Acts 1:21-26 Do not Be Disqualified
1. Many people are disqualified for positions of service in the church because of their sins of omission.
ILlustration:There’s a fine line between courage and foolishness. Too bad it’s not a fence. Do not be a fence sitter or you may live to regret it.
Jim Fiebig, NANA.
James wrote, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." (James 4:17) In this passage we read about how the apostles were forced to choose a replacement for Judas who was disqualified as an apostle for Jesus Christ.
Judas was not only disqualified because of his sins of betrayal, but his failure to believe that Christ had the power and the right to accomplish the Lord’s will in God way.
Ask the Lord to help you to be sure that you are careful to avoid both the sins of commission and the sins of omission so you are not disqualified for a greater position of service.
2. Disqualification can also result from the fact that an individual is not living up to their Master’s expectations. Christ entrusted Judas with a little thing of handling the financial affairs. Because Judas was not faithful in a little thing, he was disqualified from being given a more substantial responsibility.
Illustration:When I was a small boy, I attended church every Sunday at a big Gothic Presbyterian bastion in Chicago. The preaching was powerful and the music was great. But for me, the most awesome moment in the morning service was the offertory, when twelve solemn, frock-coated ushers marched in lock-step down the main aisle to receive the brass plates for collecting the offering. These men, so serious about their business of serving the Lord in this magnificent house of worship, were the business and professional leaders of Chicago. One of the twelve ushers was a man named Frank Loesch. He was not a very imposing looking man, but in Chicago he was a living legend, for he was the man who had stood up to Al Capone. In the prohibition years, Capone’s rule was absolute. The local and state police and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation were afraid to oppose him. But singlehandedly, Frank Loesch, as a Christina layman and without any government support, organized the Chicago Crime Commission, a group of citizens who were determined to take Mr. Capone to court and put him away. During the months that the Crime Commission met, Frank Loesch’s life was in constant danger. There were threats on the lives of his family and friends. But he never wavered. Ultimately he won the case against Capone and was the instrument for removing this blight from the city of Chicago. Frank Loesch had risked his life to live out his faith. Each Sunday at this point of the service, my father, a Chicago businessman himself, never failed to poke me and silently point to Frank Loesch with pride. Sometime I’d catch a tear in my father’s eye. For my dad and for all of us this was and is what authentic living is all about.
Bruce Larson, in Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p.124-5.
Ask the Lord to help you to learn to faithful in the little responsibilities you have so that He can promote you to greater opportunities for service. (Luke 16:10-12)
3. Disqualification can also result from the fact that there are others who showing themselves to be more effective and fitted for your position by their fruitful ministries. Christ wants the very best people in positions of service.
Our Lord deserves to have people who are not only faithful but fruitful.
Ask the Lord to help you to avoid becoming ineffective or unfruitful in the positions that God has appointed you to.
4. Disqualification can also result from the fact that like Judas, they are unable to cooperate with other leaders. Our Lord designed the church to be governed by a plurality of Godly elders, not just by one solitary individual.
The church should not be administered like a business. God may give the responsibility of the chief shepherd to a person, but he expects that person to work in harmony with other leaders who can help all the members of the body of Christ to contribute to its growth.
Ask the Lord to help you to avoid being so independent minded that you fail to cooperate with other leaders in your ministries.
5. Disqualification can also result when someone does not exhibit the fruits of the Spirit. Leaders who fail to show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness or self-control are probably being led more by the flesh than by the Spirit of God.
Matthias was chosen, in this passage, to be Judas’ replacement because he possessed these essential qualities.
Ask the Lord to help you exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in all facets of your personal life, relationships and ministries.
6. Disqualification can also result when someone has manipulated themselves into a position of leadership. Politics often plays too big of a role in determining who becomes a leader.
Hasty decisions often ruin many ministries because careful decisions are not made in selecting criteria for each leadership position.
Ask the Lord to help you use the Biblical criteria of I Timothy 3:1-7 when you select your leaders through the leading of the Spirit.
7. Disqualification can also result when gifted people do not surrender their wills to God in offering up themselves for leadership.
Many ministries are led by second best candidates because those who are most gifted and qualified are unwilling to give up their selfish pursuits to seek first His kingdom and righteousness.
Fortunately, both Joseph and Mathias were willing to offer themselves for service as an apostle in this passage. No doubt the Lord honored both men for their willingness to offer their services
8. Disqualification can also result when men become complacent, apathetic or dull into their ministry mentalities.
It is too easy to assume that leaders are operating in a satisfactory manner just because they are fulfilling all the essential duties of their office.
Many leaders are only harvesting less than half of the bountiful fruit that God wants to see from their ministries.
Ask the Lord to help you love the Lord with greater fervor, zeal and wholeheartedness so you do not fall into the trap of complacency.
9. Disqualification can also result when leaders do not pray in obedience, "Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these you have chosen to take over this ministry." (Acts 1:24)
Be sure to pray and wait on the Lord to show you clearly what leadership position He wants you to assume.
Trust God to help you to remain obedient to Him in that ministry until He directs you to another field of service.
Conclusion:A condemned prisoner awaiting execution was granted the usual privilege of choosing the dishes he wanted to eat for his last meal. He ordered a large mess of mushrooms. "Why all the mushrooms and nothing else?" inquired the guard. "Well," replied the prisoner, "I always wanted to try them, but was afraid to eat them before!"
Source Unknown.
Do not wait to obey until it is too late.
