Someone once noted that falling asleep has often had unforeseen consequences. Adam fell asleep and woke up married and missing a rib! Samson fell asleep and woke up bald and beaten! Jonah fell asleep in the boat and woke up wet! Eutychus fell asleep and he woke up dead!
Like Eutychus, people have been falling asleep in church for centuries. In the early 1600s, American churches had an official they called the “tithingman”. Their job was to maintain religious order in a community and they made sure that people attended church… and behaved themselves while there. One of their most visible roles for tithingmen was keeping people awake in church. They would walk around carrying the wand of their office, which was a long rod with foxtails/feather tied to one end and a knob on the other end. They tickled the faces of sleepy women and girls, and (with the knob) rapped on the heads of dozing men and boys. (PAUSE)
So, lots of people have fallen asleep in church. It’s just that when Eutychus fell asleep… he woke up dead.
Paul had arrived at Troas 6 days before. He was kind of on his way to somewhere else, but while he was at Troas, he wanted to worship with the church there. Now it’s Sunday night and the church was meeting in a third story room of a building. Acts 20:7 tells us they had met for Communion on Sunday “On the first day of the week (Sunday), when we were gathered together to break bread (communion), Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.”
Now, there’s a few things to notice here. 1st – this church at Troas was meeting on Sunday NIGHT, not Sunday MORNING like normal people would. Like you and I would. Because, you see back then Sunday NIGHT worship was normal. In that culture, Christians did NOT get Sundays off. Sunday was not part of a “weekend” - it was the first day of the week. Just like we work on Mondays (because it’s the first day of our workweek) they worked on Sundays – the first day of their workweek. So Sunday night worship was normal! Sunday night was the only time that they could get together to worship.
Now, meeting at night might have been inconvenient. But for them it wasn’t a matter of convenience - it was a matter of honoring and loving Jesus. So they met at night.
Secondly – they met on SUNDAY nights to take Communion. That was the primary reason they got together. As Acts 20:7 tells us “On the first day of the week (Sunday),... we were gathered together to break bread (communion)”
So why meet on Sundays to take communion? Why not meet on Tuesdays or Thursdays or Fridays? Well, because Sunday was the day Jesus rose from the dead. Christians gathered on Sundays to celebrate a risen savior, and main focus of their worship …was communion.
ILLUS: There was an early church father named Justin Martyr. They called him Justin Martyr because he was martyred (killed for his faith) in 165 A.D. And he wrote THIS about Sunday church services in his day:
"On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memories of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read... (and) when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought... (they mixed the wine with the water before drinking it) and there is a distribution to each... and they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit... and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because... Jesus Christ, our Saviour the same day rose from the dead" (First Apology, chapter 67).
So this church at Troas met on Sunday night to take of communion, just like dozens of other churches across the region. And they did that to worship and honor Jesus. Now, ordinarily they probably had a local leader teach them about Jesus. But tonight they had a special guest. Paul was there… and so they let him preach. And he preached… and preached… and preached til midnight.
Off to one side - sitting on a windowsill - is a young man named Eutychus. He’s been working all day and he’s getting drowsy. He falls asleep, and falls out the window, and he falls 3 stories to the pavement below… and he dies!
But the guest preacher - being Paul – goes down and he raises Eutychus from the dead. Then everybody go back upstairs, and Paul preaches till sunrise. And that’s the story.
But now I’ve got a question - what was Eutychus doing there that night? Why did he even show up?
Now, I do extensive research for the sermons I preach, every week. And on this text, I read several sermons to get some ideas. And I found a repeated theme in most of the sermons on this story of Eutychus. The Theme? IT WAS EUTYCHUS’ FAULT that he fell out the window. Some preachers even tried to use the story of Eutychus to warn us against the dangers of sleeping in church.
One preacher said his message was focused on urging “the body of Christ to stay awake during the preaching of the gospel.” Another preacher spoke of the window sill as being a Window of Opportunity. And then quoted Ephesians 4:27 which says “give no (window of) opportunity to the devil.”
A couple of sermons I read… even hinted that Eutychus had a spiritual problem. They quoted passages like I Thessalonians 5:6-8 “let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” And Romans 13:11 which says “…you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” And Ephesians 5:14 where we read “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”
Now, those are all good thoughts… and good passages. But it sounded like these preachers felt Eutychus fell asleep because he just wasn’t committed enough to God. It was if they viewed Eutychus as being the patron saint of those who fall asleep in church. In short, many sermons implied that Eutychus was just putting in his time, and that he wasn’t REALLY serious about his faith. In fact – he probably wasn’t all that committed to God to begin with.
Now, I’ve got a problem with that. And to explain WHY I have a problem with that kind of thinking let me set the stage for what I’m thinking here. Let me start out by bragging about this congregation. Back when I started preaching here… we didn’t have this sanctuary. We met in the fellowship hall. Now, it wasn’t a BAD fellowship hall, it’s just that wasn’t what people think of as a place to worship. It wasn’t anything to write home about. It was just a bare-bones place to do worship. Nobody came to church here because they were in love with the bldg.. They came because they loved Jesus and they loved each other.
