Paul and Eutychus

Call to Worship

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Sermon

Last week we continued through Paul’s second missionary journey as he travelled solo to Athens. And following on from where we were, Paul continued travelling and after Athens he went and spent a year and a half in Corinth continuing to preach the gospel, make disciples, and baptize people. And after he was in Corinth for a year and a half the jews there once again tried to do away with him. This time they tried to have him arrested claiming that he was blaspheming but Paul was able to avoid it, and he stayed slightly longer. And after that he traveled through Ephesus and he returned back to Antioch finising his second trip. And he stayed there for a while before going on his third, and last missionary journey and travelling through Galatia on his way back to Ephesus where he stayed for several years, before once again a riot breaks out and this time there was a whole crowd of greek people who worshipped the greek goddess Artemis and they were chanting overtop of him shouting: “great of Artemis of the Ephesians”, and after the riot was over Paul left Ephesus. And that’s where we’ll be picking up this morning, as Paul leaves Epehsus and continues on his final missions trip.

Acts 20:1-12 “When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 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. 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. These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 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. 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. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 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. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.”

I find this passage a little bit amusing, because this young man, Eutychus, is still being talked about 2000 years later, because he fell asleep in church. Wouldn’t it be kind of embarassing to go the rest of your life, and Luke has let out the book of Acts, and people are starting to read it and they’re like ‘Hey Eutychus, you made it in because of that one time you feel asleep when Paul was preaching and then fell out the window and died’… that’s not a story you’re probably going to live down the rest of your life. But I think the other thing that Eutychus would have obviously been known for is having God work on his behalf. He obviously couldn’t resurrect himself, and Paul didn’t have that ability either, but here, like many other places in Acts we see God acomplishing His purposes through His servant Paul. And it’s also worth noticing the pastoral role that Paul is playing in this story.

A lot of times when we think about the apsotle Paul and his missions trips, we think about evangelism and church planting and then him continuing on to the next spot. And it’s true that that happens all the time, he started all of the churches that the people listed at the beginning of the passage are from. He started the church in Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus and way more. But something that we often miss is Paul’s emphasis on discipleship as well as on evangelism. Sometimes he did just show up and share the gospel and then leave, but he also regularly wrote to and visited the places that he founded and helped them to continue to grow. And here we have an example of that as the people he’s with are men that he is discipling from the churches that he planted. He’s taken people from all over the Roman Empire and brought them along, intentionally ministering to this small group of people, teaching them more and more about the Jesus that they follow.

And it’s in this context, that we find Eutychus. If we notice the language starting in verse 7, they’re meeting at night on the first day of the week. At this point in time they still worshipped on the Sabbath, on Saturday, and so if they’re meeting on the first day of the week they’ve already worked a full day and now have gotten together for a small group meeting and Paul is preaching well into the night even though it’s clear that many of them, Eutychus especially, are exhausted. If I had been working a manual labour job since dawn, and then after I got off work I went immediately to a house church meeting where Paul was talking past midnight and the only light was some oil lamps, I think I also would fall asleep; though hopefully I would not fall out of the window.

We don’t know much about Eutychus other than this one event, but we do know that he was a part of an important group. He was meeting with the people that Paul was bringing with him, and these men were more than just people Paul was discipling, although they were that, they were also people that were with Paul for the important task of bringing a large offering from the gentile churches to Jerusalem because as famine relief. Along side that, these men represented the frutifulness and extent of Paul’s ministry to the gentiles, as they represented large cities from across the empire. By going with Paul to show themselves in Jerusalem they were both being trusted with a large task of accompanying a major sum of money, but they were also proof that salvation had truly come to the gentiles. Something we’ll mention again next week when we finish the book of Acts.

Like I said we don’t know much about Eutychus but we do know he was invited to be with this group, and that when Paul through the power of the Holy Spirit, resurrected him, those with Paul were greatly comforted that he had been risen from the dead, this likely shows an element of endearment for this young man. And I think that that this phrase Acts 20:12 “The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.” Really helps us to understand some of the relevance that this story has for us.

I think that it’s relevant to us as well, because we all need to be comforted, and there’s all sorts of reasons we all need comfort. Maybe you’ve just lost your job and you feel like you need comfort because you don’t know what’s next for you. Maybe a family member or loved one is sick, and you need comfort because you’re scared about their health. Maybe your going through a rough time with your own health either physically or mentally and you just feel like you need relief from the pain you feel. The good news is that we all have the same hope for comfort that these men had.

I can imagine the shock and horror they must have felt when they first looked down and saw him lying on the ground, I haven’t seen a fall victim in person but I can’t imagine the sight was very pretty, and I can picture the mad dash that they all had down the flights of stairs to get to him to check his vitals to see if by some miracle he hadn’t died. And the pain that they must have felt when they realized that their young friend was dead, the pain and the sorrow in those few moments as Paul held this young man in his arms. And then as they watch through the power of the Holy Spirit in Paul how Eutychus is raised back to life, and they have this blast of relief come to them. Because the reality is, even though we know that death is not the end of the line for a believer, even though we know that there is a life better afterwards, while we’re here on earth we still mourn for what we’ve lost.

