“Silver or Gold I Don’t Have...”

A sermon based upon Acts 3: 1-12

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time,  September 16^th,  2018 

(4-14) Sermon Series: Church: Then and Now

 We’ve all witnessed ‘beggars’ in our society.  Once, I when I was walking on the streets of Berlin, I saw Muslim woman sitting on the steps of a great Cathedral, beside of her two children, begging for money with great sadness written on her face.  She was evidently a refugee from the conflict in Sarajevo, where Serbs and Croatians were killing one another out of fear, suspicion and hate.

What caught my attention, is how most people simply walked by that lonely, troubled, woman without actually noticing her.  But then, suddenly, out of nowhere, this young adult girl stopped, turned, walked over toward the woman and knelt down putting her arms around her embracing her in her arms.  The young girl didn’t say anything.  She couldn’t speak her language, but something was said in that moment.   It was as if that young girl was saying, “I don’t have any money, but I’ll give still give you the best I’ve got.”  I’ll give you compassion.  I’ll give you my prayers.  I hope for a better world.  I’ll not ridicule you.  I’ll not tell you go home, nor will I ignore you, but I will try to understand and show compassion for you.   There, in front of that church, that young girl gave this woman a gift of a loving and caring heart.

‘HE ASKED THEM FOR MONEY….’  (v. 3)

In the text before us, right after Pentecost, after the Spirit came, after Peter had preached his historical sermon, and right after the church had just enlarged by 3,000 people,  Peter and John were following their normal routine of ‘going to the temple’ to pray, and suddenly, out of nowhere, a beggar who could not walk, lying there at the temple gate, saw them entering and asked them for money or ‘alms’.  “Alms’ was the Jewish way of asking for ‘a love offering’. 

This beggar was lame--that is crippled, so other people had to take him there every day so that he could earn money to live.  Begging was an honest way for him to make his living.  Still, it was not easy for him to live or work this way, just like it is not easy to have our busy lives ‘interrupted’ by other people’s problems.  But when it happens, and it will happen, if we are fortunate enough, someone will be asking something from us instead of us having to ask something from someone else.   

What should we do when life grants us the upper hand and we have advantages that someone else doesn’t?   How do we respond when we are the one who is fortunate, who is gifted, who is advantaged, instead of being the one who is unfortunate, who is lacking, or is disadvantaged?   I recall an old story about a professor who, on his way to class, was robbed, and then reported to his students that his first response was not to call the police, but to thank God.  “You’re thankful for being robbed”, his students asked with a puzzled look?  No, not exactly. But I am most thankful that I was the one who was robbed rather than the person who was doing the robbing.”

I often hear people say when things are bad for you can visit a nursing home or a hospital and see someone worst off than you.  This is supposed to make you feel better about yourself.  I’m not sure about the longevity of such a point of view, but it might work, to a point.   However, I think there is an even better way to deal with life’s disappointments and difficulties.  Invest some time with someone who is struggling and you might bring hope, courage and a spirit of peace and contentment back to yourself.  The joy of life is not found in comparing  how good you have verses how bad someone has it, since some day you might be that one who has it bad.  No, courage can be found by connecting yourself with God compassion and grace.  This is how you can discover how ‘blessings’ really flow.

But there’s something else from this word from Peter that strikes me.  When you hear Peter say, “I don’t have silver and gold…” do you feel pity for him?  Think about it.  If you say about someone ‘they don’t have any money’ or you say, ‘I don’t have enough money’ and feel pity, then you know what our culture values.  There have been times when people could get by without much money, but that day is gone.  In our culture we depend upon money more than we depend on love, family, community, or neighborliness.  In our culture a sense of contentment and hope depends on having a significant amount of money, but the emptiness returns with more questions, as you wonder: Is money really the source of life’s greatest blessings?

We all need some money to live, but while there are some advantages to having money, there are certainly some real disadvantages too.  Having money can isolate and insulate you from what is most important.  In other words, even when you have money, it won’t always buy you everything you need.  For example, money can get you a doctor, but it can’t get you good health.  Money can get you food, but is this food nourishing and can it feed the great hunger of the soul?  While money can buy you some time on earth,  it can’t make life more valuable or give life true worth.  Even the wealthiest people have lived short lives, or have missed finding joy and purpose. 

