Apollos and the Deeper Way : Discipleship, Correction, and the Spirit | Bill Dogterom

You're listening to GARDEN CHURCH Podcast. We're in a series called Church on Fire, a journey through the book of Acts. This is the story of ordinary people filled with the spirit carrying the presence of Jesus into every corner of the world. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and in us today. Join us as we step into the call to be people set on fire for his mission.

Well, good morning. It's good to be in three places at once this morning. It's astonishing, especially shout out to my Vanguard folks, first week of classes. And you've already survived one fifteenth of the semester, so good on you. It's good to however not be with you in classes as I move into my retirement and I think of all the meetings that I don't have to go to.

So one of the things that both Darren and the other speakers that we've had, myself have kind of highlighted is that Luke, he tells us the story of the early church, is not giving us a blow by blow of everything that happened. It would be too much. Right? But so he chooses theologically what is going to to kinda make the cut in terms of what gets included, what gets told, what stories, who who who gets who gets headlined, if you will. And it's not that there are not a number of other things happening in various places.

It's just that for Luke's theological agenda driven by the Holy Spirit, these stories, the ones that he includes are the ones that that that kind of move the needle in that in that direction. But every once in a while, he just zooms back up to a kind of a 10,000 foot level and says, look at the landscape of what is happening elsewhere in the community. He didn't have the privilege of livestream. He didn't have the privilege of being in two places at once, but he wants us to know that not only in HB but in Costa Mesa and in Alexandria and in Rome and in Ephesus and in Antioch, all kinds of things are happening with all kinds of people. And he invites us in reflection of that to say, what kind of posture should we have when there are differing expressions, when worship in one place is different than worship in another place?

When you think you know everything, your experience now becomes the the criteria by which you make judgments of other on other people. Anybody recognize that tendency? Mostly in the other campus, I'm sure, but but nonetheless, that's that's there and and part of what Luke wants to just kinda underline today, I think, as I've prayed through this, this is where it's landed for me convictionally, is this question. What do you learn after you know everything? What experience is available to you after you've been to the mountaintop?

And I think that's a question that's worthwhile considering given the fact that we have two campuses. We are we are riding a wave that is not of our making. We we couldn't generate this. Right? But and and and candidly, as you well know, we don't really know what we're doing.

We're just trying to keep up with the Holy Spirit here as well and as best we can. We really are. And we're gonna get it wrong and people are are going to misunderstand that motives are gonna be questioned and and and and all kinds of things that are are are gonna gonna land on that and Luke says, welcome to the to the party. This is not just new, this is the way it's always been. And and confusion and misunderstandings and meetings for correction and clarification and repentance and asking forgiveness, all gonna be part of the territory, because it's wisdom is what you learn after you know everything.

Right? Wisdom and and here's the challenge as you will experience as we ride the wave of whatever this movement is and I still hesitate as you know to call it revival because I think we're still too fresh in it. We're gonna learn next week, think, if Darren does it right, that revival is is gonna clear out the jails. Revival is not just about what happens when we gather together in the space. Revival is is is not just bouncing up and down in ecstatic worship on a Sunday morning as you had room to do at Costa Mesa and we not so much here.

But revival is what happens on Monday morning where you don't feel the bounce. When you're dealing with a roommate problem or a a a a challenge with your class schedule or a problem with an employee that you have to have the third conversation with. That's when that's when that's when the spirit leaks out into the places of ordinary everyday ordinary life. And and so we pick up the story, here we are, Paul has with his friend Silas been on on a missionary journey. He spent some time in Athens where in Acts chapter 17, he contextualized the gospel for that highly reflective, philosophically driven culture and brought them to a deep awareness and then having spent some time there, he extends his missionary journey and finds himself finally in Corinth, one of the kind of like a Las Vegas, San Francisco, New Orleans kind of a community, just kinda crazy.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

There was a phrase in the ancient Roman world that was something to Corinthianize and it meant to explore the depths of degradation at a core level. How bad can it actually get? Well, let's see. And that's that's And and so, what do you what do you do when the philosophical frameworks of Athens don't work in Corinth? They love the influencers, they love the rhetoricians, they love the orators and so Paul's strategy, as we pick it up in Corinthians and we'll see as we circle back around here, Paul's strategy is just to preach Jesus.

