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And that's our topic for next
week, Paul's farewell address. I want to talk to you tonight
on our 30th study in this book on a shepherd's heart. A shepherd's
heart. And we're reading in verse 1
of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20. After the uproar
was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples. You remember,
the uproar was in the city of Ephesus. And after the uproar
was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced
them, and departed for to go into Macedonia." Richard, we
haven't got the logo of the third missionary journey there. We
have it in the back, I think. Can you flick it up on the screen?
If you can, it's there somewhere. It is. Yeah. But maybe it's not. You haven't got it. Okay. It's
good to see with the eye gate too. But anyhow, he embraced
them and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone
over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came
into Greece. And there abode three months.
And when the Jews had laid wait for him as he was about to sail
into Syria, He purposed to return through Macedonia. The unbelieving
Jews wanted to get Paul on a boat and then shove him off the boat
so that he would drown. And having heard of this, he
decided that he would go back to Asia by land. And there accompanied
him into Asia, Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus,
and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus,
and Trophimus. These going before tarried for
us at Troas. And we sailed away from Philippi
after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to
Troas in five days, where we abode seven days. And upon the
first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow,
and continued his speech until midnight." Most commentators
think that Paul began at eight o'clock at night, and preach
to midnight. That's four hours. I can assure
you I'll not do that this evening. And there were many lights in
the upper chamber, torches, where they were gathered together.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being
fallen into a deep sleep. Do you ever fall asleep in church?
Well, here's Eutychus. I have great sympathy for people
who fall asleep in church. Here's Eutychus. I was telling
some of them before the meeting tonight about this new minister
who arrived in this church on one occasion as he was going
round the parish. He noticed that John Mary's husband
never came to the meetings. And one day he was with Mary,
he challenged her and she said to him, well, your reverence,
you know, John has a habit of going to sleep and snoring in
church. And that's why he doesn't come out. And the minister said,
oh, Mary, I've got the solution to your problem. Just take a
little bit of cheese and keep it for a month or two and let
it go off until it has a real strong smell of it. And then
just put it in your handbag. And when John goes over to sleep,
just waft it in front of his nose. Well, Mary got John out
to the service that Sunday and sure as shooting, the minister
had only got into the first point in his sermon when John nodded
over to sleep and snorted the store. And the minister pointed
down to Mary and she took the cheese out of her handbag and
very discreetly wafted it in front of John's nose. And he
awoke with a great shout and he said, Mary, for goodness sake,
would you take your feet to the pillow? Well, don't fall asleep tonight.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being
fallen into a deep sleep. We know what it's like. The tense
of the Greek verb means that it didn't come suddenly, it came
gradually. You know what it's like to sit
in a meeting and you're fighting against sleep? Well, that's what
Eutychus was doing. And as Paul was long preaching,
He sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and
was taken up dead. 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 had eaten and talked a long while,
even till the break of day, so Paul departed. And they brought
the young man alive and were not a little comforted. And we
went before the ship and sailed on to Assos, there intending
to take him to Paul, for so had he appointed, minding himself
to go afoot. That simply means that Paul walked
the journey from Troas to Assos. He had been ministering the Word
of God. He had been giving out. And he wanted this twenty-mile
walk so that he could take in, so that he could renew his spirit,
so that he could commune with God. And when he met with us
at Assas, we took him in and came to Melik, their sailing
down the Mediterranean. And we sealed hands and came
the next day over against Chios. And the next day we arrived at
Samos and carried it through Liglum. And the next day we came
to Melikas. For Paul had determined to seal
by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia, for
he hastened, if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the
day of Pentecost. a shepherd's heart. The application
form of a certain college contained the question, Are you a leader? One student pondered the question
for a very long time in light of her high school record. Her
record contained no athletic or scholarly achievements and
no student offices. And so she answered the question
on the application form with an honest no. While she waited
for her application to be accepted or rejected, she wondered in
her mind if she should have answered the question differently. Much
to her amazement, the letter arrived from the registration
office with the following message, Welcome to our college. A study
of our application forms for the next year shows that we have
1,452 leaders in the freshman class. And they will certainly need
at least one follower. The apostle Paul was certainly
not a follower. He was a great leader. Everywhere
he went, people were drawn to the gospel through Paul. The
way to tell if you are a leader or not is to look around and
see if anyone is following you. And Paul was a great leader.
