- Not from the strength of our faith
- From the source of our faith
It was a day he would never forget. Because it was a day that would change his life forever. He didn’t know that at first, of course. He woke up in the morning like he usually did and a few of his friends carried him to the temple gate as was his routine. They carried him there because this man couldn’t walk. In fact, he had been born crippled, and so he sat at that temple gate every day begging for anything the people walking into the temple could spare. On this particular day, however, the apostles Peter and John happened to be walking by his regular spot as they went into the temple to pray. And instead of walking past the man without so much as a glance as most people did, Peter actually looked down at this invalid and spoke to him! And Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). And immediately this man who had been crippled from birth jumped up, started walking around, and clung to Peter and John while he thanked and praised the Lord. The people at and around the temple were so astonished that Peter had to explain to them what had happened. “Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” Peter said. “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.” Peter made it clear that this healing wasn’t something he or John had done on their own. In fact, they didn’t really do anything at all. This miracle that had changed this man’s life forever was really a faith-healing.
What we have here in our Scripture reading for today is a good old-fashioned faith-healing! Of course, it’s much different than the faith-healings we hear about in this country at this time. You’ll notice that in this story of Acts 3 there was no congregation praying over the sick man. There was no mention of the Holy Spirit filling his heart to such an extent that he burned with a holy fire. Peter and John did not speak in tongues; they did not wave their hands in the air or make any outrageous visible demonstrations that afternoon. And the man who couldn’t walk didn’t come looking for a miracle either, he didn’t expect to be healed on that day, nor did the Lord give him some supernatural revelation that he should go to the temple for a special reason at that specific time. This certainly was a faith-healing, but it was just that: a faith-healing. This man believed that God could do just what Peter told the man to do. And that was it. The man believed in God’s love and power and he was healed. Not because of the strength of his faith, but because of the source of his faith.
This is one of the problems of the so-called “faith-healings” in our culture. The healings are thought of as being largely based on the strength of a person’s faith. And if that person who comes to be healed is not healed - or not healed completely - that is supposedly due to the individual’s faith not being strong enough. That person is then asked to pray harder, to dig deeper, to accept and receive and feel the Spirit more than they ever have. And he is told that if his faith is strong enough then the Lord will bless him with the healing he wants so badly. Of course, it doesn’t work like that. Nowhere in Scripture was a healing based on the strength or weakness of a person’s faith. Not to mention that nowhere in Scripture does the Lord promise that the miraculous healings recorded for us in the Bible will happen in the same way today.
But that attitude, that misconception that the strength of a person’s faith is the catalyst to a complete healing, shouldn’t surprise us. Because that stems right from the sinful nature. It comes from the same delusion common to every person in this world: that we have inside of us what it takes to do great things. That is really the “American Dream” when it is whittled down to the core. We have inside us what it takes to do great things. I hear it at hospitals and rehab centers and funeral homes all the time. “Oh, you’re strong. You’ve always had an unwavering positive attitude and I’ve always respected your determination. You can pull through this.” Or “She’s a fighter. She’s not going to let this illness get the best of her. I know she can beat it. She’s a rock.” Or “He’s tough. He’s gone through so much in his life that he’ll know how to deal with this. He’s got that inner strength and that personal resolve to handle anything.” Haven’t you heard some of these things before? Haven’t you said some of these things about others or even thought some of these things about yourself? I’ve had that attitude about myself plenty of times in my life! I’ve often thought about myself, “I’m strong enough to get through this. I’ve got the experience to handle that problem. I have the personality needed to deal with this particular person in this particular situation. I’ve got the ability to manage this, I’ve got the know-how to fix that, I’ve got what it takes to do what needs to be done.”
But whenever those thoughts crossed my mind, where was my trust? On whom was I leaning during those moments of difficulty and decision? It wasn’t on the Lord; it was on my determination to get things done, on my abilities, on my inner strength and personal fortitude. Things that are unreliable. Things that have let me down in the past and will again. Things that I should know better than to trust in. It’s OK to be confident, but my confidence and your confidence should only and always rest on the Lord. On what he does. On what he can do. Even on what he can do through you.
