Acts 1:12-26

September 30, 2001

God’s Building Blocks for the Church

During an Ecumenical gathering, someone rushed in shouting, "The building is on fire!" Immediately...

Through the ages churches have responded in their own particular way to both triumph and tragedy. Different denominations react differently. Yet when fire rages, response is necessary. The key is to determine what is the best response, not just in the emergency of a fire, but in the ongoing life of a church and of those who comprise that body of believers.

In the days following Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection he taught his ragged band of disciples that they were to be the ones on whom God the Father would build the church. With Jesus’ ascension forty days after the resurrection, the disciples were no longer just students, but now the leaders of the church. They were to be witnesses of all they had seen and heard. But in addition to the tremendous triumph they had witnessed, a tragedy had fallen upon them as well.

One of their own number, Judas Iscariot, had betrayed Christ resulting in Jesus’ arrest and eventual execution. Facing tremendous odds: the departure of their leader, a poor track record of their own, and one from their ranks committing treason made their job appear impossible. How could they build the church which God had commissioned them to build?

Acts 1 gives us not just the historical account of how the church responded, but the pattern which is to be followed. The components found in their response teaches us how Cornerstone is to be built today. As a congregation we have seen God at work in this church in tremendous ways and as we prepare to purchase property and construct a building, we need to know what the critical components are. They are not bricks and mortar. Rather God desires churches to be built on prayer, Scripture, and the Apostles.  READ Acts 1:12-26.

The Church is Built on Prayer   12-14

Response to Jesus’ final command – obedience

In the concluding verses of Luke’s gospel, Jesus reminds the disciples that they are to stay in Jerusalem until they are clothed with power. Acts opens with that same command in v4, that they wait in Jerusalem. This they did as we are told in 1:12. They return to Jerusalem to the upper room.

Upper rooms were large meeting rooms on the second or third story of a residence, often rented out, having access from the outside. Since it is identified as “the room where they were staying”, it may be the room where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal, where he appeared to them when he arose and where believers gathered in Acts 12 to pray for Peter as he was about to be executed by Herod. If this is the same room, it was owned by Mary, the mother of John Mark who accompanied Paul and Barnabas and wrote the gospel which bears his name. 

Luke then lists some of those who gathered. First the disciples are listed in typical order, beginning with Peter and then the rest, with one noticeable deletion – Judas.

Of the disciples mentioned here, (including Matthias as Judas' replacement), only Peter, James, and John appear again in the New Testament. Each of the disciples mentioned here was faithful to Christ's command to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, even if they are not mentioned again in Holy Scripture. While God did not chose to give us inspired accounts of the "Acts" of the other apostles, their missionary endeavors are legendary and are among the most interesting traditions of the early church. With the exception of John, all are said to have been martyred. There is a small group of Christians in India which claims to have their origins in the preaching of Thomas. Matthew is said to have been martyred in Ethiopia. So while God does not chose to include them in Acts, we must not forget that they too followed their Lord's command, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth and that they died as martyrs for the savior they loved.

Luke mentions “the women” whom he references in his gospel: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Cuza, who managed Herod's household, and Susanna, who was apparently affluent.

These women supported Jesus and the disciples financially and followed him to his death, even serving at the tomb (Lk. 24:2). The angels had appeared to them first, telling them about Christ's resurrection. They too are gathered here worshiping the Ascended and exalted Lord.

Luke also makes the last mention of Mary in the NT.

We have no idea what eventually happened to her. The Roman dogma (canonized in 1950) that she was "assumed" into heaven without dying, simply has no basis in fact. Her last recorded appearance in the NT, is here with the others, not being worshiped or adored, but instead worshiping and adoring her son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus's brothers are mentioned, which we determine elsewhere as James, Joseph, Jude and Simon.

These are the same guys who had previously thought their brother insane (Mk. 6:3). How then, did they happen to be here in "the room," waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit? Paul tells us in I Cor. 15:7, that Jesus appeared to James, the Lord's brother, and they obviously had been converted just days earlier during the post-Resurrection ministry of Christ. (the above taken from Riddlebarger, On the Foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles)

Response to an uncertain future - prayer

What was it they did when they gathered in that room?  They gathered to pray. The knee jerk response to what they just endured is prayer. In light of the ascension of Christ – prayer. In light of tragedy of treason – prayer.  Notice the unity of this prayer meeting: all together.