Plain and simple. No flourish. And and by the way, as we learned in Athens, Paul can pull out the stops in rhetoric. He he is an orator. He can he can he can he can blister the paint off the walls if he has to.

But when he gets to Corinth, he just knows Jesus and him crucified and as is often the case, it just kinda sets something stirring in that in that challenging community. Well, can't stay there for too long because he needs to get back to Jerusalem to fulfill a commitment that he has made and the last ship sails literally this year, if we've got the date right, about March 15 and so he's gotta he's gotta get on it and so he heads out and this is where we pick up the story. Verse 18 of Acts chapter 18. Paul stayed in Corinth for some time, roughly a year. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed first for Syria accompanied now by Priscilla and Aquila.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cancria because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila and he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, I will come back if it's God's will. Then he set sail from Ephesus and when he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem, greeted the church and then went back down to Antioch.

After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia strengthening all the disciples. Now meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos who was a native of Alexandria came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately even though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

Well, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. So when Apollos wanted to go to Achaea, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. And when he arrived, he was a great help to those who by the grace, who by grace had believed for he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. What? Where did he come from?

Right? So so so just to set the stage because the the main actor, you you feel Luke kind of moving Paul off to the side, we'll get back to the brother later, right? And and he wants to say something about what's going on in in through this character who is gonna play such a prominent role in the church at Corinth, painfully so in some ways, we'll pick that up in a minute. So he he just kinda gives us a snapshot. Paul stayed in Corinth for a little while.

He was then sent off, wanted to make it to Jerusalem. He heads down to the coast and the port and gets on a boat and he has had a vow that he has taken not to cut his hair. It's kind of like a Nazirite vow except to do that properly, you have to be in Jerusalem. So it's a version of that much like fasting, a public statement that invites inquiry, a public statement, hair growing and then cut makes you a spectacle in that culture. So those vows that you take are not just a sacred commitment that aligns with perhaps he has heard for example, as he is in Corinth, the voice of the spirit saying, I'll be with you, don't be afraid.

Remember last week? I'll be with you, don't be afraid, keep And so perhaps, as a way of entering into that promise, he determined not to cut his hair as a vow, We don't know. Luke doesn't tell us, he doesn't think it's particularly important but inquiring minds want to know and unfortunately, we're stuck with that. Is it like kind of mustache November? What what what are we are we doing here in that moment?

But for Paul, both the taking of the vow and the ending of it signaling his receiving because you'll notice he cuts his hair after he has left Corinth which then would make sense if the promise was I'll be with you in that city. We don't know. Regardless, and by the way, he does this preparatory to heading into Jerusalem because he wants the people there to know that he is a righteous and religious man. This is gonna be a challenge for the people in Jerusalem, what kind of a Jew is this? Well, he's the kind of a Jew who like the rest of y'all make vows, make promises and keeps them.

That's the kind of a Jew he is. You'll notice every time Paul goes to Jerusalem, almost always, he's including some cultural artifact that helps the folks there recognize, yeah, he's one of us. He But how does how does he fit? Where does he where does he find And that tension, by the way, then becomes a critical point of wrestling, an invitation to larger conversation. So he goes to Ephesus, notice that he takes with him now his his employers, Priscilla and Aquila.

Aquila and Priscilla, Priscilla when we first learned are are have an international business. They are tent makers. They have probably contract with the Roman army to provide them with the kinds of tents that would be necessary for the battle. Paul has learned this from his father. There's a whole range of rationale behind that and I can It's fascinating but if I geek out on that, I'm gonna lose y'all.

So anyway, Paul has been trained as a as a tentmaker. They have lost their business in Rome having been Jews. They've been kicked out of Rome so they land in Corinth and set up a business there and then when Paul leaves, he takes them with him and they establish a branch of their business now in Ephesus. So whether they have closed the business here and moved here to Ephesus, we don't know but they're in this location and I love this given our division in in different places, right? That that that when we Oh, wait, God's doing things in places where we are not.

God is doing things in places where we can hear rumor but we're not And FOMO? What? What's happening over there in Costa Mesa? What are you people doing? Right?

