Today’s passage tells us what happened between the time that the 3rd mission trip was over and until Paul reached Jerusalem. In verse 1 it says, “When the uproar had ended“. This refers to the episode that we looked at last week, the disruption that occurred at Ephesus over the goddess, Artemis. When the disruption calmed down, Paul called together the disciples and encouraged them, and announced that he was leaving. Then he left for Macedonia. His concern was for the Corinthian church. The Corinthian church had many problems. In order to solve the problems he had sent many letters, but even so that problems never seemed to be solved. Therefore, Paul got the idea of going himself to Corinth and after that going on to Jerusalem. Therefore he went from Ephesus to Macedonia, and from there he went to Greek where he spent 3 months. This Greece refers to the province of Achaia. This is probably a reference to Corinth, the capital of Achaia After spending 3 months there, he planned to sail on a boat for Syria (Jerusalem). “The Jews made a plot against him.” (3) The Jews were determined to take Paul’s life. The port at Cenchrea would have provided a convenient place for Paul’s enemies to detect him as he entered a ship to embark for Syria. Therefore, they returned again through Macedonia. From there they went to Troas and then from Assos they got on a boat and returned to Jerusalem. During this time about a year passed, but Luke writes almost nothing new about the work. What he writes about is Christian encouragement and comfort. Verse 1 says “When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them…” and verse 2 says, “He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people…“ In addition, from verse 7 and on, the episode at Troas of the young man, Eutychus following asleep is recorded. Eutychus who fell asleep during worship and fell from the 3rd floor window died, but he rose again. Those who witnessed this were comforted. Today let’s look at 3 aspects of Christian encouragement and comfort.
I. Encouragement by the Word of God (vs. 1, 2)
First of all, the foundation of Christian encouragement is the Word of God. 3 years of evangelism in Ephesus ended with the great uproar over the goddess of Artemis. “When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples” (1) whom Paul had ministered to day and night with tears for 3 years. He said his good-byes to them and planned to set out for Macedonia. He didn’t just say good-bye, but his purpose was to encourage. It is not written here what he said, but probably it was close to what he said on his first evangelistic trip to those who had become Christians in 14:２２.
The encouragement and comfort that the church gives isn’t just mere words of encouragement, but words of the kingdom of God. They are words that hold on to hope and give patience and endurance. Paul encouraged them with such words, and not only that but he left Ephesus and visited the Macedonian towns that he had visited on his second mission trip, encouraging and advising them. In verse 2 it says, “He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people.” These are the words of the Gospel, the Word of God. The church is encouraged and given strength through the Word of God. Of course, at times we are encouraged by other people’s words. However, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.” (I Peter 1:24, 25)
There are many things that come our way in life and at times we wonder if we are going to be able to continue standing, but it is the Words of the Gospel that keep us standing.
To those who are depressed we can say, “Read Hebrews 13:5, 6.” It says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
To those who are worried about many things, we can say, “Read I Peter 5:7.” It says, “Cast all your anxiety on him (Jesus) because he cares for you.”
To those who are having temptations, we can say, “Read I Cor. 10:13.” It says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
To those who are tired, we can say, “Read Matt. 11:28, 29.” It says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
We need to remember that we find real encouragement and comfort through the Words of the Gospel.
II. It’s important to find ways to protect our brothers and sisters in Christ (vs. 3-6)
Paul, who came to Greece, spent 3 months there and then planned to leave by ship to Syria. However, because of a plot on his live, he decided to return by way of Macedonia. The 7 people who were traveling with him are listed in verse 4. There were “Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.” Then in verse 5, Luke uses, “we”. The “we” is the “we” of Acts 16:17 which disappeared in the middle of the evangelism at Philippi. In other words, Luke remained in Philippi encouraging the brothers there. Now Luke is with Paul again so the pronoun becomes “we”. God did not make the road that Paul walked a lonely one, He always provided someone to walk with him. What a great encouragement that must have been to Paul! When the Gospel is preached there are times that there are struggles and we feel lonely, but God provides such companions to walk alongside us.
Let’s look at what type of people these people were. The first to be mentioned is Sopater who is introduced as being from Berea. Berea was one of the towns that Paul went to on his second mission trip. Aristarchus and Secundus are introduced as being from Thessalonica. Thessalonica was also a town that Paul visited on his second mission trip. Gaius and Timothy were from Derbe. Derbe was one of the towns that Paul visited on his first mission trip. Tychicus and Trophimus were from the province of Asia which had Ephesus as its capital. Now Luke came from the church of Philippi and meets up with Paul. The people that are traveling with him are the representatives of the different churches that Paul had visited on him mission trips.
