More than Silver and Gold

Acts 3 narrates the story of the Apostles Peter and John miraculously healing a man who was lame from this mother's womb. The lame man was not paralyzed but had extensive deformity in his legs and feet that prevented him from walking. Since there were no wheelchairs then, he had to be carried along from place to place. Try to put yourself in his place and imagine your life being totally dependent on others! In stark contrast, our current culture applauds self-reliance, as in how William Ernest Henley ends his famous poem Invictus:
 
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
 
But this man was under no illusion that he is the master of anything, not in the least his own fate or his own soul. More than that, because of Levitical laws, he was not even allowed inside the Temple because of his deformity. So, all he could do was to sit outside the Temple to beg, perhaps waiting for someone to give him enough money to support himself that week.
 
The Apostle Peter tells him though, "I do not possess silver and gold." The lame man's response might have been to quickly dismiss the Apostles had they not told him "Look at us!" The Apostles, however, had something much more valuable. The man instantly receives a gift that he could not have bought if he had all the silver and gold in the whole world, his physical healing. But more than that, the Lord Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26). This miracle gave the lame man the opportunity to experience healing through the power of God, not only physically in his body, but also spiritually in his soul.
 
So once again in the Book of Acts, a miraculous sign is given that brings glory to God but nonetheless creates amazement and demands an explanation. As in chapter 2, the Apostle Peter responds to the crowd with a sermon that ascribes "faith in the name of Jesus" as the basis for the miracle. It was because God had glorified the Lord Jesus that now His power through His Holy Spirit can work through the Apostles (Acts 1:8). So, the Apostle Peter once again appeals to those in Jerusalem to repent by turning from their "wicked ways" and turning to Jesus instead.
 
Acts chapter 4 and subsequent chapters records that the leaders in Jerusalem continued to reject Jesus as the Messiah. It is not recorded whether the lame man did put his trust in the Lord, but one can hope considering what God had done in him and the man's ecstatic response in "praising God." However, if he did not, he would have missed on a greater miracle to heal his “deformed” soul.
 
To make a point about how the temporal prosperity has hindered the church at large from living by the power of the resurrected-glorified Messiah and His Holy Spirit, F. F. Bruce cites a story when Pope Innocent II was counting a large sum of money and told Thomas Aquinas who was with him, "You see, Thomas, the church can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I none." Aquinas' response was, "True…but neither can she now say, 'Rise and walk.'" It is my prayer that KBC would never be a church that has "silver and gold" but does not have the power of the resurrected-glorified Messiah and His Holy Spirit working in it and through it.