that appears in his book: Chappell, Clovis G. Chappell's Special Day Sermons. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1983. Print.
III
BELATED SAINTS
(PENTECOST)
"All the baptism he knew was that of John"
Acts 18:25
"All the baptism he knew was that of John." That is a rather surprising and startling statement to read of one who has been instructed in the things of the Lord. It becomes even more so when we realize that the one so instructed has accepted that instruction and has actually become a disciple of Jesus. And, while the spiritual requirements for the pulpit are no greater than those for the pew, it becomes more surprising still when we realize that this man has not only become a disciple, but has entered the Christian ministry. Yet, such is the case. Apollos is a preacher. He is one of the great men of the early Church. He has set himself to the tremendous task of remaking men and of bringing in the Kingdom of God. But, sad to say, he undertakes this amazing impossibility knowing the baptism of John. What inadequate equipment! How can he hope for anything better than heartbreaking failure? He has much, but he does not have enough.
I
Look at the wealth of his equipment.
1. He is a man of great native gifts. Now, we are not forgetting the fact that the bulk of the world's work must be done by us who are of mediocre ability. Nor are we forgetting that the man of one talent is just as worthy of honor as the man that has five. [ Matthew 25:20-30 ] No man is to be crowned simply because he is gifted. Large gifts do not reflect credit upon the receiver, but upon the giver. But while this is true, it is also true that vast ability opens the door to vast usefulness. A consecrated million will surely do more than a consecrated penny. Therefore, we are glad to welcome into our brotherhood this man of outstanding ability. And we rejoice that through the centuries so many of the world's greatest intellects have consecrated their large gifts to the service of the Kingdom.
2. He is a man of fine culture. He is a native of Alexandria. This city, like the native city of St. Paul, was the seat of a university. It also possessed the greatest library of antiquity. It was a city of scholars and philosophers. Apollos has, therefore, been exposed to the finest educational opportunities of his day. Not only so, but he has made wise use of those opportunities. Thus he has brought to the work of the ministry one of the best-trained minds of his day. So splendidly equipped is he both by nature and training that he is able to preach even in the pulpit of the marvelously endowed and cultured Paul. In fact Paul has to share honors with him. And no wonder. Such a preacher would be capable of winning a hearing in any age. In fact, Apollos, Paul, and Luke share the honor of being the three best-trained men of the early Church.
3. He is a man of flaming zeal. He has kept the hot fires of a fine enthusiasm burning upon the altar of his soul. That is splendid. The truly worth-while work of this world is ever done by the hot-hd. It is these, too, who call out the best there is in us. The tepid, timid, half-hearted individual does little and makes little appeal to either God or man. And the burning ardor of Apollos is all the more dynamic because it is coupled with high culture. Unfortunately, outstanding scholarship and flaming zeal do not always walk arm in arm. There are those the chief ends of whose learning seem to be either to serve as a new kind of fire extinguisher or for cold storage purposes. Of course, this is not the fault of scholarship. Certainly we are not to conclude that the fine flower of zeal thrives only in the lean soil of ignorance. We have all known men like Apollos who were at once highly cultured and highly zealous. We have all known also those who were at once dreadfully lacking both in knowledge and also in zeal. Hot enthusiasm is good in any worthy cause, but the more intelligent it is, the better. Therefore, we appreciate especially the zeal of Apollos.
4. He is mighty in the Scriptures. How refreshing! No disciple who aspires to a vigorous spiritual life can afford to neglect the Bible. Certainly no one who teaches in the church school or holds a position of leadership in the church can afford to slight this supreme book of mankind. But the Bible is the preacher's specialty. He is expected to be able to teach it with some degree of assurance and authority. Apollos has studied and read widely, but he has majored on the Word of God. Therefore, Luke could write of him that he was mighty in the Scriptures. [ Acts 18:24 ] We congratulate him and we congratulate those who were privileged to sit under his ministry. It is well for the preacher to be mighty in organization, mighty in financiering, but it is better still for him to be mighty in the Scriptures. It is such men whose ministry has ever been most rich in abiding usefulness. Bunyan has guided millions toward the Celestial City [a reference to Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim's Progress, Etc. [with Illustrations.]. Zondervan Pub. House: Grand Rapids, 1966. Print.]
This he has done, not simply because he was a genius at allegory, but more still because he was mighty in the Scriptures.