And and and the invitation is to be where you are when you're there. Hardest place ever to be. Right? So so so and and notice this switch. It starts off with Aquila and Priscilla, he taking the lead in their business, now as they move into their ministry roles, she takes the lead.

It's Priscilla and Aquila. That is not just an accidental shift of the order of their names, that's a statement of the priority of leadership in system. So they go to Ephesus and Paul stays there while he goes up to the synagogue where he, as a rabbi trained under Gamaliel, has the opportunity to speak on Saturday and invites people into a deeper exploration of the scriptures that point to Jesus and people are curious, stick around, we'd love to hear you again. By the way, this is fascinating, isn't it? That that that Paul is not just a communicator, he is of such a kind that people want to hear him speak, that that there is an attractiveness to this, that and and so so what he did in Corinth, Jesus simply, right, is a rhetorical decision.

It's a it's an oratorical decision driven by the spirit. When he goes to Ephesus, he is speaking in a way that the people there want Come back, come back. We want we wanna we wanna hear some more of you. Right? We wanna hear some more of what you're inviting us into and Paul says, I gotta catch a boat so I can't stay.

I've gotta be in Jerusalem. We catch the last boat out of the harbor about the middle of March. The weather is going to turn and so, sorry and I'll come back if it's the Lord's will. I love this just a little snapshot. Did you catch it?

Into the into the how decision and discernment work together. Paul doesn't make a promise, I promise I'll be back. He just wants them to understand, yeah, it sounds like a good idea and if it all works out and the plan comes together and the Holy Spirit weighs in and says, yeah, go for it, I'll be back. This is an idea. I wish I could take a whole whole time to talk about this because almost always, what does the spirit want us to do?

What is the And and and and part of what we have to do is be as well informed as we can so that we can make as an informed a decision as we can and then submit it to the lordship of Jesus. So discernment drives the outcome, excuse me, drives the the decision we make, not just the facts on the ground. Right? Why does he go to the towns that he goes to for mission? It just They're the next big town on the road.

He he is living his whole life under the covering of this work of the spirit. Sometimes the spirit will turn him sideways. We're gonna learn about that here. We've learned about that a little bit earlier on as he Don't go here, go here. Okay.

He'd planned to go someplace else. This keeping in step with the spirit is an important We we get just this snapshot into into how that how that works. And so, off he goes and he goes up there to he lands to Caesarea, goes up to Jerusalem, climbs the hill, then goes back down the hill to Antioch again. I mean, then there's thousands of miles by the way in those half a verse. He is he is he is moving.

Right? And Luke just doesn't tell us a thing about what's going on. Meanwhile, he says, there's this other guy named Apollos who was a native of Alexandria and he came to Ephesus as a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. Alexandria was Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, Berkeley, whatever the high top university towns, top college towns, Costa Mesa, There's a college there that I am particularly fond of. And and and and as soon as you said you're a native of Alexandria, there there You know how if you ever watch any British crime drama, as soon as you hear it's Oxford, it's like, there's gonna be some smart people here.

Right? This is not your ordinary crime. This is not your ordinary murder. This will involve poison. I'm sure it will involve poison.

Right? So so so if if Alexandria is like, this is the city in which the old testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek Greek giving us the Septuagint which is the version from which the majority of the writers of the old testament quote. They don't quote from the Hebrew by old testament, they quote from the Greek one. So Alexandria has this massive influence in terms of Jewish culture, a massive number of Jews settled there and what we are, just in this little snapshot, Luke is saying to us that that Apollos probably has a PhD in classics. He is well trained, he's a learned man and the other level of expertise that Apollos that Alexandria has was rhetoric, was speak public speaking.

And there should be some bells starting to ring now as you've read other parts of the New Testament to recognize in Athens, in Corinth, how people speak is more important than what they say. Does that sound at all vaguely like our current cultural space? Right? So Apollos is well trained, well educated and he comes to Ephesus and there begins earning the right to speak into the synagogue and he is just going for it. Here's the challenge it says, he has a thorough knowledge of the scripture, he is instructed in the way of the Lord, he spoke with fervor and taught the way of Jesus accurately.

