In 1971 during the Vietnam war there was a Vietnamese translator who worked with a famous Christian evangelist. He translated him as he traveled throughout Vietnam during the war. This young translator was named Hien Pham. Unfortunately, Vietnam fell to the communists, and Hen was arrested for his work. He spent years in prison. “After Hien was released from prison, he secretly began building a boat with about 53 other people to flee communist Vietnam. Just before they were going to leave, four Viet Cong soldiers came to his door and accused him of planning an escape.
At first, Hien lied and denied it. The soldiers left—but afterward Hien felt convicted. He felt he was taking control away from God. He prayed that if they came back, he would tell the truth.
A few hours before the escape, the same four men returned. They asked him again if he was escaping.
This time Hien answered:
“Yes, I am with fifty-three others. Are you going to imprison me again?”
Instead of arresting him, the men leaned forward and whispered:
“No. We want to escape with you.”
So the group grew to 58 people, and they escaped by boat into the South China Sea. During the voyage, a violent storm hit. Hien shared that those four Viet Cong turned out to be fishermen, and their sailing skills were what got them safely to Thailand. Without them, they would have died at sea.” –Tim Campbell, illustration
What if Hien had ignored the conviction of the Holy Spirit? He might’ve never made it safely to America. Well, today we’re talking about a process for decision making. How do we make decisions as a church and as individuals in accordance with what God wants?
For this we continue our series, Follow Me, and today we consider how a disciple makes decisions. We pick up in Acts where we left off, just after the moment Jesus had ascended into the sky.
It had been an unforgettable moment. Jesus their dearest friend, their Lord, rising into the heavens. Then angels appearing telling them Jesus would return again one day.
But today we get the details of what happened immediately after.
From Acts 1:12: “12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.
So the ascension of Jesus took place on the Mount of Olives, which is about a half mile outside Jerusalem, and after this event they head back to the city.
Verse 13: “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.”
So they’re in Jerusalem, at the upper room they’ve been staying in over the festival. And we’re told who is present. We have all of the eleven remaining disciples of Jesus, led by Peter.
Let’s see what the disciples did as they gathered in this upper room.
Next, verse 14: “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
So, we have the eleven disciples, and the women followers of Jesus here as well, this would’ve included Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Joanna, among others. We also see Jesus’ mother present. And what’s interesting is we have Jesus’ brothers present, James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude. You’ll recognize James and Jude, because they wrote books of the New Testament, named after them.
It says they joined together constantly in prayer. They are spending every day together, praying.
Being constantly united in prayer, unites us in the Spirit, and pushes us forward toward the will of God, like riding a wave into God’s unveiling plan.
But if we miss prayer, particularly praying together, I think we begin to miss the will of God, and blunder forward unaware of his plans and purposes. Then we just kind of make it up as we go along, and miss what he really has for us.
Are you following his route or have you carved your own path through the woods, and landed in the wrong place? It’s never too late to redirect your course toward his will. As soon as you acknowledge Him, as the scripture says, and ask for the course correction, God will start cutting a path for you toward what he originally desired for your life.
It’s kind of like how we enter an address into our GPS, but then we start going the opposite direction. Still the GPS keeps rerouting, replotting the course to get you to where you need to be. It’s never too late to get to where God wants you.
The key truth we must understand today is that we aren’t really in charge of our lives.
Next, verse 15: In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)
Peter is in leadership. It’s kind of like the structure of a church today. You have the pastor who is the shepherd of the flock, you have the other apostles, who are kind of like the elders, and you have the 120, kind of like a church congregation. Quite fascinating.
Next, verses 16-17, Peter says…, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”
Peter is addressing the situation that occurred the night Jesus was betrayed. He is referencing Judas, and how Judas led the guards to come and arrest Jesus. And Peter reminds the gathering, that all of this was prophesied in the Old Testament.
Notice it says, that Judas was a guide for those who arrested Jesus. And I think in the context of what it means to be a disciple, we must remember that at times, the enemy will attempt to use us.
It happened to Peter himself, who one moment proclaimed Jesus as the messiah, and the next, Jesus told him, get behind me Satan. In a faith community, we can be used by the devil if we aren’t careful. We can end up being a guide for the evil one, for his purposes and will. Self gets in the way, and the devil can influence us, often through pride, or wanting our way. Guard against it.
Next, in verses 18-19 we get Luke, the observer who is recording the events of Acts, give us information on what happened to Judas after he betrayed Jesus.
Verses 18-19: 18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
This is a gruesome depiction. We see Judas purchased a field with the thirty pieces of silver, other accounts say he returned the thirty pieces of silver, and the field was bought by the Sanhedrin. Either way, the field came from the payment Judas received. Certain accounts say Judas hanged himself, here we’re told he fell headlong, and his body burst open, (perhaps both are true) and his intestines spilled out. Judas was punished for his sin.
Next we see Peter continue his speech, verse 20: “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.’
Peter quotes psalm 69:25 and psalm 109:8. Notice as leader here, Peter sees what happened to Judas, he connects it with scripture immediately understanding, that all this happened according to God’s will. And a replacement was needed.
Peter continues, verses 21-22: “21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 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.”
Now comes the challenge, who do we replace him with? I’m sure there were many who had traveled with the disciples from the beginning.
Peter knows that Jesus commanded them to be witnesses. So the person in question had to have been with them from the beginning, and saw the things Jesus did, his life, his death, and resurrection.
How do you go about making a difficult decision? Peter looked to scripture. I hope we also look to scripture. Inspired by the Spirit as well. And it filled a current need.
Scripture, Spirit, Need. But still, how do we know who or what to do?
Next verse 23: “So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.”
