Apollos

If I asked you to compile a list of the missionaries in the Bible I don’t suppose many of our lists would have included Apollos. He may not be a particularly famous name but he enters the story of the early church at a crucial moment

Acts 18:18-28

Great missionaries in the Bible – today Apollos

This man embodies so much of hat true mission is all about!

But first we need some context …

Paul’s vow

Acts 18:8. Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken.

This was probably a temporary Nazarite vow. (You can read about these in Numbers 6:1ff)

Nazarite vows were promises of separation to the Lord for a defined time which anyone could take at times when they wanted to deepen their walk with God.

In Paul’s day it would have meant

• no drinking alcohol, grape juice or vinegar
• being particularly careful to keep your life pure ethically
• and not having your hair cut

According to Josephus (Jewish Wars, II xv i) this was often done as a way of thanking the Lord for preservation from perilous circumstances, deliverance from grave dangers. –

Now think about it:

• Paul had narrowly escaped a beating – so he had every reason to be grateful to God that he was still alive!
• The vow normally lasted for 30 days and at the end of it he would have had his head shaved and brought the hair to the synagogue to be offered as a burned offering to the Lord.

When did you last make a vow with the Lord?

You may want to abstain from alcohol as they did (no bad thing!) or how about TV >>>

1Timothy 4:7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

• what spiritual disciplines do you have in place? What habits that will help you to be holy?
• I remember watching a moving programme about the Archbishop of Canterbury (George Carey) at his retirement. IN it he talked about his prayer life and said “If I don’t discipline myself to spend time in prayer, no-one else will do it for me”

 

19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined.

21 But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

Disciples – particularly new Christians – need strengthening

How did he do it?

teaching

Paul’s subsequent letters are packed with teaching on how to live for the Lord

praying with them

I can imagine Paul talking to one of the Christians –

• discovers he’s got a difficult business decision to face, puts his arm round him “let’s pray about this”
• maybe God’s really intervened in his life and something is unexpectedly going really well – puts his arm round him “let’s thank the Lord for this”

By praying for each other we impart spiritual strength to each other.

The magazine ‘Decision’ over a period of several years conducted a survey of local churches (N America, Australia and England) which had seen remarkable growth. They discovered certain characteristics that were in common to all the churches

• top of the list was prayer

“All the churches studied placed so much emphasis on prayer that it could be said that nothing of importance took place in the church life without prayer. Half nights of prayer, prayer breakfasts, staff prayers, prayer retreats, daily regular and special prayer sessions, healing services, laying on of hands, were all part of the patters depending on the church.”

So Paul is travelling around and seeing a church formed in Ephesus where he leaves these two Priscilla and Aquila as leaders.

 

 

It may not be without significance that Priscilla is mentioned first – she too seems to share her husband’s teaching ability. C.f. Joel ‘your sons and your daughters will prophesy’

 

So what can we learn from Apollos? How does this missionary set a direction for us today?

Several imperatives are implicit in his story.

Get into the scriptures! V24

And then (I suspect to their great surprise) this man called Apollos turns up.

24. About the same time a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.

Alexandria (Northern Egypt) –

• second most important city in Roman Empire – large Jewish population there.
• Two out of the five wards of the city had Jewish leadership.

It was also a centre of great learning with many scholars studying and teaching there –

• and it boasted a library of 700,000 volumes (huge in their day).

The Jewish quarter of the city was well known for developing an allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament.

• In other words they believed that the OT had a surface meaning that was conveyed through the words themselves and, running in parallel was a hidden, deeper meaning which you could only work out through the ideas, words, numbers that you’d find in the text.
• This was where Apollos was taught and may well explain why he was such a good teacher.

 

Second imperative:

Communicate with enthusiasm! (v25)

Just listen to how he is described

25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervour and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.

Don’t you find that fascinating? This man knew the facts about Jesus, He even taught accurately about Jesus but had never encountered the Spirit of Jesus!

• A classic example of the difference between knowing about Christ and knowing him. >>>

What is more – he spoke with great fervour – and that made him a highly effective communicator.

• E.g. Peter Cotterell – his lectures on communication were so good I came away thinking – even if he’d been talking about noddy I would have been riveted to it!

but something was missing from Apollos

To be sure he taught about Jesus accurately – careful to get his facts right and convey them correctly

• and that’s a key characteristic of someone with a teaching gift
• he clearly had a fertile and enquiring mind

So he had many of the characteristics of a believer

• outwardly showed the signs of Christian faith
• would argue for Jesus in public

I was in the queue for a coffee in Starbucks on my day off.

