Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Could you turn in
your Bibles, please, to the book of Acts, Chapter 18,
the Book of Acts, Chapter 18. We're going to jump
into the scriptures and we're going to
finish the chapter. And then we're going to take
the Lord's Supper together. If you remember last time we
were together-- and honestly, I don't remember if that
was just two weeks ago, three weeks ago,
a few weeks ago-- we saw that Paul,
who's on the run-- not on the run as much as on
the move for the glory of God-- was in the city of Athens. And he's traveling from
Macedonia into Greece, and then he goes to the
southwest over to Corinth. And we noticed last time--
we only read the first 10, maybe 11 verses of the chapter-- we left off when Paul was
in the city of Corinth. Altogether Paul stayed
in Corinth 18 months or so, a little more. We don't know how much more. It just says after he was done,
he stayed a little longer, but we don't know
how much longer. So let's say a year and
a half, 18 months or so. It happened to be
the longest place that he stayed on any of
his missionary journeys up to this point. He usually went through,
went to the synagogues, preached the gospel,
something happened. He either got put in
jail, kicked out, beat up, and/or people believed and
a church was established. He would go to the
next town, et cetera. When he gets to Corinth,
he stays 18 months. It's the longest
stint in a city. It will only be outdone
when he goes to Ephesus on his third missionary
journey, where he will stay for about three years. So he'll double his time there. But though it was
difficult for Paul at the beginning in
Corinth, and it was, and though Paul was
discouraged, and he was, the Lord gave him
a special vision to not hold back, not be silent. But down in Verse 9 and
10, speak, Jesus said, because I have many
people in this city, implying there are still
many more people I want to touch and save in this city. That bolstered his courage. And that's where we
left off last time. Now do you remember that
Corinth is the capital of the region of Achaea? I don't expect you to
have remembered that. It's not something that
most people remember or know or care about. But you got to
remember, in those days, that the entire southern
portion of Greece called Achaea, was
like an island. If you had a map,
or if you have a map in the back of your
Bible, you will notice that if you
go down from Athens, you come to a very
narrow neck of land, and then you find this big land
mass that is connected to it. So it's really an island except
for that little neck of land that connects the main
body with this island. So it's called a
peninsula, right? It's not an island because
it's connected at one spot so it's a peninsula. And the actual term is the
Peloponnesian peninsula. I just thought you'd want
to know that because it just sounds cool. So Paul is at the
Peloponnesian peninsula. Say that really fast 10 times. No, I'm just kidding. You don't have to do that now. So Corinth is the
capital of this area in the Peloponnesian
peninsula called Achaea, a noteworthy
city, a city of trade. And it connects two bodies
of water, essentially, because if you were
to look at a map and see that island, on
the left or on the west would be the Adriatic
Sea, or the Ionian Sea, it is also called. And then on the other
side is sort of the heart where the Mediterranean begins. So it's surrounded
by water except for that little narrow
piece of land that's three and 1/2 miles wide. Now there's a couple of ways
you could go from one side to the other. You could sail around it. That's 200 miles by ship. You have to go all the way down
into the open sea around what is called the Cape of Malaya. And it was considered
dangerous by sailors. There was even a
saying the sailors had, he who sails the Cape
of Malaya must first make out his will
because many ships were wrecked in the voyage. So some came up
with the idea, well, since it's only three
and 1/2 miles, what if we were to put the
ships up on land on rollers and roll them across? That's what they did. That's what most people
opted for, taking their ship, rolling it across the land. And across that area is the
capital city of Corinth. Corinth a very,
very famous place, a wild place because there's
so much transient traffic. Although Corinth was known
for its traffic, its trade, its commerce, its
commercial endeavors, there was, if you
remember in our study, a seedy side of Corinth,
the underbelly of the city. Really what Corinth was
renowned for, known for, it was debauched. It was immoral. And that is because
it was a mixture of a transient population
and a religious system. The religious system was called
the worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And if you were to
look at Corinth-- and last time we had
a backdrop of it. We don't need to see it again. But there was the city,
and then behind the city, as you look at it
from the front, was a hill called
the Acrocorinth. And at the top of
the Acrocorinth, or that prominent hill,
was a temple to Aphrodite. Housed in that temple
were 1,000 priestesses, religious prostitutes, who
would come down into this city to find those people in their
transient journeys coming through the city and ply their
trade in the name of religion. And because of that, Corinth got
a reputation, a bad reputation. In the Greek plays,
when somebody played the part of a
Corinthian, he was always drunk. And a term, a word, was
coined, [GREEK] which means to act the Corinthian. If you called somebody
that, it was sort of like cussing them out. It's saying, you scoundrel,
you lowlife, you immoral, debauched person. That's what it was. That's how bad Corinth
had this reputation. It was a party town. It was the ancient Las
Vegas, or pick your city. There's probably a
lot of cities like it, but that's an easy target. So Paul goes there. And as we mentioned,
Paul was discouraged. Now when he went
there, he stayed with two people who were of the
same trade, a husband and wife team. You remember their names,
Aquila and Priscilla. He stayed with them. They had been in Rome. They were Jewish. Claudius kicked
them out of Rome. All the Jews were
expelled from Rome. They went to Corinth. That's where they met Paul. They probably met
him in the synagogue. Paul usually went to
the synagogue first. And in those days, people
of the same guilds or trades often sat close together
in the synagogue. So in one corner, you
might have somebody who's a woodworker or
stonemason, and over in this corner tent makers. So Paul sat where
other tent makers were. And one guy stuck his hand
up and said, hey, I'm Aquila, and his wife said,
and I'm Priscilla. And he thought, and your
names rhyme, but that's cool. So they became close friends. And they brought
courage to Paul. They brought him courage,
they brought him comfort, as friends always
do, don't they? New friends bring you courage. But that's not all. Old friends bring you
more encouragement. And so while Paul is
in Corinth and he's going and sort of
doing spiritual battle in the synagogues, he
has made new friends. But at this point, old friends
come to him, Timothy and Silas. They have been up in Macedonia. They come and join him
there, and not only are they encouraging
him by their presence, but if you place all the
other scriptures together-- and I'm not going to have
you turn and chase it down. Take my word that I've
done the homework. They bring a financial
subsidy, a gift for Paul the Apostle, that
has been given to them by the Macedonian churches. So they gave the
money to Paul, which now means Paul can quit
tent making for a while and give himself fully to the
word of God, which he did. And he was able to stay there
for 18 months on this mission, on his second missionary
journey there in Corinth. And so we left around Verse 11. It says he continued there
a year and six months, teaching the word
of God among them. Now let's give you a date
if you are into dates. Paul was there in Corinth, we
believe, from the fall of AD 50 to the spring of AD 52. In AD 52, something happened to
change the political landscape. And that is Achaea, that
provincial governant of that area of southern
Greece, got a new governor. And his name was Gallio, and
he is mentioned in Verse 12. When Gallio was
proconsul of Achaea, he's the new politician. I bring it up-- he's new-- because I think
it sets the stage because the Jewish
population of this town are going to try to take
advantage of the fact that he's the new
kid on the block. They don't like Paul. They want to manipulate
governmental authority against Paul by using
this new guy Gallio, but it's going to backfire. When Gallio was proconsul,
the Jews, with one accord, rose up against Paul and brought
him to the judgment seat. The word judgment seat is
a word some of you know. It's the word bema seat. You've heard people talk
about the bema seat of Christ. We will all stand,
Corinthians says, before the judgment
seat of Christ. And there we're
going to be rewarded. We're going to be evaluated
on our ministry, on our life, on our faithfulness. It comes from an actual raised
platform in Greek cities where the judgments took
place, the bema seat. By the way, if you go to
Corinth today, archaeologists have dug up the agora,
the marketplace. Many of the temples of the city,
the Acrocorinth is still there. And they will show you the
