Apollos of Alexandria

Introduction

Stories are good for us.

Novels, biographies, histories.

It is no secret in this church how much I love The Lord of the Rings

I read other novels too.

Stories, whether true or legend, are good for us. They’re good for our souls.

The Bible is a story, a true one.

Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

If God has thought it wise to nourish our souls with story, then we too might see the value in them.

The benefits of story are manifold, and I don’t have time to go through all of them tonight.

There is the obvious moral of the story. Pride comes before a fall, friends are worth sacrificing for, it never pays to lie.

There are much more subtle and more effective ways that stories benefit us, and one of them is that they give us heroes to emulate.

Strong, wise, longsuffering, loving, sacrificial, kind, virtuous heroes.

Consider Frodo who, by all appearances, is the weakest, smallest, most insignificant of creatures, yet he had an inner strength far greater than that of the mighty Boromir which enabled him to resist the powerful corruption of the one ring.

When we read about Frodo, often without even noticing it, we admire his virtues, and we store them away in our psyche as those virtues which we know we ought to cultivate.

The same could be said about the cunning of Odysseus, the perseverance of Luke Skywalker, the wit of Elizabeth Bennett, the courage of Richard the Lion-heart, the intelligence of Alexander the Great.

Stories shape us if only because the characters of those stories shape us

We become like the heroes of our stories.

The book of Acts is also a story. One in which the Lord Jesus establishes His kingdom in this world and causes it to grow through his imperfect servants.

The main characters of this story are men like Peter, Paul, Stephen, Barnabas, even Luke

This evening I want to look at a character who does not receive a lot of attention because he is not very central to the story.

The man Apollos

Read Text: Acts 18:24-28. pg. 927

Thesis: God uses His church to raise servants who build His church.

Four Traits in Apollos we should emulate

Skill

Knowledge

Humility

Courage

Apollos

For any student of the scriptures, Apollos is an easily recognizable name.

But, though we may recognize him, we really don’t know a lot about him.

This text gives us the most information. Paul mentions him briefly in Titus 3.

And the rest of the mentions come from 1 Corinthians.

Apparently he was converted before he came on the scene here in Acts 18. Probably converted in Alexandria which, geographically speaking, is near Jerusalem

As the gospel spread from Jerusalem, it first slowly spread to different Jewish enclaves around the Mediterranean

Alexandria had one of the biggest Jewish settlements outside of the Holy Land

Skill

We see first from our text that He was a man of great skill.

An Eloquent Man

v. 24 tells us that he was an eloquent man.

There are some who are more naturally inclined toward public speaking than others, but no one is born a rhetorician.

It takes practice and training and emulating other great orators.

Education

Indeed, in the ancient Greco-Roman world, the art of rhetoric was highly prized from the days before Plato and Socrates.

The famed Roman teacher Quintillion, a lawyer who even represented Queen Bernice, the wife of Herod who we read about in Acts 26, he taught that training in rhetoric was the height and end of education.

It is one thing to know things, to be able to reason well, to read, to figure mathematical equations in your head, but if you cannot communicate the truth that you know, how much good can you do?

So there were set up all over the Roman empire, schools of Rhetoric. The Great Ambrose of Milan was a teacher of rhetoric, as was St. Augustine

Undoubtedly, Apollos, a Hellenistic Jew, attended one of these schools in Alexandria from boyhood.

Practice

And in this school he would have been taught the art of rhetoric with all of its attendant rules.

He would have known the 6 parts of a speech, he would have known how to turn a phrase, how to present a word picture, how to vilify his opponents and how to lionize his allies.

These things he would have been taught to master his craft, but he would also have practiced.

Long hours of speech writing. Drills and mock debates. Impromptu speeches. Long form speeches he had written and committed entirely to memory.

By training and practice he honed his craft over the course of years.

And as a result, he became a skilled man. An eloquent man.

A man capable of persuading even a hostile audience of the truth

He was an eloquent man. But that eloquence didn’t come from nowhere. It was cultivated.

Gifting

God does not need a gifted man.

His gospel does not need eloquent men or men trained in the art of rhetoric for it to go out victorious

Paul admitted that he was ineloquent, yet who was more effective in the gospel than he?

Even so, God often does use the skill of eloquence, and it is one that ought to be cultivated if we want to be of greater use in the kingdom

It was God who gifted Apollos, and He gifted Him through ordinary means of an education to do it.

What is your skill?

What craft have you honed over many long years of practice and education?

Intelligence, athleticism, music, art. Are you a builder, a plumber, a carpenter?

Are you a physician or medical provider?