But, he knew only the baptism of John. Remember John's baptism, John the Baptist was a preparer, the last of the old testament prophets and his baptism was a baptism of repentance as a way of preparing the way for Messiah. And Apollos' knowledge and we're gonna bump into this here next week again, is a baptism of repentance for the preparation of the coming of Messiah. Somewhere along the line, Apollos has gotten here and then got off the bus. And his knowledge of the old testament combined with his awareness of what John is preaching has led him to the conclusion that this itinerant Jew of which he has heard stories is in fact the Messiah and he is able to do what Jesus does for the guys on the road to Emmaus, remember those?

He's from the from the law and the prophets, he is teaching them the way of Messiah through suffering, through death to resurrection resurrection. And Apollos, not being part of that conversation, has been able to put the thing together in such a way that he knows who the Messiah is and his name is Jesus. And he doesn't get the baptism into the name of Jesus yet. He doesn't have it fully filled out yet but he is preaching Jesus accurately with power, with fervor, with the the Greek underneath this suggests the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Now, doesn't that just tick you off?

Here's a guy who's got the fundamental wrong. I think we need to have an expose. I think we need to have somebody explore. I think we need a five or six hour heresy hunt here on YouTube. I think I think we need to go after this guy.

I think because he's not preaching the whole gospel. He's good, he's good. God bless him. God bless him. Bless his heart.

You know, I mean this is this is the wouldn't that be how we might want to address it in our current cultural space with the outrage du jour, with the wanting to be right, more than wanting to be right. And so, in the synagogue that day are two Jews who know Jesus and they say, oh brother, such a good word today. Let's do lunch. And they take him into their home and they teach him the way of Jesus more excellently. I love that phrase.

Not just the content of the life of Jesus, bro, you got that in spades, But the heart of Jesus, the nature of Jesus, the cross of Jesus, the life of Jesus. And here is Now now now here's the other side of this miracle for me. Remember who we're talking about here. We've got a guy who is a PhD in classics from Alexandria, from Oxford, from Harvard, from Cambridge, from Yale, whatever university, from Vanguard that ought to be emblazoned in a plaque saying, do you know who I am? Do you know what I know?

And instead, the brother listens as this woman teaches him the way of Jesus and humbles himself to be a learner of Jesus taught by the Oh, by the way, what did What were the qualifications of Priscilla and Aquila? They were business owners. They were blue collar workers. They were tent makers. Not a degree between the two of them.

They didn't have the formal education, they didn't have They just knew Jesus. And that was enough of And and and please notice, Apollos is willing to humble himself and submit his intellect and his education, his training, his experiences, his his his brilliance and submit it to these two blue collar workers who introduce him to Jesus in a way that he has not previously known. I love this story. What do you do you what do you learn after you know everything? And more particularly, what kind of attitude is required to learn after you know everything?

And this isn't just about knowledge, right? This is this is about maybe experiences. You've had a dynamic dramatic experience with God. I grew up in a classical Pentecostal setting. If I were at Costa Mesa this morning, I could take you to a place where I've encountered God in that sanctuary where y'all are sitting, I could take you to a place where I met God in supernatural ways that just set me on fire.

Nobody else was in the sanctuary. I had been appointed the interim pastor of Newport Mesa church and I went into the sanctuary just to lay out before God because I wasn't capable of the next season. Yeah? And I met him in that place. I could take you right there.

Perhaps you have had experiences with God that just put everything else into order for you and here's the danger. That experience as valid and as wonderful and as powerful and as significant as it was, does not give you the right to judge other people's lack of or excess of experience. It's it's just crazy how we take what God has given us as gift and then use it as the standard by which to superior. You know? We've been doing it ever since the road You you remember that travel up the road to Jerusalem on the day before the Passover?

Remember what we were asking Jesus? Well, we weren't really asking him because we didn't really wanna know his opinion, but we were posturing, which of us is the greatest do you think? Which which of our experience, which of our education, which of the moments that we have had, which of I mean, here's Peter, James and John, they were on the on the Mountain Of Transfiguration. The rest of y'all, chopped liver. Nothing.

You got nothing. Nothing. We're the Whoever else it is, it's gonna be one of the three of us. Just back it up buckle. What do you do you what do you learn after you know everything?

