10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
21 But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?
22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
Introduction
William Carey is generally considered the father of the modern missionary movement. He was raised in a humble home in England and thus didn’t have the privilege of a formal education, but early in his life he learned to enjoy reading, especially about foreign countries and the marvelous people who lived in those countries. As he grew older and became a shoe cobbler by trade, he continued to read and was especially impressed by books about Captain Cook’s voyages.
In time God called William Carey to preach. And so he cobbled shoes during the week and preached as a volunteer pastor on the weekends. God laid the cause of missions upon his heart and there was no missionary work being done in the world at the time.
The theology in much of Europe was Calvinistic at the time. Calvinists believed in predestination, that if a person was going to be saved they would be saved no matter what you did about it. So their missionary activity for hundreds of years had come to a halt. And one day in a minister’s meeting William Carey rose to pose a question for the ministers to discuss. He asked whether the command of Christ to go into the all the world and preach the Gospel was obligatory for modern-day ministers. Jesus had said, “Go into all the world preach the gospel to every creature,” They weren’t doing that. But they still claimed the promise that said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).
Carey’s reasoning was this. If the promise is valid, then there is an obligation to carry out the Great Commission. An elderly minister stood and said, “Young man, sit down. When God chooses to save the heathen he will do it without your help or without mine.” That was the mindset concerning missions in 16th-century England.
But William Carey could not sit down for God was laying a heavier burden with every passing day on his heart for the lost souls of humanity all over the world. And he kept pressing until he had persuaded English Baptists to organize a missionary society to send someone as a foreign missionary. The chosen field was India. And one of Carey’s companions in this great missionary effort wrote this: “We saw that there was a great goldmine in India. But it seemed almost as deep as the center of the earth. Now who will venture to explore it?” And William Carey said, “I am willing to go down into the deep shaft but you, my brethren, must hold the ropes.” And thus his friend said, “We endeavored to do as long as God gave us strength.”
I want you to picture one man going down into a deep cavern to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a place of darkness and I want you see scores of others holding the rope that lets him down into that cavern so that he can share the light of Jesus Christ with them. Both the man who goes and the man who holds the rope are essential in God’s great missionary effort. And everyone of us ought to either be going to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel or we ought to have a good grip on a missionary rope so that somebody else can go and then return safely from the darkness of this world.
We need to think about holding missionary ropes. We have a good example of what I’m talking about here in the book of Acts 9 when it says very simply, “Then the disciples took him by night and let him down the wall in a basket.”
You will remember that the reference is to the apostle Paul. He had been the chief critic and persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ. And then on the road to Damascus he had been gloriously saved. His life completely turned around. And immediately the apostle Paul began to teach in the city of Damascus where he had persecuted Christians. In that very city he began to preach. Ha confounded many with his knowledge of the scriptures and with his conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. People were astonished by such a change in a man. In time his preaching became so effective that his own countrymen turned against him and wanted to kill him. And it was necessary that Paul escape from the city to save his life. But they had already plotted and conspired to the point that they were guarding every gate of the city. And there was no way for Paul to go out of the gates day or night without losing his life. So some of the brethren in the church took Paul up on the walls of the city of Damascus.
The city walls in those days were not 12 or 18 inches thick. They were so thick that oftentimes you could drive two chariots abreast on top of them. And houses were often built on top of those walls. In all probability they took Paul into one of these houses, put him in a basket, tied ropes to the four corners of that basket, and then strong men holding those ropes lowered Paul out the window and down the side of that wall until he touched bottom and escaped from the city of Damascus, went to the city of Jerusalem, and from there on into a worldwide ministry as the greatest missionary whoever lived.
I’ve been thinking about those men in that window holding the ropes. And four things impress about those men. The first is that those who held the ropes are little known and unnamed nobodies. We have no idea who they were. No fame, no fortune, and no name attached to them. Unnamed nobodies holding the rope.
Second, they held the rope in the darkest of the night. When they probably needed to be asleep. In danger of their lives. In the darkness of the night they held the rope.
Third, they held the rope without knowing who was in the basket. They knew his name. But they had no way of knowing of what he would one day become. They had no way of knowing that he would one day honeycomb the Roman Empire with churches. That this man would write almost two-thirds of the New Testament. That this man would go as far as Rome and perhaps even to Spain in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. They had no idea who was in that basket.
