Acts 20:1-16

So, good morning. You are stuck with me.

I'm thankful the memo didn't get to too many people that I was preaching, otherwise the crowd would be even smaller.

!

And so, I was hoping I had two more weeks to prepare, but Brigham came up and said about a minute ago or so,

you are ready, and I'm thankful that I can trust in the Lord, that whatever is said this morning, He will use, and I'm thankful for that.

So, just to catch us up, a few things and a quick summary of Acts 19, which Clay will be preaching next week and the week after,

to kind of catch us up to where we're at.

So, the last time we were preaching in Acts, which was two weeks ago, we looked at the end of Acts 18, where it talked about Apollos,

and he was a man who came to Ephesus, and he learned a bit from Priscilla and Aquila.

And Nathan talked about how he serves us very well as a model of zeal in his preaching of the gospel,

a model of humility and being teachable by other believers, Priscilla and Aquila there,

and a model of reputation as he really defended the gospel against all its opponents.

So, there it says that he crushed all opponents of the gospel.

Okay, so that was the end of Acts 18.

That's where we were at last time.

In Acts 19, Paul shows up in Ephesus.

He continues to work with Apollos, disciples him a bit there.

Apollos is baptized.

The Spirit works very powerfully in him.

And then Paul stays in Ephesus for a while, teaching in the synagogue.

And eventually a riot breaks out there because there was believers were being drawn away from worshiping all the false gods there.

And so, that being said, that riot happened, and then we are brought up to Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

So, Clay will teach on all that stuff over the next couple of weeks.

But that is what has just happened.

And so, that brings us to our text this morning.

It is, I would say, a fairly difficult text.

It was probably the most difficult text I have ever tried to prepare and to link together.

So, be praying with me this morning that the Lord will be able to use this time for us to really understand this text and also to be able to apply it.

So, go ahead and read with me verses 1 through 16 here in Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

So, it says,

So, 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.

There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

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.

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.

And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while until daybreak.

And so he departed.

And they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted.

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.

When we met at Assos, we took him on board and went to Middeline.

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.

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.

Okay.

So first off, I want to restate the statement that Paul makes in Timothy that we thought through a good bit last week.

In verse 16 and 17 of 2 Timothy 3, it says that,

So what we just read is scripture.

And so this statement holds true.

So looking at this passage, that may initially be a hard thing to see.

So let's look at it, break it down a little bit.

So we can basically see two sections here.

The first one in verses 1 through 6 is a bit of like a geography lesson,

mentioning all these different places and telling just a lot of where Paul went.

There's not much talk here in Acts 20 about why he was going to all these different places.

But if we look at a lot of different cross-references from a few of his letters,

we can piece together what all was going on there.

And the second, it really is a pretty crazy story of Paul preaching for a really, really, really long time.

A young man getting very sleepy.

It was probably very stuffy in this room with a lot of people cramped into it.

And he fell out of a window.

And he died.

And then he was raised from the dead.

So these are two really, really awesome things.

But if you look through this passage, there isn't really a big theological statement.

There's not a big exhortation.

There's not a big spot where it's explaining some key piece of doctrine.

But, as we just talked about from 2 Timothy,

all scripture is read that by God and profitable for teaching,

for proof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So this is true of this passage.

And it has proven true so much for me and my study.

And I hope it is for you this morning.

So the more I studied it and the more I looked at it,

I was seeing very clearly just so many ways in which Paul demonstrates his love for the church.

And that was really, really encouraging for me

and really just a great picture of what our love should be like for those believers around us.

And so I'm going to structure the study in this way,

just looking at Paul's love for the church.

So if you're taking notes,

I'll just really have three points,

and they all begin with this statement.

Paul demonstrates his love for the church in his.

Okay, so three points.

Start with that.

Paul demonstrates his love for the church in his.

Okay, so point one.

Paul demonstrates his love for the church

and his concern for their physical needs.

We can see this a lot in verses one through six,

but it is not immediately apparent

because we don't know exactly why,

just from looking at this text,

why he's going to all these different places.

But if we look at a few of his letters,

we can really piece that together well.

