Paul in Troas
Notes
Transcript
In Acts 7, we see an Example of 1st Century Church Life.
In Acts 7, we see an Example of 1st Century Church Life.
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
The disciples of Troas gathered together on the first day of the week, just as believers throughout the centuries have done.
Sunday, of course, is the day that Jesus rose from the dead.
The first century church made this the day that they met to worship and celebrate the gospel.
We continue in that tradition, here, this morning.
Paul was only with the people of Troas for a week, so the one Sunday that he was with them became very important.
Luke gives a unique detail about the room in which they were gathered.
Luke gives a unique detail about the room in which they were gathered.
Acts 20:7–8 (KJV (WS))
8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
We can safely assume that these “lights” that Luke noticed, were either candles or oil lamps.
The flames from these light sources worked as any other flame and burned oxygen.
The people, that filled the room, would have also contributed to the lower levels of oxygen.
As they breathed in the oxygen and expelled carbon dioxide, there would have been a staleness to the air.
Of course, there was no central air nor ceiling fans to bring fresh air in during this period.
The people were almost totally dependent upon the breeze coming through the windows to supply the room with fresh air.
In verse 9, Luke relates how the length of Paul’s sermon had an effect on one of the people in the audience.
In verse 9, Luke relates how the length of Paul’s sermon had an effect on one of the people in the audience.
9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
The conditions in the room, combined with the lateness of the hour resulted in drowsiness overtaking a young man in the audience named Eutychus.
Eutychus had been sitting by one of the windows, when he got tired and fell asleep.
As he slept, Eutychus began to sink farther and farther down until he lost his balance and fell out the window.
The window that Eutychus fell out of had been situated on the third floor of the building where they were meeting.
Have you ever had a dream that you were falling and you jerk yourself awake?
What if you woke up and you really were falling?
Eutychus hits the ground and dies.
How do we know he was dead?
Luke, a doctor, is present.
If anyone would have known how to tell if someone was dead or not, it would have been Luke.
When the passage says he was taken up dead, it doesn’t mean that he was mistaken or presumed to be dead.
It means that they picked him up and he was unmistakably dead.
Paul rushes down to check on Eutychus.
Paul rushes down to check on Eutychus.
10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.
Paul imitates the actions of the prophets Elijah and Elisha who both fell on the bodies of someone who was dead to pray that God would revive them.
Just as He did for Elijah and Elisha, God responds to Paul’s prayer by putting life back in to Eutychus’ body.
As Paul was holding Eutychus’ limp body, he would have been the first to know that life had returned.
Paul would have felt the muscles stiffen back up when they had, at first, been loose and limp.
Paul speaks to the people that are gathered on the street as well as those, no doubt, looking down from the upstairs window.
Imagine how relieved they were to hear that Eutychus was alive.
What excitement there must have been.
What do you do after something like that?
They are all already tired.
They’ve just been slammed with a rush of adrenaline.
A flurry of activity has gone from the worst news to the best news.
If I was there, I would say something like, “well that’s enough excitement for one night.”
Paul and the rest of the congregation go back up to the room and continue the service until the sun had risen.
Paul and the rest of the congregation go back up to the room and continue the service until the sun had risen.
11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
The people of Troas did not allow Eutychus’ fall to prevent them from continuing on with what they had already intended to do.
If Eutychus hadn’t fallen, they would have continued until the morning anyways.
Once they knew that Eutychus was okay, they continued on with their service.
The passage says they went back up to brake bread, AKA observe the Lord’s Supper.
I would think that observing the ordinance of how Jesus overcame sin and death would be even more powerful after watching Him resurrect someone right before.
The fall of Eutychus didn’t prevent their service, it enhanced it.
Paul left the people of Troas that next morning, but the effects of that night stayed with them for a long time.
They were greatly comforted.
I have to wonder how often Eutychus’ story was told to someone that was going through a difficult period of life.
They could take the same lesson from this situation that we can this morning.
Luke tells his readers about these people who refused to abandon their devotion to God after witnessing the character of Christ during a period acute stress.
They went from a moderate high with the presence of Paul.
To an extreme low over the death of Eutychus.
Back to an extreme high when Eutychus was revived.
They had witnessed the character of Christ.
He had shown His watchfulness over what happens when His people are gathered together.
He had shown His power to do the impossible for them.
He had shown that He was trustworthy.
Their faith had been strengthened through the trial they had faced.
God is still looking to strengthen the faith of His church and His people today.
God is still looking to strengthen the faith of His church and His people today.
Many times, this requires allowing an unwanted situation to enter our lives.
We get so distracted by our own selves that we live our lives with a terrestrial view of life.
Constantly looking down instead of looking to Him, how else do we expect God to get our attention?
God allows our world down here to get stirred up so we will look to Him for help.
It may be a death.
It may be a sickness.
It may be persecution.
God’s goal is never to destroy our faith in Him; it’s to strengthen our faith in Him.
Some would have thought, when Eutychus fell, “why would God let this happen to a guy sitting in church?”
The answer for Eutychus came quickly; for others the answer is not as swiftly perceived.
It will never be perceived if we run from God in His attempts to reveal Himself to us.