The Third Missionary Journey - Apollos the New Worker

If you would, please take your Bible. Turn to Acts chapter 18. Tonight will be in verse 23 to 28. We will back up and read verse 22, but the heart of the message is in verse 24 to 28. But last week we saw how Paul returned to Antioch, which completed his second missionary journey. We saw that after staying in Corinth for 18 months, Paul, along with Aquila and Priscilla, some other brothers and sisters, they set sail from Corinth. And we saw that Paul had two destinations on this agenda, and he made one very important stop-off, temporary stop-off. First of all, he was bound for Jerusalem to fulfill a vow that he had taken.

He had taken some kind of a Nazarite vow, or a vow of the Nazarite tradition, and to complete the vow, he was headed to Jerusalem. Now, Luke does not give us the details, but he told us that Paul met with the church there in Jerusalem, and we have to assume that he gave a missions report concerning the Gospel among the Gentiles, and we have to believe they also had a great missions celebration. In the important stop-off, Paul and the other stopped off at Ephesus, where he left Aquila and Priscilla for two reasons. They stayed to establish their tent-making business, and to continue the Gospel witness in the city.

We saw how Paul started that witness by going to the synagogue, and really, it surprised us that the Jews were receptive, and we will see soon that that receptivity turned negative, but we saw that Paul finally made it to his ultimate destination, Antioch, which was his home church, and we know it was the sending church, and although Luke does not give us details, no doubt that stay involved a lot. It is safe to assume that Paul and the others gave a missions report concerning all that had happened in his second missionary trip.

No doubt they had a great celebration, just like they did when he returned from his first trip, and no doubt he spent some time in Antioch resting and recuperating. We can be sure that Paul needed physical rest, and he needed spiritual rest. And if you do some study, you will see that some scholars speculate that he stayed maybe about a year in Antioch. But remember something I pointed out in Luke's writing, and seeing this helps us see the growth and the development of the missions work that is at hand. Here in chapter 18, Luke does not make a strong distinction between the second missionary journey and the third.

The second ended at verse 22 when Paul returned to Antioch, and the third began at verse 23 when he sat out again, and Luke just does not give us any details. I made this observation last week, but notice Luke did not write here like he did when he told us of the first and second missionary journeys. The first is easy to see there in chapter 13. Luke really makes a big deal about when the church at Antioch sent out Barnabas and Paul. Chapter 14, Luke made a big deal when they returned to Antioch and they gave a report.

They had a mission celebration, and Luke gave us a lot of information about how Paul and Barnabas split up, and Paul started his second missionary journey with Silas. But Luke just does not give us much information about the end of the second and the beginning of the third. I thought about it quite a few times. I wonder if they commissioned him for the second missionary journey like they did the others. I'm sure they did. But I pointed out something last week. Jim Boyce has an opinion that helps me understand why Luke changes in his writing style.

He says Luke shifts from making a big deal about the journeys themselves to making a big deal about the establishing of solid churches. I think that's a good insight. I agree with him. Luke is showing us the development and the evolution of the work of evangelizing the lost, establishing the churches. When this work now was still in its infancy, at first the emphasis was on what I call pioneer missions. Paul and his associates were going from city to city, evangelizing the lost, and they were planting churches. But now Paul's ministry changes some. Of course, he was still evangelizing the lost. We'll see that.

But Paul adds to his ministry the strengthening and the building up of these newly born churches. And of course, those are newly born believers. And all along he had many different men and women helping him and partnering with him. But tonight now, I want to add to this shift that we see from Luke. We saw this last week. We've been seeing it the last few weeks, and we're gonna see it more tonight. We are seeing that Luke is telling of more men and women who partnered with Paul in the mission's work. More men and women. At first it was just Paul and just one or two partners or associates.

Barnabas was on the first missionary journey with Paul, Silas and later on Timothy on the second missionary journey. Now we've been seeing Aquila and Priscilla, and how they came along at the end of the second in the beginning of the third missionary trip. And tonight we will see this man. He's really a lot a great minister and a great preacher. Apollos. Apollos. Now my point right here is this. As Paul's ministry grew, as it evolved, more and more ministry partners come into the work. So tonight we have this man Apollos. This man Apollos. Now, this is the title of the message. This is the third missionary journey. Apollos, the new worker.

I call this Apollos, the new worker. Now, let's read our verses and then I will share with us how I will break them down. Let's pick up at verse 22. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and he greeted the church. That's the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch. Now, we know he stayed for quite a few months, maybe a year or so. After spending some time there in Antioch, he thus Paul departed and he went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia, Fergia, strengthening the disciples. Now, there's a big shift here. Verse 24. Now, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria came to Ephesus.

