Acts 20:1-16 - Ordinary Means for Extraordinary Ends

As a Christian, what are the most important or most impactful ways you can be a witness for Christ? What are the most effective ways you can affect the health and growth of your church?

It’s common for American Evangelicals to think of church and Christian evangelism in much the same way as we think about sales marketing or community organizing or political campaigning… “This Sunday, don’t miss the spectacular performance… the critical message that will change your spouse or your kids…” or “You’ll never guess what pastor so and so has to say…” or “For the sake of our nation, join such and such church…”

But, friends, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the church and the Lord of Christianity, He has left us ordinary means in and through which He works to accomplish His extraordinary ends or purposes. In our passage today, we’re going to read about a lot of ordinary stuff and some extraordinary stuff. We’re picking up with the Apostle Paul’s return journey to Jerusalem and then to Rome.

This is now his third missionary trip, and he’s decided or resolved to go to Jerusalem. But on the way, Paul was stopping by various churches which he planted or helped to plant over the last few years. His aim was not only to see sinners converted, he wanted to see the kingdom of Christ expand and last long after he was gone. May God help us to gain much from our time in this text today.

Scripture Reading

Acts 20:1–16 (ESV)

1 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

Main Idea:

The Christian life and mission are counterintuitive; God uses ordinary means to accomplish extraordinary ends.

Sermon

1. An Exemplary Encourager (v1-6)

This whole passage is dripping with encouragement! It reads almost like a travel log, and then there’s that strange (almost funny) miracle with Eutychus, but for the most part Luke is naming places and days and people… which are all pretty unfamiliar to us. But if you’ll look at it carefully, I’m sure you’ll see all the encouragement that I’ve seen as I’ve studied it this week.

The first mention of encouragement is in v1. Luke says, “After the uproar ceased [that is, the uproar caused in Ephesus by the idol-makers who were losing money], Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.” It was a couple of Sundays ago when we were last in the book of Acts, and last time we read through that longest narrative portion of the whole book. Luke told us about the idolatry in Ephesus and about the reality that Christians will often be met with hostility in our fallen world, because the gospel of Christ calls sinners to live transformed lives under Christ as Lord.

Friends, the gospel is good news for sinners precisely because it’s a message of salvation by God’s grace through simple faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But the sinner who hears that good news – that Christ died under God’s wrath in my place – must believe the message is true in order to benefit from it.

And, friend, if you believe that Christ died for you, that He conquered death for you, and that He is the risen King of kings and Lord of lords, then such belief is going to change the way you live. Sinners don’t become Christians by obeying Christ’s commands… but Christians strive to obey Christ’s commands because they believe the gospel is true.

If you want to talk with someone about what it means to believe the gospel or what it means to live as a biblical Christian, then please come talk to me or some other Christian in the room after the service today.

Back to v1… and the theme of encouragement… Before Paul left Ephesus, Luke tells us that he made a point to “encourage” the “disciples” he was leaving behind (v1). The second mention of encouragement is right there in v2. Luke says, “When he [i.e., Paul] had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.” So, after encouraging the disciples in Ephesus, Paul traveled through Macedonia to encourage the disciples there as well. This would have likely included the churches in Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi.

And after his time in “those regions” of Macedonia, I wonder what Paul did in “Greece” for “three months” (v2-3)… Remember Greece is where Corinth was located, and Corinth is the town where Paul had set up shop with Priscilla and Aquila for 18 months just a short time ago (Acts 18:1-11). Paul had seen many people “believe” the gospel and “baptized” into the church of Corinth (Acts 18:8).

I think it’s safe to say that Paul was in Corinth encouraging the disciples there, and I think it’s also safe to say that Paul encouraged the disciples in Macedonia when he “returned” there in v3. If you count these implicit encouragements (as I do), then that’s four distinct occasions in three verses that Paul is showing us what it looks like for someone to be devoted to encouraging local churches – first in Ephesus (v1), then in Macedonia (v2), then in Greece or Corinth (v2b-3), and again in Macedonia (v3).