bema seat, the bema seat, that raised judgment platform,
in the city of Corinth. And it was that judgment seat
that Paul looked at and used when he said, we'll stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. When he wrote to
the Corinthians, he had that in mind because he
stood before that very judgment seat. And so he's comparing
that, saying, but we're all going to
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. So if you ever
make it to Corinth, look for the bema seat. It's still there. So they brought him
to the judgment seat, and they said, this
fellow persuades men to worship God
contrary to the law. Now when Gallio hears these
words, being a Roman official, when he hears the word law,
he's thinking of only one thing. What is that? Roman law. Not Jewish law. These are Jewish
leaders saying he's telling us to worship
God contrary to the law. They are thinking Jewish law. He hears that as Roman law. He's soon going to
figure out, oh, this has nothing to do with Roman law. And when Paul was about
to open his mouth-- he didn't even get the chance
to speak or rebut that-- Gallio said to the Jews, if
it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, oh Jews,
there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words
and names and your own law, look to it yourselves,
for I do not want to be judge of such matters. And he drove them from the bema
seat, from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks
took Sosthenes-- and he is called here, Verse 17,
the ruler of this synagogue-- and beat him before
the judgment seat. But Gallio took no
notice of these things. Luke, the author of this
book, I believe here wants to give us an illustration
of how Jesus was with Paul. Remember, Paul had a vision. Jesus appeared to him at
night, Verse 9 and 10, and said, keep talking. I'm with you. He now wants to give
an example of how Jesus was with him, protecting him. And the example
is Gallio, how God used Gallio to protect Paul the
Apostle when these charges were leveled against him by the
locals in the city of Corinth. They tried to manipulate him. They tried to manipulate
Roman justice. But he wouldn't
have any part of it. He had a good policy. He had a hands off policy. He's government. He's the state. He's the Feds. They're disputing about
religious affairs. So in his mind, it
was a separation of powers, a separation
of church and state. I don't have any jurisdiction
over your law, these names and stuff. That's up to you guys. You take care of that. So I love that he had
a hands off policy. And I think that's very
important for justice to be done. Honestly, if Gallio
was around today and was running for
office, I'd vote for him. I like his policy. So they try to manipulate him. It doesn't work. Now here's an
interesting factoid. You that know your Greek
history a little bit will recognize the name Seneca. Seneca was a Greek stoic
philosopher, very famous. Seneca was the
brother of Gallio. And he writes about his brother. Seneca writes of his brother
that no one was good to one like Gallio was to all, that he
was kind-hearted and very fair, very favorable in
his disposition. So that's a part of
history that plays into Gallio, the
brother of Seneca, who is now the proconsul
at the city of Corinth. Now I mentioned that the
Jews' scheme backfired, and I want you to see why. Go back to Verse 8 and
you'll notice something. It says then Crispus-- and what is he called
in Verse 8, the what? The ruler of the synagogue. But then if you go to Verse
17, then all the Greeks took Sostenes what? Yeah, the ruler
of the synagogue. What goes on? Well, Crispus was the ruler
of the synagogue when Paul came to the town of Corinth. Now a synagogue had a ruler. What that meant was-- the Greek word is [GREEK]. That was his Greek title. And an [GREEK],, or a
ruler of a synagogue, was somebody appointed by
the elders, the Jewish elders in that synagogue, to oversee
and upkeep the local synagogue. So Crispus was the
[GREEK] Jewish, served the God of Israel,
not a believer until Paul comes to town. Crispus gets converted. Paul baptizes him, we discover
in I Corinthians Chapter 1. So they want to replace him. And who do they
replace him with? Sosthenes. So they want to kind of
manipulate Roman justice, saying, this guy
ought to be arrested. And instead, they take the ruler
of the synagogue, the new guy, and they beat him. So they're thinking
twice about this. But the best part is
still yet to come. In 1 Corinthians
Chapter 1, Paul begins. Paul, called to be an
apostle, a Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and-- listen-- Sosthenes our brother. So the first ruler
