This morning we will zoom in on 1:21-26. In our text the 11 apostles are about to choose a man to replace Judas while in the upper room waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. Luke lays out four qualifications for this new apostle. The remaining 11 set their sights on two men who seemed to really meet these qualifications. As we move through our text I will identify and define each of these things. Let us begin by reading the text together and praying before we examine it.

Read

Acts 1:21-26

21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Pray

Examine

Verse

21 So one of the men…

Commentary

The first requirement is that the new apostle had to be:

A man

There is great confusion in the church today in regards to leadership. Men and women are often placed in roles that are either beyond or beneath biblical requirements. We have men that have forfeited their divinely appointed roles as pastors, elders, and deacons. And we see women who have forfeited their divinely appointed support roles in order embrace the male positions. The Scriptures are very clear about the sexes in regards to leadership. I’d like to also submit that the apostolic title is no longer available in the church. That title ended long ago with the Apostle John when died in 115AD.

And yet some in the church today feel it necessary to call themselves apostles and I’m not sure why they do it. They even give the title to their wives as well; the Apostles Mike and Sherry Brown of so in so church in so in so Alabama. There are no apostles because they’re all with the Lord.

The 3 highest positions of leadership in the early church were apostle, elder, and deacon, and the Scriptures make it clear that men were to hold them.

Apostles

Mark 3:16-19

He appointed the twelve: Simon Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James. And Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Elders

1 Tim 3:2

Therefore an elder must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.

Deacons

1 Tim 3:12

Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

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The second requirement is that the new apostle had to have:

Accompanied Jesus and the other apostles from the beginning of the Lord’s ministry to the end.

Look at verse 21 and part of 22.

Verse

21Who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us.

Commentary

Luke incorporated the entire breadth of Jesus ministry in verse 22. He takes it all the way back to the time that Jesus was baptized up to the point of his ascension. The candidate had to have been a follower from the starting point to the ending point without any lapse in-between. The candidate had to be one that the others were well acquainted with. He had to be viewed as a loyal friend, companion, and fellow worker for the Lord Jesus Christ. He had to have displayed consistency, devotion, and perseverance.

Since he had to be an original, beginning to end kind of guy, he would have been present for nearly everything that the Lord did minus those things that took place between Jesus and his 12 or 3.

He would’ve been at the wedding at Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle by turning water into wine (John 2:8).

He would’ve been present when Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother in-law from fever (Mark 1:31).

He would have been present when Jesus cleared the temple for the first time (John 2:15).

He would have been present when Jesus fed 5000+ and then 4000 (Mark 6:30-44, Mark 8:1-9).

He would have been one of the 72 men sent out to preach the kingdom and to perform miracles in many towns before Jesus visited them (Luke 10:1-12).

He would’ve been present when Jesus healed 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19).

He would’ve been present at the triumphal entry at the beginning of Jesus’ passion-week (Matt 21:1-11).

He would’ve been present at the second cleansing of the temple (Matt 21:12-13).

He would’ve been present at Jesus’ trial and sentencing (Mark 15:1-15).

He was probably a distant onlooker at the crucifixion and death of Jesus (Luke 23:27).

He would’ve been personally exposed to the resurrected Christ (1 Cor 15:6).

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The third requirement is that the new apostle had to be:

A witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Look at the rest of verse 22.

Verse

22one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

Commentary

One of the most important qualifications for an apostle is that they had to be a witness to others about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the fourth component of the gospel. You have the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the burial of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. Why was it so important for an apostle to witness to the resurrection? There are a lot of reasons and it would take much time to unfold them so I’m going to read a section from a doctrinal book that will help to flush these things out.

The Importance of the Doctrine of Resurrection

If Jesus is dead, then Christianity is dead. If Jesus is alive, then Christianity is alive. Paul himself declared as much in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no savior, no sal­vation, no forgiveness of sin, and no hope of resurrected eternal life. Apart from the resurrection, Jesus is reduced to yet another good but dead man and therefore is of no considerable help to us in this life or at its end. Plainly stated, without the resurrection of Jesus, the few billion people today who worship Jesus as God are gullible; their hope for a resurrection life after this life is the hope of silly fools who trust in a dead man to give them life. Subsequently, the doctrine of Jesus’ resurrection is, without question, profoundly significant and worthy of the most careful consideration and examination.

