Jesus at Work (Acts 3:11-26)

Acts 3:11-26

¹¹ While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. ¹⁶ By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

¹⁷ “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. ¹⁸ But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. ¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰ and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. ²¹ Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. ²² For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. ²³ Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’

²⁴ “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. ²⁵ And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ ^{v 26} When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” ^[1]

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When Peter first began to speak his first order of business is to make sure that Jesus got all the credit for the great miracle that the people had just witnessed.  Peter isn’t interested in making a big name for himself.  He isn’t gearing up for the opening of “Peter’s Fish House and Healing Center.”  It’s all about Jesus.

We have here another of the paradoxes of the Christian faith.  It was Peter who decided to heal the man.  It was Peter who had followed Jesus and taken the steps to learn from Him and grow like Him.  It was Peter who spoke the words and took the lame man by the hand.  And yet through it all and in it all, it was Jesus at work.  And in work in such a way that Peter characterized it as being all Jesus’ work. It’s not “Me and Jesus healed him,” but rather Jesus alone who receives the credit and the praise.

The same is true for the less dramatic acts of faith that we are called to make each day.  We choose to place ourselves where the Spirit can empower us.  Your spending some time today in the Word and prayer is part of that.  We choose to act on the opportunities that come our way.  We act in the strength that we have using our gifts, resources, and talents.  And yet, we are bound to give Jesus all the credit.  This passage reminds us of this truth.

It is a paradox:  I am at work. Jesus is at work.  But I do not want to praise myself, but Jesus alone, for He is the source of all the good that I do.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10  “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

So my prayer is that Christ be at work in me today, opening my eyes to the works He has prepared for me to do, giving me the strength to carry them out. And I pray for the faith to say at the end of the day, “To God alone be the glory!”

 

What is the Word leading you to pray about today?

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^[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Ac 3:11–26). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.