The early church had a vacancy. Jesus had named twelve apostles to carry out the ministry of being His witnesses. Now there was only eleven. There was one position left to fill. That was a big opening to fill. In the past two weeks, we have studied the Great Commission and the Ascension of Christ and how these events helped to shape the early church.
Tonight though, we are going to look at the church’s first business meeting if you will. We are introduced to the remaining eleven apostles tonight. We are going to look at the replacing and the replacement for number twelve, and why this is significant.
Many people think that the way in which the replacement apostle was chosen was wrong. Some others think that the wrong choice was made in who was selected to fill the vacancy in the twelve.
We also saw last week that the apostles and other disciples of Christ were gathered together in one accord in prayer and supplication. They were commanded to wait for the coming Holy Spirit.
The choosing of the new apostle was an important event in the early church at Jerusalem. In the previous weeks, we looked at the promise of the coming Holy Spirit, and next week, we will look at the fulfillment of that promise on the day of Pentecost. Now stuck in between these two events is the choosing of the new apostle. The question that naturally comes to mind is why? Why is this here?
It has to do with God’s Will being done on the earth no matter what the circumstances. Obviously, the other eleven apostles were shocked and surprised at Judas’ betrayal, even though Jesus wasn’t.
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So after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples did as Jesus told them. They returned to Jerusalem, went back to the upper room. We are given a list of the eleven disciples that were there. They continued in prayer along with some women and the brothers of Jesus.
The first point we are going to look at is the spokesman. Peter stood and began giving a study of the Scriptures. So, this is the scene, about 120 disciples were gathered together in the upper room. They were probably packed in there pretty tight, by our standards.
Peter stands up and starts addressing these 120 people. Scholars tell us that there was between half a million and 4 million people in Palestine at the time of Christ. We also know that there are about 4 or 500 disciples of Christ. In this verse we see 120 gathered together. The Christians make up a small minority of the local population at the time. But, as we will see, from this small group gathered here, the whole world will be changed in a few hundred years.
Peter then begins a discourse on why they should replace Judas in the twelve apostles. He says that in order to fulfill prophecy written by David in the Psalms, they must fill the position. Peter goes on to tell them that this prophecy was concerning Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, and guided those who would arrest Jesus, and later have him crucified. Peter’s reasoning was that Judas was numbered with them and that he obtained a part in this ministry.
It is clear that from verse 16 Peter was well intentioned, and that he was sincere about fulfilling scripture concerning Jesus’ betrayer. One of the reasons people cite in saying that the apostles made the wrong choice here is that the guy that is chosen is never heard about again. But that can be said about the majority of the eleven and certainly the majority of the 120 gathered. We don’t hear about most of these others in the rest of the New Testament. Does that mean that they weren’t used of God as well?
So, why did they want to replace Judas anyway? Well, besides the two scriptures Peter cites, we have a few clues. The first is that 12 is a complete number in scripture. Eleven is not. There were 12 tribes of Israel. The woman who touched Jesus with the flow of blood, had her problem twelve years. The apostles took up twelve basketfuls of crumbs after the 5000 were fed. In Revelation, we see the New Jerusalem having 12 foundations, on each was written a name of the twelve apostles. We also see in scripture that there will be twelve thrones, on which the twelve apostles will judge the nation of Israel.
So, the number twelve has a significant role in the Bible. It made sense in a Biblical sense to replace Judas. But, in vv. 18-19, Dr. Luke feels it’s important to give a description of the events surrounding Judas’ death, and we will look at this in the next two verses, 18-19. Right off, we notice that these two verses are in parentheses. Luke is making a side comment from his historical account to enlighten his readers as to the circumstances around Judas’ death.
Luke tells us that Judas bought a field with the wages of his iniquity. This seems to contradict with other accounts in the scripture. In actuality, it lines up perfectly. The field was purchased with his money, by proxy, by the temple officials who had paid the bribe to Judas. The religious leaders bribed Judas to lead them to Jesus so that they could kill Him. Judas did just what they wanted. He led them to Jesus and Jesus was crucified. We cannot be sure what Judas’ motives were, but we do know that it was prophesied
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But, after Jesus’ death, Judas was overcome with guilt and remorse, and he returns the money he took from the religious leaders. The leaders, in their hypocrisy, won’t take the money, as it was blood money, but instead, use the money to buy a field that potters used to gather clay. An interesting thing to note is that Judas was not repentant about his actions, just remorseful. Judas’ remorse led him to commit suicide, and Matthew’s account tells us that Judas hanged himself. Luke’s account here in Acts doesn’t contradict Matthew’s, it just adds to it. Either the rope or the branch broke at some point, either before or after Judas’ death, and he was split open on the rocks below. Then we get into Luke’s speech in v. 20.
