Know Your Calling

Introduction

If you have been a Christian for any serious amount of time, you perhaps have considered leadership within the church.  Whether Pastoral Ministry, Missionary, Eldership,  Deacon, Ministry leader, Some may have dismissed the idea without much thought, while others may have felt such a calling to something greater for many years.  Regardless, all of us must consider leadership seriously.  We must know what makes a good leader.  Not only for ourselves but for others whom we choose to place in such positions, and those whom we follow.  

Acts 1:12-26

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. 15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; And “‘Let another take his office.’ 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.

Context/Story

• List of Names for the apostles/disciples
  • The Other Judas, Unfortunate name.  Like Moe Biden, Or Oswald Bin Laden
• Side note:  When Jesus rose from death, he appeared to crowds of people, upwards of five hundred at one time. He did so, Acts 1 tells us, over the course of forty days—groups large and small. What this means is that hundreds, maybe thousands of people, saw Jesus risen from death. How many people joined the early church and gathered together as the church? A hundred and twenty.
  • That means that most of those who directly saw the resurrected savior of the world, did not convert.
    • “Well, I am not a Christian because I don’t have enough evidence”
      • Christianity is not a mental exercise, It is a heart conversion.  It reminds us of what Jesus said In Luke 16:31 –  He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
      • An unwilling heart that keeps people from Christ.

A Leader is Devoted to Prayer (vs 14)

• They gather together, and what does it say they devote themselves to?  Prayer.  
  • Why Pray?  Here are 3 tangible benefits of prayer.
    • Submission – Prayer at its very core is an act of submission.  You are recognizing that you are not in charge, you don’t have all the power, or all the answers.  
    • Peace – I oftentimes struggle to sleep at night, because of the needs of the church, But when I pray, I am reminding myself that I can let go, and not worry, because Christ is the one who will build His church, not me.  Prayer gives us peace that all our lives and circumstances are in His hands.
    • Power – Prayer should not be seen as our means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting God’s will done on earth.
• A church leader must be characterized by prayer.  You should not be following a spiritual leader who is not in regular communion with the Lord!  
  • Elder Meetings – 4 hours long, the first hour is all prayer and devotion.  Why? Because we recognize our inadequacy.  God must move, He must act. Otherwise, Celebration Church is done for.  
• If you want to lead, first devote yourself to prayer.  
  • Prayer produces unity.  

A Leader Pursues Unity (Vs 14)

• “With One Accord”  –  This is the unity of the early church. There was no bickering, infighting, arguments about how much money should be spent, or what color the carpet should be.  THEY WERE COMMITTED TO PRAYER, and through prayer, they all were of one accord.
  • Prayer is THE solution to division.  And this is what we see all through the new testament. A call to unity, alongside a call to prayer. 
    • 1st Timothy 2:8 – I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling
• One mind, one faith, one Lord, one Baptism, One Mission, One Heart, One book, One God! If we are all submitting to the same God, We will be one, just as He is one!
  • Do you have someone you dislike in the church?  A relationship has been harmed? How do you solve it?  Pray for them. Pray with them! 
  • Is your marriage going through a rough patch?  A 20 year rough patch?  Pray for them, Pray with them!  
  • Is your Family divided?  Everyone should gather together and pray.  
  • Is your church going through a tough season? Difficult circumstances?  Gather together and pray.  
    • Most of the time, we don’t have a unity problem, we have a prayer problem that manifests itself as a unity problem.
    • I am making a Universal statement about church health here.  Any church that has serious division found in it, has at least one side (usually both), not praying as they should.  

A Leader Knows and Follows Scripture (Vs 15-20)

1. Leaders know the word in order to understand the times.

• Peter stands up and talks about the failure of Judas.  
  • In my opinion, the two biggest leadership failures in the history of the world are Adam and then Judas. And here’s Judas. What are they going to do? They thought he was their friend. They were with him for three years. They traveled with him, they ate with him, they prayed with him, they hung out with Jesus with him. And he wasn’t even a believer, and he betrayed Jesus, and he killed himself.
• Peter knows the scriptures well enough to see them come to pass as they are happening.
  • Psalm 69:25 – May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
  • Psalm 109:8 – May his days be few; may another take his office!
    • Do you know the scriptures well enough to note when someone says something that lines up?  Can you build the bridge between the scripture and today in your life?  This is a mark of maturity, and if you are going to lead others to the word, you must know it yourself.  

1. Leaders Know the Word in order to point others to God

• What are the first words out of my mouth every week at the beginning of each sermon?  
  • If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do…  Why do I say that?  Because I want us to get into the word of God as fast as possible.  If I stand up here and tell you a 15 minute story about my weekend, What have I done?
    • Wasted 15 minutes that we could have been in the word together.  Time I could have used to point you to God.
      • The opportunity cost is too great.  This time is too valuable to waste!
• Jesus Himself is called the Word of God.  So when we open this book, we are reading about the nature of Christ.  This is where we find our identity, our salvation, our future, our deepest affections.  A good leader must have a rich knowledge of Scripture.  It must have gripped them, changed them, Taken over them, A good leader will not just read the word, they will be consumed with The word. 
  • Jesus is the head of the church, He is the shepherd which all other shepherds serve under. All leadership, and especially church leadership comes from Christ. So leadership which does not point to scripture, does not point to Christ is poor leadership.

A Leader Will be Affirmed by Others (Vs 21-23)

• Our text had two specific qualifications for apostle. 
  • 1 – They must be a man. It said it twice in the text.  This is controversial to some, but in the Old Testament, the high spiritual authority were the priests, and they were all men. Jesus’ senior leadership team was twelve apostles, all men, and in the new covenant church, the highest authority, the spiritual leaders, are men called elders or pastors. We saw here that women are involved, Women are present; women have leadership roles. But the highest spiritual roles in the Old Testament, Jesus’ ministry in the new covenant, are all qualified men.
  • 2 – They must be an Eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. 
    • Vs 22b -one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection
    • This is one reason why we say that there are no more apostles.  
    • What about the Apostle Paul?
      • 1st Corinthians 15:7-9 – Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
• God will call a leader and a church to the same conclusion
  • “God told me to teach a Bible study, God told me to preach to your congregation, God told me to be an elder.” Well he didn’t tell me, and it is a two way street 
    • Qualifications in 1st Timothy 3:1-7 are spoken to current leaders to help them to affirm those who need it.
    • 1st Timothy 5:22a – Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands
      • Be slow, take your time, we are not the deciding factor, we are just affirming God’s Call.

A Leader is Called by God (Vs 24-26)

• Explain
  • This is the last, and most important qualification.  They come down to their two candidates…(Barsabbas, and Matthias) but they don’t vote; they let God vote. And they do it through the casting of lots, (They roll dice)
    • Now if you have ever gone to Vegas, you might be thinking that this is a fairly random way to determine your future, but let’s remember
      • Proverbs 16:33 – The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the LORD.
  • Matthias replaces Judas.  We don’t know a lot about him, but church history tells us that he became the apostle, the missionary, to Ethiopia.
• Prove
  • Hebrews 5:4 – And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
• Apply
  • Who is God’s pick for the job?
    • When it comes to selecting human leaders in the church, we need to watch our hearts. Far too often we try to do God’s job for Him.  “I think we need a young pastor to reach young families, I think we need a Hispanic pastor to increase diversity, I think we need a female pastor to show how forward thinking we are.  They need a certain education, they need a certain background, they need a certain gifting…  The question we must be asking is, “Lord, who do you want? Who do you want?”  

You and I may be trying to figure out the best fit, but God already has someone in mind.