Does it have to be that the longer one is in the faith, the less he or she is filled with amazement and enthusiasm over the things of God? Does the fire have to go out of our lives? And if it does go out, who is responsible? Is it just a function of familiarity or time spent in church, or is it something else?

A while back I read about a young man from the former Soviet Union who really enjoyed a visit to a good old American supermarket. The markets in his homeland were bare by comparison to our well-stocked stores. In his country what was available could be obtained only by waiting for hours in long lines. He was astounded by the sheer volume of goods available here. He was especially impressed by the various instant food items you could take home and enjoy immediately. He wrote a letter to some friends back home and told them of his discovery of instant soup. All you had to do, he wrote, was add water to the powder, put it in the microwave oven, and you had steaming hot soup. On a second trip he noticed "instant potatoes." All you had to do is add water to get mashed potatoes. On his next trip he noticed a container with a picture of a small infant on it, and it said "baby powder." He wrote home, "Now, if my mother had only known about this - it surely beats a nine month pregnancy. This is a great country!"

Living here in the United States we generally take our prosperity for granted. Our perspective of how great things are (or aren’t) is adjusted upward to what we’re used to here. We’re accustomed to many choices in our supermarkets, so instant mashed potatoes don’t mean a whole lot. In fact, some of us might complain about instant mashed potatoes because we want only the "real thing!"

As I said, we take a lot of things for granted. Young people take their health and youth for granted. Wealthy people take their money and investments for granted. Husbands take their wives for granted. Wives take their husbands for granted. Children take their parents for granted.

Sometimes Christians take their salvation for granted.

Someone who has been a Christian for a long time may find that the memories of life outside of Christ have grown so dim that there is no longer a recognizable contrast between before and now. Someone who has grown up in the church may have adopted the attitude that salvation is no big deal since it’s all he’s ever known. Such people have been in the Christian "supermarket" (so to speak) for so long that it no longer holds any amazement for them. They’re bored with their faith.

What a contrast between such uncaring boredom and the enthusiasm of a brand-new Christian who is so happy about his salvation that he can hardly keep still - or perhaps a Christian who has lived under a repressive government and then comes here where he is free to worship as he believes is right. Such a person wants to sing and shout and dance for joy!

There is someone like that described in the third chapter of Acts where we will be going this morning in our continuing series called Acts of the Apostles. Today’s message is called, The Second Gospel Sermon. We’ll consider Acts 3:1-20.

The event described here took place sometime after the Day of Pentecost, 33 A.D. - the birthday of the church. God allowed a period of great signs and miracles as He confirmed the word of the New Testament. On Pentecost it was wind sounds, columns of fire and the miraculous speaking of languages by the apostles that they had never learned. More miracles followed, including the one we are about to consider. Acts 3 then, begins with:

The ninth hour was mid-afternoon, Jerusalem time - 3PM. According to Josephus, it was the hour of the evening sacrifice,(1) a very important time of the day for those worshipping in the temple.

This lame beggar had a regular spot where he lay each day. Josephus tells us that this particular entrance into the temple was the most attractive of all the gates. It was much higher than the other entrances and was adorned with magnificent silver and gold plates. The word translated "beautiful" can also mean "blooming," so there may have been gardens of some kind in proximity of the gate. It was opposite that area of the temple called "Solomon’s Porch," a colonnade. Fourteen steps led up to a gallery and then another five to the Beautiful Gate.

While it must have taken some effort for those who carried this man on his stretcher to get him up to this spot, it gave him a real advantage in his begging. This was one of the most used entrances to the temple.

We know from this verse only a couple of specifics about this man. The text says he was "lame from his mother’s womb." He had a congenital birth defect of some sort. Perhaps he was paralyzed. Perhaps his legs or feet were deformed. Whatever the precise cause, he never once in his entire life had walked. Chapter four adds that he was over 40 when the event described here took place.

What happened this particular afternoon was that two apostles of Jesus Christ, Peter and John, overtook this man as he was carried along. Perhaps they even followed him and his friends up the steps. It looks like the apostles were his first prospects of the afternoon.

Incidentally, according to Deuteronomy 15:1-11, Israel was to have no poor living in her borders, so a person reduced to begging indicates that, at this time the Jews, as Jesus would later say in Matthew 23:23, were "omitting the weightier matters of the law, such as judgment, mercy, and faith." (2) The prime religious issues of the day were not orphans and beggars. The issues were form and ritual and tradition. Such emphasis on ceremony did not require compassion. It didn’t necessitate enthusiasm. We need not look very far in our own day to find the same kind of thinking.