He was a tremendous leader because he had a shepherd's heart. Of course, the figure of a shepherd
is familiar to us when we read not only the Old Testament, but
the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus Christ is referred
to as the Good Shepherd who died. He's referred to as the Great
Shepherd who lives. He's referred to as the Chief
Shepherd who's coming again. And elders and pastors and overseers
and bishops are described as shepherds. And their people are
described as chiefs. Here in Acts chapter 20 we see
a beautiful picture of Paul as the spiritual shepherd of God's
sheep. Now keep in mind that in this
final third section of the book of Acts, Dr. Luke records Paul's
journey to Jerusalem his arrest there and his subsequent voyage
to the city of Rome. Remember that it's Dr. Luke that
writes the book of Acts. And of course, it's Luke that
writes the Gospel of Luke. And it's interesting that there's
a similar pattern in the Gospel of Luke. There Luke describes Christ's
journey to Jerusalem to die. And in just the same way, that
the Lord Jesus set His face as a flint to do the Father's will,
so Paul, determined to finish his course with joy, no matter
what the cost might be. My friends, there have always
been dedicated pastors who have sacrificed in life and in death
for the church. It was love for the Church that
drove the busy Reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin, to preach
constantly and continually to their flocks, not merely on Sundays,
but also throughout the week. Many Puritan pastors continued
to preach the Word after forbidden to do so by the authorities. They knew that they risked being
imprisoned and incarcerated for the sake of the Gospel, as John
Bunyan was. But love for the church compelled
them to take that risk. Love for the church consumed
the godly 19th century Scottish pastor, Robert Murray MacShane. Ill health could not deter him
from his loving service, and consequently he died at the age
of 29 years of age. It was his love for the church
that motivated Charles Haddon Spurgeon to speak out against
the modernism that was creeping into the evangelical church of
his day, especially the Baptist Union of Great Britain. And my
dear friend, despite the resulting downgrade controversy, Spurgeon
was sharply criticized by his fan. Some of those who were close
to him deserted him, and yet he refused to back down. And
although the stress of the controversy took its toll on Spurgeon, indeed
it generated and hastened the hour of his death. These were
men who had a shepherd's heart, those who sacrificially loved
the church. And yet no man has ever loved
the church more than the Apostle Paul. Do you remember what he
wrote to the church at Philippi? I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you all. always in every prayer of mine
for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day on out. Ye are our epistle, written
in our hearts, known and read of all men, he told the Corinthians.
To the Thessalonians he said, but we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse, a mother cherishes her children. My dear friends,
not only did Paul give his life for the church, but he endured
much suffering for it. Not only physical suffering,
but emotional suffering. You remember when he catalogues
his suffering in 2 Corinthians, he says, Beside those things
that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches. Paul was unrelenting in his commitment
to the church. He was willing to pour out his
life to see healthy churches established. Now, at first glance,
our passage tonight shows us a slice of Paul's life describing
his travels. Some things are skimmed over.
We can fill in many details from 1 and 2 Corinthians and from
the book of Romans, which Paul wrote during this period of time.
Other things, such as his meeting with the church in Troas, are
described in more detail. We might at first read these
first sixteen verses and think, those are interesting, but there's
nothing here that relates to my life. But I think that just
below the surface of Luke's description of Paul's travels lies Paul's
unrelenting commitment to the Lord's church. Here we see a
man with a shepherd's heart. Now, having divided our study
into three parts, I want you to notice first of all what I'm
calling a man with God's perspective. A man with God's perspective. I do not expect to visit this
country again. Those were the words of D.L. Moody, spoken in the year 1867
when he made his first voyage to England. He was so seasick
during the voyage from the United States of America to England
that he vowed that he would never sail again, but he made five
more visits to England despite the seasickness. Paul was ready
for another journey. He wanted at least to make one
other journey to the churches that God had enabled him to found
and to establish. Because Paul was a man with a
shepherd's heart. And so after he left Ephesus
in Asia, he travels towards Macedonia and Achaia. He expected to meet
Titus at Troas and get a report on the problems in the church
at Corinth. But Titus didn't come. The men eventually met
in Macedonia, and Paul rejoiced over the good news that Titus
brought. Paul originally had planned to
make two visits to Corinth, but instead he made one visit which,
according to verse 3, lasted for three months. And during
that visit he wrote the epistle to the Romans. Now, having given
you that little bit of background, let's look at this man with God's
perspective, God's viewpoint. I want to suggest to you tonight,
according to your outline, that Paul had God's viewpoint and
perspective affectionately. Look at verse 1. And after the
uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced
them. You see, physically, he embraced
them. Some scholars say that Paul was
a hugger. You know what a hugger is. I'm
not particularly a hugger, but Paul seems to be in a hugger.
