You can find this post on You Tube here: https://youtu.be/DGEqAaRdxZ8
Acts 2:42-3:10 If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%202%3A42%20-%203%3A10&version=NLT
This is such an amazing description of the early church. What a beautiful time to be alive. They devoted themselves to studying the apostle’s teaching. The apostles had spent three years learning from Jesus so now it was time to pass it along. It seems like generally they just spent a lot of time together. I mean, there were literally thousands of them all of a sudden, so it sounds like there was just a 24/7 prayer meeting and Bible study complete with the Lord’s supper going on in the temple courts. They ate in each other’s homes. When someone had a need, others would share what they had or sell their possessions to provide for them. I read, for a paper I was researching a few years back, that some of the believers sold themselves into slavery to get enough money to buy their fellow believers out of slavery! That’s next level commitment to the good of others.
No wonder God added to their numbers daily! Who wouldn’t want to be a part of something like that? These people loved one another at great cost, but with great joy. That kind of community is hard to find. But it has been God’s design for the church, in our DNA so to speak, since the very beginning.
And of course, in a situation where God’s spirit is flowing so freely there were miracles happening all over the place, which takes us to the story of this beggar who couldn’t walk.
Peter and John are heading to the temple to pray, which we just observed is something the believers were doing all the time. The temple was just an endlessly busy place, so for someone who made their living off the kindness of strangers, a seat on the steps was a premium location. If you’ve walked down a busy city street where people are begging, what we read next makes sense. He asks Peter and John for money, but it doesn’t even look like he’s looking at them. So Peter actually has to get his attention so that they can have a conversation. When the guy realises Peter is talking to him, he is expectant. These were the days of public displays of generosity intended to gain the respect of onlookers. Let’s be real, we are living in the same days today. Spend ten minutes scrolling reels and you’ll find five people videoing themselves buying shoes for a homeless guy or a pack of diapers for a young family. Anyways, the beggar was probably expecting a semi-humiliating experience in which he scored a few bucks, so he would have been a little confused when Peter explained he had no money. But then Peter reached out his hand and said, “But what I can offer you is a gift from Jesus. By his power, I’m telling you to get up and start walking.” It doesn’t say if he said anything in response. It just says that as Peter helped him to a stand his feet and ankles became strong under him and he jumped up and started running and jumping all over the temple. Two thoughts here: 1. How sweet is this? This guy is so excited, he doesn’t care where he is or who sees. He is leaping around like a sugared up toddler. 2. How complete is this? Think about it. If you or someone you know ever broke a leg you’ll have seen this. In the few weeks it’s in a cast, the muscle atrophies. The leg gets skinny and weak. This man had never walked. His legs would have been literal skin and bones. No muscle. No strength. Almost certainly his feet would have been curled up. But when he was healed in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in Peter, he was completely restored. Dude wasn’t just hobbling along with a person under each arm. He was jumping. And he was praising God! No kidding right?
