Fruitful Ministry in Ephesus
Acts 18:23-19:20
As we pick up in Acts 18 this morning, we begin Paul’s third missionary journey.
Here is a map of the third missionary journey.
Some have questioned whether it is right to even call Paul’s third missionary journey a ‘journey’ because Paul stayed in the city of Ephesus for some three years and that fact makes the third missionary journey stand out from the first and second missionary journeys.[1]
It all began around 52 AD[2]— roughly twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—when Paul ventured out for the third time to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We emphasize Paul’s activity but we acknowledge the unseen supervision of the risen and ascended Christ who is committed to build his church.
Paul’s destination on the third missionary journey it seems was Asia, specifically the city of Ephesus, one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Paul purposely traveled the overland route to Ephesus so that he could visit the churches he had helped start in previous journeys--the churches in Derbe, Iconium, Lystra and Antioch in Pisidia—and strengthen the believers in those churches. I’ve illustrated those churches on the map. Don’t be thrown off by the church buildings with spires—it wasn’t that way.
Paul’s trek at the beginning of the third missionary journey was similar to his trek at the beginning of the second missionary journey. If you were with us then, you might remember that at a key point in the second missionary journey, Paul was prevented by the Spirit from going north into Bithynia and prevented from going southwest into Asia Minor (or Asia)[3] and we wondered out loud at the time, completely tongue and cheek, why God didn’t care about the people of Asia. And again all of that was completely tongue and cheek. We know that God cares about the people of every tribe and nation and we know that it’s God design that the good news of the gospel be proclaimed, be heralded to every tribe and nation under heaven.
Well here in the third missionary journey, it’s clearly God’s timing for Asia to be reached with the good news of the gospel. (And by the way this would be present day Turkey which is the focus of prayer on the night this Good Friday as we gather for Secret Church). So in the providence of God Paul travels to Ephesus where he remains for three years, most of the time teaching and preaching in the hall of Tyrannus (the word Tyrannus interestingly means “tyrant”…Here Ye! Here Ye! Come to the hall of Tyrant, Paul is sharing good news there!). That’s part of our story today…
And Luke tells us that during that time in Ephesus ‘all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks’. Now look at the province of Asia on the map. It really was an amazingly fruitful time for Paul.
Buttressing that observation, while Paul was in Ephesus, he penned the book of 1 Corinthians and he told the Corinthians that “a wide door for effective work” had opened to him in Ephesus.
Well after three years in Ephesus, Paul traveled northwest and around the Aegean sea, strengthening believers and then down into Achaia (think the city of Corinth) and then he backtracked along the route he had traveled and made his way to Jerusalem.
So when you think of the third missionary journey, think of Paul’s significant ministry in the city of Ephesus. And that’s why I titled the message Fruitful Ministry in Ephesus.
We pick up in verse 23…Acts 18:23… After spending some time there… “there” is the city of Antioch, he (Paul) departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples[4].
As I mentioned in the introduction, Paul left Antioch and purposely took the overland route to visit those churches he had founded on the first missionary journey because he was committed to strengthen the believers who had recently come to Christ. The foot journey from Antioch to Ephesus was well in excess of 1,000 miles. And it was all because he was motivated to nurture new converts.[5] Let’s remember that about Paul—yes he was an evangelist but strengthening new believers was always on his mind.
Before we move any further let me put on the screen what I think is the big idea for our passage…
POWERPOINT
The Big Idea
The gospel advances as believers are ‘completed’, as unbelievers are converted, as the Word of God is proclaimed and taught, and as God does extraordinary “Word amplifying” and “messenger confirming” miracles.
Let me take a moment and demonstrate where each phrase of the big idea comes from.
The first story we’ll come to this morning is about Apollos the eloquent preacher, who is ‘completed’ by Priscilla and Aquilla…we could say it this way, after some tutoring from Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos goes from making B’s and C’s on his theology tests to making A’s. Priscilla and Aquila pull him aside and “complete him” and he subsequently goes off to Corinth where his ministry is very, very fruitful. The gospel advances as believers are ‘completed.’ You and I do a lot of that around here and Lord willing and Lord enabling, we can do more.
The second vignette we come to is about twelve disciples of John the Baptist who hadn’t even heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul shares the good news with them and they are converted. The gospel advances as unbelievers are converted.
The third vignette in our passage is about Paul initially preaching and teaching in the synagogue in Ephesus and then moving to the lecture hall of Tyrannus where he shares the word of God daily. At the end of the third missionary journey—a year or two later, Paul has left Ephesus, he has traveled around, and he returns to meet with the elders of the Ephesian church—and he reminds the Ephesian elders that he didn’t shrink from declaring to them the whole counsel of God. Paul gave attention to the Word of God. God calls his church, God establishes his church, God builds his church through His word. The gospel advances when the Word of God is proclaimed and taught.
And finally our passage this morning ends with some ‘power’ displays by God. The gospel advances as God does extraordinary “Word amplifying” and “messenger confirming” miracles. I’ve tried to word that carefully. Why does God sometimes grant miracles? I think he wants to amplify his word and to I think he wants to give confirmation that He is working through a certain messenger. So why did he grant extraordinary miracles in Ephesus and not in Thessalonica and Berea? It may be because Ephesus was profoundly influenced by magic and the cult of the goddess Artemis.
