E21 1947 © Project Winsome International, 1999

The Acts of the Apostles is commonly called the textbook of the church. Here we learn a great deal about the church and what God intends it to be. If we want to know how to live creatively as Christians, we need to turn to this book -- the Acts of the Apostles -- and there search out the secret of the New Testament church, that primitive band of believers who changed the course of history in one generation.

How did they do it? What was their secret? If you take a long hard look at this book, you will see they did it by reproducing themselves, by multiplying over and over again. They did it, as we must do it, through evangelism.

With an unsophisticated singleness of purpose, they set out to save souls. They wisely refined the purpose of their existence down to its irreducible minimum. When they had sifted out everything else they might do, the one thing they discovered they must do is win people to Jesus. That was the only reason for their existence. And, when all is said and done, that's the only real reason for ours!

Having said that, let's turn to our text. There are several great and eternal truths strikingly presented in this passage. These ten verses contain much that is pertinent to us today. They provide us with what we might call the Biblical basis of Project Winsome. For here, described in simple language, is the church's opportunity, the church's gift and finally the church's method.

The Church's Opportunity.

Now, the church's opportunity is lame humanity. "Lame from (its) mother's womb," the text says. To me it's a waste of time to discuss how humanity came to be lame. It is lame and that's the problem.

Most of us don't like to admit our lameness and we have all kinds of clever ways of making things seem to be other than they are. I enjoy the story of the wealthy Texan who directed that when he died he was to be buried in his Cadillac convertible with the roof down. So, when the time arrived, the undertaker drove his Cadillac convertible up the edge of a huge grave which had been dug for the purpose. He slid the man behind the steering wheel, put on his ten-gallon hat, stuck a cigar in his mouth and instructed the crane operator to begin lifting the car up and out and then lowering it into the grave. A couple of grave diggers were watching this spectacle and one of them turned to the other and said, "Man, that's living!" Well, of course, it isn't. That was a lot of fanfare and a lot of activity, but in truth, the man was dead. What was true of him, is true of all mankind. Humanity is spiritually dead.

Do we need any proof of our lameness? Well, at best we can simply say the times in which we live are uneasy times. If we view the seething, yeasting, revolutionary forces which surround us, we might very well call them calamitous times. For sin and the consequences of sin are everywhere, as fearful, forlorn and filled with futility, mankind is lost and groping in the darkness of degradation.

The Bible says, "There is a time to laugh and time to weep." Certainly, this is a time to weep. But, weeping is not enough. If we just weep, it will lead us to pessimism and despair. There must be something more. For the world at its worst needs Christ at his best. If we can find challenge in this, then the very problem of lost humanity becomes our opportunity.

Today, as never before in the history of Christendom, the church stands upon the threshold of fields that are white unto harvest. And every Christian laborer, regardless of age or circumstance, training or personality, must take his or her place in the ranks of the marching, fighting, winning armies of the cross. They must come to realize it is not enough to sit in a pew and toss a few dollars into the offering plate, and it is not enough to sit back and let the pastor do his job.

Suppose I was the sales manager of a large company and you people were my salesmen. How long do you think that business would last if, as sales manager, it was my job to do all of the selling and all you salesmen did was to support me with your encouragement and faithful attendance at my weekly lectures on the quality and value of our product? How long do you think that business would last, if as salesmen, all you ever did, was try to persuade a few prospects to come and hear my weekly lectures in hopes they would buy? How long do you think that business would last? I'll tell you. Just long enough to exhaust the capital. No business could ever run on such a program and neither can the church of the living God.

There was a terrible shipwreck off the coast of Italy. The captain of the life saving crew, instead of manning the lifeboats, stood on shore and shouted instructions through a public address system. The report that went to the government said, "We rendered what aid we could through the public address system, but the next morning twenty bodies were washed ashore."

And I say to you, any church that uses its pastor as a public address-system, and fails to man the lifeboats with the entire crew and push out to save the lost who are going down, will be responsible for all those who one day will be thrown upon the shores of a Christless eternity, whom they could have won if God's people had gone after them.

Beloved, the opportunity is before us. All about us is lame humanity. At the very doorsteps of our churches are those who are heart-hungry for the unspeakable riches of Christ. All they need is someone to tell them, someone who really cares.

"I give you a watchword for the hour;

A thrilling word, a word of power;

A battle cry, a flaming breathe

That calls to conquest or to death;

A word to rouse the church from rest,

To heed the Master's high behest.

The call is given; ye hosts arise!

Our watch word is evangelize.

The glad evangel now proclaim

Throughout the earth in Jesus' name

The word is ringing through the skies

Evangelize, evangelize,

To dying men a fallen race,

Make known the gift of gospel grace.

The world which now in darkness lies,

Evangelize, evangelize."

If lame humanity is the church's opportunity, what then is --

The Church's Gift?

Look at our text. Peter said, "Silver and gold, have I none, but that which I have, I give unto thee." If wealth and fortune are not the church's gift, then what do we have to give lame humanity?

