In The Upper Room | Ep39

Transcript

Have you ever been trained for a job and you felt like you’re doing okay, but then one day your trainer leaves and leaves you with it and you say, am I really ready? Do I remember what I’m supposed to do? What do I do next? Who’s going to guide me?

I’d like for you to think for a few minutes about the feeling of the apostles and disciples as they saw Jesus ascend into heaven.

They’ve been with Jesus about three years. The last 40 days before his ascension, he spent especially with them, giving them special training. Then he ascends into heaven.

They go back to Jerusalem. It says, when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. That probably is referring to Luke 22 verse 12, the upper room where they had observed the Lord’s supper with Jesus.

You can imagine their feelings. They’re all alone. There’s a group of them, but Jesus is not there.

What are they going to do? How are they going to carry out the Great Commission? It may sort of hit them how big a job that is going to be. What are they going to do? When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. That is 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.

Here’s the list of the apostles. There are 11 of them, of course, because Judas is not there. We find the list of the apostles in some other places, in Matthew 10, 2 through 4, and Mark 3, and in Luke 6. This is the list of them that are there.

And for some reason, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, the Father, wanted them to begin with 12. So they’re going to have to select somebody to be the 12th one. These, all with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer.

Here it is. They’ve got the apostles. We’ll also see some women that are there.

And as they’re facing this great challenge, they began by saying they were with one mind and continually devoting themselves to prayer. When we face a great crisis, when we face a great challenge, there’s no better way to begin than with prayer. And if there’s a group of us, there’s no greater way than for us all to be on the same page of one mind.

And then he also says, not only were these apostles there, along with the women. There are a number of women in Jesus’ ministry. We read in Luke 8, 1 through 3, that there are a number of women named, and these women personally financed Jesus’ ministry.

They gave money because Jesus and his apostles did not continue to work and earn. And so they may be some of the women who are there. And then the verse also goes on to say, and Mary, the mother of Jesus.

This is the last time that Mary is mentioned in the New Testament. She, of course, had been such a great mother, selected as a young lady, by God, to be the mother of the Savior. She was there at the cross.

She’s now with him after the ascension, and she’s there in that upper room. And it says also, with his brothers, that is significant. You see John 7, verse 5, says that this is during Jesus’ earthly ministry, that his brothers did not believe in him.

They did not believe in him. But now, they are in the upper room with the apostles and with those devoted women, and with their mother Mary, something has changed them. What is it? It’s probably the resurrection of Jesus himself.

When Jesus resurrected, that no doubt convinced these brothers of Jesus. He really was the Messiah. We know his brothers were named in Matthew 12, 25, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, and his mentioned sisters.

Two of those brothers became outstanding leaders in the church. One of them was James. And we will see James mentioned over and over in the book of Acts, because the apostle James was killed, recorded in Acts 12, by the ruler.

And the James that is mentioned thereafter is actually the half-brother of Jesus. He’s going to be one of the writers of the books of the New Testament. He writes the book of James.

And so a great change has happened to his brothers. The other is Jude. He’s going to write the book of Jude.

And at this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons there together. It is true that at the crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples scattered. There are not as many people who were devoted to him at that time.

But by this time, there are at least 120 disciples who are now following Jesus, who have stuck with him and with the group through thick and thin. And they also are gathered in that upper room. And Peter said, brethren, Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Peter is going to be the man that he always is and speaks up first. He seemed to be the leader. And he says, we’ve got to do something about that place that is vacant because of Judas, who betrayed him.

And so they’re going to go into and talk about, and God is going to appoint another apostle. And he says, this was foretold by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David. That’s going to be in Psalm 69.25 and also in Psalm 109, verse 8. Notice also the language that’s used here.

Which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David. That’s the way the Holy Spirit guided men as they spoke and wrote. You see, it was David speaking, but it was the Holy Spirit who was guiding.

And through David, the Holy Spirit was speaking. That would be true of all the inspired men of the New Testament. And then verse 17 says, for he was counted among us, that is Judas was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.

Judas was a legitimate disciple. He was a legitimate apostle that Jesus had chosen. Now he had some faults in his character.

We learned from John 12, he had been stealing from the apostles’ treasury. And of course, he was the one who betrayed Jesus Christ and sold him for 30 pieces of silver. But he was a part of the ministry.

And now then that he’s gone, God is going to appoint another to take his place. It is interesting that in verse 18, my Bible and most Bibles have a parentheses. He just talked about Judas and it says, now this man acquired a field with the price of wickedness.

In falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. Let’s notice something here. This man acquired a field.

Judas bought a field. Now he did not buy it himself. But you remember that he took the money back, delivered it to the priest, and they said that we can’t put this money back in the treasury.

It’s blood money. And so they evidently bought a burial pot to bury those folks who came to town who did not live there, but who died there and had a place to worship. But it is said that he acquired a field with the price of the wickedness.

It also tells of his death. In falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And the gospel account of Matthew, it says they went out and hung himself.

This is not a contradiction. This is simply more detailed. As he hung himself, he may have fallen immediately or he may have hung there several days.

And finally, the rope broke. And because he was bloated, when he hit the ground, he burst open and his intestines come out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem so that in their own language, that field was called Heldama.

