A Young Man’s Parable – Acts 20:7-12

I would like to begin this morning in exactly the same way that we began last Wednesday.

As I said that night, Luke has not given us a parable or allegory in these verses.

What we read here is the short history of an “accident,” a death, and a miracle.

But as Christians we know that there isn’t such a thing as an “accident” in the sight of the sovereign God.

Jehovah permitted, controlled and used Eutychus’ drowsy fall for the Lord’s own glory.

And that Luke was lead by the Holy Spirit to record this for us, means that the Lord has something to tell us

But the question is: What?

Someone might wonder how it is possible that a miracle of this magnitude could be stated so matter-of-factly.

Luke’s account is almost like that of a newspaper reporter.

There is no embossing, and no embellishing.

It’s not worded in spectacular or dramatic language.

The story is told almost bluntly.

Why didn’t our historian give us more details and graphic descriptions of the blood and compound fractures

Is it that these sorts of things occurred often enough that Luke became somewhat desensitized or numbed toward them.

Is that so hard to believe?

Or could it be that the Spirit doesn’t want us to focus on the gory details, but on the spiritual lessons.

I believe that I have told you about a summer job that I had working with uranium prospectors in Wyoming.

I lived in a bunk house and was allowed to eat anything that the little restaurant in town served.

That restaurant knew that our employer, Western Nuclear, would pay for whatever we ate, and so they always kept a large stock of steaks on hand.

I would never have guessed that I could tire of t-bone steaks,

but in the same way that Israel tired of manna, after 6 or 8 weeks I got a little bored with those t-bones.

Israel was miraculously fed and watered for 40 years,

until they got to the point that they couldn’t see the miracle at all.

Not only did they take the miracle for granted, they even began to despise it.

Just the reverse of my case, they wanted t-bones instead of manna.

Despite the unemotional way that we are told about it,

the resurrection of Eutychus was an ACTUAL and SPECTACULAR miracle.

Luke could not avoid bringing it to our attention,

but he didn’t dramatize it to the point of making us doubt his veracity.

This event actually occurred just as it is described here, and as more than what is described.

It wasn’t a vision, or dream; it was not an allegory meant to tell some sort of spiritual story.

Despite that fact, I would like to look at AS IF IT WAS an allegory or parable.

I would like to use the words of this scripture to illustrate a couple of other important Biblical truths.

I believe that I have the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the example of the Lord Jesus in doing so.

For example, this resurrection reminds us that young men NEED to be BROUGHT TO LIFE.

We are told that Eutychus was a YOUNG MAN.

This word “neanias” (neh-an-ee’-as) and its cousin “neaniskos” (neh-an-is’-kos) are found 15 times in Bible, and they are ALWAYS translated “young man.”

This was not a little boy, who under ordinary circumstance was in bed by 7, who has fallen out the window.

This was a young MAN, someone who was, at the very least, in his mid-teenage years.

If he was like most young men, he would not have been happy to be called a “boy.”

He was a young MAN.

He was well along in his education; he was learning a trade, and he may have been bringing a small income home.

His voice had dropped; he had a driver’s licence; he may have had a tiny, fuzzy beard.

He was probably a member of the Baptist church in Troas.

He expected to be treated with respect; he expected to be treated as a young MAN.

One of the problem with young men is that their expectations often outstrip what they perceive as their responsibilities.

In other words, they think that they deserve more than they are willing to grant to others.

But with every privilege come at least a couple of related responsibilities.

And no matter who we are, if we don’t take care of our responsibilities, we don’t deserve our privileges.

As a member of that church, or at least being the member of a family of that church,

Eutychus had the responsibility to hear every word that Paul was saying that night.

He had the responsibility to learn what was being taught; to INGEST it; to DIGEST it; and to INVEST it.

Professing himself to be intelligent, he should have used his mind to stay focused on the revelation of God.

If he expected the respect of Paul, then he needed to respect Paul by staying awake and alert.

If he expected Paul to listen to him when HE had something to say, then he needed to listen to Paul as he preached the Holy Word of God.

I think that most of the talk about a generation gap, is a lot of garbage.

The problem is not the difference in age between parents and children, grand-parents and grand-kids.

The problem is the deteriorating respect between these groups.

And that problem lies on the shoulders of the older people as much as the younger.

But Eutychus DID fall asleep, and he DID fall out a third storey window – to his death.

