Falling Asleep in Church
Growing up, my wife’s home church would have a Christmas Eve service that ended at midnight, on Christmas day. They would always take communion at this service, and it was a dark, candlelit service as well. You can imagine that some people aren’t used to staying up until midnight, and with the lights down, well, you can guess what could happen. They were passing the communion plate, and an older gentleman on the same row as my wife had fallen asleep. When the communion plate got to him, his wife elbowed him. He abruptly woke up, grabbed his wallet, and threw a 20 into the plate…thinking it was the offering plate! My wife and her sisters did everything they could to keep from laughing.
Sometimes it’s easy to fall asleep in church. I think some of you forget that I can see you from up here, and I know you like to take naps in that comfy pew. Well, in today’s text, we see that falling asleep in church isn’t something new. And we’ll see how to overcome it. How to keep following Christ rather than becoming sluggish in our walk with Him.
Encourage one another. (1-6)
Verses one and twelve here mention encouragement. When you read verse one, it says, “after encouraging them,” he departed to Macedonia. In verse 12, you won’t see the word encourage, but instead it says, after the boy had been brought back to life, they were “not a little comforted.” Both of these words have the same root word in the Greek. Verse 1 is parakalesas,[1] and verse 12 is pareklēthēsan.[2] The root for each is the word parakaleó.[3] This is the same word we see John use when he describes the Holy Spirit as the Comforter.[4] In the same way that the Holy Spirit ministers to us through encouragement, helping and strengthening us, and ultimately pointing us towards Christ, we are to do the same for one another.
We see this in Hebrews 3:12-13:
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort [encourage] one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
I heard one person describe this word like a parent taking their kid roller skating. What do they do? They go out there with them and help them all along the way. They train them on what to do and what not to do. They pick them up when they fall down. They hold their hands to help keep them from falling. They’re right there with them. That’s what biblical encouragement is.
If we are to encourage one another, you know what we are not to do? Discourage one another. We tend to be quicker to discourage than we do to encourage. We are quicker to point out what we think someone is doing wrong or could do better than we are to encourage them in what they are doing well. If our kid falls while skating, we don’t yell at them and mock them or give them a lecture while they’re on the floor crying. No, we help them up and get them going again.
I love the game of baseball. I’ve played it my whole life. You know what one of the things I love about it is? You can mess up 7 times out of 10 and be a hall of famer. The average batting average for those in the baseball hall of fame is .303. That’s not how it’s worded though, “You failed 7 times out of 10. That’s good enough for us!” No, the 3 base hits out of 10 are celebrated.
We have a lot of hall of famers in life that we don’t celebrate. You have them in your household. We have them in this church. We should celebrate what people are doing well and work with one another to make our swing even better. That’s what encouragement is. It’s lifting up and sharpening one another to the glory of God.
In this passage we also see Paul’s encouragement in raising funds for those in Jerusalem. You don’t see it in this text, but Paul wrote to the church in Corinth from Macedonia, and we see his plan to travel to collect funds. He devotes two whole chapters in 2 Corinthians talking about this (chapters 8-9). We see this plan described in Romans:
Romans 15:25-28 – 25 At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 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. 28 When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.
You know what encourages people? Money. Not just money, but meeting people’s needs. We see a list of names of people who were accompanying Paul. Many believe these men were representatives from other churches accompanying Paul to bring the funds to the poor in Jerusalem. But as they traveled, they were sharpening and encouraging one another. We see Timothy in that list, who Paul wrote to on two occasions encouraging him as a young pastor. We see Aristarchus, who accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey (Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2) and was even imprisoned alongside him in Rome (Col 4:10). And Luke is writing this from his perspective, because he was there with them as well.
Paul had encouragement and community. We need the same.
Devote yourself to gospel-centered community. (7-8)
The purpose of why we gather is important. They gathered on the first day of the week, and this is the first clear reference where we see the church purposefully doing it. This is what they started referring to as the Lord’s Day. It was the Lord’s Day[5] because it was resurrection day.[6] The purpose for which the early believers gathered was precisely because Jesus had risen from the dead, and they were redeemed by the risen Christ.
Not only did they gather on the Lord’s Day, but when they gathered, they broke bread. Now, this was a time of fellowship, but it was bigger than that. Most people agree that when it says, “they broke bread,” they likely partook in communion, the Lord’s Supper as well as a pot-luck style fellowship meal, or agape feast.[7] So, they had fellowship, and they had communion. They were communing with one another and with the Lord, remembering and proclaiming His death until He returns.
