WWUTT 2687 Paul Raised Eutychus from the Dead (Acts 7:8-12)

The Apostle Paul preached a sermon so long that someone died, but Paul had the power and ability to bring him back to life, demonstrating the power also in the Word of God. When we understand the text.

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Paul Raises Eutychus in Acts 20

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come back to chapter 20, picking up where we left off last time. We're reading about a young man named Eutychus who accidentally dies, but Paul raises him back to life again.

Let me start reading in verse 7, we'll go through verse 16. Hear the word of the Lord. And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day.

And he prolonged his message until midnight. Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the windowsill, sinking into a deep sleep.

And as Paul kept on talking, he sunk into that sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him. And after embracing him, he said, do not be troubled for his life is in him.

And when he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak and then left. And they took away the boy alive and were not a little comforted. But we going ahead to the ship set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board.

For so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Medellin. And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios.

And the next day we crossed over to Samos and the day following we came to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

And we'll see if we get that far. So in the last lesson, I had focused mainly on the pattern of Christian gathering and worship, because we see some things here that shows us Christian traditions that were going on in the first few decades of the church.

They were gathering on the first day of the week. That is Sunday. They were breaking bread, which is a reference to the Lord's table. Paul is preaching and we even have a reference to an evening service because he keeps on preaching even until midnight.

God's Power Over Death and the Gospel

But as we come back to the section today, I want to focus more on God's power over death and the authentication of the gospel and apostolic ministry in raising Eutychius from the dead, just as the gospel has the power to bring the dead back to life or the dead to life.

So Paul demonstrates that power in his ability to bring Eutychius back from the dead as the Lord would will him to do. So we're seeing God's power demonstrated through the preaching of the gospel and this gospel even validated by Paul's ability to do these incredible miracles in their midst.

So that's our focus for the section as we look at it today. Here's verse seven. Once again, on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day.

And he prolonged his message until midnight because he's about to depart from them. They probably wanted him to preach for a long time. We want to hear this apostolic message in it. And when was the next time that we're going to hear from an apostle right there in Troas?

So Paul is preaching for for quite the length. And I am going to believe that God is giving his voice power to do this because I don't think I could preach for that long. I have a strong voice and preaching all day.

It takes a toll. Paul yet preaches to midnight. And then later on, it says in verse 11 that he began talking again until daybreak. So he is talking all night long. The Lord really putting some strength in his voice as he is doing this.

So he preaches until midnight. Verse eight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. That's a strange detail. I don't really know why that's there. I wonder if that's being said to perhaps give an illustration of how many people were there.

There's a lot of people. So there's a lot of lamps. So everybody can see. And they are so focused on wanting to be there to hear the preaching that they just got as many lamps together as they could to keep things going so we could continue to sit under the preaching of the gospel.

Maybe that's what's being emphasized by the verse. It could also be that this is the reason why Eutychus is sitting in the windowsill with so many lamps that are burning. The room gets kind of stuffy, maybe a little hot, filled with smoke.

And then there's some sort of haze, you know, a haze near the ceiling. So Eutychus is going over and sitting by the windowsill. Maybe that's what's being indicated by this. So he's sitting there on the windowsill and he begins sinking into a deep sleep.

Eutychus, Jesus at Nazareth, and the Length of a Sermon

Now I've often made jokes about this, about Paul preaching so long that he's putting his audience to sleep and someone died. When somebody has asked me how long should my sermons be, I've said, don't preach so long that somebody dies because you're not the Apostle Paul.

You cannot raise them from the dead. So find the cutoff point before somebody passes away in the middle of your sermon. In Luke chapter four, Jesus was preaching at Nazareth and it says that he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and it was his custom to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. So there's Jesus preaching a sermon at Nazareth in his hometown of Nazareth and he reads from the prophet Isaiah.

That was a pretty short sermon, that sermon right there. If that's all it was, what we're reading in Luke chapter four, that barely would have taken him two minutes to do that. So how long should your sermon be?

Somewhere between two minutes and before someone dies. There's the length of a sermon. Paul, however, had the ability to raise the dead so he could preach longer than that. He went to midnight, which is when we read of Eutychus dying.

And then after raising Eutychus to life and partaking of the Lord's table, he continues to talk even until daybreak. So Eutychus is falling asleep. As Paul kept talking, he sunk into that sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.

Eutychus's Death and Paul's Miracle

I was reading Matthew Henry's commentary on this particular section. I love Matthew Henry. I don't think he's right a hundred percent of the time. And I think that he gets his understanding of this story a little bit off.