Peter and John were about to enter the temple. Perhaps they had to step around this man’s pallet.

No "progressive miracle" here! Did you notice? None of this "Go home and pray - this one may take a little while" stuff used by the charlatans who claim the gift of healing today. This man, known to many of the worshipers at the temple, was healed instantly. Not only that, but though he had never taken a single step in his life, he didn’t even have to learn to walk!

This man couldn’t contain his joy! He rushed into the temple where everyone was seriously involved in worship at an important time of the day and was leaping and praising God.

This lame beggar was in some ways like that Russian visitor to the American supermarket. He was overwhelmed that something like this could happen! He couldn’t contain his joy and praise!

Contrast that with the jaded attitudes of the Jewish religious leaders who had seen Jesus Himself do miracles like this on numerous occasions and sneered all the way through them. Jesus had Himself said in Luke 16:31, that some of them would not be convinced even if someone were raised from the dead.

Let me pose a couple of pertinent questions: Does it have to be that the longer one is in the faith, the less he or she is filled with amazement and enthusiasm over the things of God? Does the fire have to go out of our lives? And if it does go out, who is responsible? Is it just a function of familiarity or time spent in church, or is it something else?

I cannot speak for you because I cannot read your heart, but I can surely speak for me – and let me do so. When the time comes that I cannot get excited anymore about the things of God, I will consider it my problem. I will consider that there is something wrong with my attitude. I don’t regard it as your job or anybody else’s job (or God’s job for that matter) to entertain me so that my faith stays hot. Contrary to what many have concluded today, entertainment isn’t the source of true and lasting spiritual enthusiasm anyway. True spiritual enthusiasm is the result of a living, active, personal relationship and involvement with Christ and His work.

It is said that as Benjamin Franklin concluded a stirring speech on the guarantees of the Constitution, a heckler shouted, "Aw, them words don’t mean nothin’ at all. Where’s all the happiness you say it guarantees us?" Franklin smiled and replied, "My friend, the Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself."

Lasting spiritual enthusiasm is something you have to catch yourself. Sure, you may have times when great things happen in your life (like the healing of this panhandler) but no one has a sustained run of those kinds of things. If you want happiness in your faith, you have to catch it.

A man came to an older member of the church he attended and said, "I don’t know what’s wrong with my life, but that first Christian joy I knew has passed me by. I still live a moral life. I go to church. But how can I recover the lost radiance of my faith?" The more mature saint said, "This is what you should do: Go to the store and buy a big basketful of groceries and go to an address of a poor family I will give you. Then when you have given your gift, sit down with them to find out what else they need. Let them know that you are interested in them and that you intend to be their friend. Pray for them before you leave, and then visit them again the following week. The radiance of your faith will come back." And it did.

There are multitudes of people floating around from church to church today trying to find something that will make them happy. Often they don’t find what they’re looking for. I contend that they are looking for the wrong thing. They’re expecting others to do what only they themselves can do!

When you and I are operating on the cutting edge of service to God – even pushing the envelope of it, we’ll begin to see firsthand once again God working in our lives and we’ll become enthused.

By the way, do you know what the words "enthused" and "enthusiasm" really mean? The words come from the Latin "entheos" which means "filled up with God." People who relegate God and service to Him to the fringes of their lives and then fill up their existence with every kind of amusement except God are not going to be spiritually enthused. That’s why they feel they need to be entertained.

Are you unhappy with your faith? Whose fault is it? I contend that you will get out of your faith results directly proportionate to the effort you put into it for God.

Well, this noisy, dancing, shouting beggar disrupting the temple activities next brought:

Sounds like a great response until you read in the next chapter that they arrested Peter and John!

Remember, this happened at the hour of the evening sacrifice. It caused a huge commotion. I can see in my mind the Jewish leaders, steeped in their traditions and rituals, stroking their long beards and casting a jaundiced eye on this whole thing. "How dare this man disrupt the temple service! Doesn’t he know that what goes on here is important?" What they did not realize was that the Spirit of God had deserted that place because of their deadness.

A well-known children’s chorus says, "Joy is a flag that’s flown from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there." If Christ really lives in the castle of your heart, don’t fly that flag at half mast.

