The Glorious Grace of God to His Church

INTRODUCTION

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Christ has saved us by His grace and we received that grace through faith.

A faith born in us, according to Paul in Romans 10, by hearing the Word of God.

We heard the Gospel preached, God gifted us faith and through faith, we have received the grace of God.

We are saved—not because of our work, but because of the work of the living, dying, and resurrecting Savior, Jesus Christ.

But grace does not just save us.

Grace sustains us.

John Newton has taught us this truth through song:

Not only did grace save a wretch like me

It is grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.

God has ways in which He pours out His sustaining grace on His church.

We sometimes call them the means of grace.

The means of grace are like God’s delivery system to get His unmerited favor to His people.

The Word of God, by which faith comes, is the essential means of His grace to us.

Prayer is a means of grace.

Singing is a means of grace.

Fasting is a means of grace.

And this morning, in Acts 20:1-16, we get to see how the local church is a means of grace to us.

We get to see how in God’s plan, the local church is one of the major trucks by which He gives His grace to His people.

And we will see it in four ways:

The Glorious Grace of God is Given to the Church through:

1) Encouraging Leaders (v. 1-6; 13-16)

2) Faithful Co-Workers (v. 4)

3) Joyful Worship (v. 5-7)

4) Displayed Power (v. 8-12)

As we prepare to read it, remember where we are in the narrative of Acts:

Paul has left Ephesus due to the uproar caused by Demetrius the Silvermsith at the end of Acts 19.

He has his face set toward Rome and he doesn’t want to get wrapped up in legal battles in civic courts, so he has moved on.

We see where he went in the opening verses of chapter 20.

Acts 20:1–16 (ESV)

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 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. Sopater (Soap-uh-ter) the Berean, son of Pyrrhus (Pear-us), accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus (Sec-uhn-dus); and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 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.

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. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 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. 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.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos (Ass-us), intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene (Mit-el-ene). And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios (Kai-ohs); the next day we touched at Samos (Sahm-ohs); and the day after that we went to Miletus. 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.

ENCOURAGING WORKERS (v. 1-6; 13-16)

If you are anything like me, your head may spin when you read about Paul’s travels in Acts. It can be hard to keep up with.

And the little maps in the back of our Bibles with their different colored arrows that seem to bleed together are not always helpful.

In light of that, I want to spend a brief moment laying out Paul’s travels as he leaves Ephesus and continues his 3rd missionary journey in Acts 20.

Macedonia: Paul departs for Macedonia after encouraging the disciples. (v. 1)

Greece: He travels through the regions of Macedonia and arrives in Greece, where he stays for three months. (v. 2)

In Macedonia, Paul would have visited the churches in places like Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea.

In Greece, he would have visited the churches in Athens, Cenchrae (Sent-tree-ay) and Corinth.

Macedonia: Due to a plot against him, Paul decides to return through Macedonia (v. 3)

Philippi: Paul and his companions sail from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread. (v. 5-6)

Troas: They arrive in Troas, where they stay for seven days. (v. 6)

Assos: And then, scanning down to v. 13, you see that Paul travels by land to Assos, where he meets his companions who had sailed ahead. This was about a thirty-mile, two day journey.

And then there is this barrage of destination points in v. 14-15. Luke is telling us how Paul got from Assos to Miletus, which was a four day, 125 mile journey.

As these cities and ports are named, Paul is working his way southward down the Western cost of Asia:

Mitylene: They sail from Assos to Mitylene

Chios: The next day, they arrive opposite Chios.

Samos: They touch at Samos the following day.

Miletus: Finally, they arrive at Miletus, where Paul decides to sail past Ephesus to hasten his journey to Jerusalem.

Miletus is where he will meet with the Ephesian elders

What a work this is by Paul.

In 2021, I went on a 8 day journey of my own to Disney World.

My family got on a plane and went to the Disney or Universal for seven straight days.

When we got back, it took me a month to recover.

And that was leisure!

Imagine the toll all of this must have taken on Paul’s body and mind.

And yet—he would not be deterred.

He was driven to Jerusalem and then eventually to Rome.

But along the way, he would visit the churches he had planted and strengthen the work that God had done there.

In fact, in the first two verses of chapter 20, Paul’s motivations are really exposed by Luke.

