What I have I give you...

Acts 3:1-26 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible (link on links page)

Healing the Lame Beggar

3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. ² And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. ⁴ But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” ⁵ And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” ⁷ And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. ⁸ With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰ and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter’s Second Sermon

¹¹ While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. ¹² But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. ¹⁴ But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. ¹⁸ But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰ and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. ²³ And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴ And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. ²⁵ It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶ For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

Too often these days the churches evangelism and outreach strategy is based on first meeting peoples needs then trying to sneak in a little bit of the gospel. I am not trying to minamize the importance of helping the poor, the homeless, the elderly, orphans, single mothers or any other needy people, whether in our own local area or in a foreign country. Helping people in need is a Christian mandate and should be a normal Christian response. It should not though be our only or primary strategy for sharing the gospel. Too often when we make provision the reward for responding to the gospel we are really making dependents not converts. We are teaching people to respond to our message in order to get something in return. We are not focussing on the gospel and life changing encounters with Jesus and the kingdom of God as we see in today's text. 

The text tells us of Peter and John encountering a lame man.     When he(the lame man) saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. ⁴ But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” ⁵ And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”

I would be surprised if Peter and John did not have a few coins they could have given this man.  Peter recognized that any thing he could give this man from his own possessions or worldly wealth would not change the man's circumstance. So instead Peter offers to give the man something he owns from another realm. Peter is filled with and in tune with The Holy Spirit. He is like Jesus, doing and hearing the things that the Father is doing. Peter with the confidence of walking in the will of the Father makes a bold proclamation of healing to this man and the man is healed.

What we see next is God's model and plan for evangelism. Obviously the man who is healed, the man who has a life changing encounter with Jesus  instantly becomes a believer. But in addition it says:   And all the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰ and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  ¹¹ While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. ¹² But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus...

God uses the miraculous to confirm the gospel message. Just as Jesus had said in Mark 16:      “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”    Jesus says of Himself and the works He does:   10"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. (John 14:10-11)

Peter could have seen the needy people around the outside of the temple area. He could have gone back to the groups of people, the churches that were meeting in homes to share Christian fellowship and teaching and devised a plan and a strategy to meet their needs, to feed and clothe them, with the hope of reaching them for the kingdom through acts of kindness. Peter's call though was as an evangelist.  Peter, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, declares the gospel message to the people who witnessed the miraculous change in this one man's life. The results are not in today's text. We need to look forward to chapter 4 of Acts to see the results of Peter's second sermon.    many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

It takes less time and less commitment to give a few extra dollars or even a few hours to serve the needy than it does to give ourselves completely to Christ as Peter did. Peter no longer focussed on the things of earth.His life was not his own, he gave it completely to Christ.  Peter walked under an open heaven, sharing the wealth and riches of the heavenly realm. He knew that the best he could do on earth in his own strength was no comparrison to a life changing encounter with Christ. We can do good works for the kingdom serving and providing for the needs of others or we can glorify Jesus as Peter says:

 But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus...

Again it is not that we should not do what we can to meet the needs of others. But those actions should come from a heart of compassion from a desire to share our own possessions and blessings with the less fortunate. If we are giving to extend the love of Christ to the less fortunate, we should give expecting nothing in return, not even that they listen as we share a gospel message. If our desire is to proclaim the gospel, to declare and share the riches of heaven with those in need, then let us do it boldly, unashamed. May we be as bold as Peter to say: “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ...

God is faithful. Signs and wonders will follow the declaration of His word. It was true for Jesus. It was true for Peter. It will be for us as well if we will follow Jesus.  Jesus says: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.(John 14:12) Peter believed. The lame walked and thousands were saved.

Do you believe enough to give what you have?