Identifying Trends
Long Winded Speakers
Sunday Worship
It is significant that the first day of the week is mentioned. It had been and continues to be the tradition of the Jews to worship on the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. This is mandated in the Old Testament, and it is part of what one would expect Old Testament believers to do. But significantly when we come to the New Testament, we find that almost automatically—it would seem almost without any real thought—the Christians, most of whom (at least in the early days) were Jews and who were used to worshiping at least once a week, switched their normal day of worship to Sunday.
The switch must have happened as a result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which had occurred on the first day of the week. Here was a new beginning. When Christ rose from the dead old things really had passed away. A new era had begun. Christians began to worship not on the old day, the Sabbath, but on the new “Lord’s Day,” which is what they called it.
This change is a proof of the resurrection. There are many evidences: the empty tomb, the graveclothes, the changed character of the disciples, and so on—all these and other historical facts are powerful evidences for the fact of the resurrection of Christ. But among these many evidences, there is the change of the day of worship to Sunday. Why would that happen? Particularly, why would that happen among Jews, who mostly made up the early Christian congregations and who were trained by centuries of tradition to worship on the seventh day? There is only one explanation: Jesus rose from the dead on that day.
Much Bible Teaching
We cannot fail to notice how much time was given to teaching on this particular Lord’s Day, in this case teaching by the apostle Paul. He delivered what we would call a sermon or exposition of the Word of God. From the very beginning this had been the prime element in the Christian services.
Not everybody can (or should) preach as long as Paul did. We do not know when he began. I guess it would be after the end of the normal work day, after everybody had gotten together in this upper room of the house—perhaps seven o’clock at night, maybe later. But he was still going strong at midnight. That is a message of four or five hours.
Should preachers preach that long today? Probably not. People are not trained to listen for that long. We would quickly lose them if we tried. But the fact that Paul had so much to say reminds us of the importance of the gospel message for Christianity. Whenever Christians have lost that emphasis, whenever they have begun to think of worship chiefly as entertainment, or that what is accomplished in worship is essentially an emotional response that can be worked up by the singing of certain hymns or choruses, or that worship should consist of a series of testimonies of how people were lost in sin (with a great deal of emphasis on the sin) and were then brought to Christ—when they have substituted these other elements for careful Bible exposition in sermons, the church has always been weakened and sometimes has even died.
This is because the power of God is not in our emotions or experience but in the Word of God. His Word is what God has chosen to bless, and that is why in properly conducted Christian services we emphasize it. It is not the eloquence of the preacher or even his authority that blesses, but the Word of God.
The Lord’s Supper
The third thing to notice about the worship at Troas is the observance of the Lord’s Supper. They had it late in the evening. Paul preached first; then they celebrated the sacrament. The Reformers rightly emphasized the combination, saying that there was to be no observance of the Lord’s Supper without preaching.
Supplemental Informal Conversation
After the observance of the Lord’s Supper, Paul talked with them in an informal way until daylight (v. 11). The word that is used here for “talking” is different from the words used earlier for Paul’s preaching to them. In the earlier instance, the words indicate formal teaching, teaching that is sustained and carefully reasoned. That was the heart of the actual worship service. Toward the end, the word that is used refers to informal conversation. It was what we think of as fellowship.
Luke recorded almost the same thing toward the end of Acts 2. After Pentecost, when the church was established in Jerusalem, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). That is precisely what we find here. In fact, the only one of the four elements mentioned in Acts 2 that is not mentioned in Acts 20 is prayer, but the fact that the Christians in Troas also prayed is to be assumed.
This format is natural to Christian people. Wherever we go, wherever the gospel has penetrated and churches have been established, we find that Christians come together naturally to hear the Bible taught, pray, observe communion, and enjoy fellowship.
The Man Who Fell Asleep
These verses also contain the story of Eutychus. Christians probably think about Eutychus a lot, particularly when they have to sit in long church services where the preacher is going on and on, the lights are flickering, the air is stale, and they are falling asleep. Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of the window where he was sitting, so that people thought he was dead.
I am glad this story is in the Bible, though not for the reasons most people are glad to know about it. I am happy because it indicates that sometimes people fell asleep even when the apostle Paul was preaching. I am sure Paul was not boring or irrelevant. He did not turn people off with the dullness of the things he was teaching. Paul taught well and deeply. But sometimes, in spite of even the best teaching, human flesh is weak. That was the case with Eutychus.
Was Eutychus dead? There are different opinions. Verse 9 says that he was “picked up dead.” But when Paul got to him, he said, “Don’t be alarmed. He’s alive” (v. 10). People have concluded from Paul’s words that the people thought Eutychus was dead but that, when Paul got to him, he discovered he was actually alive. Others believe that Eutychus died and that when Paul got to him he performed a resurrection. I suppose this is a matter we cannot fully resolve. Luke was present. Luke was a physician. If Luke says Eutychus was dead, I am willing to believe that he was dead and that there was a resurrection.1 On the other hand, not a great deal is made of the event, and maybe that is a way of indicating that the situation was not as serious as the onlookers originally thought.
The significance of the incident may be this. Paul was not going to see these believers again. This is a farewell scene. Moreover, they were observing the Lord’s Supper, and it was clear that they would not do that together again until they were together in heaven. Before then they would all die, though they would be raised again. Maybe the story of Eutychus is a picture of our future reunion after physical death. If it is, then it is a picture from which we can take heart. We are alive now and are with other believers, but death will come and with death a parting. If this life were all there is, that would be the end. But it is not the end, because there is a resurrection, and we will meet again.
We also know the end of Paul’s story. Paul will go to Jerusalem, be attacked, arrested, beaten, and imprisoned. Then he will be sent to Rome, where eventually he will lose his life, though Luke does not end Acts with Paul’s death but rather with his life in Rome spreading the gospel everywhere. But even the death of Paul was not the end. Paul had many trials, but for two thousand years now he has been with Jesus, and so have these faithful believers from Troas. The ending is never bad for Christians. The God who has begun a good work in us keeps on perfecting it until the day of Christ.