He embraced them. He embraced the brethren in Ephesus,
and then he departed for Macedonia. You see, to the Apostle Paul,
these people were not just acquaintances. These were not just members in
the next town that he could chalk up and write about in his missionary
letter. These were real people that he
loved in the Lord, and he wanted to see them grow in the things
of God. My friend, can you see his passion
in verse 2? And when he had gone over those
parts and had given them much exhortation, the words, encouragement,
everywhere Paul went, he encouraged the saints. He built up the brethren
and the freest. Why? Because he had a shepherd's
heart. Can I ask the elders, and if
you're an elder or an overseer this evening, as I ask myself,
do you have a shepherd's heart? Do you really care for the people
of God? Are you willing to put yourself out for them? Are you
someone who just doesn't want to make the big decisions, but
are you someone with a big heart? You see, Paul had God's perspective
affectionately. Look at verse 2. Paul had God's
perspective spiritually. And when he had gone over those
parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,
into Corinth. Now, geographically, this took
in Macedonia and Achaia. You see, Paul had a tremendous
burden to see these young converts grow spiritually. He just didn't
win them. He just didn't count them and
then ignore them like many pastors and evangelists. No, he wanted
to see them growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And so there was this exhortation
with the Word. Is it not tragic? that Paul's
commitment to proclaim the Word of God is not so much in vogue
today? Preaching that exhorts from the
Word no longer holds the central place as it did in the early
church? You remember, later, Paul exhorts
the young preacher, Timothy. He says to Liacombe, give attendance
to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. He says, Timothy, preach
the Word! Preach the Word! Be instant in
season and out of season. My dear friends, when we downplay
strong biblical teaching, the results are tragic. When elders
and pastors neglect the responsibility for the perfecting of the saints,
then the saints cannot do the work of the ministry. And as
a result, the building up of the body of Jesus Christ does
not take place. The disastrous results include
a lack of true unity, imperfect knowledge of the person of Jesus
Christ, and a lack of spiritual maturity resulting in immature
children who are tossed to and fro and carried about with every
wind of doctrine. We live in a day when the preaching
of the Word and teaching of the Word is being minimized. Why? Because of the rise of a
market-driven philosophy of ministry. Have you ever heard the term
user-friendly churches? Have you ever heard that term?
These are churches, so-called, who have jettisoned preaching
and teaching in favor of movies, in favor of drama, in favor of
concerts. in favor of the testimony of
Christian superstars and other forms of entertainment. My friends,
there is only one way to grow spiritually, but we will give
ourselves to prayer. and to the ministry of the Word.
