Spiritual Lameness

Hebrews 12:12-13 NASB 

Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Acts 3:1-10 NASB

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been unable to walk from birth was being carried, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order for him to beg for charitable gifts from those entering the temple grounds. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple grounds, he began asking to receive a charitable gift. But Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us!” And he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not have silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!” And grasping him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they recognized him as being the very one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg for charitable gifts, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Introduction

Combining these two passages in Hebrews 12 and Acts 3 brings much light to our Christian walk today, and how it is unfortunately possible that we can become, or may be in some ways from birth, lame. I don’t want to take away from the fact that this lame beggar in Acts 3 was actually, physically healed. But it’s also beneficial in our application to see this miracle as a picture of spiritual healing. Some highlight this story in Acts as representing our initial salvation, just as the many miracles and healings in the gospels do. However, there is another angle to view this story of the lame beggar in, with a little help from the book of Hebrews. The writer says that we should “strengthen the hands that are weak…..so that the limb which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” Some Bible commentators interpret the “limb which is lame” to be some of the Jews at that time, but I would like to take another approach, and say that the limb that is lame refers to when we, at different times in our life, are spiritually lame. Sometimes we are the limb that is lame. The book of Hebrews is not written to unbelievers, but to born-again Christians. In fact, much of this letter is written to inspire a going on and a going further in our faith. A progression. An advancement. This is most obviously seen in chapter 3, where there is an exhortation to enter His rest and a warning that some of us may come short of entering. So when the writer of Hebrews speaks of strengthening your lame limb, we know this is directed towards believers, and not unsaved ones. So then, what does it mean and look like to be lame in your Christian life? In what ways might our lives match the life of the lame beggar in Acts 3? How can we receive healing and be brought out of our spiritual paralysis? What does this kind of healing and walking lead to? I would like to try to answer those questions in the following sections. 

At the Threshold

“they used to set [him] down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful”

Firstly, let us consider the daily life of this lame beggar. People would bring this lame man to the temple, and set him down at the gate called Beautiful every day. This man was someone who was very close to God’s people. He wasn’t fully in, but he also wasn’t far away. Jerusalem is not a small city, and at this time it was a bustling trade center. Instead of being set down at the temple, he could have been set down near a market for spices or clothing. People were already spending money, so maybe they would be inclined to give him some. Or he could have been set down a little closer yet, at the Pool of Bethesda or the Pool of Siloam, which are still a little further than the Beautiful gate. After all, Jesus healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda. However, this man chose to be even closer to God’s people, at the very entrance of the temple. But he was never carried all the way inside the temple. He was merely at the gate, looking in, not partaking of the sacrifices and worship himself, but viewing and observing from a distance. He was simply spectating, and hoping to receive alms from God’s people. For us, we can ask ourselves a couple sobering questions: are we close to the church (typified by the temple), but not fully in? Are we just spectating and watching? You may attend all the gatherings, and check off all the boxes, but have you fully given yourself to the church? Can you say with confidence, that you, yourself, have personally entered in? Or are you living off of the alms that you have received from others? A hymn writer portrayed a realization and longing that we should have if we ever find ourselves sitting “at the gate”: 

At your colored gate

A stranger may stand

And long to live in Your grace

And dwell in Your land.

Would he dare to see Your face

And feel Your right hand?

This stranger, my Lord,

Is my poor estate;

A large part of me

Still stands by Your gate

But who is that voice

That beckons within?

Would my God Himself

Invite me in?

Being Carried and Set Down Every Day

“And a man who had been unable to walk from birth was being carried, whom they used to set down every day…”

So what exactly does it mean to be spiritually lame? It is when others have to carry you and set you down. And you might say, “what does it look like to be carried and set down in a spiritual way?” It’s when we completely depend on others for our own going on with the Lord. A total spiritual dependency. It’s not bad to be able to depend on one another in the church life here and there, but this lame man was carried to and fro every day. This is when we have no initiative in our Christian lives, when we wait for others to feed us and to encourage us. We could ask ourselves a few more sobering questions: “Am I a liability, or an asset? Am I counting, or do I have to be accounted for? Am I a positive factor or a negative? Am I amongst those who have to be carried all the time, needing to be borne up, borne along and put where I am? Or am I going on in the Lord on my own feet, on top of my infirmities?” (Sparks, 1945). I think many of us could really thank the Lord for those brothers and sisters who have carried us many, many times. But eventually, we should become people who can bear our own weight in the church, people who don’t need to wait on an invitation, people who can be responsible stewards of what God would like to entrust to us. There may be a brother in great spiritual need that comes into contact with you, and if you are a person who is only receiving and being carried yourself, how can you ever render help to that one? 

