The Complete Understanding
Sermon by: CH (CPT) Keith J. Andrews
08 JAN 06
I have friend in our battalion who received a puzzle in one of the care packages that were sent during Christmas. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, she worked on this puzzle. I saw her a couple of days later and said “I see that you finished that puzzle.” She said, “Yes, I did and it had two puzzle pieces left over.”
Somewhere in the world another puzzle is missing those two pieces. The people who are putting it together are going to find their puzzle is incomplete. The owners are probably looking all over their house, under the bed, in the seat cushions, trying to find those extra pieces.
In the same way, many of us and many of our friends have on incomplete knowledge of the Gospel. They know a little bit, they have been to Sunday school, or they have been to church once or twice. We work and work and we wonder if this is all there is—to work to be good and to hope that in some way it is good enough to get to heaven. We wish we could just have the complete story.
This evening, we are going to look at a man named Apollos who was a good man , but he just didn’t have the complete truth.
And it is my prayer tonight, that all of us will come to realize that it is not what we do that gets us to heaven, that what we do does not bring us closer to God—but that it is when we know Christ personally and accept him, that we can be free from this burden of sin.
Look with me at Acts 18:24-27
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; (Acts 18:24-27, NKJV)
I. This passage introduces us to a person named Apollos.
Verse 24 says that Apollos was eloquent. He was a good speaker. Even today, we like to hear good speakers. I read once that Colin Powell receives $100,000 for every speaking appearance. The organizers can pay that much because they can expect to receive much more in profits. We like to hear good speakers.
Apollos also was excited about his religion and he was very vocal about proclaiming it.
We have all sat through briefings that aren’t at all exciting. Every Tuesday night and Friday morning, I give one; Suicide Prevention and Midtour Reunion. The good thing about the Tuesday Night Briefing is that some can go straight to bed after I put you to sleep.
Verse 25 says that Apollos was “fervent in his spirit”, he was enthusiastic. He was excited to tell the story about Repentance; He was even excited to talk about Jesus.
Despite what political correctness that we have, we are a people who are excited to talk about God and our faith. 96% of all Americans believe in some kind of God. Most of American will even mention Jesus. 85% of Americans claim to be Christians.
Verse 25 continues to say that Apollos also spoke with accuracy about Jesus.
And again, most of us realize and treasure an accurate portrayal of Jesus Christ.
We just finished with the Christmas season. And as a nation, we, by and large, don’t have any problem with the Baby Jesus and the manger. We don’t have a problem with celebrating Christmas rather than the Happy Holidays. There are a few that attempt to abuse the constitution but by a large, we celebrate Christmas.
We also don’t doubt the historical Jesus. The fact that there was a person named Christ, whom the Bible talks about. And many will say that he was a good man. Because, in fact, he was.
Apollos taught that. Apollos believed that too.
But one thing that Apollos went beyond our society’s religious practices. Verse 24 says that “he was mighty in the scriptures.” The New living Translation says that “he knew the scriptures.”
But theThe literal Greek reads:
“Power being in the writings.”
Apollos was powerfull in speaking from Scripture. He knew the word of God – backwards and forwards. He could describe the Law of Moses and the prophecies of Isaiah. He knew the scripture and knew them well.
This is different from Americans.
Statistical researcher and expert George Barna writes;
“American Christians are biblically illiterate. Although most of them contend that the Bible contains truth and is worth knowing, and most of them argue that they know all of the relevant truths and principles, our research shows otherwise. And the trend line is frightening: the younger a person is, the less they understand about the Christian faith.”
He continues:
“By and large, people parrot what their parents taught them. Sadly, with fewer and fewer parents teaching their kids much of anything related to matters of faith, young people’s belief system is the product of the mass media.”
But Apollos was different, he knew the Scriptures.
Apollos was eloquent. He was excited abut God. He was accurate in his teaching and he knew the scriptures. What more can you ask for?
Apollos was all of the things we think religious people should be. We strive to be these things. Apollos set the standard of what we look at as a Good Christian man. And many of us come to church week after week, burdened by the sin in our lives. We feel that if we can do enough, then it will be ok.
Many times, we approach our salvation and relationship with God like Scott Rogers, approached hiking the Appalachian Trail with only one leg. He writes;
“It’s not how physically strong you are that matters, it’s the level of commitment that you hold in your heart that will get you through the hard parts”
We feel as if we are just committed to doing good maybe it will be good enough.
