Lucky & The Long Winded Preacher

My name is Steve Walker. I'm one of the elders presently on a medical sabbatical. I had a

diagnosis of a very, very aggressive type of cancer. Even though it was in the early stages, I had

surgery in April. I can, I can tell you that even though I'm only a midpoint in my recovery, last

week I received a cautious, clean bill of health. So, yeah, thank you so much for your prayers.

It is clear that the Lord is really at work in Boise and certainly here at Faith Community. We're

not a perfect church. In fact, there are no perfect churches because of us. We're we're, we're

not perfect, but I can tell you that God is working here. I see it through and through and he has

us in his good and providential hand. So as you can see, I'm stepping in for Chad this morning.

So I'm inviting you to look with me at a dozen verses in Acts 20. I stumbled across this passage

a few years ago and I almost bypassed it and I thought, no, there's something here. I'm sure

that this guy who wrote this wasn't insane, he probably has some intention here. And I dove into

it and it greatly affected me. So we'll be looking at the 1st 12 verses in Acts 20.

If you're new to faith, it's not just faith community, but faith itself. It's Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,

and then Acts. So Acts 20: 1-12. We do have an outline for you, for you to use it if you'd like.

And if you're personally opposed to outlines or or to taking notes, you know what you can do

with it. Nothing, Just just ignore it and we'll go from there.

So let's pray and we'll dive right in.

God return to you and our hearts are wide open. And there's lots of questions we have that we

can't answer at this point. There's, I'm sure that we're feeling there's frustration and doubting

and questions. Hurt and but I think there's also joy in the fact that you never leave us, or forsake

us. You always are a very present help in times of trouble and we are grateful for that. So now

as I speak, as I teach the Scriptures, I pray that you'd use these words.As we turn our faces to

you and that we would hear what you want to say to us in this moment. Thank you in Jesus

name and those who agreed said. Amen.

So help me out here, you know this, “ sticks and stones may break my bones. Go ahead and

finish it. Yeah, words will never hurt me.”

What a dumb saying. I may minimize the effect or I might put up a brave front, but believe me,

words do matter. What you say to me can strengthen me or wound me. In fact, the opposite is

also true that that other modern proverb that we know. “If you can't say something nice, say it

together. Yeah, don't say anything at all. And you think, well, OK, now wait a minute. There is

another side to that. In the vacuum of speech where silence holds sway, sometimes our souls

just wither away. Because what you don't say? Can matter as much as what you do.

So one of the things that I love about teaching through the Bible is that it makes me come face

to face with passages that otherwise I'd never deliberately choose to teach, like this one that

we're going to look at. And at first glance, the passage looks like a boring travelog followed

by a pastoral disaster. I mean, Paul goes here, Paul goes there. Paul goes almost everywhere.

He talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks. And a kid gets so

bored. That he nods off and falls out of a window and hits his head and dies. Oh, well, that's

going to be a great sermon here. On closer inspection, though, there's a thread that runs

through this passage that makes it not only a point, but touches a very deep need in every one

of us. Three times in this passage, the same word in Greek shows up. It's translated one way

twice, and in a different way that third time. In every other verse, the idea is implied. And it

addresses something that all of us are very thirsty for, something that everyone of us can

do. And, the story underscores its importance. And it reminds us that when we do this, what,

what it's talking about, we sort of act like God.

So, OK, what's it about? Well, it's not about traveling and it's not about talking. It's about

encouragement. And the New Testament word often translated, often translated in courage, is a

very elastic word. It covers a broad range of ideas. And if you were to define it, you would say

inspire with courage, to spur on, to stimulate or warn, to comfort, help or give hope. And you can

see it in this passage in verse one where it says after encouraging them, and then you see it in

verse 2. With much encouragement. And then in verse 12, that last verse that we're going to be

looking at, it's translated comforted. It's the same word. It's implied in all the other places. But

Luke isn't intending us really to instruct us how to encourage, but is simply reminding us how

important the ministry of encouragement really is.

OK all right, so how important is it? Well, now you're going to have to stay with me as we go

through this. At the end of 27 months of ministry in Ephesus, Paul makes plans to move on. And

this timetable is really hurried up by a near riot over the loss of income by Artemis worshippers

becoming Christians. And so in the late afternoon of a day long demonstration against

Christians, Paul packs his bags and he pulls the plug. And let me just show you, we're kind of

getting a mental map of what this looks like.