Verse 1: Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell

Verse 2: When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

In each case, the Greek word that Luke uses is parakaleo, which certainly means to encourage, but it can also translate to comfort or exhort.

So we can see what Paul endeavors to do before leaving Ephesus and what he endeavors to do throughout the region of Macedonia—he wants to play the role of a comforting, exhorting Encourager to the church.

In the case of the Ephesians, he is leaving the church in a difficult cultural situation.

There is a riotous response the Gospel in Acts 19 and though Paul is going on, the elders of that church and the members of that church will remain.

They will still be seen as a threat to the Ephesian way of life.

They need comforting, exhorting encouragement to press on.

When it comes to the Macedonian churches, Paul would have had the same concern.

In Acts 16 and 17, we saw great Gospel work in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea.

However, in each of those situations, we also saw persecution from the magistrate or from the synagogues coming against Paul and his team.

He would have wanted to go and remind them of the Gospel they have believed and call on them to stand strong as they serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of a crooked generation.

OUR NEED FOR THE SAME ENCOURAGEMENT

You and I have need for this same sort of encouragement.

We live in a culture where the Gospel is often misconstrued, slandered and misrepresented.

Jesus has called us the “light of the world” and a “city on a hill that cannot be hidden.”

But sometimes, the world mistake our light for darkness.

They will perceive our love as hate.

So if we say, “Sex is not just for anyone. It is only for men and women and not even just that—it is only for men and women who are joined together in the covenant of marriage.”

And we say this because we know that when sex is misused, it harms people and it harms society and it separates people from God.

We hold this biblical line of sexual ethics out of love.

And yet, what I have just said would be considered hateful and close-minded by many.

It is hard to be misrepresented. It is hard to be reviled.

Therefore, we need encouragement from our leaders.

This is a major role that Pastor Ben and I get to play in your lives as pastors. We want to be a source of God’s glorious grace to you as a congregation.

We want to offer you comforting, exhorting encouragement so that you would press on and not despair.

So that you would be fortified and not forfeiting.

This primarily happens through the teaching and preaching of God’s Word.

There is no denying that, from a human perspective, preaching is a weak and foolish enterprise—a mere man talking to a group of people about the message of a book. yet God is pleased to work supernaturally through such means.

Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley

But preaching is not the only way this takes place.

It takes place through counseling.

It takes place through prayer.

it takes place through an edifying word on a phone call or a text message.

This is one of the great privileges of our lives.

To be able to minister to you and see you receive God’s grace through our ministry.

And yet, as I say these things, I would beg you—don’t forget about our need for encouragement as well.

We are so thankful to meet with Pillar Network pastors once a month and be encouraged by other leaders.

But it means the world to us when you encourage us.

Recently, one of Ben and I’s heroes in ministry fell into a disqualifying sin. He committed adultery. He has been publicly removed from all of his teaching positions and his ministry is over.

This was painful for us to watch. The fall of his house was great.

But it was also a reminder that the fall of our house is not out of the realm of possibility.

We are men and Satan wants to sift us like wheat.

Pray for us. Encourage us as we encourage you.

FAITHFUL CO-WORKERS (v. 4)

So that is the first glorious grace that we see in the passage—Encouraging Leaders. Now let’s look at the second:

2. Faithful Co-Workers (v. 4)

Paul mentions seven different men in v. 4.

We have three Macedonians, two Galatians and two Asians.

The Macedonians are Sopater, from the Bible-loving town of Berea—the son of Pyrrhus. And then Aristarchus and Secundus.

Sopater is probably the same guy who is called Sosipater in Romans 16:21, where he is listed right along next to Timothy.

Aristarchus and Secundus are from Thessalonica.

We know Aristarchus from Acts 19, where along with Gaius, he became the target for the ire of the mob in Ephesus.

He is also mentioned again in Acts 27 as being Paul’s company on his journey as a prisoner from Caesarea to Rome.

In Colossians 4:10, he is called Paul’s fellow prisoner.

And in Philemon 24, he is called Paul’s co-worker.

Secundus is only mentioned here in the New Testament and all we really know about him is where he is from.

The Galatians on on Paul’s team are Gaius and Timothy.

As I mentioned, this is the same Gaius who was apprehended in Acts 19 and dragged into the theater.

He comes from Derbe, a city in Lycaonia.

And Timothy is Paul’s protege—his true son in the faith that he writes two New Testament letters to.

The Asians are Tychicus and Trophimus.

