Failure Is Not an Option

July 28, 2019                NOTES NOT EDITED
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!

Acts 18:24-26

SIS:  The eternal destiny of many souls depends upon our church successfully completing our mission—failure is NOT an option!

Four of the most incredible days in the chronicles of man’s accomplishments took place from April 13 to April 17, 1970.  The Apollo 13 spacecraft with three astronauts aboard was launched for a lunar landing.  Two days into the flight to the moon an explosion crippled the spacecraft leaving the crew to what appeared certain death stranded in outer space.  The agonizing plight of the crew was being watched by the Apollo 13 support team at Mission Control in Houston, Texas.  The team was supervised by Gene Kranz.  Two, now famous lines, entered the English vernacular from that experience.  The first, spoken in the movie about the event by Tom Hanks, playing the Apollo 13 commander, Jim Lovell, said, “Houston, we have a problem.”  Exactly what he said is disputed.  The second iconic phrase is spoken by the Mission Control leader trying to come up with a solution to this insurmountable problem.  His actual words are disputed, but the phrase summarized by the movie is, “Failure is not an option.”

Failure, in this instance would mean the loss of the lives of three courageous astronauts, and that was totally unacceptable.

We can learn an even more important lesson by looking at the life of another “Apollo,” or actually Apollos, a learned Jew and early leader in the Christian church.  Apollos was from the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt.  Alexandria was one of the most intellectually established cities in the ancient world.  We know from ancient records that Alexandria had one of the most significant libraries in history.  This library housed and estimated 1 million books.  A fire destroyed this library and its great treasures were lost.  Alexandria was not only and intellectual center of learning but a major economic hub.  As much as 150,000 tons of grain a year were shipped to the Roman empire every year.  Apollos was a early Jewish convert to Christianity and a respected leader in the new movement.  Well-cultured, well-educated and a natural orator, Apollos had a major impact on early Christianity.  He is said in Scripture to have been, “powerful in the use of Scriptures.” (Acts 18:24).

Apollos realized the eternal importance of sharing the gospel message in the Scriptures throughout the entire world.  He, like all great Christians then and now realized that “Failure in this mission was not an option.”  Let’s read about Apollos and this important mission.

²⁴ A Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was powerful in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus. ²⁵ This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught the things about Jesus accurately, although he knew only John’s baptism.  ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained the way of God to him more accurately.  ²⁷ When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers wrote to the disciples urging them to welcome him. After he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.  ²⁸ For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 18:24-28). 

Notice the adjectives and adverbs that demonstrate the passion Apollos had for sharing the gospel:  v25, “fervent in the spirit; v26 speaking boldly; v27, greatly helped; v28, vigorously refuted.”          

It is passion for the Lord that pushes believers out into the marketplace to share the gospel.  Successfully completing the mission for which Jesus saved us and gifted us is dependent upon understanding three important truths.  Failure is not an option for believers who understand:  1.  Natural ability is not a requirement for sharing the gospel;  2.  There is always room for improvement; 3. Sharing the gospel is a “Community Effort.”  First, let’s note that

1.  Natural Ability is not a requirement for sharing the gospel

Now, I will note that Apollos was a naturally gifted orator.  V24 says,

 Apollos was, “an eloquent man who was powerful in the use of the Scriptures.”  A brilliant man, but nevertheless Apollos had one great deficiency that is mentioned in verse 25,

This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught the things about Jesus accurately, although he knew only John’s baptism.

Verse 25 clearly reminds us that natural ability is NOT the key to effectively sharing the gospel.  The key component to effectively sharing the gospel is the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, Himself, (Acts 1:8)

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Apostles were all “unlearned men” (Acts 4:13) When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.

The only qualification the early disciples had was, “a relationship with Jesus Christ empowered by His Indwelling Spirit.