of the synagogue gets saved and baptized by Paul. The second ruler
of the synagogue first gets beaten, but
eventually believes. So both of them are
now Messianic Jews, believers in Jesus Christ. So all of the plans and schemes
of these people against Paul didn't work, backfired
against them. And their case was
thrown out of court. So, Verse 18, Paul
remained a good while. He's been there 18 months. He remains a little longer. We don't know how long, days,
maybe weeks, maybe longer. So Paul still
remained a good while. Then he took leave of the
brethren and sailed for Syria. And Priscilla and
Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut
off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow. OK, I want to just go
through this quickly and then dispense of it so we can
get to the meat of this. Cenchrea isn't far from Corinth. So there's that
little neck of land, that isthmus, it is called,
that little neck of land, three and 1/2 miles. On one side is Cenchrea. On the other side is Corinth. So they're close to each
other, a few miles away. Paul goes to another synagogue
in that port town of Cenchrea, and he cuts his hair off. He has taken a vow. What vow has he taken? We're not sure, but some believe
it was the vow of a Nazarite. Now without filling
all of that in, it's found in Numbers Chapter 6,
and in Numbers Chapter 6, the Old Testament allowed
Jewish men to take a vow called a vow of
a Nazarite, which means during this period of
time that I'm under this vow, there are certain things
I can and can't do. I can't drink any wine,
which is a celebratory kind of a drink to them. So I'm kind of diminishing
my modes of celebration. I drink no wine, no
fruit of the vine. Also, you'd let
your hair grow out during the time of your vow. At the end of it,
you'd shave your head and take it to a synagogue
and they would burn the hair. Now a vow of a Nazarite was-- I guess you could
look at it as sort of a token of thanksgiving. If you come to a place,
and you just really want to thank the Lord for something
he's done in your life, you take this vow. You don't have to do
it, but you can do it. Now here's the
interesting thing. Paul, who's not under
the law and keeps preaching in the synagogue that
Jesus Christ can justify people for things the law could
never justify them, and that we're not under
the Old Testament law, we're not under all
those regulations. We're free. He was a champion of
grace, not of the law. Question is, why is Paul
taking a vow under Jewish law, Nazarite or other? And because of that,
people have faulted Paul. Some said he did this
when he was unsaved. This is before his conversion. That doesn't fit the text. Some believe he's
backslid and that he's going backwards into Judaism. I don't think that fits the
motif or the character of Paul. But I think they make
a bigger deal of it than you should really
make a deal of it. He took a vow. So what? It's not wrong to do it. Where is he going? He's on a way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is Judaism
capital, it's Judaism 101. It's the center of
everything Jewish. He's on the way to Jerusalem. And Paul said to the Jews, I
become a Jew to the Greeks. I become a Greek. I become all things to
all men if by all means, I may save some. So in order to open a
door with Jewish people in order to share with
them, he took a vow. Did he have to? No. Did he want to? Yeah. Can't fault him for
that any more than you can fault a Christian today. If a Christian
says, you know, I'd like to celebrate
Passover with my family. OK, go ahead. No problem. Have fun. Enjoy it. Understand the meaning. Enrich your life
as you see Christ fulfilled in the Passover. Or if you say, you know, I was
in Israel, and I've come back, and I really like the
way they do Friday night and Saturday, their celebration
of Shabbat, the Sabbath. I'm going and I'm going
to do that with my family. Great. Have at it. You don't have to, but
if you want to, great. Now the problem is, if you start
going around telling other New Testament believers, you
need to keep the Passover. You need to keep the Sabbath. No, you don't. You're not under
the Jewish covenant. You're a Gentile. You're free in God's grace. So under grace, Paul
could take the vow. Under grace Paul could
not take the vow. Guess what, he wanted
to take the vow. And when somebody comes along
and says, shame on Paul, Paul shouldn't have taken that
vow, what they're doing is doing what they're
accusing Paul of doing. They've now made a law
that Paul violated. So it's a logical fallacy. Anytime you say, I have a law,
you shouldn't keep the law, we're not talking with
you because what you said just doesn't make sense. So he's under grace. He can do whatever he wants. Oh, now let me just throw the
