Beautifully Restored - Acts 3:1-10 Today s topic is Beautifully Restored and it is based on the story from the book of Acts in the Bible. The words beautifully restored can trigger lots of thoughts in our minds depending on our individual circumstances. It could be some serious stuff like longing for physical health or relationships to be beautifully restored or it could be something trivial - like England Football team to be beautifully restored to its former glories of 1966. In the passage today we read about a disabled man who, through Peter and John, encountered the power of Jesus. This man, who was about 40 years old, seemed to have given up hope for any healing. As long as he had been alive, he had been unable to take care of himself. He had been in that condition so long that he probably concluded that this was the way it was going to be forever. That day started just like any other day for him and probably for Peter and John too. The disabled man was begging at the temple gate relying on the generosity of the people that were visiting the temple. Peter and John were heading to the temple for prayer. And we can pick up the story from here: When Peter & John approached the gate called Beautiful, he (the disabled man) said spare some change please! Now Peter told him to Look On Us and the man obeyed probably in anticipation of some money from Peter and John. Then Peter said - I don t have any money. But he went on to say,...but what I have I give to you. IN THE NAME OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, GET UP AND WALK. Then Peter reached and took this disabled man by the right hand and helped him up. Peter helped him up. The disabled man who was looking for a handout instead got a hand up. He did not get any silver & gold but he received running in his feet. He was looking to just maintain his present level of existence but God had other plans for him. He went from sitting to running and leaping. He went from begging to praising. He was made whole that day. He was beautifully restored!
Do you know what else is crying out to be beautifully restored? Yes - our world today! We look around us and scan the news and all we see is violence and destruction. It feels like a hopelessly broken world. - The various conflicts around the world - Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East - Corruption and greed in high places of Government and society - The tragedy of Human Trafficking - the modern form of slavery! Even if you are not a christian, you will agree with me that it feels like a hopelessly broken world. And you know what? The bible confirms it too - that it is a hopelessly broken world. We will look into that more but here is the question. How do we maintain hope in the world that seems at times to be hopelessly broken? I encourage you to go home and read Romans 8:18-39. But let me summaries verse 20 and 21 for you now. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8:20-21 (NIV) Paul, who wrote these words, says here is the point and he goes back and draws from the book of Genesis as it is typically referred to as the fall of man. It s a story about when sin entered the world. We often think of sin as something we do, an incident. But the Bible views sin as a disease that is toxic and fatal impacting everything - relationships, creation, relationships between creation, the animal kingdom, the weather... everything! Paul says welcome to the world! Because sin entered the world, God has allowed it to run its course in this world. That means everything in this world is decaying. We see it in our own life every time we look in the mirror, or the wider world when we read the news. But there is good news: In Revelation 21, God s promise to beautifully restore our world. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... He (God) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away...i am making everything new! Extracts from Revelation 21 (NIV)
So, going back to our question, How do we maintain hope in a world that seems at times hopelessly broken? I want to talk about a tension that all of us have faced, are facing or will be facing that relates to hope. It s a tension of trying to maintain hope in what, at time seems to be, a hopelessly broken world. Let me give you some scenarios to explain more clearly. If you have ever placed your hope in something or someone and that something comes crashing down, or that someone leaves you - then you will understand this tension. If you were promised something and you did your part, in fact you went the extra mile, and someone didn t come through for you... and your hope for whatever that might be, left you with this sense of despair and you think why even try? Then you know what it is to face and manage that tension. If you have not found yourself managing this tension yet, just get ready because it is coming. Aren t you glad you came to church today? But if you ever found yourself asking why? What is the point of loving, when people treat you that way? What s the point of committing when people s commitment doesn t mean anything? Whats the point of investing years in a company or relationship, when they don t want to invest any time in you? That is the reason why I want to talk a little bit about hope today. Let me start by giving you a working definition of Hope: The person or thing in which your expectations are centered. The person(s) or thing(s) in which your expectations for the present and future are centered. These are the things you are leaning into. These are the things in which, as you look into the future, your hope is placed; your hope in that relationship; your hope in that company; your hope in that investment; your hope in your abilities - you have centered your expectation in something.
Hope is little bit like a ladder that we lean against a wall and the interesting thing is that none of us ever remember doing this. None of us are conscious of this process. When you are born you lean the ladder of hope in your parents. It was not a conscious decision. aspirations or dreams. Then as you get older, you began to move your ladder from someone else s commitment to you, to perhaps your own ability to take care of yourself - your ability to connect, do well in education, maintain relationships - all of us from time to time in different stages of life make a decision to lean the ladder of hope against something that we think will support our aim, vision, All of us today have a ladder of hope and it is leaning up against something, and the question is how do we maintain hope in this world... a hopelessly broken world. Now if you open the Bible, we are instructed to place our hope in God, to, in a sense, lean our ladder against God, who has invited us to call him Father. Going back to the passage of Romans 8, you know what Paul is saying? 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look you want to put your hope in something secure, something that won t disappoint? Do you want to put your hope in something that you can go to every single time? Paul says you ve got to move your ladder and lean it against the Heavenly Father where you find the enduring hope - now what does that mean in the meantime?
Yes, you do your best; it means you live out kingdom values in the world where there aren t a lot of happy happily afters; it means you keep on loving and even if its not returned, you don t lose hope. It means you carry on serving and when no one serves you back, you don t lose hope, It means you keep on forgiving and when people don t forgive you back or you don t get the benefit of forgiveness, you don t lose hope. Why? Because in all these things your hope wasn t there anyway. You live your life and you do your best, using your God given talents to accomplish everything that you can. But, at the end of the day, you say in spite of all that, my hope is in my heavenly Father; that is where I lean my ladder and place my hope. When we lose our grip from our plans, our treasures and our ambitions, our plans, treasures and ambitions loosen their grip from our hearts. And when they loosen their grip from our hearts - then we are able to move our ladder, transfer our hope to the only person that can sustain our hope through good and difficult times - Jesus Christ! Whatever it is that you have placed your hope in, will determine whether you will be able to remain hopeful in a world where things are hopelessly broken. So where are you leaning your ladder, where have you placed your hope? I am not saying you should not have plans, dreams, ambitions or follow through and do your best - No I am not saying that - but where is your hope? Where have you centered your expectation. If it is anywhere other than in your relationship with God or God s love for you, it is misplaced hope. It is hope that will eventually in some way disappoint you; eventually these walls always crumble. The only way to maintain hope long term is to move your ladder and place your hope in the unfailing love of God for you. Love not demonstrated because somebody called you back and you got a job. Love not demonstrated because things went your way and you got that thing... whatever you have longed for a long time - no, not that kind of hope. Paul says to place your hope in the unfailing love of God, demonstrated in one place and one specific moment in history when Jesus Christ allowed himself to be crucified for your sin and my sin which sealed your eternity forever and locked our relationship with God.
So let s look at a verse that encapsulate all that we discussed today: May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22 (NIV) This hope cannot be broken regardless of the economy, regardless of what you do, regardless of what other people do to you. So, the only way to maintain hope in a hopelessly broken world is by placing our hope in an unfailing love of God. It s my prayer that for all us as we continue to face uncertain times, in an uncertain political and economic environment, as the wall starts shaking, as the ladder starts shaking, we be reminded that we weren t supposed to put our hope any where other than here - our hope can and will remain strong because we have been invited to place our hope in the unfailing love of God for us.