He's in this one place called Ephesus. He's going to go north to Troas, he's going to take a boat

and go over to Neapolis just east of Philippi, and then he'll travel west of Thessalonica and then

end up in Corinth to the South. So I just start off where he is. And he's going to leave Ephesus

and look at verse one after the uproar ceased. Paul sent for the disciples and after encouraging

them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. So even before leaving there's tension thick

in the air, he stayed long enough to do one more thing, calling the disciples, the believers

together. He encouraged them. Frankly, we don't know exactly what he said or how he said it.

Maybe it was something like he did with other young Christians elsewhere, like for instance, in

Acts 14:21 & 22. “When they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many

disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the

disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations

we must enter the kingdom of God.”

I just want you to look at that and stare at it. Stare at it and think about it for a minute. This is

saying that our souls can be strengthened or weakened. And that we can be encouraged or

we can be discouraged in our faith. And that we can expect everything always to go right, or we

can be warned that between now and the Kingdom, we're going to experience trouble.

Or maybe it was like, 1Thessalonians 2:12, where Paul says, “We exhorted each one of you and

encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His

own kingdom and glory.”

We just need to hear that from each other again and again. So we don't know exactly what he

said here in Acts, but we do know that he risked his neck to stay long enough to encourage his

Christian brothers and sisters. And really, considering how hostile the townspeople were, I think

I probably would have just made a beeline to the coast and bought the first ticket out.”I gotta get

out of here.” But not Paul. He somehow thought that his words of encouragement were more

important than his safe and speedy departure.

So, you know, leaving Ephesus, he travels north in the late afternoon to Troas and along this

Roman coastal road. And then from the northern coastal town of Troas, he boards the ship

crossing the channel and arrives at the seaport of Neapolis just east of Philippi. And then he's

going to go through Macedonian.

So Paul's ministry is described in verse two, it says, when he had gone through those regions.

And it had given them much encouragement. He came to Greece. So in a single sentence, Luke

compresses about a year's ministry and movement in Paul and paints them with the bright

colors of encouragement. I just want you to think about that for a minute. The gospel had taken

root here, and Christian fellowships existed in nearly every town. And I'm sure that he shared

the gospel with other people. But the emphasis of his ministry and speaking focused on

strengthening the faith of Christians. To give them perspective and hope and to encourage them

what we don't see.

Is that between verse one and verse 2? Paul himself was battling discouragement. So let me

just fill in the gap with you. While back in Ephesus, Paul had heard about the church in Corinth

that he had helped plant and how they hadn't disciplined one of their own members for a

defiantly immoral lifestyle.

So the the apostles scribbled a scathing letter which we read is First Corinthians and he sent it

with Titus to straighten out the mess. He hadn't heard anything for quite a while. And having to

leave suddenly, he ends up in Troas where he finds this wide open door to ministry. I think that

means that people are receptive to the gospel, but he has no heart to take advantage of it

because he's so preoccupied.

2 Corinthians 2:12-13, “When I came to Troas to preach the Gospel of Christ,

even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because

I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

He said, wait a minute.What was going on? Well, he was troubled and worried about the

Corinthian believer's response, whether this church would implode under the weight of all these

moral issues. He says it later in Second Corinthians, he says, For even when we came into

Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without, in fear

within. But God, who hears this word, comfort or encourage, who comforts the downcast?

Comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with

which he was comforted by you. What do you think is going on here? The word for comfort is

the same word for encouragement. This is what he's talking about. So just think about it. Even

the apostle Paul himself was susceptible to discouragement and needed other people to give

him perspective and hope.

You and I do not outgrow a need for encouragement. I mean, you don't get, you know, to the

place in your spiritual life when you no longer need someone to comfort or exhort you or remind

you or give your perspective. I mean, there's not a person sitting here this morning that's

immune to discouragement. There's not a person here who couldn't be strengthened by the

encouragement of another person. So how important is encouragement? It's important enough

to go out of your way to do it and to get it.

So as the days of summer turned to late fall, Paul found himself in Greece where he stayed.

