Acts 20:1-12

“Falling Out”

July 29, 2007

Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg

It was tempting this morning to come in early and make sure all of the windows in the sanctuary were closed lest a young person decide to sit in one of them and become so sleepy during the sermon that he fell out.  Then I remembered that in their great wisdom those who built this sanctuary decided to keep everyone on the same level by not building a balcony.  If any teens want to sit in the windows this morning, they are welcome to and if they fall out, we need not worry for we will find them in the bushes a foot below the windows.  Of course, this is a good Sunday to be preaching on this text because many of our older teens, who would take me up on my offer, are completing their mission trip in New Orleans.

The sleepy teen in today’s text has always been a great comfort to preachers.  If even the Apostle Paul had people falling asleep during his sermons, we need not fear when the same thing happens to us.  Eutychus’ fall catches our attention as hearers of this word, yet his accident needs to be understood in the larger context of this account, for the story is not just about Eutychus.

In Acts 20, our text this morning, Luke recounts the initial stages of Paul’s journey back to Jerusalem.  This is a long journey for Paul, complicated by the fact that the Jews of Corinth are seeking to kill him.  This plot against Paul causes him to change his plans.  Instead of sailing from Greece to Syria, as he had planned; he travels by land through Macedonia.  We’re told that he is accompanied on his travels by a number of men who are assisting Paul as he takes an offering from their churches to poverty stricken brothers and sisters in Christ in Jerusalem.  These men accompany Paul in order to protect their gift from robbers that might take it during its transit; they are also representing the churches that gave the gift and making sure that it is distributed in an appropriate manner in Jerusalem.

After traveling in two smaller groups for a short period of time, the whole company comes back together again in Troas, located on the coast of modern Turkey, where they stay for seven days.  We know that Paul was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem, so we assume they were waiting in Troas because no ship was immediately available for their voyage.  So it is that Paul and his companions are in Troas on the first day of the week, joining with other believers in a worship service that Luke describes to us.

Perhaps, as this text is read, it doesn’t seem as though a worship service is taking place, but as we will see, this account tells of us preaching and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  In fact, when we study these verses, we discover the richness of Christian worship in the decades following Christ’s resurrection.  We also discover that in the most important ways our worship is similar to the worship of the early church.  Finally, we are reminded that in the midst of our worship, our giving honor and glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are encouraged and comforted to continue on in the journey of faith.

In order to make sense of the importance of this passage for our worship, we need to begin by talking about days of the week.  When Paul was taking the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire the only people who observed a seven day week were Jews, God- fearers and Christians.  The Romans and Greeks did not follow the order of creation found in Genesis and they scoffed at the observance of a Sabbath, taking one day each week to rest from one’s labors.  The Jews assigned numbers to the first five days of the week, calling them very simply the first, second, third, fourth and fifth days.  The next day, our Friday, was called the Day of Preparation.  The day that followed, our Saturday, was called the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was a day of rest and worship for the Jews.

The early Christians kept this method of observing the days of the week, but in the years following Jesus’ death and resurrection they began to meet on the first day of the week, our Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead.  They did this in order to remember and celebrate the resurrection. 

If you have wondered why we meet together on Sundays that is the reason, and the Church has been doing so since its earliest days.  Perhaps one lesson we should take home from this is to watch how we number the days.  In our world, which is dominated by the market place, Monday has come to be seen as the first day of the week.  Christians would do well to see Sunday as the first day, the day that orders the rest of their week and shapes their pursuits and passions.  We would be wise to follow Jesus’ teaching about the Sabbath in the Gospel of Mark, observing the Sabbath because it was made for us, taking the opportunity to pause from our labors, worship and do what is right and good.

The church in Troas met on the first day of the week, and on the Sunday recounted to us by Luke, we find Paul worshiping with this church.  He has to leave for the next stage of his journey the following day and so his time with the church in Troas seems full of expectation, excitement and anxiety.  It is not everyday that an apostle comes to preach in a church, and Paul could not stay for an extended period of time, so he seeks to make the most of the time he has with this community, fitting in every word that he can.  We might wonder just how long Paul preached to this congregation.  The best guess is that the church had to wait until the evening of the first day to worship together.  They had to wait because church members had to work.  Remember, the Romans had no day of rest, so the community of faith had to put off their meeting until the work day was done.  We can guess that their worship service began around 6 or 7 in the evening.

We aren’t told what hymns the congregation sang, but we can be sure that they did sing, for God’s people have always worshiped in song.  The first thing we’re told about their worship is that Paul preached to the people.  Our translation says that he spoke to the people, but it is clear in the Greek that Paul was proclaiming and explaining the Word of God to them. 

