¶ Intro / Opening
🎵 Music
¶ Peter Deflects Awe to God
Well, yesterday a man who had spent 40 years at the beautiful gate begging for coins. Walked into the temple on his own two feet, leaping and praising God. And the crowd recognized him immediately. They'd they'd seen him at that spot their whole lives. And now he's clinging to Peter and John in Solomon's colonnade.
And and a crowd is pressing in all around the three of them, and everyone's staring at the two fishermen from Galilee. Peter has about thirty seconds before this becomes about him. Let's read Acts three, eleven through sixteen. says while he, this is the man, was holding on to Peter and John, all the people utterly astonished ran toward them in what is called Solomon's colonnade.
And when Peter saw this he addressed the people, fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied v before Pilate.
Though he had decided to release him. You denied the holy and righteous one, and you asked to have a murderer released to you. You killed the source of life whom God raised from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in his name. His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and so the faith that comes through Jesus has given him in this perfect health in front of all of you. So the healed man is clingy, he won't let go of Peter and John.
And this crowd is forming around them quickly. Solomon's colonnade was a a covered walkway on the east side of the temple where rabbis held their classes. It was a teaching space, and now Peter has an audience that he didn't ask for, and all of them are staring.
And Peter's first move is to deflect attention. Why are you staring at us as though we made him walk by our own power or godliness? That word godliness here means personal piety or religious devotion. Peter's saying, like this wasn't our prayer life that did this. It certainly wasn't our spiritual resume. We didn't earn this moment at all. You see, when God does something through you, the pull to absorb the credit is a very real thing.
So people's admiration is warm and it feels good to be seen and recognized. And Peter had every opportunity to let the crowd's awe settle on him and John, and he chose to shut it down immediately. There's a story I I love about uh Leonardo da Vinci that that captures this moment well. When Da Vinci had finished his painting of the Last Supper, he he showed it to a friend uh privately.
And his friend was immediately drawn to the wine cup. And the friend says, It's exquisite. It seems to stand right off the table. And as soon as Da Vinci heard it, he took a brush and he painted over the cup, got rid of it entirely. And he said, I meant for the figure of Christ to attract the observer's eye first. And whatever draws attention away from him has to go.
¶ Preaching Christ, Confronting Unbelief
And I love that because that's exactly what Peter does here. He paints over the cup. N not one to pass up an opportunity though to preach the gospel. Peter uses the miracle to point everyone to the Messiah. He exalts Jesus in several ways, but but as a lead up. To this to this message, he sharply indicts the unbelieving crowd. He starts with their shared ground. He says that here's the God of our fathers, the God that every person in this crowd has been raised to worship.
And then he walks them straight into what they did. You handed him over. You denied the holy and righteous one. You asked for a murderer instead of Jesus. You killed the source of life. You know, what an interesting phrase to think that anybody could kill the source of life. Peter told them that they had executed the very being who brought life into existence, the one holding every breath in that crowd in his own hands.
And it and it reads pretty confrontational, but Peter isn't trying to shame them. He's trying to wake them up, and there's a difference. Shame closes people down, and Peter's goal is to open them up to something. And so he names the sin very clearly so that he can offer them the remedy very clearly. And then he makes this turn. He says, Whom God raised from the dead.
See, every accusation lands harder because of that phrase sitting right behind it. You killed him, God raised him. Your verdict wasn't the final verdict. You see, the resurrection doesn't just prove Jesus is alive. It proves that this crowd was wrong about who he was. Then Peter explains the healing very plainly. He says, By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong. The man standing right in front of them, walking on legs that had never worked, was the evidence.
They knew him, they'd seen him at that gate for their whole lives. There was no disputing what had happened. Peter just wanted them to understand who did it.
¶ Be a Mirror, Point to Jesus
And the passage ends with a claim that's uh exclusive, it's unapologetic. There's one name, one source. Peter didn't soften it or or wrap it in any kind of qualifications. He just says it and he moves on, trusting the crowd to reckon with what he just said. See, you don't argue people into Jesus. Uh you put Jesus in front of people and let him make his own case.
So what does an ordinary step of obedience look like today? Let me give you a quick takeaway. The takeaway is this you're not the light, you're the mirror. And so let your life point past you to Jesus. It's tough to keep Jesus at the center, isn't it? Like when somebody compliments you for something or maybe something God did through you. You can practice this redirect. You don't deflect with false humility. Don't say oh oh But don't own that it was Try something like, hey, I'm grateful God.
Get comfortable pointing people. Let's catch up again tomorrow.