Jesus himself reminded us about the danger of riches, when he said that it was ‘hard’ for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 19:23).  Jesus didn’t say it was ‘impossible’, since ‘with God, all things are possible’ (v.26), but he did say it would be hard, and by this he meant very hard, as it would be ‘easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the heaven’s kingdom (v.24).  That’s hard!   It was hard to get into the kingdom with money just like it was for those Sadducee and Pharisees, who followed the money rather than obeying God (Matt. 23:6).   It was also hard for the Rich Man who ignored the beggar sitting at his gate every day (Luke 16:1ff).  This Rich man may have had a good life, but he certainly didn’t have a good death.  Jesus said that when the Rich man died, he opened his eyes in ‘torment’ (Luke 16: 23).  While the poor beggar was not resting in Abraham’s lap, the man who lived his life in the ‘lap of luxury’ and did nothing for the plight of the ‘beggar’ sitting right outside his gate, now suffers a tormenting death (Hades, v. 23).   It wasn’t because he ignored Jesus that the wealthy man suffers in these ‘flames’, but it was because he ignored the “Jesus” who showed up ‘in the least of these’ (Matt. 25:45).

I once heard a preacher say that ‘smoking cigarettes wouldn’t send you to hell, but it would sure make you smell like you’ve been there.’   In a similar way, we might say that having money won’t send you to hell either, but can make it very hard for you to enter God’s kingdom, in this life or in the next.  In other words, money is not the ‘root of all evil’, but the ‘love of money’ is (1 Tim 6:10).  When you love money, more than you love your life, or the lives of others, what really matters, or you love money more than you love God, then you can keep your money, but to put it bluntly, Jesus is saying that you will ‘go straight to hell’, because what you can’t keep is your life, or the love, or the enduring purpose life should bring when you ‘sell’ yourself short by valuing money over love and life.

Remember that old Beatles song we sang in our youth; “Can’t Buy Me Love!”  Money can get you a lot of stuff, and give you lots of friends too, but will they be true friends, true family, or are they just ‘gold diggers’?  It’s the same way with the stuff money buys you.  You can obtain a lot of stuff too, even acquiring more than you need, but does all the stuff matter or just clutter up what really matters?  Stuff only matters when you use it for the right purpose or the stuff you have ends up using you and you end up with nothing much at all. 

Years ago, when I visited Rome, I walked into one most interesting Churches.  It wasn’t St. Peter’s, but was the “The Church of Mary” a hill of the city, which seems unkempt on the outside, but when you go in and look up, you see a ceiling of gold.  Our tour guide told us, “The gold on that ceiling was given to the church by Queen Isabella of Spain as a gift from the new world”  If you remember your history, Queen Isabella was the one who sent Christopher Columbus to the West Indies, looking for gold when he discovered America.  It made be wonder if some of that gold didn’t come from some of the Spanish explorers who discovered gold right here in western North Carolina, where there was, in 1567, a ‘gold hunters’ fort.  But what I thought about most, as I gazed at all that glitter, is who didn’t have food and clothing when the Church of Rome was painting this ceiling with gold? (http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/sm_maggiore/en/storia/interno.htm  and (http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/07/27/medieval-spanish-gold-hunters-fort-found-in-north-carolina.htm)

“The poor, you’ll always have with you,” (Mk 14:7), Jesus answered, when the disciples criticized the woman who poured out ‘high dollar’ perfume on Jesus’ body just before he was crucified.  The disciples would have had a good point, except that this money was being used for someone, rather than merely being used by someone.  Isn’t that the difference?  This expense was used to show value to Jesus’ life, who was about to be crucified.  When you use money to show what matters or who matters, then money is serving a purpose, just like it serving a purpose when you feed, help, or care for someone who is in need.  But when you spend, use money, just to have what we want, only for the luxury of it, without having any higher purpose, then the money may be using you, rather than you using the money.

‘LOOK...WHAT I HAVE, I GIVE YOU…(v 5)

We’ve said enough about money, because in this story, Peter didn’t have any money to give.   What Peter does ‘give’ this crippled person is something that more important than money.   After telling the beggar to ‘look at him’ or pay close attention, Peter speaks some of the most unforgettable words of Scripture, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." (Acts 3:6 NIV).

Peter’s words of ‘healing’ and ‘wholeness’ raise one of the most important conversations we should be having as churches these days:  ‘What do we have to give people which no one else has to give.’  If first encountered this question from the practical Presbyterian teacher, John Leith, in his book, “The Reformed Imperative: What the Church Has to Say that No One Else Can Say.”   In that book, and others like it, many today are asking, “What Good Is God” (Philip Yancey), or “Why Does Jesus Matter?”   There so many good organizations, clubs, and relief organizations that can do as good, or better things than the church can do.  While our ‘North Carolina Baptist Men (and Women), may be one of the best emergency response organizations of all Christian groups, there are still many more things that government, the Red Cross, and many other organizations and clubs can do better.  

