Introduction
It’s been three weeks since we were last studying the book of Acts together. Last week was the GB enrolment and the week before that the Moderator of Presbytery was with us. So, it’s been three weeks. And three weeks ago we were reading about the riot in Ephesus. Do you remember? Paul had been preaching in the hall of Tyrannus every day for two years. And it said that the word of the Lord was heard by all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the Roman province of Asia. We don’t know how it happened, but the word of God went forth powerfully from the hall of Tyrannus until everyone had heard it. The word of God spread widely, we read in verse 20 of chapter 19, and it grew in power. That is to say, it had a powerful effect on the people who heard it.
But then a great disturbance arose. The silversmiths — who used to make a living by making models of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus — were worried that the growth of Christianity might have a negative impact on their business. Since people were turning from idols like Artemis to worship the one, true and living God, then people would no longer buy their model temples. And the silversmiths stirred up the other people in the city so there was a great uproar. And they dragged some believers into the theatre where they chanted, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ for about two hours. Paul wanted to go to the theatre to address the people, but many of his friends begged him not to, presumably because it was too dangerous. And who knows what would have happened if the uproar was allowed to continued? But fortunately, the city clerk managed to calm the people down and he sent them home.
That’s what we were thinking about last time and we were able to see the power of God’s word to change the lives of people for the better. But we also saw how the devil is always ready to stir up opposition to Christianity. He will do what he can to oppose the preaching of God’s word and the growth of the church. But then, we also saw how the Lord protects his people. And on that occasion, the Lord made sure that the city clerk was there to calm the crowd and to save his people who were in danger. So, the Lord will build and protect his church, despite all the opposition of the devil and despite all the opposition of those who do not believe.
Back in verse 21 of chapter 19 we read that Paul had decided that it was time to leave Ephesus and to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on the way to Jerusalem. And his long-term plan was to get to Rome. Why was that his long-term plan? It probably goes back to the Lord’s words in chapter 1, where he said to his apostles that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them and they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So far in the book of Acts we’ve seen how they preached the gospel in Jerusalem and then in Judea and Samaria. And then, the Lord led Paul into Europe and he planted churches in Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea and Athens and Corinth and Ephesus. All of those cities were in Europe. And so, with the Lord’s help, he was able to take the gospel further and further from Jerusalem and further and further from Judea and Samaria. And if you were from Jerusalem or Judea or Samaria in those days, then Rome represented the ends of the earth. And so, Paul probably wanted to get to Rome, because that’s where the Lord Jesus had directed the apostles back in Acts 1.
So, that was his plan according to what we read in verses 21 and 22 of chapter 19. And in verse 1 of chapter 20 we read how he said good-bye to the believers in Ephesus and headed to Macedonia. And in the opening verses of today’s passage, Luke describes for us what happened next.
Verses 2 to 6
According to verse 2, he travelled through that area. That is, he travelled through Macedonia, visiting the churches which he had planted in Philippi and Thessalonica and so on. And Luke tells us that he spoke many words of encouragement to the people. A better translation is that he exhorted them with many words. So, he preached to his fellow believers in those different churches.
And he finally arrived back in Greece, where he stayed for three months. The commentators believe he was kept there because it was winter and there was little travelling in the winter. They also believe he spent these three months in Corinth, where he wrote his letter to the Romans.
And, of course, wherever Paul went, trouble was sure to follow, because the devil will do everything he can to oppose the preaching of God’s word and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. And so, we read in verse 3 that the Jews plotted against him. Luke doesn’t tell us any of the details, except that Paul changed his travel plans and instead of going to Syria, he decided instead to go back through Macedonia.
Luke lists the names of some of the men who accompanied him on his journey. It’s possible, I suppose, that these could have been fellow missionaries and preachers. But it’s perhaps more likely that they were representatives of the churches who had donated money for a special collection for the believers in Jerusalem. Paul wrote about this collection in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and in Romans 15. The collection was an expression of love from the churches in Macedonia to their fellow believers in Jerusalem. Though the believers in Macedonia were poor themselves, they wanted to help the believers in Jerusalem and to send them money to relieve their suffering.
And to make clear that all the money which was donated was given to the right people, Paul insisted that representatives from the churches who had donated to the collection accompany him on the journey. He didn’t want anyone accusing him of helping himself to the funds. And so, that’s probably who these men are whose names are listed in verse 4.
We’re told they went ahead and waited for Paul in Troas, where Paul joined them a little later. And the use of the word ‘us’ in verse 6 tells us that Luke is once again travelling with Paul.
Application 1
What can we learn from these verses? I think we can learn from them about Paul’s love for the church. He wants to get to Jerusalem and to Rome eventually. But because he loves the church, he revisits all these churches he once planted to see how the believers are doing and to teach them and to exhort them and to encourage them to keeping going in the faith. He loved the church of Jesus Christ in those places. And then, because he loved the believers in Jerusalem, who were suffering because of their poverty, he organised this special collection for them.