He was an eloquent man competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. In being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. When he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Now, this is how I will approach the verses. We'll make several observations. Some will be longer than others. We will see first how Paul started out again. That's right there in verse 23. Second, Apollos the man. I want us to look at this man. Verse 24 and 25. Third, Apollos the wonderful preacher. Then fourth, Apollos and his problems. He had a problem in his gospel message, which caused a problem in his preaching.

Fifth, Aquila and Priscilla, who were problem solvers, verse 26. And then sixth, Apollos the complete preacher and minister in the church. This is in verse 27 and 28. So let's get started. Number one, we see that Paul started out right there in verse 23. Paul started out. And notice one detail Luke does give us. He did not go out evangelizing, but strengthening. He went from place to place in the region of Galatia and Fergia, doing one thing, strengthening the disciples. We can say strengthening the churches. And if we're not careful now, we can miss the significance of what's happening here.

And we will see that this third missionary journey now lasted for a while. It goes all the way to chapter 21, verse six. But there is a lesson here that we may overlook. Yes, we must be about evangelizing the loss, but we must be about strengthening the church. This word strengthen here in the original. It means to establish, to strengthen more, to render more firm. And it's interesting in the construction of the language, there is an added emphasis which carries the meaning of strengthening further, establishing further, establishing more firmly and more secure. And to me now, this all comes together for two lessons for us.

Only a strong, established and firm church growing in their strength can stand and evangelize the lost. And our church must be strengthened and encouraged and established further and further. We must always be being strengthened. And the point I'm trying to make is this. We can never get to the place where we are strong and we never need to be strengthened. We should always be being strengthened and encouraged and established further and further. And that is the church that God enables to stand and that is the church that God enables to evangelize the lost. Next, number two, Apollos the man. We see this in verse 24 and 25, Apollos the man.

Now, before we look at Apollos, notice the big, big change Luke makes. From Paul, he makes a hard pivot to Apollos in Ephesus. And we're going to see with Aquila and Priscilla. But as we will see, this is all about now the third missionary journey that was led by Paul, which involved others, and Paul's going to arrive in Ephesus soon. But let's look at this man. The text says Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria. That would have been in Egypt. And history tells us that at this time Alexandria had a very large Jewish population.

This means that even though he was born and raised in a very non-Jewish city, a non-Jewish country, Apollos was certainly brought up in a very strong Jewish culture and setting. And besides that general information there, Luke gives us a few details about the man. First, Luke tells us he was an eloquent man. The English Standard, the new American used this word eloquent. And this is an unusual word in that this is the only time this word appears in the Greek New Testament. And this can mean one of two things or both. It can mean he was eloquent with words, or it can mean he was eloquent with ideas, or it can mean both.

And I'm going to come back to that. But second, he was a knowledgeable man. The English Standard says he was competent in the scriptures. Which of course would have been the Old Testament scriptures. Remember now the New Testament had not been written yet. It was being written. So in the New Testament when it mentions the scriptures is referring to the Old Testament scriptures. The Bible scholar A.T. Robertson combines this eloquence and knowledge. And he says Apollos was doubtless both learned, mighty in the scriptures and eloquent. Though eloquence varies greatly in people's ideas. And then third, he was an instructed man.

The English Standard says he had been instructed in the Lord. And scholars debate about what this means. This phrase, the way of the Lord, it was common in the Old Testament. And it was a common phrase for the instruction in the way of God. We see this used many times. One I will mention is with Abraham in Genesis chapter 18. But here in verse 25, we will see that he had been taught of Jesus accurately. Accurately. So we could ask, was this referring to the way of the Lord as in Jesus? Or was this referring to the way of the Lord as in only the God of the Old Testament? Well the answer is yes.

Yes, he was instructed in the way of the Lord as in the God of the Old Testament and in the way of Jesus. But as we will see, his knowledge of Jesus and the Lord was incomplete. If you're taking notes, that's a good word to write down, incomplete. So notice what Luke tells us about this man Apollos. He was a Jew from Egypt who was eloquent in speech and eloquent in expressing his ideas. He had a great knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures because he was well studied and well instructed. So he had a great knowledge and a great understanding of God's word and the ways of God.

And as we will see, this does include an accurate understanding of Jesus as from John the Baptist. But this knowledge was incomplete, incomplete. We'll get to that. Then next, Luke tells us number three. Apollos was a powerful preacher. Number three, Apollos was a powerful preacher. Here we move from Apollos to man. I kind of see it as a move to what he did or what he could do. Luke tells us he was a powerful speaker. I use the word preacher because that encompasses it all. First, we have seen that he was eloquent in his speech. I mentioned that this eloquence of speech can refer to being eloquent in expressing ideas.

