Acts 18:18-22
There is an old saying that goes something like this, “to someone out there you are the greatest example of Christ they have.” I have seen this in my own life as non-Christians and Christians alike hold me to a hirer standard then they hold even themselves to. If I slip up and tell a “white lie”, or gossip they judge Christ and the Church by that. It is like we live in a big fish bowl and the world is sitting around watching and commenting on our ever action and move.
Since we do live in this fish bowl, what should we be doing? I firmly believe we need to do our best to model what Christ is really like to the world. We need to break the twisted and dark view of Christians as holier then thou hypocrites that just want your money. We need to do more then just that; we need to model traits that are Christ like. In our text this week we can see some of these traits played out in real life situations.
In Acts 18:18, and the connected thought in Acts 18:20 we see Paul has taken a vow, and must attend a feast in Jerusalem. This seems very legalistic coming from the man that only a couple chapters back fought against legalism in the first Jerusalem council. The feast in question was likely Passover, but we do not have enough information here in the text to determine that for sure. So why would Paul the great preacher against legalism, and even more so ritualism, fall back on legalist vows and ritualistic feasts?
Perhaps it would help if we looked at the vow he took. Based on the clues in scripture it appears to that he took a Nazarite vow, which is described for us in Numbers 6:1-21. This vow is a vow of separation and dedication to God for a very specific, and normally short period of time. John the Baptist, and some others were to notable exceptions as they took the vow for their entire lives. During the period of this vow you had to keep yourself undefiled, abstain completely from grapes, grape juice and wine, and you do not cut your hair. At the completion of your time of separation you were to shave your head and offer your hair as a sacrifice in the temple. When the vow was first instated it was expected that you would shave your head at the temple at the completion of the vow, but over time a thirty-day extension was added so that you had thirty days from when you shaved your head to get to Jerusalem and sacrifice it to the Lord. This is the reason that in Acts 18:20 Paul says he must get to Jerusalem.
We do no know why Paul made this vow, but it may have been in response to all the trouble had in recent history, either as a celebration of God bringing him through it, or perhaps he made the vow while still going through it as a symbol of dedication. For whatever reason he made the vow, his rush to Jerusalem was driven by it. It was not an issue of legalism to make the feast, but an issue of integrity.
The people that were around Paul would have known about the vow, and would have known about the thirty-day requirement to sacrifice his hair at the temple. If he did not go, that would have made him look like a hypocrite and that would have reflected poorly on Christ. Paul is modeling here for us the first trait that we will see on our study this week, and that is integrity.
In these same verses we see a second trait being modeled. Paul says to the Ephesians that he “will return again to you, God willing.” (Acts 18:21) In this we see him modeling that ultimately God calls the shots and not man. He wants to come back but only if God wants him to come back. This is the same thing we saw just a couple weeks back we saw him wanting to got to Asia and be prevented by God. If you are to model Christ for the world, then God will steer you where he wants you to go and what he wants you to do in life.
In the next section of our text, Acts 18:23-28, we will meet a new person named Apollos. Apollos was from Alexandria, which was the seat of learning at this time in world history. It was the second most important city in the Roman Empire and had a very large Jewish population. There was a massive synagogue there, and it was in Alexandria that the Jewish Scriptures were translated to Greek for the Greek speaking Jews. Apollos, like Paul, had a great command of scripture and from what we can call was highly intelligent. Through these few brief verses about Apollos we can see some more traits that Christians should model.
Apollos studied the Jewish Scriptures, and new everything he could about them. This allowed him to defend Jesus in his debates with the Jews with great effectiveness. In Paul’s letter to Timothy he writes that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17) Through a study of scripture we build the foundations to face every decision and event in our lives.
Apollos apparently also was eloquent, and popular. We see this later in Paul’s letters when read that people were following Apollos instead of Paul and it almost caused a church split. (1 Cor. 1:12, 1 Cor. 3:4) This is modeling that a Christian should speak well, and be someone that people will want to follow. Granted we do not want to lead them to a church spilt, but if we are heading towards Christ and they are following us, then they too will be heading towards Christ.
We can also see that Appollos was teachable. When we first meet him in the text he only knows up through John’s Baptism. There was much for him to learn yet, which it appears he did willingly and well. A Christian should always be studying and humble enough to be teachable, even by people that might not be as smart or well educated as him.
Apollos was bold and continued to share what he knew wherever he went. He shared as much as he knew and no more, but it was enough for God to use. This is modeling for us that now matter how unlearned you are, Christians should be always willing to share Jesus wherever they should go. God is ultimately responsible for the out come, He merely asks you to share what you know.
This week we have seen some of the traits a Christian should model to the world that is watching. We saw Paul model integrity and a willingness to be led. We saw Apollos model diligence in study, eloquence, a teachable spirit and a bold desire to share what he could to everyone. If we add to this partial list the greatest trait of a Christian, which is love, and everyone that named the name of Christ were to model just this much, think how much of an impact we would have on the world? How many more could we save, if we only acted more Christ like?
Print This Post
