Week 4: Missions
Acts 3: 1 – 10.
Introduction.
As pastor of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church, I have regular opportunities to talk with people about what it means to be a Baptist. Or, to answer the question, “What do Baptists believe?” When I am in these situations, I usually make a list of four Baptist beliefs which I consider to be foundational to Baptist theology.
1. The Lordship of Jesus…Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Jesus. There is no other name by which we might be saved. Good works cannot bring us into a right relationship with God. Being a member of the right church does not give us eternal life in Heaven. Forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation are only possible through the Grace of God. We receive God’s Grace by believing that Jesus is Lord.
2. The Authority of the Bible…The Bible is God’s word to us. The Bible contains God’s expectations for the way we live our lives. The Bible reveals to us who Jesus is. The people who experienced Jesus physically during his life on earth were changed by their experience with Jesus. They wrote about Jesus so that we could know who Jesus is, and so that we could experience him spiritually. They wanted us to have the same experience they had. For this reason, Baptists believe the Bible; Baptists READ the Bible; and Baptists preach the Bible. It is not enough to believe the Bible if you are not going to read the Bible and allow it to be the authority for your faith and your life.
3. Everyone Must Make His or Her Own Decision to Become a Christian…Salvation is offered to us through Jesus alone. Salvation is a free gift of Grace. No one can work for salvation or earn salvation. Salvation can only be received. AND, salvation must be received personally and individually. No one can make this decision for you. Your church does not decide for you. Your parents and grandparents cannot decide for you. This is the reason why we do not baptize babies. Babies do not make their own decisions to be baptized. Someone else decides for them.
4. Every Christian is a Priest Before God…The biblical notion of priesthood has two sides. First, priests have access to God. Therefore, every Christian can hear from God and can speak to God. You do not need to go to your pastor to confess your sins. You can go directly to God. You do not have to go to your pastor to discern God’s will for your life. You can go directly to God and listen to his word. Second, priests have responsibility before God. In other words, God does not call us to sit idly in his presence. God calls each of us to serve God and to get busy doing God’s work in our world and in the church.
There is one more thing about Baptists that I often don’t talk about, but it is an important part of who we are. We have Missions in our DNA.
This is true about Baptists in general. This is true of the specific Baptists of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church.
Baptists have always been pioneers in missions, collecting millions of dollars annually to support thousands of missionaries in the United States and around the world.
The folks of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church have also been pioneers in missions. We have sent out missionaries from this church… One of our own members was the President of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention—Baker James Cauthen (1954 – 1979). We were the first church to sponsor Rick Warren in his dream to plant a new kind of church in Southern California.[1] And, we have helped to plant 12 mission churches in Lufkin. (Three of these 12 mission churches are still considered missions of our church—Cross Timbers Cowboy Church, La Casa del Alfarero and New Beginnings Baptist Church.)
Our missions involvement is the result of our commitment to Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples in Acts 1: 8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
It is also a result of our belief that every person must make his or her own decision to become a Christian. If everyone is responsible for their own decision, then we are responsible to share the Gospel with them.
In some ways, Missions is very closely related to the work of Evangelism. But, I see an important difference between the two. Evangelism is reaching out to others to share the Gospel with them and to invite them to be a part of our church. Missions is reaching out to people who will never become a part of our church. They cannot become a part of our church, because they are separated from us by geography or by culture. Evangelism grows the church. Missions grows the Kingdom of God.
In the Book of Acts, we witness the early church on mission. They crossed boundaries, and they grew the Kingdom of God. This work began in Jerusalem and expanded into the regions of Judea and Samaria and eventually to the ends of the earth—just like Jesus had instructed them.
The Scripture that I want to look at this morning tells us about how the Gospel began to move around the city of Jerusalem. We often think about missions as reaching into the foreign fields. But, missions begins at home…Interestingly, mission work at home is usually more difficult than mission work around the world.
Read Acts 3: 1 – 10.
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer-- at three in the afternoon.
2 Now a man crippled 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.
3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
10 they recognized him 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.(NIV)
There was no such thing as Disability in the First Century. There wasn’t even AFLAC supplemental insurance for folks who could no longer work for a living… This man born lame had only one means for survival…He had to beg for money.
The routine would have been the same for this man every single day. Friends or family would carry him to a place where he could be seen by many people. He would probably wear the dirtiest, filthiest, worst clothes he could find so people passing by would feel sorry for him.
And this guy had a good spot. He sat at the gate to the Temple…On the front steps of the church…So that all the religious folks would have to step over him as they went about their daily religious routines…
The Bible tells us in verse 1, that Peter and John were walking into the Temple at their regular hour of prayer. Luke tells us in Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.”
Two Miracles Happened that Day
It’s fairly obvious that this story tells us about a miracle that happened that day outside the Temple. It is obvious, because a lame man was able to walk for the first time in his life. However, this was not the only miracle in the story. This is the second miracle. The first miracle is that Peter and John NOTICED the lame beggar for the first time.
There was nothing unusual about this day. Each day at 3:00, the disciples went into the Temple to pray. This is what all good Jewish men did in the first century. If they lived in Jerusalem, they stopped what they were doing at 3:00 so they could go to the temple. If they didn’t live in Jerusalem, they went to their local synagogue. There was nothing new or unusual about this day.
But neither was there anything new or unusual about this lame beggar. Peter and John had probably stepped over him every day for weeks. But for some reason they had never noticed him…
Maybe they were used to looking away…Or, maybe they just didn’t feel any compassion for a man in this predicament…Or, maybe they never thought they could do anything for him… Or, maybe they did what you and I do when someone walks up to our car window at a traffic signal—they looked straight ahead and pretended that no one was there.