Father, Your will and Your’s alone. Not the way I planned it, but the way You’ve designed it to be.— Matthew (@ryteouswretch) March 22, 2018
Proverbs 19:21 NASB
Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel of the LORD will stand.#ArielsArmy#ThursdayMotivation #ThursdayThoughts #ReadYourBible#WalkByFaith pic.twitter.com/hua0Vljg07
5. He is hospitable to the truth. He is eager and ready to learn from anyone who is able and willing to teach. That is his salvation. That is what kept him from squandering his fine resources for returns meager in quantity and poor in quality. Being eager to learn, he is, therefore, capable of teaching and preaching. To close the door of the mind is fatal. Years ago I knew a young man of high possibilities who decided to enter the ministry. His educational opportunities were of the very best. His work both in college and seminary was full of promise. But having finished his training and entered upon his chosen work, he seemed to think that his days of toil were over. He quit reading. He quit growing. He became a victim of arrested development, a disappointment to himself and to others.
Apollos is different. He is possessed of an eager mind and heart. He continues to learn and, therefore, to grow. And what is more commendable still, he is willing to learn about his own specialty, and that from those who were doubtless far his inferiors both in ability and culture. Surely a rare man is Apollos. Were I serving on the committee for securing a new pastor for my church, I should give careful consideration to this gifted, cultured, zealous, open-minded, and scriptural preacher. But having considered, I greatly fear I should have to vote against him. This is true because Apollos has one great defect that, if left uncorrected, must cause his brilliant ministry to be little better than a failure.
II
What is wrong with Apollos?
It is not that he is a heretic. No more is he a wild and foolish fanatic. He has not been improperly instructed; he has been inadequately instructed. All the baptism he knows is that of John. He does not know the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He has not entered into that life-giving, transforming experience that came to his fellow-disciples at Pentecost. He is thus belated, completely behind the times spiritually. He simply has not arrived. He is not in reality a Christian at all. Therefore, in spite of all his lordly gifts, in spite of his commendable zeal, he is but poorly equipped for the great work to which he has set his hand. No man is adequate for the task of Christian living and of Kingdom building whose adequacy is not of the Holy Spirit.
This is the plain teaching of our Lord. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." [ John 6:63 ] How well fitted were Peter and John after they had seen their risen Lord! They had companied with him during the days of his earthly ministry. They had seen him die. They had seen his tomb which was at the same time the grave of their dearest hopes. Peter had looked upon this grave with increased bitterness because of his cowardly denial of him. But a new day has dawned. It is Easter Sunday. Christ has risen -- the same forgiving Savior as of old. He can hardly wait to get the door of the tomb open before he sends a special message to Peter and grants him a private interview. Thus the past is buried, and Peter has a wonderful story to tell. His fellow-disciples shared his message and passion. But Jesus says, "Not yet. Wait for the promise of the Father. Tarry ye till ye be endued with power from on high." [ Luke 24:49 ]
And just as it is true that no man is adequate without this experience that Apollos lacked, it is equally true that to all who claim it there comes an amazing adequacy. We think wistfully at times of the privilege of those friends of Jesus. How wonderful to have walked by his side, to have felt the touch of his hand, to have sat under the spell of his voice! No wonder that their hearts were crushed when they found that he was going to leave them. No wonder that they could not think of the empty, gray days ahead without their faces being wet by hot and bitter tears. But Jesus tells them, in his quiet way, that by going he is doing the best possible for them. "It is expedient for you that I go away. My going is the roadway to an infinite nearness" [ John 16:7 ] And, incredible as it seemed, they find it gloriously true. They realize after Pentecost that he is not only with them, but within them. He is now more blessedly near and real than ever before.
"All the baptism he knew was that of John." What a fatal defect, what a tragic loss! For this means that though he knows about Jesus, he does not know Jesus himself. He knows about him, but he does not realize him. He cannot say with Paul, :Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord?" He cannot shout with him with unshaken and unshakable conviction, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." [ 2 Timothy 1:12 ] He has, therefore, missed the one supreme essential of Christianity. Knowing only the baptism of John, the Spirit is not yet able to take the things of Christ and to show them to him.
Being unable to realize Christ, he is alike unable to reproduce him. He has not become a new creation. He cannot say with the Spirit-baptized, "For me to live is Christ." [ Philippians 1:21 ] He cannot sing, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." [ Galatians 2:20 ] Men do not take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus. Wanting the Spirit, though he seeks to imitate Christ, he cannot incarnate him. Like so many today, he is simply undertaking to do in the energy of the flesh what can only be done in the power of the Spirit.