If all that weren’t enough, Luke tells us in v5 that Paul and his entourage finally met up in the port city of Troas, where they “stayed for seven days,” at the end of which the disciples in Troas “were not a little comforted [or “encouraged,” same word]” (v12). So, the middle chunk of our passage today is specifically about how Paul “comforted” or “encouraged” the disciples in Troas (v12)! I told you this whole passage is dripping with encouragement!

But I need to clarify something in order to deal more instructively with this point. If you have some other translation besides the ESV, then you’ve already noticed some variation in the word I’ve been citing – “encourage.” In verses 1, 2, and 12 it’s the same Greek verb (παρακαλεω), but it’s translated differently in various English translations. In fact, the word itself is translated inconsistently even within the same English translation, because the underlying Greek word has a fairly wide range of meaning.

In Luke’s writings alone, the word can mean to “exhort” (Lk. 3:18; Acts 2:40, 11:23), to “plead” (Lk. 7:4), to “beg” (Lk. 8:31; Acts 13:42), to “implore” (Lk. 8:41), to “entreat” (Lk. 15:28), to “comfort” (Lk. 16:25, 20:12), to “invite” (Acts 8:31), to “urge” (Acts 9:38, 16:9, 16:15, 19:31), and, of course, to “encourage” (Acts 14:22, 15:32, 16:40, 20:1-2).

It's also interesting to note that the verb here shares the same root as the noun παρακλητος or Paraclete, which is the way Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit. He is the “Comforter,” the “Counselor,” the “Encourager,” and the “Helper.”

All of this is to labor the point that “encouragement” and “comfort” are likely to strike us as having more to do with the effect of Paul’s activity and not so much about what Paul actually did or said. “Paul made the disciples feel comforted or encouraged.” But what did he door say in order to produce such an effect? I think the best word in our common vocabulary might be “edify” or “edification.”

Paul, here, exemplifies encouragement or edification…sometimes by “exhorting” (prodding, insisting), sometimes by “entreating” (asking, pleading), and sometimes by “comforting” (encouraging, uplifting)… but always by teaching and modeling genuine Christianity for the benefit of those saints under his care. Whether in Ephesus, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, or Corinth, or Troas, Paul was spending himself to do spiritual good for others… that is, to edify the saints.

Brothers and sisters, this is the goal of every Christian, and it is especially the task of local church pastors. To the church in Corinth, Paul wrote, “comfort” (encourage, exhort, plead with, edify) “one another” (2 Cor. 13:11). To the church of Colossae, Paul wrote that his prayer for them as well as the church of Laodicea was that “their hearts may be encouraged” [i.e., comforted, edified] (Col. 2:2). And to the church in Thessalonica, Paul wrote, “encourage” (urge, implore, edify) “one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11).

And to Timothy, as a local church pastor while he was in Ephesus, Paul told him to “teach and urge” (exhort, implore, edify) church members according to sound doctrine (1 Tim. 6:2). And again, to Timothy, Paul later listed “exhortation” (encouragement, urging, edification) among those tasks essential to the pastoral commission. He wrote, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort [i.e., urge, entreat, edify] with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). And, most interesting to me, Paul uses this same word in his list of qualifications for elders/pastors in Titus 1 – “He [i.e., a pastor or elder] must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction [i.e., to edify] in sound doctrine…” (Titus 1:9).

Brothers and sisters, what must Christians do or say? Has Christ given us a job? Yes! We – all of us – are to encourage or edify one another! We are to do one another spiritual good… and Paul is a stellar example of devotion to such a task.

2. An Incidental Miracle (v7-12)

I’m calling this miracle “incidental” because of the way Luke seems to insert it almost in passing. The raising of Eutychus back to life was definitely a major feature of the “comfort” or “encouragement” Paul gave to the saints in Troas (v12), but the way Luke tells this story is strange and (I think) even a little funny.

With these six verses, Luke seems primarily interested in showing how the gathering of the saints on the Lord’s Day in Troas was a sort of display of what was typical of Paul’s ministry and of churches in various places across the map of the ancient world. There are extraordinary features of this episode, no doubt… but the context and the means or methods on display here are quite ordinary. First, let’s look at the extraordinary features, and then (in point 3) I’d like to point out the ordinary context and practices we might see here.