What the Resurrection has accomplished for Christians

Jesus’ resurrection reveals him as our messiah king. In the Davidic covenant, God the Father promised that his Son, Jesus Christ, would be raised up from David’s lineage to rule over an everlasting kingdom. Paul reveals that this was fulfilled at the resurrection of Jesus: “Concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now that the risen Christ has been installed as our messiah king, we can rest assured that one day Jesus will return to establish his throne on the earth and rule over his kingdom, which extends to all of creation.

Furthermore, following Jesus’ resurrection, an angel declared, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” Therefore, the resurrection is proof that Jesus’ teaching was and is truth that we can trust. Practically, Jesus’ resur­rection gives us confidence in his other promises that we are waiting to see fulfilled, such as his returning one day to judge sinners and reward saints. The Bible often speaks of our being united with Christ by his resurrection, being raised with Christ, and enjoying the same powerful Holy Spirit that raised Christ. In so doing, the Bible is stressing the innu­merable blessings and benefits conferred on believers because of Jesus’ resurrection.

Paul stresses the fact that through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have forgiveness of sins.

Because of Jesus, those with faith in him can live with the great joy of knowing that all their sins—past, present, and future—have been forgiven once and for all by Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, as the power of Jesus’ resurrection works itself out in our sanctification, we grow in holiness, learning to live in victory over sin, until one day upon our own resurrection we will live forever, free from the presence, power, and practice of all sin.

Elsewhere, Jesus’ resurrection is spoken of as the source of our justification, thereby enabling us, though sinners, to be declared righteous in the sight of God. Paul explicitly states that Jesus was “raised for our justification.”

Regarding our future, Jesus’ resurrection is the precedent and pattern of our own: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” As his body was resurrected in complete health, so too will we rise and never experience pain, injury, or death ever again. This is because through the resurrection, Jesus has put death to death.

The full effects of Jesus’ resurrection will be seen one day, following Jesus’ return. The time between Jesus’ resurrection and our resurrection is a lengthy season of love, grace, and mercy as news of the gospel goes forth, inviting sinners to repent of sin and enjoy the present and future salvation of Jesus Christ. Paul preached just this fact and the urgent need for sinners to repent: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

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Isn’t that a great survey of the resurrection? I left out about 10 pages! When you boil it down, it was very critical that the apostles bear witness to the risen Christ. It was critical that they proclaim that Jesus had risen and is alive. The book of Acts reveals that ‘resurrection’ was the central theme of apostolic preaching. Therefore the candidate had to be more than a believer in the risen Christ he had to be a proclaimer of the risen Christ.

When the apostles surveyed the 120 disciples, two stuck out. Look at verse 23:

Verse

23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

Commentary

Two men fit the profile, two men met the qualifications. Two men had been present from the beginning to the end of Jesus’ and they had been witnesses of the resurrection and the apostles believed that they would be witnesses to the resurrection. Their names were Joseph and Matthias. Interestingly no one else present met the qualifications. Not everyone there was qualified for to be an apostle. The church can learn a lesson from this verse today. What I mean is that the church seems to be at a place now where it will appoint just about anyone to be a pastor. And I’m not referring to just women. There are many men in the church today that have no business serving as pastors and preaching from pulpits. Many of the seminaries have become pastor mills cranking out clergy men left and right.

And yet so many of these men really aren’t qualified to be pastors.

In this day and age a paper certificate, a degree, is the primary qualifier; and yet 4 out of 5 seminary grads drop out of pastoral ministry within 5 years of graduation. Some try to say that it’s the rigors of ministry that cause men to leave their pastorates like this and that seminaries need to do a better job of preparing them. I’d say that it’s because these men really we’re called to the position. This isn’t to say that seminary isn’t a good thing. It is to say that seminary can’t make a man a pastor. That is the work of God; only he can gift and call a man to pastoral ministry.

The church needs to recognize this fact and change the way that it screens and hires candidates. I remember the word that was used years ago by pastors who were looking for new staff members. It was “Pedigree”. The guy has to have a great “Pedigree”. I remember thinking what does hiring a pastor have to do with dog food? Pedigree included things like family heritage, education, and communication gifts. Apparently things like character, integrity, godliness, and holiness weren’t on the radar! And why does the church behave like this, why does it flagrantly slap people into these important positions? I think that it does it because it has become obsessed with building the biggest most attractive ministries. Big attractive ministries require lots of overseers and workers which means that churches are hard pressed for help. And when they’re hard pressed for help they lower their standards for hiring to meet the demands. The name for all of it is ‘consumerism’.

