"Do You Fall Alseep During the Sermon?" Sermon: Acts 20:1-16

“Do You Fall Asleep During the Sermon?”
[Acts 20:1-16]
October 10, 2010 Second Reformed Church

We will remember, last week we saw the Ephesian craftsmen almost causing a riot because they were losing business by people leaving their idolatry and following Jesus. But the town clerk stepped in and got the crowd to disperse.

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and sailed back to Greece to disciple the Christians there. After three months, some Jews plotted to kill Paul as he sailed back to Turkey – so, rather than sail back, Paul retraced his steps back up through Greece to Neapolis – just east of Philippi – reaching it during Passover. After Passover, Paul, Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychius, and Trophimus sailed to Troas – on the Northwestern coast of Turkey – where they met up with Luke and others. And they stayed there for seven days.

Has your mind ever wandered during the sermon? Have you ever fallen asleep during the sermon? I would guess that everyone – including me – has, at times, had their mind wander – and some of us may even fall asleep from time to time. Growing up, we always knew how well my grandfather slept through the sermon by how heartily he thanked the minister for the sermon on the way out.

On the first day of the week – on the Lord’s Day – on Sunday, Paul and the disciples gathered in a third floor room, where they shared a meal and the Lord’s Supper – as they did every time they gathered for worship – and then Paul preached – until midnight. If Paul began speaking at 6 PM – that would have been six hours of preaching.

The room was crowed and lit by lamps. There weren’t enough chairs, so people even sat in the windows. And there was a young man, Eutychus, who was sitting in one of those third floor windows, after eating, in a crowded room, listening to Paul preach for – perhaps six hours – and Eutychus fell into a deep sleep – and fell backwards out the third floor window to his death.

The people ran down to the ground where Eutychus lay – and the people were greatly alarmed that he was dead. And for those who say, “Oh, he was just knocked out” – the physician – the doctor – who was on the scene, Luke, says he was dead – and the people were “greatly alarmed,” which indicates that they understood that he was really dead.

And just so you know – the point of this text – what we are supposed to receive from this text – is not that God will kill people who fall asleep during the sermon. Nor is the point that long sermons kill. We need to continue:

Paul bent down over Eutychus’ body and took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is still in him.” The word “life” here is the Greek word, psyche, which here refers to the “life-principle” – the “breath” that God put into Adam to make him a living being (cf. Genesis 2:7, naphach).

The people who saw Paul’s actions would have been reminded of two occasions in the Old Testament:

The prophet, Elijah, had been staying with the widow of Zarephath and her son while he was on the run from King Ahab. And one day, the son became ill and died, and the widow blamed his death on Elijah. But Elijah took the boy and lay him on his own bed. “And he cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon this widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, ‘See, you son lives.’ And the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth’” (I Kings 17:20-24, ESV).

Elijah’s successor, Elisha, met up with a barren Shunammite woman, and he told her that God would give her a son. And she did bear a son. But one day, the boy started to have severe pains in his head, and he died. “When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bead. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, ‘Call this Shummanite.’ So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, ‘Pick up your son.’ She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out” (II Kings 4:32-37, ESV).

And we will remember that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha got sick and died, and when Jesus arrived, He wept. “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe you sent me.’ When he said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’” (John 11:39-44, ESV).

And, of course, we remember the most important and most famous resurrection – the Resurrection of Jesus, when Mary Magdalene and the other women went to the tomb and found it empty and were greeted by angels who told them that Jesus was alive and to go and tell His disciples. They went and told them, and they ran back and checked. “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, ‘Why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him, ‘Rabboni ’ (which means Teacher)” (John 20:9-16, ESV).

So Paul brought Eutychus back up to the third floor, ate some more, celebrated the Lord’s Supper again, and preached to them until sunrise – another six hours. “And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.” That is a very understated way to say that they were rejoicing, praising God and giving thanks, because God raised Eutychus from the dead – giving him back to his family and people.

And that is the first thing that we should understand from this text: God is able to raise the dead.

And then we ought to consider if that fact is important for us and our lives – and the answer is “yes ”

Paul tells us, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (I Corinthians 15:12-19, ESV).

Paul argues that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Jesus was not raised from the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then we have been lying about God. If Jesus was not raised, then we shall not be raised – and we are damned in our sin.

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (I Corinthians 15:20-23, ESV).

But, Paul tells us, the fact – the historical fact – Christianity stands or falls on this historical fact – Jesus did rise from the dead. Through Adam’s sin, death came to every human, and through Jesus, all those who believe are assured the resurrection to everlasting life.

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:16-18, ESV).

“Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (I Corinthians 15:51-53, ESV).

The resurrection of the sons of the two women shows us that God is able to raise the dead. The resurrection of Lazarus shows us that God can raise the dead. The resurrection of Eutychus shows us that God can raise the dead. But the Resurrection of Jesus –

Brothers and sisters, receive the promises and understand that if God raised Jesus from the dead, we will be raised from the dead. And since Jesus’ Human Body was perfected and glorified, our bodies will be perfected and glorified. This life is not the end, and we who believe in Jesus Alone for our salvation will be resurrected, perfected, and glorified, made like Jesus, for His Sake and for His Glory.

That should leave us “not a little comforted.” Eutychus’ resurrection ought to remind us of Jesus’ Resurrection and that we who believe will also be resurrected to everlasting life with Jesus in the Kingdom.

Having this history should encourage us to live the life we are called to live as we hold fast to the sure Promise of Jesus.

Paul writes, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (I Corinthians 15:54-58, ESV).

Let us not deny that death is awful and sad. Death is the last enemy that we have to face as believers. Death is horrible – the last corruption – the culmination of destruction in our bodies. But the day is coming when death will die (cf. I Corinthians 15:26). So let us rejoice – not desiring to suffer and experience death – but let us rejoice and not fear – knowing that death is not the end – death will die – and we have the sure hope and promise – the victory – that we will be raised to life – just like Jesus – forever to be with Him.

And let us work hard for our Lord with all that we are until our day comes or until the Lord returns. For what we do for Christ and His Gospel is not in vain. It is the Word of Life, the Power of the Resurrection.

The people took Eutychus home, rejoicing in his resurrection and comforted in the knowledge and assurance of the resurrection which is to come unto life for all those who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation.

Paul went to the ship, and he and his companions sailed to Assos – going south down the western coast of Turkey. Then to Mitylene, Chios, Samos, stopping in Miletus on the southwest coast of Turkey– and bypassing Ephesus – hoping to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost.

Let us pray:
God of Life, we thank You that You have proven Your Power and Your Promise by raising a number of people from the dead. We especially thank You for raising Jesus from the dead, so we can know that we will be raised from the dead and received into the life everlasting. With that fact before us, give us the grace to be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.