Preached To Death

At my first pastorate, during the middle of a funeral service, the floor to the sanctuary gave a loud pop like lightning striking, and then it fell about six to eight inches! The floor later had to be completely replaced. At another church where I pastored, the ceiling fell in; and of course, the ceiling had to be replaced. At yet another church, a sinkhole fell in under the back corner of the building exposing a huge cave passage! In a couple of churches, I either had to kill or remove a snake that was found crawling inside.

Strange things can happen in church, to say the least; and this evening, we are going to look at the account of a young man who had a rather strange experience in church, to put it mildly. In the midst of this unique and somewhat tragic event, all those who were present had to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Hopefully, by now I have captured your attention; so, let’s get started and see what this is all about! I will be reading from the New International Version tonight, because of the descriptive and humorous way in which it presents the biblical account.

Very Long Winded (v. 7)

7 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.

In verse 7, we read that the church in Troas (v. 6) came together to break bread on the first day of the week. F. F. Bruce tells us that “the first day of the week” is a reference to Sunday, and that this verse is the earliest “evidence we have for the Christian practice of gathering together for worship on [Sunday].”(1)

What we observe here is the church meeting for some good old-fashioned Sunday evening eating and preaching. The people had a pot luck meal, and then sat down afterwards to hear Paul expound on the Law and Prophets, concerning Jesus the Messiah. Verse 7 tells us that, because he was getting ready to leave the very next day, Paul talked all the way until midnight. He felt compelled to cram every piece of insight he knew into the minds of the people in one single night.

I am guessing many of you have attended church services similar to the one described in this passage. You enjoyed some good food, but got tired because the preacher was long-winded and you had a full stomach. Think about how you start to feel after you eat a big meal and the food begins to settle. All you want to do is sleep. How many of you have experienced this feeling before? If my stomach were full, there’s no way that I could hear someone preach from suppertime until midnight. Keeping this information in mind, what do you think happens next in the account?

Sleeping in Church (vv. 8-9a)

8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on.

What happened is exactly what we anticipated. Someone fell asleep; and that someone was a young man named Eutychus. Not only was his stomach full and he was reclining on a window ledge, but the Bible says that “Paul talked on and on.” Paul’s voice was probably mesmerizing; such as when someone is counting sheep in order to fall asleep. Similar to those sheep that keep jumping over the fence when you count them in your head, Paul’s words went over and over in Eutychus’ mind until he finally just ignored them, and conked out!

Church sleepers beware. If you think you can get away with sleeping in church, then watch out! “A man who went to church with his wife always fell asleep during the sermon. His wife then decided to do something about this, and one Sunday she took a long hatpin along with her to poke him with it every time he would doze off. As the preacher got to a part in the sermon where he asked, ‘And who created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh?,’ she poked her husband, who came flying out of the pew and screamed, ‘Good God Almighty’.”(2)

“A man liked to sleep frequently in church, so the pastor devised a plan. During one service the pastor asked his congregation, while the man was sleeping, ‘All who want to go to heaven, please rise.’ Everyone stood up except the sleeper. Then, at the top of his voice, he bellowed, ‘All who wish to go to hell, stand up now!’ Only the sleeper stood up. The sleeper looked around and said, ‘I don’t know what we’re voting on, Reverend, but it looks like you and me are the only ones for it’.”(3)