Walking Through Acts
Acts 20:1
After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them,
he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.
What is this uproar that is referenced here in this verse? It’s what we covered last
week with the riot in Ephesus. In case you missed last week’s message, let me just
catch you up with what went on there. As a result of Paul’s faithful preaching,
many of the Ephesians were leaving behind their involvement in the occult and
turning to God. Although this was promising for the Church that was growing, it
was equally as troubling to those who made a living off making and selling idols.
The more conversions to Christianity that were happening, the more these idol
workshops would struggle. There was a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who
began to reach out to other craftsmen to tell them that they need to take a stand
against Paul. “What he’s doing is destroying our livelihoods.” “It’s not only you
who are being affected, but your families.” “Your children won’t have any food to
eat if this continues.” The craftsmen get whipped up into a frenzy and begin a riot
that involved much of the city and people were shouting and many of them didn’t
know why. It was chaotic and shouts of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” were
lifted up for two hours. And then, here came the town clerk who talked everyone
down through reasoning with them. “Hey, if you keep this up, you’re going to have
to deal with the Roman authorities and you could lose more than the food on
your table or your workshops. And then everyone was dismissed.
Now we know why Paul saw it appropriate to find the disciples (other Christians)
in that city in order to encourage them. He didn’t want to leave them without first
giving them heart right after what they had just witnessed. And can I just say, that
this is one of the primary reasons I come up here to preach to you all? I noted last
week that we live in a culture that could be referred to as Ephesus 2.0. It’s tough
out there, especially for the Christian. And, so I know that one of the goals of my
preaching is to encourage you to take heart, take courage because you are on thefront lines and in the trenches of spiritual warfare at the workplace, at home, at
the ball park, at school, at the doctor’s office. Many times you may feel like you’re
on an island, but here’s the thing. You are not alone. You have the Spirit of God
residing in you. In whatever conflict or challenge or difficulty you find yourself in, I
want you to know that God is there in the midst of it all. This is what Paul is doing
for the Christians in Ephesus before he leaves for Macedonia.
We haven’t heard of Macedonia in a while now, and I just want to remind you that
this is one of the regions Paul did a lot of his ministry in previous chapters. If you
can recall, in chapter 16, Paul has a vision one night and he envisions this “man
from Macedonia.” Now many have speculated that the man Paul saw in his vision
was none other than the author of this book of Acts that we are studying, Luke. In
any case, Paul had other plans before this vision to go and preach the gospel to
Bithynia, but the Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit prevented him from doing
so. And why? God was leading Paul to go and preach to the Western World for the
very first time; to the Macedonians. And it is here that he planted and established
Churches in the cities of Phillipi and Thessalonica and Berea. And no doubt, he
was going there to encourage them and provide them with further instruction
related to the gospel.
Acts 20:2
2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much
encouragement, he came to Greece.
And one may think, man, with everything that Paul had gone through up to this
point that it was smooth sailing for him the rest of his life. In Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians, he makes the comparison of the Christian life to that of a race. And
let me ask you this, does a race get easier or more difficult as time goes on? Here’s
how Paul describes his time as he made his evangelistic tour through this region of
Macedonia that we read about here in verses one and two.
2 Corinthians 7:5
5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were
afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.There are many tv shows out there where the main protagonist is faced with
moral dilemmas or external threats or possibly their life is under threat every
single episode and you just think to yourself, “they just can’t catch a break.” If
there were ever a tv show that chronicled Paul’s life especially during his
missionary journeys, it would be just like that. Danger at every turn. Conflict
externally as well as internal conflict.
But as we will soon see, one of Paul’s ministry partners named Titus arrives to
Macedonia and encourages Paul. Let’s take a look at that and how that came
about. First we have to remember that Paul had sent Titus to the Corinthian
Church with a letter. And that letter was not well received initially. If you read
through this letter which can be found in the book of 1 Corinthians, you will notice
that it’s an admonishment mostly. The Church is full of disorder and divisiveness
and if, I were to summarize what this letter was all about, it would be, “hey, get
your act together. You call yourselves Christians? Act like it.”