whole wrench in the machinery while I'm at it. You can chase this
down on your own, but I'm doing this just
to stir up the pot. In your future, and
I take it literally, I believe that there
is going to be-- in the future, after the
tribulation period on the earth of seven years--
when Jesus returns, there's going to be 1,000-year
reign of Christ on the earth. I believe that. I believe literally in
a millennial kingdom. Well, interesting about
the millennial kingdom is the last part of
the Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 40 through 48,
talk about the building of a temple unlike
anything that has ever been built there ever before. It has never been fulfilled. The specifications of
this temple Jerusalem has never in its history seen. It's enormous. And it is the
temple that will be built for Messiah, from
which he will reign for 1,000 years on the earth. What's interesting
about that is sacrifices will be conducted in the
millennial temple, animal sacrifices, Jewish sacrifices. In fact, it says people from
all over the world, the nations of the world, will converge
at Jerusalem once a year for the Feast of Tabernacles. Not just Ezekiel, but
Zechariah says that. Now one wonders why God
would do something like that. Why, if Jesus ended
the sacrifices, why would they have sacrifices? Well, just as the Old Testament
sacrifices were prospective-- that is, they looked
forward to their fulfillment in Christ Jesus on Calvary-- the millennial sacrifices
will be retrospective, looking backwards, and
enjoyed by the Jewish nation principally. You say, retrospect,
looking back? Why? Well, it's very
similar to what we're about to do in a few
minutes with communion. We're taking elements that
represent flesh and blood originally from the Passover. And Jesus said, do this often
and look back retrospectively. Enjoy this. Do this often in
remembrance of me. So you can have a
little fun with that and chase that down on your own. But I just wanted to throw that
in with Paul having this vow. Verse 19. And he came to Ephesus. Now he had to do that by boat. It was on the main trade route. It was probably easier to
find a boat from Corinth to Ephesus than just about
anywhere else in the Roman Empire because these
are the two capital cities of two
provinces, and they're on the direct trade route. So he came to Ephesus. And he left them there. That is, he left there in
Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla, who were traveling with him. But he himself entered
the synagogue-- little wonder-- and
reasoned with the Jews. Little wonder. When they asked him to
stay longer with them, he did not consent. Now this is wild
because usually he goes into synagogues
and shares with them, and they don't want
to hear him anymore. Get him out. Throw him out of town. Go to the next town,
if he's going there, and don't let him
go there either. Beat him up, stone
him, throw him in jail. He never had a welcome audience,
typically, in the synagogue, except from non-Jews, Gentiles. God fearers would
listen and go, we want to hear more, this gospel
of grace for non-Jewish people. We want to hear more. Now he goes into the
synagogue at Ephesus. They want to hear more,
and he goes, sorry. What? You spent a year and
a half in Corinth, and you can't stay
and tell us-- we want to hear more of the Gospel. Sorry. I'm not-- bye. Well, he'll be back. He'll spend three and 1/2 years. That will be his third journey. You'll see this right
away in this chapter. He'll be back. But also, he wants
to go to Jerusalem. He has taken a vow. He's on the way to Jerusalem. So that's in his mind. That's where he's going
unless the Lord stops him. So he doesn't consent. But he took leave of them,
saying, I must, by all means, keep this coming
feast in Jerusalem. But I will return again
to you, God willing. I love that he said that. And I love it when
believers say that. That's what James
taught us to say. In James Chapter
4, James said, go to now, you who say we're going
to do this and that tomorrow, and go into that city and
buy and sell and get gain. He said, you don't even know
what tomorrow's going to bring. Your life is a vapor. What you ought to say, wrote
James, is if the Lord wills. And you shouldn't just say that. It should be your disposition,
your outlook in life, that you subordinate your
plans to the will of God. You can make plans, but always
realize there is a contingency. There's a little rider with it. Your plans are
subject to change. God's the script writer. He has editing rights
over your plans. So go ahead and make your
plans, but God can change them. So I'll be there, Lord willing. Now this has become
