12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, 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. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
Here Luke tells us how the Apostles spent the the ten days between the asension and the initial coming of the Spirit. So, what did this ten days of continually blessing God in the temple look like?
1) Their prayer was united: Luke says they were, 120 there. More than likely the reason the number 120 is mentioned is that in Jewish law a minimum of 120 Jewish men was required to establish a community with its own council, thus representing unity. Therefore what we have here is a 'new' community not lead by another authority, due to the fact it has its 'own' council. Another thing we see is that the inner circle of four, who had been named in the Gospel as pairs of brothers: Simon & Andrew; James & John, are now Peter and John and James and Andrew, putting first those who were to become the leading apostles, and also separating the natural brothers as if to hint that a new family in Christ has replaced the old kinship. In addition to the eleven apostles there are mentioned the women. Then placed separately as occupying a position of particular honor, his brothers, who had not believed in him during his earlier ministry, but who now are numbered among the believers, maybe because of his appearance to his brother James. So all these, the apostles, the women, the mother and brothers of Jesus, and the rest who made the number of 120, join with one accord...devoting themselves to prayer. The next word we see linking the apostles with the women and the others is the word, 'one accord.' This is the Greek word, homothymadon, it seems to be a favorite word of Luke. He uses it 10 times in his two books, and other than that we only find it one other time in the entire New Testament. This word is used in 4:24 and 15:25 to describe something deeper than joining together in a gathering, but rather they joined and prayed together with one single mind, one purpose, one impulse, the picture is of being united as one, when we understand the culture of that day, for the Apostles/disciples of a Rabbi make them selves on the same level, as one with 'the women' we have much more than a simple gathering of hierarchy...
2) Their prayer was persevering: In the phrase All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together, we have a few strong words: all, one-accord, devoting, and together...In these words we find the word, proskartereo, which defines how they came together, how they devoted themselves in prayer. The word literally means attended continually, continually upon, to persist in, to apply diligently, to be strong towards and continued in. Luke uses it later both of the new converts who 'devoted themselves to' the apostles' teaching and of the apostles who determined to give priority to prayer and preaching.
1) Their prayer was united: Luke says they were, 120 there. More than likely the reason the number 120 is mentioned is that in Jewish law a minimum of 120 Jewish men was required to establish a community with its own council, thus representing unity. Therefore what we have here is a 'new' community not lead by another authority, due to the fact it has its 'own' council. Another thing we see is that the inner circle of four, who had been named in the Gospel as pairs of brothers: Simon & Andrew; James & John, are now Peter and John and James and Andrew, putting first those who were to become the leading apostles, and also separating the natural brothers as if to hint that a new family in Christ has replaced the old kinship. In addition to the eleven apostles there are mentioned the women. Then placed separately as occupying a position of particular honor, his brothers, who had not believed in him during his earlier ministry, but who now are numbered among the believers, maybe because of his appearance to his brother James. So all these, the apostles, the women, the mother and brothers of Jesus, and the rest who made the number of 120, join with one accord...devoting themselves to prayer. The next word we see linking the apostles with the women and the others is the word, 'one accord.' This is the Greek word, homothymadon, it seems to be a favorite word of Luke. He uses it 10 times in his two books, and other than that we only find it one other time in the entire New Testament. This word is used in 4:24 and 15:25 to describe something deeper than joining together in a gathering, but rather they joined and prayed together with one single mind, one purpose, one impulse, the picture is of being united as one, when we understand the culture of that day, for the Apostles/disciples of a Rabbi make them selves on the same level, as one with 'the women' we have much more than a simple gathering of hierarchy...
2) Their prayer was persevering: In the phrase All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together, we have a few strong words: all, one-accord, devoting, and together...In these words we find the word, proskartereo, which defines how they came together, how they devoted themselves in prayer. The word literally means attended continually, continually upon, to persist in, to apply diligently, to be strong towards and continued in. Luke uses it later both of the new converts who 'devoted themselves to' the apostles' teaching and of the apostles who determined to give priority to prayer and preaching.
So, outside of History, what does this have to do with you and me?
1) So let me pitch back another question, "when we are with our community group, our church, our band of brothers and sisters are we, homothymadon?" In other words, when we are together do we come together because we are suposed to? Do we come together, because we need to check a box on our calendar? Do we come together to show off how smart, servant oriented we are, or how theological we are? Or do we come together with one single mind, one purpose, one impulse, the picture is of being united as one? This has everything to do with our motivation. The Apostles didn't care about their name. The women didn't care about their name. None of them cared about their own agenda. None of them carred about minor doctrinal differences. They had all set their own agenda aside for the agenda of Jesus - they wanted his Holy Spirit to show up and do what only he was going to do through a united body of believers...So, can we do that? Can we have this mindset when we come together? Can we have this mindset when we wake up in the morning - "God not my agenda, but yours!"
2) I was just in the Boston area about a month ago, and what I couldn't get away from was how the country's entry point of Christianity had now turned into one of the spiritually darkest places in the country, so much so that Time would call it the "New Mission" field. How did this happen? It made me turn inward? Is it possible for someone like myself, for you, for my church to go from a place who seems to be all about the glory of God, to one day be a place that is consumed with materialism and education and popularity that I forget about God? How did this happen? The pastors of area placed high, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God (which I do as well), yet for some reason they allowed that doctrine to produce some sort of idle attitude to things of God, how can that be? Well, many believe that their 'hyper-calvinism' led them to a life of passive determinism, which led to putting more focus on things like education and external-material issues, after all, "God is going to do, what God is going to do, so I can focus on other things?" However, that is not the attitude we see in these original apostles. Rather than being 'idle in the things of God' they were 'proskartereo' - they were devoted to, aggressive about, and gave priority to the things of God! I can't marry God's absolute Sovereignty and man's absolute responsibility, but the Bible talks about them as if they are both complete realities, it is a tension we have to live in, so if that is the case, may we never abdicate either. When it comes to God's sovereignty, may we not grow anxious, stressed, may we not fret, may we not seek control or take things into our own hands, but may we trust in the all powerful sovereign God. However when it comes to man's responsibility, may we not grow idle and passive, but like the apostles may we approach incarnational living, scripture study, prayer and community with devotion, aggression, and priority...
until tomorrow...
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