Seeing the Person at the Gate
Edited directly from the sermon transcript of Matthew Miller’s message at Highland Hills Church of Christ on February 15, 2026. Adapted for length and readability while preserving his voice and message.
Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by need. Stop for a moment at any intersection of your life and you will see it: at work, in your family, in our church family, and in the community. People are hurting and searching for hope. Sometimes we walk past them on our way to the things we are doing, even things we call spiritual.
Acts 3 tells the story of a man in desperate need. He has been placed where he can receive help, and people pass him every day. Peter and John are going to the temple at the hour of prayer. At the gate called Beautiful sits a man who has been unable to walk since birth. He is carried there daily to ask for money from those entering the temple.
There is a real thing called compassion fatigue. The problem may be that we have cared so often that we begin to feel numb or overwhelmed. We have prayed, helped, and been disappointed. Eventually we harden ourselves for protection. Someone else will help. I don’t have what it takes. I have somewhere to be.
That exhaustion becomes spiritually dangerous when we overlook people on our way to what we believe we must do. We also fear inadequacy. What if I stop and have nothing to offer?
That has been a struggle for me in ministry: wanting desperately to help someone and knowing I cannot fix the situation. I want to take the burden away, but I can’t. After enough experiences like that, we may begin walking past the broken instead of moving toward them.
Here we see that God calls us to obedience while he provides the healing.
The man asks Peter and John for alms. I always think of the old animated Robin Hood when I hear that word: “Alms for the poor.” He is asking for help. But Peter fixes his eyes on him and says, “Look at us.”
The man is no stranger. He has been there for decades. This is a long-standing need, and Peter and John encounter it on their way to worship. I find that significant.
It is easy to avoid eye contact with someone whose need we have seen many times. We hope they won’t notice that we noticed them. But Peter looks directly at this man and invites his attention.
The man probably expects the sound of a coin dropping into his cup. This response is different. Before his physical healing, something remarkable has already happened: he is seen as a person rather than a problem.
A church on the move must stop long enough to see the person.
I once read Eugene Peterson describing how he had to learn to behold the image of God in the people who came to him, whatever difficulties they brought. Unless he was willing to see them as people, he could not help them. That is what we see here. The man receives attention and dignity. Mercy begins there.
He gives Peter and John his attention, expecting something. Peter says he has no silver or gold. If he had pockets to turn out, they would have been empty. But he offers what he does have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.
Peter takes him by the hand, lifts him up, and his feet and ankles receive strength. He stands, walks, and enters the temple with them, praising God.
The man asked for money, but God had something greater in mind. We often ask for relief or survival. Recently, when Lindsay and Sailor were away and I had the three girls for the weekend, that was my request: pray we all survive. So far, those prayers had been answered, though not without incident.
We ask for what we can imagine. God brings restoration and transformation. He is not limited by the size of our request.
Peter does not stop with an apology that he lacks what the man has asked for. He offers what he has, without drawing attention to himself. He speaks in Jesus’s name.
The power belongs to Jesus. Peter is an obedient servant with a front-row seat to what God is doing. He says yes and offers willing hands. God works through willingness, rather than waiting for perfect conditions. When do we ever see perfect conditions after the opening chapters of Genesis?
The church’s power rests in its testimony to Jesus. Peter and the temple are the people and the place through which this happens, but it is all about Jesus’s name—his authority and presence.
The man receives strength immediately. We sing about him walking, leaping, and praising God. I would have loved to be there to see it.
First, his dignity as someone bearing God’s image is affirmed. Then he is healed in Jesus’s name. And his response directs praise toward God. Jesus told us to let others see our good works so that they would glorify our Father. Here is that teaching in action.
Sometimes we become so absorbed in defending Jesus’s name that we forget the beauty of healing, wholeness, and transformation in his name. There are times to speak in defense of our faith. But a changed life also bears a powerful witness: freedom from addiction, strength after loss, or hope in a place of despair.
A church on the move walks in faith under Jesus’s authority, sharing testimony to who he is and seeking restoration. All our attention to the church’s pattern and practice should lead us deeper into compassion and mercy.
What next steps can we take? First, see people before trying to serve them. Stop, behold them, and listen for the real need. What they ask for may be only one part of what they are carrying.
Who have you stopped seeing because they have always been there? That is an important question to ask honestly.
Second, give what you have rather than waiting for what you wish you had. You may lack silver and gold, but you can pray. You can be present. Sometimes we do not know what to say, and saying something may be the least helpful thing we can do. I’ve put my size twelve in my own mouth plenty of times. Presence may be what someone needs most.
You can also share how Jesus has worked in your own life. You can show compassion. And you can give testimony to his name.
I heard a preacher explain that when he loves someone, he wants to offer the best he has. As a Christian, the best he has is Jesus. Sharing him is an expression of compassion.
Here, obedience opens a door for testimony. The man’s healing becomes an opportunity to preach, and more people hear about Jesus. When the church moves in mercy, it makes Jesus visible. Compassion often opens doors arguments cannot.
Jesus says that what we do for the least of his brothers and sisters, we do for him. We may think we are going out to bring Jesus to someone else, only to encounter his presence through that person too.
Seeing with Christ’s eyes lets us offer more than an outward necessity. We can offer the look of love a person longs to receive.
The Beautiful Gate becomes a place where grace walks in and someone is restored through compassion in Jesus’s name. Are we ready to walk with him, to see the people already in our lives as he sees them, and to show them his love?