Paul clearly loved the church. I remember speaking to a woman years ago in Co. Kildare, who said she was a believer, but she didn’t attend any church. And she didn’t seem concerned about this and didn’t think it was important to attend a church so long as she believed in the Lord Jesus and tried to live her life for him. And so, I pointed out to her that the Bible tells us that Christ loves the church. In fact, he loved the church so much that he was prepared to give up his life for the church. Isn’t that what Paul says in Ephesians where he tells husbands to love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her? And so, if Christ loves the church, shouldn’t his people love it too?
But, of course, even when Christian go to church regularly, you sometimes wonder whether some of them love the church, because some Christians are always complaining about the church and about their fellow believers. Don’t you find this? Over the years, I’ve been all over the place and met lots of different Christians in lots of different churches and it’s staggering how often I meet believers who are always giving off about their church. I remember years ago going to a church when I was on holiday and we arrived slightly late. So, we stood in the vestibule while the minister was saying the first prayer. And the steward at the door began to complain to me about the minister and the other people. And here I was, a stranger to this church, but he felt it was appropriate to say these things to me.
And so, we sometimes need to be reminded that Christ loved the church and gave up his life for it. And Paul clearly loved the church and would go back and forth to visit the churches to encourage the people.
And that’s what the church is, isn’t it? When we’re complaining about the church, we’re complaining about people. We’re complaining about our fellow believers: our brothers and sisters in the Lord for whom Christ died. They are Christ’s people and they belong to him and are accountable to him and it’s no business of ours to complain about them. Instead we’re to love God’s people and do good to them. Paul loved the church and we should too. We should love God’s people and care for one another in whatever ways we can and with whatever gifts God has given us.
Verses 7 to 12
And, of course, as God’s people, we will live with God and with one another for ever in the world to come. And that takes me to the second part of today’s passage, which is verses 7 to 12.
Paul and his companions are in Troas and on the first day of the week they and the believers in Troas came together to break bread. And Paul spoke to the people. That is, he instructed them. He taught them. This was a meeting of the local church on the first day of the week.
God’s people began to meet on the first day of the week because the first day of the week is resurrection day. It was the day the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead to live for ever as one of us. And so, when we gather together on the Lord’s Day at the beginning of the week, we are not meeting to remember a dead Saviour, but we’re meeting to worship a living Saviour. Jesus Christ our Saviour died, giving up his life to pay for our sins. And he was buried. But on the third day, he was raised from the grave and he appeared to his disciples to make clear to them that the one who died is now alive, triumphant over the grave. And to celebrate his resurrection, and to look forward to our resurrection when we will live with him and with one another for ever, we meet together on the same day each week. And we remember him and we give thanks to God for him and we worship him.
And so, the church in Troas met on the first day of the week. And they broke bread. From what we read in this passage, it seems they were meeting in the evening. Probably they had to work in the earlier part of the day. Sundays was not a day off for them. But after work, they gathered together for a meal. This was probably an ordinary meal which they shared with one another. But then, as part of their meal, they probably shared together in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and ate bread and drank wine to remember and proclaim the Saviour’s death and how his body was broken and his blood was shed for us and for our salvation.
And so, they ate a meal together and they shared in the sacrament with one another. And then Paul also instructed them. This is what God’s people have done ever since: we meet together on the Lord’s Day and we listen to God’s word and we take part in the sacraments. Some churches have the Lord’s Supper at every service, while others, like ourselves, have it less frequently. But this is what Christians have always done: they take part in the sacraments; and there’s the reading and preaching of God’s word. And, of course, there’s also prayer. And we believe — don’t we? — that God uses these things — the ordinary means of grace — to convince and convert sinners to faith in Christ and to build up believers in the faith.
On this occasion, since Paul intended to leave Troas the next day, he decided to keep teaching the people as long as he could. And so, we read that he kept going until midnight. I don’t think this was their regular practice, but it was a special occasion because it was the last day that Paul would be with them. And Luke, who was there, tells us that there were lamps in the upstairs room where they were meeting. And presumably he mentions the lamps to explain what happened next. What happened next? Eutychus, who was seated in a window, sank into a deep sleep. Luke refers to him as a young man in verse 9, but the word he uses to describe him in verse 12 is actually the word for a boy. And so, he may only have been a child. In those days, of course, there was no such thing as children’s church and the whole church met together for worship and instruction in the presence of the Lord. And Eutychus sank into a deep sleep, not because Paul was boring, and not because Eutychus was bored, but because of the lateness of the hour and because of the lamps. The lamps probably gave off heat and made the room warm and stuffy. And there have certainly been times when I’ve visited people in their homes after lunch and their homes are well-insulated and the heat is on and I’m sitting in a comfy seat and I’ve felt sleepy too and I’m fighting to concentrate. And the fact that Luke says that Eutychus ‘sank’ into a deep sleep suggests that he couldn’t help himself. He sank into this deep sleep against his will. And since he was seated in a window, which in those days was just a hole in the wall, he fell through the window and down to the ground below.