Tychicus is mentioned in several of Paul’s letters and is described as a “dear brother” and “faithful minister.”

Trophimus is classified by Luke as an Ephesian in Acts 21:29, which shows that he is a Gentile brother in the Lord.

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he is talked about because he fell ill and had to be left behind in Miletus.

You wonder why Luke went to such lengths to describe the place that these men came from. Why spend time giving us some sense of their origin story?

Well the theory held by most faithful Bible commentators is that this is related to Paul’s efforts to collect money for the poor Christians in Jerusalem.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this cause:

1 Corinthians 16:1–3 ESV

Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

He also talks about it extensively in his second letter to them in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

And then he says this in Romans 15:25-26

Romans 15:25–26 ESV

At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

On Paul’s third mission journey, as he goes through the churches in these different regions, he is collecting funds to help the impoverished Christians in Judea.

Not only does this help meet their physical need—it eases any racial tensions in the church between Jew and Gentile because it’s the Gentile churches providing for the primarily Jewish church in Jerusalem.

This is a big undertaking by Paul and it would require trust in him by all the churches.

After all, this wasn’t being done through Venmo.

Paul and his team had to be trusted in this work.

Therefore, he has wisely comprised a team of men that represent each region of the Gentile world, so that the churches in those regions feel comfortable with the effort.

Paul is relying on these faithful co-workers to assure these churches of accountability and integrity.

We see in verse 5 that these men went ahead of Paul and waited for him at Troas.

OUR NEED FOR FAITHFUL CO-WORKERS

Paul is the greatest missionary in Christian history.

He is the Apostle to the Gentiles.

He is the author of half the New Testament.

Apart from the Spirit of Christ, Paul is the hero of the second half of the book of Acts.

And yet—he could not do it alone.

If that is true of Paul—an extraordinary man—then we know it is true of us.

We cannot bear the weight of ministry or the Christian life alone—we need one another in the church.

We have already seen how encouraging leaders are a grace to us in the church of God, but so are our teammates.

When Michael Jordan came into the NBA, he did not win a championship for his first six years.

He led the league in scoring during those years, but he didn’t win a championship.

It wasn’t until the team around him improved and he learned to be a faithful teammate, that he began to fill his trophy cabinet.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

Michael Jordan

We can have vocational talent in ministry. We can have gifting in ministry. We can be great solo acts.

But our fruitfulness in the local church will go as far as our understanding that we must work with others.

The people around us are God’s grace to us and we must embrace them as our teammates in Kingdom work if we want to make a Kingdom impact.

I have a box in my office that Laurie Elder—a faithful co-worker—made for me back in 2021 when I celebrated ten years here.

I keep all the cards that you all give me in it. I have well over one hundred cards in there filled with encouraging words.

Some of the cards in that box are written by people who are still here serving and doing God’s work in this local church.

I love seeing your names pop up again and again when I take a few cards out on a hard day and read them.

And some of them are from people who are now gone. They are with Jesus.

I looked at some of them recently. Here’s a sampling:

I like to let you know that you will be in my prayers. May God bless you and be with you always. My love to your sweet family.

Margaret Powers

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you do it and He will. Thank you for all you do. In Christ’s love.

Jesse and Shirley Rawls

Just want you to know we appreciate all you do for our church. We love and support you in all aspects of the church. God’s blessings.

Berda Cole

Look around this morning. Look around at the next time you volunteer in the kitchen. Look around the next time you help with an outreach event. Look around at the next Midweek meal.

Don’t take this for granted church.

Don’t take each other for granted.

God has given us one another as faithful co-workers and it is a part of His glorious grace to His church.

Be patient with one another. Bear burdens with one another. Love one another.

We don’t know how long we have to labor together.

JOYFUL WORSHIP (v. 5-7)

Let’s move on to the third glorious grace that God gives to His church. We see it in verses 5-7:

3. Joyful Worship (v. 5-7)

After Paul arrives from Philippi, he is reunited with his faithful co-workers.

They spend a week in Troas (v. 6) and as a part of their visit, they worship.

Luke says that gather on the first day of the week to break bread and listen to Paul teach (v. 7).

This is most likely a reference to the Lord’s Day.

The church in Troas is coming together honor the resurrected Lord.

THE LORD’S DAY

The Greek expression that translates to “first day of the week,” is mia sabbaton.