Of course, this sad defect tells upon his entire ministry. It tells upon his personal contacts and upon his preaching. He is an eloquent and forceful preacher. Those who hear him are instructed. They are doubtless thrilled and entertained. They are compelled to admire his many fine qualities. But in spite of all this, he somehow fails to bring them a sense of the presence of Christ. He does not compel them to say in their hushed and awed hearts, "Surely, God is in this place." [ Genesis 28:16 ] Therefore, though a wonderfully attractive preacher, he is not a powerful preacher. Though eloquent and earnest, he is not greatly helpful.
It is evident that those choice saints, Aquila and Priscilla, are disappointed in him. They have doubtless looked with eager anticipation to his coming to Ephesus. Now that he has come, they go to the service with high expectancy. But the preacher has hardly begun before they feel that there is something lacking, and they are very sure what that something is. They realize sadly that in his ministry to the saints this great preacher is little better than a failure. Nor does he seem to be more successful with those without the Church. We have no right to say, of course, that those twelve backward disciples that Paul found upon his visit to Ephesus were converts of Apollos. [ Acts 19:1 ] But this, at least, we may say: They are the kind of converts we should expect him to make. They are like him in their entire ignorance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now, many years have passed since then, years in which Christianity has spread around the world. But after all these centuries, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that there are vast numbers in the Church today that are just as far behind the times as Apollos. In fact I am afraid that this distinguished minister would feel far more at home among a group of modern saints than among those of whom he was a part. It is my very firm conviction that the saddest lack of the Church today is that from which Apollos was suffering. We need his ability and culture, but there must be something more. If I were asked to point out the greatest weakness of the pew today, I should have to say "a lack of a vital religious experience." If I should be asked to indicate the greatest weakness of our increasingly efficient teaching force, I should have to give the same answer. If I should be asked the same question with regard our ministry which is the best-trained the Church has ever had, I should have to give the same monotonous answer. Therefore, many of us are tired and harassed and discouraged. This is true because we insist upon undertaking in the energy of the flesh what we can only do in the power of the Spirit.
III
Is there a way out for Apollos? Is there a way out for ourselves? I am perfectly sure that we may answer in the affirmative.
Look at Apollos. He preaches the best he can, but is disappointing. But when the service is over Aquila and Priscilla do not pass the word along that the preacher is unsafe and that they had better refuse to give him any further hearing. Had they done so they might have worked a great injury both to the preacher and to the congregation. Instead they do that which indicates both consecration and tact of the highest order. They doubtless invite the preacher home with them for dinner. The meal over, they proceed to expound unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly. That is magnificent. It is hard to tell which to admire more, the instructors or the instructed. It is certainly a delicate matter to instruct a preacher, for we are a sensitive tribe. Great credit is due these tactful teachers. But great credit is also due Apollos. He does not flash his diploma and his various degrees at them. Instead he listens with childlike humility. As he listens, his heart burns within him. He feels that here is good news indeed.
What, I wonder, do they say to this earnest man who is working so hard and doing so little? I think they tell him what has recently taken place at Pentecost. They tell him that Jesus who was so accessible to his friends in the days of his flesh is far more accessible now, that he has come again in the person of the Holy Spirit, and that he now offers himself to every man who will receive him. "This," they add, "is not mere theory. It is a fact of experience. We have tested it and found it true. We are finding it true even now. He is with us day by day and hour by hour as a living Reality."
And is not this just the message that you and I need? Being religious is such a chore for many of us. We often feel that in spire of all our wearying efforts we have made a bit of a mess of it. In our efforts to be like Christ we feel that we have been about as successful as if we had been out seeking that fabled pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The nimble goddess of the mists has fled far faster than we could pursue. All that we seem to have won is torn garments, sore feet, and a yet sorer heart. What is wrong? How have we missed the way? Maybe our mistake has been that of Simon Magus.
He thought that this Gift might be purchased. Of course we have not offered vulgar coin as he did. We have rather offered other values like earnest effort, a correct creed, strict orthodoxy. Or perchance, as Apollos, we have failed to hear the news, and are simply spiritually behind the times.