Can you see the great apostle? He is weary. He is busy. He is
persecuted. He is harassed by these unbelieving
Jews wherever he goes, and yet he devotes himself to teaching
everywhere he went. His consuming passion, even at
the risk of his life, was to see these believers whom he had
seen saved brought to spiritual maturity. You remember how he
expresses it to the church at Colossae, whom we preach, warning
every man in all wisdom that we may present every man mature,
perfect in Christ Jesus. And so here's a man who's got
God's perspective. He's got God's perspective affectionately. He's got God's perspective spiritually. And then notice, he's got God's
perspective materially. You see, the other great goal
that Paul had in mind for visiting the churches and going around
the churches again was to take up a collection for the needy
saints who were in Jerusalem. He mentions this in three of
his epistles that he wrote at this time. He wrote 1 Corinthians,
he wrote 2 Corinthians, and he wrote the epistle to the Romans
all at this time. He wrote 1 Corinthians shortly
before he left Ephesus. You remember what he says. We'll
turn over to 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. And
look at verse 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse
1. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given
order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first
day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as
God hath prospered him, that there may be no gatherings when
I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye
shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your
liberality unto Jerusalem." He's talking about the collection
for the poor saints at Jerusalem. He wrote two Corinthians from
Macedonia. Do you recall what he says? Flick
over to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and
verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse
1. He says, Moreover, brethren,
we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches
of Macedonia. He says, We want you to see the
God's grace and the giving in the churches of Macedonia. You
see, my dear friends, when you give, it's a grace. Stephen Alford
has a little book entitled, The Grace of Giving. And notice verse
2, how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their
liberality. For to their power I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying
us with much and greedy that we should receive the gift. What
gift? The gift for the poor saints of Jerusalem, and take upon us
the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they
did not, as we hoped, but first give their own selves to the
Lord and unto us by the will of God, insomuch that we desired,
Titus, that as he had begun, so he would finish in you the
same grace also. Therefore, says Paul, as ye abound
in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and
in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound
in this grace also." He's talking about the gift, the collection
for the poor saints in Jerusalem. He wrote the book of Romans from
the city of Corinth. Do you remember what he says
in Romans? Turn over to it. Romans chapter 15. Just bear
with me for a moment. Romans chapter 15. I'm just trying
to establish one thing through these passages. Romans chapter
15. All these books written at this
time all make mention of the collection for the poor saints
in Jerusalem. Look at verse 25. Paul says,
But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For
it hath pleased them of Macedonia, Nicaea, to make a contribution,
a certain contribution, for the poor saints which are in Jerusalem.
It hath pleased them truly, and their debtors they are. For if
the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their
duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore
I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I
will come by you into Spain." Now, what was this collection
for the poor saints of Jerusalem all about? Well, Paul had a love
for the poor saints of Jerusalem. You see, they were impoverished
because of famine. They were impoverished because
of persecution. But there was another thing that
Paul was concerned about. Paul was concerned about the
unity of the church. He was concerned about the oneness
of the church. He knew that the tensions between
Jews and Gentiles posed an ever-present danger to that unity. And by
meeting the needs of the Jewish believers at Jerusalem, the Gentile
believers in Macedonia and Achaia and Galicia, they would be showing
their love to them. Come back to Acts 20. Look at
verse 4. Acts 20 and verse 4. Do you see
why Paul was surrounded by a considerable escort? Look at verse 4. And
they are accompanied into Asia, Sopater of Berea, and of the
Thessalonians, Aristarchus, and Secundus, and Gaius of Dermai,
and Timotheus, and of Egypt, Tychicus, and Trophimus. Do you
know why Paul was surrounded by these men? It was because
of the collection of money that they had been accumulating from
the various churches. These were men who were bringing
their church's gift to the poor saints of Jerusalem. And notice,
please, that Paul was a man who was so careful to be above suspicion
in matters of money. There's another interesting fact
here. Did you notice it? The general flow in our missionary
program is from the home church to the mission field. There was
none of that in the book of Acts. Money flowed in the opposite
direction. In fact, it was the home church that received the
money. It was the Jerusalem church that received the money. In fact,
we have no record of the Jerusalem church ever supporting any missionary
work. It was the Antioch church, a
foreign mission church, that first sent out the missionaries. My friends, Paul planted indigenous
churches. Churches that could stand on
their own two feet. Churches that did not need to
be propped up by massive infusions of money from elsewhere. Churches
that soon became sending churches, investing as the Philippians
did in Paul's missionary ventures elsewhere. Now, are you beginning
to see this man with God's perspective? He's got God's perspective affectionately. He loves the saints. He's got
God's perspective spiritually. He wants to build them up on
their most holy faith. He's got God's perspective materially.