quite a famous saying. Ancient Jews and modern Jews
all over the Middle East will say this. God willing, God
willing, God willing. Even Arab cultures,
in Arab cultures, if they're going
to say something or they're going
to do something, they always say
inshallah, God willing. And so James instructed
us we should say that. Here Paul says that to them. I'm coming back, God willing. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had
landed at Caesarea-- Caesarea is the coastal
town in Israel-- and he had gone up-- when you read that, it means
he's gone up to Jerusalem. If you wanted to
immigrate to Israel today, you would use a term that
literally means I'm going up. It's the Hebrew word aliyah. Aliyah means to go up. So when you tell a Jew I'm
going up, what that means to him is you're leaving your
country and going to Israel. You're moving to Israel. You're going up to
Jerusalem, originally. For a couple of reasons. First of all, Jerusalem
itself is about 2,600 feet above sea level. And usually, from any of the
environments around Jerusalem, you have to ascend to get to it. You are climbing the hill. You are ascending. Hence, in the Old
Testament, there were the Psalms of ascents. If you've read that in the
psalms, psalms of ascents are psalms written as you climb
up the hill toward Jerusalem. You ascend upwards. So you are literally ascending,
you're going up to Jerusalem. But more than that,
the Jewish person will tell you whenever
you go to Jerusalem, you're always moving up in
life, spiritually speaking, generally speaking,
emotionally speaking. You're going up, you're
improving your life. So when you see
these words gone up, they're synonymous to
he went to Jerusalem. He went to Caesarea
because he wants to make it to the feast in Jerusalem. And he had gone up-- that is,
he's made it to Jerusalem-- and greeted the
church in Jerusalem. But then he went to Antioch. I've always been
fascinated with the fact that though Paul
did go to Jerusalem, didn't really hang
out much there. It wasn't that
important to him, even though it is of prime
importance to any Jewish person to go to visit, to
be in Jerusalem. He was a Pharisee, studied
under Gamaliel in Jerusalem. But you know, he's had some
hard times in Jerusalem. You know, he himself
stoned people there, like Stephen and others, so
there's bad blood going around. Plus he's hated in Jerusalem. And I also think he
felt more of a kinship with the leadership
in Antioch, in Syria, rather than the boys
down in Jerusalem, just a different style,
different flavor. Antioch was the
missionary church, the church that sent him
on his missionary journey. So leaving Ephesus, he sails
across the Mediterranean, makes it to Caesarea,
climbs up to Jerusalem, is there for the feast,
goes up to Antioch in Syria, where he started his
second missionary journey. Now the second missionary
journey is over. Now begins his third
missionary journey in Verse 23. After he spent some time
there in Antioch, he departed. And he went over the region
of Galatia and Phrygia, those two areas
that he was visiting on his first and
second trip, in order, strengthening all
of the disciples. Now Verse 24 takes us back to
Ephesus for a little pericope, just a little segment of verses
that highlight, meanwhile, over in Ephesus, this
is what's happening. So there is Paul. He has started his
missionary journey. Meanwhile in Ephesus--
so the camera now pans. It says, now a certain Jew named
Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and
mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed
in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in
spirit, very zealous, he spoke and taught accurately
the things of the Lord though he knew only
the baptism of John, meaning John the Baptist. 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. Interesting cat. Apollos. His full name would
be Apollonius, which means the
follower of Apollo, Apollo the Greek
god, the son of Zeus, if you know your mythology. So he's Jewish with a very pagan
name, Greek name, Apollonius, nickname Apollos. He's a Hellenistic
Jew, that is, he's a Jew with a Greek influence. He's from Alexandria, Egypt. Now Alexandria, Egypt was
the second largest city in the Roman Empire in
New Testament times. Massive. And 1/3 of its population, about
250,000 of them, were Jewish. Very significant. Alexandria was
founded by guess who? Because the name sounds a lot
like the guy who founded it. Alexander the Great,
332 BC, Alexander the Great founded the city. It was a very
progressive Greek city. But it had a large
Jewish enclave, so large that people would take