So if you will turn with me to Romans 15.

Romans 15.

So toward the end of Paul's letter to the Romans,

he's talking about making a visit to them,

and that's the context where we'll pick up reading.

But he's explaining currently

that he is trying to get to Jerusalem,

doesn't want to visit them in Rome yet

because he's trying to get there,

because he's bringing support

to some poor believers that are there.

So let's read it in Romans 15,

Romans 15:25–29

verses 25 through 29.

So he's explaining why he can't come

and visit them right then.

So verse 25 says,

At present, however,

I am going to Jerusalem,

bringing aid to the saints.

For Macedonia and Achaia

have been pleased to make some contribution

for the poor among the saints of Jerusalem.

For they were pleased to do it,

and indeed they owe it to them.

For if the Gentiles have come

to share in their spiritual blessings,

they ought also to be of service to them

in material blessings.

When therefore I have completed this

and have delivered to them

what has been collected,

I will leave for Spain by way of you.

I know that when I come to you,

I will come in the fullness

of the blessing of Christ.

Okay.

So Paul could have used his time

he had here on this earth

in ministry in any way,

but he chooses to make a trip to Jerusalem

because he wanted to help

the poor brothers that were there.

He cared a lot about their physical needs.

He cared that they were doing well.

So here he's really just explaining

to the Romans that he needs

to make this trip to Jerusalem

before that he comes and visits them.

And so we can see from that

that that is what's going on

in chapter 20,

is he's trying to get to that trip,

all these different places

that are mentioned,

that's where he's going.

He's heading toward Jerusalem.

And because of why he's doing that

is just because he cares about their needs.

He wants to see them provided for.

Another passage that we can

gain a little bit of insight on this

is in 1 Corinthians 16.

So turn there with me

to 1 Corinthians 16.

So there's another passage

talking about the same collection

that he is making

for the church in Jerusalem.

So we'll look at verses 1 through 4 here.

So it says in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 1,

1 Corinthians 16:1

Now concerning the collection for the saints,

as I directed the churches of Galatia,

so you also are to do.

On the first day of every week,

each of you is to put something aside

and store it up as he may prosper.

So there will be no collecting when I come.

And when I arrive,

I will send those whom you credit

by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

If it seems advisable that I should go also,

they will accompany me.

Okay, so we can learn a couple more things

about this collection from this passage.

The first thing is that he did not want this

to be spontaneous.

He wanted all the collecting to happen

before he gets there.

He didn't want this to be done

out of any sense of guilt

or out of any sense of,

oh, everyone else is giving to this cause.

I should too.

He wanted this to be thought out.

He wanted this to be planned.

In a book I've been reading with a few guys,

it's about musical worship.

Bob Coughlin makes this statement

that we like to think spontaneous ramblings

are more genuine than prepared thoughts,

but that is hardly ever true.

So there, Coughlin is talking about

actually figuring out exactly what we're going to say

before we're talking to a congregation

so that we can make sure

we're drawing people's minds to the right things.

This is the same concept

that Paul is talking about in this offering here.

He doesn't want it to be spontaneous.

He wants it to be thought through

of how can we serve these other believers here

and what would be the right way to do that.

And so it's not out of any desire

to just guilt people into doing something

or out of any sense of like,

everybody else is doing this,

so we need to do this.

It's more he wants people to have the heart

behind serving other people,

serving their physical needs here in this case.

And so this also,

this passage can also help us see a bit

of who all these people are back in Acts.

Verse 4 of chapter 20 back in Acts

says,

So these men came with him,

likely to protect the collection

that he was trying to get to Jerusalem from robbery,

and as really a bit of a layer of accountability there

to show that Paul is not using the money

for his own good

or just trying to sneak money away somehow,

just to prove to the churches

that he's being faithful to what he has set out to do.

And so really what we can see in our passage then,

as he's making this trip to Jerusalem

because he cares about the church's physical needs there,

he's using his time really well.

And so that brings us to our next point.

Paul demonstrates his love for the church

and his concern for their spiritual needs.

So Paul demonstrates his love for the church

and his concern for their spiritual needs.