He's concerned for the poor saints at Jerusalem, moreover. He's
concerned for the tension between Jewish believers and Gentile
believers. Ah, but look again. Come back to Acts 20. He's got
God's perspective evangelistically. You see, we learn from the book
of Romans, which Paul penned at this time, that he preached
the gospel as far away as Elycrum. Now, he probably did this during
his stay in Macedonia. Elycrum is that region that we
refer to as Yugoslavia. Now, when Paul arrived in Macedonia,
verse 1, he was in a state of depression. He was in a state
of depression. How do we know? Well, he says
in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 8, For we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were
pressed out of measure above strength, even insomuch that
we despaired even in life. So often depression is Satan's
tool to keep our mind on ourselves and off the need of a perishing
world. I want to tell you, my dear friends,
that device didn't work with the Apostle Paul, for it didn't
deter Paul from the task of winning souls for Christ. You see, in
all of Paul's letters, it's clear that he wasn't strengthening
the church so that they could be warm and cozy. in a holy huddle,
isolated from the perishing world. He was strengthening the church
for one reason, so that they could reach out with the gospel
and send out workers to take the gospel where Christ had never
been preached. He had God's mind set evangelistically. I wonder, dear friends, is this
our desire tonight, to reach out? Are we going to fossilize
or evangelize? to focus on self or to focus
on sinners. I tell you, the church that turns
in upon itself and loses its outward focus is a dying church. Look at verse 4 again. Paul had
God's mindset affectionately, spiritually, materially, and
evangelistically, and tutorially. I mean, did he not act as a tutor
and as a teacher to these men who surrounded him? They were
just the representatives of the various churches in verse 4.
And they were entrusted by their churches to carry their money,
their collection, to help the poor believers in Jerusalem.
And many of these men were Gentiles who had come to saving faith
in Christ through Paul's preaching, and now they are with him, and
he is spending time with them, and he is teaching them, and
he is grounding them in the Scriptures. Paul's strategy, as he explains
to Timothy, was to entrust the things of God to faithful men
who would be able to teach others also. This passage is a tremendous
challenge to those of us in leadership. I wonder, as leaders, is that
what we're doing? Are we discipling someone? Maybe you're here tonight and
you're a believer and you've known the Lord for some time.
Have you ever asked the Lord to bring some young believer
into your life to whom you can entrust the things that God has
taught you? Are you looking out for fat men? Those who are faithful, those
who are available, those who are teachable. Now look at Paul
tonight. No matter what angle you look
at this man, he's got a shepherd's heart. He's a man with God's
perspective. There's something else I want
you to notice here. Look at verse 7. A meeting with God's people.
A man with God's perspective, a meeting with God's people.
Now, the year is 57 AD. The Jewish festival of one leavened
bread lasted that year from the 7th to the 14th of April. And
after it was over, Paul crossed the Aegean Sea to join the others
at Troas. Look at verse 7. And upon the
first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached on them, ready to depart on the morrow,
and continued his speech until midnight." Now, that's an important
passage. That's an important verse. This passage is important
because it records for us the earliest description of a Christian
worship service. And there are several features
that we need to take knowledge of tonight. The first one is,
for example, the Lord's Day. Look at verse 7. and upon the
first day of the week. This is the earliest reference
to the practice of the church gathering on the first day of
the week, rather than on the Jewish Sabbath, which was Saturday. You say to me tonight, well,
sure, what difference? What difference does it make
what day of the week the church meets upon? Recently, some churches
in the United States of America met on Saturday because Christmas
Day fell on Sunday, and so they closed up shop completely on
the Lord's Day, and they met and worshipped the previous day.
I mean, does it make any difference what day of the week we worship
on? I think it does. I mean, why
do these early Christians, mostly Jewish, changed from the seventh
day of the week, the Sabbath, to the first day of the week,
the Lord's Day. Why did they turn from a tradition
about which they were more adamant than any other aspect of the
religious faith? The only explanation is this.
