The other night at music practice, when I was preoccupied with tuning my guitar or figuring some music out, someone made a joke - of which I was the brunt.
This is not unusual. I tell you, pastors just don’t get any respect around here. Actually, I don’t mind in the least bit. But everyone was laughing and at me and I didn’t know why. I STILL DON’T KNOW WHY!
I was tuned out so I missed something. I was missing a piece of the puzzle-a key piece of information.
I suspect that has happened to you at some point in your life. It happens to some of us more often than others! You miss out on something important because you’re somewhere else-mentally or physically.
Perhaps you missed our celebration Sunday because you were on a cruise. Or maybe you missed the first day that Cornerstone met together as a church because you, like me, lived in Texas!
Sometimes you miss out - not really through any fault of your own but you’re missing some pieces of the puzzle that you would like to have. Such was the case with two men in our scripture this morning-Thomas in our gospel passage and Apollos in Acts.
Both of these men knew more-or-less what was going on but had some gaps in their knowledge that needed to be addressed. Thomas, of course, was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples - the bravest I might add. It was Thomas who in John 11 says to the other disciples, "Let’s go, too--and die with Jesus."
Well, in John 20:19-23 the risen Jesus had appeared to the disciples who were locked in a room. Jesus gave them his blessing-breathed on them and said "Receive the Holy Spirit." However, Thomas was not there when all of that happened!
Verse 24-"One of the disciples Thomas (nicknamed the Twin) had volunteered to do a pizza run and was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, ’We have seen the Lord!’"
Can you imagine how annoyed Thomas was? How is it that he missed out on possibly the most important event in all history? His best friends had all been there-but he was off on the errand. NO WAY! He couldn’t believe it! How could it be?
If this were really true it would have happened to him, too. Why would he be left out?
And so he responds, "I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side."
He had missed out and he wanted proof-something he could touch and feel. He didn’t just want to hear someone’s well-presented account of what he missed. He didn’t want to see the slides or the video. He wanted some kind of personal experience!
And, of course, you know the rest of story. Jesus does appear to him eight days later and invites him to see and touch. Thomas exclaims: "My Lord and my God!"
Apollos is the other unfortunate but faithful man. His story is found in Acts 18:24. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had just arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord and talked to others with great enthusiasm and accuracy about Jesus. However, he knew only about John’s baptism."
Somehow Apollos had only heard part of the story-that is, the part that John the Baptist told. Perhaps he had been in Judea on business when John was preaching that Jesus was the Messiah and that all should repent and turn to the Lord. He caught the gist of the message but had gone back to Egypt before the crucifixion and resurrection.
Or maybe one of John the Baptist’s followers had resettled in Alexandria, Egypt and began teaching John’s message. And Apollos heard his teaching. Who knows! It had been about 20 years since the death and resurrection of Jesus but somehow only part of the story had reached Apollos.
He was missing some key pieces in the puzzle but he was more than willing to share what he knew. When he arrived in Ephesus-he began to teach about Jesus the Messiah in the synagogue.
Can you imagine Priscilla and Aquila’s surprise when they showed up at the synagogue on Saturday morning and heard this totally unknown Egyptian Jew preaching about Jesus? They must have been elated-especially since by Luke’s account he was not only enthusiastic but he was also extremely articulate--a great debater.
No surprise, after all he was from Alexandria, which was the university center of the ancient world. The great scholars of the first century lived and taught in Alexandria. Alexandria had the great libraries. This was the Oxford-the Harvard of the ancient world.
And Apollos was from there! And he was excited about Jesus the Messiah.
At that point, verse 26 says, "When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately (or more fully)" In other words, they filled him in on the rest of the story - giving to him the missing pieces to the puzzle.
Both Thomas and Apollos were united in the fact that they were Johnny-come-late-on-the-scene-type-guys.
However, I’m not really wanting to focus so much on the fact that both of these men had to play catch-up. Rather, I’m intrigued by how different they were in their approaches to faith when they did catch up-that is, in what it takes to bring them to the point of opening their hearts fully to Christ.
Thomas was a hands-on-let-me-experience-it-first kinda guy. "I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side."
Sometimes we think of Thomas as a doubter but his was not so much a matter of doubt - but of a need for experience-an experience not unlike what the other disciples had been given.
He needed to experience the presence of the risen Lord before he would stake his life on it. And I’d venture to say that this is true with most people today. We need to have some kind of encounter with the reality of the gospel before we give their lives to it.
Most often this comes in the form of an experience with the church-the embrace of the Christian community. The body of Christ embracing them and caring for them is the most tangible way that they see Christ is alive.