The extraordinary features are (1) the all-night teaching session and (2) the miraculous resurrection of Eutychus. Luke tells us that Paul “prolonged his speech until midnight” (v7), and even after Eutychus died and was raised back to life, Paul “conversed with them” longer, “until daybreak” (v11). The whole point in telling us about this prolonged conversation, it seems, is that it was unusual. Luke tells the reader that Paul “intended to depart on the next day” (v7), so he was spending every moment he could in fellowship and conversation with the saints in Troas.

Remember, Paul had resolved to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome (Acts 19:21), so he was stopping by various churches along the way in order to encourage or edify them as he went. It is unclear from immediate the text, at this point, whether or not Paul knew he was likely never to see those Christians again. I think he did know, since he says as much to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:25, which happened within a week (or two at the most) after this long night in Troas.

It is extraordinary, then, that Paul and such a large group of Christians (probably the whole church) stayed up all night together for teaching and fellowship. Remember that at this time in history, there was no such thing as a weekend. Jews rested on the Sabbath (Saturday), but everyone else went to work and scratched out a living every day of the week. This late-night church meeting in Troas would have meant the loss of an entire night’s sleep, and everyone still had to get to work and house-chores the next day… And most everyone in those days lived hand-to-mouth. They literally ate that day what they earned that day.

The second extraordinary feature of this episode is most peculiar. Luke says that “a young man named Eutychus” was “sitting at the window” while Paul was “talking still longer” (v9). And Eutychus “sank into a deep sleep” (v9). Ah, yes… here is a consolation to any preacher who’s ever looked out and seen a church member sleeping through his sermon. Even the Apostle Paul sometimes put people to sleep with his teaching!

It's interesting though, Luke does not seem to put Eutychus in negative light here… though sleeping during preaching is not the best way to anything out of it. Luke says that “there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered” (v8), which would have made the oxygen thin. Luke also tells us that Paul’s “speech” was already going past “midnight” (v7), which was very late indeed. Luke even phrases it that Eutychus was “overcome” or “sunk down” (KJV) “by sleep” (v9). We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Our eyes get heavy, and we just can’t keep them open any longer… and sleep overtakes us.

In Eutychus’s case, this seemingly innocent failure to stay awake had the worst results. Luke says, “he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead” (v9). Regardless of how far he fell, the fall and the way he landed was sufficient to kill him. And this was a terrible tragedy. Can you imagine? One minute, a young man is listening to apostolic teaching, gathered with his church family, and next he is dead on the ground… because of a silly accident.

May I take just a moment for a little pastoral application here?

We know that Paul heals the boy, or better yet, we know God heals the boy through Paul. So, we are relieved of the urgent and grievous questions that inevitably arise from such a terrible tragedy. But what of the multitude of other tragedies that happen every day? Why does death seem to jump out of nowhere to haul away its victims, when death is often the last thing we expect when it comes?

And, even when we do expect that death is coming, why does it strike us the way it does? Death is so final, so unforgiving, so decisive. Death doesn’t care what we’re doing, what our intentions are, or how anyone might feel. One moment we are alive, maybe everything is even going along normally, and the next moment death (not mere sleep) overtakes us.

It is a fact (unless the Lord returns sooner rather than later) that death will come for us all, and none of us are promised one more second of life on this earth. Death is the universal human experience because of sin… not just because of our own sin, but because we became guilty in the sin of our first parents. When Adam sinned, he brought the whole of humanity under God’s curse… and every day of our lives, we have simply added to our guilt with our own sin.

The Christian hope, the Christian comfort, is not that we will escape suffering or pain or death, but that even in death, Christ is able to save those who are His. When God sent His Son into the world, He came to live a perfect life and to die in the place of sinners… so that the curse of death would have its due. And then, because death had no claim on Him, Christ rose victorious from the grave… and He has promised to raise to life again all those who look to Him with faith.