In Luke 6:12, just before Jesus chose which 12 among all is followers would be known as the disciples, he spent the evening in prayer. Now, before they are sent out once again, and before another is to be added to their number to take the place of Judas, they prayed.

In v14 we are told they were constantly in prayer.

There is persistence, or as one translation states: “they stuck to praying”. This was not just a quick prayer shot up to ask God to bless them, direct them, and use them. It was ongoing. They knew they were to wait on God in Jerusalem to pour out the promised Holy Spirit. So what better way to wait than to pray. But it was not just prayer, but specifically: the prayer

This suggests the Jewish pattern of worship centered on written prayer and reading of the Law and Psalms. “The prayer” may well have included the Shema from Dt 6:4 “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”  What takes place in this upper room is not an unstructured, free flowing, spontaneous prayer meeting. Thus apostolic worship is simple, but liturgical. Their response here is worship.

In v15 Luke points out the number of those present for prayer as 120.

The reason for the parenthesis about the number of disciples is that in Jewish law a minimum of 120 Jewish men was required to establish a community with its own council; in Jewish terms the disciples were a body of sufficient size to form a new community.

The Fulton Street prayer meeting that sparked a revival in America in 1858 began with six people. Within six months there were ten thousand businessmen gathering daily for payer in NYC, and within two years one million converts were added to the American church (Orr 1953:13). A.T. Pierson said, “There has never been a revival in any country that has not begun in united prayer, and no revival has ever continued beyond  the duration of those prayer meetings. (Orr 1937:47)

Quite often our initial response to triumph is to gloat in the warm feelings of the event, to relive and recount our exploits – but often not prayer. And our initial response to tragedy often is paralysis and not prayer. But here we see the right response. The prayer here has worship as its focus and as we see, it leads them into examining God’s Word more closely as Peter preaches a sermon.

The Church is Built on Scripture   15-20

Where there is biblical prayer and worship, God’s Word will also be expounded. When Luke says Peter "stood up," he using is a technical term applied to formal speech in the synagogue. He does not address the triumphal ascension of Christ, but the tragedy of treason which had occurred in their midst.

Judas’ betrayal created numerous problems. His defection no doubt cast a shadow on the infant church, forcing them to respond to such a failure in leadership. But the focus here is on finding a replacement. What Peter does sets the way we should understand the rest of Acts. What Peter does sets the way we should understand the rest of Acts.

Peter finds hope in the Scripture.

Notice his high view of God’s Word. The events regarding Judas’ betrayal were not an accident. The greatest tragedy of all time, the murder of God incarnate, was a part of God’s plan.  Yet having said that, Peter does not excuse Judas on the ground that what happened to him prophesied. What he did was not done because of the prophecy, but through the wickedness of his own heart.

What happened with Judas?  He was a part of the inner circle.

He shared in this ministry. Literally – shared the lot of this ministry.  Lot – word used of stone in casting vote by a deliberative body, is used again in v26. The word – kl?ron – was later used as ecclesiastical office – clergy

Yet it was he who lead the temple guard to Jesus so that he would be arrested  The reason why he did this not entirely clear. A hint may be in his name.

The 'Iscariots' were a band of violent nationalists, who were prepared to undertake assassination and murder in their campaign to set Palestine free. Perhaps Judas saw Jesus as the one to lead Israel to independence, and turned against him when Jesus disowned such an earthly kingdom. What ever the reason when Judas saw his plan to force Jesus go tragically wrong, he committed suicide out of bitter remorse.

Luke gives us an aside in vv18-19. When we compare this passage with Matthew’s account we get a fuller picture of what happened.

With his reward he bought a field.

This fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 11:12-13 which points to the amount given and the use. The trouble for some is that Luke says Judas bought the field with the money and in Matthew 27:6 it is the priests who purchase the land. The apparent conflict is not too troubling as the priests purchased the land was with Judas’ money.

How did he die?

Matthew’s record states that Judas hanged himself. Luke here describes his death in a different gruesome manner. How do we understand this?

Matthew’s Jewish audience saw suicide as a heinous sin and to die on a tree is doubly cursed.  Luke, writing to Greeks, did not have the same compunctions against suicide, but the disemboweling was seen as a judgment. That is not to say they made up the story. Rather the simple explanation is to focus on different aspects of the same general event:

Judas hung himself, and after he died, his bloated body was cut down, and when it fell, his intestines spilled out.

