The Danger of Falling Asleep in Church
Acts 20:9 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. 10) And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. 11) 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. 12) And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
A man went to see the doctor for his snoring problem. “Does it disturb your wife?” the doctor asked. “No, it embarrasses her,” he replied. “It is the preacher and the rest of the church that it disturbs!”
It has proven to be dangerous to fall asleep in church. In this passage a man named Eutychus fell asleep and fell out of church and died. Eutychus like many Christians, was sitting too close to the world. If he had fallen asleep in the middle of the congregation, someone could have propped him up and kept him from falling. Perhaps from his window seat he had a good view of what was going on in the world rather than listening to the preaching of God’s Word. Notice too, he fell into slumber before he fell to his death. We are warned by the preaching to be sober. I Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
It is ironic that his name means “fortunate”. For many Christians who fall out of church they are not as fortunate as Eutychus. He was fortunate because there were Christians there who cared and sought to restore him to the fellowship of the church again. Notice too, that his restoration to fellowship and testimony was of great encouragement to the rest of the Church.
Lord help me to stay alert and attentive to the preaching of God’s Word away from the influence of the world and to stay in the center of your service. Thank you for a Church that cares and seeks to restore the fallen.
