When we last left Paul there was an angry mod out for his head. The mob had failed to find him, and was broken up by the local authorities. Starting in Acts 20:1 the riot has passed and Paul decides to leave town, possibly wanting to avoid starting a second riot which could have adversely effected the new church there in Ephesus.
The first half of Acts 20 is a summary of what Paul believes to be his farewell tour. We can see signs through out the text that he does not believe he will ever return. He starts this tour by revisiting all the places in Macedonia that he planted churches. As part of this tour he is collecting the offering for the church at Jerusalem that we discussed last week (see also 2 Cor. 8:2-4).
The careful reader will notice that once again in Acts 20:6 the perspective changes from third person to first person. This is because as Paul traveled through Philippi he picked up the author of Acts, Luke who will travel with him for a while. Based on the little evidence we have in scripture about Luke, it appears he spent the last five years building the church in Philippi, and will later revisit Philippi on several occasions. Since the church there was started with only a couple-few Jewish woman, and a gentile jailer, it makes sense that Paul would leave a respected leader behind to teach, grow and guide the church.
In Acts 20:7-12 we have a brief summary of an early church service lead by the Apostle Paul. The first verse says “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7, NIV). Then a bit later it says, “Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate” (Acts 20:11, NIV). This tells us a few things about the service structure at this stage of church history.
First note that it says, “on the first day of the week.” This would be Sunday, which is the day that Jesus rose from the grave. This is a big departure from the Jewish worship, which was on the last day of the week, which they called Sabbath and we call Saturday. Today most Christian churches meet on Sunday, and on the modern American calendar Sunday has become the last day of our week (which is why we call it a weekend). Monday which is the start of our week is when most Americans return to work.
For Americans, and many other countries, Sunday is a day of rest but that was not the case for the early church. Sunday was a workday; everyone in attendance at this service spent a full day at work, and then went to church. We read in Acts 20:11 that the service ran until daybreak. To equate this to a modern day schedule, think about showing up for work Monday morning, working a full shift of 10 or 12 hours. Then heading from work to church, and staying there till sunrise. At sunrise of course it is now Tuesday, and you have to go back to work.
This was the case for poor Eutychus, and when we frame it that way we can see why he feel a sleep. There are in hot smoky room, after a long days work. Paul is preaching away, and he drifts off. Many others in the room probably drifted off from time to time also, but he was in a window three stories up. He fell to his death, as would anyone who fell from that height. Paul is made aware of this, and Jesus through Paul raises Eutychus from the dead.
Another thing to note about this service is that it was held in an “upper room.” When we talked about the “church” in Acts, we need to realize that at this time there were no church buildings, and they had been kicked out of the Synagogues. This only left various members’ homes to meet in. Some places, like Philippi, were blessed with a rich member that had a huge home they could use, but it is easy to imagine that in many places the church was split across many smaller homes.
We should also note the references to food. Since these people worked all day before coming to the service, and many would have been slaves, they likely have not had a decent meal yet. This gives us one possible order to the service. First they ate together as a family, and then Paul preaches. At some point while Paul is preaching Eutychus dies and is raised from the dead. After the main part of Paul’s message is done they eat again, and likely celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Then there is something like our idea of a small group time where there is dialog between the speaker, Paul, and the church body.
We are not given enough detail to know if that is exactly how it played out but there is enough there to say that is probably about right. The major difference, other then length of the service, that we should note is the more family like atmosphere of the church. Their heathen or Jewish families would have disowned many of these early Christians. This created a great need for that support that only comes from those close to you. The kind of people that will see you at your lowest and help you back up instead of belittle you. I fear in our well-tuned, formal worship services we have lost this family atmosphere.
There is a popular song on Christian radio today that talks about this problem, and does it very well. It is by Casting Crowns and it is called Stained Glass Masquerade. In it there is a chorus that asks, “Are we happy plastic people, under shiny plastic steeples?” The song goes on to ask:
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be
Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay
That is I think a good question to end this study with. Have we, and I ask this in first person to include everyone, lost the concept that your only real family are your brothers and sisters in Christ? If your brother falls, are you there to pick them up, or shun them out of the church?
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