But one more detail here helps us see his preaching and his speaking. Some scholars point to the secular use of the word to indicate that this speaks of reasoning as well. So it seems that Apollos was eloquent in that he could express his speech and his ideas well. And Luke may be telling us he was excellent and eloquent in his ability to reason with others. Second, Luke says he was fervent in his spirit. English Standard, the New American says the same thing. And this fervent in spirit now, it does not refer to or speak to the Holy Spirit. This speaks of the human spirit. Let me explain what I mean.

This tells us that Apollos possessed a great energy and a great conviction. He had a great energy and enthusiasm. And this came out in his attitude, his personality, and his ability to communicate and speak. In the original, this fervent in spirit, it means to boil with heat. It speaks to being hot. So this tells us that Apollos was hot with great energy and conviction concerning the scriptures and the things of God. He had great energy and excitement that came out with great energy concerning the scriptures and the things of God. Maybe he was boiling over with excitement when it came to the scriptures and the things of God.

MacArthur describes it like this saying, "Apollos combined his deep knowledge and eloquence with a passionate heart." Luke describes him as fervent in spirit, having a soul fired with enthusiasm for the things of God. Third, he was bold in his witness in the synagogue. Luke tells us that all the things we have seen about Apollos came out in the synagogue. This is why I call him a powerful preacher. Luke tells us he was speaking boldly in a synagogue. And boldly here means to have freedom in speaking. It means to speak with confidence and assurance and great, great freedom.

So notice how all this comes together to paint this picture of a powerful speaker, a powerful debater, a powerful preacher. He was eloquent with words and expressing ideas, even reasoning with others. He was very energetic and enthusiastic in his spirit when he spoke. He possessed great conviction and great energy. He was very free, confident, and assured. When he spoke, reasoned, and debated in the synagogue, he even was hot and was boiling over. Simply, he was a powerful preacher, a powerful teacher, a powerful explainer. I like to sum it up by saying he was a powerful preacher.

Now, at this point, I want to point out a few things in application. Not everyone is an Apollos. Not everyone is an Apollos. All God's people are gifted differently for every Apollos that is out there. In my opinion, there are usually two or three others that are not bold. They're not just disfervent. They're just really not out in the front. And this is my point. Yes, we need men and women like Apollos, but all are not called to be like Apollos. That is just how they are wired. That's how they're gifted. That's how they're called. Apollos was wired or gifted or called in one way, but others are not like an Apollos.

So if you are like Apollos, be out there. Be used of God like Apollos. But if you are not, be out there being used of God the way God has gifted you. But no matter how we are gifted, no matter who we are, we all should be well studied and instructed in the scripture in the ways of God. You see, no matter how we are gifted, no matter if we are like Apollos or in the background, we should all be well studied and instructed in the scriptures and in the ways of God. And I do believe that even the passive, the not so out in the front person, can still be passionate about the things of God. They just don't express it quite like the Apollos.

And just like we need men and women, husband and wife teams like Aquila and Priscilla, we need men and women who are well studied and instructed in the scriptures in the ways of God, and they are like Apollos. They are like Apollos. Next, number four, Apollos and his problems. Apollos and his problems. Now at this point, we really could stop and say Apollos does not have any problems. We could say it like this, he was a great preacher, so what in the world could be wrong with him? Bring him to our church. Look back at verse 25 and 26.

"He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent, hot in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus." Pause. That's where we would say, "Give us an Apollos." Notice. "Though he knew only of the baptism of Jared, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." Now notice what seems to be a contradiction, but it's not.

Luke says he taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, but then he says that he knew only the baptism of John, and after that, Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and taught him the way of God more accurately. So what does this mean? Drawing from several, several sources, this is what I believe this means, and I'm going to end this with a very serious question. "Apollos possessed an incomplete knowledge of Jesus and the gospel, and we know that because Luke tells us the knowledge of Jesus and the gospel that he did have came from John the Baptist." Now let me explain this and unpack it.

The baptism and the message of John, really all, the totality of John the Baptist ministry was one of preparation for the coming Messiah of God. We see this in the Gospels. So Apollos accepted John's message and baptism, which told him of the Messiah that was to come, and get this, he even believed that the Messiah was the Lamb of God. But this is what he lacked. He did not see or understand the significance of the death and the resurrection of Christ, and he did not even know of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the birth of the New Testament church.

