Sleeping in Church...the unfortunate boy named "Lucky".

I’m guilty. I admit it. Sometimes I doze off in church.

I’ll also admit that I’ve probably put more than a handful of people to sleep myself. It happens to the best of preachers. In fact, God saw fit to record in the Bible that even the Apostle Paul preached people to sleep. Who knows? Perhaps God thought Paul was long winded too!

Luke (Paul’s fellow traveler and the author of Acts) must have thought Paul was stretching it out a bit, because he recorded in Acts 20:9 that Paul was “long preaching”. A couple of translations say that he talked “on and on”. Yeah, I’ve been in those services too.

After all, Paul had arrived in the city of Troas a week earlier.  It is reasonable to assume that he had preached a lot that week. He was leaving the next day. So, the Christians in Troas got together for supper. Then, Paul decided to share a few “after supper” thoughts. At midnight he was still going.

Now here is where our young man Eutychus (his name means, “fortunate” or “lucky”) comes into the picture.

Lets set the scene, shall we?

Eutychus had a full belly. He is in a room full of people. There is no air conditioner. There are many lights in this room, and all (naturally) involve a flame of some kind (either candle or lamp). His belly is full. He is warm. It is way past his usual bedtime and Paul has been droning on and on about one thing or another for hours.

He sits down in an open window, trying to catch a cool night breeze. His eyelids get heavier and heavier. Then it happens. Out of the window he topples…from the third story.

Well, the young man Eutychus is pronounced “dead” at the scene. (Remember we know there was a doctor in the house, because Acts was written by Luke the “beloved physician“. Luke was there.) 

Then, Paul comes down, gives the boy a hug, and Eutychus life is restored.

Now, what did Paul do? He went through the buffet line again, of course.

He is a preacher, after all. Go  figure. Then he “talked a long while” (Luke’s words, not mine) until the sun came up.

Okay, here is where I get to glean a few things from all of this…

1. Even if your boredom is legitimate, be careful where it takes you…the fall can do you in.

2. In matters of life and death God has the last word, not doctors. It isn’t over until God says its over.

3. If you like preachers who entertain, you wouldn’t have liked Paul, but If you needed one to raise the dead, you would have.

4. Even if your mama named you “Lucky”, you will someday need a miracle.

5. The further you are from the light, the more likely you will fall asleep.

 

And so I wonder about the Apostle as he went back up stairs and refilled his plate. After that kind of sermon interruption, what exactly do you say to the guy next to you in line?

1Thesselonians 5:4-6 might give us a clue. How about…

“But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”

Stay awake!

Just some guy named Joe...

    Joe was a good man and a generous man. He was well thought of by his church. Joe’s church was rapidly expanding and in serious need of funds. So he, like many others, sold his property and gave the money to the church.    

    Joe was wise. A young hot-headed preacher came to Joe’s town. This man had been giving the church a lot of trouble and had suddenly been converted. Many in the church weren’t convinced, but Joe brought him into fellowship with the believers.

    Joe was a man full of the Holy Ghost and faith. Joe’s church had some deep seated racial prejudices.  When evangelists began preaching to those the church had ignored, it was Joe who was sent to investigate. Joe was able to convince his church to cross the racial divide with the gospel.

    Joe was a man who would seek out young ministers and shepherd them through the early stages of their ministry.  He was a man others would trust with large offerings. He was a man of character and humility. He was calm and persuasive.

    Joe was preacher, yet his student did more preaching than he. Joe never wrote a book to bear his name, but those he mentored wrote many books.  Eventually the young men he helped eclipsed him in the mind of the church. 

    Joe is generally forgotten now, and when he is remembered, it is most often for the disagreement he had with one of his protégés who was outgrowing his mentor.

    Without Joe however, the church would have been seriously handicapped. Joe was in fact the Apostle Joe although he seldom makes anyone’s list of great apostles.

    The need for ministry like Joe’s is still very relevant, and yet, still very unappreciated. You see we don’t know Joe by his given name. The leaders of his church made up a name for him. They called him “Joe Encouragement”, or if you please Joses Barnabas. Barnabas, as he is called in the Bible, is the man who mentored both the Apostle Paul and John Mark.

    Great men do not become great men without encouragement along the way. On at least one occasion John Mark called it quits and went to the house.  Barnabas brought him back and made him profitable to the ministry once again. Paul suffered many things from within and without the church, yet he had Barnabas by his side.

    You may not be called to have your name in lights on the marquis. You may never preach to thousands. Your name may never be a household name like that of the Rev. Billy Graham. You may spend your life as the backdrop to great ministry. Don’t be discouraged! God needs people to carry the Barnabas load.
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1. God does not call us to be great. He calls us to be obedient.

Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

2. God is fair in his reward for faithfulness.

1Sa 30:24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part [is] that goeth down to the battle, so [shall] his part [be] that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

3. Twice God instructed Moses to encourage Joshua.

Deu 1:38 [But] Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

Deu 3:28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.

4. King David needed encouragement, and had to encourage himself.
 1Sa 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

5. Hezekiah encouraged the Levites and the Priests.

 2Ch 31:4 Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.

2Ch 35:2 And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,

6. God is an encourager to Israel.

Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.


We are not called to be great. We are called to be faithful, and we are called to infuse one another with courage. Dear God, let me be like Joe!