The Patron Saint of Sleeper – Acts 20:7-12

Years ago I was given book of sermons preached by a man named Mackintosh Mackay.

In introducing a message from this scripture he said,

“The story of Eutychus forms one of those bypaths in Scriptural history in which it would be unwise for the Christian preacher to stray too often;

but which he may OCCASIONALLY tread, not without profit to himself as well as his hearers.”

And then I THOUGHT that he said, “If St. George is the patron saint of England, and St. Peter is patron saint of Rome, then Eutychus is the patron saint of sleepers under the sermon.”

I suppose that I read that statement 3 or 4 times before realizing that I was getting one of the words wrong.

He said that Eutychus is the patron SINNER of sleepers under the sermon.

Obviously, this text of scripture is not prophecy or allegory, but rather Biblical history.

It seems to been written by, not only an eye witness, but a man of Christ and science.

We determine that from the details which he presents to us.

Luke was a holy man of God who wrote as he was moved by the Holy Ghost.

So it is appropriate to ask the question: “WHY has the LORD chosen to tell us about Eutychus.”

There were many lepers in the days of Elisha, but none were cleansed save Naaman.

I suppose that there have been sleepers during sermons ever since there have been sermons.

And undoubtedly there were other miracles in the life Paul, but these were written that we might learn.

But learn what?

This is an historical object lesson; a parable out of the past for people of the present.

Let’s try stay awake tonight and learn from Eutychus.

First there are lessons for here for the PREACHER.

There is not a pastor worthy of his pulpit, who doesn’t think that his message is important.

If the Lord calls you to preach, whether for one lifetime or one message, your message better be important.

If someone doesn’t need what you have say, then you had better sit down and have a prayer meeting.

Every true prophet God knows the feeling of ISAIAH, This is the burden of the Lord about . . . .

Every true prophet of the Lord has been like JEREMIAH with a burning in his bones to preach.

They have all felt like Paul, Woe is me if I don’t get this message out to the people who need it.

I have often been sitting in my study outlining a message,　just tingling and sweating.

And it wasn’t because of the sun beating through the window.

Then on the Lord’s Day I stepped into pulpit thrilled with the theme that the Lord laid upon my heart.

But every pastor needs to remind himself that the people listening to him haven’t had same thrill as he has.

And the truth of matter is they may NOT EVER be as thrilled as he was in his study.

A subject that might deserve 3 hours in the mind of the preacher, may only deserve 3 minutes in the ears of his people.

Eutychus apparently didn’t get too excited about the thoughts of the Apostle Paul that night.

And that could have been despite the incredibly important message that Paul was preaching.

I read of a Sunday School teacher who was stressing the importance of learning at every opportunity.

She used illustrations like eating all the food that mother went to trouble fix.

She spoke of the starving of world – both physically and spiritually.

She described how she wished she had become Christian earlier in her life so that she could have learned more.

On she went for a while, and then she finished the rest of her study from Acts 20.

As time came to dismiss her class, she asked: “What do we learn from Eutychus?”

One little girl’s hand shot up, “That the pastor shouldn’t talk too long.”

That little girl may have been absolutely right.

This passage tells the preacher that under most circumstances, keep the message under 45 minutes.

And it also reminds him to keep that message just as interesting as possible.

And the fact that a young man was involved, we preachers learn to make it interesting to as many different KINDS of people as possible.

I have heard some dreadfully boring sermons in the 40 years that I’ve been a Christian.

And as you know, the pastor can deliver sermons that are exactly the opposite on your spiritual Ricter scale on successive Sundays.

In other words, the hearer needs to be patient and prayerful if he feels that his pastor fell on his face that morning.

If understanding the Greek behind a verse is essential, then the preacher ought to SHARE that, otherwise　he ought to SPARE that.

I’ve read, not heard, praise the Lord, sermons that were 25% Latin quotations.

For some reason those messages didn’t really stir my soul.

Hugh Latimer (ordained in 1512) wrote of a lady that he knew who had incurable insomnia.

Her Doctor, out of desperation commanded her to go church, where she promptly fell asleep.

When Ahasuerus in Esther couldn’t sleep, he should have borrowed some books of sermons instead of inviting Haman in to chat.

Ie., the problem with some people sleeping in church, is not the quantity of sermon, but the quality.

A lot of messages tax men’s patience, not their souls, or their strength.

I’ve heard 100s messages that remind me of a rocking horse: plenty of motion but no progress.

This historical parable commands you, the hearer, to pray for your pastor.

You may think that he’s a reasonably good preacher; and then again maybe not.

But how well he is going to preach this next Sunday depends on the power of the Lord.

You might have a visitor come in for the very first time – and it may be also be his last visit.

He may fall out the window, because you didn’t pray like you should for your pastor, his message and the visitors who might come in.

Now, let me speak word in defense of the Apostle Paul.

This was probably Paul’s third and last visit to Troas, the city of Helen, Hercules and the Trojan horse.

He may have been thinking that he would never see these people again.

It was undoubtedly a very emotional day for that tired Apostle.

There had been an observance by the church of the Lord’s supper.

There also may have been a potluck lunch and even a potluck supper.

And then perhaps some of the people wanted more and more.

“Ah, Paul we love our pastor, but you visit so seldom; keep on preaching.”

Some those good people just kept shouting, “Amen”

And Paul just kept going, and going, and going like stuffed rabbit with a Duracell battery.

