Studies by Book
01 Acts 03 01-10 THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN 01 Acts 03 01-02 Man and creation in a state of death
📖 Acts 03:01-10
01 – 08Nov2022 – *Man and creation in a state of death* - _Acts 03:01-10_ - THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN - Bible reading: _Romans 1:18-32_
We have completed the study of _Acts 02:42-47_, which we had titled, THE BUILDING UP OF HIS CHURCH. This study was of 22 lessons. Let me know if you are interested to have the link for this study.
We now begin the next study of _Acts 03:01-10_, which is, THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN.
*_Acts 3:1-2 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (2) And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;_*
We live in a world full of sadness and defects. This was a lame man who was over 40 years old. He needed assistance to be carried and laid at the temple gate to ask for alms from people. _Acts 4:22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed._
We can imagine this man’s plight, frustration, and embarrassment that he needed help for everything that he needed to do. Things, which for others would have been normal, spontaneous, and instinctive, for him a major effort.
This is our world where innocent people have to suffer. How has this come about? People often ask this question as to why God allows good people to suffer.
This man was born lame. He was just as everybody else otherwise, but this reality of being lame, caused him to live a life of drudgery and indignity. This is the condition of our world.
God gave us a beautiful creation of which He is the Owner. God, because of His love for us and in His engagement with us, made us be His executive stewards/vice-regents to have dominion over His creation. He gave us a high responsibility, and status as well as all the needed skills, abilities, and talents to rule His creation. He gave us families, society, and nations that together, with all that the Lord has placed on our hands, as a culture, we would fulfil His purpose. This is where we would have the fullness of life.
We could have continued in this perfect scenario. God made everything good. This is known as the Shalom of God. The Shalom of God is universal flourishing. The Shalom of God encompasses man to be complete in his relationship with God. Complete in his relationship with himself. Complete in his relationship with society and complete in his relationship with God’s creation.
We lost the Shalom of God and we are in a state of disarray, disorder, and dismay because we rebelled against God. We chose not to be under the authority of God over us. We sought independence from God, which resulted in our death. Man is in a state of death.
God had warned Adam that the day he would eat the forbidden fruit, he would surely die. God had commanded man not to eat this fruit. Command represents authority, for God is the Owner and He commanded us, as His created beings to remain under His rule. When we disobeyed God, we chose to depart from the rule of God over us. We became enemies of God. This has caused us to die.
What is death? Death is alienation. We are alienated from God, which has resulted in us being broken individually (body, mind, and spirit), we are broken as families, society, and nations. We are also broken in our relationship with creation. Death is universal and complete. This is our bad news. _(Romans 1:18-32 gives us an understanding of man’s widespread state of death because of rebelling against God)_
This is the desperate state of our world. When we look at our world, we must see it from the eyes of God. His heart breaks over us for He gave us what is good but we have brought ourselves to this terrible state of alienation.
It is from this state of death that God is reconciling and restoring man and creation back to Himself. This is our task as His church.
As we consider the healing of the lame man, let us not see it in isolation. Yes, for this lame man it was indeed a great celebration to be healed but we must see the larger narrative of what God is accomplishing in our circumstances.
```The church is to be God’s healing balm to our people.```