Sermon Text:
Have you ever heard of the “Duck Test?” If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck. Colloquially we say, “I know it when I see it.” These adages express our ability to see things as they truly are. These clear-eyed sayings have also given rise to humor. How can you tell if a politician is lying? His or her lips are moving!

Moving from the ridiculous to the sublime, what does the Gospel of Jesus Christ look like in real life? What are its telltale signs? How do we know it when we see it? This morning’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles answers these questions.

First, the Gospel draws people to God in prayer. Last Sunday we left the Apostles, the women, Jesus’ mother, Mary, and his brothers in the upper room in Jerusalem where they were staying. Luke reported that they were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer.”

In this morning’s reading, we find Peter and John continuing in prayer, but they have moved beyond the upper room to the temple in Jerusalem. “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon" (v.1).

Prayer in the temple was modeled loosely after Psalm 55:17 which reads, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear me.” The first time of prayer was at sunrise. The final hour of prayer was at sunset, and the third hour of prayer was at 3:00 p.m. Prayer was offered quietly, but it also included crying aloud, that is spoken and passionate prayer. And prayer was offered with confidence in God. “He shall hear my voice.”

What does the Gospel of Jesus Christ look like? It is evidenced in human beings pouring out their hearts to God in the assurance that God will hear and answer their prayers.

This would be an excellent practice for us to adopt during this pandemic. Morning, noon, and evening, let us cry aloud to God for ourselves, our loved ones, our friends, our communities, our nation, and the whole world. Let us cry aloud until God has mercy upon us.
The second evidence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the transformation of human life. The temple was not only a place of prayer, it was also a place for charity. Luke gives one example of charity. “And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple" (v. 2). The unnamed man had a congenital defect that prevented him from walking. As a result, he could not work and so he was dependent upon the kindness of strangers. Fortunately for him, he had friends who carried him to the temple each day and placed him next to the Beautiful Gate. Most Bible commentators identify the Beautiful Gate with the Corinthian Gate. The doors were seventy-five feet high and made of Corinthian bronze inlaid with gold and silver. In the sunshine the polished metals must have shown with spectacular beauty, and hence its nickname, the Beautiful Gate. This entrance to the temple was favored by more affluent visitors, so it was the perfect place to beg for alms.

The giving of alms (money) to the poor was a part of Jewish piety. It was considered a good work, a virtuous act. When the crippled beggar asked Peter and John for alms, he got something he never expected. “When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, 'Look at us.' And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.' And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God" (vs. 3-8).

To his amazement the man jumped up, stood, and then began to walk. In fact, he entered the temple with Peter and John “walking and leaping and praising God.” What a wonderful word picture of transformation and joy. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This was abundant life.

What happened that day at the Beautiful Gate was a genuine miracle. The risen Christ, acting by the power of the Holy Spirit through the agency of Peter and John’s God-given faith, healed the beggar of his congenital defect. He was physically transformed. This is the first miracle recorded in the Book of Acts.

I wonder if the crippled beggar is a type of all human beings. The crippled man was lying next to an entrance to the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was the contact point between heaven and earth, a “thin place.” But the beggar did not have the ability to enter and commune with God. That is the human predicament. We are spiritually crippled by sin, the fear of death, and evil. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot enter a right relationship with God of our own accord. We need a power greater than ourselves to transform us so we can walk in God’s ways, so we can leap into the Savior’s arms, so we can praise God for all that He has done for us in Jesus Christ.

But the risen Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s good gift of faith, can raise us up; just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is evidenced by the physical and spiritual transformation of human beings.

The third evidence of the Gospel is that the followers of Jesus do all in their power to meet the needs they see around them.

Have you ever been stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to turn and a homeless person, holding a carboard sign, asked you for help? Maybe you did not have anything to give them or maybe you were not inclined to give them anything because you did not want to enable them in addiction or mental illness or homelessness. You try to avoid looking at them. You avoid eye contact.

Peter and John could have done the same thing as they entered the temple by the Beautiful God. They could have turned their eyes aside when the crippled man asked them for alms, but they did just the opposite. Look at verse 4: “Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’” Peter and John did not have any gold or silver to give him, but they had the power of God and the gift of faith. They had the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit. “But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk" (v.6).

The miracles that Peter and John performed that day present a challenge to us as twenty-first century followers of Christ. We do not seem to have the power or the faith to perform such mighty acts. We are like the apocryphal story that is told about St. Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth-century Roman Catholic theologian. Aquinas and a cardinal were walking together along a street in Rome. The cardinal noticed a beggar. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a silver coin and gave it to him. Then the cardinal turned to Aquinas and said, “Well, Thomas, fortunately we can no longer say, as Peter did 'Silver and gold have I none.’" St. Thomas replied, “Yes, that is true, but neither can we say, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’”

We have financial resources to help meet the human misery that surrounds us. We have the wonders of modern medicine that can cure so many ailments. But let us not forget that the risen Christ is still among us. Let us never forget that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, is at work in us too. Let us not forget that we have God’s good gift of faith. Our faith may be smaller than a grain of mustard seed, but it can grow and still move mighty mountains.

We hear stories from the Church in the Global South, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where those who are sick are healed, the demon-possessed are exorcised, and the dead are raised. The signs of the Kingdom of God’s dawning are still happening.

We have certainly experienced many answers to prayer for ourselves, for our families, and for our church family. Remember that God’s kingdom comes, not only with mighty deeds of power, but also with deeds of love and mercy.

And there is one final evidence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People notice that something out of the ordinary is happening to others. “All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him" (vs. 9-10).

The power of changed lives is a mighty witness to Jesus Christ. There is an old Gospel song that goes like this, “Little by little and day by day, little by little in every way, my Jesus is changing me. Since I looked into His face, I’ve been changing by His grace; my Jesus is changing me. He’s changing me, my blessed Savior. I’m not the same old person that I used to be. And though it's slow going, there’s a knowing that some day like Him I shall be.”
This is true of us. Our transformation may not be as dramatic as the crippled beggar’s transformation, but it is just as real.

Well, what does the Gospel of Jesus Christ look like in real life? What are its telltale signs? How do you know it when you see it? What is the “Duck Test” of the Gospel? The Gospel draws people to God in prayer. The Gospel transforms people’s lives. The Gospel motivates the followers of Christ to meet the needs around them. And the Gospel gets people’s attention. They notice the witness of a changed life.

Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, we are Christ’s witnesses in the twenty-first century. Let us devote ourselves to prayer, crying aloud to God for the world. Let us seek to be God’s agents of transformation. Let us seek to meet the needs that are all around us. And may people notice that we are followers of Christ and that the power of God is at work in and through us.

All glory be to God! Alleluia! Amen.