Last
Sunday, we began our journey through the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles
as is its fuller title. We saw a text
that gave us a bit of the foundational elements of the church. We looked at a text that established the
primary focus and function of the church.
We saw that we aren’t necessarily to be concerned with knowing
everything, but taking what we do know, i.e. the gospel, out into the
world. We also noted that the same
missionary mandate that the church is to operate with is to extend to all of
her members as well. In other words,
we’re not supposed to just sit idly by and wait for the church to do the work
of God, but instead we are all to seek to fulfill the commands of God. And this makes perfectly logical sense,
seeing as how the church is made up of the collection of her people. We’ve all heard many times after a
devastating natural disaster destroys a church building that the church is much
more than brick and mortar. We’re always
reminded that the church is not a building, but a people. Today, we will look at the first church
crisis that must be overcome. We’re
going to look at the first problem faced by the people that made up this body
of believers. We’re going to see how the
people of that church handled their dilemma.
Ultimately, we’re going to see how these principles translate to today
and what handling a crisis in a Christian manner ought to look like in our
lives.
As
we’ve already said, last week we looked at the missionary mandate that Jesus
gave to his apostles; he gave them a mission that they were to complete. They were to be Christ’s witnesses in
Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Then, after giving them that mission, Jesus
ascended into the heavens. However, he
didn’t come back, but then two angels informed the apostles that Jesus was
gone. Well, I don’t know if it dawned on
you last week, but the disciples never really received any instructions as to
what to do next. Sure, they were told to
take God’s word out into the world, but they were never really told how to do
it. It would be similar to me telling
someone to build me a house, but never telling them where, what size, or any
other useful and necessary information.
So, this group of followers of Jesus are faced with a problem. They know that they are to take God’s Word
out into the world, but they don’t know how to do it. So, they go through the process of figuring
it out.
The
first thing that we see that this group did was to gather together. We see that they returned to Jerusalem from
where they had been. They didn’t all go
off on their own like they did for a brief moment after Jesus was buried in the
tomb. They didn’t really know what their
next step was, but they knew that whatever it was, it needed to be done
together. Next, we see that they waited. They didn’t all gather together just to come
up with some quick scheme and get to work.
No, they gathered together and they waited for their next move. They took their time and were patient about
what needed to happen next. This brings
us to the next step taken by these apostles; they prayed. However, they didn’t just pray, they prayed
together. Verse 14 says, “All
these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the
women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” We don’t know exactly what this praying
looked like, but we know from the words “with one accord” that it was a
unified prayer. They didn’t retreat back
to one location all to prayer separately, but they prayed in unity for what
they were to do next. There was a sense
of oneness that was displayed through their offering up of prayers to God.
Now,
I want you to stay with me here to see this next step. We’ve seen thus far that this group of
apostles, this group of followers of Christ, that they dealt with their crisis
by first, gathering together and fellowshipping together. Next, they waited patiently and obediently
instead of rushing into what they thought was best. Then they prayed. Well, after praying, they seemingly took time
to study. Now, this is where some
explanation is needed, because at first glance you may be wondering how I get
studying from what is written here in this text. Well, the reason for saying that the
disciples studied has to do with Peter’s words here about Scripture being
fulfilled with Judas’ death and how that connects with the words of David from
Psalms 69 and 109. I think that we can
make a logical assumption here that Peter’s want to replace Judas could very
easily and I think did, spring out of his reading of Scripture, his reading of
the Old Testament; specifically his being reminded of the twelve tribes of
Israel. After all it’s not like it would
be unheard of for an individual or a group to accompany prayer with the reading
of Scripture. James Boice says this,
“Two things go together in the Christian life:
prayer, in which we talk to God, and Bible study, in which God talks to
us.” Another reason as to why we could
conclude that Peter and the rest of this group were studying at this time has
to do with Peter’s sermon at Pentecost that we will see in a couple of
weeks. His sermon is just chalked full
of Old Testament Scriptural references.
