Accurate Information

Have you ever received a phone call, email or heard someone tell a story telling about a person, an event or some news report proclaiming doom and gloom? I’m sure you have. I am sure we all have. Many times upon receiving such information, I was eager to pass that on to someone else. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, I found out the information was not true. In our information age there are many internet sources that cannot be trusted. In fact, some “sources” are actually satirical in much of what they produce. An unknowing individual will read the report and pass on that report as if it were fact. It is kind of like the old game “telephone” where the person at the start of the line says something like “my shoes are red” and by the end of the line the last person declares to the whole group, “he said ‘I choose to go to bed.’” We must be careful not to gossip or spread lies or false information, knowingly or unknowingly.

In dealing with the Sadducees, Jesus had to explain that they were basing their views on some faulty assumptions. They thought they would trap Jesus with a question about marriage and the Jewish Laws/Customs in dealing with bringing up a child for a deceased relative. Their question would mock the resurrection asking, “In the resurrection whose wife...will she be?” To their foolishness Jesus declared “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). They had faulty information causing them to be wrong about the resurrection. They needed accurate information so they could believe and obey.

In Acts 19, Paul traveled to Ephesus and found an interesting situation that needed some accurate information. Paul found some disciples that had believed and been baptized in John’s baptism. They didn’t understand being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They didn’t know about the Holy Spirit. They had tried to do the best they could with what they knew and were even baptized into John’s baptism. But something was missing. They needed to know whole truth. Paul preached unto them Jesus and they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus (v.5). Once presented with the accurate information, these 12 men obeyed the gospel. In order for our friends and neighbors to have the opportunity to do the same, we must tell them about the Lord’s plan of salvation so they too can be saved.

In the previous chapter, Acts 18, we learn of a man who was also willing to obey once he learned the truth. “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue” (v.24-16). When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, the realized he didn’t know the whole story. He needed to gain the accurate information. So they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. We know that Apollos obeyed the gospel and went forth preaching the gospel in accuracy from this moment on because the brethren in Ephesus wrote of letter to pass on to the disciples in Achaia when Apollos traveled to work with them. We are told that he “vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ” (v.28). Apollos had the courage and character to be corrected and make adjustments in his life when he heard the truth. All he needed was the accurate information.

It is interesting that in each of these accounts, someone had to tell the others that they were mistaken. Jesus told the Sadducees the truth, but they rejected the gospel because they did not believe in a resurrection. They chose to follow the false information of men. Paul helped the 12 men know the difference between following John and following Christ. Those men had the courage to obey the gospel and to get busy in the kingdom. Aquila and Priscilla had the courage to take Apollos aside and show him that he was missing some of the vital information in being a Christian. Apollos was willing to accept the message and give his life to following Christ while preaching the gospel to the lost. We appreciate those who will tell others the truth.

Additionally, we understand that each of us has a responsibility to respond to the accurate information. The Sadducees rejected the message of Christ because of their own bias. The 12 men were humble enough to listen to Paul and obeyed the gospel. Apollos, who had so much going for him (zeal, powerful speech, and eloquence), did not reject the truth in arrogance but received the message in submission to the gospel of Christ. Let us be a people who speak the whole truth and obey the whole truth when it is spoken to us!