Tuesday, March 22,
2022
On the first day of
the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper.
Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept
talking until midnight. The upstairs room where we met
was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on
and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very
drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep
and dropped three stories to his death below. Paul went
down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Then
they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate
together. Paul continued talking to them
until dawn, and then he left. Meanwhile, the young man
was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved. Acts 20:7-12
Paul’s sermon may have begun in the afternoon, but it
continued past midnight. Poor Eutychus
had probably worked a double-shift the previous day, and just couldn’t stay
awake. He fell through the window in
which he was sitting, and dropped three stories. A long sermon can have serious consequences.
One of the turns that seems to always be part of any
discussion on sermons is the length, and whether or not people were bored to
death. I took the time this past Sunday
to come near that discussion before my sermon began. I told them to note that it was 11:30 AM, and
that Spring had arrived 6 minutes prior at 11:24. Therefore, I didn’t want anyone thinking they
would spread the word that it was the preacher who began in Winter, but didn’t stop
talking until Spring.
Preachers all have their internal clock about length of
sermon. Unfortunately many of us do our
best to ignore that clock, and it can lead to drowsy congregations. The famed Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon
Spurgeon was known for the lengthy approach to Sunday’s sermon. He ministered many miles from where his
mother lived, so she had never heard him preach. When she visited him and came to church that
Sunday, after the service Spurgeon asked his mother what she thought of the
sermon. Her answer: I believe you missed several
opportunities to stop.
Now, before this devotion misses the opportunity to
reach a conclusion, I suppose it would be best to point out that Paul’s sermon
did not kill Eutychus, it was the fall he took, caused by sitting still too
long. In Paul’s defense we should also
remember that it was he who rushed to Euty’s rescue, and witnessed (or caused)
his revival.
For You Today
If you are one who
puts the cares of life on hold during the worship hour, and digs-in deeply to
worship, listen, learn, and be strengthend by God’s Word, and God’s Holy Spirit
speaking to your heart through song, prayer, giving, and preaching, you’re on
the right track.
If any preacher got
a wakeup call about long sermons, it was Paul.
He probably vowed to God on his way out of town the next day, that he
would watch out for being too wordy, or repetitive. But, still, there’s something to be said for
a congregation that worships whole-heartedly, and awake!
You chew on that as
you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title image: Wikimedia Commons Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
