Acquila, Priscilla And Apollos

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2uwgk6

I thought I had done a really good job with the sermon one Sunday. In fact, I had even incorporated an illustration from cartoons on protecting sheep. But in my talk I had made an error. Instead of saying that it was a coyote that was trying to steal the sheep, I had mentioned that it was a wolf.

Looking back on that talk I realize that I was wrong. But I’d been talking about sheep and wolves and that thought of the cartoon crossed my mind and before I knew it I had made that connection.

Not long after that service a member approached me and with a big grin on his face told me that I needed to brush up on my cartoon history. He got me. I’m sure that he also got the main gist of the sermon, but that one error stuck out in his mind and he wanted me to know about it.

Now, there are several routes that he could have taken. After all, this was not a critical doctrinal error, but just a factual error in an illustration. He could have shouted out in the service and corrected me. Or he could have just let it go and allowed me to be in error on future talks.

But instead he chose to come to me privately and let me know about my goof. I’m glad he did. Really, I am.

Imagine if you will that you are traveling to another town and you stop in for a worship service. As you settle into your seat and join in the worship it comes time for the preacher to deliver his message. All of it sounds really good and all of his points are in agreement with the Bible.

But then one point he makes goes against what you know to be the truth. He’s wrong on that point. You turn to your spouse and both of you agree. The Bible says one thing and he’s saying something different. What do you do?

Well, this actually did happen to a couple in the Bible. We find their story in Acts 18:24-28.

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, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 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. 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; for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Apollos is perhaps one of the most talented speakers in the entire Bible. Yet, some of what he was preaching was in error and in need of correction. We can learn much from the example of Aquila and Priscilla.

First of all, these two were informed enough to recognize error when they encountered it. For those who practice a regular regiment of reading the Bible and worshipping God, they also will find it quite easy to spot something that is not right.

Second, this couple chose to find the right time and the right approach to reach out to Apollos. Although Matthew 18:15-17 deals with how to engage a brother who has sinned against you personally, the basic structure of that passage still works quite well for situations like this. Basically that reading says that we should make our first approach one that is on a one to one basis. That worked in this case and it will work for us today as well.

Third, we find that error was encountered, dealt with in a proper way and corrected in a proper spirit. Things worked out.

Friends, sometimes our initial reaction to an error is to scream out or perhaps we are tempted to deal with the error in a way for which God would not approve.

But consider the words of Paul in Galatians 6:1. “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself let you also be tempted.”

On Our Daily Walk today, may we always seek to be helpful to others, even offering to provide correction when necessary. May we also consider those who approach us and accept their comments and corrections as they are offered.

Our thought for the day: “Don’t mind criticism. If it’s untrue, disregard it; if it’s unfair, keep from irritation; if it’s ignorant, smile; if it’s justified, learn from it.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.