Jesus himself knew that he was going to physically raise Lazarus from the dead and yet He wept for His friend before He raised him. Just moments before Jesus wept He had this conversation with Lazarus’s sisters.

John 11:21-44““Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

In this we see the relief that even Jesus felt after not losing His friend, Jesus knew that this life was not the end. That there’s a better, everlasting life through Him, He explained that to Martha. But Jesus also understood the pain of losing someone, and the relief that comes from knowing that they aren’t lost. But Jesus also teaches us that we can feel the same relief when we realize that our friends are not spiritually dead but spiritually alive.

And I mean this is two ways

First when our loved ones who are followers of Jesus die, we can be greatly comforted that death and suffering and pain and sorrow are not the end. That even when they die, there really is a better place that they’ve gone to, a place where they are with Jesus, where they are experiencing a joy we can’t even dream of on earth.

Second that’s the same relief we feel when someone becomes a believer, when we understand the reality of the gospel, we know that those who haven’t yet become followers of Jesus are not going to be able to have that same relief and comfort, and unfortunately we don’t yet have that same relief about them. That’s why it’s so important for us to share the gospel with people so that they can have that same comfort and assurance they aren’t dead in their sins, but that they are alive in Christ. And we feel an immense amount of excitement and comfort when we know that someone we care about repents and starts to follow Jesus. And I know that all of Heaven feels the same way, Jesus himself said: Luke 15:7 “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

I had that experience recently, one of the boys in my small group at the youth group Cassidy and I help with has been coming for a couple of years now and he isn’t from a Christian home, he wasn’t really raised in the church, but some of his friends invited him to come to youth group, and he liked hanging out with his friends and playing games and all that sort of thing and so he was coming out every week and slowly but surely the message of the gospel started to become real to him, and only a few weeks ago he stayed after the message to talk to my Dad who’s the pastor, and he prayed and asked Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour, and when he came in and told all of us, his small group, I felt and could see the excitement on his friends faces, the relief and comfort, and rejoicing that they felt because they had peace knowing that their friend now belonged to Jesus. There really isn’t a feeling like it.

And I think that we can draw parallels with the Acts story, Eutychus was almost certainyl already a believer when he fell out of a window, and yet we can see similar imagery betwen people being asleep and people being brought to new life once they accept Christ. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph. 5:14). He’s using the analogy of sleep to denote spiritual death, that at one time we were all asleep, we weren’t hearing or understanding the truth. When Eutychus was asleep he was no longer hearing the truth that Paul was preaching, and similarly I think that a lot of people fall asleep metaphorically, we all go through spells where we aren’t connecting with God regularly, where in our hearts our prayers and our worship is stagnant, where in how we live we basically reject God, but we have a choice, we all have a choice, do we rise from the dead and allow Christ to comfort us and shine on us, and rejuvinate us, or do we stay asleep, and dead in our sins. Before we met Christ we were dead, and now that we are believers we aren’t dead the same way, but sometimes we live like we were, and like the Spirit raised Eutychus we need to be rise again with vigilance and joy remembering what it is we’re living for, and for us the answer is simple turn to Christ and he will rejuvinate us. It’s like we read at the beginning of the service Christ says: Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””

But we can’t do anything about others, how do we respond when others we know are spiritually dead, how do we find hope and comfort in that. In one sense, we don’t because we know what sin leads to when someone doesn’t turn to Christ, but in another sense we also know that all people need to be resurrected from sin, all people need the same hope that we have found, and that’s why we need to preach the gospel with such urgency, they need this message, and so we need to be witnesses of Christ and share it with them.

But what hope do we have if they pass away and they don’t know Christ, this is one of the hardest things we can wrestle with as believers because we don’t feel like we have hopeful answers. But what we can trust is that God is good, that He is in control, and that His grace has no measurable end, and so we can trust that He will comfort us even in the face of sorrow, and that someday He will wipe every tear from our eyes.

Paul was no stranger to sorrow, he writes in 2 Corinthians about the light that he has despite the darkness in the world, the same light that he said shines on those who are asleep. He says this:

2 Corinthians 4:6-9,14-18 “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed… because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Like Paul writes here, it’s only through Christ that we have hope and comfort. We can look for hope and comfort in other places, but ultimately they won’t fulfill in the same way, because no one else has the same resurrection power as Jesus. Christ’s resurrection power is what raised Eutychus, it’s what gives us hope for new life, and it’s what allows us to find comfort even in the face of death. Like Jesus shows when Lazarus dies, it’s ok for us to have hope beyond death and yet also be sorrowful when people die, because we will be, and Jesus understands that, He has shared in suffering similar to ours and yet He provides a hope stronger than the weight of our grief. And like those who were there when Eutychus is raised back to life, we will be greatly comforted if we keep our faith and hope in Jesus.

Let’s pray.

Communion

As we talked about in the sermon, our hope comes from Jesus, specifically from the new life that we have from His death and resurrection. When we take communion we’re reminded of this, and we get to participate in unity both with God and with other believers as we come to the table and are able to partake in the elements that bring us into unity with God. Christ’s body and blood are the things that brought us unity with God the Father, and when we partake in the bread and wine we remember that.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that 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. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Benediction

Galatians 6:9–10 ESV

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.