Why Matthias?
Pastor Souksamay K. Phetsanghan
February 16, 202
Text: Acts 1:15, 21-26 (EHV)
Theme: Why Matthias?
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come. – Rev. 1:4
Dear fellow Christians,
Do you remember Matthias, the apostle? If you don’t, don’t worry. There is a pretty good reason why you might not remember him. For you see, we know absolutely nothing else about him, except what we hear in Acts 1, today’s sermon text. That is literally it. We don’t know about his parents. We don’t know his hometown. We don’t have any words of his recorded in Scripture. We hear about how he is added to the number of apostles, and then he fades from Scripture and we never hear of him again. So then if you didn’t remember who Matthias was, you really can’t be blamed for it. But that is exactly what we will do today: remember Matthias. For February 24 is the day set aside in the Church to remember him. Today we will ask ourselves the question: why Matthias? That is: Why remember him? Why remember someone who has such a small role in Scripture?
Where we are in Scripture and in the life of the Church is shortly after Jesus ascended back to heaven. The 11 apostles, not 12, saw Jesus ascend back to heaven, and then they went back to Jerusalem to join with the other believers. Peter seems to be the natural leader of this group, for what do we hear in v.15? “In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)” (v.15) So after Jesus has ascended into heaven, there are about 120 believers, they are all gathered together here in Acts, chapter 1. Among these 120 people are the 11 apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ very own earthly half-brothers. Peter stands up among this group of 120 and says that someone needs to be added to the apostles to replace Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and then later killed himself. Their number of apostles needs to be 12 again. Or as Peter puts it in v. 21-22 …
“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, 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.” (v.21-22) To be added to the apostles, Peter lays out the criteria for what they want in an apostle. The first criteria: it has to be a guy who has been with the believers the whole time, from when Jesus was baptized to when he ascended into heaven. That all makes sense, doesn’t it? It has to be a guy who knows Jesus, who knows what has been going on these past 3 years. It has to be someone who has seen Jesus, seen him preaching, teaching, performing miracles. This guy needs all of that to be able to do the second criteria: to be a witness alongside the other 11 apostles, to be a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. For that is what Jesus left his apostles and all the believers here to do. So after the two criteria are laid out, what do we hear? There are two guys who fit these two criteria.
“So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.” (v.23) This actually sounds a lot like a call meeting, doesn’t it? You have what you want the new pastor or teacher or staff minister to do, or what skills they should have, or what knowledge they should possess. You have your criteria for the new person. Then, for us, we go to our synod with our criteria and then they give us a list of people that can fit that description and fill that need. The 120 believers have their criteria and then they have 2 guys, who fit that criteria: Joseph and Matthias. Then much like a call meeting, the believers pray to God and say in v 24-25.
“Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” (v.24-25) In this prayer, we have that all important reminder when it comes to call meetings and a call to be a pastor or teacher or staff minister. It is that reminder that this call is from the Lord. The ministry: being a witness, being a pastor, teacher, or staff minister, is from the Lord. It is his church and he puts people into his church where and when he wants them. This prayer reminds us of that working together in the call: the 120 believers know what they want in an apostle, and the Lord will provide such a person. And in their case, the Lord provides in a unique way. The last verse for today, verse 26.
“Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.” (v.26) This is not what we do in our call meetings today. So it might sound odd or strange to us. But this was a common thing, coming out of OT Jewish customs. The high priest had a special part of their clothing called the Urim and Thummim (Ex 28:30; Lev 8:8, Num 27:21). The Urim and Thummim were part of the priestly clothes that the high priest would wear. We don’t know exactly how it worked, but the high priest could ask a question of the Lord and then use the Urim and Thummim to get an answer from the Lord. So similarly, the 120 believers asked a question of the Lord, they used this casting lots to get an answer, and the lot settled on Matthias. He gets added to the apostles, and then promptly he fades from the pages of Scripture. We have such a detailed description of how he is added to the apostles, but then we never hear of him again. Why? Why Matthias? Why remember him? Why remember someone who has such a small role in Scripture? Why does Scripture spend so much time on him becoming an apostle, but not what he did as apostle? Why are we spending a whole sermon on him?
II. Maybe there are two things that I would like us to remember when it comes to remembering Matthias. The two things are two ways to answer that question: Why Matthias?
1. Why Matthias? We have in this one account, a call meeting. You have had plenty of call meetings. I do quite a bit of guest preaching and so have also been involved in plenty of call meetings, even leading some of them. And this one account from Scripture, reminds us that in those call meetings, the Lord is in control. He is the Creator of all things. It is his Church. We pastors, teachers, and staff ministers, he lets us serve in that Church. He places us where he wants us. When we get calls to other places in his Church, he is there also guiding and helping us. When someone gets a call, when I get a call, I always try to remember this advice that I got years ago now. “Don’t consider, if you leave, how will the place you currently serve get along without you. That is the Holy Spirit’s business. Don’t’ consider how the place to which you have been called, how can they possibly survive unless you take the call. If you do not accept the call, the Holy Spirit will continue to take care of them. When you have a call, think as a steward. How can your talents best serve the Lord at the present time? Think kingdom, not congregation. Think only of how your talents can best be applied to the Lord’s work today.” So why Matthias today? Matthias is a reminder for our call meetings, present and future: the Lord is in control. The second answer.
2. Why Matthias? This second answer to why Matthias can apply to all of us. For such a question could be asked about us. Why us? Why were we chosen to be believers? Most of us won’t have accounts written down about how we came to faith. Unlike Peter or Paul, most of us won’t have books written about what we did as believers. Most of us will be closer to Matthias. Our Lord brings us to faith. We quietly live our life of faith without anyone noticing or maybe even caring … but God notices, God cares. We may not know what Matthias did as an apostle … people may never know what you do as a believer … but God knows. God sees. God is served by it. So why Matthias? Matthias is another reminder for all of us: to keep being a believer.
Today in Matthias we get the first reminder that our Lord is in control of the call: when and where his servants will serve him in his Church. Today in Matthias we also get this second reminder: we are Matthias. People may never know who we are or what we did as believers, and that is fine. We still keep doing that. We keep being believers. We keep being witnesses to our Lord’s resurrection, until he comes again, until we join Matthias and all the other believers, known and unknown, until we all join our Lord in his heavenly home. AMEN.
The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
