Acts 1:12-26
Then they returned to Jerusalem from
the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When
they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those
present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and
Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They
all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. – Acts 1:12-14
Jesus
had appeared to them on numerous occasions after He rose from the dead. Luke said,
On one occasion, while He was eating
with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the
gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized
with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” –
Acts 1:4-5
They
went to the upper room to pray. This was
in obedience to Jesus’ command to “wait.”
Rarely, when God commands someone to wait, does it mean “do
nothing”. They were
waiting…expectantly. What should an
expectant heart produce? One thing is
prayer. Just because God promised
something doesn’t mean that we can’t pursue Him about the thing He’s going to
give. Knowing that God is going to give
us something doesn’t mean that we should become passive. We have many promises in the Bible that God
has given to us. He has promised to take
care of us. We can thank God for His
promise to take care of us and ask Him to do so because He promised it. This kind of prayer glorifies God because we
verbalize our trust in Him. We proclaim
that He is the provider and that He is compassionate. And it’s actually good for us. It reminds us of our dependence on Him.
Jesus
had promised the Holy Spirit. In this
story, we’re about to see this promise fulfilled. What did Jesus say it would be like when they
received the Spirit? What did Jesus say
the Spirit would do in them? The Apostle
John takes us back there:
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me,
he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and
make Our home with him. He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching.
These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But
the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will
teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” –
John 14:23-26
First,
Jesus talks about the most important thing, that the disciples would love
Jesus. Second, He describes what it will
look like for them to love Him. He said
that they would obey His teaching. Third,
He said that He desired to make His home with them. He wanted to dwell in them. In the context of John 14, He’s talking about
them receiving the Holy Spirit. Fourth,
He said that the Holy Spirit will teach them and remind them of what He has
spoken to them. In Acts 1, we’re on the
verge of seeing these things happen in the disciples. The Spirit would come to live in them. The Spirit would teach them and help them
remember what Jesus had taught them. The
Spirit would help them obey Jesus, which, in turn, meant that they loved Him. This string of events would help them reach
the goal. The goal was the very first
thing Jesus talked about in John 14, to love Him. In Acts, we see the church begin. The church would love Jesus by obeying the
things that He taught them.
I’d
encourage you to write these verse references down if you can. I think it might help you understand what is
about to happen in Acts 2. The verses
are things that Jesus commanded, taught and demonstrated to His disciples. First of all, He taught them to repent and to
preach repentance. Matthew 4:17 is one example: “From that time on Jesus began
to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” (Matthew 4:17). He taught baptism and demonstrated it by His
own baptism, Matthew 3:13-17. He taught
them to honor the Scriptures just as He honored them. In Matthew 5:19, He commanded them to
practice and teach the commands. He
taught them to love one another just as He loved them. You can find this in John 13:34-35. He showed them what real fellowship looked
like. He broke bread with His disciples. He commanded them, “‘This is My body given
for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’” (Luke 22:19) He taught His disciples to pray on numerous
occasions. The most famous instance is
in Luke 11:1-13. This is known as the
Lord’s Prayer in which Jesus prayed, “Our Father, hallowed be Your name, Your
kingdom come…” At the very end of this
passage, Jesus says something I find to be very peculiar. I wonder if Jesus said this knowing what was
going to happen in Acts 2. I guess you
would have to read Luke 11 and Acts 2 on your own and see what you think. In Acts 20:35, Paul reminded the church in Ephesus
that Jesus taught them, “‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” On numerous occasions, you can read in the
gospels how Jesus ate together with his disciples in a home setting (i.e. John
13). In Matthew 26:30, after breaking
bread together, they sang a hymn. He
demonstrated a glad and sincere heart.
Keep
these moments in mind as we go into Acts 2 in the next three weeks, especially
verses 36-47. After the disciples
received the Holy Spirit, notice if you see any similarities to the teachings
that I just mentioned. We’ll find out if
the disciples and the early church begin to carry out what Jesus started.
In
our story in Acts 1, they decided to replace Judas.
In those days Peter stood up among
the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said,
“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long
ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those
who arrested Jesus—he was one of our number and shared in this ministry. – Acts
1:15-17
In
this list of Apostles, there’s a man who denied Jesus and another man who
betrayed Jesus. Peter took on a
leadership role in this group. He was
one of the three disciples that went with Jesus to places the others hadn’t and
heard things from Jesus that the others hadn’t.
You would think that he would have been one of the most faithful
disciples considering all the special things he saw and heard firsthand. He ended up denying Jesus three times before
He went to the cross. I probably
wouldn’t have felt too confident to take this position if I were him. I would have felt like the least of the
apostles. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t
have felt like an apostle at all.