refuge, Jewish people found refuge there. Jesus lived there. Mary and Joseph took Jesus
in fleeing from Herod to Egypt in the formative
years of his life. Where did they go in Egypt? Had to be Alexandria. That was where the
Jewish enclaves were. Synagogues in every part
of the ancient city. So Alexandria, Egypt,
a very famous place, a very populated place. I mentioned second largest
in the Roman Empire. It was also a place of
great intellectual wealth. The largest library
in the ancient world was located in Alexandria. Guess how many volumes? 700,000 volumes in the
Library of Alexandria, Egypt, we are told by
ancient historians. Tragically, Julius Caesar
attacked the city in 48, and it burned, they
say accidentally. But all of that great wealth of
intellect and study was lost. It was also the area from which
a guy named Philo, P-H-I-L-O, was from. Now Philo was Jewish,
very revered in Judaism, a scholar's scholar, but one who
allegorized the biblical text. Philo, what he tried to do
is conflate and harmonize Greek mythology with the
biblical Old Testament text. So that's how weird he got. But he was brilliant
nonetheless. He was influential nonetheless. And probably this guy,
Apollonius, Apollos, sat under, gleaned
under, learned from much of Philo of Alexandria. So he shows up in Ephesus. Now he's an
interesting mix of guy because he's Jewish
with a pagan name, but he's Messianic
Jew, sort of, partway. He believes in the Messiah,
believes Jesus is the Messiah. But he knows nothing about the
crucifixion and Resurrection. He only knows about
the baptism of John, not the baptism of
the Holy Spirit, not anything that
happened after John. He just believes that
when John came and said this guy's the Messiah-- and many people were converted,
including Jews-- that he himself believed that. So here he is. This weird guy with
this brilliant intellect from a city of intellectual
wealth and prosperity, shows up in Ephesus
and preaches Jesus, but doesn't know
anything about the fact that he died on a cross
and rose from the dead. But he's pretty persuasive. So Aquila and Priscilla
teach him the way of God more accurately. It's like, you know,
this guy's good. You know, he could preach. If he only knew the truth,
he'd be a better preacher. So they disciple him they
take him under their wing and they and they
train him up and he becomes mighty and becomes
eloquent in scripture. And he understands both
sides of the cross. And when he desired to
cross Achaea to Achaea-- that's where Corinth is-- the brethren wrote exhorting
the disciples to receive him. And when he arrived,
he greatly helped those who had believed through
grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly,
showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. In a very short period of time,
this guy grew, grew strong, and goes to Corinth, where
Paul had been for 18 months, to refute in the synagogues
accurately what he had learned. His story is amazing. And I have some interesting
things about him to share. Trouble is, we'll do that next
time because we're out of time, and what we want to focus in
on is the Lord's Supper, Lord's table. So we'll close our
bibles and we'll continue to keep our hearts open. We'll have a word of prayer. Father, as those who are going
to serve communion come now, we want to turn our hearts
to the meaning of this. We're not saved by this act. This is an act of honor and
respect and love and obedience. It's an act of worship. We know, Lord, that there is
no innate power in the bread. There's no innate
power in the juice or, in some communion
services, wine. There's no power
in those elements. Those elements speak of
something greater, far greater. And that is the one who
came to fulfill the law, fulfill the Passover. But Jesus, you told
us to do this often, to do it in remembrance of you. And it's a reminder of the
commonality that exists. We have something in common. We're sinners in
common with each other. We have failed in
common with each other. We are imperfect in
common with each other. But Jesus died on a
cross for our sins. We have that in common. Jesus rose from the dead. We have that in common. And so, Lord, as we take
this bread, each of us will be nourished
by the same source. As we take this
juice, each of us will be nourished and
refresh from the same source. So we're sharing,
in common, a meal that speaks of the
commonality of our faith, and that you so loved
the world that you gave your only begotten
son, that whoever would believe in Him
would not perish, but have everlasting life. Lord, cleanse our hearts. Forgive us our sins. As we take this to
remember you and honor you, it's in Jesus' name. Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
