Let’s be honest—at some
point in your church life you’ve nodded off during the sermon. I can remember
vividly one time as a kid, I had stayed up late the night before and I was
sitting in church struggling to stay awake. I could feel myself losing the
battle, as my head was bobbing I would catch myself and awaken for a few seconds.
I did this for several minutes, until I went down for the count. My head leaned
forward and “thump!” My forehead nailed the pew in front of me. I jolted awake
again and quickly looked around to see if anyone saw it – of course, my mom did
who sitting beside me. I think she had hard time not laughing out loud.
It’s interesting as a
preacher because I see the ugly (and sometimes hilarious) reality of sleeping
saints from the pulpit. I have witnessed bobbing heads, closed eyes and open,
yawning mouths, on occasion a snore or two. When I first started preaching, it
bothered me, but then I realized that it also happened to one of the greatest
preachers of all time and I felt some consolation.
In Acts 20 we have a
passage that is certainly eye-opening. While preaching in the Greek city of
Troas, Paul encountered a sleeping saint named Eutychus. The young man was
precariously perched in a third-story window when his eyes slammed shut, and he
fell to his death.
As I studied this story, I
started thinking about how Eutychus is an object lesson about sleeping saints. The
sad reality is that in a spiritual sense there is a Eutychus sitting in every
church. The Eutychus Effect happens when someone is present physically, but
spiritually they are asleep.
In fact, the Bible is full
of sleeping saints who checked out for various reasons, and like Eutychus they
had a great fall. Consider Jonah, God’s prodigal prophet who said, “No” when
God said, “Go.” The Bible says that when Jonah got on the boat to flee to
Tarshish that he went down into the cabin and fell asleep (Jonah 1:5).
Meanwhile, God sent a terrible storm to get the attention of Jonah and awaken
him! Jonah snored while the thunder roared! Reminds me of a Vance Havner quote,
“Most Christians live so far below the standard, you would have to backslide to
be in fellowship with them.” It’s a dangerous place when the child of God is so
backslid they can’t hear the voice of God.
Samson also fell asleep
while resting his head in the lap of Delilah. While He-man slept, Delilah
betrayed him and cut his hair, which was the sign of his commitment to God.
When Samson awoke the Bible says He did not know that his hair had been cut and
that the presence of the Lord had left him (Judges 16). Sin and compromise with
the world gradually desensitizes us to the presence of God. The danger of
drifting away from God is that you’re miles away before you realize it.
Then there is Peter who
fell asleep in Gethsemane, when he should have been praying (Mark 14). Soon
after this scene, we know Peter denied Christ three times. Yet, Jesus warned
Peter that Satan was after him to “sift him as wheat” (Luke 22:31). Peter’s
biggest failure can untimely be traced back to his lack of prayer. A
prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian.
That brings me back to
Eutychus. Look at his position in the text—sitting in a window (20:7-9). In
other words, his body was half in the church and half out the church. He was in
a compromising place, and when he fell sleep he had a great fall. There are
many Christians in this dangerous position—they are trying to keep one foot in
the church and one in the world. Of course, James warns adamantly against this
lifestyle, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God” (4:3).
One question we need to
ask ourselves from this text is this, “Am I sitting in the window?” Are you in
a compromising position with the world, while the Devil has lulled you into a
slumber?
There are few things more
miserable than trying to fight off sleep. Likewise, no one is more miserable
than the casual Christian. Adrian Rogers said it best, “The backslider has just
enough Christianity to be miserable in a nightclub, and not enough to be happy
in a prayer meeting.” If you are “sitting in the widow” you will never have
contentment and peace in your spiritual life.
Paul’s resurrection of
this young man is a picture not only of salvation, but of God’s grace to
slumbering saints. If you are spiritually dead today, God can give you new life
in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). If you have become a slumbering saint and experienced
a great fall, God wants to restore you and offer you second-chance.
Here’s the good
news—Eutychus fell asleep and died, but Paul restored him. Jonah fell asleep,
but God got him back on track by way of a great fish and the Word of the Lord
came to him a second time. Samson fell asleep and he lost his hair and God’s
anointing. But, on the last day his life God gave him another chance, and at
his death he killed more of the enemy than he did during his entire life. Peter
fell asleep and denied Christ. But God wasn’t done with Him either.
And friend, there’s grace
for you too! God’s alarm clock is going off—don’t hit the snooze! -DM
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