So the first thing I want to note

is all the different times in verses 1 through 6

that we see that he encouraged different groups.

So first off, if you look in verse 1,

after the uproar in Ephesus had ceased,

he encouraged those believers that were there.

If you look in verse 2,

as he went through Macedonia,

it says that he had given them much encouragement.

Then note that he spent three months in Greece,

and he must have been faithful to preaching the gospel there

because he ended up with another plot against him by the Jews,

and he decided to go and continue to build up the churches

in Macedonia and Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi.

Then in verse 6,

we see that they get to a place called Troas

where they stayed for a week.

And in verses 7 through 12,

we get a very detailed account

of what that looked like there.

Before we get into that account,

I think it would be helpful

to see a little bit of Paul's heart

in building up the church spiritually

because here we see that it's told

that he went and encouraged this group of believers.

He went and encouraged this group of believers.

But we don't see any actual spelling out

of what that looked like.

But because we have such, such, such a wealth

of Paul's writings in the New Testament,

we can see that pretty clearly

in a lot of other places.

So I'd like to look at a couple of spots

where we can see Paul praying

for believers in different areas.

So first off, let's turn to Ephesians 1.

So really what I'm doing with these passages

is trying to show us some of what Paul's heart is

in building up the church spiritually there.

So here in Ephesians 1,

this is a prayer of Paul's for the local church.

At Ephesus, the one we just,

in chapter 19, we'll hear about from Clay,

where the riot was and all that.

Okay, so this passage will sound pretty familiar

to those of you that were at the wedding yesterday.

So we're going to read verses 15 through 19 here.

So again, this is one of Paul's prayers

for the church at Ephesus.

So it says in verse 15,

And for this reason,

because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus

and your love toward all the saints,

I do not cease to give thanks for you,

remembering you in my prayers,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory,

may give you the spirit of wisdom

and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,

that you may know what is the hope

to which he has called you,

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance

in the saints,

and what is the immeasurable greatness

of his power toward us who believe

according to the working of his great might.

And we'll stop right there for now.

Here Paul writes that ever since he heard of their faith,

ever since he heard that they had put their faith in Christ,

he's given thanks for them.

It's the first thing he mentions.

Next thing is he is just list off

all these different things that he's praying for them.

He explodes into a bit of just a big,

talking about all the things that the Lord has done for them.

Look at verse 17.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory,

may give you the spirit of wisdom

and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,

that you may know what is the hope

to which he has called you,

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance

in the saints,

and what is the immeasurable greatness

of his power towards us who believe

according to the working of his great might.

And so he wants these believers at Ephesus

to really understand what the Lord has done for them.

He wants them to understand his greatness,

what he has done for them in the gospel.

And so this,

we're really seeing Paul want this church

to have a big knowledge of the Lord

and just to be encouraged by that.

He wants the Lord to grant them

a spirit of wisdom and understanding

in that way.

So there's one spot

we can see a bit of Paul's heart

and wanting to build up the church spiritually.

Let's look at one more spot.

So turn to Colossians 1.

This one might even be a bit more detailed

of what we can see his care for for the church.

So looking at verses 9 through 14

here in Colossians 1.

And so from the day we heard,

we have not ceased to pray for you,

asking that you may be filled

with the knowledge of his will

and all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing to him,

bearing fruit in every good work

and increasing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened with all power

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance and patience with joy,

giving thanks to the Father

who has qualified you to share

in the inheritance of the saints in light.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us to the kingdom

of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.

So Paul in his prayer here for the Colossians

is explaining what he wants for them even more.

He doesn't stop here at being filled

with the knowledge of the Lord's will

and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

He presses that even further

so that because of their understanding in the Lord,

they will walk in a manner worthy of him,

that they'll bear fruit in every good work.

Since he heard that they were producing

that preliminary good fruit

that was proving that they had faith in the Lord,

he wants them to do what good trees do,

produce more and more and more fruit.

And so that is what Paul is wanting

for all the churches here.

He wants to give the Lord glory

and how that is done

is through building up the church.

It's through pouring into them

and then them being able to pour out to others.

It's in that bearing good fruit there.