Begging Alms Vs Walking

“in order for him to beg for charitable gifts [alms] from those entering the temple grounds. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple grounds, he began asking to receive a charitable gift…”

“...I do not have silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!

After this man is set down at his daily station, he begins to beg for alms, or charitable gifts. These gifts are probably things that he needs to survive, such as clothes or food. Sometimes, in our Christian lives, we are in need of something that can merely keep us alive. You might even say a brother or a sister is your “lifeline.” Without them, you may very well disappear and go live your own life apart from God and His church.  For some, this might be the Sunday service, or some special event the church is having. You show up, see the saints, touch the Lord a little, and receive just enough life to not fall away from the faith. In other words, you receive just enough to survive, but you’re not really going anywhere. You haven’t fallen away to complete apostasy, but it might be hard to say you have grown, or you are going on or advancing with the Lord. On the other hand, being healed is so different from receiving alms. What the lame man received that day from Peter was so much more than just enough to survive. He was made to walk. To go on, and to go forward. This was very different from sitting on the ground, and surviving. He could finally go somewhere. I think the Lord is eagerly waiting for us to go on and go forward. If we are honest, sometimes we can go a long time without taking a single step forward with the Lord. This is not a small matter, and if we don’t see how paramount it is to walk and move forward, we may waste many years of our life maintaining good attendance, satisfying our religious consciousness, and then 20 years later have the same Christ as we did many years ago. But if we see this matter of walking, and going on, we can look back just one year and say, “I am different! The Christ I have has grown in me! The Christ I know and love is bigger and fuller than I knew before! More than that, because of my living and cooperating with the Lord, I have helped Him come just a little bit closer to accomplishing His ultimate goal!”

Peter is an excellent example for us when we are on the other side of this picture, when we are in a position to help someone who is lame. His example calls for yet another sobering question: When we see someone around us “begging for alms” and are in need, do we give them alms or do we help them walk? It’s really good if we know how to feed someone and sustain them, but do we know how to help another brother or sister walk on their own two feet? In the physical realm, walking implies purpose, forward movement, advancement and progress; all of which are very important in our Christian lives. When you spend time with people, are you creating more dependency, or encouraging a personal and independent walk? Are we dominating and overly quick to move, or are we patient to find the Lord in someone and then go alongside that movement? We should help people function on their own two feet. For example, sometimes we may only need to provide a field for their serving (a practical and definite task or area to grow in). We don’t always need to be so hands on. You may spend much of your time preaching and sharing your inspiration and revelation from the Word, which may be a form of giving alms. But if you are a person who is concerned that a brother or sister could walk on their own two feet, you may take the time helping them know how to read and handle the Word. You may even find yourself spending hours helping someone dig with their own shovel in the Word. And you’re looking for an ability to develop in them, to mine out riches on their own. To not just give alms, but to help others walk on their own two feet takes a sensitive and patient person to recognize what the Lord is doing in someone. Peter could only do as much as the faith that was in this lame man, and he did not try to go beyond that, as Peter himself testified that, “on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:16). Peter must have realized he could only cooperate with the faith that was working in the other person. (Acts 3:16). Many times we have an idea or concept that we feel would help someone. Maybe it’s something that worked in the past or that helped others in their walk. But this idea still may be separate from what the Lord is doing. If we don’t know how to find faith in someone else, and find the Lord’s moving and working, how can we ever help them walk on their own two feet? 

Peter also didn’t try to give the lame man something Peter himself didn’t have, which is a good reminder that if we would like to help others in their walk, we first must have something real of Christ. If you trace the life of Peter starting with the gospels, up until the time he approaches this lame man, you can see Peter has gained much of the reality of what he had seen and heard in the gospels. The Christ that he had known outwardly, he now possessed inwardly and was able to give that to another person. 

Look at us!