Paul’s time with this church was short and so we’re told that he talked on and on.  We can guess that he preached for four or five hours.  That’s a long time.  In our day, when attention spans range from 30 seconds to 12 minutes, that’s an eternity.  No doubt the session would have a few words with me this afternoon if this sermon went on that long.

Here’s the rub though.  It takes time to thoroughly preach the Word.  It takes time for all of us to take in, understand, and apply the Word.  That’s what the Sabbath is for.  On the Lord’s Day, the congregation takes up the Word into their lives as it is preached, seeking to understand and apply it so as to live faithfully in the midst of a faithless world.  This has been the practice of the church for 2,000 years and it continues today.  The preaching of the Word, focusing the speaker and hearers’ hearts on Jesus Christ, is at the heart of what we do together each Sunday.  This is at the heart of what Paul was doing in Troas.  He didn’t have a succession of Sundays to lay out the meaning of the scriptures though, he just had one night.

Unfortunately, for Eutychus, Paul’s sermon that went on and on came at the end of a hard day of work.  Imagine laboring through the whole day, groaning under your work load and then heading off to worship.  The place where you meet to worship is an upstairs room that is so crowded with people that there is not a seat for you.  You’re forced to sit in a window.  Many lamps have been brought into the room so that everyone can see.  This is good unless you’re tired and all of the heat from the lamps begins to make you sleepy.  Before you know it the sermon has been going on for four or five hours and your eyes are feeling very heavy.  This was Eutychus’ situation and we’re told that he fell out of the window and died.

Perhaps we can imagine the horror of the situation as the church ran downstairs to Eutychus’ aid.  The text is clear in saying that the teen was dead, but then Paul throws himself on Eutychus and puts his arms around him, saying that Eutychus is alive.  He’s not dead anymore.  Paul, through the power given to him by Christ, has been used to raise Eutychus from the dead.  This is one of seven times in all of scripture that a person is raised from the dead.  This is important and unforgettable for Eutychus and the church at Troas.  Indeed it continues to be remembered to this day.

It is important for us too.  When we come together for worship, we do so on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, and one of the main things that we do is remember the resurrection of our Lord.  Jesus has defeated death that we might have life.  The victory has been won, the tomb is empty.  When we come together we are proclaiming this to the world.  We are also proclaiming it to one another, for all of us are dead in our sin, just as Eutychus was dead from his fall.  Without the work of Jesus and the grace of our Heavenly Father, we are dead, without hope.  But, and this is an important but, in Jesus those who are dead live.  So it is that every week, just as the Church has done for 2,000 years, we gather to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus and our steadfast and sure hope in the promise of our resurrection.

There may be friends among us this morning who do not know of this hope that we hold so dear.  If that is the case for you, I urge you not to leave here this morning without discovering more about this amazing promise that has been given to all who follow Christ.  Don’t wait until tomorrow to discover this hope.  Please talk with me after the service or with one of our members, for our hope in the resurrection is a gift that we are compelled to share.

After Eutychus is raised from the dead, Paul simply goes back upstairs and celebrates the Lord’s Supper with the church.  I don’t know what I expect Paul to do after this powerful moment, but he does the right thing, continuing on in worship with God’s people.  The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is the final part of this worship service in Troas.  It takes place after the preaching of the Word and confirms what has been preached and seen in the resurrection of Eutychus.  In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the church is given a visual picture of Jesus’ work on our behalf.  The words that institute this supper have been with the church for 2,000 years: “On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it, saying, ‘This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same manner after supper he took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me.’”

These words of Jesus, which have been passed down to us, tell us the story of his life and death.  They remind us of the gift of life he has given to those who believe in him.  Just as preaching God’s Word is at the heart of what we do in worship, so too is the celebration of this meal.  These elements of worship connect us to the whole Christian Church from its earliest moments and remind us that we are a part of something bigger than we can ever imagine: the Kingdom of God.

The result of the worship service recorded in Acts 20 within the church in Troas is encouragement and joy.  In the preaching of the Word, the raising of Eutychus from the dead, the remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection, and in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, this church is given the hope it needs to continue on in faith.  Notice that when the day has dawned and their time with Paul draws to a close, the people take Eutychus home alive and are “greatly comforted.”

The reason we gather on the Lord’s day, the first day of the week, is to glorify and praise God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for all that he has accomplished in the Church and in our lives.  The result of right worship is that we receive encouragement to go forth into the world in joy, telling our story, telling Jesus’ story to a world in desperate need of Good News.  That’s what happened in Troas soon after the resurrection of Jesus.  That’s what happens here each and every Lord’s Day.

May it be that our hearts are greatly comforted this day.

May it be that we share our joy freely with the world.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.