That is the field of blood. He was the field of blood because it was purchased by blood money. And then Peter quotes, for it is written in the book of the Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate and let no one dwell in it.

That’s Psalm 89.25. And he goes on to say, let another man take his office. That’s Psalm 109, verse 8. Therefore, it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John, until the day that he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So now then, Peter says we’ve got to fulfill this vacancy.

We need to put another man in this position as apostle and he gives the qualifications. He said that he had to have been traveling with them from the time of the baptism of John until the day Jesus was taken up from them and that he might be a witness. You know, there are people who claim to be apostles today.

They can’t meet the biblical qualifications. The biblical qualification is to be an apostle. You had to travel with Jesus from the time of the baptism of John until Jesus resurrected an ascension.

The people who claim to be apostles today are simply calling themselves, not by the authority of God, but by their own appointment themselves, something that was reserved for those special men in Jesus’ day. And then in verse 23, so they put forward two men, Joseph called Barcipus, who was also called Justice and Matthias. So evidently, there was more than one person qualified to be an apostle and he names those two.

He calls them Justice, Barcipus, and Matthias. And then notice verse 24, where it says, and they prayed and said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen. Notice what they’re saying.

They have selected two men that meet the qualifications that God had given them and they do not make that decision. They let God make that decision. And so they prayed, and you, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen.

And he goes on to say, to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And so they are letting God select the man to become the apostle to take Judas’s place. An interesting statement is found in verse 26, and they drew lots for them and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the 11 apostles.

Notice they drew lots. We might think of it as, we sometimes have the expression, we’re going to draw straws. Whoever gets the shortest straw or whoever gets the longest straw, it was simply a way of making a decision.

It is interesting that problem 1633 says the lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the Lord. In the Old Testament, casting lots was a way that God communicated to his people. And so that’s what they’re doing here.

They’re simply saying, God, we’ve got two men who are qualified. You select the one you want. And they cast lots.

And we’re not told the details of how they did that, whether it’s pulling out a particular colored stone or drawing a straw or whatever it was, but it was a means of casting lots. And God communicated his will by them casting lots. This is the last time that God’s will was carried out through the exhortation or invitation of casting lots.

From that time forward, God spoke through Jesus Christ and the word that he gave them. And it says also, they drew lots for them and the lot fell to Matthias. He was added to the 11 apostles.

So therefore, in that upper meeting, in the upper room, as they’ve come back, as they’ve seen Jesus of sin, they probably are a little disappointed, maybe a little scared about how we’re going to accomplish what God wants us to do. And yet we know we’ve got to do it. And but the first thing is we need to fill that place.

For some reason, God wanted 12 apostles as they began this carrying out the Great Commission. And so that’s the first thing that they did. And then Matthias was selected.

As we work our way through this great chapter, we need to see several lessons for ourselves. As they watched Jesus of sin, you remember the angel said to them, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? In other words, it’s time to get to work. They returned to that upper room, probably the same room where they had observed the Lord’s Supper, the Passover with Jesus.

And they now are ready to go to work. They have the full armor of the 12 apostles. They’re ready to take the Gospel into the whole world.

What a Great Commission that Jesus has given them. I want you to go into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature. And there we begin the rest of the Book of Acts.

He wants them to take the Gospel first to Jerusalem, then to Judea, then to Samaria, then to the uttermost parts of the earth. They’re ready to go to work. You and I have that same commission to carry that Gospel into all the world.

We need to assemble not in the upper room necessarily, but with our brethren each Lord’s Day to be renewed to have strength of man. We reach commission to go into all the world and take the Gospel to every creature, be encouraged to live the Christian life. We need these assemblies every Sunday, just like they needed that assembly that evening to begin their mission work.

Thanks for joining us this week and spending time in God’s Word. Special thanks to Mac Graham, John Kachelman, and LightWay Media for recording, producing, and making this podcast possible. If you’re ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, we’d love to have you join us for worship and Bible study on Sunday afternoons at 4 at the Senior Center.

You’re always welcome. For more information about this podcast, visit LightwayMedia.com slash meditating on the Word and find the link there to email me to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter with more information you can use in your personal Bible study. Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow us on your favorite podcast app so that you never miss an episode.

And if today’s message encouraged you, share it with someone else and consider leaving a review. It helps others find us too.

Until next week, keep meditating on the Word.

* * * * * * *

“Meditating On The Word” is hosted by Wayne Burger, recorded by Mac Graham, and produced by John Kachelman III and LightWay Media. Follow us on social media to get updates and information when available.

If you’re ever in the Littleton, New Hampshire area, please join Wayne and Mac for worship and Bible study on Sundays at 4 PM at the Senior Center. You’re always welcome! You can get more information on their work online at www.littletonnhchurchofchrist.org.

Want to get more Meditating On The Word in your inbox? Subscribe to Wayne’s weekly publication by sending him an email, and get more study information each week. Email Wayne at gwayneburger@gmail.com or find the link at www.lightwaymedia.com/meditating-on-the-word.

Check out LightWay Media online and find more podcasts and bible study resources at www.lightwaymedia.com. You can shop, listen, or download materials anytime online, and more podcasts are under development for release this year.

Tagged as:
Acts Christ great commission Littleton New Hampshire upper room Wayne Burger