02-22-2026 - SILVER AND GOLD - HAVE I NONE - Acts 3:1-16

MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

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I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G,   Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J.  Magda- Laci M.  Gloria F, Miguel A H. Silvia H, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M, Oscar N. Laci N. Maria Elena C, Miguel C, Richard H.)   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

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It started no differently than any Sunday, people jostling their way into the parking lot, hoping to park close to the church’s main doors.  Inside several cars, parents at wits' end, the adventure of kids, who moments before were pushing and annoying one another.  But that was then, this was now.  Now it was time to put on smiles, ready to give warm greetings to those in the foyer.  On the way in, a street person was sitting in the way of what was normally a direct line to the church.

Most looked the other way as they passed.  All but a few speaking greeting.  His requests for money to buy food were ignored.  Besides, the service was starting, and seats needed to be found.  They are now inside.

Surprisingly, the man entered the sanctuary, sitting in the front of the church, but that location was short-lived as an usher redirected him to the back of the church. From there, he listened as announcements were made. He listened as visitors were welcomed. And he watched as people looked his way, eyes suspicious and unwelcoming.

But those looks were redirected as leaders went to the podium to announce their excitement about introducing the new pastor. With that and in the surround of applause, there was back row movement as the homeless man started walking down the aisle.

That's when clapping stopped, and the church turned silent. With all eyes on him, he walked up to the stage, stood for a moment and then began to speak, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you invited me in, I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’“

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.’

After reciting this, he introduced himself as their new pastor and told the congregation what he had experienced that morning. As he did, many began to cry. He continued, The world has enough people who look the other way. What the world needs are disciples of Jesus who will follow His teaching and live as He did. With that, the service was dismissed; his sermon had been given.

 This morning, I want to introduce you to another back row man who’s been overlooked for years - 40 years to be exact. We’re given the picture in Acts 3. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, 3:1

As faithful Jews, Peter and John are going to the Temple for the ‘hour of prayer’, this being 1 of 3 times they likely prayed during the day, as we learn from Psalms and Daniel. With their fellow Jews, they come to hear the truth of God’s word. Their praise is much the same. Their prayers are much the same. Their belief how they should live much the same, and many of their practices were much the same - but one thing was NOT the same, and this had changed everything - how they prayed, how they praised, how they lived.

Gone forever were yearly sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sin. Now, because of Jesus’ shed blood, the yearly had gone, those past sacrifices just symbols of the new to come, Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin Heb 10:12.

So the disciples were still Jews going to the Temple as was their custom, but here was the problem - those in the Temple still holding on to their sacrificial symbols, unable to see beyond them. It’s not surprising. What it represented was powerful - a delivering lamb sacrificed, its blood poured out, enabling all who were under the protection of its blood to escape captivity and death and go free. That lamb serving as a substitutionary atonement - its blood doing what human effort couldn’t do, its blood paying the price of their freedom.

But what was missed? That blood was a symbol pointing to a far greater deliverance, a substitutionary atonement that was to come - of a lamb who would come and take our sins upon Himself, paying what we can’t, to deliver us once and for all from the power of sin. Jesus, the lamb of God, whose blood was shed to forgive the sins of all who, in repentance, come to Him.

The problem - people committed themselves to the symbol as the endpoint rather than to where the symbol pointed. And when what is pointed to is ignored or redefined, the stage is set for people to submit the symbol they think should be accepted. That if the life lived is, according to the standard they want, good, then God should be satisfied - if enough wrongs are avoided, if enough acts of good are done, if our scale of good far outweighs the small that’s bad, then all is well. The Jews are hanging on to their symbol to which they have added, believing all is well.

And so when Peter, John and the others said your belief in the symbols is not enough because The One it pointed to has come and you rejected Him, the Jews grasped their symbols more tightly and declared these teachers of the new to be dangerous, not worthy to declare themselves Jews.

As I began, I said Peter and John were going to the Temple, continuing as was their custom, yet custom is rather a misleading word. Nothing about their lives had been customary these last number of weeks - far from it. If the 3 years prior hadn’t been overwhelmingly different than how they’d once lived, nothing came close to what their last weeks had been. Only a short while ago, Jesus had been violently rejected and killed - sinking the disciples to the lowest of lows and then, when they had no hope, they experienced the euphoric, Jesus alive beyond comprehension.   

