The following teaching is the second of a series on the Book of Acts by the Reverend John W. Howe of Pruo Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The title of this teaching is The Choosing of Matthias, and the scripture reference is Acts chapter 1, verses 15 to 26. Let's turn to the Word of God. We're studying the book of Acts, and we began on chapter 1 last time and got about halfway through it. What we saw is that following the resurrection, Jesus appeared intermittently over a period of 40 days to various groups of his disciples and followers, first of all proving to them that he really was victor over sin, death, and the grave.

and then explaining any number of things that previously were not clear to them. And that at the end of that time, he commissioned his disciples, specifically the apostles, but by implication all those who would follow him, he commissioned them to go and make disciples of all nations. To go to Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth.

In other words, reaching out in, if you will, a series of concentric circles to include all, everyone, all mankind. But, interestingly enough, he said, first, wait. I want you to go, but first, wait.

Wait for what he calls in Acts chapter 1, the promise of the Father, which becomes equivalent to a clothing with power, an endowment with power, an anointing, if you will, or thirdly, the baptism of the Spirit. Three terms used interchangeably, wait for the promise of the Father, for a clothing, an investiture with power, also called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, we know that that waiting turned out to be 10 days, 10 additional days beyond the 40, but they didn't know that until it happened. They didn't know how long they were to wait, and I suggested they probably didn't know really what they were waiting for.

Nobody had experienced it previously except Jesus himself. So they had to have a high degree of confusion. Well, that promise comes true, comes to fulfillment in their experience in chapter two.

But before we get to that, there's a very interesting incident recorded in the second half of the first chapter. We want to just observe that before we move on next time. We're told that they met in an upper room in the city of Jerusalem.

And presumably, though it doesn't say so, the assumption is that it's the same room in which they celebrated the Lord's Last Supper, the Passover meal that he identified with his broken body and poured out blood. Tradition ascribes this room to being owned by one of the Marys, and specifically the mother of John Mark, a room in the city not too far from the center of things, from the temple. I suppose if you went by the way the crow flies, or in that city the way the pigeon flies, it would be about a half a mile or so.

It was downtown Jerusalem. Interestingly enough, you can visit today, if you go to Jerusalem, if you go to the Holy Land, you can visit the site of the upper room. It obviously is not the same physical structure.

The building has been destroyed and rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt, but they have identified the same piece of space, if you will, that probably was the locale of that original upper room. And doubly interesting, some of you know this because you've been there, doubly interesting, downstairs is the tomb of King David. I think that is an absolutely fascinating juxtaposition.

David, you remember, God promised David, your kingdom shall endure forever. And Pentecost inaugurates a new kingdom which does precisely that. This is the fulfillment of all of that expectation.

Oh yes, it has political and social ramifications to be sure, but spiritually the kingdom is inaugurated at Pentecost and here's the fulfillment of the promise to David. David I think it's safe to say was the greatest worshiper or at least the greatest singer and musician that we have in the scriptures and in a very real sense he's the pre-charismatic charismatic who really understood what it was to worship God in the freedom of the spirit to make melody unto the Lord, to employ all of your faculties, singing, dancing, making merry on whatever instruments you have. And isn't it interesting that at least tradition would assign the site of his burial place, the shrine, if you will, to King David on the downstairs and then yet a higher level built right above it, the place of the birth of worship in the Spirit, freedom in the Spirit, right in the very same place.

it's David who says and this puzzled people for centuries it's David who said the Lord God Yahweh said to my Lord Messiah sit thou at my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool you remember Jesus had a little interchange with the Pharisees about that who was David speaking about? And the ready answer was about his son. And yet the Jewish mentality is that it's impossible, totally impossible, for a son to ever become greater than his father or any of his ancestors.

That cannot happen. So who is David speaking about when he says, the Lord said to my Lord? He's got to be speaking about someone who is not merely in the line of David, but whose genealogy somehow surpasses that of David.

And there's just one more little hint, you see, of what we come, of course, to recognize as God being the father of Messiah. It's not just David's son, it's God's son. And you can enjoy that in the 110th Psalm.

David is the one who says this, and now we recognize that one greater than David is inaugurating something new amongst his followers. If you go and visit that place today, most of the time, the huge, massive sarcophagus of David, huge, incredible, freestanding tomb, is draped with a beautiful purple hanging. In fact, it looks rather like our holy table.

It's much bigger than that, but it looks like a holy table or an altar draped with a beautiful hanging, and they change that from time to time. Most of the time, the one that adorns David's sarcophagus is purple, and it has written on it, embroidered into the material in Hebrew, the words, King David lives. King David lives.