And so verse three. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by

the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. So

during these three months he poured himself out on behalf of this young and fragile church at

Corinth, and he urged them to purity and encourage their attempts at obedience and exhorted

them to live worthy lives, he corrected their wrong thinking and by spring he prepared to take a

ship back to Jerusalem. But he discovered a plot by the Jews to assassinate him. And most

people figure that the plot was just to let him board the boat and when they were out to sea he

would accidentally fall overboard. And somehow he learned about the plot and he changed his

plans and so he decided to retrace his steps back and take a ship out of Troas.

But from this point on, he's not traveling alone. If he goes back to Philippi. Notice verse four, it

says, “Sopater the Berean son of Pyrrhus accompanied him, And of the Thessalonians,

Aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius, of Derbe and Timothy and the Asians. Tychicus and

Trophimus.”

So you just counted, you got 7 guys that are going with him. So why the entourage? Well, he

was carrying quite a bit of money collected from various Gentile churches for Jewish Christians.

Who were hit hard by a famine in Israel.

Romans 15:24-26

“I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you,

once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 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 at Jerusalem.”

So Paul wanted to take steps to be above board. And so he asked that these representatives

travel with him. But you know, he couldn't have. I mean, you think about this. Couldn't he have

done it with less than seven other people going with him? OK, I think the intention was that Paul

wanted these Gentile Christians to deliver the offering in person. Because it would be such an

encouragement to those who received it. Gentile Churches Sacrificing. For Jewish

congregations in trouble and Jews and and Gentiles didn't always get along. And I don't want

you to think that these were unemployed, unmarried bachelors going with Paul. I mean, the trip

would cost them. They were sacrificing a lot simply to travel with Paul and be there in person to

present the gift to the suffering Jewish believers.

So how important is it to encourage one another? Well, I don't know. It's important enough to

take time off from work, even be away from family for quite a few months to make the trip.

Sometimes you're just showing up and being with another person and staying there and not

even particularly doing anything is the most encouraging thing you can do.

Well, on to Troaz, verses 5 and six. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas,

the seaport, but we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five

days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed seven days. Now it sounds kind of like a

travelog and all that kind of thing, but you know, when we read it, we have a hard time

understanding what's going on.

Somebody reading this in the 1st century, they go, oh, yeah, I understand it. It's like when

we say July 4th, well, we know a lot of things about that. We pour into it. When you read this, I

have to explain it. The rendezvous point for those who went ahead by sea from Neapolis was

this place. Troas and Paul stayed behind in Philippi to celebrate Passover in the Feast of

Unleavened Bread, you say? Well, wait a minute, what's that? Well, there was no name for its

significance to Christians then, but it's the annual occasion associated with the death and

resurrection of Christ, which we know as. Easter.

And so he worships with the Philippian Church and then he departs for Troas with his faithful

traveling companion, Doctor Luke and they board the ship on a Wednesday and going against

the headwinds, they cover 150 miles in about 5 days. They arrive in Troas sometime

the following Monday. And since then he wished to spend time with the church.

They would have to stay seven days because they meet on the first day of the week, Sunday

evening, he said. Well, OK, why? Why wait? Wasn't he really under the gun to go to Jerusalem?

Yes. But because encouragement is that important. Excuse me, it's important enough even to

change your schedule.

I just hope we're beginning to feel and sense how high a priority God sees encouragement, just

how important it will come into sharpen and clear focus on that next Sunday night. So intro as

on that one night. This is a nightmare for preachers. It's a disaster in a miracle and the chain of

events starts with this long message verse 7.

“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.” So the

normal day for assembling for worship and instruction was the first day of the week, which is

Sunday. And they came together in late afternoon or early evening for what would be a potluck

followed by teaching and the Lord's Supper. And Paul spoke at length, the word actually.

Where he says he prolonged his speech and he talked with him. That almost implies a dialogue

with questions and answers and discussion and explanation and formal teaching. You'd think

that if he was planning on leaving the next day, he'd cut it off shorter. But instead he prolonged it

knowing that he probably wouldn't get another chance with these believers, and encouragement

was that important to him.

So probably he'd been speaking for at least three to four hours. Let me tell you a really quick

story. I was in Papua New Guinea years ago, and it was one of my first trips over there. And I

was supposed to meet with a number of missionaries. And they said, would you teach us?