But now we’ve got this pretty sanctuary. And we’ve done things to make our worship time convenient. 1st service… 2nd service… evening service… online church. We have bus service, donuts and coffee, and a 5th Sunday brunch time. We have a Nursery, Children’s moment, and Jr. Church. And on and on and on.
We’ve done everything we can to make a person’s church experience enjoyable, welcoming and convenient. But you know – Eutychus didn’t go to worship with his church because it was convenient and welcoming. He came because he loved Jesus.
How do I know? 1st he’d just gotten off work. He’d worked long and hard and now he’s exposed to a 2 or 3 hour sermon that would put just about anybody to sleep. And 2nd, he walked to their meeting place that was a 3 story walk-up. There was no elevator, no handicapped accessibility. No donuts, and no coffee or orange juice. This was NOT a “seeker” friendly atmosphere. But IT WAS a Jesus friendly atmosphere. Eutychus (and everybody else who was there) had come because he wanted to be there. He loved Jesus… and that’s why he was there.
Now, I’m probably gonna step on a few toes here. And that’s OK… that’s my job.If you don’t want your toes stepped on, well just move your feet! Here’s THE question – why are YOU here? We know why Eutychus was at worship because he loved Jesus. But is that why are YOU here? Are you here because you love Jesus? Or is it just a ritual for you?
ILLUS: A young man wrote a love letter to his girlfriend. "I would climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest river, cross the wildest ocean, and crawl across a burning desert just to be with you!" And then he wrote a number of other loving things in this letter to his sweetheart. But then he wrote this P.S. at the end of his letter: P.S.: "I’ll be over on Friday if its not raining."
Now, wait a minute he’d written the girl that he’d climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest river, cross the wildest ocean and crawl across a burning desert to be with her. But if it’s raining on Friday… he’s not going to show up? What’s wrong with this picture. Does he REALLY love her as much as he says he does?
SHAKE YOU HEAD LIKE THIS – NO!!!!
ILLUS: Now, here’s the toe stepper - if you really loved Jesus, would you do whatever you had to do to worship Him on Sunday? If we had to cancel 1st service… would you show up at 2nd service? If something happened and we couldn’t meet in the morning, would you show up that evening at 6:30? If the building burnt down would you be willing to go to the park, or some empty building downtown so that you could gather and take communion together? Because that’s what the church at Troas did. They met in a 3rd story walk-up just to take communion together.
Do you love Jesus so much that you’d climb the highest mountain, swim deepest river, cross the wildest ocean and crawl across a burning desert just to gather with other Christians to take communion with them? Because that’s what Eutychus did!
Eutychus loved Jesus so much that, when he got off from working all day, he climbed three sets of stairs to meet with the church and take of communion with his brothers and sisters in Christ. He’d come to worship. Have you?
Now, a couple more thoughts. First, someone noted that this is the only time Eutychus is mentioned in Scripture! And then he said “Imagine looking down on earth from heaven and knowing that the ONLY thing you’ll ever be remembered for was that you fell asleep in church.”
That guy was right this WAS the only time Eutychus’ name is in Bible. But his name IS THERE! There were a lot of people who lived back then whose names didn’t get in the Bible - but his name did. WHY?
Well Paul said that when we observe the Lord’s Supper on Sundays we “proclaim the death of the Lord till He comes” (I Corinthians 11:26). In other words, every time we take of Communion we are confessing to the world that Jesus is our LORD. That’s what Eutychus came to do that Sunday night - he came to CONFESS Jesus was his Lord. And Jesus promised: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32) Eutychus came that night to confess Jesus in the taking of Communion, and in Acts 20… Jesus confessed Eutychus’ name.
But, you know - if Eutychus hadn’t showed up for worship that night his name might never have been known. And more than that; if he’d not come to worship that night; he would have missed out on a life changing event. Think about it:
Eutychus comes to worship with the church because he loves Jesus, and he falls asleep and falls to his death 3 stories below. And then what happens? Eutychus is lying, dead on the pavement, and the Apostle Paul comes running down the stairs and throws his arms around Eutychus… and brings him back his life.
Now, what do you think Eutychus is going to do… the next day? He’s going to go home and tell his family what happened on Sunday. He’s going to go to work and tell those men what God did for him at church. He’s going to go and talk to his unsaved family and friends, and he’s going to say “Do you know what God for me last Sunday He’s got a powerful testimony now - all because he showed up on Sunday. He’d have missed all that if he’d have stayed at home.
You know -we’ve actually seen some people raised from the dead the last few weeks. We had a young man named Noah who died a few weeks ago right here at church. He died to his sins and was buried with Christ in baptism… and he rose from the dead to walk in newness of life. Then last week, we had a high school student named Larry who died. He died to his sins and he was buried in the waters of baptism to rise in newness of life.
If you’re not a Christian today, maybe its time you died to your sin and then rose to walk in newness of life.
INVITATION
