Laborers for the Harvest
Acts 18:18–28
They took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Acts 18:26
Apollos’s story is rich with practical spiritual lessons. Here are three of them.
1. Learning and fervor, though valuable gifts, are not in themselves enough for Christian workers. We must know Jesus Christ. Even knowledge of the Scriptures and skill in presenting them are not enough. There are always people in churches who are not saved but who know a great deal. They know the Scriptures well. But they do not know Jesus. They do not know him personally as their Savior and Lord. They are not his disciples. It may be true of you. Although you may have gone to church for many years and may know a great deal about the Scriptures, the mere learning and even fervent teaching of these things is not enough. You must know Jesus Christ.
2. Different kinds of people are needed in Christ’s work. Aquila and Priscilla were different from Apollos, and Apollos was different from Paul. Paul was a feisty Jewish rabbi. Apollos was a man of polish, erudition, and learning. Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos, and Paul were all needed in the church. How do we know? We know because God called them: Paul, with his energetic missionary fervor; Apollos, who watered the seed that Paul had sown; Priscilla and Aquila, who settled down, opened their home, and were hosts to the developing church. Each one was necessary.
So are you, if you are Christ’s disciple. God has given you a distinct spiritual gift. That gift is needed where you are. If you think, I am not needed, because someone else is more eloquent or someone else is more hospitable or someone else has more energy or is a better evangelist than I am, you are making a great mistake. If you neglect to use your gift, the church will be impoverished.
3. If you lack workers for Christ where you are and feel the need, you should pray about it, asking God for help. Paul must have been praying strongly for these churches, and knowing that he was unable to do all that needed to be done himself, he must have been asking God to send new workers into the missionary field. And God did.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37–38).
Those words are true for us. The harvest is plenteous. Just outside our doors are many people who need to hear the gospel. They are resistant. No one left to himself or herself is going to come to God. That is why you must pray for God to send more workers into his vineyard. It is by many that God works to save some.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.