It is used in six other places in the New Testament to refer to Sunday—the Lord’s Day.

Gordon Keddie calls this the “New Testament publication” of the Sabbath.

At creation, God established the Sabbath—a day of rest.

At Sinai, God etched it into Law in the 4th Commandment—keep the Sabbath holy.

At the consummation of all things, when the Lord returns, the eternal Sabbath will begin—which is anticipated by the Sabbath itself.

For Old Covenant believers, the Sabbath was the final day of the week—Saturday.

But in Colossians 2:16, Paul speaks of these Sabbaths, along with the festivals and dietary laws, as no longer binding.

The ceremonial Law has been fulfilled and abrogated by Christ.

It pointed forward to Him and now that He has come, the ceremonial Law has served its purpose.

So Paul says:

Colossians 2:16 ESV

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

And yet in the New Testament, we see a new pattern set by believers, in light of the resurrection of Jesus.

He rose on Sunday, therefore, New Covenant believers, almost right away, begin to look to Sunday as the day for New Covenant Sabbath-observing.

This is the Lord’s Day. The first day of the week.

Matthew Henry described it this way:

A sign between Christ and them, for by this it is known that they are his disciples; and it is to be observed in the name of our Lord Jesus to his honor.

Matthew Henry

And this Lord’s Day is a means of grace to us.

LORD’S SUPPER

You can see from v. 7 that the Lord’s Day celebration included the breaking of bread.

This is the first mention of bread-breaking since the Acts 2 description of the fellowship of believers and the worship of the early church.

When Luke uses this language, he is speaking of both the Lord’s Supper and the love feast that was attached to it.

The earliest church’s observance of the Lord’s Day would include a fellowship meal (or a love feast), as well as the Lord’s Supper, which would be observed at the beginning or end of the meal.

And then they would have worship.

And this remembrance of Christ’s death—though it is symbolic—is indeed grace to His children.

The Lord’s Supper is a soul-changing, soul-altering, spiritually nurturing ordinance as blessed by the Spirit of God to that end.

Richard Barcellos

TEACHING

So then, when Luke says that “Paul talked with them,” in verse 7, he is referring to the teaching that would be taking place in worship, after they had observed a fellowship meal and remembered the Lord’s death in the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

In this case, Paul teaches deep into the night because he plans to leave the next day.

He wants to make sure he leaves them with a large deposit of truth before he goes.

And this teaching of the Word is also a way in which the love of the Lord is flowing to His church.

THE GRACE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP

In totality, what we see here in these verses is the grace of God to His church in Christian worship of the Lord’s Day.

We see the grace of God to His church in the very thing we are doing right now.

I’ll just try not to prolong my speech too much!

One of our Core Values as a church is Joyfully Reverent Worship and Prayer

We want to come before the Lord as a praying and worshipping people who rejoice and tremble before the Son.

And as we do, God will pour out His grace upon us.

The grace that has saved us will continue to rain down upon us as we worship the Savior.

It will fill us up as we pour ourselves out before Him.

It will sustain us as we go from this place, back into our mission field.

There are three different types of worship we engage in as believers:

Private Worship: That is what you do each day in your own prayer closet

Household Worship: This is what we do in our homes with those God has given us to live with

Corporate Worship: This is what we do on the Lord’s Day

And we need all three of these in our Christian lives

As much as we are able to participate in them, we must participate in them

Some Christians think they can get by simply on private worship. Maybe they think they can get by simply on private worship and household worship.

But I would argue that you must be experiencing the grace of corporate worship in order to truly experience the grace of God in private and household worship.

After all, when I worship in private, how much of my understanding of my Bible is shaped by what I have been taught from the pulpit?

How many of my prayers should be focused on the Lord’s people of my local church?

When a man goes to lead his family or his wife or his grandchildren in worship, are they not taking directives from what they have seen in the Lord’s Day gathering?

When a woman leads her child in worship, is she not often feeding the child with spiritual food she herself received in the local church?

If we forsake the glorious grace that comes to us in Christ-focused, deep, clear, passionate, purposeful, joyfully reverent corporate worship, we are turning off one of the major faucets through which God’s grace flows to His people.

We can’t afford to do this.

We need the grace of God that is given to His church in the Lord’s Day gathering and the Lord’s Supper table.