Brothers and sisters, that’s our hope! That’s our confidence! That in life and in death, Christ holds our days within His hands… and one day soon, sin and death will be destroyed, and we will live in endless joy!

But that’s not the world we live in now. No, our present world is full of tragedy, sorrow, grief, and pain. In our present world there are frequent tragedies and heartaches which sometimes appear to have no purpose at all. Why should Eutychus die?! Was he to blame for falling asleep? Must Eutychus stand as a timeless example for all those who are tempted to fall asleep during preaching?

No… Eutychus died because he lived in a post-Genesis-3 world that is cursed by sin… BUT Eutychus was raised to life again because God in Christ has come to create a post-Revelation-20 world! …the world described in Revelation 21-22! And that’s the point of this seemingly incidental miracle!

Paul, as an authoritative messenger of Jesus Christ, carried with him not only the message of the gospel but the signs that accompany the announcement of that good news. Jesus Christ is God’s Messiah who has come to restore all that was lost in Genesis 3 and more! In Christ, death has been defeated… and Christ has come to make His blessings flow as far as the curse is found! And Christ Himself has given us glimpses of His power to do all that He has promised, like when Paul raised this young man back to life in the middle of the night in Troas.

And when the disciples in Troas were taught about this great gospel, and when they had witnessed for themselves this miraculous example of Christ’s power to raise dead people to life again, Luke says, “they… were not a little comforted” (v12). May God comfort us with this example too.

3. Some Ordinary Means (v7-16)

I’m using the word “means” here in its basic and typical sense. We might think of “means” as methods or mediums or mechanisms. For a very long time now, Christian theologians have referred to the “ordinary means of grace.” These are the common methods or regular mediums or everyday mechanisms by or through which sinners are converted, Christians are edified, and churches are established and strengthened.[1]

The ordinary means of grace are usually listed as (1) the preaching of the gospel, (2) the administration of the sacraments or ordinances, and (3) the practice of prayer. To these ordinary church means, we might also add several means or methods to be used in our lives as Christians out in the world: like evangelism, fellowship, discipling efforts, acts of kindness or service, and many others.

All of these, both those we can only do as a church and those we may perform as individual Christians, are quite ordinary in the sense that there is nothing spectacular about them. They require no special power, no extraordinary skill, and they do not appear to be especially compelling or efficient… at least not by the standards of sales marketing or business strategy or political tactics.

The ordinary means of grace, then, are just that… ordinary. They look ordinary, they happen ordinarily, and they are usually applied by ordinary people. But God’s Spirit works in and through these ordinary means to do miraculous things. Our passage today centers its focus on the “gathering” of the disciples in Troas “on the first day of the week” (v7). Other times in Acts, the focus has been on the evangelistic efforts of Peter or Paul or Philip… or even some unknown disciples who established the first Gentile church which served as the launching pad for Paul’s missionary efforts in the ancient world (Acts 11:19-21; cf. 13:1-3).

In those evangelistic episodes, the ordinary means of grace were on display – the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the ordinance of baptism – and we observed the result of many sinners converted and churches established. In our passage today, the ordinary means of grace – the preaching or teaching of the gospel and the administration of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper – are on display, and we observe the result of the encouragement or edification of the saints. Let me point out where I’m seeing this.

In v7, Luke says that the disciples in Troas, as well as Paul’s traveling missionary team, “were gathered together to break bread” on “the first day of the week.” Luke has consistently used the Greek calendar of days in his writings, and there is vast agreement among commentators that he is referring here to Sunday. The gathering of the saints on the Lord’s Day is itself the primary context for the common use of the ordinary means of grace. Not having the luxury of a weekend, like us, these saints gathered during a time that everyone could be available to meet, which was sometime during the evening on the Lord’s Day.

I’m calling Sunday “the Lord’s Day,” because what is called the “first day of the week” here (v7) had already become the established day for the weekly gathering of Christians. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, referring to their gathering on “the first day of the week” (1 Cor. 16:2), and the Apostle John called it “the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). Sunday, then, isn’t just a day of convenience, it’s the pattern of the earliest churches to gather on the first day of the week for preaching, for prayer, and for the ordinances (of baptism and the Lord’s Supper).