The lessons to the preacher here are: keep to the point, keep to the Word, and keep to the clock, within the limits and direction of the H.S. of course.

But what are the lessons for the HEARERS?

Let’s listen to Eutychus’ excuses for falling asleep:

He says that it was about midnight – definitely the time ordinarily spent in sleep.

And without a doubt that was true, or it should have been true.

But I’m sure that we all have sacrificed midnight sleep for other important things.

Maybe a work project, or studying for an examination, had kept him up late the night before.

Perhaps a dear friend had come for a very short visit.

Maybe he had traveled some distance to hear Paul preach.

Maybe he had wasted Saturday night playing video games on his computer.

If a Spirit-filled special meeting roars into the wee hours, then that what you as a Christian need.

Someone has said, “Revival comes after midnight.”

It’s never convenient.

Eutychus might have said, “But I’m just a young man, just a kid, just a teenager.”

My friend, that is all the more reason for you to stay awake.

We must assume that you’ve NOT heard as many lessons on this subject as an older man.

And besides, being young you should have more stamina and energy than your elders.

But I have had such a hard day, a long day, an exhausting day.

But what day was it? It was the Lord’s day.

How did you spend that Lord’s day?

Up before dawn in order to pour out your heart in prayer? No?

Paul probably was.

That one day out of seven is supposed to be spent in rest and worship.

If you’ve wasted it in sports, work or other physical demands, you shall have to give account of that before the Lord at the Judgment seat of Christ.

“But,” says Eutychus, “it was because of the fumes from the oil lamps filling the room.”

Some commentators say that the room was brightly lit to remove suspicion about what they were doing.

Another commentary said that the lights were due to the solemnity of occasion – like Jewish feasts.

I like the way that Matthew Henry put it: “The lights were on so that everyone would have enough light to search Scriptures.”

Whatever, undoubtedly the lamps did fill room with heat and exhaust, enough to put Eutychus to sleep.

However, he was sitting in the window where there should have been sufficient ventilation.

But personally, I don’t get to angry with Eutychus.

We all need to see the difference between human frailty and human wilfulness.

But if falling asleep in church is a regular habit, then it probably needs to be rebuked as sin.

If it’s because of a medical condition then get medical help.

But if it’s not, then stay awake.

Andrew Fuller, of Kettering, had the same problem as a lot of Baptist preachers with sleeping members.

He often worried that it was quality of his sermons that would so regularly sedate people.

But then one day the introductory service ran a little long with prayers, hymns, Bible reading, announcements and so forth.

And during those preliminaries several of his folk fell asleep.

Then in a justified rage he jumped down their throats, inwardly happy to know that the fault wasn’t his messages at all, but the inattention of his people.

Now, let me criticize young Eutychus.

He was in presence of the greatest preacher to have ever set foot in Troas.

And there was Eutychus sawing a few religious logs, catching some sanctified z’s.

I wonder if he ever regretted that wasted evening? He certainly should have.

And he certainly will when he stands before the Judge of the quick and dead.

Christianity demands self-control and self-denial.

Jesus ordered us to take up our cross, deny ourselves and follow Him.

No wonder so many can’t follow Christ in world, when they can’t follow him around sanctuary.

Maybe Eutychus should have gotten out of the window, and stood or paced at the back of the auditorium.

Maybe he should have been taking notes in order to force him to concentrate.

Church attendance is not a game; it is an important opportunity.

And perhaps I should point out that there different kinds of sleep.

There is physical sleep in church, where the eyes close, the breathing slows and the snoring begins.

But then there is the mental variety.

“Well, the preacher has chosen that subject again.

I already know all about that, so I think that I’ll daydream for a while.”

Eutychus, beware of mental pride, the know-it-all kind of pride.

“Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” out the window.

Both the physical church sleep and mental church sleep are symptoms of spiritual slumber.

Someone says, “Oh, my soul is secure in Christ, because I’ve been member of this church for 15 years.”

You need to remember that church attendance and church membership have nothing do with the condition of your soul.

Some people come into church like baby ducks following their mother.

They stay perfectly awake through the sermon until the application, invitation and dedication.

They are asleep to lost and dying around them.

They are asleep to the responsibility of fighting their own sins.

They are asleep to prayer, and numb to the moving of Holy Spirit.

They are asleep to conviction, to conscience, and to service.

They are in essence – asleep to the Lord.

But oh how they sneer at the equally sinful saint who actually snores once or twice during the message.

Some experts say “Eutychus” means “Good Fortune.”

Indeed he was, getting a second chance at life and at the service of Christ.

I wonder how he spent his added days?

Do you suppose that he was like Hezekiah.

That man lay dying, but, for repentance, faith and prayer the Lord added 15 years to his life.

“But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem” – II Chr. 32:25.

Whether true or not, we can make this application: we never hear of Eutychus again.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn he fell out of another window on another　Sunday, but there weren’t any apostles there to resuscitate him.

Preacher Mackay spoke of “somnambulist,” a sleep walker, who left his house in the middle of the night.

That man walked down street in his pajamas, completely oblivious to everything.

He went past the market, through a hedge, out of the small town where he lived, and into the open country.

He didn’t awaken until put his naked foot into the waters of a very cold stream.

There are souls like that in God’s churches today

They will never awaken until they touch the cold waters of death.

Let me close with some exhortations of Paul:

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

Beloved, “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

“Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.”

How much of Eutychus is there in your life?