Unlovely to Beautiful
Acts 3:1-10
February 10, 2002
Intro:
A. [Not Ready for Aging]
In the cartoon For Better or Worse, a mother is looking into the mirror and carrying on a conversation with herself.
She says, "My face is changing. It’s not the same—definitely not the same—different. It’s older. Maybe if I parted my hair on the side. Maybe if I were to rub a little more moisturizer around each eye. A little different colored blush perhaps? Nope, this is it. I look older and there’s nothing I can do about it. I remember my mother’s face looking like this. I remember how the lines crept around her mouth and her eyes. Yes, it’s my turn now to take on that look of the mature, older, woman."
She gazes intently into the mirror, and then shouts for all to hear, "And I’m not ready!"
1. There’s something about beauty that draws our attention.
2. All of us would like to be beautiful, but most of us don’t feel that we are.
3. Of course all beauty is not physical and God is drawn to a different kind of beauty than we are.
4. Our text today in Acts chapter three speaks about beauty and there are some important things for us to learn there in this story.
B. Last week we read Acts 2:43 which says, "Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous sings were done by the apostles."
1. That verse sets us up for the picture that Luke paints for us in Acts 3.
2. Listen to how Luke begins to color the canvas in Acts 3:1, "One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon."
3. So the first thing we see in Luke’s painting is…
I. Lovely @ prayer
Acts 3:1, One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon.
A. Peter and John went up to the temple to pray, daily.
1. In fact Peter and John probably went up to the temple to pray three times a day.
2. The text says that Peter and John went up to the temple at the time of prayer, about three o’clock in the evening.
3. Psalms 55:17 tells us that it was David’s practice to pray three times a day, Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
a. And notice these aren’t "Sunday School" prayers that David is praying.
b. The Scripture says that David was CRYING OUT in DISTRESS.
c. There are strong emotion and feeling to David’s prayers that he is praying three times per day.
4. Then Daniel 6:10 tells us that it was Daniel’s custom to pray three times per day as well, Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
a. You see, King Nebuchadnezzar had issued a decree that said that anyone who prayed to any other God besides the King would be thrown into the lions’ den.
b. Did you know that was why Daniel was thrown in the lions’ den?
c. That’s the truth: Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den for praying to God three times per day.
d. Daniel didn’t care what the king’s edict said or what the punishment was for violating it.
e. Daniel was in the custom of praying to God three times a day and when he learned of this new decree he went right on getting down on his knees three times a day praying and giving thanks to God, just as he had before.
f. Most of us have a hard time praying one time a day.
g. But Daniel was determined to pray three times a day even at the risk of being eaten alive by lions!
5. Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three o’clock in the afternoon.
6. That would have been one of the three times of prayer each day; the others were probably 9 AM and noon.
7. They had a regular time and place for daily prayer.
B. That is something that is lovely to God.
1. People who are determined to have a relationship with God will have a regular time and place to pray.
2. People who want to get to know God will have a regular time and place to pray.
3. People who want to have an intimate relationship with God will have a regular time and place to pray.
4. And that is something that is lovely to God.
5. God wants to have a meaningful relationship with us.
6. God doesn’t just want us to believe in Him and know about Him—God wants us to get to know Him.
7. And spending time with God is certainly a prerequisite of getting to know Him.
8. People who are in love with God, want to spend time with Him and want to do things to please Him!
C. Peter and John were certainly lovely to God; but then Luke introduces some drama into his painting…
II. Unlovely @ Beautiful
Acts 3:2-3, 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.
A. Now there comes into the scene a man who would certainly be considered by most people to be unlovely.
1. Now there is a man who is carried into the scene on a mat.
2. He was carried into the scene on a mat because he could not walk.
3. This man had been crippled since birth.
4. This man was put there each day to beg for money.
5. Here is a very unlovely person laying on a mat in front of the temple begging for money.
6. How often do you look at cripples or beggars?
7. Usually when you see a cripple or a beggar, your first instinct is to turn away, isn’t it?
8. Its because they aren’t lovely to look at, isn’t it?
9. When we see an attractive person or see an expensive car, we look, don’t we?
10. Why is that? Its because they’re attractive, isn’t it?
11. None of us like to see someone who is a cripple because we don’t want to think about what it would be like to be crippled.
12. None of us like to see beggars because we don’t want to think about what it would be like to be that poor.
13. We may not see ourselves as attractive or rich, but we certainly know that cripples and beggars are worse off than us, and so we don’t really want to look at them.
14. Here is this unlovely person being carried into the picture…
B. But I also want us to see a stark contrast that Dr. Luke describes for us in this text…
1. Dr. Luke is careful to point out where this unlovely person is being put at the temple.
2. It says here that he was laid at the temple gate called, "Beautiful."
3. At first glance, we read right past this and don’t think anything of it.
4. But when we study the diagrams of the temple and the descriptions that we have of the temple, we find that there was no gate called "Beautiful."