Whatever their reasons might have been, there was something different this day…There was something that caused them to notice a lame beggar sitting on the steps of the Temple at 3:00 prayers…
I think Luke, the author of Acts, has placed this story where it is so we will make a connection between this story and the story that came before it. The story before this one was the story of the first Christian Pentecost…The day the disciples were in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit came upon them with power…
I think that Peter and John had stepped over this man for days and weeks because they never had the power to do anything….They were not connected to the power that comes from the Holy Spirit…But when the Holy Spirit came, they had the power to do something…
And that is exactly what they did…They did something! Peter said, “Look at me. Do I look like I have any money? I am just as poor as you are. I left a lucrative career as a fisherman to become a traveling preacher. But I do have something I would like to give you. It is better than money.”
Peter reached down to the beggar, held his hand and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—Walk.” I want you to notice a couple of things about what can happen to you when you begin to notice the needs of other people…
Noticing Needs Can Transform Lives.
Two lives were transformed in this story: the lame beggar and Peter…
1. Man lame from birth experienced both a physical transformation and a spiritual transformation.
2. Peter experienced a spiritual transformation.
The physical change that took place in the lame man is obvious. When Peter commanded him to stand and walk, the man stood up and walked. But that is not the only thing he did. He started jumping and running…And one other thing. He was also continually praising God. Notice that he did not praise Peter and John. He praised God. In other words, he knew that God was responsible for this miracle.
Some people suggest that since this man lived in Jerusalem, he had probably heard about the miracles Jesus performed. People just like this man had come face to face with Jesus and were healed of their disability. But not this man. Perhaps he had tried to come to Jesus, but was unable as a result of his disability. Now, it was Jesus who had healed him.
Later in Acts 3: 16, Peter told the gathered crowd that this man had been healed by faith in Jesus. This is not simply a physical miracle. It was both physical and spiritual.
It is important to note that the ancient world attributed every disease and disability to the presence of evil. In our contemporary world, we would never associate physical disability to sin. We attribute it to genetics, biology or environment. Therefore, this appears to be a physical solution. Yet, in the eyes of the religious people of the first century, this man was lame as a result of his own sinfulness or—since he was lame from birth—the sins of his parents. Again, this causes us to think of this miracle in spiritual terms. Peter did not heal this man. Jesus healed him! Jesus gave him a spiritual solution to his physical problems.
Peter also was transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. For some reason, Peter had ignored this man every day as he entered the temple at 3:00 to pray. But now that Peter had the Holy Spirit in him, it was different. He noticed a fellow human being in need. AND…This is the most important part…Peter saw this man as another person who would be better off if he had Jesus in his life.
How do you think of other people? I know what you say you believe. You say that you believe everyone would be better if they knew Jesus like you know Jesus. But is that how you live your life? When you drive into your driveway at home and your neighbor is mowing the grass next door…Do you think he or she would have a better life if they knew Jesus? When you buy a cup of coffee at a coffee shop or a gas station…Do you think the person taking your money would have a better life if they knew Jesus? What about your boss at work? He makes more money than you make. He takes better vacations than you take. But, would he be a better person if he knew Jesus?
That is a hard question to answer. I know you believe other people need Jesus in their lives. But do you make the effort to introduce other people to Jesus?
For the man in our story today, it is obvious how he needed Jesus. He needed to be healed! But what about the people we know who seem perfectly happy without Jesus? There are some preachers who will say that it is impossible to be happy without Jesus in your life. And, I suppose there is part of me that believes that as well. But, I know a lot of people who seem to live happy and fulfilled lives without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
One obvious answer is eternal life. I believe in a real heaven and a real hell. Life does not end at the grave. For those who place their faith in Jesus and give him control of their lives, heaven awaits. For those who do not place their faith and lives in Jesus, hell awaits.
In addition to eternal life, I also believe in abundant life. That is Christian language for the hope and help Jesus provides us as long as we live on this earth. If you can imagine this with me, imagine a husband and wife riding in a sports car. The man is in the driver’s seat, and the woman is sitting right next to him. The man has his right arm around his wife and he is waving to all his friends with his left arm. He has NO HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL. Everything is perfect and happy…as long as the road is straight. But how will they manage when the road becomes rough or curvy? The rough and curvy times are the times when we most need the hope and help only Jesus can provide.[2] In my personal experience and in my experience walking with many of you through rough and curvy times, this is when our faith in Jesus sustains us!
Missions Involves Meeting Physical Needs AND Spiritual Needs
Peter and John responded to this man by meeting BOTH his physical needs and his spiritual needs. They met his physical needs by doing something miraculous. Through the power of God, they were able to help a lame man walk for the first time in his life. Most of the time, we will not perform miracles as dramatically as in this story. But we can perform miracles by feeding people who are hungry, providing clothes for people without adequate clothing, doing physical repairs to houses, applying a coat of paint to the classroom walls of a school campus…Meeting a physical need that people cannot meet for themselves.
But, missions always begins by first noticing the needs around us. This is only possible through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. If we are not listening to the Spirit, we will never notice the needs of others.
Conclusion.
In the Gospel of John, we read more about Peter’s brother Andrew than in any other place. John tells us that Andrew was one of the very first disciples to follow Jesus. Once Andrew met Jesus, he ran to get his brother Peter. Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus. In John 6, we read the story of Jesus’ feeding the 5,000. Andrew was the disciple who found the boy with the five loaves and two fishes. Andrew helped meet the physical needs of the crowd by bringing a little boy and his lunch to Jesus.
This is what missions ought to look like. Responding to physical needs and responding to spiritual needs.
[1] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Growth without Compromising Your Message & Mission. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), p. 37.
[2] Lee Strobel, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary: How to reach friends and family who avoid God and the church. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993). This is Lee Strobel’s illustration about his life before he became a Christian.
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