Luke, who was there, tells us that he fell from the third storey. And when they went down to see if he was okay, they discovered that, in fact, he had died. The fall had killed this poor boy, whose name incidentally means Good Fortune. Well, unfortunately for him, he died. But fortunately for him, Paul the Apostle was there. And, according to verse 10, Paul went down and threw himself on the young man. This recalls the Old Testament prophets, Elijah and Elisha. Once, when a widow’s son died, Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord and the boy’s life returned. And on another occasion, when another woman’s son died, Elisha lay upon the boy and he too came back to life. And now, Paul the Apostle threw himself on this young man and put his arms around him. And then he said, ‘Don’t be alarmed. He’s alive!’ And by those words, he didn’t mean: ‘Don’t be alarmed. You’ve made a mistake. He’s not dead.’ He didn’t mean that. He meant: ‘Don’t be alarmed. His life has returned to him.’
And afterwards, Paul went back upstairs and ate some food and then continued, presumably where he had left off. He continued speaking to the people, teaching them until it was daylight. And so, he left them and continued his journey to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the people in the church took Eutychus home alive and they were greatly comforted.
Application 2
I was listening to a sermon by another minister (Eric Alexander) and he suggested to his congregation that there were three lessons to learn from this story. Firstly, don’t fall asleep in church, because ministers today can’t perform the miracles which Paul and the other apostles could perform in those special days. Secondly, stewards shouldn’t seat anyone next to a window. And thirdly, architects should design buildings with plenty of ventilation. The minister, of course, wasn’t being serious. Those aren’t really the lessons to learn from this passage, though all three of those points are sensible enough. And you could add a fourth lesson which is that preachers shouldn’t keep preaching until midnight.
But what is the message of this passage? It’s the same lesson we learn from those passages in the gospels where the Lord Jesus restored life to the dead. There’s the story of Lazarus, who had been entombed for four days before the Lord brought him back from the dead. There’s the story of Jairus’s daughter who had died, but the Lord revived her and gave her back to her parents. There was the story of the widow’s son who had died and the people were taking his body to be buried. And the Lord stopped them and brought the widow’s son back to life. And the lesson we learn from those true stories and from this one in Acts is about the hope of the resurrection.
You see, the Lord our God has all life in himself. He has all life — fullness of life — in himself. But he does not keep that life to himself, because he communicates it to us. He communicates it to us by giving us our life in this world. And the only reason we exist and the only reason we’re able to live and to keep living is because of him and his willingness to give us life and to sustain us day by day.
And not only does he give us our life in this world, but he gives us eternal life in the world to come. When the Lord Jesus comes again in glory and with power he will say the word and the graves will have to give up their dead. And the dead will rise.
Those who trusted in Christ in this life will be raised to enjoy everlasting life in the presence of God, where they will be perfectly holy and happy for ever. But those who did not trust in Christ in this life will be raised to suffer eternal punishment away from the presence of God. But all shall be raised when Christ comes again and our bodies will be reunited with our souls and we will either live with God in body and soul for ever or we will suffer God’s eternal punishment in body and soul for ever.
And as a sign of the resurrection of the dead, the Lord Jesus, when he was on the earth, restored the dead to life. And as a sign of the resurrection of the dead, the Lord Jesus, from his throne in heaven, enabled Paul and the other apostles to restore the dead to life. Bringing Eutychus back to life was a sign or a foretaste or a preview of what Christ will do when he comes again. And every single one of us should pay attention to this sign and know for sure that Christ will raise the dead when he returns. And since this is true, then we must all trust in him in this life for the forgiveness of our sins and for peace with God, otherwise when he comes again we’ll be raised, not to enjoy eternal life in the presence of God, and not to become perfectly holy and happy, but we’ll be raised to suffer eternal punishment. And so, we should turn from our sin and unbelief and we should turn with faith to the only Saviour of the world.
Application 3
But then — and as I’ve said before — there’s another kind of resurrection which we experience in this life. It’s not a physical resurrection from the dead. That will not happen until Christ comes again. But this is a spiritual resurrection. From his throne in heaven, the Lord Jesus sends his Spirit into the lives of his people to enable us to believe in him. And through faith in him, we are raised from spiritual death to spiritual life and he enables us to live a new kind of life in this world. Before we believe, we live a life of sin. But after we believe, we’re able to live a new life of grateful obedience, so that we endeavour to obey him in all things. Once we did not believe and we had no interest in obeying God. But through faith, we’re raised from spiritual death to spiritual life and our heart’s desire is to do his will.
Conclusion
Our God has all life in himself. He has fullness of life in himself. And he does not keep that life to himself, because he communicates it to us. He gives us our life in this world and he sustains us every day. He also gives us eternal life in the world to come and we receive that new life through faith in his Son who gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and to make peace for us with God. And he also gives to his believing people a new kind of life in this world so that we’re able to obey him more and more and live a better life.
Bringing Eutychus back from the dead was a sign of what the Lord Jesus will do when he comes again in glory and power to raise the dead. But it also points to the new kind of life which Christ gives to us in this life. And so, every single one of us should trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, because whoever trusts in him will live with God for ever. And we should look to him every day for the help we need to live that better life of grateful obedience so that we honour him in all we do and say. And we should look to him for the help we need to love our fellow believers in the church.
Sermons and Stuff 