Jay Phelan, in the current Covenant Companion, quotes John Weborg, who is a wonderful theology professor at North Park Theological Seminary. John says, "Belonging comes before believing."
For most of us it’s in belonging that we see the wounds and feel the side of Jesus-we have that experience!
When you move beyond your group of old friends to welcome someone new at the coffee time; when you include someone with obvious problems into your life; when you communicate that you don’t have to have your life together to be welcome here; you don’t have to be off drugs; you don’t have to have a good marriage; you don’t have to know how to talk religion; when you communicate this, you are extending the hands of Christ for people to see and feel.
And most of us need to have that see and feel before we’ll dive in.
That’s the way God wired us! We’re not so much doubters as we are in need of a hands-on experience of some sort before we’ll give our souls away. The experience is the missing piece of the puzzle for us.
Apollos, on the other hand, was probably wired a little bit differently. We aren’t all the same.
While Thomas would never buy a car without first test driving it-getting his hands on the wheel-taking it for a spin-Apollos was the sorta guy who would buy the car based on what he’d read in Consumer Report. Sure he wouldn’t mind a test drive but he was sold because of the data.
He had little experience with the risen Christ but he had heard the gospel facts explained-at least to a degree and it made sense to him.
That was enough for Apollos. He had a Joe Friday approach to life--just the facts ma’am, just the facts.
Apollos was the kind of guy you could button hole in the hallway at school and ask him "have you heard the Four Spiritual Laws?" And he’d say, "No. But let me hear what you have to say and then I’ll tell you if it makes sense."
So, he was very responsive when Priscilla and Aquila button-holed him--took him aside and explained "the way of God more accurately." (Acts 18:26)
He was a scholar. He was a debater. Once he was brought up to speed and received the missing pieces of data he was ready to go out and preach even more boldly.
He went to Achaia or southern Greece. Acts 18:27 says: "When he arrived there, he proved to be of great benefit to those who, by God’s grace, had believed. He refuted all the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate. Using the Scriptures, he explained to them, ’The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus.’"
What became of Apollos after that? He became a very charismatic leader in the early church. Some of the Corinthian believers even began to consider themselves followers of Apollos (a development which wasn’t encouraged by Apollos). Paul nipped that problem in the bud in 1 Corinthians 1.
The Apostle Paul spoke fondly of Apollos’ work and urged the church to provide for him so that it could go on.
Many contemporary scholars believe that it was Apollos who wrote the book of Hebrews--but that it speculative. What is clear is that he was a powerful scholar and speaker who could explain the gospel in such a way that many people responded based on his explanation.
That’s what some people need-a logical and reasoned explanation. They want to see how it all fits together before that throw their lot in with Jesus. Some of us are like that.
Isn’t it interesting that some of us are like Thomas-in need of an experience before we’ll accept an explanation. But others are in need of an explanation before we’ll experience new life in Christ.
And that’s okay. These are just two different gateways into the heart. You see, we’re not saved by how much we know, how articulate we are, or how much we’ve experienced.
We’re saved by trusting in what God has done through the death and resurrection of Christ-FAITH.
How God gets a foot in the door of our lives is less important than that he does-and that we begin to trust him. THERE ARE MULTIPLE GATEWAYS TO THE HEART BUT THERE IS ONE SOURCE OF NEW LIFE-THE RISEN CHRIST. This is the key point this morning.
Isn’t that great? We don’t have to try to channel everyone through a single, set program before they can meet Christ. Some will come because of the music. Some will come because someone has been a friend to them. Some will come because of a Bible study group.
Some will come because they’ve had some kind of mystical experience of the grace of God that has drawn them closer to him. Some will come because of an exceptionally articulate preacher who explains the gospel in such a way that it makes over-whelming sense. Some will come in spite of the preacher!!!
How we come to Christ isn’t nearly as important as that we do!
Come, trust Christ Jesus who has been raised from the dead so that you, too, can have new life!
In a minute we’re going to sing a song called "We Walk by Faith." I invite you to turn there-it’s #349.
It’s possible that this is new to you and so I’m going to ask the musicians to play it through a whole time before we sing it. But I also want to draw your attention to the words-especially verses 2 and 3.
"We may not touch his hands and side,
nor follow where he trod,
yet in his promise we rejoice,
and cry, ’My Lord and God!’"
(Echoes of Thomas!)
"Help, then, O Lord, our unbelief,
and may our faith abound
to call on you when you are near,
and seek where you are found."
Let’s sing "We Walk by Faith," all 4 verses, and make it our prayer of commitment to Christ.
Copyright 1999 by Brad Boydston. All rights reserved. Permission for non-commercial use granted. Permission for SermonCentral.com use granted.
