Acts 1:12-26

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 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. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶ and said, “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.”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.)
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.’ 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.”
²³ So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴ 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.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Sunflower

Sunflowers are called sunflowers because they’re always facing toward the sun.
Their flowers turn their back to the darkness to follow the sunlight.
In a field of sunflowers, although sunflower seeds were sown on the same day, there will always be some sunflower plants that are head above the others.
Even other perennial flowers grow higher than the other flowers of their kind when they are planted side-by-side.

In the animal kingdom, herds, flocks or any group of animals living together, there will always be leaders that would stand up among them.
Leadership is God’s design for a group to be in harmony and unity.
History tells us that without acknowledgement or respect of leadership there is chaos.

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 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. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

The apostles were Christ’s designated first group of leaders in the church.
After Christ ascended to heaven, the apostles went back to Jerusalem to wait upon the coming of God’s promised gift, the Holy Spirit.
It must be a challenge for them to wait because Christ did not tell them when the Holy Spirit will come to them.
In this waiting time, we can learn from the first group of church leaders how we would also conduct nomination and election of our church leaders.

1. Need

¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶ and said, “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 was the most vocal person among the apostles.
He was self-designated chairman of the board since Christ did not assign one.
Christ knows for sure that Peter has that kind of character and the other apostles seem to have accepted Peter’s role of leadership.
Anyway, Peter pointed out the need to elect a new member of the board of apostles.
He based his assumption from the Bible prophecy.
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 has a good understanding of the Scripture about replacing an outgoing leader.
As the church grows larger, we need more leaders, too.
Although, the Bible prophesied about the replacement of Judas Iscariot, it was not clear if the first group of apostles should replace Judas at that time.
The command of Christ before He ascended was to wait for the Holy Spirit first.
Christ did not command them to nominate or elect a replacement for Judas Iscariot.
Was it the right time for them to select a new member of the Board of Apostles?
In the succeeding chapters of Acts, Apostle Paul was Christ’s chosen Apostles to replace Judas Iscariot and not Matthias whom the Apostles has elected.

Apple Computer, Inc.

The success of any corporation is in concert with the having the right choice of the Chief Executive Officer [CEO].
Take Apple Computer, Inc. for example.
Apple has a slow progress until it finally brought back Steve Jobs to leadership.
Steve Jobs was one of the founders of Apple Company and he has the vision where the company should go.
Steve was very instrumental in the advancement of the Apple Company.

In the church, it is also very significant to the growth of any ministry if the elected leader has received a God-given vision for and where that particular ministry should go. Trainings and experiences are plus factors but vision is something of supernatural.

Being a visionary is not the same as receiving a vision from God. Receiving a vision from God gives a supernatural drive to perform in the ministry. History tells us that knowledgeable ministry leaders or ministry leaders with lots of experience are not the most successful leaders in the ministry.

The leader who received a vision from God is more dependent upon God’s grace. Leaders relying on their trainings perform things using human effort, normally are proud. Leaders who rely upon God are more prayerful and perform using godly effort. Leaders who depend upon their trainings or experiences are good for earthly things but not necessarily profitable for spiritual things.

We need prayerful leaders in the church more than those who rely upon experiences. If we can have leaders with much experiences and still more prayerful, it is better.

We will have a nomination of leaders coming this 2nd Sunday of September. We need to be more prayerful because, normally, people would nominate those who are very vocal, more popular, but the church needs prayerful leaders.

2. Prayer

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.”

Here is a good passage as a proof text of the idea that leadership in the church should come from those who have been attending the church ever since they come to Canada.

The apostle knew that to have a replacement for Judas Iscariot, it was necessary, yes, it was necessary to choose from those who were with them the whole time.

Christians who are perennial transferees are usually problematic believers because they have not grown roots spiritually. Imagine yourself planting oak trees that you would use as pillars for your home. You plant oak tree seedlings then after two years you would transfer them because there is too much of sunlight. You let the oak trees to grow for 5 years but since you’ve purchased a new house, you uprooted the oak trees and transferred to your new residence.

In your new residence, you need to build a garage and you need to uproot those oak trees again to another place. How do you imagine or assess the growth of those oak trees?

If you can imagine what we are talking about, then you understand why it is not a very good idea to nominate leaders who are not rooted in this church.
²³ So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴ 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.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

It was not known if the Apostles prayed or not before they nominated Barsabbas and Matthias to the leadership. Our passage tells us that they prayed only before they choose between the two. We do not have any information to trace any significant contribution of Matthias after being selected as one of the Board of Apostles.

Student Council

At a Christian Graduate School, one of the nominees for Student Council President was a husband of a professor in the said institution. There were more first year students than in the higher years. Meaning, more students did not have enough idea about who the nominees are. The nominee, whose wife was a professor, his wife campaigned for him among her students who were mostly first year students. Eventually, her husband was sworn as President of Student Council. He however, resigned after few months perhaps, it was not the will of God.

There is no problem about campaigning, but in any Christian institution or in the church, we need to pray whom God wants to be leaders, which is more biblical. If we want God-chosen leaders in this church, we need to pray more for God’s guidance. It is an act of acknowledgment of God’s intervention if we keep praying for the nominating committee and for those who will be nominated. Our congregational prayer, for sure, brings significant impact to the result of election.

Keep praying that, this church will nominate and elect leaders that are more prayerful.

When all elected leaders of this church come to prayer meeting, it would make a major difference to the growth of the church, spiritually and numerically.Being popular does not necessarily result to being spiritually productive. God will bless this church more if elected leaders are very prayerful.

The history of this church testifies that TMEC grew numerically because almost all if not all your leaders were attending prayer meeting.
We need church leaders who are sincerely serious in their prayer life.

><((‘> … ><(((‘> tmec\2010 <‘)))>< … <‘))><