Well let’s continue in our passage as we explore the first point in the big idea…the gospel advancing when believers are ‘completed’
And to do that let me put up a slide that will help us understand the first story…
The third missionary journey begins in Acts 18:23 and this next story is a vignette that transpires before Paul arrives in Ephesus. What’s going on in the church at Ephesus before Paul arrives? A married couple is discipling a preacher named Apollos. So these verses that we’re going to look at, verses 24-28 are an interlude of sorts before Paul arrives…
Well let’s look at verse 24 and 25…
24Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25He 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.
Luke, in verses 24 and 25, gives us a pretty extensive resume for Apollos. We learn seven things about him and it’s only the seventh characteristic which gives us pause—he knew only the baptism of John. Now what does that mean? Well let’s build Apollos’ resume from the ground up.
As a Jew he was a native of Alexandria, Egypt[6]. The name Apollos was indeed a common name in Egypt, being a shortened form of Apollonius.[7]
Alexandria was the second largest city in the Roman Empire and it boasted a 400,000 volume library[8] It was an intellectual center, a place of ideas.
It was in Alexandria that Jewish scholars had produced the Greek version of the Old Testament which we know as the Septuagint some 200 years before the time of Christ.
And it was in Alexandria where the great scholar Philo, a contemporary of Jesus lived and worked trying to interpret the Old Testament allegorically and reconcile it with Greek philosophy[9]
It’s conceivable that Apollos became a Christian in Alexandria; at least we believe he became a Christian before he came to Ephesus.
Verse 24, He was an eloquent man competent in the scriptures.
The word translated eloquent can go two different directions. And because it only occurs here in the New Testament, we really can’t pin it down.
The word either refers to Apollos’ capacity as a speaker[10]--“Apollos could speak very well,” or “Apollos was a great orator,” or it refers to the extent of his learning—“Apollos knew very much” or “Apollos was a man who had studied very much” [11]
He was an eloquent man or a learned man, and he was competent, “powerful [dynatos] in the Scriptures,”[12]
Apollos clearly had potential to be a powerful teacher in the faith. His resume continues in verse 25….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.
Notice how the phrase ‘being fervent in spirit’ is sandwiched between ‘instructed in the way of the Lord’ and ‘taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.’ … I really think this points us to the fact that we should translate ‘being fervent in spirit’ as ‘being fervent in the Spirit, capital ‘s’ for the Holy Spirit rather than lower case ‘s’ implying simply Apollos’ human spirit.[13] Some of your bibles offer that possibility in the margin.[14] If we go with this interpretation--and Holy Spirit inspired speech is a strong theme in Acts[15]--then Apollos is a Christian. Anyone who has the Holy Spirit is a Christian and anyone who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit is not a Christian.[16]
Apollos had been instructed (instructed is from the Greek word that we get catechism from)…Apollos had been “formerly taught” in the way of the Lord. What does that mean? We could guess and many have.[17] And he’d been ‘taught accurately the things concerning Jesus’…sounds pretty comprehensive to me….
His one deficiency was he knew only the baptism of John. Now John the Baptist’s baptism emphasized repentance and forgiveness of sins. It was preparatory and it didn’t communicate any associations with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. When we baptize today we emphasize a convert’s immersion into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Do you not know, Paul writes in Romans 6, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptisms into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. It’s conceivable that Apollos didn’t know that. And to preach Jesus and then offer converts the baptism of John would be confusing and misleading.[18] So it may have been that Apollos’ understanding of Christian baptism was inadequate.[19] He was a Christian. He had the Spirit. He had been formerly taught the way of the Lord. He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. But he was still deficient. He knew only John’s baptism, and he had to be further instructed by Aquilla and Priscilla.[20]
Verse 26… 26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside (some of the translations[21] say “took him home”) and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Notice in verse 25…he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus
And in verse 26… and (they) explained the way of God more accurately.
Apollos’ knowledge and teaching went from accurate to more accurate. Though its unstated we should highlight the fact that Apollos was teachable. Having highlighted the issues of his resume, it’s amazing that Apollos didn’t have the attitude, “You lay people can’t teach me anything!”
It’s noteworthy that Priscilla played a role with her husband in further instructing Apollos.
It is noteworthy that a lay couple took this brilliant budding preacher home and ‘completed’ him.
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Kevin Miller in a little known book entitled More Than You and Me , subtitled Touching Others Through the Strength of your Marriage writes… “Most Christians have been trained to think of serving Christ individually—all alone. How often might our ministries—and our marriages—be strengthened if we could find a way to draw on our spouse's strengths? It's not always possible, and it's not always easy. But God has called you to serve Him. He also has called you to be married. Those two callings not only CAN go together, they SHOULD go together. When they do, you'll find a stronger Christian life and a stronger Christian marriage...
The Bible teaches us that we have a loving God who created each of us and then brought us together in marriage. He did it for a reason. What would our marriages be like if we went back to the beginning and asked, 'What do You want our lives to accomplish for You, Lord?' . . .