Or do you kinda just do enough to earn a paycheck? Satisfied to be skilled at nothing?

God takes delight in the skillful man.

God uses the skilled man. As He used Bezalel and Oholiab to build His Tabernacle

As He used David’s skill in war to build His kingdom

As He used Apollos’ skill with words to build his church.

Harrison Butker. The greatest Kicker in the NFL

Never be satisfied with mediocrity

Seek to be a skilled laborer in God’s kingdom so that He would put you to eve greater use.

Cultivate those natural gifting and inclinations into rare skills.

Knowledge

He was not only skilled, but he was also knowledgeable.

He had a brain and he knew how to use it.

Alexandria

Alexandria was the academic center of the world. It had taken up the mantle that the city of Athens dropped after the Peloponnesian wars and was the residence of the worlds greatest philosophers, scholars, and libraries.

The city of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle had been supplanted by Alexandria

It was the home town of the famed philosopher Plotinus

It was the home of another famous Hellenistic Jew, Philo, perhaps the greatest Jewish philosopher of the Classical period

It would in the next few centuries give rise to some of the greatest gifts and theologians the church has ever known.

Men like Origen, Alexander, Athanasius, and Cyril

Intellectual giants in Church history.

Competent in the Scriptures v. 24

It was here that Apollos was trained in the noble art of rhetoric

But he was also likely trained in the philosophy of the Greeks and the Romans, understanding all the popular ideas of that age.

It was here that he was trained in the scriptures.

As an educated Jew he would have been very well familiar with the OT

It was in the city of Alexandria that the OT scriptures were first translated into Greek in the text that history knows as the Septuagint. The NT more frequently quotes the Septuagint than it does the Hebrew OT. Especially Paul.

Apollos probably had the credentials of a Bible Scholar

Instructed in the Way of the Lord

But it was not enough to merely know the OT. Most of the NT is a record of the apostles attempting to get the Jews to see that Jesus is the fulfillment of those OT texts they knew so well.

Apollos had been instructed in the way of the Lord. He knew the Scriptures, and he knew that they were all about Jesus, the man who just a couple decades ago had been put to death in Jerusalem.

v. 25 says that he had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

We don’t know by whom. It is likely that the church had become firmly established in Alexandria by this time since there was already such a large Jewish population there.

Apollos was knowledgeable

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

How are you doing with yours? Do you take every opportunity to grow in your knowledge?

Can you say you are competent in the scriptures?

You are intellectually capable of far more than you give yourself credit for.

We so often lack understanding, not because we are unintelligent but because we are lazy.

Apollos did not waste his mind, but He put it to work like an athlete puts his body to work

As a result, the Lord used His knowledge.

We have far more resources than Apollos ever had to grow in knowledge and competency in the scriptures, doctrine, or anything.

There are many brothers and sisters in this church that you could talk to who would love to disciple you.

There are more good books than you could ever read available to you.

We have Sunday School every Sunday morning, there are discipleship groups and Bible studies.

The Institute of Public Theology regularly brings in world class scholars to teach on the things of God and gives you access to them.

Be like Apollos and become knowledgeable in the things of God.

Humility

His knowledge and teaching were deficient

Luke says in v. 25 that he knew only the baptism of John

Acts: New Testament, Volume 6 (18:24–28 Apollos Preaches Christ Boldly)

Yet this place must not so be understood as though John had had no knowledge of Christ or had taught his disciples any doctrine contrary to Christ. For John’s doctrine and Christ’s was all one. For as Christ commands the apostles to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name, so we read that John moved his hearers to repentance and showed them that the grace of God and salvation was to be had in Christ only -Rudolf Gwather

Apollos was not like the disciples of John the Baptist that we read about in the next chapter.

They needed to be baptized into Christ and they didn’t even have a knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

Yet even so, Apollos’ knowledge of the way was more dependent on the teaching of John the Baptist than on the teaching of Christ or the apostles and was therefore lacking in some important ways.

Discipled by Priscilla and Aquila

Enter Priscilla and Aquila. Jewish Christians who were expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius and who had met Paul in the city of Corinth.

Paul left them in Ephesus to help the church there as he traveled back to Antioch

They Corrected Apollos

As Jews, they likely frequented the synagogue, seeking to draw converts from the countrymen.

One day, they show up and there is an eloquent man accurately explaining the way of Christ and disputing with the Jews v. 25.

One could imagine their delight to meet this new brother about the same work that they were about.

Yet, they detected some deficiencies in his teaching.

So they sought to help him.

v. 27 says they took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately.

The Humility of Apollos

Apollos was probably a better debater than they.

