The Apollos Mission

The first mission to the moon was achieved through casual effort. Wildly improvised estimations and vague calculations were used to map out the quest. To reach the moon, all it took was a hastily constructed machine, a smidgeon of math, and a whole lot of sincerity.

Or not.

The truth is—such an endeavor required extensive devotion to the tiniest detail, meticulous calculations, and a whole lot of focused determination. To suggest that anything like traveling to the moon required nothing less than unwavering loyalty to the facts would be ludicrous. The slightest glitch could have spelled disaster with a capital D.

Oddly enough, when it comes to approaching God, the great majority of the world seems to think that it’s all a matter of just trusting your feelings. Intense devotion to Scripture is considered bad form and any kind of adamant focus on obedience is just plain annoying. In all things spiritual, the vast majority of religious enthusiasts urge that we keep things lovingly blurry.

There is a common misconception that the Old Testament was all about obedience and that the New Testament is all about love. The truth of it is, the plan for mankind has always been about both, for they are deeply connected.  

 

God makes it plain in both the old and new covenant that He is the very definition of love. “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (I John 4:8). God also makes it plain that any love directed toward Him without obedience is just so much bogus flotsam. “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me” (John 14:24).“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4). These passages don’t sit too well in the common religious arena. You might be willing to allow a few Christian concepts as accessories, but only as long as they don’t interfere with what you want to do.

You can imagine what would have happened if the missions to the moon had adjusted their plans according to whether or not other people at NASA might be offended or if some of their methods for insuring safety had made any of the astronauts uncomfortable.

“Some of the guys don’t like the look of the landing module.”

“Neil says the helmet is too restrictive.”

You get the idea.

When it comes to circumstances where our physical lives are on the line, we want careful attention and unwavering dedication to the facts. We want our pilots and bus drivers and doctors to be extremely aware of limitations and details. But when it comes to our very souls, we turn things over to a very casual attitude, with a rampant disregard for knowledge delivered by the Creator. We wing it.

Despite what the status quo of the religious world says, when it comes to approaching God, obedience is an absolute requirement. Nothing else is acceptable. Of course no one is capable of pulling off perfect obedience. But it is only a genuine and determined pursuit of God’s will that gives us access to the grace of God. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). Anything less than obedience is just so much religious static. Certainly, the grace of God is the only thing that ultimately saves us. But that doesn’t mean we simply hop into a contraption of our own making and smile our way to the moon.

There was a man named Apollos who was off course. Based on his trajectory, he had veered off from the truth. According to current religious standard operating procedure, the right thing to do would have been to just accept him where he was and let him go on his merry (if not completely accurate) way.

But here’s what happened.

“Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue” (Acts 18:24-26). Notice Apollos was “mighty in the Scriptures,” “fervent in spirit,” and he was accurate about a lot of things concerning Jesus. This was a very religious man who knew his Bible, so-to-speak.

But he was not completely on course. When he was finished with his presentation of the truth as he understood it, a husband and wife pulled him aside to point out flaws in his conclusions. “But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). Priscilla and Aquila could have just left him alone. They could have called his beliefs “good enough.” But instead, they took him aside and had the audacity to correct him.

Nowadays, whenever it comes to conflicting beliefs, we are urged to back off—to “live and let live” or “agree to disagree.” It’s not about helping people find the truth. It’s about broadening the definition of truth. It’s about broadening the parameters of Christianity. If the Apollo missions had been shaped by this kind of thinking, the moon would remain untouched and there would be a lot of dead astronauts.

But it’s not easy for us. We are confronted with difficult friendships. We meet a person who is “spiritual.” They aren’t living their lives according to God’s will, but they seem so wise and so philosophically sophisticated. Or we meet someone who’s part of a denomination. And as far as biblical knowledge and genuine love for people, they run circles around some of your so-called brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so we begin to tweak the criteria. In the guise of love, we promote unity at the cost of doctrine—which in essence is a complete lack of love for God and also for the ones who are lost. No matter how much we might try to whittle down the Bible to make things more user-friendly, the way of salvation remains unchanged.

Real love and concern for a soul will be found in those who are like Priscilla and Aquila, who kindly pull someone aside. Not to pat someone on the back and send them on their slightly askew way. But to do the most loving thing of all—help them find the truth.