There
seemed to be other apostles who had a better track record. John, for example, seemed to be the closest
to Jesus out of all the apostles. John
called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in John 13:23. I’m not sure that he was actually the one
Jesus loved the most. This was a title
that John gave himself, although, somehow inspired by the Holy Spirit. I wonder if Jesus was the kind of person that
made everyone feel like He loved them the most.
Jesus
chose Peter. Peter didn’t choose
Jesus. He said, “You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”
(John 15:16a) This is one of the ways of
God.
He
chose Abraham to be a blessing to the nations.
God knew that this would be a man that would be given into fear at
times. He knew that this man would have
moments when he would act out of the flesh, not out of faith. This is the kind of person God chose.
He
chose Moses to lead his people out of captivity. This is the same guy that would try to free
the people of Israel in his own timing but was only able to deliver one Hebrew
from immediate slavery. He became a
murderer by killing the Egyptian taskmaster.
He would also try to come up with every excuse in the book as to why he
shouldn’t be their leader. This is the
kind of person God chose.
He
chose a bitter coward to preach to the people of Nineveh. If Jonah had spent the same amount of energy
obeying God as he did running from Him then the mission would have been
accomplished in very little time. This
is the kind of person God chose.
He
chose David to be king. He would
eventually become a murderer and adulterer.
He loved the Lord, he repented and he did what the Lord asked, but only
after he did terrible things. This is
the kind of person God chose.
The
apostle Paul didn’t have the ideal resume’ either. He was involved in the violent persecution of
Christians. This is the kind of person
God chose.
There
was nothing special about Peter and John.
In Acts 4:13, Luke says,
When they saw the courage of Peter
and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were
astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. – Acts 4:13
They
were “unschooled” and “ordinary”. Jesus
was never aiming for the smartest, extraordinary, best-qualified, or even the
boldest disciples. These are the kind of
people God chose.
He
chose these people, then He equipped them.
He wasn’t looking for those who were equipped already. He chose these people, then He changed
them. He wasn’t looking for people who
had great self-control and could change themselves. He chose these people, then gave them a
mission and the power to accomplish that mission. These people didn’t care
about that mission before God changed them.
These people didn’t have the power to carry out His will until He gave
them the power. If you have felt
unworthy, sinful, unfaithful, bitter, disobedient, unequipped, and unable, then
you are in great company. You have
finally reached the place where God wants you to be. He wants you to recognize that you are all
these things and to be humble with Him.
As
Christians, if we go astray from God He will discipline us. He wants our lives to rise up to the calling
He has given to us. He wants us to be
free from sin, to be faithful, to not be bitter, to be obedient, to be equipped
and able. He wants us to be and do these
things because we are chosen, not to earn to be chosen.
Peter
denied Jesus. Judas is the one who
betrayed Him. What do you think would be
worse, to be filled with demons or to be filled with Satan? I personally believe it would be worse to be
filled with Satan. Although, both would
be bad. Jesus and his disciples cast
demons out of many people. Some of these
people had to be shackled because they were so dangerous. No one wanted to approach a demon-possessed
person. In John 13:23, referring to
Judas, the Scriptures say that “Satan entered into him.” After this moment, it seemed like Judas was
perfectly sane. If he appeared insane,
then I doubt the detachment of Roman soldiers would have followed him to find
Jesus in the garden, where he betrayed Him.
I don’t think they would have believed that Judas was a credible person
if he was acting crazy. I’ve heard
people ask why we hear about demon possession during the time of Jesus but not
much today. Or they ask why we hear
about demon possession in third-world countries more than we hear about it in
our culture in America. I think there
are people possessed by demons in our day and even in our country. Satan and his demons have done a good job of
disguising themselves. Those who are
possessed, or at least influenced by them, appear completely sane. But even worse than that they appear to be
walking in the light. They appear to be
outstanding, respectful people who are doing many righteous things. Paul said,
For such men are false apostles, deceitful
workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself
masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants
masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions
deserve. – 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Judas
was in charge of the money that the disciples used collectively. He appeared to be a trustworthy person. He went on many mission trips to share the
gospel and see people healed. He saw
Jesus firsthand. He didn’t need ten
reasons to believe that the gospels were trustworthy accounts of Jesus’
life. He witnessed Jesus’ life
himself! The apostle John gives Jesus
the title “The Word.” (John 1:1) We
spend time reading The Word in order to be with The Word, but Judas spent time
with The Word face-to-face. He saw the
deaf hear, the lame walk, and the blind see.
Looking back on the warning signs of Judas, John said,
But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot,
who was later to betray Him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the
money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this
because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the
money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. – John 12:4-6
Judas
was ahead of the social justice movement.
But he was behind on the love-Jesus movement. Mary seemed to be wasting expensive perfume
to worship Jesus. I wonder if the Holy
Spirit revealed Judas’ theft to John as he was writing the Gospel of John or if
some of the disciples already knew about it at the time of the thefts.