I recently read an article where a fellow was right to suggest that there are many things that churches should learn from humanistic clubs, such as the Rotary Club.  He said Rotary Clubs are great at showing hospitality, even giving visitors recognition gifts.  Rotary Clubs, he continued, are doing great good as they are helping to wipe out Polio, and they also support many other great causes and charities, he added.  Rotary Clubs have values and mission statements that guide everything they do, and they make their members follow these rules and values too.   Most of all, however, he said that Rotary Clubs require commitment.  If you join a Rotary Club you must attend meetings every week, and if you miss one, you must make it up somewhere else.  It is right to say, he said, that ‘the church is not a Rotary Club’, but the church could learn something from clubs. (http://pres-outlook.org/?s=Rotary+Club).

Now, let’s come back to Peter’s words, ‘…What I have, I give….’, asking once more, what does the church have to ‘give’ ‘in the name of Jesus’ which no one else; no club, no human organization, no relief agency, or no government sponsored program can give?  In other words, what makes “Jesus” still matter, even in our ‘Christ-, or ‘God-forsaking’ world?  What makes Church more than a Rotary Club, a Ruritan Club, Meals on Wheels, or any other kind of Service or Community Organization?

In this text, we might quickly jump to the ‘miracle’  of ‘healing power’ which enabled this crippled person to ‘walk’, as this does get a lot of attention in the text.  We read how Peter spoke the word, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,  (rise up and, KJV) walk (NIV.  “Rise up” is not in the oldest manuscripts, which put emphasis on the fact that the crippled ‘instantly’ (NIV) or ‘immediately’ (KJV) walked, as his ‘… feet and ankles became strong (v. 7) so that ‘he jumped to his feet and began to walk’, then went with them into the temple ‘walking, jumping, and praising God’ (8).  It is easy to get drawn into what happened to this man, as his celebration got a lot of attention.  Still, surprisingly, if you read on, the main point of this story not the what happened to this man, nor was it simply about ‘what’ the ‘name of Jesus’ had done in him.  Peter makes this clear, again, just as he did on Pentecost, as he began to preach about ‘who’ Jesus is, how he suffered, how God raised him up, and how Jesus IS the Christ, God’s true “Messiah”, who, through this event, and through the preaching of the church, now, calls everyone to ‘repent’ and to ‘turn to God’ ( v. 16-20).  

It is not the ‘healing’ or the ‘miracle’ that got Peter put in prison, or brought persecution down upon the church, but it was this unique burden of truth, the burden, the blessing, or the calling, to speak the truth about ‘who’ Jesus is.   This is the one ‘imperative’ the church has been given; the ‘word’ we have to say, which brings to us the ‘new commandment’ , that we, as the church, have to obey.  The church is not in any way a ‘volunteer’ organization; though we have made it such, and have watered down the truth we have been given.  This may be part of why we don’t see the ‘miracles’ too.   The ‘power of God’ is not released to a church of volunteers, but the power of God was released to a church that actually made Jesus, not just their Savior, but their true Lord, of life and of death.

But still, I don’t think the major ‘truth’ of this story, or the undiscovered power of the church is to be able to work ‘miracles’ in the same sense that Peter did when he spoke and the man was instantly healed.  These ‘miracles’ during the ministry of Jesus and in the time of the early church were as much ‘signs’ as they were ‘wonders’.  Miracles were given to the world in this unique time, to point to the truth of Jesus Christ, as God’s Son, and as Savior of the World.  I believe ‘miracles’ still happen today, sometimes as ‘exceptions’ because of faith, but also as new ‘discoveries’ of science.  

However, and again, what the church has to give to the world is not always a ‘miracle’ of physical healing because such miracles are always short-lived, limited and temporary in our physical world.  Even the greatest miracle of humans science, if it comes, which may soon be the miracle to cure Cancer,  will only be a temporary, short-lived, and limited ‘wonder’ of medicine, falling short of bringing ultimate hope and purpose to human and physical life.

‘RISE UP…WALK  (v.6)

So, what does the ‘church’ have to give?  When Peter told this man to ‘walk’, we read how immediately, he went ‘into the temple courts’, walking and praising God’ (v. 8).   What you could overlook, is that as a ‘crippled’ person, he would not have been allowed to go running around ‘into the temple courts’, but should have remained outside, ‘at the gate’, until he had been approved by the temple police.  Instead, against all physical realities, and breaking all religious rules too, he announces to the world that something has ‘mistakenly’ changed.  This change is not only in his body, but it was in his heart and soul.  He now realized that he was no longer a  ‘sinner’  in the eyes of God or people, but through ‘the name of Jesus’, God’s redeeming, saving, and healing ‘grace’ had changed everything.