First of all, we can give them that which cancels their disability, which cures their crippled condition. Peter said to this man, "I can't give you a thing which will help you maintain your life while you are crippled, but I can give you something that will cure your crippled condition, and give you a new life."

And, beloved, that's the gospel. That's Christianity. That's the church's gift. Jesus didn't come into this world of wounds and woe and weal to dole out orders on how to bear its burdens. He came to give people life. To put them on their feet. To enable them to walk. That's the church's gift and it has no other.

There are some who would say the church's gift is education. That we must educate humanity and by eliminating its ignorance, teach it to walk, but they forget the twisted ankles. I submit this beggar was no fool. He was no ignoramus. He knew his condition. In fact, he probably knew as much or more about ankle bones and bone diseases than any other person in Jerusalem. He had been crippled all of his life. Nevertheless, I say to you, a man may know all there is to know about his crippled condition and still never be able to walk.

There are others who say the church's gift is the example of Christ. They say, "Watch him. Study him. Follow him. Jesus knew the secret of walking with God better than anyone else. Do as he did and you will be all right." I say to you, beloved, disabled humanity cannot do as Jesus did. Jesus, himself, could come into this sanctuary and walk back and forth before all of you, setting a perfect example of walking with God, but not until your diseased ankle bones are healed and your disability is cured, could you take up your bed and walk.

There are others who tell us the church's gift is philosophy. They say we should counsel with humanity. We should philosophize about its condition. To them I present the message of Peter and John, "In the name of Jesus, arise and walk!" To those who say the church's gift is philosophy I present the testimony of Paul, who was a matchless logician and trained philosopher. He might easily have brought the proud Pharisees and scribes to his feet by his mighty mind, but he knew at his feet they were no better off then if they had never heard his voice at all. I can hear him say, "If I please men, I am not a servant of Christ. I preach philosophy and men applaud. I preach Christ and men repent."

Beloved, the church's one and only gift is Jesus Christ. We must proclaim his merits, his power, his love, his life, his blood and his ability to save. He alone can cure the condition. He alone can cancel the disability. He alone can say to lame humanity, "Rise up and walk."

You say, preacher, I see it! I see the opportunity. I realize the need. I recognize that we must give the gift of God's love to lame and lost humanity, but how are we going to do it? Beloved, the answer is revealed in our text and I want you to consider it now. This third tremendous truth has to do with --

The Church's Method.

As Peter looked upon that poor, lame beggar, he said, "In the name of Jesus, arise and walk."

There is the secret. There is the source of our strength. There is the place of our power. We must go and work and speak in the name of Jesus. If we try to do it in any other way, we are doomed to failure.

The only kind of witnessing the Holy Spirit can bless is witnessing that is done in the name of Jesus. Our sympathy, our kindness or our love will never melt the heart of a sinner, but the sympathy, kindness and love of Jesus will.

J. Wilbur Chapman tells how, not far from his home in Indiana, lived an old woman who was the terror of the entire community. Finally, she was arrested and sent to the state penitentiary. There she broke every rule and every kind of punishment was exhausted. Time after time, she was put into solitary confinement, and for weeks given nothing but bread and water.

One day a Quaker lady came to the prison and asked to see her. They brought the woman into the room with chains on her hands and feet. The Quaker lady said, "My sister." The old woman cursed her and said, "You're not my sister." Then the Quaker lady said, "I love you." With another oath the woman said, "Nobody loves me." Then the lady came near and taking the sin-stained face in her hands, she lifted it up and said, "Well, I love you. Jesus loves you too."

Those words broke the old woman's heart. Her mind went spinning back across the years to her childhood when she sat in a little country church and sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so." That day she dropped to her knees, confessed her sin and received God's son as her Savior.

When she arose to her feet, she was clearly different. They came and took the chains off her hands and feet, and from that day until the day she died, they were never placed upon her again. Rather, like an angel of mercy, she went up and down the corridors of that prison ministering to the wants and needs of others, a shining trophy of the compelling love of Christ.

And then, not only must we go and speak and minister in the name of Jesus --

We Must Go in Cooperation.

Peter said, "Look on us." It was not an accident that we find Peter and John working together. In fact, if we turn to the book of Matthew and read the account of Christ's commissioning of the twelve, we see that Jesus sent them all out in teams of two. He had a very good reason for doing so. In this way they were able to provide companionship, encouragement and a more forceful testimony.

"Look on us." It's instructive to examine the relationship between Peter and John. Peter was a practical man. John was a poet. Peter was a doer of deeds. John was a dreamer of dreams. Peter was wild and reckless and impetuous. John was quiet, cautious and stable. And yet, these two men were not antagonistic, they were complimentary to one another. The same is true of all the "gospel teams" Jesus sent forth.

As Walter H. Kallenbach points out, there was slow-witted Phillip, going with quick-witted Bartholomew. Doubting, skeptical, disbelieving Thomas, going with believing, simple, trusting Matthew. He sent practical James with doctrinal Jude and so on. And thus we see that each team was both conservative and aggressive, while each member of the team was complementary to the other.