What, then, we need to know is that the Spirit has indeed been given, and that he is not a blessing to be bought, but a Gift to be received. "Receive ye," said Jesus as he breathed upon his disciples in the long ago [ John 20:22 ]. So he is saying still. This is the very heart of the Gospel. In fact it is exactly what makes a gospel of the Christian message. Jesus does not have to be coaxed into our lives. He has only, in the personality of the Holy Spirit, to be received. The whole New Testament fairly haunts us with this truth. "This spake he of the Spirit that they that believe on him were to receive. " [ John 7:39 ] "Seeing they have received the Holy Spirit as well as we." [ Acts 10:47 ] "Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit." [ Acts 8:17 ] And hearing this good news, Apollos believes and receives. The same rich privilege is ours also. "For this blessing is unto you and to your children and to them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." [ Acts 2:39 ]
We do not know as much about Apollos after this experience as we should like. But of this we may be sure, that his ministry took on a new joy and a new power. When we catch a glimpse of him in Corinth [ or Achaia ] a little later we read this of him: "He helped them much." [ Acts 18:27 ] What a revealing word! When he was behind the times they spoke of him as a learned, zealous, and eloquent preacher. Now he is a helpful preacher. That is infinitely better. And the sweet wonder of it is that this is a type of ministry that is open to every one of us, whether we preach from pulpit or pew. We cannot all be learned and eloquent, but by sharing this experience of Apollos we can all be helpful. This is the sure word of Jesus himself. "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his inner life shall flow rivers of living water." [ John 7:37-38 ]
From Plummer, John. The Hours of Catherine of Cleves. New York: George Braziller, 1966. Print.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - MATINS
51. Pentecost.
The descent of the Holy Ghost to the Virgin and the twelve Apostles takes place in the apse of a strangely vaulted church. The ceiling is primarily a barrel-vault with leeriness as well as the customary transverse ribs; it rests on a horizontal molding which, in turn, is supported by the apexes of painted wall arches. Along the molding are small armorial shields, In contrast to the generally white interior, some of the vaulting ribs are red and are so disposed as to echo the descent of the Holy Ghost, represented as the white dove perched upon the Virgin’s head. A reddish glow radiates from the dove, contrasting with the Virgin’s halo, here white instead of the usual gold. The pattern of gold rays toward the Apostles, also emanating from the dove, is repeated in their halos of gold radiating lines. In addition, the tongues of fire mentioned in Acts 2:3 burn upon the Apostles’ heads. Although surrounded by the Apostles, the Virgin remains calmly aloof from their agitation, absorbed in her reading. An architectural framework of roofs, finials, flags and buttresses encloses the scene.
A series on the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 12
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - MATINS
52. Wisdom: Judgement of Solomon.
Wisdom, the first gift of the Holy Ghost, is exemplified by Solomon’s sagacity in determining the true mother of a disputed child by threatening to cut the child in two. King Solomon, with the dove of the Holy Ghost perched on his head, sits upon his throne, holding a sword over the infant’s naked body [ 1 Kings 3:25 ] . Kneeling before him is the real mother, who pleads with the king and offers to surrender her child to the other woman. The false mother stands behind with two court attendants. In the lower border is a sleeping infant in a cradle; in the upper margin is an inscription explaining that, through wisdom, the child was restored to his mother.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - PRIME
53. Understanding: David (?) Kneeling before an Altar.
The second gift, understanding or intellectus, is illustrated by a gray-haired, gray-bearded man who kneels in prayer on the step of an altar, asking the Lord, “Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” This petition, inscribed in Latin on the banderole above, is an almost direct quotation from Psalm 118:34 (Vulgate numeration or Psalm 119:73 in current numeration ); the man portrayed therefore, is probably David. Flying over the altar is the dove of the Holy Ghost with a Latin scroll saying, “I shall give you understanding.” The top of the altar is bare except for an altar cloth. At the back is a retable in three sections, each with a reflecting panel of gold and a candle before it. Behind the kneeling figure is an open door through which a landscape may be seen.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - TERCE
54. Counsel: King and Advisers Taking Counsel.
A king, perhaps Solomon, stands in counsel with three advisers. As they confer, a haloed dove alights on the king’s head indicating that counsel is a gift of the Holy Ghost. In his left hand the King holds a book representing, perhaps, the counsel of the past. The Latin legend in the upper margin explains there is a soundness where there is counsel of many; but it is not clear how the large bird standing on burning logs in the lower border, possibly a phoenix, is related to the gift of counsel.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - SEXT