Now, if you're a Jew, you've got to really scratch your head over that one, you know. All they can really do with that is say, well, his influence lives, his memory lives, his posterity lives. But we recognize that King David lives because of what his son, his descendant, did.

Because of the new covenant that he inaugurated right above that place in his blood, proclaimed and celebrated in that last supper. Well, that's assumption. We assume that that is the place that this is talking about.

We can't prove it absolutely, but it certainly is an interesting correlation, isn't it? Verse 15, Acts chapter 1 says, In those days Peter stood up among the brethren. The company of persons was in all about 120 and said, Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand end by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language, acldamo, that is, field of blood.

For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it, and his office let another take. Let's just notice a couple of things before we move on to the rest of the story. It says 120 were present.

But do you remember when St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 is summarizing the resurrection appearances of Jesus during that 40-day period. He summarizes the various times that Jesus appeared to different members of those who followed him. Do you remember that passage?

And he makes the comment, at one time, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at once. And yet only 120 are here present. So you've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 380 people who met, who saw, who heard, who were eyewitness to the resurrected Lord Christ who weren't here.

Okay? They had gone about their business, whatever it was, and they weren't waiting. They weren't part of this company waiting.

Now that's kind of interesting. They didn't hang around Jerusalem. When the apostles and evangelists, a good deal later in the story, we'll read about this as we move through the book.

When they finally got around to fulfilling the commission, go and make disciples. And you'll see that it really took a massive persecution to uproot them to get on with that. You know, it was very comfy in Jerusalem.

They didn't want to leave the fellowship. And the only way that they finally got about obedience was that God allowed persecution to come into their midst. Anyway, when they finally did that and began to move out throughout the towns and villages throughout Judea and Samaria, it can be documented historically that word of the resurrection preceded them.

And I can only speculate that it was because there were those, nearly 400 of them, who had seen the risen Christ. And that's just one more little footnote on the whole story here, one more evidence for the reality of the resurrection. People were already gossiping the gospel, you see, before the official troops came in to proclaim it.

And I just love that little piece of additional confirmation. Well, Peter stands up and he addresses the 120 who are present in the upper room, 120 who are waiting. And he says the scripture had to be fulfilled.

This is the sort of thing you hear Jesus saying consistently in his own ministry. It must needs be because the scripture has said. This becomes the attitude of the apostolic church, when the scripture says, must be fulfilled.

And what scripture? Well, there are lots of them. He Psalm 41 in verse 9 has an interesting statement.

Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me. Zechariah goes so far as to speak about 30 pieces of silver. If you want to make a study of it, there are all sorts of hints throughout the scripture, Psalms and elsewhere in the prophets about a betrayer, a bosom friend, a trusted member of the inner circle rising up and being the instrument of betrayal. So Peter gets up and says the scripture had to be fulfilled.

Scripture prophesied, it predicted, that there would be in the company of the apostles a betrayer. And as a matter of fact, this applies to Judas. I want you to notice what he says.

Verse 17, he, Judas, was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. That ought to be a very sobering comment. You go back and read how it was that Jesus sent out the twelve originally and then how he sent out the seventy.

He told them, go and preach the gospel. He said, make converts, win them to the truth of God's love and to the fact that the king has come. Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers. Drive out evil spirits and raise the dead. You remember that they came back from some of those trips and they said, even the evil spirits are subject to us in your name.

And there is not one shred of comment to suggest that Judas didn't share that. He shared all of that. So when you start resting back a little bit too comfortably on your relationship with the Lord, he isn't going to let go of you.

But he leaves you the freedom to let go of him. and it's an awesome freedom. Okay?

He was appointed to a share in this ministry, but he defected. He betrayed Jesus for whatever reason. And you can only speculate about that.

All it says is Satan entered into him and he became Satan incarnate, if you will, and the instrument of betrayal and destruction. My own speculation, it's only that. Some of you have heard me say it before.

my speculation is that on a human level, it may well have been an attempt on Judas' part to force Jesus' hand, seeing in him not primarily a spiritual deliverer, but one that would come and institute some sort of a political, even a military rebellion. That was the widespread expectation that when Messiah comes, he'll lead the troops into battle and will overthrow those Roman oppressors. Of course, Jesus wouldn't do that.

The time was right. The crowds were hailing him, King of the Jews. You remember the Palm Sunday entrance into the city of Jerusalem.

And you can just see the possibility of Judas and even some of the others saying, Jesus, strike now. But he won't strike. And it seems to me at least possible that he thought, well, okay, I'll get them to make the first move and will force his hand.