(With the reward he got for his
wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open
and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so
they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in
the book of Psalms,
‘May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,’
and,
‘May another take his place of
leadership.’
Therefore it is necessary to choose
one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and
out among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up
from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
So they proposed two men: Joseph
called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord,
You know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two You have chosen to take
over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then
they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven
apostles. – Acts 1:18-26
Why
did they need to replace Judas? The Scripture
that Peter shared was the driving influence.
But why were these Scriptures used?
Peter is quoting Psalm 69:25 and 109:8. When these Psalms were written,
King David may have had passages like Deuteronomy 19:15-21 in mind. In
Deuteronomy 19:15-21, the people of Israel were shown how to deal with someone
who was a false witness. They were to do
to the false witness as the false witness wanted to do to the innocent
person. Others caused David to be on the
run and caused him to not be able to dwell in his own tent because of their
false accusations. He was praying that
God would set a trap for his accuser so that they would experience the same
thing. Just as David was ousted out of
his office of king because of false witnesses, he was praying that God would
oust these false witnesses out of their offices. Just as David was betrayed by false
witnesses, so was Jesus. In the Torah,
we see the commands for how to deal with false witnesses. In the Psalms, we see how these commands were
dealt with and prayed about in real life.
When Peter quotes these verses, he seems to be saying that Jesus was
betrayed just like David. Judas held an
office as one of the twelve. Jesus said
that these twelve would judge the twelve tribes of Israel in His second
coming. Because of being a false witness,
the official position Judas held had to be passed on to someone else in order
for justice to be done.
The
person who replaced Judas as an apostle needed to have been a witness of Jesus
from the time of His baptism until the time of His resurrection. He needed to have seen first-hand that the
Father spoke from heaven after Jesus was baptized. This is when the Father told everyone there
that Jesus was His Son. He must have
seen the miracles Jesus performed. He
also must have witnessed the love that Jesus shared. As they went about preaching about Jesus they
were preaching as witnesses. If you are
a follower of Christ, it’s because of these men’s preaching. Our faith is based on events that were
witnessed by trustworthy men who had been with Jesus.
The
Lord chose Matthias for the position.
Matthias didn’t choose the position.
As we learned earlier, God has certain ways that He does things. He doesn’t choose people based on their
ability, personality or performance. He
would empower Matthias for his chosen task.
I’m not sure how humble Matthias was, but I do know that this new
position would probably have humbled him.
Jesus told His disciples that the goal was make disciples of the
nations, not just the people in Israel.
This was a daunting task. I don’t
know about you, but sometimes it feels like a daunting task just to get out of
bed and have a good attitude. There were just 120 people meeting in that upper
room. They were on the verge of getting
started. I know that God didn’t choose Matthias
because of his performance. But, in
order for him to be an eyewitness of Jesus’ life from His baptism until His
resurrection, he had to make a series of decisions. These were a series of decisions to stick
with Jesus. Matthias was supposed to tell
Jesus’ story from His baptism to His resurrection. He didn’t have to have a seminary
degree. Although, he did need to have a
certain level of understanding about the Messianic prophecies that Jesus
fulfilled. According to John 14, Jesus taught them what they needed to know,
and He said that the Spirit would bring to mind what He told them. He did specific training on how to have
gospel conversations, but the Spirit would help them at the implementation of
the training.
God
is still choosing people today. He’s not
choosing people to fill the role of one of the twelve apostles, but He is still
choosing people. In reference to the
forgiveness of our sins, Peter said, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more
eager to make your calling and election sure.” (2 Peter 1:10) The NASB translates the verse as “be all the
more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you…” Part of His choosing of us for salvation is
the giving of a new identity. If you are
“in Christ”, then we aren’t who we used to be.
Paul told the Corinthians that if any person is “in Christ”, then they
are an ambassador as though God were making His appeal through us. If you and I were chosen by Christ, then
we’ve been chosen to be an ambassador.
This is an identity change. We’re
not performing for God. We didn’t have
to be given a command in order to a part of His purposes. We were brought into His purposes by a change
in our identity.
When
you go home I want to encourage you to discover for yourself why He chose you. Read Ephesians 1:4-5. I think reading it in the New Living
Translation might help with understanding it better. The motivation came from something within Him. Imagine that I’m about to play a pickup game
of basketball. I’m playing with adult
men. I’m one of the captains so I get to
choose who is on my team. Max is there
with us. I choose him to be on my
team. What would motivate me to do that? I’m not doing it in order to build the most
talented team. Growing up I played a lot
of pick-up basketball games. I would
always choose the best players to be on my team…the most skilled, the biggest
and the fastest. I wanted to win. But Max wouldn’t have anything to offer
me. He would be the smallest, slowest
and least skilled out of all of them.
The only reason I would choose him is because I love him and that it
would bring me great pleasure by sharing this experience with me.
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