It's commonly known as a public demonstration of a miracle at the temple gate where Peter and John was instrumental to the healing of a lame beggar. But actually, Peter and John went there without any intention of doing or performing something in public to attract people and lure them to their church ministry. They just went there for prayer. This lame beggar asked them for money (neither did he expect that a miracle for him was about to happen) which the apostles didn't have at the time.
When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. [Acts 3]
There was no pre-planning for this, no program or gimmick or whatever churchy thing that was prepared "for God's glory" to be seen by men. They were there for a simple, quiet prayer, and I can imagine that it was a private one, though they were amid a crowd gathering there also for prayer. When they talked with the beggar, it was not done to attract people. They simply talked with him.
Miraculously, the beggar was healed and "he went with them to the temple courts." Then an excited crowd gathered. But, just like their Lord, they were not comfortable with a crowd that was excited about them. Jesus was never comfortable with a crowd that loved him. He pissed them off to make sure they were liking him for the right reasons--reasons the Father would approve of. Otherwise, he would just be performing a righteous deed "to be seen by men." The same with Peter and John. Seeing that the crowds loved what they did, Peter pissed them off with a criticism:
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.
I don't know if a pastor today would say this to a big crowd already beginning to like him and his church. We would've been very careful not to offend the people or shoo them off with a silly criticism like that. We'd think a statement like that was uncalled for. Why not simply evangelize to the crowd and tell them God loves them and has a wonderful plan for them? Nope, Peter had to emphasize how they "handed him over to be killed."
Why this statement? It was to make sure they were not there simply to please people and "be seen by men." I believe Jesus and the apostles did this to make sure the intention of their hearts was to do things in "private" because God watches what is done in private and rewards it. But since the crowd was now there and screwed up their privacy policy, they made sure they were not just pleasing the crowd but pleasing God.
If the crowd persecutes you for your righteous deed, you don't do it "to be seen by men" but to please God. The reward is when you are persecuted for Jesus. But if the crowd likes you, beware. The persecution factor determines who is being pleased--God or people. People should be convicted by the Holy Spirit, be contrite and broken, repent and surrender to the Lord, not just feel blessed by your sermon and yet stay the same. And if your flesh likes how your preaching or ministry "blesses" (the right word is "pleases") people, you're definitely not doing it for God but for people and yourself. Your ego. I feel uneasy when people tell me they're blessed after I preach. I'd rather have them angry or broken and seriously repented than "blessed."
This is why I believe Peter and John went to prayer meeting without any desire "to be seen by men," much less to showoff the miracle to please the crowd or be seen doing it and be appreciated. Their heart's intent was to do things in private so that only the Father saw what they were up to. And when they saw how they had no choice but to be noticed by the people, they made sure their motives were pure and not a hint of hypocrisy was involved--a desire to be seen in public doing something for God.
After urging them to repent, Peter also revealed God's good intentions for them if they decided to abandon their "wicked ways" and go all out for the Lord. Just imagine---the crowd was beginning to love them and then Peter tells them they had wicked ways. He should've at least simply said they were lost and misguided.
“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.
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.’ 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.”
Here are several things we can learn from these passages:
- Peter and John never planned or prepared a program for this.
- No one was invited. No attempt to gather a crowd to watch their program, to be seen by them.
- They were simply attending a prayer meeting. Period.
- God used the situation to glorify himself and the apostles simply moved with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
- Clearly, everything was supernatural. Everything was God's plan.
- When the crowd liked them, they started an acerbic message, something the crowd wouldn't like.
- They revealed God's plan, not their plan.
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‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4]
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