Anybody else discovered that your experience with God in the past is barring you from the new that God wants to do? That you make it like like Elijah did? Fire falling. Remember that story in in in first Kings? And what's what's what's the what's the nasty little note at the end of it?

God isn't in the fire this time bro. Yeah. He's in the sound of the thin silence. It's not more ecstasy, it's more intimacy that you're being invited to. And our longing for ecstasy, our longing for more, our knowledge, longing for certainty can blind us, can disable us from encountering the living God in the now.

In the now. How do I become And by the way,

you know

you know this is embarrassing for me but the the giveaway is when I get defensive. When somebody comes alongside and says, hey, what about and my monkey brain starts building a case for my rightness and their wrongness and I've been doing this for a long time. I've I've got I've got volumes of defensiveness that I can draw on. Any anybody else know what I'm talking about here? And here's Apollos saying, you know what?

That makes perfect sense to me. He just holds his learning loosely, he holds his experiences with God loosely, he is ready to be taught by whomever will teach him. Jesus has made it clear, who's gonna lead us by the way? It's gonna be children. It's gonna be the newbies.

It's gonna be the youth that are gonna lead us. It's gonna be This one of the things, just to be honest, that I'm gonna miss most about teaching is how much I learn from my students. Every semester. Every semester, inevitably. And it's almost always the most annoying one and you know who you are.

Can we get coffee? No. We cannot. I don't want to talk to you anymore. And here's Apollo saying, oh, let me write that down.

Oh, that's so good. Oh, that makes sense of that. Got it. Can I go back to Corinth and like help him out? Can I go back?

He has submitted himself to this community in Ephesus And they say, yeah, let's write us some letters. Let us let us write some letters to support your mission and ministry there. And he goes back and and now you have this intellect finely trained, finely honed, set on fire by the spirit with a telos, with a destination that points to the more perfect way of Jesus. Mhmm. And he is great help.

Great help as he he brings brings this into the synagogues and helps people learn the way of the Lord and and and refutes them publicly. Now here's here's the here's the deal. Here's the deal. People don't change their mind because they you give them a better idea. People change their minds because you've loved them into the possibility of a different way of living.

Apollos and Priscilla, they didn't engage in a battle of memes. You know, they didn't trot out the gift of sarcasm, cynicism, kinda taking them to task. They didn't do a public knockdown drag out and they they they could have, they could have. We don't There are heresies in the church today. We don't need too many more heresy hunters.

We just need local people who mind their own business, who pay attention, who show up week in and week out. This is again why local church is so important. And and the plethora of podcasts and blog spots and all kinds of other things give us access to all kinds of crazy, all kinds of crazy and we're about as discerning as those who buy from TEMU. I'm just I'm just saying. Look it up.

You know, was No, no, no, no. Community, a brother or sister, can I I was walking with somebody the other day? They had a prophetic word that was challenging for them. My question is, what's the character of the prophet? I don't know.

Okay. Well then, maybe you don't have to listen to it. Community establishes validity. So here's Priscilla and Aquila, they are are walking with him and here is Apollos hearing hearing hearing that that message. I don't I don't want to be so certain in what I know and and this is something that's been fascinating for me.

I figure I've got another ten ten or fifteen years left to live. I wanna be growing on the day of my death. I wanna be learning on the day of my death. If I if I coast on what I know, it will be a slow and painful dying. I I I Do you know what I mean?

And so so who are my teachers? I I don't wanna let my arrogance, my knowledge of things, get in the way. I I am in no position to be arrogant, because if I am, I'll miss who my next teachers are. I'll miss them. I'll miss them.

So in a culture of outrage, perhaps there is is is an invitation to humility, to relational correction in love, to to a surrender to what God might be doing in the day by day. Yeah. Let's pray. Oh Lord, as we sit with this story and its implications for us, I find myself again stirred and challenged to surrender, to lay down my certainties, to humble myself to those whose spiritualities, whose ways of knowing you are different than mine. I pray, oh Lord, for courage, for brothers and sisters to step in and confront me when I need to be confronted.

I pray, oh Lord, for a softened heart that lets me know you more. And what I pray for myself, pray for my brothers and sisters both here at HB and in Costa Mesa. Oh Lord, let us know you.

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