DISPLAYED POWER (v. 8-12)

So we have seen three glorious graces that God gives to the local church:

Encouraging Leaders

Faithful Co-workers

Joyful Worship

And now our final one, which we can observe in verses 8-12:

4. Displayed Power (v. 8-12)

Paul is talking late into the night. The clock strikes midnight. It is Monday now.

There are bunch of oil lamps burning in the room, making the air heavy (v. 8).

The food from the love feast is sitting on stomachs.

I almost get a little sleepy just imagining the scene.

So then, you can hardly blame Eutychus, a young man sitting at the window of the room where they are gathered (v. 9)

He falls asleep, loses control of his body, takes a tumble from the third story and Luke says he dies.

Paul responds to this awful situation by going down to the street and “bending over him” and “taking him in his arms.” (v. 10)

The King James says that he fell on Him, embracing Him.

This conjures up images of Christ and the prophets who came before Him.

In 1 Kings 17, Elijah raises a widow’s son.

1 Kings 17:21 ESV

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.”

In 2 Kings 4, Elisha raises the Shunnamite’s son.

2 Kings 4:34 ESV

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.

And then in Mark 5, we have Jesus displaying His resurrection power with Jairus’ daughter:

Mark 5:39–41 ESV

And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

Here in Acts 20, it is very similar when Paul says, “Do not be alarmed, for life is in him.”

The only difference is that he says this after the miracle has been performed.

This places Paul in the line of the prophets and the Messiah Himself, when it comes to the display of God’s power working through him.

Once again, the miraculous is attesting to the identity of an Apostle, showing that the Messianic power of Christ is still at work, after His ascension.

This is the same as it has been throughout the book of Acts.

The commotion of the scene results in the gathering being extended until daybreak and when they departed with Eutychus alive and well, the church was comforted.

They had heard the power of the truth and they had seen it the power with their own eyes.

They saw that which was dead come back to life.

DISPLAYED POWER IN THE CHURCH TODAY

My brother-in-law is one of the people I respect the most on this earth.

He is an out of uniform Marine who served our nation in Afghanistan. He lost one of his best friends there.

He did not use this as an excuse to collapse in on himself, but came home and began a new career as a firefighter.

And then, what began as assisting a neighbor with his hay business, has led to him being a successful entrepreneur, where he has his own hay and farming business.

So Marine to firefighter to farmer—just living out all the dreams of every boy who grew up in the country.

But what I respect the most about him is that during his days as a firefighter, he went all in with the local church.

He was already a believer, but he left a time of backsliding and started to be faithful to the Lord again.

Since that time, he has gone on mission trips to serve and teach.

He has led his wife to the Lord and saw her baptized.

And now he has led his daughter to the Lord and has seen her baptized.

When I look at his life—I see a bundle of dead things that are now alive.

And I can only imagine the joy this must bring those who know him and his family in his local church.

For the sake of not making anyone uncomfortable, I reached outside of our church for my illustration, but I could have reached inside.

I see lives and marriages and households where dead things have come to life, all around us.

I see the converting and sustaining grace of God that takes that which was dead in sin and resurrects it, at work in our midst.

We must understand what a grace this is to us.

In the same way that the people in Troas left “not a little comforted,” we should leave here “not a little comforted.”

The Greek word used for comfort is the same used for encouragement in verses 1 and 2.

We should be encouraged that the soul-resurrecting grace of God is at work through the power of His Gospel in our midst.

Every sin repented of. Every baptism. Every bit of sanctification. Every bit of restoration.

This is all the miracle of the God’s grace coming to undeserving sinners to our right and our left.

Church can make you cynical, if you are not careful.

People can disappoint you. Decisions can frustrate you. Processes can weary you.

We have to guard against this.

And one of the best ways that we can do it, is to look around and take stock of how God’s displayed power in the halls of His church.

Like our co-laboring with one another, we should never take this for granted.

CONCLUSION

Christian—are you weary? Are you tired of the world?

Is the election cycle wearing on you?

Are you wondering how you will put one foot in front of the other?

You are in the right place today.

For in this gathering of people, the glorious grace of Jesus is flowing from His throne to His body. His Bride. His church.

Don’t miss it.

Keep your eyes wide open.

Keep your ears alert.

The sights and sounds of the unmerited love of God for His children is all around us in our leaders, our co-workers, our worship gatherings and in His displayed power in our lives.

See it. Hear it. And praise Him for it.