It may have been something like that. We're not told. All we're told is that he was the instrument of this betrayal and that he did not afterward repent.

May I say that he could have? Peter also betrayed Jesus, didn't he? They all denied him, with the exception of John, the beloved.

who stood there openly identified at the foot of the cross and watched his master die. All the rest slunk away and betrayed him. But the rest repented.

I slunk away and betrayed him. Maybe you did. But the grace of God was such that he saw that as he saw Peter's betrayal and he said, Satan has tried to sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not, and after you are converted again, you'll be the source of strength to your brethren. Judas could have repented, but he didn't. He was filled with remorse, and he went out and hanged himself. Matthew, chapter 27, in verse 5, says he went out and hanged himself.

This passage says that he fell headlong and burst open. if you have the rsv it's got a footnote on it it says swelling up he burst open and his bowels gushed forth i don't frankly think that that's a discrepancy i don't want to dwell on this very long but that may have puzzled you why the one says hanging and the other talks about erupting we do know that dead bodies left untended can become inflated with putrefaction full of gas and and can erupt. The emphasis here is not on the mode of death, but on the fact that there was this gushing forth which gave the name to the field, field of blood.

So that's the background of Peter's speech, one who was hand-pointed by Jesus himself, commissioned and empowered by the Holy Spirit to have a share in our ministry to the extent of casting out evil spirits and pleasing the dead, defected. And that's in fulfillment of prophecies and predictions in Scripture, and therefore his office is now empty, and we've got to fill it. And he quotes from various psalms here, his office led another take.

That's from Psalm 109, if you want to cross-reference it. Now it is clear, since the psalms say so, that someone else is to occupy the office. It is not clear, at least it's not to me, that God told Peter and the apostles that it was up to them to fill it.

I don't see that there. It doesn't say a word about that. It says Peter got up and made a speech, and this is prior to the anointing on Pentecost, and he says we better do something about this.

Here's a vacancy in the cabinet, you see. We better fill it. And so they go about this.

And we read on, it says verse 21, this is still part of his speech, so one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 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. And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.

And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles. Do you see anything there that says God told them to do that? He may have, but it doesn't say so.

and you say well but what a beautiful prayer they prayed yes that's that's a good prayer all right but i notice a couple of things the lot fell on matthias and he was enrolled with the 11 apostles and that is absolutely the last you ever hear of him there are a couple of legends that come down to us in christian history they're very hard to document And certainly from the point of view of the New Testament, that's the last you ever hear of Matthias. On the other hand, about a third of the way through this book, you begin hearing a very great deal about another fellow by the name of Saul, who becomes Paul. And I would share with you the opinion, and I need to make it very clear that I cannot prove it.

It's an opinion. that it may well have been God's intention to replace Judas, not with Matthias, but with Paul. I'm interested in what Peter said in verse 21 and 22.

He says, One of those men who accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from his baptism by John, the beginning of his earthly ministry, right up until the time that he was taken up. That's a very interesting criterion that he set forward. You remember that Jesus himself said to the twelve, just before he was betrayed, he said, when I go, I'm going to pray to the Father for another counselor and he will aid and abet your recollection.

You are my witnesses and he shall bear witness to me. So that so far as Peter's understanding goes, he's right on. We need to have, as one of the twelve, one who is personally an eyewitness to what he's speaking about, aided and abetted by the Holy Spirit of God.

And that's one of the earmarks of the New Testament, is that we believe that the books of the New Testament came from the company of the apostles. They have the stamp of eyewitness authority. It's more than that.

It's eyewitnesses under the inspiration of God's Spirit, but it's at least eyewitnesses. However, if you read carefully through 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and even more particularly in the book of Galatians, you'll find an absolutely fascinating thing, namely that Saint Paul makes for himself the claim that he speaks under eyewitness authority. He says, I wasn't there when it was unfolding, but God, by direct, unique, special revelation after the fact, made me an eyewitness to these events.

If you've not wrestled with that, read in particular Galatians chapter 1. It's exactly what he says. He says, the gospel which I preach, I got from no man, but it was given to me directly by revelation.

And something on the order of about 17 years later, he went up to Jerusalem, checked out the details of it with those who were eyewitnesses, and they said, yep, yep, it's exactly the same thing that we bore witness to. Do you remember the little comment that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 15, again, when he's summarizing the resurrection appearances, and he says, last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. So that Paul's claim to authority as an apostle is twofold.

It's exactly the same twofold claim that the other apostles make. Namely that by virtue of an untimely birth, it's out of the ordinary, it's unlike the others, but by virtue of special revelation, I am personally an eyewitness to the things I proclaim as well as operating under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. You'll find him consistently talking about exercising the ministry and in fact being accompanied by the signs of a true apostle.

