This coming Sunday, our church will be reading about the apostles choosing Matthias to take Judas' place as one of the twelve. As I think about this particular reading from Acts 1:12-26, there are a few things that I think speak powerfully to our lives as Christians.
One of the things about the twelve was that Jesus called them to follow Him. Jesus chose them. Jesus had something in mind when He called each of them by name to come be one of His apostles. Throughout His ministry, Jesus prepared them for that calling. He told them things such as, the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Following His resurrection, He reminded them that He had been sent to bring forgiveness, and then told them that He was sending them, just as He had been sent.
In choosing His apostles, Jesus was seeking to take the message of His life, death, and resurrection, and to connect it with the people of the world. The apostles would be the means of the delivery of that message, by word of mouth, and then, by the written word. In the sense of the written word, they continue to be sent by Jesus for that task, as we focus and reflect upon that message of Jesus for our hope and salvation.
Jesus calls us still to be His disciples and followers. And, in a sense, Jesus still sends us out, just like He sent those original apostles. True, we are sent in a bit of a different fashion. We are not sent to the ends of the world, except for those who truly feel God's leading in that direction. But we are sent back into the lives that God has given us to live. We're sent back to the lives of our families, our coworkers, our fellow students, and the people of our community. In a way, we are Jesus' apostles to the people of our community, sent to bring them the message of forgiveness through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
We're chosen to connect our community and Christ. And the way we do that is not through spectacular events and the like, but through the normal daily channels that God gives us to live in. We're chosen to live that life, and to be bearers of the Gospel message in that life. We don't have to go out searching for places to share God's Gospel message. Instead, God brings them into our daily lives as we live out the roles and vocations that God has given us.
Chosen to connect. It's really that simple.
One of the things about the twelve was that Jesus called them to follow Him. Jesus chose them. Jesus had something in mind when He called each of them by name to come be one of His apostles. Throughout His ministry, Jesus prepared them for that calling. He told them things such as, the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Following His resurrection, He reminded them that He had been sent to bring forgiveness, and then told them that He was sending them, just as He had been sent.
In choosing His apostles, Jesus was seeking to take the message of His life, death, and resurrection, and to connect it with the people of the world. The apostles would be the means of the delivery of that message, by word of mouth, and then, by the written word. In the sense of the written word, they continue to be sent by Jesus for that task, as we focus and reflect upon that message of Jesus for our hope and salvation.
Jesus calls us still to be His disciples and followers. And, in a sense, Jesus still sends us out, just like He sent those original apostles. True, we are sent in a bit of a different fashion. We are not sent to the ends of the world, except for those who truly feel God's leading in that direction. But we are sent back into the lives that God has given us to live. We're sent back to the lives of our families, our coworkers, our fellow students, and the people of our community. In a way, we are Jesus' apostles to the people of our community, sent to bring them the message of forgiveness through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
We're chosen to connect our community and Christ. And the way we do that is not through spectacular events and the like, but through the normal daily channels that God gives us to live in. We're chosen to live that life, and to be bearers of the Gospel message in that life. We don't have to go out searching for places to share God's Gospel message. Instead, God brings them into our daily lives as we live out the roles and vocations that God has given us.
Chosen to connect. It's really that simple.
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