I’ve been meditating on some words for a few days now, wondering what the lesson is. What came to me this morning isn’t a necessarily fun realization, but it’s an important one. And it’s a reminder for all of us.
Acts 18:24-28 contains a fascinating story from the work of the Apostles. It involves a man, Apollos, who is apparently a gregarious and eloquent preacher. There’s only one problem: he’s not preaching the full Gospel of Jesus. Take a look at this:
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
Like I said, I’ve sat with this one for a few days. I first read it last week and then re-read it this morning.
"What are we to make of this?”
This morning, the resounding words I got were: “Be humble enough to be wrong.”
Dang. That’s hard, right? I mean, when we think of humility a lot of times we think of being humble in light of our talents, our beliefs, and our rightness. But it takes more humility, I think, to be wrong. To admit we don’t have it right. To admit our thoughts and beliefs are incomplete.
I think that’s the lesson here.
John MacArthur does a fascinating and important unpacking of these verses that is worth your time. I say that knowing that I have differences with MacArthur on his mental health stance, but that doesn’t negate everything he’s ever said or will say. That’s important.
In this exegesis, MacArthur explains what Apollos was deficient in. Mainly, he had missed the part about Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. The message he was preaching was good and accurate up to a certain point, but it was incomplete.
So Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and corrected him in love. They didn’t berate him. They didn’t embarrass him. They didn’t mock him.
And what did Apollos do? He accepted it. He took their words, corrected himself, and then went on to become an even more powerful advocate for Jesus and the full Gospel.
I’m just blown away by that on so many levels. I’m blown away by Priscilla and Aquila, for one. In an era of cancel culture, too many times we’re looking for people with different and even inaccurate beliefs that we can take down like a sniper. But what if, instead of firing our bullets we came along side them and showed them a better way?
And I’m most impressed with Apollos. He had the humility to accept that he was wrong. He didn’t get angry, he didn’t get defensive. He heard Priscilla and Aquila out, adjusted, and then went on to even greater things.
Friend, I want to be like Apollos. I want to have the humility to accept when I’m wrong, or what I’m saying is incomplete, or when I’m missing something. What a gift!
May we all have the humility to be Apollos this week.
(Pic: I found a new nature trail in my city this weekend and spent an hour on a walk yesterday praying and clearing my head. And I was actually contemplating something I had said that someone told me they disagreed with. I’ll tell you the conclusion I came to some other time. But my goal was to be humble enough to think through it, be curious abut it, and consider another viewpoint.)
So this piece literally popped up in my feed moments after I realised that I’d royally messed up on something and needlessly hurt somebody else. What a relief it was for that gentle nudge, like God telling me “It’s okay. Just admit you were wrong.” Thank you, yet again, for a timely post, Jon!