And even with all that experience, something in these last days was different than what they’d known. Before, when they had been with Jesus, they had watched - time and again, observers of the incomprehensible. But in days just past, they were not looking on but recipients of the miraculous, the Holy Spirit spectacularly coming upon them - empowering them, tongues of fire descending upon them, and God’s power actually deposited in them.

And now the scene we walk into with Peter and John, they are coming to the Temple, not much different than what they were used to - the same ones coming and going, the same ones sitting nearby watching them come. Among these, one man who, for 40 years, occupied the same space as he had done every day after day, since he was young.  

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, to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. :1-5.

This man obviously had people who were very committed to him - every day they carry him to this place. Positioning him at the gate of the temple called Beautiful would have likely been both spiritual and strategic. Spiritual in that there would be few places to take him to be closer to God than near the Temple and strategic because those coming to meet with God would be ones most likely to show compassion,, as God said. Strategically, proximity to the Temple was likely to be a far quieter place than would have been the case in other places in the ci ty. Sounds far more hushed, as people came near the Temple and hushed meant a greater likelihood his cries for help would be heard instead of drowned out by the noise of marketplace business. 

Josephus tells us the gate Beautiful, where he is, was 75’ high and made of Corinthian brass. It had large double doors, far more beautiful than those that were only covered with silver and gold. In every way, these doors leading into the Golden Gate were extraordinary. Later, this passageway became known as the Eastern or Golden Gate. So the place this healing takes place is incredibly important and also serves as a symbol of a far greater healing that’s yet to come.

100’s of years after this event, t h e Muslim conqueror, Suleiman, invaded Jerusalem. In the years that followed, he restored the gates that had been torn down, including this one, the Golden Gate, but upon hearing that Christians believed that Jesus in His 2nd coming would enter Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate, he quickly ordered the Eastern Gate to be sealed up tight, which is how it remains to this day. Not long after, this gate was fronted by a Muslim graveyard, based on the belief that no Jewish prophet would step onto defiled ground. Little did he know that Jesus isn’t defiled by death; he conquers it. Where He is, death and sin don’t stand a chance. And it is through this Eastern gate, this Beautiful Gate, that Jesus will return as a victorious, conquering king. 

It’s in the shadow of this gate that we see this man who has been lame from birth, he with no expectation that life could be any other than what it is. Making do with the generosity of people, just doing the basics, navigating life. His needs are small but real. The Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets gave clear instructions that the poor and those with disabilities were to be taken care of, and obviously, some have been faithful to what the Law said. The alms this man was asking for, consistent also with what Jesus said, Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you Mtth 5:42. Jesus underscoring the importance of caring for the needy in His parable of the Sheep and Goats Mt t h 2 5 : 3 1 - 4 6 where Jesus describes the final judgment. He welcomes the ‘sheep’ the righteous who provided for the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned. Jesus states that acts of service to "the least of these brothers and sisters of mine" are done for Him. So again, strategically being near the Temple was a great place for him to be. Little did he know how great.   

The problem was the regulars going to the Temple confused going TO worship God with being those who DO worship God in how they live - not people on destination but ambassadors on deputation. In the true example I began with, people are so focused on what they are going to do that they miss what God has called them to along the way. Just like we miss as well. 

Peter and John could have said the same thing - we have a God to pray to, a Temple to enter, a people to join, but they didn’t. They stopped.

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!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he s tood upr ight and began and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, wa l k i ng and l e a p i ng and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; 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. :6-10. 

Walking, leaping and praising in the way he was doing, clearly not the way people were used to seeing things happen in the Temple. Not the way people are used to seeing things happening in a Baptist church, and let’s be honest, not much different in what’s seen in most churches. We are being too orderly for that, too oriented toward the predictable, too comfortable with how we think church should be done. Some take refuge in the Scriptures that suggest we do everything in the church with decency and order, while those verses have nothing to do with things like the exuberant and authentic praise we see here. 

Because really, how could he do anything other than leap and praise? This man has always been on the outskirts of the Temple and outside of life. How was he to know that praise in the Temple was to be muted and exuberance to be contained? Any sense of joy to be toned down, any excitement to be delayed for a ‘more acceptable time, a more acceptable’ place? Because that’s not the way we do it here. Which is exactly the way the Pharisees wanted to keep it. Containable, explainable, respectable. And in all that, missing a life-changing, resurrecting God.  