55. Fortitude: Jacob Struggling with the Angel.
The fourth gift of the Holy Ghost is represented by Jacob’s conquest of the angel. While Jacob holds the angel’s wrist and garment, the latter struggles to escape, pointing toward the sky. The sense of the scene is explained by the quotation in the upper margin from Genesis 32:26, which, in the King James version, reads: “And he [the angel] said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he [ Jacob ] said, I will not let thee go ….” The action takes place in front of a red building; there is no sign of the river Jabbok. The angel, wearing a gold halo, amice, stole, and maniple, is dressed like the Holy Ghost and may therefore represent the deity [ of Jesus ], a common medieval explanation for this angel. Jacob has no halo, but above his head hovers the dove of the Holy Ghost.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - NONE
56. Knowledge: Teacher and Pupils.
This schoolroom scene depicts the fifth gift of the Holy Ghost. The seated teacher holds a whip in one hand and in the other, an open book, which he extends for the recitation of the student kneeling before him. Above the student’s head is the dove of the Holy Ghost and a banderole with a quotation in Latin from Psalms 2:12, saying in part, “Embrace discipline.” Two other students studying their books are seated on the straw-strewn floor. The grotto-like room has two barred windows in its inward curving walls.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - VESPERS
57. Piety: Lady Distributing Alms.
Piety, the sixth gift of the Holy Ghost, is here interpreted as charity. Before the door of her house or palace, a fashionably dressed lady distributes money to three beggars. The lady would seem to be a conventionalized portrait of Catherine of Cleves, since she strongly resembles Catherine’s portrait reproduced in no. 96, and even wears the same chatelaine. While reaching into her purse with one hand, she puts a coin into the bowl of one of the beggars with the other. The two remaining beggars also hold out bowls; one beggar is crippled and leans on a crutch, and all are tattered and patched. The dove of the Holy Ghost hovers over the lady’s head, and the banderole above the beggars’ heads carries a quotation from Luke 11:41, which reads in translation. “Give alms, and all things are clean unto you.” In the lower border a parallel act of charity is represented: an unidentified woman offers a dish of food or water to Christ through the bars of His prison window.
TUESDAY HOURS OF THE HOLY GHOST - COMPLINE
58. Fear of the Lord.
Arranged in a triangular composition, like that of the Last Judgement (no. 49), Christ, a kneeling man — possibly Arnold of Guelders, the husband of Catherine of Cleves — and a standing demon are shown. Christ has all of His attributes as judge, lilies, sword, crown of thorns, wounds, rainbow, and golden globe below. The man, his broad-brimmed fur hat on the ground before him, prays to Christ, while the dove of the Holy Ghost hovers over him. With bat wings on shoulders and hips, hell-mouth head, and a strange yellow latticework on his abdomen, the demon gesticulates in his role of prosecutor. All three have banderoles with biblical quotations concerning fear of the Lord: the man’s from Psalms 118:120 (Vulgate or Psalm 119:120 in modern), the demon’s from Psalms 35:2 (Vulgate or Psalm 36:2 in modern numbers), and Christ’s from Ecclesiastes 12:13. In the upper margin is a Latin legend which states that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. [ Proverbs 9:10 ]
MASS OF THE HOLY GHOST
59. Saint Peter Bestowing the Holy Ghost.
The meaning of this rare scene is given in the legend at the top of the page, a quotation from Acts 8:17. The biblical passage tells how Peter and John conveyed the Holy Ghost to the people of Samaria by placing their hands upon them; but the quotation is here changed to exclude John and stress Peter and, by implication, the Roman Church. In the center of the scene, Peter places his hand, with the dove of the Holy Ghost perched on it, upon the head of the first four men kneeling before him. Standing behind Peter are three more men, two of whom are graybeards. The nearest of these seems skeptical and is probably Simon Magus, who appears in the next miniature. The scene takes place in an open octagonal tempietto whose rib-vaulted ceiling is supported by thin columns. Between these columns a deep landscape can be seen reaching to the distant sea where a sailing ship rides at anchor. Around the picture is a border of fleshy, squid-shaped plants.
Robert Redford seems confused about people speaking in tongues at a charismatic service #Pentecost #Shavuoth pic.twitter.com/fwQLKKaLZy— 🎼AdagioForStrings🎻 (@adagioforstring) May 27, 2017
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