Peter is taking the lead here in the upper room. We will see Peter taking a lead role in the apostles in the first chapters of Acts, and Peter has been somewhat of a spokesman for the group, even while the Lord was on the earth. There must have been some there expressing concern over Judas’ betrayal and suicide, but Peter seeks to reassure them that these events were foretold in Scripture. He then goes on to quote two passages from the Psalms that foretells the events. What Peter is doing, is reassuring his listeners, the early church gathered there in the upper room, that Judas’ betrayal and death was all part of God’s plan. He was also trying to reassure them through the Scriptures that replacing Judas in the twelve was part of God’s plan, too. So, who should they choose?
Peter starts the selection process by naming the specifications or the qualifications for Judas’ replacement. The man had to have been with the apostles all the time that Jesus was with them. Starting with Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, and finishing up with Jesus’ Ascension. They had to be a witness of Jesus’ entire earthly ministry. They had to have seen the miracles, and heard the Lord’s teaching.
The replacement apostle had to be an eyewitness of the Lord’s resurrection. This is important because as we will see in later chapters, when these guys go out and speak, the main theme they speak about is the resurrection of Jesus, because that is the core of the Christian faith.
There were two of the disciples there met the qualifications. Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. These were the only two of the 120 gathered that met the qualifications set forth by Peter. Now, we don’t know a whole lot about these two, they weren’t mentioned in Scripture before this and we won’t hear about either one of them again. One thing interesting to note here is that Matthias’ name means “gift of God”.
In verses 24 and 25 we see the third and most important qualification for an apostle, and that is, that he is chosen by God and not men. The remaining eleven were, chosen by God, by Jesus. So they prayed that the Lord would show which of these two God chose to take part in this ministry and apostleship.
So, they do all this praying and then they cast lots. This was something commonly done in Israel at the time. It was an acceptable means for determining God’s will in the Old Testament. The Lord had made His choice. Matthias would be the replacement for Judas.
What can we learn from all this? There are 6 essentials of choosing church leaders seen in this passage.
1. Obey Jesus. The disciples witnessed Jesus’ ascension and then they did what He asked. They returned to Jerusalem. They were risking their lives returning but they obeyed. In choosing church leaders, believers have to be in the will of God. They can’t know who God’s choice for a leader is unless they are obeying God.
2. Center around the appointed leaders. Note that all 11 eleven of the apostles were present. Leaders appointed by Christ are to be the leaders of the church and believers need to center around them if they want God’s presence and blessings. Too often too many turn to other leaders, leaders less godly, less spiritual and less mission and ministry minded. They turn to them because of their popularity and forget to support those chosen by Christ. The result is a dead, formal, self-centered, or worldly or socially minded church.
There is a big difference between a ministry-minded church and socially-minded one. Being ministry-minded means doing everything for someone with evangelism in mind. Everything done for that person is to point them toward Jesus.
Being socially-minded means reaching out to help people but with little attention given to evangelism. Sure they are helped with food, or clothing, or a number of other physical needs. But that is a social gospel and it seldom stresses the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
3. Essential #3. Be joined constantly in prayer. The disciples were in the upper room for one reason: to seek and wait upon the baptism of the HS. Believers need to be of one spirit and mind, concentrating as strongly as they can upon the same purpose.
4. Pray steadfastly. They continued, persisted, persevered in praying for the baptism of the HS. God’s Spirit had been promised to them and they weren’t going to stop praying until God baptized them in His Spirit and presence.
5. Have a leader who willingly leads. Peter didn’t let his failure of denying his Lord stop him. He stepped up and willingly served Christ exactly where Christ had originally appointed him to serve.
6. Heed what the leader says. All 120 believers listened and heeded Peter’s leadership. No leader could lead unless the people were willing to follow. God’s presence and blessing depended upon the believers following the leader God had given them.
So there are the 6 essentials in choosing church leaders. Now to the leaders. Leaders that are chosen need to be in fellowship with one another, working together over long periods of time. Leaders must know the Lord personally. Leaders must be appointed through prayer. Remember, God is the One who is choosing. God’s will cannot be known apart from seeking to know His will. And one last thing about church leaders. They must be appointed by the congregation, after much prayer, not appointed by other leaders. It wasn’t just the 11 apostles who chose the 12th apostle. Peter called for nomination in v. 21; the whole group cast their lots and voted for whom they thought God wanted. It was a congregational or democratic process.
I pray that we can follow God’s instructions.