Behind me was a girl in her 20s

I was ordering two Pike Place filter coffees and buying some beans. So perhaps it was my order that told her I had more than a passing interest in the kind of coffee I was drining.

In the split second that I looked in her direction, she caught my eye and said “If you come in here tomorrow You can try out all sorts of different coffees – we’re having a special tasting morning”

I explained I had a day job (!) and said to her “How did yo know about this happening tomorrow?”

“Oh, I work here – This is my lunch hour so I’m not in uniform”

“do you like working here?”

“I love it!” she said “I’ve got a degree and my parents are always asking me when I’m going to get a proper job, but I’d stay here for ever!”

There’s an enthusiast – and that was Apollos!

An enthusiast for Jesus!

Third imperative

fill the gaps in your experience of Christ! (v26)

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

BUT – something was missing

• Actually the way he’s described indicates he may have heard about Jesus through someone who was with Jesus during his life and set off to evangelise – but wasn’t in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

26 … When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

P & A detected a gap

I can image them saying to each other “He’s right, but he’s not quite there yet.”

So they used their home

• note – they were not trying to lead him off the rails, or inculcate their own specific slant

What was the gap?

• knew only the baptism of John. – implies he had repented, but taken it no further
• It is possible (can’t prove it) that he knew about Jesus life, miracles, teaching but had never made the connection between this and Jesus being the Messiah (see v28 – this seems to be the change)
• It could be that he had not made the connection between the Messiah – in general – and ‘my messiah’ in particular – he’d never received

Whatever it was Priscilla and Aquila were placed on hand by God to complete this powerful man’s knowledge and experience

What gaps might there be in your Christian life?

• Only ever felt repentance and never the joy of forgiveness?
• Never yielded yourself fully to Christ and allowed God to fill you with himself?

If someone came to your home could you explain how to enter a relationship with God?

• I don’t ask this to make you feel guilty
• Many of us trained in emergency first aid – life saving
• this is first aid for the soul!

I believe there are some times – probably not very many – when God is especially to be found and Christ is very near.

• each opportunity is therefore a very crucial / precious occasion
• needs prayerful handling.

Sometimes I have seen someone come to the very brink of a decision and then (for whatever reason) pull back a little

• then a process of spiritual hardening begins
• ‘soften my heart’ >>>
• they never seem to get that close to God again.

SO gently and prayerfully we need to show Pete that he needs to make a personal decision to follow Christ.

• And I always seek to do it with the maximum of reason and the minimum of pressure.
• Undue pressure can be disastrous – spiritual miscarriage.

Ask “Would you like me to pray with you, or would you like me to give you a prayer that you can say in your own time?”

• this lets Pete know that you’re not trying to corner him – only to help him find God!

If he wants to pray on his own, that’s fine

• encourage him to ring you when he’s done so

If pray now

• then tell Pete what you’re going to do together
• read the prayer through
• say it together phrase by phrase.
• He may want to say it silently – that’s OK

(You all what to know what I say!)

 

Dear God, I know I have sinned and gone my own way.

I need your forgiveness

Thank you that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sin.

I am willing for you to be first in my life and I now commit my life to you

I want you to be my Lord and Saviour and I ask you for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Amen

Nothing magical about this prayer >>>

• details may very >>>
• I am claiming no special technique –
• except the need to be simple and clear
• a slick mechanical approach is fatal!

I am for ever grateful for the simple way in which my father explained to me >>>

 

Fourth imperative

Help other believers! (v27-28)

Principle here:

God doesn’t give us knowledge of him or experiences of him just for our own benefit

He intends us to share what we have. In fact faith becomes so much more real when we share it with other people!

• this comes out in v27

” When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.”

Why? – because he had now received God’s grace himself!

In what way did he help them?

28 for he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

I would just love to have heard him!

• This man, of great learning and dignity, showing verse by verse (remember this would have been from the OT only!)
• argument by argument
• reason by reason
• that Jesus really was who he said he was – ‘and it’s all there in the scriptures!

Later Apollos was to work with Paul

1Corinthians 3:4-7 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5. What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe- as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Let’s make faith grow!