Fourth, they held on until the basket reached the bottom. They stayed with it until the task was finished. And in those four ways they stand as examples to us today of how to hold on to missionary ropes. They are a supreme example of partnership missions. One going and others holding the ropes so that he can go. And it always takes both kinds and God either calls us to get in the basket or to grab hold of a rope—one or the other. And you ought to be in the basket going to the ends of the earth or you ought to have a firm grip on a missionary rope so that somebody else can go. There is no place for a person who just sits and watches missionary efforts go on.
1. You don’t need to be a hero to spread the word of God. Remember that the people who helped Paul were little known and unnamed nobodies. There is a point in that for us. Because most of the great things that have been done in the kingdom of God have been done by little known and unnamed nobodies. Most of the great work in the kingdom of God has gone forward on the shoulders of people who were just ordinary like you and like me.
The Bible, like any other book, spotlights its heroes. It puts on center stage its Abrahams and Davids and Elijahs and Pauls. But always behind the scenes there are a multitude of people unknown and unnamed who support and help that individual in his great work for God. And most of us are called upon to fill the role of rope holders and we shall never gain fame or fortune from our great missionary efforts but we are vital to the success of the enterprise. It has been that way throughout Christian history.
Think for a moment about Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was perhaps the greatest English-speaking preacher ever to live. When he was just a young man he went to London, built a tabernacle that would hold five thousand people, and for the rest of his life he preached to five thousand people on Sunday morning and five thousand people on Sunday night. Oftentimes on Sunday morning he would plead with the congregation, “Please don’t come back tonight—leave room for those who wanted to come to the service this morning and couldn’t get in.”
His books are possibly found in more preachers’ libraries today than the writings of any other person who has ever lived. But nobody knows very much about Spurgeon’s conversion. It happened one day when he walked into a church to get out of a thunderstorm. And giving his testimony in the pulpit that day was a plain workingman. And as he shared his testimony about the work of Jesus Christ in his life Charles Haddon Spurgeon, just a lad at that time, fell under the convicting word of the Holy Spirit and through the witness of that unknown unnamed nobody Spurgeon came to know Christ as Savior.
Most of you have heard of D. L. Moody. He was to his generation what Billy Graham is to ours. He shook two continents for Jesus Christ. And the world has long honored and revered D. L. Moody. There is in Chicago a Moody Bible Church. There is in that same city Moody Bible Institute. There is a Moody Press and books about D. L. Moody have been written by the scores. For he is one of God’s bright and shining lights. But most people do not know how D. L. Moody came to be a Christian.
One day an ordinary shoe salesman named Edward Kimble walked into the store where D. L. Moody worked and introduced Moody to Christ. And because of the witness of that ordinary shoe salesman D. L. Moody became a great force for God.
Abraham Kuyper, the great Dutch theologian, preached a sermon one day and when he was done a very plain woman came up to him and said, “Dr. Kuyper, that was a marvelous sermon today but you need to be born again.” And it wasn’t long thereafter before the great theologian was born again. And forever after that he kept on his desk a picture of that woman who was so influential in bringing him to the new birth.
People, I tell you that always and ever behind every bright and shining light for God there are scores of unknown unnamed ordinary people who are holding the ropes. And that’s the task that God has given to you. You might never blaze a continent for Christ. You might never write a great missionary journal. You might never establish a church on a foreign field but you are as vital as the one who does it if you stay here at home, grab hold of a sizeable missionary rope, and let him down and supply his needs while he is there.
2. Be there to help when things are at their darkest. The second thing is they held on in the darkest night. The word darkness is used in the Bible in two different ways. Sometimes it has reference to literal darkness, when the sun goes down and the moon comes up and the stars come out. That kind of darkness. And sometimes the darkness that the Bible refers to is the spiritual and moral darkness in the hearts and the lives of man.
In this instance it most certainly refers to a physical darkness. It was in the middle of the night after the sun had gone down and the stars had come out that they did their work. But I want you to think about not physical darkness but spiritual darkness for in our day me must hold the ropes in the darkest hours of the night. We are the light of the world and our world without Christ is in darkness. And in that darkness we must hold the rope.
Did you know that there are more than 220,000 people imprisoned in the state of Texas? I once spent an hour and a half in a death row cell with a man who had been put in reform school when he was nine years old. And he learned well the ways of crime thereafter. He was 47 when I met him looked like he was 60. And he had spent 30 of his 47 years in prison. No family. No hope. Nothing.
