It’s not the sort of sermon we might expect. After all, Peter and John had just brought healing to a man who had been lame from birth (3:2), simply by taking him by the hand and raising him to his feet (3:7). And so when a large crowd gathered to marvel at what had happened, it’s no wonder that Peter took the opportunity to speak to all of them (3:12).

But while he does mention that it was faith in the name of Christ that made the lame man’s legs strong (3:16), he doesn’t say what the “health and wealth” gospel teaches – that the people in the crowd should trust Jesus so they too could be physically healed. Instead, Peter picks up right where his Pentecost sermon left off, condemning the Jerusalem crowd for their complicity in the crucifixion of Jesus (3:13-15) and urging them to repent so that their sins might be forgiven (3:19). He insists that they need to turn away from their wickedness (3:26).

But Peter’s sermon only seems strange if we believe that the gospel is primarily about us, about God meeting our felt needs. In contrast, Peter keeps his focus on Who Jesus is, the One God has glorified (3:13), the Holy and Righteous One (3:14), the Author of life whom God raised from the dead (3:15). Peter thus uses an admittedly amazing miracle of healing primarily to draw the people’s attention to Jesus, so that they might listen to His words (3:21) just as Moses had told them they should.
And maybe this helps us understand why we don’t see as many amazing miracles these days, at least in places where the Church has already become firmly established. After all, if the primary purpose of miracles is to draw people’s attention to Jesus, then we don’t need them so much if we already have easy access to the Scriptures. After all, you don’t need a splashy advertising campaign to get you to eat at a restaurant where you already know the food is good, right?

So let’s keep the main thing the main thing. Regardless of the circumstances of our lives, let’s remember Jesus’ power and authority, His might and majesty, along with His mercy and love. For we can be confident that He will bring a full measure of the same sort of refreshing that this lame man experienced – when He comes again (3:20-21)

Acts 3:11-26 (ESV)

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.
12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.
14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
16 And his name– by faith in his name– has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.
25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”