Jesus choose ordinary men specially to be the stewards of His precious message.  The key to effectively sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a person’s “ability,” but their “availability.”  I wish I’d have said that, but this is actually a quote from Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ in an article about one of the greatest evangelists in modern history, Dwight L. Moody.  D.L. Moody literally shook two continents for Christ.  Abraham Lincoln visited Moody’s Sunday school, and President Grant attended one of his revival services.  It is estimated that Moody traveled more than one million miles and addressed more than one hundred million people during his evangelistic career.  When Moody was a young Christian and successful shoe salesman, he heard a Bible teacher say, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is totally surrendered to Him." The young Christian said to himself, "I want to be that man."  And, indeed, Moody became a man who did great things for God.  But, Moody was not naturally gifted as a speaker.  In fact, shortly after Moody accepted Christ as the Lord of his life and set about to become a preacher, he preached a message in his own little church.  According to one writer, at the conclusion of his sermon, one of the deacons assured him that, in his opinion, he would serve God best by keeping still. Another critic praised Moody for his zeal but pleaded with him, saying that he should realize his limitations and not attempt to speak in public. "You make too many mistakes in grammar." Moody’s response according to that writer was to say, "I know I make mistakes, and I lack many things, but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got."
That’s what it takes to be successful in sharing the gospel:  doing the best with what we’ve got.”  As I heard a man sing on the radio not long ago, “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody who changed my life!” (words from a song I heard)

Throughout the Bible, the greatest heroes were often painfully plain people and at times even pitifully flawed.  Availability to the Holy Spirit, not natural ability is a key component to successfully sharing the gospel with others.  When you think you lack the natural ability or intellectual prowess to do much for God consider this, “Engineers built the Titanic, but an amateur built the Ark!”

Though natural ability is not essential to success in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must realize that

2.  there is always room for improvement

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. (1Pet. 1:5)

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.  (Heb. 6:1)

Notice in verse 26, that two seasoned followers of Christ, Pricilla and Aquilla, needed to take Apollos aside and instruct him “more accurately” in the way of the Lord.  Apollos was “highly skilled,” but like all of us, there was room for improvement.

The blessing of grace is that God will accept you just where you are . . . but, He never intends for you to stay there.  God saves us to sanctify us.  Sanctification is the process of “becoming like Christ through disciplined and righteous living.” 

We should never accept anything than excellence in our performance as bearers of the life-giving message of the gospel.  We should always seek to give our best.  Bad service is never acceptable.

A man and his wife had just ordered dessert in a new restaurant in town.  The man ordered apple pie.  After taking one bite he called for the waiter and said, “Sir, what kind of a pie is this mess?”  The waiter asked politely, “Well, what does it taste like.”  The man, somewhat disgusted blurted out, “It tastes like glue!”  Without any hesitation the waiter said, “Well, then, it must be apple.  Our peach pie tastes like putty.”

We must never accept giving the Lord the best that we can give, and along that line, we should always be studying and praying to improve our service to the Lord.  We cannot do much about our natural characteristics.  If we are short, we are short. If we are stout, we are stout.  There are many things we cannot control but we can improve our serve by controlling the things we can.  Apollos, as we read in chapter 18, verse 25, had not received the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  This was common during the early days as the Christian message was spreading out from Jerusalem.  We read in Acts 19,

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples ² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

“No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ “Then what baptism were you baptized with?” he asked them. “With John’s baptism,” they replied. ⁴ Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”  ⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in other languages and to prophesy.  ⁷ Now there were about 12 men in all.

Apollos had a lot of “intellectual knowledge” about the life of Jesus, but like these 12 men, lacked the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Apollos could no doubt have acquired a great following with just his eloquent skills in speaking.  Many do that even today.  But, had Apollos, and these 12 men—or any man or woman—continued without the Holy Spirit, they would be giving God less than their best and it would count for nothing.  Apollos had room for improvement. After we have been saved and received the Holy Spirit, there are still at least six areas we have control over in our life in which we can improve our level of service to the Lord.

1.  We can control the CLOCK.  We cannot control time, but we can control how we use it.  Eph. 5:115-16, “¹⁵ Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— ¹⁶ making the most of the time,  ^t because the days are evil.

2.  We can control our CONCEPTS.  Think right and you will do right.  Prv. 23:7 is a difficult verse in the original language, but the KJV and NASB give a good translation, “[As a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.  To be effective gospel presenters in our day and age, we must guard our concepts.

3.  We can control our CONTACTS. We cannot control everyone that crosses our paths in life, but we can control which people we share the most significant times of fellowship with.  As one of my mentors in sales once said, “You can’t soar with the eagles if you spend all your time floating on the pond with a bunch of ducks.” The Bible warns us, “Bad company corrupts good character” (1Cor. 15:33).

4.  We can control our COMMUNICATION.  You will never have to apologize for something you didn’t say. Jam 1:19  let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak.  God gave us two ears and only one mouth for a reason.

5.  We can control our COMMITMENTS.  Our time on earth is limited. We must set priorities.  If everything is equally important, nothing is important.  The Lord declared, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these [other] things shall be added unto you” (Mt. 6:33).

