Today’s text contains yet another very strange and unusual story. It’s a story of a long-winded preacher and a sleepy young man.
On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home unhurt, and everyone was greatly relieved. Acts 20:7-12 (NLT)
What’s different today? Today, we still have long winded preachers. We still have folks falling asleep in church. What seems to be tragically missing in the modern church is that same resurrection power; The power to fix what is broken, the power to deliver the addicted, the power to raise to life the spiritually dead. Some lack power because they are spiritually asleep. Others are spiritually asleep because they are lacking that life and power.
People will always fall asleep in church, especially when they have had a long work week or have been missing sleep at home. But may it never be because we are “bored in the Lord” or uninterested in seeking Him. If we fall asleep in church may it never be because our interests lay elsewhere.
God warned his people about this very thing long ago…
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” Deuteronomy 6:4 NLT.
God help us to be the sort of people who seek the Lord with all our strength as to find His presence with power in our midst as we gather for worship.
Pastor Mike