This man’s experience couldn’t fit alongside quiet amens and muted hallelujahs. He had met God, rather God had met him, and life would no longer be the same, could no longer be the same. The wonder of a transformed life should be expressed with exuberance. I have a feeling that in his joy, he hadn’t not iced other s weren’t doing what he was, but why weren’t they? Hadn’t they, the able-bodied, the physically blessed, t h e relationally blessed, the spiritually blessed, been given the incredible gift of being known by Almighty God? So what was keeping them from letting their praise be known as well? It’s why we need to return to our song of salvation as well and to hear the stories of others as well. Some of the songs are loudly spectacular - the incapacitated, the lost, the rescued; other stories are more low key, but the salvation sung just as spectacularly loud in heaven - each celebrated the same - a sinner has come home. 

You’ve got to love the next picture we see - this man clinging to Peter and John. He refuses to let go, but I would think his clinging is not just in some stationary hold but pulling the minute to his celebrated dance of new life, his dance unconstrained and un-contained. Given what they had done for him - far exceeding any silver or gold, it’s not hard to understand why, but as we will soon see, Peter is emphatic, the miracle that happened had nothing to do with him. 

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. 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? :11,12

Peter and John’s response is quite different than the self-promotion we too often see in some expressions of Christianity today. Were it in domains like these, you can be certain the PR department would have been distributing glossies with QR codes explaining, with a mere registration fee, how they too could experience what he had experienced. And yet here, Peter makes it abundantly clear that what you see is of God, not of us. It is by God’s power, not ours. Peter then took them to see more than the transformation of a man.

Aware of his audience, Peter begins by making an immediate connection by using God’s name familiarly used by the Jews - Yahweh, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers:13. 

Though his beginning is short, there are helpful things we can learn. First, Peter begins with words that those listening can connect to, the God they worshipped. This God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers.

In these few words, he establishes that in what you have just witnessed, we worship the same God. This God, God of the patriarchs, is the One you worship, as do I, who has glorified Jesus through Whom this man has been healed.  

But Peter doesn’t stop there as he uses another phrase to connect with his listeners. The phrasing, ‘His servant Jesus,’ is not insignificant, nor accidental.

The first reference anchors them to who God is - Jahweh - God of our fathers, the second reference to connect them to who Jesus is in a way different than what were likely expecting. ‘His servant Jesus’ is a title that would connect them to Isaiah’s prophesies of the coming Messiah in what were known as the 4 servant songs, Isaiah 42, 49, the end of 50 and all of 53. This servant IS the promised Messiah.

These connections made, his next words made a connection they would rather not hear. These words are direct and accusatory. The one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life. :13-15. 

It’s easy to read these words while forgetting to whom they are listening. This, as we observed last week, is Peter, who, only a short while ago, was in fear, denying even knowing Jesus. Now, here unapologetically levelling strong declarations that they killed God’s promised One, You delivered, you disowned, you put to death. This wasn’t Pilate’s doing; you want to point the finger there. Pilate would have released Jesus as one wrongly accused - you demanded otherwise. Pilate offered the undeniably guilty in exchange for the release of the obviously innocent. So make no mistake, the guilt is yours. You put to death ‘the Archegos - the author of life. 

I would guess, and later we confirmed this, that on normal occasions, accusations like this would not have gone down well. Truth is, they, no different than us, don’t like to be held to account if we can find a way to deny or minimize any wrongs we have done. When Stephen, whom we see later in Acts, says similar things to Peter, the crowd rose up in anger to stone him to death. How dare he represent Jesus for who he said Him to be. How dare they be accused of opposing God with any actions they had done?

Two audiences, two very different responses. The message was given more or less the same. Words of conviction delivered. For a lame man who knew he was a beggar in need of life, This Jesus was God’s promised, life-giving Messiah, whom you put to death, but the One whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. The Resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith, mentioned at least 104 times in the New Testament. Based on 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. :16

In light of what Peter has put before them, his challenge, their choice. Our choice as well,

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, BUT Every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people:19,23  

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