Acts 14. 8-20: Guidelines for healing ministry

Last week we saw how Paul and Barnabas had the exciting  “revival experience” of seeing  “Cross-cultural Crowds of Converts” and looked at  the place of Motivation, Preparation,  Communication,  Incarnation and  Demonstration in the life of a Missional movement.

Live with the mystery, engage with the ministry.
Luke then gives us a case-study on “demonstration”.  While one incident doesn’t tell us everything we need to know about the miraculous it does give us some important guidelines on  “How?”  to engaging with “Signs and Wonders”...

And the case Dr Luke gives is terse and unpromising: he was disabled, crippled in his mother's womb, he had never walked. Medically speaking, it was about as bad as it could get.  He hadn't been injured at birth.  He hadn't been run over by a number 19 chariot. A congenital defect meant he could not and had never been able to walk.  Then, one day, a small group of people gather in the market-place just by the man's begging-spot; two are obviously the leaders and one of them begins to speak.  He's talking about Jesus, the Son of God; the “change-bringer and sin-bearer”  who healed the sick, drove out the demons, died for sin and rose again...  And as he hears this message, the man thinks “If this Jesus who healed the sick is alive today, he can heal me, too!”  He realises that, “Nothing is impossible for God!” 

 That is where we start.  Nothing is impossible for God, because God never changes; the Jesus who healed the sick and drove out the demons is the same yesterday, today and forever.

There may be puzzles about why some people don't get healed in the way they ask.  But he is able to do it, and he wants to do it.  Sickness and suffering are the result of the fall, and are gatecrashers into God's world.  Let's accept that nothing is impossible for Him; that suffering isn't what he wants; and live with the mystery while trying to engage with the ministry.

Maintain the momentum of Mission
If there was a synagogue in Lystra (and there may have been, as there were enough Jews to cause trouble for Paul and Barnabas) Luke doesn't mention it.  But Luke doesn't waste words, and he may well not have wanted to repeat the same thing over and again.  What is clear though is that this incident took place in the open air, in the street or market-place.  And what is also clear is that Paul was preaching the Good News about Jesus.

All of that shows us that the healing ministry is about mission.  It takes place on the streets and is an activity of our “big-hearted God” who loves to give away the good things of his kingdom.

The word “Healed” (v 10) is σωθῆναι.  The message says “saw that he was ripe for God’s work”. We need to understand salvation as big enough to include wholeness in every part of life and healing to be part of the bigger package of salvation that people can receive from God.  Healing is part of the salvation God longs to give to people he loves.

Notice people.
Paul watched him closely as he spoke. (v. 9).  In the midst of speaking to the crowd about Jesus, Paul noticed this guy.  There may not have been much to set him apart from the crowd.  In every city centre in the empire, there would be disabled people sitting with their begging bowls.  Like so many disabled people he was below eye-level.  Yet Paul noticed; and began to focus on the man.

"Watch and pray" Jesus said. He meant "stay awake" but part of that alertness is observation.  Joking apart, when we want to engage in the healing ministry, we need to keep our eyes open.
The skill of observation is one we need to develop and use in personal ministry. What do you see? It may help you to discern what someone needs. It may even save your life...  There may be moments when we can, see something in a person, just with the eyes of common sense, that tells us there is an unusual level of pain, of need, or of faith in a person's life. 

Discern what God is doing...
So what are we "watching" for? There may be a sense of something perceptible: a peace, a quiet confidence. But I believe there was something interior, something that cannot be put into words.
We are watching for the Holy Spirit being upon a person. We are looking for something about the person that suggests God has imparted a gift of faith. Faith is God's gift. How do you "see" faith?

Paul speaks about spiritual gifts being "spiritually discerned"   (1Co 2:14)   Three things you can do from God's word...
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”  (Heb 4. 12)  Soak up the word
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”  Jn 10. 27  Hang around with the Shepherd and you will get used to his voice.
“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Rom 8. 14  Stand in your sonship.

Speak up!
Paul issues a command that seems pretty brutal: “stand up on your feet.”  But as Howard Marshall says this command “was at the same time time a divine enabling to him to jump up and begin to walk”.    It is a creative word, that brings God's healing into the man's life.  We may not be able to step out in the  sort of faith Paul exercised here; we can only operate  “according to our faith”, that is when you know that is exactly what God wants you to say and when you know that God is about to do something.  But we can begin to speak out in Jesus' name, creative words that bring his healing into people's lives.  Sometimes it's right to “pray” for healing.  At other times it's right to speak God's healing into a person's life.  Jesus rebuked fevers, commanded deaf ears to be opened...

Accept Ambiguity.  
The whole crowd “Went wild” (the Message”).  Speaking in their own language, they shouted “The Gods have come down to us!”.  They decided Paul must be Hermes (the messenger-god) and the older Barnabas must be Zeus.  Some of that went over Paul and Barnabas' heads; then the local priests started to offer sacrifices to them and they realised that things were not going according to plan.  Tearing their clothes in grief, they rushed among the people to make then understand that the one living God was calling them away from worshipping idols to trust in him alone. 

Things are rarely plain sailing: it's easy to stay in our comfort zone and see the dangers in unfamiliar forms of ministry.  Healing, Street pastoring, or whatever, can be misinterpreted.  It didn't put Paul off and it didn’t' put God off. So it shouldn't put us off, either.

We are only human,
Lastly, as Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes, they are having none of the glory! They stress, We are only human, like you.”  The Greek says “We suffer in the the same way as you.”  Paul and Barnabas were only human.  They were weak.  They suffered.  Paul once had to leave a colleague behind ill (2 Tim 4. 20), advised Timothy to take a little wine to help his indigestion (1Tim 5. 25) and prayed three times of have a “thorn in the flesh” (possibly illness) taken away (2 Cor 12. 7)
We have treasure in earthen vessels .  So
Even though we're only human, we can engage with  “signs and wonders”.  And...
No matter what miracles we see, we are still only human. 

© Gilmour Lilly February  2014