O.K. – the stage is set for a sermon and Peter is about to preach it! He has everyone’s attention. That brings us to the third part of this passage, which is:

So who received the glory for this miracle? Jesus! But the people were ready to give it to Peter and John. Some modern church leaders can’t seem to get around the propensity of people to glorify men rather than God. They love it. But these apostles would have none of it. Peter’s words were, "…why do you gaze at us…?" These men made sure that the glory went to Jesus.

Let me point out a couple of important things from Peter’s sermon. First, he got personal. He didn’t speak in vague generalities.

If the gospel message is to be clearly understood, it has to be straightforward and personal. It involves you and me. If, sometimes, you come to church and it seems the preacher is talking to you, hopefully it’s because he is! That’s the model we have in Scripture. The intention isn’t to offend. It’s to convict.

Some of the strongest accusations in the entire Bible are in these verses.

In each case Peter points out that they did the very opposite of what God intended. That illustrates another important principle. Like Peter, I’ll make it personal. If you live your life outside of Christ, you do the very opposite of what God intends you to do.

"But wait a minute," you say. "I didn’t do any of those things on purpose. In fact, I’ve never really understood all this business about Christ." If you’re thinking that, join the crowd. You’re just like the people in Peter’s audience.

These people wronged God in ignorance. Were they free from guilt? No. As we shall see next, they had sinned and needed to have their sins wiped away. From God’s perspective, ignorance is no excuse. We are still accountable for what we do. There is a difference though, between acting in ignorance and acting on purpose. God is standing by with grace and forgiveness to the person who learns the truth and wants to make things right. Even these people who crucified Jesus were offered a pardon once they understood.

Look again at what Peter told them to do. He said, "Repent therefore and return that your sins may be wiped away…."

On Pentecost in Acts 2:38, Peter told those who sinned against God to, "Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins." "Repent and return" - "Repent and be baptized" - Why the difference? Why didn’t Peter mention baptism here as he did in chapter 2? Let me suggest three possibilities: First, you’ll note that he didn’t mention faith here either, yet no one would suggest that faith is unnecessary for salvation. Second, if we read on into the first few verses of chapter 4, we see that this sermon of Peter’s was never completed. It was interrupted as Peter and John were arrested. We don’t know what Peter would have said had he been allowed to continue to speak, though it is hard to imagine that he would have changed the instruction that he gave on Pentecost. Third, we have already seen that 3000 were baptized on the day of Pentecost. Surely had Peter intended to change the instructions for salvation, he would have made it more clear. If Peter purposely omitted baptism here, perhaps he might have even had to go back and explain to those 3000 on Pentecost why he had told them to do something that was unnecessary. The fact is we don’t know what Peter would have said had he been allowed to continue his sermon. (This is probably why you won’t find this passage in some of those familiar charts that list "examples of conversion.")

Beyond these things, notice the similarity of sentence structure between Acts 2:38 and Acts 3:19. Acts 2 says, "Repent and be baptized… for the forgiveness of your sins…." Acts 3 says, "Repent and return… that your sins may be wiped away...." Are these two different ways of obtaining forgiveness or two ways of saying the same thing? Due to the similarity of sentence structure, I suggest that these two sentences are parallel and probably imply the same thing. As already pointed out, it hardly seems likely that Peter would tell 3000 people on Pentecost to do it one way and then turn around and give different instructions here. The only part of the two sentences that differs is that in the first instance he told them to "be baptized" and the second instance he told them to "return." To me it seems very likely that Peter envisioned the act of baptism in his call to return - and perhaps would have clarified it had he been able to finish his sermon. Repentance is a change of mind that takes place inwardly. Baptism is the outward step of obedience we take in returning to God.

Our time is gone. Lord willing we will return to this text next time.

So where are you? Are you a Christian who has lost the fire of enthusiasm for your faith? If so, what can you do to get it back? I contend that if you want the fire to come back you must take the initiative. Don’t sit around waiting for someone else to do it for you. Don’t think that you can unload that responsibility onto any other person. It is your responsibility and a test of your faith. Get back to the cutting edge of faith in Christ. Invest some time and effort in God’s work and His ways. Get back into His word. If you live for Him He will be alive in you. If you live for other things, they will crowd Him out.

Are you one who still needs to have peace with God? Listen to Peter’s words again:

This is an important call. If you accept it and move toward Him in the way that He prescribes, He will wipe away your sins. If you ignore Him, you will die in your sins and be lost forever. I strongly encourage you to accept from God the offer of salvation while there is opportunity.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. See McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, article under "Daily Offering."
2. Matthew 23:23

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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