And someone could ask how he was acquainted with the teaching of John the Baptist. I ran across two opinions. One scholar speculates by saying that Apollos was a well-educated and well-traveled man, so we could speculate that he had gone to Jerusalem as a faithful Jew. And there he came into contact with the teaching of John the Baptist. That's a safe assumption. Warren Riersby speculates that he came into contact with some of John the Baptist disciples who traveled to Alexandria. Alexandria was a great city of learning and education. That's a safe assumption. But we really don't know. So this leads me to Apollos and his problems.

To me, he had two. First, he had an incomplete gospel. His gospel was not incorrect. It was incomplete because it fell short of the knowledge of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And it fell short of the knowledge of the outpouring of the Spirit and the birth of the church. Second, he had an incomplete message. His message in preaching was incomplete because his gospel was incomplete. But the question I mentioned, was Apollos saved? A lot of the scholars I read here didn't even bring that up. But John MacArthur did. He says that he was a redeemed Old Testament saint. I think that assumption is right.

I say that because of how Aquila and Priscilla dealt with him, there is no mention of them evangelizing him. I think it's safe to assume that he was an Old Testament redeemed saint. But if he was it, it's no doubt that he was evangelized. So notice what we have here in Apollos. He was a godly man. He was a powerful preacher. But he had some problems. His gospel was incomplete. So his preaching message was incomplete. But this was no willful sin on his part now. I like how Warren Wearsby explains this. And I'm quoting him. The only problem was that this enthusiastic man was declaring an incomplete gospel.

His message got as far as John the Baptist and then stopped. He knew nothing about Calvary, the resurrection of Christ, or the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He had zeal, but he lacked spiritual knowledge. And he's citing Romans 12 or Romans 10, 1 to 4. Now notice how this applies to us. And this is going to surprise you. We may be a genuine believer. We may be even well studied in the scriptures now, but we may have holes in our doctrine and theology.

We may be a genuine believer who was well studied and well taught, but we may not have some things that are vital and necessary and our understanding of the scriptures doctrine and theology. I did. I'm sure I still do. I'm referring to one. I came from a background of a lot of decisionism and an unhealthy view of evangelism. In many ways, the gospel that I was taught was very accurate. It was not incomplete. It was not incorrect, but it was incomplete. But then as I was exposed to a reformed view of soteriology, I started understanding why my spirit was grieved with all the decisionism, all the decisionism.

And what I'm trying to show you is this. A reformed view of soteriology understands that the new birth comes first. The only way the believer can express faith, the only way the believer can believe and trust and express faith is if they're born again. And when I understood that, it all made sense. I didn't have to use emotion. I didn't have to do all that stuff that I've been exposed to. There was a gap in my theology, but that's not as big as Apollos, his gap. But this is my point here. We all have gaps in our doctrine in theology. But what we must do is this. When someone points it out, we should adjust like Apollos.

We should adjust like Apollos. Number five, Aquila and Priscilla as problem solvers. Aquila and Priscilla as problem solvers. Now, this won't take long, but this is very, very important. Because this relates to us more than we may realize. Now notice, Luke tells us that when they heard Apollos in his preaching, they saw his problems. So right there in the synagogue, they went right up to him and they called him out for his error. Luke tells us that when they heard Apollos and his incomplete gospel, they called him out on Twitter or Facebook. Is that what they did? That's not what they did.

Verse 26 says, "They took him aside and they explained to him the way of God more accurately. They took him aside." That seems to speak to privacy and intimacy. Now, why do I make those kind of jokes? There are people who just think that it is their calling from God to just call everybody out. That's not what this wonderful husband and wife team did. Now, what can we learn from this? This is very, very important for local church life now. In the life of the church, when people come into our church, and we see that they are lacking in their understanding of scripture, doctrine, and theology, we're to be very kind and gentle with them.

And look, church, there are people who will come and they are woefully behind. Sometimes they have horrible gaps in their doctrine and theology and their knowledge of scripture. We're to be kind and gentle with them. If we are mature believers like Aquila and Priscilla, when people come into our church and we see that, we should take them aside. I don't know what it looked like for Aquila and Priscilla. Maybe after Apollo's got through preaching, maybe after the music minister played that closing song, maybe after everybody dismissed and they were in the four-year of the church, they went up to him and they asked him to come over for lunch.

And they had lunch and they just explained to him more fully the ways of the gospel. But let's use our imagination the other way. Maybe someone is in your small group and you begin to see, they just got some gaps in their understanding. Maybe you have them over for lunch or supper. Maybe you go out to eat with them. Maybe you meet with them once a week and you have a Priscilla and Aquila, an Aquila and a Priscilla attitude and approach. So notice what we see here, more about Aquila and Priscilla. They were problem solvers. They were spiritual and scriptural educators.