He says that Eutychus is sinning by falling asleep and the gospel should not ever be boring to us. So God had mercy on him, though he fell asleep in the midst of good gospel preaching and God raised him again from the dead.

I think Henry's going a little bit too far with that and trying to interpret the passage this way. I don't think Eutychus was in sin. This is a long time preaching. It is quite the expectation on people to remain awake the entire time.

But there he is sinking into a deep sleep while he's sitting on the windowsill. Not a great place to be sitting anyway, an even worse place to take a nap. And so then he tumbles out of the window onto the ground dead.

But verse 10, Paul went down and fell upon him and after embracing him, he said, do not be troubled for his life is in him. This is very similar to when the prophet Elijah raised a boy from the dead and the prophet Elisha likewise raised a boy from the dead.

They laid it down on the boy and breathed upon him and his life was restored to him. And it seems to be same sort of thing that Paul does here. Paul goes down and falls upon Eutychus and after embracing him is able to present him saying the boy is OK.

And as we'll read, even in verse 12, they take him away alive and everybody is comforted by the whole thing. So then Paul goes back up verse 11. He breaks bread and he eats and he talks with them for a long while until daybreak.

Now talking with them, that may be fellowship. That may be more like an informal teaching sort of a setting. So there's people asking him theological questions and he's answering those questions, still doing teaching.

But it's not the preaching part that he was doing previously. He preached until midnight, Eutychus dies, Paul goes back up, they break bread. And that's kind of the conclusion of the service, the partaking of the Lord's table.

So now they're together and they fellowship for the rest of the early morning hours until daybreak when Paul then departs from them. Eutychus, in the meantime, he's fine. After everybody is dispersed, Eutychus goes away alive.

It's strange the way this is worded. And they were not a little comforted. In other words, they were greatly comforted. They were rejoicing over the fact that Eutychus is alive. And again, this was a demonstration of the power of God through the gospel.

The Gospel Brings the Dead to Life

When we hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, it brings us to life. It brought you to life. When you heard the gospel and believed it, you turn from your sin to Jesus. The dead man that you were because of your sin or dead woman is raised to life.

You've been given new life in Christ because of the power of the gospel. Paul saying in Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. For all of us, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are raised to life to believe in him and even to follow him in obedience to him.

This is the power of the gospel. So this power is even demonstrated when Paul throws himself upon Eutychus and brings him back to life. Just as Paul, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, had the ability to raise a young man from the dead.

So this authenticated the message that he preached, which had the ability to bring the dead to life. We are not saved by gimmicks. We're not saved by persuasive speaking. We are saved by God who works through the preaching of the gospel to change our heart and hearts into a soft heart, one that would be receptive to God, worshiping him and following Jesus.

That all happens by the power of the spoken word of God. Now at the time that I am doing this particular lesson, there is a controversy that's going on on social media right now concerning gimmicks. Now this is a controversy that's been in the church for the last several decades.

Why the Gospel Doesn't Need Sermon Gimmicks

The church in America loves gimmicks, gimmickry in the middle of sermons. Some people will call them illustrations. You can have an illustration that's just spoken word, though it's not an object lesson.

Whereas what we're talking about here are like these grandiose over the top stunts sometimes that pastors will do and think that they have to do this in order to captivate people's attention and preach the word effectively.

One of those persons that's been mentioned in the midst of this controversy is Pastor Ed Young. He is the pastor of Fellowship Church, which is often listed as one of the top 10 largest churches in the country.

Just recently, Ed Young rode into church. He pulled out on stage in a Rolls Royce. Yeah, an automobile that's like anywhere from a quarter of a million to half a million dollars. These are extremely expensive luxury automobiles.

And this is what Ed Young drives on stage and says that he is doing what a preacher should do, and that is entertain his audience. Let me play for you what Ed Young said while standing in front of this Rolls Royce before his congregation.

Well, there's no doubt about it. There is nothing like driving a Rolls Royce, even if it's only a few feet. I mean, just sitting in this car is like, gotta be kidding me. This Rolls Royce, it's a sweet ride, isn't it?

Now, some of you are saying, oh, man, I can't believe you drove a Rolls Royce into church. Man, that's gimmicky. No, it's not. It's godly. Oh, that's trite. That's flippant. No, it's from Christ's playbook.

If you ever go to church and you find yourself bored, blame the communicator, the pastor. Don't blame God.

Blame the communicator. Don't blame God. So if you are ever bored in church, it's the preacher's fault. That's exactly what Ed Young just said. Why isn't it your fault? If you're bored in church, whose fault is that?