Now, we often tend to speak heavily of what we have most recently
consumed. I know that for myself, for
example, that my preaching is much different if I currently reading from the
book of Isaiah as opposed to the book of Philippians. Think about it, don’t you find yourself most
often quoting the latest literature that you’ve read? So, Peter’s vast quoting of the Old Testament
in his soon-to-be delivered sermon is another reason for us to suggest that the
next step for the apostles here was study.
So,
this group has gathered, waited, prayed, and studied. Finally, they arrived at the final step in
their solving of this problem, they trusted.
We are told that they put forth two candidates to replace Judas: Joseph and Matthias. After another moment of prayer, they cast
lots to see who would be chosen to replace Judas. They trusted in God that the lot would fall
upon the one whom God had appointed to replace Judas. Now, this may seem like a sort of hocus-pocus
type of way of going about replacing Judas.
We might be tempted to putting it on the same level as drawing straws or
opening to any random Bible verse as our new life’s motto. However, we have to remember that the casting
of lots was following an Old Testament precedent. The selecting of Matthias is seen as
confirmation from God that he is to be Judas’ replacement. Now, ultimately, we know that Matthias is
never heard from in Scripture again. We
know that there are other apostles such as Barnabas, Paul, and Timothy who
ultimately arise and so the selection of Matthias really doesn’t seem to amount
to much. However, think about the
potential problem that existed at this point.
There was an absence, an opening of a spot among the twelve. If something like that came up today, we
would have campaigns, backstabbing, background checks, etc. You see, the apostles were able to avoid all
of that. They were able to avoid all of
the negative and damaging results that could have come about simply by
following this model of problem solving.
They gathered, they waited, they prayed, they studied, and they trusted
in God.
So,
we now ask the question of what this might look like in our lives or how we are
to go about implementing these steps into our problem solving. Well, the answer is to do the exact same
thing that they did. It really isn’t
that complicated. Sure, it may look a
little bit different, but we are to follow the exact same steps that the
apostles followed after the ascension of Jesus Christ. When we are faced with problems, both in our
churches and in our own lives, the model for how to deal with crisis situations
in a Christian manner is right there for us.
First, we gather. If it’s a
church problem, then we gather as a church.
If it’s a family problem, then we gather as a family. If it’s a personal problem, then we get
someplace where we can “gather ourselves.”
In other words, we get away from the noise and distractions, and we get
some place that only those going through the crisis are present. Secondly, we wait. This can be the most difficult step of them
all. After all, when we’re going through
something, we want to fix it and stop the hurting. I know that as a husband and a father, my first
instinct is to just fix it. Whatever it
is and however it needs to be fixed; just do it. Well, sometimes the best course of action is
to simply wait. However, it’s not as if
we are to do nothing while we wait. We
are to pray and study Scripture. We are
to do exactly as Boice’s comments early told us to do. We are to talk to God through prayer and have
him talk to us through the reading of His Word.
And finally, we are to trust in the Lord that He is leading down the
path that we need to go. Trust in the
Lord is a powerful thing. It is
something that can give us hope when everything around us would leave us
hopeless. It’s something that gives us
courage when the things of this world make us want to run and hide. Trusting in the Lord is the only way for us
to keep our sanity and our faith in a fallen world such as this.
The
next time you or your family or any other group that you are a part of is faced
with a problem or dilemma, I don’t want you to go about solving it or handling
it the worldly way, the way that in which we just look for the first viable
solution to our problem and go with it.
No, I want you to follow the model that the apostles set before us here
at the beginning of the church. I want
each of us to gather, wait, pray, study, and trust in the Lord. Now, I know that there are times in which
immediate decisions must be made, but I’m not talking about those. I’m talking about the problems, crises, and anxieties
that cause us to worry. I’m talking
about those things at home or at work that cause us to lie awake throughout the
night. I’m talking about those things
that cause us to wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and leave us unable to go
back to sleep. Friends, the only way in
which we can go about dealing with our problems in a God-honoring manner is by
following these steps here of gathering, waiting, praying, studying, and
trusting. I can’t urge you enough to follow
the Christian model of dealing with a problem and not the one that the world
seeks to promote so often. After all,
when we handle things in a manner such as this, a manner that honors God, we
are given opportunities to bring about even great glory to and for His
kingdom. Glory be to God; in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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