The name of the place where Judas died was aptly named: Field of Blood.

Blood money bought the field and the land was cursed due to death which occurred there.

Peter sees the prophecy applying to their situation.

First the crime - Ps 69:25

Five times in the New Testament Psalm 69 is appealed to regarding the hatred of Jesus and his dedication to honor his Father. In v25 we see the prophecy of the removal of Judas.

Second passage details the solution - Ps 109:8

Peter understands that Judas’ apostasy requires that another take his place among the 12. This leads us to our final point. Not only is there prayer and an appeal to God’s Word. What we see here is an important aspect of how we are to read the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

The Church is Built on the Apostles   21-26

Peter’s conclusion, flowing from their worship and prayer, based on God’s Word, states the necessity that another man to fill Judas’ place. The criteria are important: one who was with them and Jesus from his baptism to ascension. The Apostle to fill Judas’ place need to be a witness not just of the resurrection, but also to verify all Jesus said and did. The number of Apostles is important.

Judas is replaced not because of death, but apostasy. When James is martyred in A.D. 44, the disciples do not name a replacement. The number is fixed – it was to be 12.

At the Last Supper in Luke 22, Jesus states the relationship between the Apostles and the 12 Tribes of Israel. (read v28-30).  The issue of continuity here shows the smooth transition from the people of God in the Old Testament flowing out of the 12 Tribes of Israel and now after the Ascension, the people of God we call the Church being built on the 12 Apostles. This connection between the 12 Tribes and Apostles is pointed out again in Rev. 21:10.  Thus the church is the Israel of God, and is built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles.

Filling the vacancy is not matter of administrative efficiency, but specific requirement of God’s purpose for the church as revealed in Scripture. As Peter applies God’s Word to their situation it is clear that this office is limited and impossible to fulfill today. There is no succession from then till now.

But Christ's Church today does possess Apostolic authority in fulfillment of Christ's words that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. In this case, it is not the office of apostle which is passed along to subsequent generations of the church, but it is the doctrine taught by the apostles, as found in their inspired writings, that serves as the basis for the doctrinal authority of the church. Why is this important for us?

It is vitally important to pray and spend time in God’s Word. But what Peter illustrates here and is repeated throughout Acts, is that the Christian faith is Apostolic. That is, what we believe flows from the eye witnessed report of the 12. We do not fabricate or second guess. We do not tolerate new interpretations as to the life, death and resurrection of Christ. As Paul states in Ephesians 2:20, the Church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone.

Some preachers and teachers will say that Peter and the early church were mistaken in this endeavor. That their election of Matthias was presumptuous, for God wanted Paul and the early church trampled on God’s desires.

It is important to see how the term apostle is used in Acts and the rest of the NT. The term has a two tiered meaning in Acts, as it is used more broadly in Acts 14 of Barnabas and Paul. This does not diminish Paul’s position as the Apostle to the Gentiles, yet it is clear in his meeting with the Apostles mentioned in Galatians 1-2, that what he taught was Apostolic, it was in line with the 12.

The method used points also to the uniqueness of this situation.

Names put forward, there is input from congregation.

Once again they go to prayer. Notice what is prayed. In light of Judas’ secret sin, they acknowledge that they can not make the decision on their own.

Then they cast lots, a practice to us which seem rather odd.

Proverbs 16:33 may be appealed to here. The presupposition is that there is no such thing as chance, but that God’s sovereignty extends to the smallest detail. In making their final choice in this manner, they show their complete reliance upon the Lord.

In such an important situation, the decision process was seen as the Lord’s hand. From this point on, nothing is as critical and the method of decision making is the working of the Spirit (who will soon be poured out) and common reasoning.

What can we learn from this?

On December 2^nd we will have an election for Elders and Deacons. No, we won’t be casting lots. We are not adding to the apostlate. But we are asking each of you to be in prayer for those nominated, examined, present and elected. But this passage extends beyond the election of officers. It also speaks to how we view the means by which God builds his church.

We live in an age which loves invention. We want it new and improved. With hubris we imagine that we can do it bigger and better than a generation before. Acts will challenge us to rethink how we do church. It takes us back to our foundation so that what is built is based on God’s Word. We must be cautious about that which we believe and constantly seek God’s face in prayer and in Scripture to see if what we believe is building on them or on our own inventions. For this, we need to trust in our Lord to lead us forward.