These men were concerned about Paul and wanted to support him on the trip. However, this was not the main reason that they went with Paul. Paul was going to Jerusalem to bring the offering from the churches to the Jerusalem church. They didn’t want to just hand the offering to the Jerusalem church, they wanted to share in fellowship with them.
However, they were going not to just enjoy the warm fellowship, but as a way to protect the weak Christians. As you probably remember, when Paul was in Corinth he made tents to support himself while he was evangelizing there. That was because there were rumors that Paul was using the offerings for himself. Because of the scandal, Paul wanted his life to be free from anything that might be questionable so he worked to support himself while he was evangelizing. Now he was going to cross the sea to go to Jerusalem so he didn’t want to take any chances of having a scandal start again so he took the men with him. A scandal could be a stumbling block for weak Christians so Paul wanted to avoid it. The best way to avoid a scandal was for Paul to have nothing to do with the money. He had the representatives of the various churches carry it.
II Cor. 8:20-21
This was the feeling that Paul had. He wanted “to avoid and criticism of the way (II Cor. 8:20)he brought the offering to Jerusalem. He also took great “pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.” (II Cor. 8:21)
Romans 15:1-3
This is how Jesus was. We are to follow the example of Christ. Then we will be able to be an encouragement to others.
III. A sympathetic and thoughtful heart (vs. 7-12)
At the end of the 7 day stay in Troas, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” (7) “Break bread” means to have communion. The church was meeting on Sunday the day before Paul was planning to leave. “Because he intended to leave the next day, (Paul) kept on talking until midnight.” A young man named Eutychus was seated in a window in the upstairs room of the third floor. Paul’s message was so long that Eutychus fell asleep. “He fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.” (9) Paul went and laid on top of the man and put his arms around him and said, ”Don’t be alarmed.””He’s alive.” (10) This does not mean that Eutychus hadn’t died. Luke, a doctor, had already recorded that he was dead in verse 9. He was dead. What Paul meant was that he was resurrected. Then the people returned to the room and had communion and talked until daybreak and then Paul left.
Luke did not put this passage here to teach us not to sleep in church. Some people say he wrote this passage to teach us that God has the power to resurrect us. Of course, this passage shows this, but the resurrection is not given a lot of emphasis. It just happened and everyone continued to have communion and listen to the sermon. The real reason is written in verse 12. They “were greatly comforted.”
Paul’s greatness isn’t stressed. Eutychus’ happiness wasn’t stressed. The church members who were all saddened by Eutychus’ death were comforted was the focal point. At first glance that may seem like the natural response, but not necessarily.
A class was on a school trip. One of the students got extremely sick and as a result all of the students had to come home early. The other students and parents visited the sick child and when they saw the student getting better said, “I’m so glad!” However, the teacher did not visit the student or say that he was glad that the child was better. Instead, he told the parents to apologize to the president of the P.T.A. because all the students had to come home early because their child had gotten sick. The teacher wasn’t able to rejoice that the child had gotten better.
What would happen if a child fell out of the window and got hurt in the middle of the worship service at this church? If we called an ambulance and heard that the child was going to live, would we be saying, “I’m so glad!” or even if our mouth is saying that would we be thinking, “What was that child doing in that window!” “The parents should have been watching him more.” “The parents weren’t bringing him up right.” “The parents should be more strict with him.” “The child disrupted the church worship.” “That child was a terrible witness for the church.” etc.
When you think about the fact that “The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted” (12) was an amazing thing. This shows that the whole church loved even the careless young man. In their hearts Jesus was not only the source of all life, but also the shepherd with 100 sheep. When 1 sheep was lost he left the other 99 sheep and went looking for the lost sheep until he found him. When he found the sheep, he was overwhelmed with joy and called all his friends and neighbors and asked them to rejoice with him. They had the same heart of love as their shepherd, Jesus.
Paul resurrected the young man by laying his body on top of the trouble maker and putting his arms around him. He took the boy’s death as his own. The people cried for him and rejoiced for him. We can see Christian comfort here.
“Comfort” means “to call alongside”. It means to call a weak person to come to your side, and encourage and comfort them. Paul in order to strongly encourage Christian hearts he called people to come to his side and he encourage them with the Word of God. He was careful not to be a stumbling block to the weak by finding a way to bring the offering to the Jerusalem church in such a way as to protect the weak Christians. He put his arms around a young trouble maker and helped him stand up again. He rejoiced in the fact that 1 lost sheep returned rather than considering the problems that the lost sheep had caused. Being sympathetic and thinking about others is the way Christians encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ and through this encouragement comfort each other. This is how the church should be. We need to have the heart of Christ and give this type of encouragement.