He was probably better educated and more knowledgeable.

The natural thing for him to have done would have been to respond in pride.

Who were they to correct him?

But he didn’t, he was humble. He received their correction

Had Apollos responded in pride, it is doubtful we would have ever heard his name again.

His use in the kingdom would have been greatly diminished if not worse.

Many preachers struggle with pride. Many are unwilling to be corrected.

Aquila and Priscilla acted in humility

They did not seek self-preservation but risked correcting this intelligent and gifted brother

Surely he could have put them in their place should he have chose. Surely he could have embarrassed them in a debate

But they didn’t care. The truth and the advance of the gospel was more important to them than their pride

Their humility and courage was a gift to the church

Acts 13–28 for You (A Humble Devotion)

Pride destroys the community of Christ, whether through silence when we need to speak or through our response when a brother or sister confronts us with our sin -Albert Mohler

Because of their wisdom and humility, and because of Apollos’ humble response, the church in Ephesus, Corinth, and Crete would be edified

Serve the Servants

Perhaps God hasn’t given you a pulpit ministry.

Perhaps he hasn’t gifted you as an evangelist.

Perhaps he hasn’t called you onto the mission field. So what. Those people are nothing without people like you.

Apollos would have been ineffective if it weren’t for the humble love of Priscilla and Aquila.

Seek to serve Christ by endeavoring to make his servants better servants.

Sometimes by gentle correction, sometimes by encouragement.

Follow Apollos and Priscilla and Aquila in their humility.

Courage

Finally, Apollos was courageous.

What if I told you that Richard Dawkins was coming to town next week and he wanted to have a public debate with a Christian about the falsity of the Christian religion?

What if I further told you that your church would like for you to represent the faith by publicly debating Richard Dawkins?

Would you have the courage to do it?

Perhaps it wasn’t Richard Dawkins, but just some run of the mill atheist, would you do it then?

Apollos would have.

Powerfully Refuting the Jews v. 28

Another word you could use instead of powerfully is Vehemently Opposed the Jews in Public

Yes, Apollos loved God enough to become skilled with words. Yes, Apollos was well educated and practiced.

Even so, it takes courage to publicly refute your opponents.

He knew from whence his strength and ability came

He trusted God and had every reason to be courageous

Not Very Winsome

This behavior would get you a call from the pastor in most churches

And it would earn you some ripe slander from the winsome bros on twitter

There is a place for vehemently and publicly opposing the enemies of Christ

But it can be done sinfully

Courage without Humility is dangerous

Apollos already demonstrated that, despite his great knowledge and abilities, he was a humble man

This is exactly the type of man you want leading the church.

This is the man you want to put out front, the David you want to send out against Goliath

The John Lennox you want to send out against Christopher Hitchens

Courage and strength with humility is meekness

Matthew 5:5 ““Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” ]

Proud Courage is a Menace

Proud courage is violent and destructive

It’s the kind of courage that goes into debate, not to persuade one’s opponents, or to persuade the audience, but merely to destroy their opponents

Merely to win the argument.

Proud courage fights for one’s own honor and glory

Humble Courage fights for God’s honor and glory

Proud Courage goes to battle born of a love of self

Humble courage goes to battle born of a love of God and others

Apollos could powerfully refute the Jews in public without being a jerk

He could do it from the right motives.

because he was humble

Because he was zealous for the glory of God

Are you a courageous Christian?

Do you attack your sin with confidence?

Are you willing to sacrifice your pride, reputation, health, finances, relationships for God’s glory?

Be like Apollos, do the courageous thing. Speak up against God’s enemies.

But do so with humility and love.

Nothing Without Christ

Eloquence is dangerous without the truth

Knowledge is dangerous without love

Zeal is dangerous without wisdom

Courage is dangerous without restraint

Apollos was nothing without the Christ who saved him

And neither are you, and neither am I

It is Jesus who made Apollos effective

Paul planted, Apollos watered, Christ gave the increase.

We ought to seek to imitate these virtues which were so evident in Apollos, yet all the while recognizing that they were his only because Christ developed them in him.

1 Corinthians 3:5 “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.”

The Lord is the one who assigns these things.

And so, as we follow the example of Apollos, or any other man, let us not become like the Corinthians, saying I follow Apollos

But rather, let us say that we follow Christ, our God and our savior.

Because no man could do for us what Christ has done, no man could love us the way that Christ has loved us.

He, in love has saved us from the fiery judgment.

And He would send us as His servants to save others.

So as you serve Him. Do as Apollos did.

Grow in skill, knowledge, zeal, humility and courage so that Christ may use you for His purposes in this World.