SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 10/23/22
Everyone is listening intently to Paul as he preaches, God’s people are gathered to receive His truth and celebrate the life and death of Christ – this is a celebration! A celebration interrupted by a tragic incident. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.
SERIES: Hopeful: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 20:1-12
TITLE: Eutychus and An Unforgettable Sunday
PREACHER: Guest Preacher, Brett Overstreet
SERMON EXCERPTS:
”…all along the way, Luke tells us that Paul is encouraging the churches as he passes through. Luke doesn’t give much detail other than the fact that Paul was an encourager – we would do well to learn from Paul – may we be quick to encourage our fellow saints.”
“I’m sure there were some amazing stories from Paul’s time traveling back through the churches he helped plant, but Luke doesn’t record any of that. Now, in verses 7 – 12 he slows way down and takes the same amount of verses, 136 words to cover the span of hours. This whole travel report is leading up to this moment in Acts 20. The fact that this is where Luke, under the inspiration of the Spirit, chooses to stop and record should tell us to pay attention to what is being said.”
“What would you do if I told you that I was about to preach a 5-hour sermon? This might be a mind-boggling amount of time for us to consider sitting and listening to a sermon, but it wasn’t that way for these believers. They would have been hungry and eager to hear God’s word preached. They would have longed to spend as much time as possible with Paul on his final night with them. We shouldn’t let our “fast-paced, time is money, on to the next thing” western culture impact how we see this evening. In fact, we could learn this group of believers in Troas. How is it that I can sit down and watch a 4-hour football game, binge-watch a TV show or stare mindlessly at my phone but I struggle to make it through a 90-minute church service with 45 minutes of preaching? I don’t think this group of people minded that Paul went on until midnight, I think they were overjoyed to hear and receive God’s word.”
“Luke actually clues us in on some details with that word in verse 9, sank. In the original Greek tense, that word gives the sense of being gradually overcome by sleep. And so, we can almost imagine him slowly dozing off, maybe at times startling himself back awake until he finally is overcome by the sleep and then he plummets from the third-story window.”
“Some people dispute whether or not Eutychus actually died, but I do not think that Luke, a physician, who was there would be confusing with his words. If the doctor said he was dead, we should take it as meaning that Eutychus fell out the window and died.”
“You might think they would throw a party for Paul and Eutychus but notice what they do: they get right back to church. See nowhere is God or His Spirit mentioned at all in our passage, but we know that this miracle wasn’t really Paul – it was God’s work. Do you remember back in chapter 19? Verse 11 tells us that God is doing extraordinary miracles and He does that here in raising Eutychus to life.”
“As exciting as this story has been to this point, this right here is the drama of the text. The power of God, stronger than death itself! An extraordinary God doing extraordinary things.”
“This text does have to do with sleep, but perhaps not the sleep we think. As we consider its meaning and application, I believe this scripture is here for this reason: To warn us of the dangers of spiritual slumber and remind us that only the gospel can breathe life into our souls.”
“Church this text offers us both a warning and a hope. It warns us about the dangers of our spiritual slumber, but it offers us the hope of the Gospel. My prayer is that we leave here seeing that this humorous story has cosmic implications for us.”
“Ephesians 2:5 says even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ! It is GOD who does this work as the Gospel message goes out and encounters dead, miserable souls it gives a wellspring of hope and joy and life to even the darkest and most miserable souls you can find. Our extraordinary God does extraordinary things.”
“Even for the believer, there is a warning here this morning. We believe scripture teaches that you cannot lose your salvation and so nothing I am about to say is a fatal slumber. But I do believe there is a second warning for us to consider this morning – there are those here who are asleep because you have drifted from the Gospel.”
“How often do we do this in our own lives, church? Our attitude toward sin is too often to be nibblers. I’ll nibble a little bit here, a little bit there, but I’ll never feast. But what ends up happening is we slowly drift. Sometimes over weeks, sometimes over months, sometimes over years, we drift into a life of sin that we never thought possible. There is a warning for us about the danger of this spiritual slumber. When we drift toward sin and the world, then necessarily we drift away from Christ and the Gospel. We drift away from the message that we once received with joy and drift into a lazy, spiritual slumber.”
“Church, have you fallen asleep? If so, come back to the cross of Christ. For if we truly behold the spectacle of the cross, if Christ truly fills our gaze, it is impossible for us to sleep. Not because our eyes are strong, not because of our own willpower, but because: Christ is that wonderful. Christ is that satisfying. Christ is the light that has shown into the darkness of our spiritual depravity.”
QUOTES:
C.J. Mahaney - “There is no miracle greater than the miracle of regeneration.”
Charles Spurgeon - “…when we come into God’s house, and we hear the old familiar story of the cross, and it does not charm us, let us mournfully say, “I Sleep.” When others are ready to dance before the Lord with exultation while singing the solemn psalm, if we ourselves feel no devout gratitude, let us cry self complainingly, “I perceive that I sleep,” and when at the table the chosen emblems of the bread and wine do not bring the Master near to us, and we go away as hungry as we came, because we have not fed on His body and blood, then let us say again, “Alas, I sleep, I sleep, for these things would be most sweet and nourishing to me if my spiritual faculties were as they ought to be.” If we fail to enjoy the banquet of our Bridegroom’s love it must be because a deadness is stealing over us, and we are not so thoroughly alive and awake as we were in days gone by, and this is a condition to be deplored as soon as it is perceived.”
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 Peter 5:8
APPLICATION:
- Nothing was going to stop these early Christians from being together. Is that our attitude when God’s people gather? First and foremost, on Sunday mornings, but even as we think about community groups, SGU, outreach events… you name it. Are we only interested when it’s convenient for us and fits into our schedule or when it meets our expectations? Do we settle for livestream because COVID has made that easier? Or are you someone who can’t be kept away when God’s people gather together?”
- If you are wondering, how do guard against this – how do I assess my own spiritual slumber? I think one of the most helpful questions we can ask ourselves is, “Have we become familiar with the Gospel?” Have Christ and His cross lost their charm to me? Am I more captivated by what is going on out there – work, sports, even family – than I am by what goes on when God’s people gather together?
- Church as we read the story of Eutychus and that Unforgettable Sunday, as we see an extraordinary God doing extraordinary things, may it draw our eyes away from this world that so easily lulls us to sleep, and may they be fixed on a Savior who is too wonderful for words.