“When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple grounds, he began asking to receive a charitable gift. But Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us!” And he gave them his attention…”

This phrase, “Look at us!” is quite surprising. It’s clear from the previous verse that this lame man had already seen Peter and John. Why would Peter need to say, “Look at us?” I imagine this lame man asking for alms, but somewhat sheepishly looking at the ground, avoiding eye contact. Or he might have been quite apathetic and withdrawn, having done this kind of thing his whole life. This lame man likely did not look at Peter and John directly, not knowing that the real solution was right in front of him. Here is where we start to see the solution to our spiritual lameness. We have to look at the issue head on. Many times, we unconsciously ignore our limitations and our challenges, excusing them and saying, “Well, this is just the season I am in.” But there should eventually come a time when we have had enough. When we can look at the issue head on, and say, “I cannot go on any longer until this issue can be resolved. I cannot go any further until the Lord and I can work this out.” There is a kind of desperation we need in facing our spiritual lameness. Austin Sparks encourages us along these lines, 

“May I say to you, dear friends, if you are anywhere in this realm at all, you will never get anywhere until you have come with both eyes to look this thing straight in the face, and say, ‘It is going on no longer; I am going to have this thing settled, I am going to bring this thing to a head; God helping me, it is going to be finished. I am going to play with this no longer, I am going to minister to this no longer, I am going to allow this to cripple me no longer, I am going to allow this to make me a liability no longer; tonight I look this thing in the face, God helping me, and it is going to be settled. So far as I am concerned, not another day shall pass until I have had this thing out to a conclusion with God!’” 

Entering the Temple

“And leaping up, he stood and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

It’s important to take note of where the lame man goes after he is healed. He could have gone back home to remove all the handicap features in his house. Or he could have gone into town and started looking for work now that he could finally do a lot on his own. If I were the lame man, I might have even packed my bags and traveled the world! But the lame man did not do any of those things. Instead “he entered the temple with them.” 

The temple is a picture of a reality displayed in the New Testament: the church. Paul says to the Ephesians, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” And Peter says, “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5). The writer of Hebrews also mentions that we are God’s house (Heb. 3:1-6). These verses among many others show us that the temple typifies the church. So when we see this lame man enter the temple, we can see there is a going in and going on with God’s people, the church.  

When we were initially saved and received Jesus, we may have thought the ultimate goal was to escape God’s wrath. If someone were to ask you then, “why did Jesus die for you and save you?” You may have answered, “the purpose of my ‘healing’ and being saved was so that I could be forgiven and go to heaven!” As we grow in our knowing of the Lord and begin to be changed by Him, we start to realize there is a much higher calling and purpose God had in mind that goes far beyond escaping His wrath. To put it in a simple way, we were healed (initially) so that we (with the whole church) would grow and be built up into a dwelling of God so that the whole universe could see God’s glory through the church, that there would be a full expression of Christ on the earth, that the Bride would be prepared and fully ready for her Husband, that we would have a part in the building up of God’s testimony here on earth. That is the purpose for which we were saved. To go in and go on in the temple. 

A very sad truth is that many receive Jesus as their Saviour, they are saved and healed, but they do not carry on in the temple, the church. They may enjoy all of God’s blessings and promises for themselves but never enter into a rich and meaningful church life, where they could fulfil their part in bringing about God’s eternal purpose. What an example we have in this lame man. He gets saved. He gets healed. And then what does he do next? He immediately enters the temple. I truly believe that living a life in the temple, with God’s people, is the most meaningful life a person can live. 

Conclusion

In light of this wonderful chapter in Acts, we can see that this lame man’s state not only applies to unbelievers, but to believers also. Being spiritually lame is not uncommon in the churches today, and we may even go on for years being carried and set down by brothers and sisters not really walking anywhere ourselves. It’s too easy to become complacent, stagnant, and fully depend on others for our own walk with the Lord. But praise the Lord this story in Acts doesn’t end with this lame man begging for alms. Rather, it ends with his feet and ankles being strengthened. It ends with a man who is leaping, standing upright, walking, praising God, and entering the temple. When we find ourselves living in a spiritually lame realm, we should look at the issue head on, just as the lame man “began to give them his attention.” We shouldn’t avoid it and excuse it, but rather say to the Lord, “I will not go on any longer until, by Your strength, this infirmity gets resolved.” The church would be a different place if we also had more Peters and Johns—if we could have brothers and sisters not fostering an overly dependent church life but cultivating an atmosphere where others can have a place to stand on their own two feet; if we could be people who not only give alms, but can help saints rise up from where they are and walk, bearing real spiritual weight of their own. We could ask ourselves, “Have I ever helped one person advance in their walk with the Lord? Is there at least one person I can name that has grown because of my labor?” If the answer to those questions is no, don’t be discouraged, but learn from this precious chapter in Acts! Don’t try to give something you don’t have, but realize that you do have to have something to give. And if you don’t have anything of Christ to give, don’t worry because Christ is available today and is more than willing to give you Himself and all of His riches. Then He will put you in a position to cooperate with the faith in others that will give them strength to stand on their own two feet, bearing their own spiritual weight and causing a real effect in the church that would bring God just a little bit closer to accomplishing what He has had in His heart all this time. 

—Austin Funk