Acts 20:9(b) “… he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.”
Observation: Paul was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be imprisoned and ultimately die. His journey took him through Troas for a seven-day visit among friends. Sunday found him teaching in a third-floor room jam packed with eager listeners. Because Paul intended to leave the following day, he preached till midnight, at which point Eutychus, perched in a window, was overcome by sleep and fell backward to his death.
Application: This is Eutychus’s moment of fame; he is not mentioned elsewhere in scripture. Think about his progression that evening. He was apparently well-intentioned, being among those who gathered to hear one of the great fathers of the faith. His chosen seat in the window surely afforded him a place to not just hear Paul well but to also provide an unimpeded look at everything going on around him. Despite this, his eyelids eventually drooped, he nodded off, and fell three stories.
Because this story is both brief and familiar, it has never arrested my attention until now. My sense of it today is that Eutychus’s journey that night from enthralled engagement to disinterested sleep is a perfect metaphor for much of the American church today.
I live in an age of the Lord’s soon return. The singularly strategic prophecy of Israel’s rebirth has happened within my lifetime. Remarkable revival events are breaking out around the globe as Holy Spirit fire falls in nations and among people groups everywhere. Darkness and light become daily more clarified and divided as we move toward the end of the age.
Sadly, within the church many have become weary, eyelids drooping, ultimately to fall dead in the midst of the greatest stirring of Holy Spirit the world has experienced since the book of Acts. From individuals and families to local churches, to whole denominations, battles over idolatry and immorality have dulled our senses and taken focus off the astonishing work of God moving us into the end times. Whether I find myself in the camp that has succumbed to temptations fueled by unprecedented affluence, or I find myself in the army of first stone casters, I am wrong either way. I must repent, or like Eutychus, fall dead and useless to the ground.
I too often find myself with a critical spirit, a judgmental attitude toward the other camp. In this sinful condition I must remember that Jesus provides the only way of escape for their camp and for mine. Just as Paul’s prayer restored Eutychus to life, so Christ, who “…himself was tempted, is able to help those who are being tempted”. (Hebrews 2:18)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive me for allowing things of this world to lull me to sleep. I repent Lord. Thank you for raising me to newness of life. In Jesus name, Amen