Would you know, sit down with us and teach? I said, of course. They said tonight we'll just meet

after dinner, and you just teach us. “Oh, sure. I'd love to.” So I sat down on a veranda. There

was a circle of chairs, probably a dozen missionaries. They really don't have a church. They

don't have very many people teaching them. So I sat there and I opened the scriptures and I

taught for about 45-50 minutes and thought, OK, that's about it. And so I closed in prayer.

Nobody moved, nobody got up, nobody did anything. They just stared at me and I said, I think

we're done. And they said, can you go on? Now, to a pastor, it's a miracle, you know? And

I said, yeah, sure. And so I spoke for another hour. And I got done and I said, OK, there we go.

And they said, no, you can't believe this. Would you go on? OK, I spoke almost another hour

and then I said I'm done. We'll pick it up the next night. I don't think I really told them anything

that they hadn't heard before. But hearing it again with applications specific to them from the

scriptures greatly encourage them. They didn't hear me, they heard God. Don't we need that?

In this room, I want you to notice the stuffy conditions. Verse eight, there were many lamps

in the upper room where we were gathered. Verse eight, that's not a meaningless detail. The

largest rooms in larger homes were on the top stories, and they often served as a bonus room

or a meeting place. And they're in such a room, they're plugged. This room is just plugged with

people in close quarters. And as it gets darker, they lit oil lamps. And so just picture the light

dancing on the walls, the flames consuming oxygen. The warmth of the spring air and the

crowded conditions. I mean, that's a recipe for drowsiness, isn't it?

Have you ever fallen asleep in class? Have you ever fallen asleep in a sermon? I know you do.

I've seen you. You don't think I see you. I see you. You know, just you bite your lip, your eyes

start to cross, your head nods. It just feels awful. So I want you to picture that and then zero in

on this tired teen in the back row. Verse 9. “And a young man named Eutychus sitting at the

window sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. From the word Luke uses to describe

him that he's a young man. So he's in the early to mid teens and he wasn't sitting in a chair. He's

sitting on the sill of an open window. There's no glass there. There's open shutters to get some

circulation in the room. And as Paul drones on and on and on Lucky.

That's what his name means, by the way. Eutychus means lucky. He really wasn't. He couldn't

stay awake and he nodded off and look at the second part of verse nine and being overcome by

sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. He lost his balance. He pitched

backward out the window and dropped three stories.

Can you imagine in the middle of an answer to somebody's question, a shriek pierces the still of

the night and everyone suddenly is wide awake. I mean, that would really get the old adrenaline

pumping. They all raced downstairs with Paul leading the way and found this young man still as

death, verse 10. “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.” Paul takes that boy in his arms.” Doesn't say he prayed, but I'll

bet he did. And suddenly that young man rouses. Some commentators don't see a miracle here.

They think Lucky was just out cold. So you know. Paul sees that he's not dead. He reassures

everybody. But I look at that and I think, no, no. I mean, if you read it, it's got to be a miracle

one way or the other. Either the fall killed him and he was miraculously returned to life, or he fell

and miraculously it didn't kill him. I don't know which it is. I mean, if you think otherwise, then

how about I push you out a three story window and see how you fare? I mean, that's a death

thing. That's you're going to die. But I want you to notice that Doctor Luke does not say the kid

was taken up as dead. He was taken up dead. This is a great miracle. And I imagine Paul could

have said, wow, serves him right for sleeping in a church or, you know, that's what you get for

snoozing through my sermon. But you know, that's not what he did.

Look at verse 11. “And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten. He conversed

with them a long while until Daybreak and so departed.”

I mean, after the guy pitches out the back of a window and hits, hits the ground and then, you

know, Paul goes down, scoops him up and says OK, he's going to be OK. I think I would have

called it a night and got home. They didn't. They returned to the upper room where they broke

the bread. They worshiped God in communion, and Paul resumed teaching and encouraging

them. They're invigorated and they continue to eat and talk until Daybreak. They just couldn't

get enough so.

Let's evaluate the effects of verse 12. Luke doesn't make us guess. And they took the youth

away alive. And we're not a little comforted. That's that word. Encouraged. Not just a little

encouraged. They were a lot comforted or encouraged. OK. What's the point? Well, it's not. If

you have the power to do what Paul did, then you feel free to talk as long as he did. You know

that that's not the point. If I promised to keep it short, you promise not to jump out a window?

You know, I mean, of course it's not that. What is it? What's the point? Here's Paul's intent.