Death is never a pleasant occurrence; it is never an happy event; it is never convenient.

But in some ways, the death of a YOUNG man is the saddest of all deaths.

We expect the elderly to eventually die; it is a part of life.

As we grow older we find ourselves getting weaker,

and it doesn’t surprise us to hear that our friends or other people our age have been struck down.

And then the very young seem particularly susceptible to death as well.

Their little bodies haven’t been strengthened by time and exercise.

They are vulnerable.

There are many, many of those littlest people who die without any explanation ever given.

So the medical community particularly looks out for the very young and the very old.

But young men are supposed to live forever.

Their bodies are often about as strong as they will ever be.

They will have passed through all the potentially lethal childhood diseases.

They haven’t yet been beaten up with life.

They should have grown out of the climbing and falling out of trees stage.

If they are as smart as they say they are, they aren’t risking their lives doing really stupid things.

Young men should live for a very long time.

Nevertheless, Eutychus was dead.

And so, young men need to be brought to life.

Particularly, they need to be born again.

They need to realize that there is both physical life and there is spiritual life.

And they need to realize that their spiritual lives are far more important than their physical lives.

Eutychus was dead

Even young CHURCH MEMBERS can be dead in trespasses and sins, because church membership doesn’t convey spiritual life.

Young people may deceive themselves into thinking that their desire to go to Heaven was the same thing as faith in Christ.

They may have been confused as a child, thinking that fear of eternal punishment was the same thing as repentance for sin.

That young man is not a child, he should be able to understand, humanly speaking, the importance of Spiritual things.

He should have been able to see that the beauty, intricacy and order of the world demands the recognition of a divine Creator.

His 15 or 16 years should have taught him to see that his heart is filled with sin.

He should not only have heard, but come to realize that sin cannot, and will not, go unjudged.

Young men need to be brought to spiritual life, before they are even more hardened by sin.

But young people are more apt to ignore, overlook, or put off this necessity.

They may foolishly think that they have 50 years in front of them,

and when their lives wind down there will be time to consider religion

or to place their souls in the hands of the Lord.

They may think that the world and all its dark corners need to be explored before they look toward the bright lights of Heaven.

Most young men are slow to realize the deadness of their spirits, and how near eternity always is.

Young men, need to be brought to life, to be born again.

And there is only one way for young men to be brought into spiritual life.

They must be brought into connection with the Lord.

It’s not just a matter of church attendance or Bible reading; it’s a matter of union with Christ.

The Lord Jesus is the only way, the truth and the only life; there is no coming to God apart from Him.

As a young man should love his mother and his father, he also needs to love the Lord with a holy but passionate zeal.

Young men need to be brought to life.

And if I may so say, young men need to be brought to life – AND THEN TO LIVE.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said,

Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him

And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.”

There have been misconceptions about the nature of Christianity since the moment that the Lord Jesus first said, “Come unto me.”

One of those misconceptions has been that church, religion and Christ are for old men, women and the little kids.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of churches which seem to prove the point,

because the only people in them are old, women and children.

But that is unbiblical, unrealistic and untrue.

There has never been a more manly religion than that of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There have never been more manly men than those whom we have been studying in the Book of Acts.

Look at Stephen taking on Saul and the whole synagogue of the Libertines in Jerusalem.

Look at him joyfully and confidently walking to the place of his execution.

Look at his son in the faith, the Apostle Paul as he recovered from being stoned to death,

and watch him walk right back into the village which hated him and tried to kill him.

And look at him and Silas singing hymns and praising God, as their bodies ached in pain and blood oozed from the wounds they received there in Philippi.

And listen to Peter when he is arrested again and again, but he replies, “We must obey God rather than men.”

I never had a desire to participate in the Promise Keeper’s movement.

As far as I was concerned it was a unbiblical cesspool of compromise and contamination,

but I rejoiced in its declaration that real men love and worship Christ.

Without excluding women and children, Christianity is a man’s religion.

So Eutychus has been given life. Amen!

Now young man, what are you going to do with that new life of yours?

Is it really yours? Did you bring yourself back to life?

If the life that you have has been granted to you by the grace of the Lord,

then don’t you owe something to your Heavenly father?

What gifts and talents has the Lord given you which should be used for His glory?

What risks can you take with that strong body and able mind of yours?

Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, for quite some time had no children.

But eventually the Lord was gracious and granted to her a son.

And she promptly gave him back to the Lord,

and Samuel, the one who was asked for from God, became a great servant of God.

Not only did Hannah and Elkanah give their son to God,

But Samuel, who, obviously, would never have had life if it hadn’t been for the Lord,

gave himself to God as much as his parents did.

Why is it that young men are rarely, truly consecrated to Christ as Samuel was?

Young man, if the Lord has granted you life, THEN LIVE.

Young men should be BROUGHT ALIVE into the arms of their churches.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said,

Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.”

Yes, young people are untested and unproven, like David putting on the armor of King Saul.

Yes, despite what they think about their strength, intelligence and personal beauty,

we older folk know that they are farther from perfection that even we are ourselves.

But those young people need to be genuinely accepted and received.

They need to be protected and nurtured.

They need to be encouraged.

They need to be given the opportunity to become what the Lord intended them to become.

I can just picture an old crusty deacon, a pillar in the church for 50 years.

He thinks that he is a good judge of character; he thinks that he has even made a preacher or two.

He is in that midnight meeting with Paul, and he is enjoying every word being preached.

He is thinking about others in the church, to whom each successive point should have struck home.

And then all of a sudden he hears a scream as Eutychus tumbles out the window.

Along with everyone else, he rushes outside to find the lifeless body of the boy on the pavement below.

But then Paul falls on the body, as Elijah and Elisha had done centuries before.

And he hears the words: “Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.”

Perhaps this old deacon has never given that young man much thought before,

but now as he thinks about him, it is not as he should have thought.

Yes, he is happy that the boy’s life has been restored, but he is embarrassed by it all.

“If that kid was worth his salt, he should have been in a pew next to his mother, taking notes on the sermon, shouting “amen” every now and then at appropriate points.”

He thinks, “I am embarrassed to admit that we have lazy, sleepy children like that in our church.”

Bro. Deacon, there are children, young people and adults like that in every church.

Yes, they are not perfect, but in some ways they may be closer to the Lord than you are in your pride and arrogance.

Don’t look down your nose at this embarrassment.

You should praise the Lord for this new life.

Now, take him under your wing; take a personal interest in him.

Forget your embarrassment and help him to overcome HIS embarrassment and his other infirmities.

Here is another potential Timothy, but unfortunately for him, Paul is leaving in the morning.

Who is going to nurture this young man into Christian maturity?

Maybe it should be YOU.

Young people should be brought alive INTO the arms of the Lord’s church.

And young men like Eutychus, should be a great COMFORT to the churches of which they are a members.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said,

Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.”

Would you like to learn a new word?

Try this one on for size: “litotes” (lie te tez).

Although this was originally a Greek word, it is now a little-used English word.

A litotes is a figure of speech, consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

It’s easier illustrated than defined.

The church was “NOT a LITTLE comforted;” in other words they were GREATLY comforted.

The Bible is filled with these litotes

Acts 1:5 – “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”

Acts 17:4 – “And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.“

Acts 17:12 – “Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.“

“Not a few” means that there were a whole bunch of people who believed the gospel and joined the Lord’s churches

When Eutychus was raised from death and restored to his family and his church,

there was a multitude of people who were overcome with joy.

And well they should have been.

Eutychus by his resurrection and restoration was a blessing to his church.

This is as it should be with ALL young Christians.

They shouldn’t be dead wood in the church, but branches attached to Christ and bringing forth fruit.

John 15 isn’t talking about middle-aged Christians; it’s talking about Christians – period.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If ye abide in me, & my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, & it shall be done unto you.

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

I see nothing in John 15 which speaks about specific ages or groups of people.

Young men, who have been restored to life, ought to bring great blessings to their churches.

They should bring their parents comfort, because mom and dad know that their sons are safe in the arms of Christ.

Have YOU provided your parents with that testimony?

Have you confessed to the church, to your family and to the world that you are a true Christian?

Have you taken the plunge of scriptural baptism, as all Christians have been commanded to do?

Young people should bring their parents and other church members comfort because they love the Lord.

And they should bring joy and comfort through ministering to others what the Word of God has given to them.

Eutychus brought great comfort to the church in Troas.

He was alive once again.

I would guess that he had also been born again.

And he was a vital part of the Lord’s church in Troas.

Now, what about you?