Acts 3:1-10
Have you ever gotten a gift for someone and thought it was just a little something that you bought because you were thinking of them or gave them something they needed and you knew that without you buying it for them, they never would have gotten it on their own? You may have thought it was something that was in significant but when you gave it to them it was as if you gave them the world. Or…have you ever done something for someone…just because you know it would help them…and their reaction is as if you solved the world hunger problem?
I remember once when Shanequa lost her favorite blanket she sleeps with. She had looked everywhere for this blanket. She came to me with tears in her eyes and exclaimed “Blanky is lost and I can’t find her!” Well…I went into her room and searched with her for her beloved blanket. When I finally found it…after what seemed to be forever, remember…she is distraught and crying the whole time…it was if I had given her the moon. I all of the sudden became “Super Mom”. You see…it’s the little things that count in life. You may not have a lot of money but you do what you can. It’s not the size that matters but the reason…the agenda…behind it.
As we have embarked on our journey of discerning God’s plan for our church, we are looking at the church in Acts…the first church. We are looking at the beginnings of a new and radical way of life. When the church first began, they didn’t have a lot of money. They were men (and women) that went around doing good and preaching the Gospel of Peace. Our question, as a church, is how did they cause the church to grow?
What did they do when they had meager resources? They weren’t like the Mega churches we have today. They didn’t have a lot to give but what did they have that attracted the masses? How can we get “back to the basics” that the church was founded on?
Well…in the reading from Acts this morning, we see what Peter and John did in order to reach out to those around them with the love of Christ. This man, who was crippled from birth, was brought to the temple gate called beautiful every morning to beg for a handout so that he could sustain himself. The story doesn’t tell us how old this man was so we don’t really know how long he had been doing this. All we know is that he was crippled from birth. Now when the two disciples came to the temple, the man began to beg from them. Peter and John had no money…they had no discretionary fund that they could draw from…so they gave this man what they did have.
They gave him healing in the name of Jesus Christ. And what did the man do? He walked and jumped and praised God the whole way to the temple as he followed the disciples. The only thing these men had they gave him and he did “back flips” when he received this irreplaceable gift. The man wanted money to sustain himself but Peter and John gave him what he needed. He needed the Risen Lord Jesus Christ to be healed not just money to get by. And this is not the first time when something that was given was small and it became something big. Remember the little boy with the two loaves and five fish. He gave what he had, although it was meager, and it fed 5,000 men plus women and children. Jesus went around giving what some may have called meager at the moment and created miracles that changed lives forever. He offered prayer and healing to not only heal the body but to heal the soul within.
The story from Acts reminds me of myself and how I may feel in life…you too may also feel this at times. There are times that I think that what I have to give is not enough only to find that what I have is exactly what is needed. It may be an ear to listen…or maybe to just sit quietly with someone with neither of us saying a word, just to be present with them. Or it may be just…as I call it…a random act of kindness. Things like holding open a door for someone or letting someone who has a few things go ahead of me in the grocery line. It doesn’t matter…it’s the little things that convey the love of Christ (as long as it’s for His agenda and not our own).
We here at Suncook may not be a Mega church but the little things that we do is what draws people to our Risen Lord. We reach out with our “meagerness” and touch the lives around us. We reach out through Our Families Table, offering a meal to those who may not have one. We reach out to those around us through our Vacation Bible School; it may not be as large as the bigger churches but the children (and the adults) have a great time learning about God. We reach out to those around us by the way we greet them at the door, how we let them know all are welcome. Our church has begun to grow just by our “meagerness”. It’s not the size that grows the church; it’s the agenda…the reasoning…behind their efforts. If you ask me…there is no such thing as meager when it comes to the Kingdom of God because when you stack one small thing on top of another…just as the first church in Acts did when they pooled their meager resources to help others...it becomes something that you never imagined it could be on its own.
AMEN
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