When the theological ‘dust’ clears in the New Testament, and when all these unique miracles have ceased to dominate the storyline, what remains is exactly this: the knowledge in the human heart that we don’t have to remain ‘sinners’, but that God has come in Jesus Christ to give a unique gift , the gift of the ‘good news’ of the ‘gospel’ that a new reality, a new rule and kingdom of God has come close to us ‘in the name of’ and through the life, death, and resurrection of this one, who is named, “Jesus of Nazareth”.   Jesus is ‘who’ the church has to give, so we can say what no one else can say.  We have this gospel---the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the gospel of God.  We have the good news of God’s forgiving, redeeming, and grace filled love, no matter what else happens or doesn’t happen in this life.

Recently, NBC has released a new TV show entitled ‘Rise’.  The title caught my attention and the plot too, because it’s a show, similar to the recent show “Glee”.  It’s about a depressed, working-class High School, which is about students who are ‘down in the dumps’ until a new teacher comes to town.  Doesn’t this reoccurring theme sound familiar?  In this story, the theatrical group, the school, and even the whole community, is being inspired by the new message of hope coming from the acting, dancing and singing that is surprisingly taking place.  

Of course, this TV Show is fiction, but it’s also a drama of redemption.  It’s drama the circles around the great ‘hope’ all of us have of having our lives challenged and transformed by greater purposes and values in life.  

Recently, I came across an interesting article from a ‘secular’ scholar who warned that if Christians and Churches were not careful, we would lose the ability to ‘inspire’ people and people would stop coming to church.  His point was that since the Bible has less and less authority in the secular world, if we keep trying to prove or argue about the Bible, we will lose an audience, since fewer live as if the Bible has any real authority in their life.  What he went on to say that churches need to do, if they wanted to continue to exist, minister, and make an impact in this world, is to stop using the Bible an ‘authority’, but to preach, teach, and live the Bible to allow the message of the Bible to do what it’s always done best: to let the Bible inspire us to live for greater purpose, beyond ourselves (Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate where I read this).  

While I certainly don’t agree with everything that scholar said, because I do think the Bible has ‘authority’ for some,  I do agree that we Christians, if we are not careful, can misread and misunderstand how God’s truth primarily comes to us today.  The greatest ‘authority’ in the Bible is not what we can ‘prove’ or points we make in an argument, but the inspiring ‘authority’ of the Bible comes through how we live when we ‘rise up and walk’ like we have experience the overwhelming, life-challenging, and life-changing truth of the gospel; the ‘the good news’ of God’s grace that has come into our world through Jesus Christ.  

Maxie Dunnam tells how about Alexander Ervine's beautiful novel entitled, My Lady of the Chimney Corner.  In it there is an incident in which the lady went to comfort a neighbor whose boy lay dead.  As gently as Fall to an Autumn leaf, she laid her hand on Eliza’s head, “Ah woman,” she said, “God isn’t a printed book to be carried around by a man in fine clothes, nor a cross dangling at the watch chain of a priest.  God takes a hand wherever he can find it, and just does with it what he likes.  Sometimes he takes a bishop’s hand and lays it on a child’s head in benediction.  And then he takes the hand of a doctor to relieve pain, and the hand of a mother to guide her child.  And sometimes he takes the hand of poor creature like me, to give comfort to a neighbor.  But they’re all hands touched by his spirit, and his spirit is everywhere looking for hands to use.”  

Isn't this what the church has to ‘give’ which no one has to give?  We have been given the gospel of God’s redeeming grace and the saving hope that comes through the power of Jesus Christ and the resurrection power of God, who through love, overcame sin, the devil, and this broken world when God raised Jesus from the dead.  Who is given the charge to take this message to the world?  If not us, then who?

When we ‘rise up’ and we ‘walk’  differently in the world, ‘with the newness of life’  (Rom. 6:4), as Paul put it, the world we live in also comes to know the truth of what we preach, not just through words, but also with deeds.  But even these ‘deeds’ only make a difference because of the different kind of life we actually live by living the truth of this Jesus we know and we serve.  This is the ‘inspiring’ truth of the gospel we always have to ‘give’, whether the miracle comes in this world, or whether the miracle must wait on that world which is still to come.   Amen.