The Lord Jesus, whom they loved, whom they worshipped, whom they
adored, rose from the dead on the first day of the week. Sunday
worship, my dear friends, is an evidence to and a testimony
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why we worship
on the first day of the week. That's why we worship on the
Lord's Day. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Paul says in
his letter to the Corinthians where he was writing to them
about this collection for the poor saints of Jerusalem, he
says, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay
by him and store, as God hath prospered him. And so the book
of Acts and the subsequent writings of the early church fathers make
it clear that the church met for worship on Sunday. For example,
In the second century, Ignatius wrote this, Let every friend
of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection
day, the queen and chief of all days. Later in the second century,
Justice Martyr described how Christians of his day worshipped.
He says, On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in
the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of
the apostles or the writing of the prophets are read as long
as time permits. Sunday is the day on which we
hold our common assembly, because Jesus Christ, our Savior, on
the same day rose from the dead. the Lord's Day. Now, did you notice where they
met together on the Lord's Day? Verse 8 says, the upper chamber,
the upper room. Some Bible scholars think they
can identify this place in which they met that night, because
Paul, when he writes to Timothy his final letter, when he was
in Rome in the Maritime prison, You remember, he says to Timothy
to stop at Troas and pick up the old cloak. He says, bring
the cloak with you from the house of Carpus. And so, here's an early church
service taking place in the upper room, possibly in the home of
Carpus on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day. Now, let me pause. How seriously do you take worship
on the Lord's Day? I mean, are you present when
the believers gather on the Lord's Day? Do we make Sunday worship
a priority in our lives? Do we long to be here? Not necessary
to get, certainly to get, but surely to give. Do we long to
be here to bear witness to the fact that Jesus Christ our Lord,
the once crucified Lord Jesus, is now risen and exalted in glory? Or, my dear friends, do we grieve
the Holy Spirit by our absence from Sunday worship and by our
presence on Monday walkabouts? I mean, is it not amazing how
believers are absent on Sunday and present on Monday somewhere. What must the risen Lord think
of it all? And upon the first day of the
week, the Lord's Day, look very quickly at the Lord's people.
and upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came
together. Now, it's obvious that they were
breaking bread in the evening. It's called the Lord's Supper,
you know. Do you know why they met in the
evening? Do you know? Because Sunday was not a holiday. during which people were free
from daily employment. You see, some of these believers
would no doubt be slaves. Many of them would be slaves.
And they would be unable to come to the assembly until their work
for the day was done. And so here they were. They were
a cosmopolitan group. Their social and national distinctions
made no difference, for they were all one in Christ Jesus.
There was the Lord's day. There was the Lord's people.
Look at verse 7 again. There was the Lord's supper.
For Dr. Luke indicates that one aspect
of their coming together was to break bread. It's interesting
that in the Gospels we have the institution of the Lord's Supper,
that in the Acts we have the celebration of the Lord's Supper,
that in the Epistles we have the explanation of the Lord's
Supper. How simple it all is. In the
Gospels we see the Lord's Supper instituted. In the Acts, we see
the Lord's Supper celebrated, in the epistles we see the Lord's
Supper explained. It was seen from Acts chapter
2 that the early church observed the Lord's Supper every day. Subsequently, it would seem from
Acts chapter 20 that by this time it had become a weekly practice
on the first day of the week. Look at verse 7 again. And upon
the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to
break bread, the first day of the week, not once a year, not
once a quarter, not once a month, Their habit was to break bread
on the first day of the week. Now, is that your habit? Is that
your practice? I mean, brethren and sisters,
how can we walk out when the table is set? How can we turn
our back on this dying request of the Saviour, this due in remembrance
of me? Now, are you beginning to see
the different elements in this worship service? There was the
Lord's Day, the first day of the week. There was the Lord's
people, the disciples. There was the Lord's Supper. They came
together to break bread. There's a meeting here with God's
people. Look at how this paragraph ends. There's a miracle with
God's power. And it all begins with a long
sermon. Do you see verse 9? And there
sat in a window a certain man named Eutychus. being fallen
into it each leap. And as Paul was long preaching,
he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and
was taken up dead. By the way, that's another essential
aspect of worship, the Lord's Word. The Lord's Word. You see, my dear friends, we
meet together as a company of believers, the ecclesia, the
called-out ones, to be instructed from the Lord's Word. Now, of
course, in many of our churches, Paul would have been instructed
as to what time he should finish. However, the great apostle was
not to be governed by the clock on this occasion. He had much
to say. They were never going to see
his face again. This was a golden opportunity,
Paul apparently preaching for four hours, beginning at eight
o'clock in the evening and talking with them about the things of
God to midnight. And then this tragedy occurring,
and then Paul restoring this man's life, and then Paul talking
and conversing with the saints of God about the things of God
till break of day. Here's what I want you to see,
the availability of the man of God. Here he is. He's about to take a strenuous
journey. He's about to take a difficult
journey. And yet his love for the church made him available
as long as these saints needed him. Here's Paul and he's using
every available minute to teach the believers a true us. You
see, this early church devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine. They were immersed in the word
of God. I mean, is it not sad to see
how the Word of God is being neglected in many church services
today? And yet the Word of God is fundamental
to the teaching of God's people. Preach the Word! It's God's admonition
to leaders. According to Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones,
the decadent eras and periods in the history of the church
have always been those periods when preaching has declined.