Have any of you parents in here ever disciplined your children and later, you ask
yourself, “Was I too harsh with my words, or was I too hard on them?” Or maybe
you think, “maybe I could have done that a little bit better or said something else.”
This is what Paul felt about his first letter to the Corinthians. How do I know? Let’s
take a look at 2 Corinthians 7:5 which I just read a few moments ago.
2 Corinthians 7:5-10
5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were
afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. 6 But God, who comforts
the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming
but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your
longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 8 For even if
I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see
that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not
because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you
felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,
whereas worldly grief produces death.Sometimes it is a difficult thing to be the one who holds authority. Whether you’re
a parent, or a grandparent or a coach or a teacher or a brother or a sister and you
have a responsibility to speak truth to falsehood and that inevitably results in
conflict. And one agonizes over the fact that they may lose a friend, or damage a
relationship with a family member because of their obligation to speak the truth.
I’ve been there and you’ve been there many times. And let me tell you, every
single time you are confronted with this, it is always worth risking that
relationship with that person if what you are doing is for their genuine benefit.
That’s difficult to do. And so now, I hope you can better understand Paul’s great
relief when he finds out that, although he had agonized over the result of his first
letter to the Corinthians, here comes Titus bringing good news to Paul. They’ve
repented. And repentance only results from a Godly kind of sorrow. It is not
feeling sorry for yourself; that’s a worldly kind of sorrow. But it is feeling remorse
for the things you’ve done to grieve a most Holy God. And there is reason for Paul
to rejoice.
And then Scripture tells us that Paul came to Greece and was there for three
months. Many scholars agree that these were during the winter months because
in the following verse he has intentions of setting sail to Syria, but of course, God
had other plans for him.
Acts 20:3
3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the
Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through
Macedonia.
This is very reminiscent of Acts 16 when Paul was prevented by the Holy Spirit to
enter into Bithynia. I believe here, we also see God’s providence over Paul’s life as
he discovers this plan of the Jews to take his life.
Acts 20:4
4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians,
Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians,
Tychicus and Trophimus.This is a list of the names of the men that accompanied Paul and were from
various regions around the ancient world. Some things I want you to notice is that
they were all gentiles. And what were they doing? They were collecting offerings
to bring to Jerusalem to aid the poverty stricken Christians there. We’ve got
Sopater, the Berean. I can just picture the book nerd. Remember, the Bereans
loved to study the Scriptures. You’ve got Aristarchus and Secundus from whose
names we can derive that they were likely from Rome. Aristarchus was one of the
men taken by the mob in Ephesus that we read about last week. It is also likely
that these men were freedmen for these were typical names of slaves. And
remember, slavery in this time was not like slavery when we think about American
history. First century slavery could be better compared to that of an
employer/employee relationship. Obviously, Aristarchus and Secondus are not
slaves anymore as they are with Paul traveling around with him. And then you
have Gaius and then the “Asians”, Tychicus and Trophimus. It’s not talking about
Asians as we would think of Asians today, but they were from Ephesus which was
found in the Roman Province of Asia. The picture I am painting here is that of the
Church in contrast to that of how the rest of the world was in that day. And for
that matter, the picture of the Church is a stark contrast to the culture we live in
now. The Church is a place where people from all walks of life and gather together
in unity and equality in the eyes of God and worship with one voice and in one
spirit. There are no distinctions to be made regarding one’s spiritual status before
God.
Galatians 3:28
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male
and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And what a shock this would have been to the Roman world. Romans looked
down on slaves, and so it was incomprehensible to them that, at a church
gathering, you would find the rich sitting beside the poor, the slave sitting beside
their masters and not just that, but all were considered equals in this context.
What a foreign thing this would’ve been for the typical first century observer. This
is the beauty of the Church. Unity amongst diversity.Acts 20:5-6
5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away
from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to
them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
Remember that the book of Acts is where we learn about our ecclesiology (nature
and structure) of the Church. It is right here in Acts 20 where we find for the very
first time the day that marks the day of worship for Christians. Why do we worship
on Sundays and not on Saturdays? Remember Saturday was known as the Sabbath
because that was the seventh day of the week representing the day God rested in
the days of Creation. And Sunday, from the time I was little had always been
referred to as the Sabbath. So you can see where this may cause some confusion.