When we gather as a church, we need to keep it purposeful and countercultural. Our gathering should purposefully be centered on the gospel. The Lord’s Supper is countercultural in those respects. It keeps church weird. We should keep church weird. The Lord’s Supper is intrinsically not seeker sensitive. It is specifically for believers. It is an ancient practice. The early Christians were accused of being cannibals because they were gathering to eat flesh and drink blood. When Jesus taught this, many left him, saying, “This is a hard saying.”[8]
In evangelicalism, we have watered down church so much in many instances that it is almost indistinguishable from the world. In the hopes of being seeker sensitive, we have stopped being overtly Christian. I’m not talking about styles. Those change and always have. I’m talking about something deeper. We have made church about ourselves. We want to feel good when we come to church, so we seek to create an atmosphere where you can do that. We have worship “experiences,” as if the purpose we gather is so I will experience something from God. We do, and we should experience God (Henry Blackaby), but we don’t come to or for an experience. We gather because we are redeemed by the risen Christ. We come because He is worthy of worship and adoration, whether I experience anything or not. We come to bow down before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We come to be shaped and molded by His Word. We come for Him. For God. Because of the gospel.
Devote yourself to the ministry of the Word. (9-12)
When we gather, we are gathering around the apostles’ teachings. The Word of God must be central to our gathering. Paul is taking every last minute he has with these people he loves in order to teach them.
We had 44 people gather until midnight last weekend to study the book of Ruth. It was incredible! Every person who attended will attest to how it enriched their lives. You know what was so special about it? Nothing. Except people purposefully seeking God in His Word and being willing to sacrifice to do so. Hungry people who feasted on the Bread of Life. And every single person walked away sleepy yet full.
I pray you are at the point in your life where you long for that. Where you long for more. More out of your life. More out of your relationship with God. Greater intimacy and devotion. Here are three things that will help you do so as you gather under God’s Word.
Gather purposefully. (8) They filled their lamps with oil. “There were many lamps in the upper room where [they] gathered.” They were prepared. Do you ready yourself before entering worship? Do you put oil in your lamps?
Do you gather with expectation? Expectation for God to do something in your life. Expectation for God to do something in someone else’s life. Do you pray throughout the service for God to speak to you? For God to save someone? Church services hit different when you’re praying for someone in attendance. And when you are praying for yourself to be shaped into conformity with God’s Word.
Listen intently. (11) MacArthur has an interesting comment that "Paul did not stop with preaching; there was discussion, and he answered their questions." Wouldn't it be nice if we wanted to stay at church after the sermon and discuss it with the pastor and elders and ask questions and fellowship over the Word rather than flying out the door to make sure we don't miss the football game! Did you know that we actually do have people like that in this church who are seeking the Lord and growing in their faith? We have groups that meet in homes on Sunday nights. They’re supposed to go from 5-7pm, but people are staying and discussing the Word sometimes until 10 or 11.
Warren Wiersbe says perhaps each of us should ask ourselves, “What really keeps me awake?” Christians who slumber during one hour in church somehow manage to stay awake during early-morning fishing trips, lengthy sporting events and concerts, or late-night TV specials. Also, we need to prepare ourselves physically for public worship to make sure we are at our best. “Remember,” said Spurgeon, “if we go to sleep during the sermon and die, there are no apostles to restore us!”[9]
Trust that God raises the dead. (9-10, 12) This is why they gathered on the first day of the week. This is why they gathered period. They experienced it as well. Not only physically, but through the Word and by the Spirit. We see this incredible miracle happen where Paul brings Eutychus back from the dead.[10] Verse 12 tells us that they were comforted or encouraged. It says this in direct context with the boy being brought to life. But I think it’s also because of the life they had. They were encouraged from within. They kept on their discussion of God’s Word even after this until daybreak!
The almost casual way that Luke describes such an incredible miracle makes some wonder if the boy had actually died, or whether Paul just resuscitated him. I think that we should take Dr. Luke’s medical description, that he was dead. But in the context, Luke de-emphasizes the miracle by sandwiching it between Paul’s sermon and his talking with the church on through the night afterwards. He seems to be making the point that it is the teaching of God’s Word, not amazing miracles, that will sustain and strengthen the church.
Let that be said of us. Let that be said of why and how we gather. Let us be devoted to one another in encouragement and for the purpose of the gospel. Let us not fall asleep in church but live fully awake.
[1] https://biblehub.com/greek/parakalesas_3870.htm
[2] https://biblehub.com/greek/parekle_the_san_3870.htm
[3] https://biblehub.com/greek/3870.htm
[4] https://biblehub.com/greek/parakle_ton_3875.htm
[5] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/a-brief-history-of-sunday
[6] Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2, 9; Lu 24:1; Jn 20:1, 19; 1Co 16:2
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape_feast
[9] Bible Exposition Commentary
[10] Paul’s remark in Acts 20:9 is similar to what Jesus said just before he raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead but described her condition as sleep when he spoke to the gathered crowd (Mark 5:39). It was a way of saying that death would not be the final outcome. Paul’s embracing Eutychus recalls the acts of Elijah and Elisha in 1 Kings 17:19-21 and 2 Kings 4:34-35. It also parallels acts by Peter (Dorcas in Acts 9:36-41) and Jesus (Luke 7:11-15: widow of Nain’s son; 8:49-56: Jairus’s daughter; John 11:38-44: Lazarus).
