Sleeping in Church Sermon Short
“Sleeping in Church”
Acts 20:7-16
June 15, 2008
I. The Church Comes In to Worship & Fellowship - :7a
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…
Now we might be tempted just to run right on by this, because it doesn’t strike us as unusual, but there are some things to note:
• “First day of the week”
FF Bruce says this is “the earliest unambiguous evidence we have for the Christian practice of gathering together for worship on that day”.
Why Sunday worship?
Why not Sabbath worship?
• Worship at all times!
Though we rightly set aside times to worship corporately, our lives ought to be lived as acts of worship.
• Worship whenever!
There is nothing inherently wrong with gathering to worship on Saturday, Sunday, or Tuesday at 3:30 in the afternoon, for that matter. When Jesus was asked about worship logistics by the woman at the well, He steered her away from the ritual and the ceremonial, and instructed her as to the true meaning of worship (John 4).
• Worship celebrates Jesus!
It seems clear that the early church’s determination to worship on Sunday was based upon the resurrection being on a Sunday. Apart from Jesus, we are nothing. And the early church knew this, and in desiring to focus on Jesus, and understanding the Sabbath to be God’s rules/regulations for Israel, they met on Sundays.
• The Sabbath is a “shadow”.
Colossians 2:16 “…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. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Hebrews 4 speaks of the “Sabbath rest” for God’s people, when they cease from their own labors, and this is found in Christ!
• “Gathered together to eat bread”
• Eating together?
• Communion?
• Actually, it was likely both, that in the context of a fellowship meal together, the believers took time to celebrate the Lord’s Table, something that was commonplace in the early church, and which one of these Sundays, we’ll observe as well.
II. Paul Tries Out a New (Dubious) Strategy - :7b
We’re not told for sure when he started this message, but suffice it to say that it went a bit long, you know? Paul’s new strategy didn’t really work out too well, because though he was full of information that he was determined to share, he forgot that old maxim: “the mind cannot absorb any more than the seat can endure”, a maxim I’ve no doubt failed to heed myself from time to time!
III. Eutychus Nods Off, Falls Off, and Kicks Off - :8-9
Note the deck that was stacked against poor Eutychus:
• Had they eaten already? Likely they had begun their time together with dinner.
• Lamps lighting the room gave off smoke, so there was a bit of a haze—and maybe it was warm, too.
• Eutychus, a young buck likely between eight and fourteen years of age, had chosen the window seat, three floors above the ground—not unusual, since there is something about youth that takes the daring over the safe, of course. Further, there he found at least some fresh air; it was, aside from the safety factor, one of the choice seats in the house!
• Paul “talked still longer”.
The tense of the Greek verb paints the familiar picture for us: despite his best efforts at remaining awake, Eutychus finally relaxed to the point of sleep—and a deadly plunge.
What we now regard with some humor was at the time it took place nothing short of tragedy, for a person to lose his life in church, of all places. And upon this realization, the people of the church ran down the stairs to find the young man dead; some likely began the shriek of a Middle-Eastern death wail.
IV. God Raises Up Eutychus From the Dead - :10-12
Both Elijah and Elisha, Old Testament prophets, had covered dead young men with their bodies for the purpose of bringing those young men back to life; here, Paul repeats the same thing! And when he does, he looks at the concerned and grieving onlookers with an assurance that God has worked a miracle through him; the young man is alive!
God is the star of this show. That’s how it must be in all good preaching: we must note the role of God in bringing life from death. It’s a resurrection job, and God specializes in this type of thing! Every time a person places saving faith in Christ, and Christ alone, God raises a dead person to new life.
V. Paul Heads Away to Jerusalem - :13-16
This is a fairly straightforward account of Paul’s determination to travel to Jerusalem, a topic we’ll take up later on, and so I’m not going to pull over and camp here
Points to Ponder
• The Content of Christian Worship
- Fellowship
- The Lord’s Table
- Preaching the Word
These are the things that build up the Christian: the ordinances, the Word, and the fellowship. Notice that they focused on God and fellowshipped with each other. When I’ve shared with others about our vision here at Red Oak, it thrills me to be able to say that we’re trying to do some of the very same things that the early church was doing!
• The Presence of God in Christian Worship
God showed up in a clear way in the healing of Eutychus. God is still in the business of showing up and doing resurrections.
• Preparing for Christian Worship
Eutychus wasn’t in the best position to really focus on worshipping God. What concerns me is that there may be some of us who regularly place ourselves in poor position to worship God together on Sundays. And when it comes right down to it, it’s a matter of priorities, plain and simple, nothing more, nothing less.
Practical Pointers:
- Remember Who you’re meeting
I always like to remember this convicting test of things: suppose you had an audience with the president. Would you mosey into a meeting with the president, unprepared and unconcerned? Or would you prepare yourself?
- Let Sunday worship grow out of 24/7 worship
Sunday AM ought not be weird for you, that you should be in the habit of praising God and listening to Him all week long…
- Begin Sunday worship on Saturday evening
Too many folks act like Sunday morning catches them by surprise!
- Get up early enough to get prepared to worship
• Turn your thoughts to God prior to arriving at church
• Eat enough breakfast so that hunger isn’t a distraction
• Take at least a few moments to meditate on the Word
- Take time, prior to coming, to confess sin to God
Why not talk to God before you get to church?
- Breathe a prayer of openness before coming
- Cultivate a grateful heart
Psalm 100:4 – “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; I will enter His courts with praise!” How’d you enter?
- Eliminate Sunday morning distractions
• Don’t turn the TV on
• Turn off the radio, unless it’s something that will direct your mind toward God
• Let the newspaper wait
- Leave early enough to be on time (10 minutes prior to the start of the service at minimum)
- Remember that worship isn’t just about you and God—it’s about others too!
• Who needs encouragement?
• Are there guests who need welcoming?
• Is there some way you can help out?
Christian worship, as experienced in the early church at Troas, is a powerful and indispensable element of our relationships with God. We’d do well to approach it with the seriousness that it deserves, for when we worship, it is God with Whom we meet!
5 Good Questions
1. What would you say to someone who insisted that worshipping on the Sabbath (Saturday) was critical to honoring God?
2. Why do you think we’ve gotten so “time-sensitive” in some of our American worship patterns?
3. Eutychus was overcome by a combination of physical exhaustion, stuffy conditions, and Paul’s longwindedness. Together, these put him into a physical sleep—with temporarily disastrous consequences. What are some things that can dull our senses to the things of God, that can induce “spiritual sleepiness”?
4. Luke records the miracle rather matter-of-factly; the emphasis is more on the other things going on there. Why do you think this is?
5. Consider together the Practical Pointers on preparation for worship. Which do you find the hardest to put into practice, and why? What disciplines could you ask God’s help to instill in your life in order to be more ready to worship God on Sunday morning?
Looking Ahead
Next week, we consider Acts 20:17-38. Paul is sharing his final face-to-face instructions with the elders from Ephesus. Before you read the text together, consider (without peeking!) what instructions you’d think would be fitting for Paul to leave with church leaders whom he knew he’d never see again.
