Apollos: - ¡§they Explained To Him The Way Of God More Accurately¡¨ Series

Apollos: - ¡§they explained to him the way of God more accurately¡¨ Acts 18:24-28 WBC 20/10/02 pm

Illustr: Kathy, Bea and Kate¡¦s current Alpha

Gen(the south African) said today that she has been dying to tell me(but gadding off to Paris) that she left "on a real high " last week and on the way home in the car, all the lyrics on the radio talked about ’the meaning of life’, this is the real thing etc. then she saw a car the same as Bea’s and was looking hard for her dog so noticed a sign in the back with JOHN 3:16 written on it she felt this had to be significant and raced home to look it up!! with fear in her heart (she said) that it would mean nothing and she would be disappointed. She could not believe it when she read it and it was " just like ewen had said" PRAISE THE LORD!! she doesn’t think this can be a coincidence and has been telling all her friends about it!

- seek and you will find, I say! Find stuff/truths/witness that has been there all along

- wow! Brilliant

Current Alpha: many people just WAITING to be told. Wanting to be told.

- good. Faithful. Go to church. Involved. Believe all (most) of what they¡¦ve heard

o worthy of RESPECT! (for what believe and discipline)

They are just waiting for someone to explain it more accurately

- and when they do they recognise it for what it is

This is much what happened to Apollos, here

- note: no condemnation, ¡¥looking down¡¦ on Apollos at all

o = very flattering of him

- BUT THERE WAS MORE. And he needed to hear it

Let¡¦s have a look at all the things he¡¦s commended for

1) SCRIPTURE- ¡§He was a learned man¡¨ v24

¡K¡¨ with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures¡¨

technically- not the Bible. Just the OT, then

- but this man really knew his stuff¡K and showed his seriousness towards the scriptures

Some of it might go over our head (missed) but says here he was from

¡§Alexandria¡¨

- like saying ¡§he was from Cambridge¡¨/¡¨Harvard¡¨

- N coast of Egypt. Financial centre

- 2nd largest city in Roman empire

- city of learning. Before library burnt- 700,000 scrolls!

- Huge Jewish population & heritage

o Source of LXX 200BC

- Home to Philo (round this time). ¡V philosophy!

o Jew who sought to reconcile Gk philosophy and wisdom with the Jewish scriptures

o His approach produced a great love and respect for their scriptures with an allegorical approach to interpretation

„X Not fighting over jots and tittles

„X Finding what¡¦s behind the text

„X Lots of pictures, ¡¥types¡¦ etc

- It¡¦s THIS (^) approach that makes some think that Apollos was the author of ¡¥Hebrews¡¦

o V. allegorical. Respectful. Learned

Funny- some are really against ¡¥Christian education¡¦

- emails this week (re how much students have to have chased out of them after Seminary)

- irritates me, actually.

Such an attitude really is not there in scripture

- applauds learning¡K knowing your Bible

- often find those who are most against ¡¥such learning¡¦ are the ones who fight over jots and tittles (which is an academic approach/style!)

o it¡¦s just they want to make sure it¡¦s THEIR style

I am NOT about to fight over jots and tittles

- but do I love THIS? Is it the ¡¥norming norm¡¦ for all our matters of faith? Is it the book of my life?

- oh yes!!

One time preacher John Wesley received a note from a self-made and self-appointed preacher. He wrote, "The Lord has told me to tell you that He doesn¡¦t need your book learning, your Greek and your Hebrew."

Wesley replied, "Thank you, sir. I already knew the Lord had no need of my ¡¥book learning,¡¦ as you put it. However, even though the Lord has not directed me to say so, but on my own responsibility I would like to say to you that the Lord doesn¡¦t need your ignorance either."

I want to KNOW this book and know what God is saying to me through this book¡K and know the context in which it was originally said¡K and HOW to read it/apply it

- true to say: WE should know how to handle the Bible

- how to ¡¥rightly divide the word of truth¡¦ as it says in 2 Tim

- should know where to find

- bits in OT that speak of Jesus. Evidence for the messiah

- bits in NT that answer people¡¦s questions about

- whether God cares. Suffering. How Jesus is God. How we know God through Jesus. How God is gracious. But how all of us will be judged. Etc.

So- he was learned in the scriptures.