The first day of the week was when the Lord Jesus Christ had been raised from the grave; therefore, the first day of the week was a sort of 8th day of the Genesis creation week, a foretaste of the resurrection to come and a rhythmic celebration… both of what Christ had done and what He promised to do. So, we see these disciples in Troas doing what ordinary Christians do on the first day of the week… even without the conveniences of electricity, comfortable seating, air conditioning, or a day off of work.

Their gathering, on the Lord’s Day, included apostolic preaching or teaching as well as the “breaking” of “bread” (v7, 11). Let’s look at them each in turn…

First, the teaching… All of the words translated “talk,” “speech,” and “converse” have at least the possibility of dialogue, not just monologue. So, it seems to me, at least some of the teaching Paul did throughout that night included some kind of exchange… maybe a question-and-answer time… maybe a conversation between Paul and some of the disciples… it’s impossible to know. But, whatever the logistics, there clearly was apostolic instruction going on.

In our own day, there are no Apostles walking around, and we can’t literally meet up with the Apostle Paul to ask him questions and hear his answers. But we do have apostolic teaching… It is that doctrine and instruction that has been recorded for us in the Scriptures. That’s why, when we gather on the Lord’s Day, we center our teaching and our practices on the Bible.

What are we to believe? How are we to live? …Well, what does the Bible say? What is the apostolic word on the matter? More fundamentally, what is God’s word on the matter? We can hear apostolic teaching and preaching for ourselves, even today, when the one preaching or teaching is making it a priority to simply explain and to help us apply God’s word to our lives. In this way, brothers and sisters, we are following the example set down for us by these earliest Christians.

Second, the “breaking” of “bread” (v7, 11)… This is the first time in Acts we’ve seen this phrase “break bread” since chapter 2. In Acts 2, Luke seems to be describing the daily activities of Christians living in Jerusalem, such as “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching,” and “fellowship,” and “breaking bread in their homes” (Acts 2:42, 46). And, it seems to me, Luke is referring there to what is called table fellowship. Meals in ancient times were as much a political and social affair as they were of physical necessity, and to join with someone at the dinner table meant that you were in some sense sharing in the life and reputation of that person (whether a religious affiliation, a political alliance, or a social class).

At any rate, Luke’s emphasis in Acts 2 seems to be the communal bond that all the Christians in Jerusalem enjoyed. They “were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44). The “Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). And they were sharing even their own tables with one another out of love and gratitude and charity (Acts 2:46).

In our passage today, Luke seems to be using this phrase in a more specific way. For various reasons that I won’t list now, this gathering was not conducive to having a big family-style meal or potluck dinner. Furthermore, the actual moment of the “breaking” of “bread” didn’t happen until “long” after “midnight” (v11; cf. 7, 9). That’s an odd time for anyone to be throwing together a big meal for such a crowd all stuffed into the “upper room” of what was likely someone’s house (v8).

Instead, I’m inclined to think that this phrase – “break bread” – is here meant to refer to the observance of the Lord’s Supper. The “breaking” of “bread” is sometimes just a way to say, “they ate together” (Mark 14:19; Acts 27:35), but it’s also the way both Jesus and Paul described what happened at the Lord’s Supper. The Scripture says, “the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you’” (1 Cor. 11:23-24).

It seems entirely likely to me, then, that in our passage today Paul was leading this gathered assembly of believers in observing the Lord’s Supper. What a marvelous symbol of their shared love and unity in Christ! And what a joy to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together just before Paul left, probably never to return!

Brothers and sisters, the Lord’s Supper speaks a transcendent word in the midst of a temporal world. In the Lord’s Supper, these saints were looking back to the death and resurrection of Christ, proclaiming their shared trust or faith in Christ as Savior and Redeemer. In the Lord’s Supper, these saints in Troas were affirming their love for and unity with Christ and their love for and unity with one another.

