“It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work.”
1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. 2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them.
“No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.
And they replied, “The baptism of John.”
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”
5 As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
Acts 19:1-7 NLT
Yesterday, we reflected on the story of Apollos, who was very eager to share the gospel of Jesus, but needed some help with his doctrine. He knew about John’s baptism of repentance, but he didn’t know about Jesus’ baptism.
We might remember that John said there was one coming after him whose sandals John was unworthy to untie. John said (John 1) that the one who sent him to baptize with water told him that the Spirit would come down from heaven on his Chosen One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John said about Jesus, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him.” Jesus is the Chosen One. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
We know that Priscilla and Aquila were kind enough to take Apollos aside to teach him the truth about Jesus that he didn’t know. It’s quite possible to be a follower of Jesus and share his story and message with others, even if we don’t have all the facts ourselves. Apollos had a substantial impact and ministry even though he was short on some details.
Stop and think about that. God calls us to be his witnesses. He will enlist us and deploy us into service even when we are infants in the faith. God isn’t concerned that we don’t have it all together or perfected. We just need to represent him as his witnesses. If God used Apollos who didn’t know about the baptism of Jesus, he can use you and me with our doctrinal shortcomings. Just be his witness based on what you do know.
We see here in Acts 19, though, that Paul went behind Apollos to Ephesus, and he found the evidence of Apollos’ ministry. Paul had to take it to the next step and teach them about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul was pretty intense. We might wonder if that irked him, having to clean up after Apollos. But remember that Paul was also the one who wrote,
6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
1Corinthians 3:6-9 NLT
Isn’t it amazing that Apollos, in this latter example, was following up on Paul’s work? Not that Apollos was correcting Paul’s doctrine with the Corinthians, but he was watering the seeds Paul planted. God was using the collective to complete his work in the hearts of people in the world. That’s what God does. We are his workers.
For me, this is a reminder to focus on fulfilling my part of God’s plan of redemption and restoration in the people around me, in the context of building on what has happened before, and planting seeds for someone else to water next. God is good…
Amen.
Marc Kinna
marckinna 