The Church Family

Acts 20:7-16

One of my former sister-in laws told my nephew she had hated coming to our family gatherings because we pretended that we enjoyed being together. As my nephew said, there was never any question whether her family liked each other, they couldn’t stand to one another. He thought that to even pretend would be an improvement. After visiting the family again, he has really pushed for family get together.

When my brothers and sisters and I get together, we may talk until late at night, and especially the last night we have together, savoring the last time we have. While we don’t agree about everything, we just enjoy being together, and get together as often as possible. There is no need to impress anyone. I feel sorry for families who don’t have such a relationship.

The church is God’s family. They ought to have a desire to spend time with their brothers and sisters. When that desire is not present the church family is dysfunctional. Many churches are like my sister-in-law’s family, and can’t wait to get away from each other. The attitude in the church at Jerusalem as described in Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-35, as a result of the Holy spirit’s working. The church at Troas displayed a similar spirit.

“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.” (Acts 20:7)

The Christians began worshipping on the first day of the week, rather than the seventh or Sabbath, and Paul emphasizes this in I Corinthians 16:2 commanding, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him…” Some believe that worshipping on Sunday rather than Saturday is wrong.

Genesis 2:3 declares, “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” The Sabbath was a celebration of God’s completing creation. It is an acknowledgement of his physical blessings in this life. The Sabbath carried over in the Law because all the promises under the Law were about the physical benefits, as described in Deuteronomy 28:9-13.

“The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. De 28:10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:” (Deuteronomy 28:9-13)

While God finished his work on the sixth day and rested on the Seventh day, our redemption was not complete until the first day of the week, and it is our redemption and spiritual promises Christians celebrate, rather than our physical blessings. The church at Troas was meeting on Sunday. As a family, they shared a meal and Paul preached. Like a family they paid little attention to the time, just enjoying the time together. Paul was still preaching at midnight.

“And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.” (Acts 20:8-9)

Frequently in a family get together, one of the children will go to sleep, and no one thinks much about it. We just make sure he’s okay, and go on with our talking. When Eutychus went to sleep, it was not a big deal, but his falling out of the window and dying interrupted the preaching.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.” (Acts 20:10)

For a genuinely Spirit filled man like Paul, even a disruption as serious as this created no serious problem, but preachers today worry that a cell phone ringing or someone moving around will quench the Holy Spirit. Having watched for many years, I suspect that the big problem is we have learned to give and illusion of Spiritual power with earthly techniques. Paul just raised him from the dead, but apparently didn‘t bother to wake him up..

“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.” (Acts 20:11-12)

They continued to fellowship and visit until dawn, when Paul left to start his journey. Eutychus woke up and showed no ill effects, over shadowing any sadness caused by Paul’s departure.

“And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.” (Acts 20:13-14)

Because the ships were so small by today’s standards, and navigation was less precise, there was a tendency to hug the shoreline as much as possible, which also gave opportunity for trading. Undoubtedly it was cramped on the ship, and Paul chose to walk where he could. Since the ships tended to be rather slow, he could travel short distance before they were ready to sail again. He walked to Assos, although the others went by ship, but rode to Mitylene.

“And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus. For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.” (Acts 20:15-16)

While they would pass very close to Ephesus, Paul decided not to stop because they had spent a whole week in Troas, where they had less background. They would have had a harder time leaving Ephesus in such a short time, and Paul wanted to be Jerusalem for Pentecost, fifty days after Passover. Having stayed in Philippi until seven days after Passover, then spending five days getting to Troas and seven days there, and a couple more days getting to Miletus, he was getting concerned that he’d make it. They’d already spent almost half the time.