Why do you speak so long? Because he loved to hear himself. No. No. Because he couldn't

compress it in a shorter package of time. No. He wanted to encourage them, and he was willing

to pour himself out emotionally and physically and spiritually to do just that. There's no hint that

Paul took the accident as a rebuke for long windedness.

Nor that people who were fidgeting and wanting to leave, checking their watches, yawning

incessantly. No, no, no, they were thirsty and hungry to be encouraged. What's God's heart in all

this? Well, let me ask this. Why did God raise Euticus? He didn't have to, but he did. Certainly it

wasn't a sign to unbelievers. I think there's no unbelievers there. They're just believers. Nor was

it that God felt responsible for Paul droning on or Lucky's unlucky choice of seats. No, God

raised Eutychus simply for one reason, to encourage them. I mean, Can you imagine how

depressing it would have been for the church if the meeting ended with a dead kid? They'd

come to say goodbye to Paul, and they ended up saying goodbye to Lucky. No, the Lord

graciously acted simply to encourage his people.

Would God go that far to do that? I think yes. Yeah, he did. And it did have that effect. And so

verse 12 underscores the effect of that long evening. They were not a little comforted. They had

heard God speak to them through the Word, They saw a sign of God's power and presence,

and as a result, they were encouraged. They were strengthened and comforted.

So OK, let's wrap this up before anybody falls asleep. What about us? What about us right now?

Just how important is encouragement with us? Well, I think it's absolutely vital. It's worth going

out of your way to do. It's worth changing your schedule to make room for it. It's worth sacrificing

your time or your energy or your presence or your money to see it happen. I mean, the work of

encouragement can actually cost us very little, just a little time, a little effort. But it can make a

huge difference between somebody continuing instead of withering, somebody growing in their

faith instead of wilting. When you and I encourage one another, we're acting like God and we

reflect His heart.

OK, how do I do it? Let me give you some ideas. I mean, you don't have to look for someone

depressed or someone about to commit suicide. You probably wouldn't recognize them if you

spoke with them. Believe me. They're around you. There are a few here even this morning. Just

pick somebody. Someone that you know or somebody that you just met. Someone serving

someone new. Someone who looks down, Somebody who's leading, Someone God nudges you

to.What do I do?

Well, speak to them. Remind them of who they are. They're loved by God. They're wanted by

God. They're forgiven by God. They're called by God.that's the gospel. Christ died for them.

You might write a note to them, tell them what you appreciate about them. Challenge them to

walk worthy of the God who calls us all into His Kingdom and glory.

You can email Him.

You can text him.

You can scribble on a napkin and stick it under a wiper on their windshield.

Just figure out a way to tell them.

You can get together with them.

As Paul did with the Corinthians, or as Paul's companions did with him. As the entourage did

with the other the Jewish church in trouble, just take time to be with them and give them your

presence and attention. Sacrifice for them, meet a personal need of theirs. You know it can be

money, but it doesn't have to be money. You can pick up the check. You can pay for the person

next in line. You can do something that's outrageously encouraging and doesn't really cost very

much. You can share the scriptures with them, as Paul did pretty much wherever he went.

If nothing else, just remind them of the gospel. But you might pull out your Bible and share with

another something that has greatly encouraged or challenged you, a scripture that has meant

something to you. And you just say, well, you know, I was reading this the other day and maybe

this says something to you too. If it encourages you, probably encourages them. And of course

pray for them. I mean who knows what God would do if we just asked him.

I mean he raised Eutycus and God wants to encourage us, so ask him specifically to do so for

another person. Remember, the focus is not on the means, it's on the effect, not how you do it,

but what happens as a result. And what happens as a result is another person is strengthened

and inspired and willing to press on with a clear perspective and a sharper focus, seeing God

where before he thought he was just alone. So encourage another to hold closely to the

promises of God and be willing to follow his guidance, his nudges. Don't wait. Start today.

Now, because people around you are dying. To be encouraged. Let's make this our prayer.

“Father, Your mercy and compassion floods our lives. Your steadfast love awaits us fresh every

single morning. And your faithfulness toward us never wavers. You've promised never to leave

us, never to forsake us, and as you have so encouraged us by your own promises and your

persistent presence in our lives, I pray that you would help each one of us. Encourage every

person that you bring into our lives. Thank you for your great encouragement of this body.

In Jesus' name and those who agreed said. Amen”