he closed the yawning gates of hell

the bars from heaven's high portals fell

A sermon on Peter's sermon in action:

The last time we had this passage was four years ago. Does anyone remember what life was like four years ago? Do you remember the year 2020? Do you want to? Yeah, me neither.

Anyway, back in 2020, when the Novel Coronavirus had brought the world to a halt, this passage practically preached itself! Suddenly, it wasn’t so hard for mobile, can-do people like us to relate to the man crippled from birth. Was it? We knew what it was like not to be able to enter the temple. Didn’t we?

Now, though, we’re back to business as usual. Nothing is stopping us from going where we want when we want. Unsurprisingly, this passage has now become a little more difficult for us to relate to. Suddenly, this episode has become foreign and inapplicable to us. 

In fact, I suspect if we have any point of contact with today’s Scripture, it’s not the man crippled from birth. Is it? No, now we’re relating to Peter and John. Now that nothing is impeding us, we see ourselves as the ones taking action. We aren’t the ones who need to be carried into the church anymore. No, now we’re the ones who need to bring the less-than-fortunate into the church.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that sentiment, either. We should be bold to bring others into the church. And it’s those who know they need to be carried in who make for ideal members, too. The issue, though, is that it all gets topsy-turvy when we imagine we’re fit to bring others in!

There are a couple of problems with that presumption. First of all, it’s patently wrong! We’re not all that competent at bringing others into the church. Are we? Secondly, though, and more importantly, that attitude cuts us off from the power that makes us into the kind of people who are capable of welcoming others into the church! 

Your best testimony isn’t your successes. It’s your setbacks. It’s in your setbacks that you can speak with power and conviction about the God who met you when you couldn’t get yourself to God!

There’s no such thing as a self-sufficient Christian! Ministry is something that God does TO sinners THROUGH sinners! And if you don’t believe me, just ask Peter! The only reason Peter KNOWS he has nothing to his name is that he personally experienced his own fallibility!

Peter knew he had denied the very Jesus he lifts the man in the name of! And Peter didn’t just deny this Jesus once, either. No, Peter denied Jesus three, count ‘em, three times! And yet! And yet, Jesus met Peter in the midst of Peter’s shortcomings! 

Peter knew how to lift someone in the name of Jesus because Peter knew what it was like to be lifted by Jesus! It’s that old saying all over again. God doesn’t call the equipped. God equips the called!

…The HERO in today’s Scripture, though, isn’t harboring any illusions of independence, spiritual or otherwise. And no, I’m not talking about Peter or John. I’m talking about the man whose name we don’t even know! I’m talking about the one who’s recognized, not for what he can do, but rather for what he can’t do—which is pretty much anything. 

I’m talking about the man who sat daily at the gate of the temple and asked for alms from those lucky enough to enter on their own two feet. I’m talking about the man whose livelihood consisted of begging others for help. I’m talking about the man who can’t even get to the place where he has ask for assistance! I’m talking about the man who has to be carried to the Temple Gate Beautiful. 

I’m talking about the man who’s a picture of helplessness. That’s right, I’m referring to the man we DON’T bother to relate to anymore, the man crippled from birth. And I’m talking about him because it’s him, and him alone, who winds up truly praising God at the end of today’s Scripture! And it all began on a day like any other, too. 

Like every other day, some acquaintances carried this man to the Beautiful Gate. Presumably, that entrance was the one wealthier members took. And as the people went in and out, some gave a little, some gave a lot, and some just passed by altogether. Nothing too unusual. 

But then Peter and John walk by. And when they pass, the man doesn’t seem to mark them for anything special. Like everyone else whose passed by that day, he asks them if they have anything to spare. When he asked those two, though, he got more than he asked for!

After he asked them for alms, they stopped, looked him in the eye, and told him they didn’t have any money. BUT, said Peter, what they did have, they had to offer in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. “Stand up and walk,” said Peter. And taking the man by the hand, Peter raised him up! 

Lo and behold, the man stood! And no sooner was he up than he was walking! And no sooner was he walking than he was leaping! Next thing you know, the man’s dancing and praising GOD!

…HOWEVER! However, the healing wasn’t complete until Peter and John walked the man who used to sit at the gate of the temple into the temple. The real healing is the healing of what kept this man outside of the house of God. And you know what? Covid or not, that’s something we all can relate to. Can’t we?

Even without all the Covid protocols, there’s still plenty keeping us from really entering the house of God and worshipping today. We all have more than enough holding us back from really communing with God this morning. Yes, we may be physically present. But in our mind, and in our heart, and in our spirit we still languish on the other side of the church door. Don’t we?