And so he wants them to see them grow up

not only in their knowledge,

but also in their acting out of that

and that bearing good fruit

and pressing on further and further.

And thinking about how that's done.

In Romans 10, 17,

we hear that faith comes from hearing

and hearing through the word of Christ.

Think about what Paul is doing on these journeys.

He's heading to Jerusalem,

taking a very, just a monetary gift

to the church in Jerusalem.

But what is he doing all along the way?

He's preaching the word.

It's exactly what he's doing.

He's building them up spiritually.

And so that's what we see him doing here

in verses seven through 12.

We see him being very concerned

about their spiritual growth.

And so that is exactly what he's doing

all along the way.

We can see his heart in wanting this

for the churches to grow up

in their knowledge of the Lord

and to start acting that out

and that bearing good fruit.

Okay, so seeing his heart in that,

let's talk about this specific example

in Acts 20.

So that brings us to our next point.

Paul demonstrates his love for the church

in his persistence and tirelessness.

So Paul demonstrates his love for the church

in his persistence and tirelessness.

So with this, we're going to focus on

verses seven through 12 here in Acts 20.

So I pray none of you are sinking

sinking into a deep sleep at this point.

And I'm very excited

that no one's sitting in any windowsills.

So it's been a good while

since we've read this portion of the text.

Let's reread it together.

Verses seven through 12 here in Acts 20.

So it says,

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.

There were many lamps in the upper room

where we were gathered,

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.

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.

And when Paul had gone up

and had broken bread and eaten,

he conversed with them a long while

until daybreak and so departed.

And they took the youth away alive

and were not a little comforted.

So first off,

we can see super clearly

just from this,

he had so much persistence

with this group of believers.

believers.

We see so many times

that he is talking till midnight,

he ends up continuing his conversation

all the way till daybreak eventually.

And note here

that he was planning on

heading out the next day.

He wanted to get to Jerusalem.

He was trying to make it there

by the day of Pentecost.

So it wasn't like he had

all kinds of time.

He was trying to be on a journey there.

But Paul loves the Lord,

and because of that,

he loves the Lord's people.

And so he did not just keep going

and keep pressing on,

hurrying on this journey.

He was so available to them

and so persistent with them

and just tireless in his efforts here.

And so since he loves these people,

he wants them to be built up in the Lord.

And that is what we can see him doing.

And so he preaches and he preaches

and he preaches all the way until midnight.

And then he keeps preaching

and preaching and preaching.

The text almost seems to make

a bit of fun of him here.

So as Luke's writing,

he's like, yeah, Paul prolonged his speech

until midnight.

And talks about the young man

drifting into a deep sleep

as Paul talked still longer.

To me, it sounds a bit like

the old Thursday night Bible studies

for those of us that remember that

of still talking and it's 1130.

I don't know.

So in that context,

we see this poor guy.

He's late at night.

It's really stuffy in this room.

All these lamps probably made it really warm.

And he's trying to get fresh air

sitting in this window sill,

trying to do his best to stay awake.

But he couldn't do it.

And so that being said,

he fell asleep.

He's probably like this

and just falls asleep,

falls out the window.

And how terrible that had to be,

how much of an embarrassment

that had to be

with this probably great preaching here.

And he falls asleep

and falls out the window.

In verse nine there,

it says he was taken up dead.

If you study that word,

that literally means that he was dead.

It does not mean that he was just injured

or knocked out or something.

It means he was dead.

So, and another thing

that we can remember about this

is Luke wrote this.

Luke was a physician.

He was very, very, very qualified

to determine whether he was actually dead or not.

He was dead.

And so Paul went down

and he took him up in his arms

and he was alive again.

The Lord raised him from the dead.

This is definitely a miracle.

I believe it would be appropriate here

to talk about

why we see miracles like this

and what is going on

in scripture.

And we've talked about that a lot,

especially when going through Mark,

just to restate a few things

that we talked about back then.

They're never meant

to draw glory to themselves,

but they're meant

to push glory to the Lord.

John MacArthur often says

that the purpose of miracles

is always to increase faith.

That's exactly what happened here.

