Paul’s influence with Gentiles is growing but so is his frustration at his inability to reach the Jews. They are violently opposed to him – just as he was to the early believers. He betrayed them – and they are going to hound him everywhere he goes. That is where we pick up this morning. Paul, Silas and Timothy have joined him in Corinth and he is now devoting himself exclusively to preaching and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. “But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

He stayed on in Corinth for some time and then sailed to Syria with Priscilla and Aquila. “They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” What had he just said? As we discovered before, Paul finds it impossible to completely wash his hands of them. That is why we read in Romans 9 that “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” It is his magnificent obsession, isn’t it?

He leaves Ephesus and goes on to Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples and that is where we pick up this morning. In Acts 18: 24 we meet one of the greatest teachers in the history of the church – Apollos.

“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, 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, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.”

After Paul, Apollos was the most articulate and influential figure outside of Jerusalem. Look how he is described. A native of Alexandria and a learned man. Alexandria was like saying he had an undergraduate degree from Yale, a master’s from Stanford and his doctorate from Oxford University. He was in a league of his own among the earliest disciples – even Paul. He had been trained by the finest minds in Egypt – the great center of learning. It says he was “zeon” or boiling in spirit but he was “akoribos” – extremely precise and studiously accurate. In other words, he “boiled precisely”. Some people are 211 degrees and never quite come to boiling. Others are 213 and turn into steam. Not Apollos. He was an extraordinary talent with all the right preparation for the work. He had the pedigree, the skills, the connections, the accent and the ability to both attract and refute. A rare individual.

Yet, with all the talent and abilities we see he has only the baptism of John. We’ve looked at that before and we know that means Apollos and others had been baptized into the confession of sin and repentance. They understood the importance of living a moral and straight life and to show those things that would prove they had turned from their sins. In fact, there could have been no more integrity filled, honest, moral, ethical and right living people in the church. But, they had not received the power of a new life – just the power of remaking the old one. There was no doubt about their character but they were doing it on their own with the best of intentions. They were improved but not new.

That was the case for Apollos. He must have been extraordinary indeed to be able to teach accurately and boldly but it was only after he had been instructed “more adequately” by Priscilla and Aquila that he then had the power to refute the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

They are such an interesting couple. They attract no attention to themselves and yet are able to be mentors and friends to two of the most influential figures in the church – at the same time. There is no sense of their name dropping or signed photographs or selfies. There is something about them that attracts both Paul and Apollos. They are able to correct without offending and to instruct without intimidating. They are not groupies or gatekeepers. They are trusted friends and confidants.

You may have read about the passing of Father Jack Heaslip, former teacher at Bono’s school in Ireland and the “traveling pastor” for U2. When he died this year they described him as their “North Star” and yet there were very few people who had heard of him. He was practically invisible but highly influential.

“Anyone who knew Heaslip recognized those convictions, noted Mark Rodgers, a former top Republican aide in the Senate, who worked closely with U2 on social-justice issues. Before each concert the priest would walk through the arena, blessing the stage, the equipment and the grandstands that would soon be packed.

“During shows he would often stand with his back to the stage, praying for the people in the crowd and, literally, everything that was going on,” said Rodgers. “He didn’t care that no one saw him doing it. … This was part of his ministry, for the band and for everyone there.”

So, after that time with Priscilla and Aquila he was able to do what Paul for years had been unable to do with any real success. He was effective with not only Gentiles but Jews as well. So effective, in fact, that many people in Corinth started the denomination of Apollos and left the church they had been attending. These were people with more sophisticated tastes and interests in deeper teaching. They wanted more than preaching. They wanted confident, educated, persuasive and articulate leaders. Paul’s coming to them in fear and trembling without eloquence was almost embarrassing. On the other hand, some wanted the connection with the most recognized apostle and the connection with the those closest to the original. In the same way that some people like to trace their roots to the Mayflower, these people wanted to be associated with Peter and the disciples. Paul and Apollos were not that. Others, of course, said they wanted a church that was true only to Jesus. They didn’t want anything that might damage their purity and they pulled away from everyone else. In fact, the problem of having favorite teachers and becoming fans was one of the most serious problems in Corinth where Apollos went after leaving Ephesus.

2.  The church there began to splinter – not over doctrine – but over personalities. It is still with us today and for many of the same reasons. We all want to back a winner or someone who especially appeals to us or makes us feel special. The industry that has been built around the church does not help as it encourages pastors, artists and others to turn themselves into a brand with large followings. Publishers, conferences, and even churches have pushed men and women to turn the spotlight on themselves and their success. The church becomes a platform for greater visibility and influence. It’s dangerous, addictive and ultimately destructive. It attracts people with a tendency to narcissism and feeds their already unsteady egos. It’s seductive and divisive and that is why Paul is so harsh in his judgment of it.

It is certainly not a place where someone could easily say, as Paul did, that he comes as a weak, fearful and trembling man. That’s not what we want, is it? We don’t want pastors fitting that description and they know it. We all want Apollos. Yet, it was the letters of Paul, the fearful, weak and trembling man, that were saved by the church and not the words and brilliance of Apollos.

Paul corrects them sharply and warns them not to boast about particular men or to treat their leaders as special. He starts with himself.

“So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful…Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit…Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

My father put it this way, “There are some men who believe they are as big as their gift.” They are small men with large gifts and they deceive themselves and others.

So Paul corrects them and then points them in two directions at the same time. First, the cross as the only standard that can unite a church.

1 Corinthians 1:18:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

A “crossless church” is an incomplete church. It is a church that recognizes the baptism of John with preaching and teaching about the importance of ethics, morals, integrity and repentance but it is a church with no message of redemption. It is a church that desires influence, power and recognition but not the way of a servant.

3.  Second, he points them toward the church as a body and not as an organization. It is an organism with different parts but a single purpose. Look at Ephesians 4:

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

The world desires to do two things to the church. First, to make the message of the cross less important than the message of a good life with the support of common sense teaching and, second, to keep the church immature, blown back and forth by every wind of teaching, focused on itself so that it will never become mature and built up in love. An immature church will be one that is unprepared for works of service, resists becoming an adult, caught up with celebrities, and failing to put everyone to work. That is not what God intends for the Church but that is all too common because we have created churches for the convenience and comfort of the congregation instead of the challenge of becoming mature.

4.  So, when do we see Apollos again and for the last time? It is in Paul’s letter to Titus and he says,

“And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.

As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.”

There is no hint of rivalry or competition between Apollos and Paul. Just the opposite, in fact. It is the great coach and the great player. Two men aligned and focused on the maturity of the church. Both with unique talents. Both with extraordinary gifts and abilities. Both with loyal followers and companions but they turn from competition, pride and division to cooperation, respect and a deep relationship of love and trust. They support each other’s ministries. It is the best kind of harmony from which everyone benefits.

We need great teachers. We need travelling pastors. We need men and women of great brilliance and intellect. But, most of all, we need servants who come to us not with the wisdom of the world and not with confidence in their own gifts but those who come with what Paul calls the demonstration of the Spirit’s power. As he says in 1 Corinthians 4:20: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.”

Not power as the world sees it but the power that comes from a life of faithfulness, humility, sacrifice and telling the truth in love. Perhaps that is why the church is seen as impotent today. We have all the talk, the celebrities, the facilities, organization and resources – but these are only the baptism of John. We need Priscilla and Aquila now more than ever.