Do you feel that tonight? Are you thinking back over this list and seeing that you don’t measure up? Are you sitting there remembering times that you have abandoned God, and you don’t think you could ever get to the place where you think God is happy with you? The question that you face and the understanding that Apollos lacks is that;
II. Apollos had an incomplete knowledge of the Gospel.
The best invention in the last five years or so is the development of the DVD. And the best use for the DVD is the 4 to 6 disc set.
Slowly all of the greatest TV series are becoming available on DVD. When I start watching a new series, I have to start with series 1 and buy each in sequence. It’s always frustrating to go into Wal-Mart or PX and just see Season 2 or Season 3.
What’s even worse is to be watching an series and to be totally engaged in the story and then Disc 5 is missing.
The series is incomplete and the whole story is not there.
This was the case for Apollos.
Look again with me at the verse 25
25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. (Acts 18:25, NKJV)
Apollos did not have the full story. He know only about John’s Baptism. John’s Baptism refers to the teaching of John the Baptist. Apollos had gotten his instruction from the teaching of John the Baptist. It was John’s mission to prepare the way for the messiah. John taught about Repentance from Sin. Repentance is simply turning away from our evil deeds and begin living by God’s law.
And we still teach repentance today. We do need to stop our sinful behavior and follow the Bible.
The important idea about all of this is that we don’t recognize that we need a savior, until we recognize our sin. And when we begin to acknowledge our sin, we see that there is absolutely no way for us to be made perfect enough to be acceptable by God, except by Christ paying the penalty for our sin.
John the Baptist taught people to turn from evil and do good.
I talk to people everyday that are having problems because of sin in their life. And if they turned from there sin;
If they stopped smoking,
If they ate less,
If they stayed away from sex until marriage
If they stopped drinking,
If they stopped being so prideful
If they stopped gossiping
If they stopped lying
If they turned from their sin and turned toward God and doing good their lives would be a lot better.
They would be healthier, happier, and whole lot less stressed. I am continually amazed at the problems that we stress over are many times a result of sin in our own lives. Then when we add another person’s sin on top of ours and things really get interesting.
And John teaches us to turn from evil and do good. John’s baptism was all about the works that you do.
But that is an incomplete description of what Christianity is all about.
And that’s where Pricilla and Aquila come in.
In the first part of Chapter 18, we see the Apostle Paul become friends with Aquila and his wife, Pricilla. Paul lived and worked with them because they were tentmakers just as he was. (Acts 18:3)
They hear Apollos teaching about repentance. And
III. Apollos was given a complete knowledge of the Gospel.
The fog that was clouding Apollos’ understanding was beginning to lift.
I read a story this week about an Air Force Pilot’s wife who went to the dentist. On her way home, she got lost in a very thick fog and found herself on a deserted highway. Within minutes she was surrounded by security officers who escorted her home. Later in the day, her husband came home upset about his flight. He said; “Some idiot was driving around the runway and we had to circle until the police could get the car off.”
Apollos’ fog was beginning to lift. He was about to see the truth.
Aquilla and Pricilla took him aside, in verse 26, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
The way of God is different from the way of man. It is easy for man to understand that repentance is the way to God.
We understand earning our salvation through good works. But God’s way is different.
They explain to Apollos that, as Paul says in EPH 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (EPH 2:8-9, NKJV)
.
And they probably continued that
All of us are sinners. And no matter how hard we try to please God we can’t, the Bible says;
10 And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God’s laws. (Jas. 2:10, NLT)
And the Bible also says that the penalty for sin is death.
But Jesus, the messiah, came to Earth to die on a cross in our place. And we accept this payment to receive eternal life.
The story doesn’t stop at repentance. We need to repent—yes, but turning for our sin is only part of it—we must accept Christ as our payment.
Aquila and Priscilla taught him this, and we need to believe the same as well. All of us need to come to accept Christ as our Savior and then follow Him as our Lord.
Apollos then became a defender of the Gospel—the whole Gospel. Apollos had become a new man. His heart changed. He had heard the truth of the Gospel.
He knew the complete gospel. Not the one that focuses on works. Not the one that says to do this, or do that. Not the gospel that says agree with me or else.
It is the Gospel of Christ that says;
All of us are sinners. All of us are condemned to die because of our sin. But Jesus, through his death, paid the penalty for us. And we can accept this payment and have eternal life.
Tonight, you can make this same decision. The decision to accept Christ and his payment. It is important that you repent of your sin. But you must accept the payment of Christ, because none of you can do anything to earn or salvation.