6.  We can control our CONCERNS.  Related to controlling our commitments, we must control our concerns.  Not all ills in the world are equally worthy of our grave concerns.  Our tears are precious.  We should save our tears for those things that are most worthy.  In the Bible Jesus is only recorded as weeping three times.  Once, when His friend Lazarus died (Jn. 11:35); and once, when He realized how lost and hopeless the world was without Him (Lk. 13:34).  In general, the Bible says Jesus wept when He prayed for others (Heb. 5:7). 

We do not all possess natural talents for speaking eloquently like Apollos, but we all can improve, and should improve, our skills by controlling the things in life we can control.

Being an effective communicator of the gospel of Jesus Christ does not require natural ability, but does require diligence toward improvement.  Sometimes, the most important component guaranteeing that our gospel mission will not fail is to realize

3.  evangelism is a COMMUNITY project. 

Notice the gospel partnerships in just this one story of Apollos.  In Acts 18:18 we read, “And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.”

The Great Apostle Paul was no “Lone Ranger.”  He often travelled with partners, like Luke, Silas, Barnabas, Mark and here we see him with Pricilla and Aquilla.  Then as we read earlier this morning that Pricilla and Aquilla partnered with Apollos by, “[taking] him home  and explained the way of God to him more accurately” (Acts 18:26).

One of the most important, and one of the often neglected, components in the gospel mission is the importance of COMMUNITY.  The Gospel Mission is a partnership, not only with God through the Holy Spirit, but also through the encouragement and support of the fellowship of God’s people.  The concept of “community” arises from the very nature of God and is the first important Biblical presented in the Bible, even before the doctrine of creation (though only one word before). 

In the beginning GOD (Gen. 1:1).  The word for God is “Elohim.”  The “im” at the end of the word is the Hebrew equivalent of adding “s” to the end of a word.  “El” is the general description of the Creator.  (“o” is a connecting vowel).  Now, do not confuse this with meaning there is more than “one” God.  This is an expression used in Hebrew referred to as the “plural of majesty.”  There is only One God (Deu. 6:4).  But, within One Being of God, three Perfect Person exist in perfect community with each other.

Don’t try too hard to wrap your brain around the concept of Three Persons, but One God. It will make your head to explode.  Just accept the way God presents Himself to us, and marvel that within His glorious nature is the principle of perfect community.  God has never been “alone,” and He does not expect us to fulfill His mission alone.

A person can endure hardship with even the very minimum of possession, but one will shrivel and die without “community.”  One heartwarming example of this is the situation with the prisoners captured in Viet Nam and kept in solitary confinement at what became known as the Hanoi Hilton.  Though kept separated in small, concrete rooms, they devised a way to communicate with each other through the thick concrete walls by tapping on the walls with their tin drinking cups.  Through their tapping they shared Scripture, stories, and hope.  The most commonly tapped message was:  “Tap, Tap, Pause, Tap, Tap.  That represented the letters, G-D-God Bless.” 

Nothing is more precious in this life than our relationships, and that is a key component to sharing the gospel.  Just sharing our lives together in worship, study, prayer, and fellowship supports the gospel mission.  The motivation for sharing the gospel comes from our relationships:  first to God through Christ, and then with others through community.  It takes both components to make sure the mission does not fail.

The older I get, the more I understand the importance of community.  I don’t like to be alone with my thoughts—and many times, they don’t like me much either.  I am so thankful for my wife, my kids, and now my grandkids.  This reminds me of a story I read about a man who loved his wife more than anything in life. Like most husbands, he realized how lost he’d be without her.  He would do anything for her.  One day the man was brought before the judge. He protested the charge saying it was all a misunderstanding.  The judge asked, “How, Sir, was this a misunderstanding?” The man explained, “Well, Judge.  It was my wife’s birthday.  She said, ‘I would love to have a mink “stole” for my birthday.’  So, Judge, when her birthday came, so I went out and “stole” one for her.”

Perhaps our love is not always perfect, but it is always needed.  Being a part of a warm, friendly, generous, godly “community” protects us from the stresses of life—and especially from the stresses of sharing the gospel with others.  Community helps guarantee our mission will not fail.  Will you commit yourself to God’s Community so that together we can fulfill the Mission to which He called us?

The eternal destiny of many souls depends upon our church successfully completing our mission—failure is NOT an option!  This mission does not require natural ability; it does require continuous improvement; but is also a community effort.  We simply must not fail in this mission.