Notice in verses 11 and 12,

they go up and eat

and conversed all the way

until daybreak

and were not a little comforted.

So the miracle that the Lord did here

gave validation

to the apostle Paul's authority

and comforted all those

that were there.

And so we see it bringing glory

to the Lord in this case.

It validated the gospel.

It showed that Paul had the authority

there to be speaking these things.

I'm sure he had their full attention

after something like that happened.

Um, so when they go back in,

they continued to converse

and, um, were comforted

all the way till the next morning.

So remember that Paul

was wanting to leave,

keep going on his journey

to Jerusalem this next day.

And so he did.

So the next morning,

um, he wanted to keep

going on his journey

to serve the physical needs

of the Jerusalem church.

He didn't tarry much longer.

He just goes and starts up

on his journey.

Um, let's look at verses

13 through 16 with that.

So in verse 13 says,

but going ahead to the ship,

we set sail for Assos

intending to take Paul

aboard there.

So he had arranged

intending himself

to go by land.

And when he met us at Assos,

we took him on board

and went to Middeline.

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.

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.

So, Paul on his way

to Jerusalem,

still seeing that

this whole time,

he's really been

on his way to Jerusalem,

but stopping so often

and encouraging the church

while he's there.

And that is really

the biggest thing

that this passage

really showed me

in this crazy story

and in all this geography

and all these people mentioned.

Paul is so persistent

and he is so tireless

in his efforts

to as he's making this journey

with the intention

of getting to Jerusalem

and not wasting

a whole lot of time

of getting there,

he wants to see

the church built up.

He cares about God's people

and so he wants to stop

every chance he gets

and preach.

He wants to encourage

all those along the way.

And in Paul's second letter

to the Corinthians,

he makes a statement

that I will most gladly

spend and be spent

for your souls.

Makes a statement

that he's going to go

with everything he's got

for the benefit

of the church.

That should be true

of us.

That should be true

of all of our interactions

to serve the physical needs

and even more so

the spiritual needs

of the church around us.

We should want,

because they're our family,

because the Lord

has made us

all his people,

we should want

to serve each other.

This passage

really reminded me

of Jesus' words

in Matthew 20,

Matthew 20:27

verses 27 and 28.

Here Paul is spending

his life for the benefit

of the church.

Just as Christ spent

his life for the benefit

of the church,

just in different ways,

the Lord gave his life

up in taking the sin

that we have committed

and dying the death

for that there on the cross

so that for those of us

that put faith in him,

we can be free

from that sin,

we can have a right

standing with God.

Paul gave up his life

to build up the church.

He gave up his life

fully in everything he did.

He was going on a mission

to Jerusalem,

but he was stopping

and preaching the gospel

everywhere he went.

And so in that same way,

that is the same model

that we should be following.

We should not be seeking

to be served

by those around us,

but to serve,

to give up our lives

just as the Lord

has given up his,

to seek the interest

of those around us

and not our own.

And so I think

it would be fitting

also just to remember

what Paul,

what his motivation is here.

And that's what the Lord

has done for him.

That's it.

He knew that he was a sinner

and had committed sin

against an all-righteous

and all-holy God

that he could never pay

a debt back to.

And he knows,

just as he wrote

in Romans 3,

that God has been

a planning God

and he planned to be just

and also to be the justifier

of those that believe in him.

And how great that is

that the Lord

has not compromised

his attributes

of his justice

and his holiness,

but he has made a way

for us to be reconciled

to him.

And that is not

done without

a huge price.

That is not done

without, in fact,

without an infinite price

being paid

by Christ.

And so just as Christ

gave up his life

in that way

as a ransom

for many,

for us,

that's how we're welcomed

in to this family,

we should do the same.

We should follow

in that example

and that the example

that Paul gave us

in his tirelessness,

his persistence

with the church

for their physical needs

and also for their

spiritual needs.

We should do the same.

We should follow

in that.

To be typical,

I'll end with

a Spurgeon quote.

It says,

Not for yourself,

O church,

do you exist

any more

than Christ existed

for himself.

Let that be true

of us this morning.

Let's pray.