5. There were more than a dozen gates around the temple in Jesus’ day and none of them were officially called, "The Beautiful Gate."
6. Now there was a gate called, "Nicanor Gate" that most scholars believe that Luke was talking about here.
a. The Nicanor Gate was a gate which lead from the Court of the Gentiles into the Court of Women.
b. It was made of Corinthian bronze and adorned with silver and gold plates.
c. It was 75 feet high and 60 feet wide.
d. It was located on the east where the sun could shine brilliantly upon it as the crowds entered for worship.
e. That certainly sounds like a beautiful gate and would make sense why the people would prefer to simply refer to it as the beautiful gate instead of its proper name, "Nicanor Gate."
f. But Luke is a Doctor and he is a stickler for details and you would think that the gospel writer who is known for his historically accurate details would have called the gate by its proper name.
g. Dr. Luke must have had a reason for using this common name for the gate.
h. I believe it was to draw this stark contrast for us: here in this beautiful picture of this beautiful gate with all of these beautiful people entering through it to enter the temple for the hour of prayer, and into this picture comes this very un-beautiful, very unlovely person, being carried in to beg for money.
7. Unlovely at Beautiful; but then notice what happens…
III. Lovely looked @ unlovely
Acts 3:4-6, 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."
A. Peter and John looked straight at unlovely.
1. Peter and John resisted their fleshly impulse to look away.
2. No, Peter and John looked directly at this unlovely crippled beggar.
3. And you know this wasn’t just a casual look either.
4. The text says that Peter and John looked "straight at him."
5. And then Peter and John told this unlovely crippled beggar to look at them.
6. This was very intentional and purposeful.
7. This beggar was wanting money from Peter and John, but they did not look away from him; they looked straight at him.
B. Then the unlovely crippled beggar looked at Peter and John.
1. The man gave Peter and John his attention.
2. The man was expecting to get money.
C. But Peter said that he was going to give this cripple something better than money, he was going to give this man a touch from God!
1. 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."
2. "I don’t have any money to give you, but I can give you Jesus!"
3. "You want something to support you in your present condition, but I’m going to give you something to get you out of your present condition!"
4. Peter didn’t just give the man what he wanted, he gave the man what he needed!
5. Peter didn’t give the man money, he gave him Jesus!
6. Peter didn’t give the man something that was temporary, he gave the man Jesus!
7. Peter didn’t give the man something that would be used up tomorrow, he gave the man Jesus!
D. Now we do need to stop for a moment and think about what didn’t happen here…
1. Peter and John were going up to the temple to pray.
2. What did everyone else do?
3. Peter and John weren’t the only ones going up to the temple to pray.
4. Verse 9 says, "When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate…"
5. They walked right passed him every day.
6. Everyday, probably three times a day, they walked right passed him.
7. "There he is. Don’t look at him! He shouldn’t be allowed to sit here and beg like this—after all this is a church!"
8. "You need money? Please! Don’t bother me, I’m on my way to PRAY!"
9. Peter and John could have said, "We’re spiritual people and we don’t have time for you, we’ve got to PRAY!"
10. Now I’ve said a lot the past few months about the importance of all of us spending more time praying.
11. I even said earlier in this sermon that we need to have a regular time and place to pray.
12. But now I’m telling you that we need to have some common sense about it, just like Peter and John did!
13. If there are people in need, we can’t just ignore them.
14. We need to ask God for wisdom in how to respond to them.
15. We need to give them not just what they want, but what they need.
16. For God has not called us to love him and ignore people.
17. God has not called us into an intimate relationship with Him to look past people.
18. No, we are called to love God and love people.
19. Somerset Christian Church is passionate about God AND compassionate about people!
20. Peter and John were not so legalistic about their time in prayer that they overlooked people.
21. We need to love God AND love people!
22. We need to spend time in prayer AND respond to people!
23. Maybe God will lead you to give them money.
24. Maybe God will lead you to lay hands on them and pray for their healing.
25. But if you’re in love with God and you love people, God will lead you to give them a touch from Him in some way.
26. We cannot turn our eyes away from the unlovely in the name of prayer.
27. We too must look straight at the unlovely!
Transition: But now we must also look at the results of what Peter and John did…
IV. Unlovely became beautiful
Acts 3:7-10, 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.
A. Peter took the unlovely crippled beggar and helped him up.
1. Peter did not look away from the unlovely, but he looked straight at him and put out a hand to help him up.
2. Peter stuck out his hand and said, "Here, let me help you up."
B. And instantly the man was healed!
1. Instantly the unlovely crippled beggar was made whole.
2. Instantly the unlovely crippled beggar was healed.
3. Instantly the unlovely crippled beggar received a touch from God through Peter.
4. Instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
5. Instantly he jumped to his feet and began to walk.
6. Instantly the unlovely crippled beggar became beautiful.
7. Instantly the man went into the church—probably a place where he’d never been inside before!
8. Instantly the man got into the church and was walking and leaping and praising God!
C. Now, I wonder if that would be ok in our church.
1. If there was a cripple who had been begging outside the front steps of our building and one of our elders laid hands on him and God healed him and he walked up the steps into our building and the service had already started and he started walking and leaping and praising God—how would the people of Somerset respond to that?