Is the Sabbath Saturday or Sunday? Here’s the answer. Under Jesus Christ, every
day is a Sabbath because no matter which day it is, we can always find our rest in
Him. How does this look practically? Well, this means that Christians can meet for
Church any day of the week. I know some Churches have services on Saturdays
and Sundays and there are some that have full blown services on Wednesdays as
well. Which one is correct? Well, all of them.
With all of that said, the Church from Apostolic times has met on Sundays because
it is the day on which Jesus rose from the grave. Let’s look at what the Scripture
says.
Acts 20:7
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,
Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his
speech until midnight.
Now, that we know why we meet on Sundays for Church each week, what is the
purpose for our gatherings? To hear a sermon? To sing songs of praise? To take up
offerings? To have fellowship? I will say this isn’t an either or answer, but there is
an answer that places higher prominence of once practice over all the rest. It is
the breaking of bread. This is the same phrase used in Acts 2:42 which denotes
communion. And why is communion to the most important element of ourservices? The answer to this question is found in the answer to this next question.
How important was it, then, for Jesus to die?
Reece,
“When men recognize the fact that salvation is grounded in the death and
exaltation of Christ, then they will come to understand that one of the most
important reasons for worship together is to commemorate those redemptive
acts by participating in the breaking of bread. According to Acts 20:7, the Church
met for the purpose of breaking bread. They did not gather together
fundamentally to pray, although prayer is important, and we do not doubt that
they did pray; neither, first of all, to sing though singing is important, and they
probably did sing; nor yet to bring their offerings, though that was important, and
there is no room to doubt they brought their offerings; not even to hear Paul
preach, though Paul was a very great preacher, and he did preach. None of these
was the primary purpose of the gathering. That was to break bread, that is, to
observe the Lord’s Supper.”
And so that is why we have communion every single Sunday as part of our
worship.
Here in verse seven we see Paul speaking, most likely giving a gospel exhortation
and he prolongs his sermon until midnight. In other words, his preaching had no
time constraints and as all preachers do, they have plenty to say. Let’s see what
happens next.
Acts 20:8-9
8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a
young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul
talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story
and was taken up dead.
This is one of those peculiar events in the Bible that just stick with you. Are you
telling me that God’s Holy Word includes an account of a man falling asleep during
a sermon and as a result, dies from falling out of a window? Yep. We can butcheran interpretation of this account and glean from it this lesson. There is nothing
more dangerous than falling asleep during a sermon.
Here's the thing. I will never get upset with you if you fall asleep during one of my
sermons. Here’s why, either my preaching is boring, or you have some good
reason that you’re so tired that you fall asleep. Or even if it’s a lame reason. Here’s
why I wouldn’t get upset.
Charles Spurgeon has a quote that says,
“I would rather you come and get part of a meal, then none at all.”
If I see you here on Sunday morning, no matter the circumstances, whether you
came voluntarily or drug in here kicking in screaming, I’m just glad you’re here.
Returning to the poor guy that fell out of the window and died. This wasn’t the
end of the account.
Acts 20:10-12
10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do
not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had
broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and
so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little
comforted.
Piano to play here.
Paul, through God’s power working through him as is consistent with Apostolic
authority, resurrected Eutychus from the dead. Some speculate that he wasn’t
really dead. But Scripture doesn’t tell us that he only “appeared as dead.”
Scripture tells us he died. And if you can just picture Paul running down to this
lifeless body sprawling himself over it and praying, as an observer, you would have
thought, there’s no way. There’s no way this is going to work. There’s no hope for
him.But there was a sermon to be told here that was not spoken, but rather shown. It
is a microcosm reflecting the lives of all people coming to faith in Christ. The
picture of those that were once dead coming to life. And many of us have come to
know Christ by no shortage of prayer and petition on our behalf by friends or
family or maybe people we’ve never even met. This is the power of God and it is
the power of the gospel. I bet you that no one there who had witnessed that
event left unchanged because of what they saw.
And so we will end today’s message with a summary of Paul’s travels until we pick
up next week in the city of Miletus.
Acts 20:13-16
13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard
there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he
met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from
there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at
Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail
past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was
hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.