I just would ask you to meditate on that. You don't have to make overly much of it. The New Testament nowhere goes on to say that this was an act of presumption.

It does not say that. It talks about the Twelve, and the assumption is, whenever it mentions them, after this event, that the Twelve includes Matthias. But I would ask you just to meditate a little bit upon that.

That may it have been in God's purposes to raise up not Matthias, of whom we hear absolutely nothing again, but St. Paul, of whom we hear so very much. You know, there's a little phrase that says, nature abhors a vacuum, right? Could I suggest to you that in the natural, there is a tendency from the very beginning of the church right down to September 16th, 1980, for us to go rushing in where we see a gap in God's agenda and try and fix it for him.

Have you noticed that? Could I suggest to you that that's of the natural? That that's of the natural.

And that God's timing may, in some cases, be very different from our own. Very different from our own. See, we seem to think that unless we make it right, God can't possibly get through.

You remember the story, 2 Samuel 6 of Uzzah? It's a frightening little story. They're bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.

It's on a cart. And the oxen stumble, and the Ark of the Covenant begins to slip. And little Uzzah does the obvious thing.

the natural thing. He reaches up to study the ark. I mean, God forbid that this holy ark of the covenant, the very center of our liturgical life and worship, should be dashed upon the ground.

And what happens? He's struck dead. Because it was a presumption.

Who is he to put out his hand to study the ark of the covenant? And yet, I can identify with you, sir. Can you?

That we see things wrong in the church and we want to study them, we want to make them right. Well, who am I to do so? Is God able to protect His own ark?

You see, that's the question. A little bit earlier on in 1 Samuel chapter 13, again, a pathetic story. Comes time to offer the sacrifice for the whole people of God before they go into battle.

Samuel's supposed to do it and he's nowhere to be seen. And they wait a whole week for him and he doesn't show up. And finally King Saul, out of desperation, says, well, I'll do it.

And immediately he gets done offering the sacrifice. Samuel appears and God says, covenant is taken away from Saul. That was a presumption.

Who told you, Saul, to offer that sacrifice? Do you think that I'm unable to provide in perfect timing for the needs of my people, even though it seems to you that there's a gap here? There's a tendency, it seems to me, on the part of the church to do its own thing, to make its decision, and then to ask God, sometimes in very beautiful prayers, to bless its decision.

Look at this prayer. Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen. Who says he chose him?

To take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. How many people have been ordained to some sort of leadership or ministry because the church made the decision and then asked God to bless it? How many decisions to build a building or to send money on this, that, or the other cause have been made because the church made the decision and asked God to bless it?

Matthew 15 and verse 13, Jesus says this, It says, every tree which my Father has not planted shall be uprooted. Matthew 15, verse 13. Could I suggest in as much humility of which I'm capable, which may or may not be a whole lot, Could I suggest to you that there is one awful amount of stuff growing in the church which the Father never planted?

Jesus Christ has absolutely no commitment to renew or to bless that which the Father didn't plant. I'll say that again. Jesus Christ, God Almighty, has not one iota of commitment to bless, to renew, to prosper that which he didn't plant.

Every tree which my Father has not planted shall be uprooted. The agenda for the church is to see what he wants and then do it. You would be amazed, especially in a church which is trying to develop a ministry of outreach, how many good ideas come our way for things that require us to spend money.

Just at present, you would be amazed at the number of people who have come and said, we ought to be sponsoring refugee families. And my answer to that is, that is a beautiful idea. If God is putting that on your heart, go do it.

Up to this point, he has not said that to us. Okay? But you see how easy it would be to take a real need, beautifully Christian thing to do, and say, let's go do it, and ask God to bless it.

And I think every single one of us can identify with the tendency of Peter and the others. Notice the opening chapter of the history of the church. They decide here's something that is a gap in God's program and we better fix it.

God, would you please bless our choice? Let's bow our heads. Father in heaven, how quick we are to literally rush in where angels would fear to tread.

Lord, I pray for myself, for the staff, for the vestry of this church, for the members of our outreach committee and all the other committees that are charged with decision-making. for each of us in our own personal lives and in our families. I would pray, Lord, for a soberness as we consider this little episode at the beginning of the book of Acts.

We say so glibly that Jesus Christ is the head of the body. And then the body goes about spastically doing its own thing. Lord, cause us to ask the question over and over daily.

What would you have us do? What would you have us do? And to rest content with that.

And so we know that it's your work and we can therefore expect you to bless it. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

Amen.