They helped believers who were lacking in their understanding of truth and doctrine. And again, that's another plug for Aquila and Priscilla. I've been giving them a lot of love lately because Luke does. Last number six, last number six, Apollos, the complete traveling preacher and minister. It's kind of a mouthful. Apollos, the complete traveling preacher and minister. Let's look at verse 27 and 28. I'm going to back up to verse 26. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace and believe, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Now to get all that we see here, we have to look at some other New Testament scripture. But here we see that Apollos became a more complete, a more equipped traveling preacher, even a minister in the church. And this is what happened.

After Apollos went to the very encouraging seminary of Aquila and Priscilla, after his doctrine and message was complete, he felt led of God to cross to Achaia. I love what the King James says. It says when he was disposed to pass to Achaia. And get this, if we look at our maps now, we will see that he crossed the GNC to Achaia and that's where the capital city of Corinth is. And chapter 19 verse 1 tells us that Apollos landed in Corinth. And I want us to see two specifics here and how this applies to us will really surprise you. First notice the brothers and sisters in Ephesus sent him. Notice the brothers and sisters in Ephesus sent him.

If we look at verse 27 in the New American Standard, it says brethren, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples in Corinth to welcome or receive him. And the reason the New American uses the word brethren is because this can mean brothers and sisters. Some translations make a notation after brothers in verse 27 indicating it can say sisters too. Now this is my point. This actually means the brothers and the sisters sent Apollos to Corinth. This actually means the church in Ephesus sent Apollos. And not only did the church send him, but they wrote a letter to the Corinthian church recommending him.

This means they would have been vouching for his salvation, for his character, for his doctrine, for his preaching, for his teaching and his ministry call and ability. Second, the brothers in Corinth received him. Now the text right here does not tell us that the Corinthians received him in this letter of recommendation, but we do know that they did. And verse 27 to 28 says that when he arrived, he was very successful in ministry. So that tells us that the Corinthians received him and this letter of recommendation. And get this now.

1 Corinthians chapters 1 to 4 tell us that this same Apollos became one of the leaders in the Corinthian church. He was very well respected by the church and Paul. As a matter of fact, some in the Corinthian church put Apollos above Paul. So notice what we have here. Apollos became the complete Christian minister, teacher and preacher. And he was sent out of the Ephesian church to the Corinthian church because he was compelled by God to go and the church was compelled to send him. And notice how this applies to us and this is going to shock some of you. Here we see a church letter and membership recommendation. Let that sink in.

Here we see a church letter and membership recommendation. The Ephesian church sent Apollos along with a letter of recommendation from the church to the church and the believers at Corinth. And look church, this is what a church letter of recommendation and membership should be. Again, this is biblical evidence for a letter of recommendation and meaningful church membership. You think there was meaning in what they wrote? You better believe it. And look, if this was good enough for the Ephesian church and the Corinthian church is good enough for us. I'll give you an example of how this pattern and example is played out in our church.

Quite a few years ago we had a young man in our church who graduated from high school. He went in the Marine Corps and settled elsewhere in the States. And after he got out of the Marine Corps, he was attending a church. And he called me, he said, "Pastor Chris, my membership is at Nollababdis church. I've been visiting this church. What do I do?" I said, "You tell that pastor to call me and I will tell him that you've been a member here for X amount of time. I know when you profess Christ and how you've walked with the Lord.

I've seen how you serve in the life of the church and I'll begin to explain all that." And I said, "I will tell him to welcome you as a member in good standing, a brother, and I will explain how you are gifted and I will say put that brother to work." He said, "Pastor Chris, you would say all that?" I said, "It's true." He just sat there. He said, "Wow." I said, "That is a letter of recommendation." Now, let me turn it around. When someone does not deserve a good letter of recommendation, this pastor will not lie. I've had to say, "I'm sorry, you don't want them in your church." Now, as we close, notice what we see here.

This is the beginning of the third missionary journey. Paul started at verse 23 and at chapter 19, verse 1, Luke picks up with Paul again. But here in verses 23 to 28, we have this introduction to this man Apollos and just like Aquila and Priscilla, he was a great, great asset to the work of the gospel in the church. See that? And I want to close by saying we need more Aquillas and Priscillas, husband and wife teams. We got a bunch of them in our church. I'm so thankful. But we need more men like Apollos. We've got some. We've got some. And one more thing as I close.

Notice, we've got Paul, obviously the apostle and leader in the third missionary journey, but God is showing us all these other men and women who are vital to the work, vital to the work, vital to the work. Let's pray.