It is safe to say Jesus didn't have a group of the choicest personalities with which to work. They were not all college-trained people. They were not all matchless logicians or silver-tongued orators. They were not radiant, effervescent "spellbinders," but they were men who were willing to be used for God. And because they were willing, he was able to add his sufficiency to their insufficiency, and together they turned the world upside down.

Indeed, we must work in cooperation. As we go out together, the inexperienced with experienced, the timid with the aggressive, the enthusiastic with the cautious, the young with the old, the pastor with the laymen, each cooperating with the other, one praying while the other pleads, God will add his sufficiency to our insufficiency and give us a great gathering of precious souls.

And then, in our visiting for Christ, not only must we go in the name of Jesus and work in cooperation --

We Must Go and Make Contact. Peter "took him by the right hand and lifted him up."

To be successful in our witnessing, there must be personal and direct contact. Here again, we can learn a lesson from Jesus. He went after sinners. He didn't wait for them to come to him. Some did come, but in the vast majority of recorded cases, he went to them.

That is our plan also. The Bible does not say, "Build a church." The Book does not say, "Hire a preacher." Nor does it say, "Obtain the services of an evangelist." The Bible says, "Go." Not "wait," but "go." Not "send," but "go." Not "give," but "go."

Waiting is essential! Yes! Sending is necessary! Yes! Giving is imperative! Yes! But, going is the standard. Going is the criterion. Going is being Christ-like. Going is obeying the Holy Spirit. Going is doing what the Bible tells us to do. Going is being a New Testament Christian.

Somewhere I read the story of a church which had gone over a year without a single conversion. The pastor called the board of deacons together and offered to resign. The deacons objected strongly and said they were being edified. "Edified for what?" asked the pastor. In the conversation that followed he said to the deacons board, "Do you believe that through you a soul has ever been saved?" Not one of the deacons could tell whether he had ever won a single soul to the Savior. "But we are getting along well," they said. "No, we are not getting along at all," said the pastor. Then he had kneel where they dedicated themselves to the task of winning souls.

That was Saturday night. The following Monday morning the chairman of the board of deacons spoke to his confidential clerk and said, "How long have you worked for me, Bob?"

"Fifteen years," the man said. Then the deacon said, "Well, I am a leader in the church where you attend. You're not a Christian. I have known that all this time, and yet I have never said a word to you about it. I apologize for that." He went on to briefly tell the story of salvation, and to his delight, his employee agreed to kneel and receive Jesus right then and there. That week the chairman of the board led ten others of his employees to accept Christ. The other deacons were busy at their places of employment. The following Sunday, more than thirty men and women walked down the aisle of that church confessing their faith in Christ, and it was all a direct result of those ten men.

Is there any reason why any church anywhere could not reap a similar harvest? The answer is-- none whatsoever except that the harvesters are not bringing in the harvest. And, hear me now, Satan will do everything in his power to keep it that way. He is only too glad to see us busy in all sorts of "church work," so long as he can get us to stop short of "soul-winning work." Beloved, I have tried to make this message as simple and straightforward as possible. Only one question remains to be answered. Will you go? Christ has commanded it. He will enable you.

Some years ago, a layman heard his pastor say, "No Christian should be comfortable so long as a single unsaved person remains in his community." The layman pondered those words and they did make him uncomfortable. He took the matter to God. There was born in his soul a great passion for the lost, and he began to speak to his casual acquaintances about spiritual things. He was surprised at the response that was shown. His power of presentation grew. Little by little he was able to actually lead people to make a definite decision.

A few years later, when his pastor was leaving to go to another parish, the layman took him aside and said, "Pastor, I want to show you something before you leave." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a little notebook that was filled with names. "Pastor, here you will find the names of one-hundred and twenty-two people whom I have led to Christ in the past two years. Two years ago, as you know, God gave me an awful shaking up. From that day to this, as I have been on my business trips, I have been doing business for him. I used to be comfortable doing nothing. Now I am uncomfortable when I am not working for him."

Fellow Christian, you, too, can share in this thrilling task. You, too, can do it -- through Christ. Right now someone is waiting for you to come to them with the story of salvation. And the one who died for you and for them, is waiting for you to go and share. He has commanded it. He has enabled you. Will you go? Will you accept the opportunity? Will you give the gift? Will you go forth in an earnest, honest effort to win lame, heart-hungry humanity for the Savior? I pray that you will.

During the Revolutionary War, a particular regiment of the American army suffered severe reverses. The sergeant ordered retreat. However, the flagboy, instead of moving to the back of the troops, remained up front. The sergeant sent a messenger, "Send the flag back to the regiment." "No," the flagboy said, "Tell the sergeant to get the regiment back to the flag."

Indeed! Let's get the whole church back to our high calling, and in a winsome way, win someone for the Savior.

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