My friends, do we not need a return to the primacy of preaching?
Of course, our passage doesn't require that every sermon be
four hours. This was obviously a special occasion. This was
the only time that they could hear the Apostle Paul. But they
were willing to stay up all night to do it. My friends, there was
a long sermon. But notice, there was a lifeless
soul. Look at verse number nine. And Eutychus fell down from the
third loft and was taken up dead. Why? Was it the lateness of the
hour? Maybe it was. Was it the stuffiness
of the upper room? There were many lights. There
were torches in there. It would give the impression
that it was stuffy, just like it is here on many occasions.
Surely, my dear friends, it wasn't the dullness of Paul's preaching. Eutychus, whose name means fortunate,
fell asleep fell out of the window and was killed by the fall. However,
Paul went down, raised him from the dead, and he and the church
were comforted. You see, Paul's life was so closely
linked with the purpose of God that he became a channel for
the power of God to work in the lives of others. Now, let's not
be too hard on Eutychus. At least he was there for the
service. And he did try to keep awake. He sat near ventilation. He was near the window on the
third loft. And he tried to keep off that
sleep that eventually conquered him. And my dear friends, as
I have intimated already, the tense of the Greek verb is this.
He was gradually overcome, not suddenly. I mean, have you no
sympathy for Eureka? How many times have you battled
sleep in the church? How many times have you fallen
asleep in the church? My dear friends, I have great
sympathy for those who have trouble staying awake in the church.
Some work terrible schedules. And when they sit down, it's
the first time that they relax all week. Others of you tonight
are victims of meditation. Sometimes it's just the warmth
of the building. The truth is that some of the
best saints have fallen asleep in church. I remember many years
ago when I was preaching in one of our churches way, way up the
country, and I was very, very young and I had only started
the Baptist College. And after the gospel service
that evening, the pastor was away of that church and I brought
his wife and little children home to the manse. We were just
talking about the service, and I was driving along this country
road, and the pastor's wife began to talk to me, and she explained
to me. She said, you know, Dennis, that
was a powerful word you preached this evening. It was powerful
in the Gospel. But you know, weren't little
children so honest, so innocent? From the back seat of my car
there came a voice out of the darkness which said, I don't
know how you know, Mom. I'm sure you slept the whole
way through. Now listen, falling asleep in
church doesn't really concern me. It doesn't really. What really
concerns me is this. People who warm a pew every Lord's
Day with their bodies awake and their souls asleep. Do you know
what I mean? Those of you businessmen who
use the church to complete the unfinished business of the week. You're thinking in your mind
through the church service how you're going to clinch that business
deal. Those of you in a backslidden
state because sin has desensitized you. Those of you who have become
familiar with holy things. Perhaps each of us need to ask
the question, what really keeps me awake? Christians who slumber during
a one-hour service, manage to stay awake during early morning
fishing trips, lengthy sporting events, football, rugby, golf,
late concerts, late TV night specials. Listen, let me ask
you tonight, do you prepare yourself physically to make sure that
you are at your very best for the Lord's Day. Remember, said
Spurgeon, if we go to sleep during the sermon and die, there are
no apostles to restore us. Diedrich Bonhoeffer ran a Bible
seminary in Nazi Germany that was not approved by the state.