We see this correct placement of confidence in Acts 3. “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.” The man in our story today wasn’t made strong because of his own strength, because of his own willpower, or because of his own personal resolve. He was completely healed because of the strength and the will and the resolve of the risen Lord. The one whom this man believed. The one who gave him the faith in the first place so that he could believe.
And we were once in a very similar situation as this crippled man was in while he sat at the gate of the temple. This man couldn’t stand because his legs wouldn’t work. We couldn’t stand in the presence of the Lord because our attempts at reconciliation didn’t work. This man couldn’t walk because he was born without the strength to do so. We couldn’t walk perfectly in the laws of the Lord because we were born without the strength to do so. This man needed to be completely healed by someone who cared and by someone who could. We needed to be completely healed by someone who cared and by someone who could. Different situations, but the same the Lord. And the same power. And the same love. And the Lord has completely healed us just as he completely healed the man born crippled. And he performed that healing in the same way: through faith in the unmatched power and love of our risen Lord.
And this faith that both the crippled man had and we now have is something very special: “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing.” Not only is it faith in Jesus, it is faith that comes through Jesus as well. He is the object of our faith as well as the source of our faith. That’s an amazing act of love, isn’t it? The Lord knew we needed to be completely spiritually healed and he knew the only way that could happen was if we would believe in him as our Savior. And so he gave us the faith to believe in him! We didn’t ask for it, we weren’t looking for it. We didn’t expect it or deserve it. We were sitting right along side that crippled man at the temple, unable to do anything to cure ourselves. We were hopeless and helpless and oblivious to the Lord’s love. Until Peter and John walked to where we were lying. Of course, the Lord didn’t send Peter and John to us in person as he did to the crippled man, but he sent them to us through their words he had them write down in Scripture. And as we read or heard or where baptized with the words of Peter or John or Paul or Matthew or Luke, the Lord worked faith in our hearts through those words so that we might believe in him and be saved. It was a miracle! It was a complete healing. It was a faith-healing.
Biblical faith-healings happen in a spiritual way every day in many different countries to many different people. The Lord works faith in people’s hearts through his written and spoken Word or through his Word matched with the waters of baptism. And those people who were once spiritually crippled are immediately healed in full. It is not a process at all. This type of healing is not a slow rehabilitation of any kind. That young, immature, inexperienced, almost naïve faith is a real true healing. It is complete and sufficient for salvation. Because it’s not the strength of the faith that saves. It’s the source of the faith that saves.
And I’m stressing that point again this morning because it is a crucial truth to keep in mind for your own comfort and peace of mind. You can be absolutely sure of your forgiveness and salvation because the Lord himself has given you that faith to believe in him. Your faith was not conjured up on your own and it wasn’t a decision you decided to make at some point in your life. And so you do not have to ever worry if your faith is valid or not. You don’t have to ever wonder if you made a mistake or if the faith that you somehow have is good enough or strong enough or dependable enough to hang on until the end. Because the Lord is good enough! The Lord is strong enough! The Lord is dependable enough to keep you in the faith that he himself gave you. The crippled man in Acts 3 understood that concept well. He didn’t question the reality of his healing, he didn’t wonder if it was complete or not. He was jumping up and down in praise because he knew this miracle didn’t come from himself; it came from the crucified and resurrected Lord in whom he believed.
You may not ever experience a physical healing of the magnitude that this crippled man in our Scripture lesson experienced, but don’t forget that you have experienced a true “faith-healing” of even greater worth. You have been healed from the wounds of your sins. You have been healed from the pains and the fears of death. You have been healed from the attacks of Satan and the onslaughts of your own sinful nature. You have been healed through faith in the name of your Lord. It is a complete healing. It is a sure healing. You are whole again. You are well. In fact, you are healthier than you have ever been before. And so jump to your feet with the man at the temple gate. Praise the name of your Lord. Cling to his Word and thank him for everything he has done. Because you truly have received a faith-healing. Forgiveness was the cure. Salvation is the result.
Amen.
“You turned our wailing into dancing; you removed our sackcloth and clothed us with joy, that our hearts may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord our God, we will give you thanks forever.” - Psalm 30:11-12
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