happens at the ninth hour of the day, 3:00 in the afternoon. That's the time when the evening sacrifice commenced and a time of prayer in the temple, a time when it was especially busy in the surroundings of the temple, providing Peter and John with a ready audience. And so we've got this situation that the wonder that happened attracted the crowd to hear the word. And so Jesus is glorified as the Christ is proclaimed.

So verses 13 to 26 are really just a summary of Peter's sermon to that gathered crowd. It was probably much longer, but it's a summary for us. And then in the next chapter, we've got another summary of the second sermon preached in front of the Sanhedrin. The opposition, by the way, is not because of the care they showed or because of the miracle. It's because of their preaching.

The council was disturbed because they were preaching Christ, as if they were saying, we don't mind you showing compassion. That's okay, but don't talk about Jesus. And if you want to do miracles, even that's fine by us, but don't present the message of Christ. But that's exactly what the church must do. Jesus Christ is always to be our focus.

I find it interesting at this point to make another connection back to Acts chapter 2. Put your Bible up and have a look at verse 42 of Acts 2. What does it say there that the church devoted itself to? Acts 2:42, to four things. First thing they devoted themselves to was the apostles' teaching, and what we're getting now in the rest of this chapter is apostolic teaching.

Teaching as the crowd gathers about the centrality of central things in the faith. If you like, the rest of this chapter is doctrine. I find that very telling. We're living in an age where doctrine is downplayed. We live in an age where what we experience of God is all important. As a matter of fact, in some churches today, it really doesn't matter too much what you believe.

As long as you've had some personal experience of God in your life, that's all that matters. Well, here in Acts 3, experience is certainly important. I mean, you'd be a fool to say that the miracle wasn't important to the man who was healed. Be also foolish for me to suggest that it was unimportant for those who witnessed it. But that experience is now put into perspective by the doctrines that Peter and John teach.

And what are those doctrines? At least seven points that Peter covers, and I could spend till after lunchtime today elaborating on them. Let me just give you a very, very quick cook's tour. First of all, verses 13 and 14. Jesus Christ is God's holy and righteous servant.

Right? Second one, verse 15, Jesus is the author of life and you killed Him. Beginning of verse 15, the third one, God raised Jesus from the dead and we as apostles are witnesses to that. Fourth one, verse 16. This Jesus is acting through His church as you just saw in this miracle.

Fifth one, verse 21, Jesus will come back from heaven and God will then restore His creation. Sixth one in verse 22 following, this Jesus is the promised prophet to whom we must listen. The seventh one, 25 and 26, God's covenant with Abraham now continues with those who trust in Jesus. Do you see how in each of those seven points, the focus is all on Jesus? Jesus who continues today to work through His church.

This is not just about Jesus a miracle worker. This is Jesus, God's anointed prophet, and Peter makes clear that all our hope of blessing and all our hope for everlasting life rest totally and finally and ultimately in Him. So what's the point of all that doctrine, congregation? Is it just so that these people can go away with a head full of knowledge? Is it just to mention to the crowds some facts?

No. Peter actually uses them to confront them with a challenge. He admits that they killed Jesus and they acted in ignorance when they did that, but he tells them that now that he's said these things, they can no longer plead ignorance. They must repent and turn to the Lord. You see, that's the ultimate purpose in the healing of this lame man.

In Acts 3, Jesus is building His church, and He's doing that as through Peter and John they're calling these people to repent, and as they repent, they're going to be added to the church of the Lord Jesus. See, friends, doctrine needs to make a difference in our life. Doctrines about Christ call us to repentance. Preaching has to change us, and it will if our focus is Jesus.

He must be central, because then our sins are wiped out through the blood of the cross and we are transformed, or in the words of Peter, the times of refreshing come from the Lord, and he's referring not only to the change in our own life, although that as well, but he's also anticipating the renewal of all things when Jesus returns in glory. Brothers and sisters, we're living today in a culture where people have got their focus all wrong, and I'm afraid that that's true also for many Christians looking in the wrong places. You know, I read some time ago that in Britain, there are half a million people in Britain who visit faith healers. But it's not faith healers like Benny Hinn that they go to. They go to psychic faith healers, the witch doctors of our modern culture. But I want to say to people like that, you're not going to find what you're looking for because you're looking in the wrong place.

May our focus be Jesus, Jesus always, and Jesus alone so that we find times of refreshing in Him. Let me lead you in prayer. Thank you, Lord, for turning our eyes to Jesus this morning. Thank you that we may look upon Him, the Lord of life, and find in Him not only forgiveness, but also the transformation that You've promised in Your word, life everlasting. Thank you for the hope that that gives us.

And Father, we pray that we may be enabled again in this coming week, in smaller ways or larger ways, to turn also the eyesight of others, the focus of others upon the Saviour of the world. We pray, bless Your church today. May the focus be always on Jesus. We pray for those churches, Lord, where the focus is on other things and where Jesus is almost taking a back seat to other things in the church. We pray that You would bring about change and revival in those churches. Thank You for just reminding us again this morning of the centrality of the Saviour who gave His life so that we might have life in all its fullness.

We praise You in His name as we say together. Amen.