He was a very critical man. He was a very academic man. He
was a very intelligent man. But in his homiletics class,
when he came to hear the students preach, he would take off his
glasses and he would lay down his pen and his paper and his
pencil and he would open his Bible and he listened to the
students' sermon, no matter how poor, no matter how unskilled
they were. And he felt that the preaching
of God's Word ought to be received as though you were listening
to God Himself. Is that how you listen? As though you were listening
to the Lord Himself? Do you see how this incident
concluded? It commenced with a long sermon, it continued with
a lifeless soul, and it concluded with a lovely sequel. Paul and the believers talking
until the break of day. You see, Paul preached until
midnight. And then there was the incident of Eutychus falling
down from the third loft dead. And then Paul raised him from
the dead. And he talked with the believers to the break of
day. That means that he was going from eight in the evening until
at least six or seven in the morning. Now, a different word
is used which indicates conversation. He preached to midnight, formal
declaration, and then after the incident with Eunicus, he begins
to converse with the believers about the things of God till
the break of day. I want you to see what Dr. Luke
is doing here. Luke de-emphasizes the miracle. By sandwiching it between Paul's
sermon and his talking with the church on the night afterwards,
Luke 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. The main task of a shepherd is
to feed the flock. A shepherd's heart. Let me ask the elders, do you
have a shepherd's heart? Do you feed the flock, protect
the flock, nourish the flock, guide the flock, instruct the
flock, care for the flock? Of course, brethren, if we're
going to give out, we need time to take in. And that's why Paul walked the
twenty miles from Troas to Assos. He wanted to be alone. He wanted
to have fellowship with God. He wanted his spirit to be renewed
and refreshed and restored. He wanted to take time to be
holy and speak off with his Lord. What about you tonight? Not just
an elder, but a believer. I wonder who represents you in
the passage. Paul, the man who is alive to
the things of God. Or Eutychus, the man who is asleep
to the things of God. A photograph in the newspaper
some years ago showed a demonstration by the Royal Air Force. The photograph
was of the VIP viewing stand and the Queen was standing there
looking into the sky and Prince Philip was standing by her side
and his attention was focused on the aircraft that were flying
overhead. But in the middle of the photograph was Britain's
Secretary of State for Defence with his chin resting on his
chest fast asleep. What a picture of many Christians
today. All around us, God is at work exciting things that
happen, opportunities for service abound. And yet many Christians
in the middle of all these happenings are sound asleep. Is that you
tonight? I wonder, do you need to wake
up to the wonder of Christian worship? The wonder of Christian
work? The wonder of Christian witness? Like Paul, Do you need to impact
your world for Christ in your day as Paul did in his? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the
teaching of your Word to our hearts tonight. And Father, I pray tonight for
all of us who are in leadership, that you'll give us a shepherd's
heart. Help us, Lord, to realize tonight
that this is the thing that should
consume our time. This was the thing that consumed
the apostles' time. guiding, guarding, feeding, protecting,
nurturing, caring for the flock of God. Our Father, we pray that
You'll make us faithful. We pray that we may take our
responsibilities seriously, that we may do our work conscientiously,
that we may live in the light of eternity. And Father, we pray
for us all tonight that we might be alive to the things of God. And, our Father, that we might
be channels of blessing, seeking to build up our fellow Christians,
seeking to reach the lost for Christ, seeking to help the church
in every way we can. We thank You, Lord, for Paul's
unrelenting commitment to the local church. Father, we pray
that You will give us such commitment Give us such concentration. Give
us such consecration. And, Father, we pray that in
our day and generation we may make a mark for God as Paul did
in his. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen. We're going to turn to our hymn
books in closing. The four hundred and ninety-five. There are seven
verses. We're not going to sing them
all. We'll just sing the first three. And the last one, verses
1 through 3, and then verse 7, Lord, speak to me that I may
speak in living echoes of thy tone.
A Shepherd's Heart
Series The Church Ablaze
| Sermon ID | 25121852539 |
| Duration | 52:59 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Acts 20 |
| Language | English |
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