Sermon for April 3rd, 2016

Acts 1:12-26

12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17for 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. 19This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’

21So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

First Church: Let Another Take His Position

Baseball season begins today, and so I'm reminded of the story about the young man who went to the big game on opening day, but was having difficulty finding an empty seat. Finally he saw one in the front row, right behind home plate. He couldn't believe his good luck, so he asked the elderly lady next to the empty seat if it was taken. She replied, "No. My husband and I have been at every opening game together for the last 40 years, but since he passed away, I've come all by myself. The young man, touched by this, said "I'm so sorry...but don't you have someone else, any children or grandchildren would could come with you?" The woman replied, "No, they're all at the funeral right now."

Today's sermon is titled, "Let another take his position." Our scripture text is the story of the replacement of Judas, and the election of Matthias to the role of apostle. It is a story about transition and change in the leadership of the church. In many ways, the entire book of Acts, which we are studying this month and next, is a story of transition and change in the leadership of the church. And this is a story that is at once ancient--dealing with the first days of the first church--and also timeless: Every church in every generation goes through transition and change in leadership.

In its 134 years of existence, this church has had ____ senior pastors, and although it's difficult to come up with an exact count, well over ______ elders, deacons and trustees. That's a lot of transitions, and, God willing, there will be many, many more before our work in this community is done.

Change and transition happens everywhere, though, not just in the church--and so I'm sure most of you have, in the past few years experienced some kind of change or transition in your workplaces, in your family systems and structures, as well as in our communities, large and small.

In fact, our nation is currently in the midst of choosing new leadership, and as crazy as this election has often seemed, there is a reassuring constancy in remembering that this happens every few years, and has for a long time. Our American system of government was based on Presbyterian principles, so much so that British newspapers in colonial times referred to the American revolution as a "Presbyterian Rebellion."

The early Presbyterians, in their turn, were looking back to the early church for their example, and I suspect that this passage from Acts was at least one of their influences, as they tried to rebuild and reform the church in the 16th century. One of their mottoes was "Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei" It's Latin for "The church reformed, and always being reformed according to the word of God."

The early Presbyterians, like the earliest Christians, realized that not only was constant change inevitable, it was also a good and necessary thing for preventing stagnation, superstition, and decay. But I don't think they believed in random change for change's sake. The other motto of the Presbyterian movement comes from 1 Corinthians 14:40: "Let all things be done decently and in order." Even our change and transition.

I believe that in the 21st century, our church (I mean the global church as well as this particular church!) are once again in dire need of being re-formed, in need of change and transition, especially when it comes to leadership. In our nation (and I suspect in our local community as well), the percentage of people who identify themselves as Christians continues to fall drastically, approximately ten percent every decade, and at a faster rate each year, while the fastest growing religious affiliation is not Muslims, Hindus, or people of other faiths, but rather those who select "none" or no particular religion at all.

Some church leaders blame this decline on the media, the government, or on secular culture. But I think the blame most likely rests squarely with us, with the church. As the world around us changes, we have been reluctant to change. As the world transitions, we have been reluctant to transition, for fear that we might lose our identity as the church, and start to look too much like the world. That's an understandable fear, and one we should be mindful of, but I think the answer is not to resist or refuse change, but rather to be intentional and deliberate about it. To go about it decently and in order.

How do we do that? I think today's scripture passage from Acts holds out some useful principles for change and transition, especially when it comes to leadership. Again, while these principles specifically apply to the church, I think they also transcend that and apply to any kind of leadership change or transition.

The first principle comes from verse 20. Standing before the gathered community, the Apostle Peter says, "For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.'"

In other words, the earliest Christians looked to their sacred scriptures in order to make sense of what was happening around them, and how they should respond. In their case, that was the Old Testament and the book of Psalms. This is also what the early Presbyterians meant when they said the church reformed and always being reformed...according to the word of God.

But contrary to what some churches today teach, interpretation of the Bible is not a one-way-street. Peter doesn't only look to the scriptures to make sense of the world around him...he also looks at what's happening in the world around him in order to make sense of the scriptures. Any respectable student of scripture in Peter's day would have said that those verses he quoted had to do with King David and events from centuries before. Peter says, in effect, "No. They speak to our situation here and now, too."

So in times of transition and change, we enter into a conversation with the Bible, letting it guide and influence our worldview and our actions, but also recognizing that our context and our worldview influences our interpretation of scripture.

Principle number two: criteria

Principle number three: we nominate, God chooses.

Principle number four: Everyone is replaceable (especially when we turn aside to go to our own place)

Criteria for leadership is not how great you are (Judas was chosen, after all)...but rather how consistent you are in your walk with Jesus.