Alive Again! This message was prepared and preached by PastorAEW for Legacy Church at Toulminville Warren U.M. of Mobile, AL on March 23, 2025.
Acts 20:7-12 New Living Translation… On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. 8 The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. 9 As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. 10 Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” 11 Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. 12 Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.
Our text involves a point of celebration as well as a point of controversy. It is an interesting yet complex dichotomy. On one hand, for the first time in the New Testament, we find the early church celebrating the Christian Sabbath on the Lord’s Day, Saturday evening and Sunday morning; the first day of the week. On the other hand, there is controversy surrounding the inference that Paul raised someone from the dead. Luke, the author of the text was an assistant to Paul on this journey and happened to be a physician who believed that Paul indeed, had resurrected this young man from death to life.
This story is interjected after Paul’s winter in Corinth, as he was headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost. As always, Paul runs into a problem on the way, because intel has revealed a threat on Paul’s life. So, he takes a detour and ends up in Troas. Troas is a seaport city of Asia Minor, not far from ancient Troy. It was in Troas that Paul received a vision in the night, from a man of Macedonia who pleads with him to come help them by preaching the gospel. Paul accepted the invitation and now he is there in Troas for the last time. He spends one week there, with the believers encouraging them in the Lord. There’s an infectious energy that emanates from Paul and has positively affected the city. When Sunday came, there was anticipation to gather the believers, to break bread as they remembered their risen Lord, and to hear from Paul as he spoke of the faith. There seemed to be a preference among the early church, to celebrate the Lord’s day in an upper room, like Jesus and his disciples did for the last supper and like on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. It was an apartment building, on the third floor, in the evening, that the believers of Troas met, with a room filled with flickering oil lamps, to hear the word and to worship. No doubt, they crammed into the room, to hear a father of the faith. Seating must have been limited, so much so, that a young man named Eutychus sat in an open windowsill.
Brothers and sisters, it’s at this point that the story becomes dramatic. Paul preaches a sermon that lasts until midnight. He was to leave for Jerusalem the next morning and wanted to spend his remaining time with the believers; so, he packed this message with as much red meat as he could. Eutychus couldn’t fight sleep any longer, and he fell asleep in the windowsill, and then he fell out of the window. He fell asleep, and then he fell out of the window and died. These events happened at church, and the members of this Troas assembly paused church, to run downstairs, to check on a young man whose drowsiness led to his death. Paul told everyone not to panic or to worry, because he was dead, but is alive again. Eutychus could feel his heart beating, pumping blood through his veins, beneath his skin, because he was alive again. It was after this transformative and worthwhile work, that the church went back upstairs to the third floor and continued in worship until dawn. That’s the story; now let’s unpack it.
I’m absolutely convinced that this is a strange old story, but that it has significant principles for the Legacy Church to employ today; that is, if we’re to continue being a faith community who is relevant and serious about serving this present age, which is our calling to fulfill.
Make no mistake about it, the church of Jesus Christ is to be a haven of mercy. We are not a social club, nor are we elitist who act as if we’ve arrived, puffed in self-righteousness. No, we are the people of God, who were lost but he found us; we were blind but he gave us sight; we were wandering in darkness but he brought us into the marvelous light; we were refugees in need of a refuge; we were sinners but he became our savior! After all of the free and good gifts that God has given us, we must be merciful to others. From the way we talk to other people and the tone of voice we use when we talk to them, we ought to ooze mercy. The church at Troas was so merciful that even though Eutychus’ flesh literally fell, they paused their worship to do the work of the ministry, because they knew and understood that faith without works is dead.
It’s worth noting that this church is merciful because they were aware that their culture was a contributor to the young man’s condition. Dr. Luke ensured to inform us in verse 8 that the room was illumined with “many flickering lamps”. It is a fact that the fumes of oil lamps can cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, unconsciousness, and yeah you guessed it, drowsiness. The limitations of the culture created the conditions for Eutychus/a young man who was in church on the Lord’s day to fall out of church. I hear you though; I hear you saying “But pastor out of all the people in church that day, you’re making a big deal about one young man falling out of church, when everyone else was safe in their seat”. Well ladies and gentlemen, I hear your complaint, but I’ve got a two-pronged response: one fall out is enough (Luke 15 Jesus tells of a lost sheep being found by the shepherd), and just because you’re in your seat doesn’t mean you’re not sleep (Luke 15 also records the story of the prodigal but we can’t forget about the son who stays home but has the wrong attitude)! We must be merciful, because sometimes the fumes of our culture creates and causes fallout!
It’s important to note that when they made it downstairs, that Paul wrapped him in his arms. He embraces this young man, who has fallen, fallen, and now is dead. This isn’t my point, but it’s certainly a point to ponder, that sometimes even people in church fall. Eutychus was in church, around believers, in the presence of an apostle, but he fell anyway. When people fall at Legacy Church, it is our duty to follow Paul’s paradigm/pattern to simply love on them. They don’t need our rebuke, our criticism or critique, our gossip or our judgment, but they do need our support, our concern, and our love. We are the people of God/“An Oasis of Love”, where we have faith in you becoming alive again, and we hope that you can beat the odds after you’ve fallen, and because we have no authority for condemnation we will lovingly lift you up from your fall!
After Eutychus was made alive again, the text tells us that they returned to the upper room for the study of God’s word and the worship of the God who can make you alive again. Eutychus fell down, but when he was alive again, he went back up! We all fall down, but when God allows you to feel your heart beating beneath your skin, making you feel alive again, don’t stay down, go back up! Up in the word, that tells you you’re the head and not the tail; up in the word that says you’re more than a conqueror! Go back up in the worship of the God who gave you another chance!
Energy. This story is full of energy. It’s a positive energy that is harnessed and used for the good of the kingdom of God, to restore those among us who have fallen. It’s not a matter of if we fall, but when we fall. We’re all human, subject to mistakes and bound to miss the mark. But how do we get back up when we fall? I’ve been trying to get here the entire sermon! Galatians 6:1-3 gives the answer… “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important”.
Eutychus. The name is defined to mean he who is fortunate. Brothers and sisters, we are fortunate to have each other; let’s act like it, and help each other be whole, healthy and holy. None of us are so important that we negate the fact that we are in covenant with each other.
Alive again. We have the ability to affect change. We can lift others to a higher plane by the power of God’s spirit. That’s the kind of energy we need at work within our faith community. I believe in you, that God will use us, to be “An Oasis of Love” in the middle of a harsh and dry world.
***Song referenced…
Antonie E. Walker Ministries 