I spent three and a half hours walking up and down death row talking to men—180 men in Ellis Unit, the worst prison in Texas. There were black men, white men, Jews, Muslims, atheists and agnostics, and seekers and Christians. There were men with college educations and men who couldn’t read or write. Every walk of life, every strata of society, every nationality. And all of them waiting to die. We saw in that prison pornography and we heard profanity and we were keenly aware of violence. Darkness everywhere but at the same time there was light. We went to the service in their chapel that could seat about 500 people and there was a sea of white uniforms. There are those in prison who are looking for a better life. They have messed up and they know it. They want hope and they want life and they want acceptance. They want a better life and they are seeking it anywhere and everywhere and when the invitation is given from that sea of white uniforms there is a literal flood of response as men come saying, “We want a better life.” I heard one man pray over and over again, “Oh God, I’m so tired. I am so tired. I am so tired.”
I asked the first man I met where he as from. He said, “From Port Arthur, Texas.” That’s where I grew up. I said, “Where did you go to school?” And he said, “I went to Franklin Elementary School.” That’s where I went to school. I said, “Where did you live?” He said, “Thomas Boulevard.” That was right down the street from me. The first man I met grew up in the same place and went to the same school just a few blocks from me. And just four years difference in our age. And I tell you what made the difference in him and me—Jesus Christ.
Listen, we are in a world of darkness. Somebody has to go and somebody has got to hold the rope. Robert Louis Stevenson I think expressed our missionary calling so well. He grew up in Scotland. He told about his boyhood days as he would stand on the porch and watch the lamplighter lighting those gas lamps on the streets and leaving behind him pools of light in the darkness. And one day he called out to his mother, “Mother, Mother, come quickly—see the man who is punching holes in the darkness.” And that’s our mission and our call as the people of God, to punch holes in the darkness of this world. And if we cannot go to punch the holes ourselves we can hold the rope so that someone else can go.
3. We must help even those we don’t know. The third thing to remember is that they held on to the rope when they did not know the man was in the basket, They knew his name but they never knew what all he could do. The potential of those we work with is seldom seen.
Saint Thomas Aquinas was one of the great theologians of the church but when he was a student he showed none of that great promise. He was a large gentleman with a round face and a quiet disposition, and together those traits earned him the nickname “The Dumb Ox.” One day in school he gave a report and his professor was so impressed with it that he said to the class, “You may call him the dumb ox, but one day his theological bellowing shall be heard about the world.”
We never know the potential in that basket. We send a missionary out. We don’t know how many churches he will build. We don’t know how many missionary journals he will write. We don’t know how many people will come to know Christ as a result of their work. We are never sure about the person in the basket. We don’t have to be. What we have to do is hold on to the rope. That’s the only hope we have.
4. We must see it through. And the last thing I want you to see is that they held the rope until it touched bottom. They didn’t let it halfway down the wall and drop it and let it hit with a thud. When they took hold of the rope they stayed with it to the end. And there is nothing in this world that can substitute for that kind of staying power. It is always easier to start a thing than it is to finish a thing. It is easier to start a race than it is to finish the race. Let me tell you what counts ultimately is not just starting but staying with it to the end.
Through the years I have come to have a deep appreciation for these people in our church who have stayed power. They are not like a roman candle that flashes across the sky for a moment and they are gone almost as quickly as they came. They just stay in there. They start singing in the choir and they stay. They start ushering and they stay at it. They start teaching a Sunday school class and they don’t quit. They stay with it. Thank you, you people who keep holding the ropes.
If I want to read a book I would rather have a long tallow candle than a bolt of lightning. The bolt of lightning creates more light and attracts more attention but you can’t read by it. Give me staying power like that of a candle rather than this flash in the pan kind of Christianity any day. Somebody who holds on to the rope until it hits the bottom.
What I am saying to you people is this: you need to get in the basket. Or get a firm grip on the rope. Get involved in missions one way or the other. I mean sacrificially involved. Not pennies, dimes, and quarters. Not five dollars and ten dollars—or a hundred dollars for some of you, but thousands of dollars for some of us. That’s what it means to grab hold of the rope.
Have you heard of Lieutenant Clebe McClary? He was a U.S. Marine who lost an arm, one eye, and half a face In Vietnam. After 40 operations his face was finally restored. The men under his command gave him this plaque: “In a world of give and take, there are two few who are willing to give what if takes.”