Out of 120 people in the upper room only two met the qualifications. As we move to verses 24 & 25 we will see the fourth and final qualification for the new apostle. Let’s look at them:

Verse

24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

The forth and final requirement is that the new apostle had to be:

God’s choice

Commentary

Look at what they did in verse 24. It says that they “prayed”. This was a huge decision that had to be made here. A replacement for Judas was a big deal. Especially when you consider what happened with him. Up to the trial and crucifixion the apostles trusted Judas and had no idea what he had going behind the scenes. When Judas left the last supper they thought he had “gone to get supplies or to care for the poor.” He really had them fooled. These things had to be in their minds as they chose his replacement and so they brought the entire situation before God through prayer.

Luke was a tremendous historian who did excellent research because he captured the words of their prayer.

They prayed,

“You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

Here’s my little paraphrase, “God, you can evaluate something that we cannot which is the hearts of these men, please examine them and let us know the outcome.”

Interestingly it would appear that the answer may not have been made crystal clear through prayer because verse 26 says that they “cast lots”. Or maybe since both men were perfectly qualified, they decided to cast lots so that no one would get their feelings hurt? Casting lots would remove the appearance of favoritism and bias. Or maybe they had planned to cast lots the whole time and it was customary to pray before doing so? We really don’t why they did what they did here.

Look at 26 with me:

Verse

26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Commentary

This whole casting lots practice has always been a little strange to me. It’s like rolling the dice to see what you’re supposed to do. It’s like gambling. But to the Jews it wasn’t weird at all. In fact it was common practice. In the OT casting lots was an approved method for determining the will of God (Leviticus 16:8, Numbers 26:55, Joshua 7:14, 1 Samuel 10:20, Proverbs 18:18). During this period all of the offices and duties in the temple were settled through casting lots. Here’s what they did; here’s how they did it.

Casting Lots

They took the name of each individual and wrote them on a stone. In this case it was only two names. They then placed the stones into a jar and shook it until one flew out. The one that flew out was the individual of God’s choice. Proverbs 16:33 testifies to this, it says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

And so the apostles did this and the stone that flew out it had Matthias’ name on it. He was God’s choice and they ordained him as Judas’ replacement. Unfortunately Matthias isn’t mentioned anywhere else in the Scriptures so we know very little about him. According to tradition, Matthias is believed to have been stoned and beheaded for spreading the gospel. Make sure you come back next week as we kick off chapter 2.

Closing

Christianity is extraordinarily different from the other 10,000 religions in the world. It is the only one that has a God-Man-Savior dying and resurrecting for sinners. Therefore we don’t visit enshrined tombs every year to worship in the presence of a pile of bones as the Muslims and Buddhists do. Our God rose from the grave, is alive today, and is ruling and reigning from his throne of grace in heaven and from the hearts of his people through his spirit. The biblical, circumstantial, and historical evidence for the resurrection is absolutely staggering.

Lee Strobel set out to disprove of his wife’s faith and he embarked on a 2 year campaign of analyzing the biblical, circumstantial, and history evidences of the Christian faith so he could do so. But instead of building a case against the faith, he was given by God a case for it.

Lee became so overwhelmed by the evidences that he surrendered his own sin and life over to the Savior that he had set out to disprove of. And today he has become one of the premier apologists in the Christian church. He writes books and travels all over the world defending the truth claims of the Bible and spreading the gospel of God’s grace. Maybe you’re a skeptic like Lee was years ago. I encourage you do some research. Or maybe you could keep coming here to listen and learn. You’re welcome to come back. Or maybe for some of you the evidence is in. You’re on the cusp of embracing Christ because it makes sense and you feel led to do so. The Bible says that you need to, repent of your sin, turn from it, and believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

And finally, my prayer for us is that we would be a church that bears witness to the risen Christ in our community and beyond just as those apostles had been. And that we would not only tell those around us about Jesus but that we would show them through acts of loving kindness and charity. Our Savior lived, died, and rose from the grave so that we would be able to do so. May we leave here in a few moments filled with hope and filled with the Spirit of the Living God ready to do the work of the ministry wherever we are and wherever we go.