Perhaps it’s something you did in the past. Maybe it’s some mistake you can’t let go of. Or maybe it’s something that happened to you. Maybe it’s something that’s left you feeling inferior. Or maybe it’s some perennial indiscretion you can’t seem to kick no matter how hard you try. More than likely, though, it’s a confusing combination of all three. Isn’t it?

No matter what, and no matter who you are, we all have some besetting malady that keeps us from truly entering the temple and praising God without holding back. We all carry baggage that makes us feel as if we don’t really belong. We all feel like frauds in the house of God.

We all wrestle with this more than we care to admit, too. We all have afflictions no one can see. We all have conditions that keep us at a distance from God. And in a way, that’s what was really hard about Covid. 

When we were all cooped up, we were forced to sit still with those voices in our heads. You know the ones. The voices that say we don’t belong. The voices that say we’re the virus.

The painful lesson today, though, is those voices haven’t just gone away. Have they? Yes, we have more resources to ignore them now. BUT they still make themselves heard. 

We don’t need a physical ailment or pandemic to keep us on the far side of the house of God. Do we? We all have spiritual ones. The nasty truth is, we’re not so much Peter or John boldly entering the temple. No, we’re the fellow sitting at the gate, watching everyone else go in. We’re all wasting away from the infectious belief that we’ve got to earn our spot in the temple of the Lord.

You know what, though? Peter and John weren’t even that Peter and John most of the time! And I’m not even talking about Peter’s three prior denials, either! No, I’m talking about how Peter will continue to need the Holy Spirit to push him along!

The rest of the story of Acts is the story of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth getting out of Peter’s hands! Yes, Peter will be driven. But he won’t be driven in the sense that he’s determined. No, Peter will be driven, as in he will need to be dragged along by the Holy Spirit! 

The truth is, as the Gospel gets loose, Peter won’t be so sure the right people are receiving it. Peter will suffer a failure of nerve. And not just once, either! Peter will keep stepping back. And yet! And yet, the Holy Spirit will continue to move Peter along into this new thing God’s been doing all along!

…None of us ever get ourselves into the house of God. We all have to be carried in! But you know what? We can’t even keep ourselves here, either! Like Peter, we are constantly being raised up anew and carried into the house of God over and over again! 

And while that may be debilitating for your ego, it’s pure fuel for your faith! True praise doesn’t come from learning how to walk on your own! No, true praise is discovering you can really rely on the Lord at all times! No one ever graduates from dependence on God! We’re all just riding Christ’s coattails! That’s how true faith stands!

And in case you think I don’t mean you, listen up! In the name of Jesus Christ, you are healed! YOU are upheld in the name of Jesus! YOU stand on Christ’s merits today!

This promise is yours! You’ve been baptized into it! In your baptism, all your efforts to stand on your own two feet have come to nothing! And this is because, in baptism, you died! 

That’s right! In your baptism, you died. And you’re not going to get more dead someday, either! No, you are as dead as can be right now!

But! But you didn’t just die. No, you died in Christ! And if you have died in Christ, much more surely will you also be raised in him! And not a week from some Thursday, either. No, you are raised in Christ right now! 

And if you’re not baptized, just let us know. We can change that. By the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it’s the easiest thing in the world!

…If you’re anything like everyone else, you know what it’s like to have life knock you down and leave you reeling. And, if you’re anything like everyone else, you’re also doing everything you can to pick yourself back up and get yourself going, too. And I wish you luck. I really do. But all your efforts, like the rest of ours, are doomed to futility. (Rom. 8:20) 

Now, perhaps you’ve filled your life with enough distractions to ignore this. But maybe not. Hopefully not! Maybe in this time, when you can pass through the gates of the house of God again, you would discover all over again what’s really gotten you here and keeps you here, too: God!

It’s God Almighty who opened the gate for you today! And it’s Christ the only-begotten Son who has raised you up! And it’s the Holy Spirit of their mutual love that’s carried you in here to their temple this morning, too! We are all, right NOW, sustained by the Triune God! That’s what holding you up at this very moment, you little walking miracle! Yes, you.

If life has laid you low, you’re right where you need to be to truly praise God today! And if you don’t have it in you to pick yourself up right now, you have all the power Jesus needs to raise you up in his name! And if your tank is empty, you’re finally ready to be filled with the super-infinite outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

That’s what really carried you in here this morning! It’s the promise in which you stand! And it’s what fills you with true praise today, too! So let’s do it! Shall we? Our Hymn of the Day is hymn number 366. The Strife Is O'er, the Battle Done. 

And it is! In Christ, it’s all over! The rest is just praise! So, let’s lift our voices and join the enteral praise of Christ’s name! Hymn number 366. The Strife Is O'er, the Battle Done. Let’s sing!

The Strife Is O'er, the Battle Done, ELW 366