RICH AND POOR
1. There is a subtle but important detail in Acts 5:15-16 which is easy to overlook.
2. People were ill.
3. Those who were sick received an unusual type of medical treatment.
4. Peter and the other apostles healed those who were ailing with miraculous cures.
THE WAY SICK PEOPLE WERE TRANSPORTED TO PEOPLE
LIKE PETER IS SPECIFICALLY GIVEN IN THE TEXT.
A. People came on “beds and couches.”
B. To us these words may sound like large pieces of furniture.
C. Some thoughtful reflection suggests this is not what Luke had in mind.
D. Would it not be a little difficult to take the bed we sleep it, put someone in it, and move them?
2. The word bed described something like a stuffed mattress.
3. This is the same word which describes what ancient people leaned on when they ate.
4. The word “bed” is really a description of wealth.
5. The sick people who had money or wealthy friends were brought on a nice mattress.
6. Those who were poor came on a “couch.”
A. This second word describes something like a camp bed; a pallet.
B. It has been compared to a stretcher.
7. The picture in Acts 5 is this:
8. On the one hand there is a vast difference between people.
9. Some are rich; others are poor.
10. Perhaps the rich had a prominent place in society and the poor were insignificant.
11. There were distinct differences between the rich and the poor, just as there is now.
12. While there were vast differences between the rich and poor, there were also some similarities.
A. The rich and the poor both had medical problems.
B. These problems were apparently incurable because the apostles were sought out for help.
C. Both the rich and the poor came to the same source and asked for the same type of help.
D. The rich and the poor both received the same kind of help—a miraculous cure.
13. THIS
EXAMPLE IN THE PHYSICAL REALM HELPS US BETTER UNDERSTAND AND APPLY CERTAIN
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY.
A. The world we live in sees great differences between people.
B. In the eyes of society, there are divisions because of race.
C. Skin color is still an issue that separates people.
D. Where we live is another distinction which is all too common.
E. Our level of income further divides people into one category or another.
F. There are divisions about our marital status: single, widowed, married, divorced.
G. We find distinctions because of age and education.
H. Even our nationality makes us different from others.
14. The New Testament has one of the greatest messages man has ever heard.
15. That is, there are more things that bind humanity together than separates it.
16. One of the scriptures read this evening is Acts 17:26.
17. This was read from the KJV because this passage reads very well in this translation.
18. Man is “one blood.”
A. This is exactly right.
B. Gen. 3:20 says Eve was the mother of “all living.”
C. Each person can be traced back to the same source.
D. This point was implied by the Old Testament prophets.
E.
Listen to Mal.
19. These Old Testament references set the stage for some of the things said in the book of Romans.
20. In
Rom.
21. God does not view or treat one person above another. Each person is equal in His sight.
22. Why does He do this?
23. It is because there is a strong bond which ties all mankind together.
24. This bond has both a positive and a negative quality to it.
A. Let’s look at it from a negative point of view.
B. In Rom. 1 Paul turned to the Gentiles (non-Jews) and said they are guilty of sin.
C. In Rom. 2 he said Jews (the rest of the world) is also guilty of sin.
D. All mankind has something in common.
25. In Acts 5:15-16, sick people who were rich and poor were brought together because of a problem.
26. Their medical problems was a strong point of commonality between people who were very different.
27. The cure they needed was another point of unity.
28. In the spiritual realm Paul says this same thing is true.
29. Each person who is old enough to know right from wrong is sick—very, very sick.
30. In
fact, in
31. Verse 23 of this chapters says – quote.
32. Perhaps the point becomes more impressionable if we were to say, “all are sick.”
A. The disease Paul spoke of (sin) does not go away.
B. Some medical problems eventually go away on their own.
C. Other conditions are fatal.
D. Sin is a deadly condition.
E.
In Rom.
33. The widespread nature of the world’s problem is found in Rom. 5:12-19.
34. Here Paul made some comparisons between Adam and Jesus.
35. He also showed how sin affects all people.
36. READ. Rom.
37. No matter who someone is, they came from Adam and, like Adam, they sin.
38. There is a sense in which we all have the same genealogy and family history.
A. I have heard people say, “I can trace my family back 10 generations.”
B. Another brags he can double that figure.”
C. God says we can go all the way back to the beginning.
39. Doctors often have an interest in a family’s history.
40. They may want to know if heart disease run in a family.
41. Has cancer or something else been a problem?
42. God says there is a deadly disease in our family tree.
43. Adam sinned and we have been infected with this same problem.
44. WHEN
PEOPLE LEARN THEY HAVE A PROBLEM, JUST LIKE THE SICK PEOPLE IN ACTS 5, THE NATURAL
QUESTION IS THIS: CAN I BE CURED?
A. Is any help available for me?
B.
Listen to Rom.
C. The word “righteousness” is equivalent to the word “cure” (healing).
45. Help is available.
46. We all have the same problem but all can be cured.
47. One would think this news would make people line up for help.
48. People would be beating on the door asking for assistance.
49. The reality of the situation is that many do not want treatment.
A. There are people who are infected with the most deadly disease known to man but they do not care.
B. In the physical realm this type of refusal would be unthinkable.
C. Imagine the rich and poor in Acts 5 saying, “we are terribly ill but we don’t care.”
D. “A free cure is available for us but we are not going to use it.”
E. This was not what the people thought.
F.
Acts
G. “Multitudes” showed up for the free cures.
H. People realized they had a problem and they flocked to the apostles for aid.
50. Let’s look at this from another angle.
51. Suppose those who were ill had come to the apostles and said, “We are sick.”
52. “We need to be healed and want your help, but we demand that you cure us on our terms.”
53. “You perform the healing in a way that we like.”
A. Such an attitude is almost unimaginable.
B. Saying this kind of thing would be thoughtless and ungrateful.
C. These conclusions are right, but this is the very way people now act.
54. In 2 Kgs. 5 there is a story about Naaman, a man who had leprosy.
55. He came for healing and he had his own ideas about how he should be cured.
56. He expected a big ceremony; waving of hands and calling out God’s name.
57. When he didn’t like God’s healing procedure, he stormed off in a rage.
A. This is hard to believe, but this was how he acted.
B. Most with any sense would say to someone who offers them a sure cure, “thank you.”
58. God has provided a cure for sin.
59. Rom. 5 says it is “free.” There is no charge.
60. If we comply with the conditions God has set, we will be totally freed from sin.
61. This is a hard to believe offer, but there are individuals who are not satisfied with it.
62. We have people who try to rewrite the conditions for it.
63. God has said nothing about a sinner’s praying, praying in front of a t.v., or accepting Jesus into the heart.
64. He has given a plain plan: hear His word and believe it.
65. These commands apply to every person who is old enough to be infected by sin.
66. Whether someone is rich, poor, the same color as us, or something else, these things are the same.
67. Those who hear and believe are told to repent.
68. Repentance is another act which brings together the people infected by sin.
69. This helps forge a bond.
70. Confessing Christ further cements this bond.
71. When we are baptized into Jesus for the remission of our sins, the bond is sealed.
72. The world talks about peace among the nations; getting together; unity; no divisions.
A. Unity comes because people have ties to each other.
B. In Acts 5:15-16 the bond was physical sickness and a physical cure.
C. Another bond, which is a lot more powerful, is spiritual sickness and forgiveness of Christ.
73. If we have been bonded together with others who are Christians, we need to love our brethren.
74. We must always strive for oneness and unity in the body of Christ.
75. If we are not a Christian, we can become united with the greatest organization known to man—
76. The body (church) of Jesus Christ.