The church take nominations, or perhaps it was handled by the eleven disciples, we don’t know, but we do know that through a process of nominations, they called forward two men, Joseph and Matthias.
We often do this when we’re attempting to make a decision. We gather together a list of options. We say Ok, I can do this, that, or the other thing. That’s wise. If you have a tough decision to make, about anything, work, a relationship, faith, life choices, sit down and write out your options. Here’s what I can do. So we narrow it down with wisdom and knowledge.
What did they do next? Verses 24-25: Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”
Then they prayed. Lord, show us. Lord, show us your choice. Not ours, but yours.
Once we’ve narrowed things down through scripture, and in prayer, we step into a new kind of prayer: A direct inquiry to the Lord. We may often ask: “Lord guide me, Lord, show me the way.” But this prayer is very direct, “Lord, which of these options is the correct course to take?”
What teaching of Jesus are the disciples following? I think it goes back to the sending out of the 72 in Luke’s gospel. Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to minister, to heal, and to cast out devils. They came back, and Jesus celebrated with them.
Luke 10:21-22 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
As Jesus taught us, our Father has hidden the mysteries of God from those who think they are great, the prideful, and he has chosen to reveal it to little children, to the humble, to those who are willing to come to the Father like a little child, and simply ask, Daddy, what should we do? This gave Jesus great joy to speak this truth.
And I think it should also give us great joy, that Jesus has given us this radical access to the Father. The Son has chosen to reveal the Father to us, and so we enjoy access. But we must choose to utilize it. Come as a humble child. And that’s just what the disciples do.
And how little we see that happen in the church! How little we see that happen in big businesses, how little we see that on college campuses, even among Christians it is rare for us to stop and say wait a minute, God is here, right now, and we can ask Him! And indeed we must.
The humility here is what we need, to let go of control of our own lives, and let God be in control, and ask Him for guidance. But I worry we think asking God’s guidance is doing what we want, and then getting his feedback about how to go about doing what we want.
So, last verse today, how do the disciples discover which of the two men is called to be the next apostle?
God reveals the answer to them in a supernatural revelation, through casting lots.
Verse 26: “Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.”
Casting lots is mentioned in certain places in the Bible, but this is the only place in the New Testament where the church makes use of casting lots. We don’t really know from history what this might’ve looked like. We know it was practiced by the high priest in the Old Testament to discern God’s will.
It may have been sticks painted different colors, or stones of different colors, dropped from a bag, or perhaps they had Matthias and Joseph pick stones from a bag. We simply don’t know.
Sometimes in our own lives, we may ask God for a sign or we may “lay out a fleece” for him. And God does sometimes work in that way. But we’re also told in scripture to be cautious to not test the Lord.
But as the church today we do not practice the casting of lots. Why not? Well notice this incident, the timing of it, it’s after the resurrection of Jesus, but before the sending of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So, it’s reasonable to assume it was never practiced again, because after Pentecost, all believers would have the presence of God within, the Holy Spirit to speak to them. Indeed, throughout the rest of the Acts we never see casting lots mentioned again.
In any case, the lot falls to Matthias, and he is chosen to replace Judas, as one of the twelve apostles.
In conclusion today, let’s put it all together. First, how do we make a decision as a church?
Notice the process they went through here. Peter, the “pastor” prayerfully reflects and seeks to do God’s will by replacing Judas.
He discusses this with the 11 disciples, kind of like elders, or a church board, the leadership team. And they address it prayerfully.
Then, they bring it also before the 120 followers of Jesus, kind of like bringing it to the church congregation, who prayerfully seek God’s will as well.
They nominate two leaders, or in a different situation they may list several ideas.
They prayerfully narrow things down through wisdom.
Then they ask God, which one? For the church here, they cast lots, but for us today, after Pentecost, we pray, fast, and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
As we wait on the Lord, and pray, we receive an answer in some form.
The last step then, having heard from God is, we take action in accordance with what he said.
That’s how the church ought to function.
Now, how about you in your life choices? Now let me be clear, this isn’t a process we go through when we’re wondering what pair of pants to put on in the morning. This is for important decisions.
Think of yourself like Peter in this scenario, you are the “leader” in your life.
So a decision is before you, something big, something you need guidance on.
First thing you do is go to the word and prayer, and consider what to do.
Think of the eleven disciples, like your wife or husband, children, family, closed friends. You talk to them about the decision you’re considering to make, and get their feedback, hopefully prayerfully.
So then perhaps you take it to your church community, to people you know in the church, for guidance, kind of like the 120.
In all this you begin to narrow down your options, and after seeking God in prayer, counsel from family and your faith community, you go to God directly, and simply ask Him the question, which way should I go Lord? Here are the options I’ve narrowed it down to.
And God may say, that one, or this one, or not yet, or none of those, or here is something you didn’t even think of. Be open to anything he may say. He may simply say: Trust Me.
Lastly, having discovered God’s will, through the Holy Spirit, we take actions in accordance with what God has said. Or we simply wait in faith.
This is the way of a disciple of Jesus. Last time, we talked about how our journey is spirit birthed and spirit empowered.
Our second principle of being a disciple today is this: Having the Humility of Listening for and Obeying the Voice of God.
But perhaps at the very heart of it is this: Loving the voice of God. Loving to do His will. And for that, we need a heart like His. We need a fresh Pentecost in our lives. Which I believe God will provide, if we ask with a full heart.
Prayer: Father in Heaven, we confess that our hearts don’t naturally incline toward you when we make a decision, we look to our own ideas, Lord we repent, and we turn to you, please forgive us Father, and we ask for a fresh baptism in the Holy Spirit, stoke the fire within us God, we turn to you, and seek to do your will, we forsake our own plans and lay them aside for your perfect purposes, in Jesus name, amen.