2. How would we respond to someone walking and leaping and praising God in our worship service?
D. I want to show you something: I’ve got a friend in Kansas City who is working on a new logo for our church…
1. Every time I look at this logo, I think of verse 8.
2. One other thing about this logo that I want to share with you is that I’ve done a little research and found out what that one in the middle is…
3. Do you know what the one in the middle is called? Its a somerset!
4. I have found out that Somerset is a summersault.
5. Our name means to do flips!
6. We are summersault Christian Church!
E. Now why would a church be called summersault?
1. Because of how good God has been to us!
2. Christians would do somersets because we are all that unlovely, crippled beggar spiritually!
3. And for some unknown reason, God looked straight at each of us and stretched out His hand to us and said, "Let me help you up!"
4. And when we realize what Christ has done for us, we immediately stand up and go to church and praise God!
5. When we realize what God has done for us, we go inside the church and we walk and we leap and we praise God!
6. And we may even do a couple somersets!
7. We are excited about what God has done for us!
8. We aren’t ashamed to leap and shout and do flips because of what Christ means to us!
9. We walk and leap and praise God and do somersets because we are no longer unlovely!
10. We do somersets and praise God because he has made something beautiful out of us!
F. And friends, I do believe that we do need to loosen our ties up a little and loosen our girdles up a little and not be afraid to praise God like this!
1. Look at what happened when this formerly unlovely man came walking and leaping and praising God!
2. Verse 9 & 10 tell us that when all the people saw him and recognize him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful gate, they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
3. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
4. And who do you suppose got credit for what happened to him?
5. Peter and John made sure that God got the credit.
6. And when people see things like that happen and they know that it had to be God that did it, what is going to happen?
7. People are going to come to see what is happening because they want a touch from God as well!
8. When people in the community hear about things like this, they’ll want in on it.
9. Because whether they say it out loud or not, everyone wants a touch from God!
10. I know I do and I know you do; and so do others!
11. But what happens when we don’t allow people to praise the Lord like this?
12. [illustration]
There was an old country church one time that had a visitor join them for worship one Sunday morning.
There was a prayer time during the service and the visitor was particularly moved by the prayer and said a few "Amens!" during the prayer.
The people around him opened their eyes and looked at him uncomfortably.
Then the church sang some hymns and the man was caught up in worship and raised his hands and again the people looked at him uneasily.
The preacher began his sermon and it too was a soul stirring speech and he shouted, "Praise the Lord."
Finally an Elder of the church was shoved out into the aisle (by his wife) and the respectful man straightened his tie and buttoned his jacket and marched over to where the visitor was seated.
He gently leaned over and whispered into the man’s ear, "Listen, buddy, we don’t ‘Praise the Lord’ around here."
13. What will happen if we tell people to tone it down a notch or two?
14. What will happen when we tell people that we don’t allow that kind of carrying around here?
15. "Listen, the name on our sign means summersault, but we don’t actually allow that kind emotional stuff to go on around here."
16. I think we need to loosen our ties and our girdles a little, don’t you?
Conclusion:
A. Friends we had a couple of miracles this past week, that we need to get a little excited about…
1. Christine Moore was born last Sunday afternoon and she was a little black and blue because of a severe kink in her cord. Many of us prayed for Christine and God has miraculously allowed Vivian and Doug to bring her home healthy and whole!
2. Adam Ammons was born Tuesday morning on his parents’ bathroom floor; he got pretty distressed about the situation and had his first accident before he got out and then inhaled some of it into his lungs. The doctors thought they’d have to send him to Reilly’s Children’s Hospital because he could die very suddenly. But many of us prayed for Adam this week and everything disappeared from his lungs and the doctors at Hendricks Community Hospital were amazed that he recovered so quickly. He’s already been on all the news programs. And Jim and Kelly got to bring him home healthy and whole!
3. I think we need to loosen our ties and our girdles and praise God!
4. Those two families had a touch from God this week and we ought to praise the Lord!
5. We need to be walking and leaping and praising God!
B. You see, the truth is that none of us are lovely people and God has somehow managed to take all the confusion and broken pieces of our lives and put together something beautiful and for that we all need to praise God!
1. Perhaps you need to loosen up and praise God today!
2. Perhaps you need a touch from God today?
3. Perhaps you need to be saved.
4. Whatever you need, you can get it from God as we stand and sing the chorus, "Something Beautiful."
