August 21, 2023 | Be On Mission
The Sermon that Bored Someone to Death
Scripture: Acts 20:1-12(NIV)
1 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.
Devotional
When we last left the chronological narrative in the Book of Acts, the ministry of Paul and his team was threatening to the Ephesian people and their worship of the goddess Artemis. Angry people filled the 25,000 seat amphitheater, shouting for two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” A city official finally calmed the riotous mob and sent them home. Ephesus was not a safe place for Paul.
So he left them and headed for Macedonia (the region where Philippi and Thessalonica were) and Greece (where Corinth was, staying for another three months). Because of a plot to sink his life, Paul decided to forgo his plan to sail back to Syria, and instead retraced his steps hundreds of miles back yet again to Philippi, where he stayed awhile. Today, we know of the letters Paul wrote to the Philippians, Thessalonians, and Corinthians. What would these additional visits have meant to them?
Finally, Paul arrived at Troas, a Mediterranean seaport city in Mysia (about 150 miles up the coast from Ephesus). Paul had been to Troas a few times before (Acts 16:8). In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me” (2 Corinthians 2:12). Near the end of his life, he wrote this to Timothy, hoping he would leave Ephesus and visit Paul in Rome, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments” (2 Timothy 4:13). Paul was familiar with Troas, and the people there were familiar with him as well.
All that to lead to the story of the man named Eutychus who dozed off and fell from a third story window to his death. Apparently not everybody in Troas was enthralled by Paul’s preaching! What tricks do you employ when you find yourself with heavy eyelids during a sermon? What do you do when your family member is the one falling asleep? After the guy’s life was restored, what did Paul do in verse 11? Do you think anyone else fell asleep?
Poem
The Ledge
Because I did not listen
Because I was asleep
Because I just could not attend
I fell into the deep
The deep of disobedience
The deep of great regret
Like Humpty Dumpty on the wall
I fell down to my death
It was not my intention
It is to my regret
Despite the Word’s instruction
Destruction there I met
So heed now this my warning
From this cracked egg to you
There’s no kings’ men to fix me
There’s no hope there for you
Except the King himself come
And from His throne embark
To mend all of your broken cracks
From when you missed the mark
So keep awake, I tell you
Don’t sleep, temptation’s ledge
Instead, now, heed the Gospel
The scripture’s sword, two edged
Attend to where you’re sitting
Attend to where you stand
Attend to where you’re walking
Attend to where you’ll land