In the Lord’s Supper, the church members in Troas were visibly observing their unity with Paul and his missionary companions, even though Paul was about to leave them forever… because they all knew that the Lord’s Supper is also a symbol of that great banquet that is to come for all those in Christ… There is, for them and for all who repent and believe, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9)! They might never see Paul again in this world, but they will most definitely see him again in the world to come… at the resurrection!

Brothers and sisters, the ordinary means of grace may seem unexciting in the moment… they may even seem inefficient and unproductive when we think of all else that we might do in the world… but these are those means by which God does extraordinary things.

In the preaching of God’s word, God brings unbelieving sinners to spiritual life and vitality in Christ! In the faithful preaching, God nourishes and builds up His people to spiritual maturity, and He preserves us through to the end.

In the Lord’s Supper, God reminds us of our sin and our need for a Savior, who was sacrificed in order to cover our guilt and shame. In the Lord’s Supper, God assures us that He has done what is necessary to bring sinners like us into right relationship with Him… The Supper speaks a divine word of promise – “This is my body… This is my blood… and these were given for you” (Matt. 26:26-28) – Hear and believe, then, the New Covenant promise!

In the Lord’s Supper, we are also reminded that we all are partakers of this same gift and promise… and that what we have now is only a taste of all that we shall most certainly enjoy on the last day!

Friends, the ordinary means of grace are like stabilizing anchors that keep us from floundering around in the waves of life which constantly threaten and berate us. The ordinary means of grace, as common and unimpressive as they may seem, stand as steady and immovable touchpoints which grant us access to truths and realities that we didn’t even know we needed. They teach us that the cares of this life are not nearly as important as we thought, and that the tools of this world are not nearly as effective as they often appear… and the ordinary means of grace work in and through us to produce what we never imagined was possible.

Conclusion

The last several verses are also quite ordinary, and Luke here returns to his travel log. Paul “arranged” for his traveling party to “sail for Assos” from Troas, though he “intended himself to go by land” (v13). Then, when they all met up, they sailed down the coastline, stopping to dock at a few ports along the way (v14-15).

There is an interesting note in v16, that Paul didn’t want to “spend time in Asia,” so he “decided to sail past Ephesus” (v16). It seems that Paul must have known that a stop in Ephesus would have been hard to do briefly, since the church there would not have wanted him to go quickly (as we shall see from the elders in our next section of Acts 20). And Luke finally reminds us that Jerusalem was Paul’s destination. He wanted to be there “on the day of Pentecost,” if possible (v16). It seems that Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem when there would be a huge crowd of Jews that he might do more evangelism among his countrymen.

All throughout this passage (Acts 20:1-16), there is a great deal of ordinary stuff – ordinary traveling, ordinary discipling investments, and ordinary church stuff on the Lord’s Day – but there is also a bunch of extraordinary stuff as well. There is a miraculous resurrection (which is a picture of the resurrection to come)… there is the encouragement or edification of Christians all over the map because of Paul’s tireless efforts… there is the glowing light of Christ’s kingdom in the world, on display in the church in Troas… and there is the ongoing expansion of Christ’s kingdom through Paul and his missionary team, which is made up of Christians from various churches that had recently been established.

But all of this extraordinary stuff happened through ordinary means, which God uses to His extraordinary ends or purposes. Yes, there is an unusual miracle, but that miracle is only meant to point us to the greater fulfillment of all God’s promises in the gospel. If we focus on the incidental miracle in this passage, then (I think) we miss the whole point.

Paul, like Jesus before him, is leaving disciples behind on his way to Jerusalem. Eventually, Paul is going to Rome, where he knows he will likely die. So, what does Paul do? He prolongs his teaching, and he observes the Lord’s Supper with them. He revisits churches, and he encourages or edifies the saints. In short, he applies the ordinary means of grace… because he knows that the Christian life and mission are counterintuitive… he knows that God uses ordinary means to accomplish extraordinary ends.

May God help us believe the same, and may God help us to apply ourselves to the ordinary means of grace as well.

Endnotes

[1]For more on this concept of the “means of grace,” listen to or watch this helpful message from Burk Parsons, The Great Commission: Awakening & the Ordinary Means of Grace (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/awakening-2018-national-conference/the-great-commission).

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