It's your fault. Because what should be the most amazing thing to you in church is the gospel of Jesus Christ being proclaimed. And it doesn't matter if the person speaking the gospel is the most soft-spoken orator that you've ever heard in your life.

Deadpan, boring, no life in the way that he says things. Yet when you hear him preach the gospel, it just brings something to life in you. It moves you to tears. It's the best news, the best word that you have heard all week.

Doesn't matter the skill of the person preaching it. You love to hear the gospel. Now, I think that pastors need to be responsible to hone in on their craft and do it well. That's what I try to do. I think it's a good idea for a pastor to do that.

But the effectiveness of what the pastor does is not in the pastor's ability to communicate. It is in the message itself. He needs to be faithful to the message, to preach the message, to know what the Bible says and communicate that to God's people.

Or in the case of an evangelist, he's preaching the message of the gospel to those who have not heard. And God will do the work of changing and transforming the heart. That is not on the preacher to change the heart.

That is what God does. Ed Young thinks that he's got a responsibility to entertain. In fact, he goes on to say that that is the job of the pastor is to entertain. Here's the rest of it.

Yet for some reason, we go to church and expect boredom. Just the opposite should be true. We are in, and this is going to mess you up. We are in the entertainment business. Entertainment is a good word.

The word entertainment means to capture and hold someone's attention for an extended period of time.

Yeah, that is what it means. It also means to amuse. So, yes, you're capturing a person's attention for an extended period of time, but for the purpose of amusement. And church is not for amusement. Church is to worship God.

It is to hear his word proclaimed and that we would be transformed by that word. It is the heralding of that word. By the way, that's what a preacher is supposed to do. He is heralding the gospel of Christ.

That's what the word preaching translates as or a definition of the word preaching. It is heralding. It's not driving around in gimmicks on the stage in front of the audience, trying to make the message that you are preaching as relevant to the people as possible.

It's the gospel. It's already relevant.

Continuing on with Ed. What did Jesus do? He captured and he held people's attention.

Now he's going to give examples of this. I'm not going to keep going. But but anyway, he tries to say that this is what Jesus did, that he amused people. He entertained them. He's going to use the word entertain.

Jesus entertain people. And he said there's a Greek word that that defines this. He's going to use the wrong Greek word. But the word that he's going for is the one that's used in Matthew 728 to say that the people were astonished at Jesus teaching.

They were astonished at his teaching. They weren't entertained by it. They were astonished because his words had authority and he taught as someone who had authority and not as their scribes. So they were amazed at his teaching in this way.

They were amazed at the words. They were not amused at the words. They were not entertained by Jesus. They were captivated by the power of what he said. The word of God itself coming from the son of God.

That was what captured the people. That was what had them amazed and astonished. But Ed Young thinks that's not enough. It's not enough to be able to do that. You got to be able to drive around in flashy Rolls-Royce cars.

And because he does that and other pastors don't, then he's fantastic. And the rest of us peons are just not living up to our potential as pastors. That really is what he's communicating with this particular sermon.

So as you have Eutychus falling asleep here in the middle of church, Ed Young would be there going, Paul should have been a little more captivating. Come on, Paul. He should have captured Eutychus's attention.

And then he wouldn't have fallen asleep and fallen out of that window. Paul is not using gimmicks. He's not using props. He is simply there preaching. And the power of the word changed the hearts of the people that were listening.

Even though they were all saints, it still has the power to change. It sanctifies. For us who have already been transformed by the gospel, we continue to hear good gospel preaching because it sanctifies us.

It shapes us more like Christ that we would grow up into him who is Christ, as said in Ephesians chapter four, our faithfulness needs to be to the word of God and let that word have the power to change.

And that's exactly what we see going on here with Paul's preaching. The word has power and God demonstrating that power through Paul, not just in his preaching, but even in his ability to bring the dead to life, because that's what the preaching of the word accomplishes.

Paul's Journey to Miletus and the Word to the Elders

Now, as we continue on with this section, we won't get to the cities today. We'll jump into this in the next lesson. But Paul goes from here and is, uh, is going to come to Miletus where he is to deliver a great speech to the elders at Ephesus.

And we'll come into that speech in the next lesson. But that continues with the context of exactly what we were talking about, because Paul is going to teach those preachers to preach the word heavenly father.

We thank you for what we have read here. And I pray that we are amazed at the power of the gospel, the gospel that has saved us belief in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead by faith in him.

We've been forgiven our sins and have everlasting life. That is an amazing truth to us every day, but to help us to continue to feed on the word and grow in these things that we would be shaped more like Christ and prepared for that day of glory.

It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.