DEATH DURING A SERMON!

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Many of us have observed this in a church service; an elderly man sitting with head bowed down resting on his chin looking so reverent. The only problem is he is not meditating on God’s Word, nor is he praying intently. He’s not contemplating the meaning of the sermon or cogitating on how he can apply it to his life. How do we know this? He begins to snore.

 

While we may snicker at someone sleeping in church, which one of us hasn’t caught ourselves daydreaming at one time or another during a sermon? Possibly you’ve even found yourself striving with all your might to hold your eyes open or attempting to keep your head from bobbing down into a simulated prayer posture of a short snooze! We justify our slothfulness by blaming the pastor for the quality of his sermon, or our lack of sleep the night before. Possibly we claim our lack of attention is because we’re tired from working so hard the past week. What we don’t see as the problem is our own spiritual maturity. While all of our possible excuses have some slight validity the real problem is very likely the condition of our spiritual life. In his notes on the New Testament, Barnes states regarding falling asleep in a church service, “No practice is more shameful, disrespectful, and abominable than that so common of sleeping in the house of God.”

 

In Acts we have an account recorded for us where someone died during a sermon because they fell asleep. The account reads as follows;

 

Acts 20:7-12

“On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down and threw himself on the young man placing his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.”

 

Here we see that a young boy who was probably brought by his parents to hear the gospel and was sitting in a window as he listened. Paul’s sermon in this situation was longer than usual for he had a lot to say. He knew he would not return to the area for some time and wanted to make sure he shared as much as he could of what the Lord wanted him to convey to these servants of Christ. The sermon went on and on and the young boy sank deeper and deeper into sleep. Eventually his weight probably shifted and out of the window he tumbled, falling three stories to his death.

 

Nothing can be more disturbing to a pastor than to have one of the members of his congregation die during his sermon. I remember in a church I was attending at one time that during the sermon an elderly man fainted as he sat listening. His head cocked back and people around him knew something was wrong. The pastor stopped preaching. People moved chairs and laid him on the floor while nurses in the church body administered CPR. It was determined that this man had a heart condition and had suffered a minor stroke. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital and survived to listen to more sermons by the same pastor. We couldn’t blame this elderly man for his health condition and possibly we can’t blame a small boy for falling asleep during a very long sermon. But maybe we can learn something from this passage that will instruct us in how we as adults should listen attentively to God’s Holy Word when it is proclaimed.

 

When God’s Word is preached it is God’s perfect truth being communicated through an imperfect vessel, the pastor or speaker. Yes there are times when the one speaking may have not prepared properly. We may not particularly like the style of presentation of the one sharing God’s Word. Possibly the scriptures or topics being covered are not ones we are particularly interested in. Maybe we really are tired for whatever reason. The question we must ask ourselves is can the Holy Spirit minister to us in this situation despite any or all of these hindrances? I believe He can if we are willing to receive His instruction.

 

If we come to the Sunday services prepared to receive what God has for us then we will always gain something from the preaching of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit resides within Christians to teach, admonish and encourage us to become like Christ. He will use whatever is at His disposal to lead us in the path of righteousness. If we come anticipating what God will lay before us each time we hear God’s Word we will be amazed at the spiritual jewels that we will carry home with us after the service. There are many examples of people in other countries less fortunate than us who walk miles upon miles so they can hear the Word of God. They are so thirsty to hear the gospel they know that just a few minutes of hearing the Holy Spirit minister to them through the spoken Word is worth the long journey. There are other situations in third world countries where church services last for hours and hours because those attending hate to see their spiritual nourishment cut short. What a contrast to us who live in the United States where we find it hard to sit through a half hour sermon but we easily go to a movie and sit for two hours watching worldly entertainment. We seem to be so easily distracted by thoughts during the preaching of God’s Word on Sunday. We think of the ball game that will be on later in the day or of what we plan to do in the afternoon. Do we lack faith? What causes us to behave this way? Again, I raise the question of our spiritual maturity and desire to know God more.

 

The Holy Spirit can always teach us something through God’s Word if we are willing to lend a listening ear. If we truly love God with all our heart, mind and soul we should place greater importance upon hearing His Word. We know it is true that from God’s Word comes the faith that sustains us in our spiritual life.

 

Matthew Henry comments on this passage in Acts in his commentary of the New Testament by saying that possibly, “God designed it for a warning to all people to take heed of sleeping when they are hearing the word preached; and certainly we are to make this use of it. We must look upon it as an evil thing, as a bad sign of our low esteem of the word of God, and a great hindrance to our profiting by it. We must be afraid of it, do what we can to prevent our being sleepy, not compose ourselves to sleep, but get our hearts affected with the word we hear to such a degree as may drive sleep far enough. Let us watch and pray, that we enter not into this temptation, and by it into worse. Let the punishment of Eutychus strike an awe upon us, and show us how jealous God is in the matters of his worship; Be not deceived, God is not mocked.”

 

Regarding this spiritual responsibility we have but fail to fulfill, possibly we want to listen but just can’t seem to muster the fortitude to follow through. Maybe we should model ourselves after the father of the boy who was possessed by an evil spirit in Mark 9. The father pleads with Jesus to heal his son from the influences of the evil spirit. Apparently the father had taken his son to the disciples but they were unable to cure the boy. Jesus tells the father that anything is possible if there is belief. The father then makes a very honest statement. He says, “Help me overcome my unbelief!” If you want to thirst after God’s Word, desire to pay attention to the spoken gospel on Sunday mornings and hunger for scripture to come alive as you hear sermons preached, why not pray to the Lord to give you this desire? Ask God to place a desire in your heart to crave His Word so much that you can’t help but pay attention on Sunday mornings. Ask Him to create in you such a hunger that you will sit attentively through a long sermon to grab one small morsel of truth that can help your heart, mind and soul thrive in its passion to be conformed to the image of Christ.

 

There are obstacles to growing in Christ through the hearing of the Word as it is preached. Sometimes it is the preacher, pastor or speaker, sometimes it is our own weak flesh, sometimes it is our lack of motivation or attitude, but it is crucial that we seek to cultivate a hunger and thirst for God’s Word for the Holy Spirit uses the hearing of the Living Word to grow us in Christ. Seek this next week to prepare yourself to receive the glorious gospel as the pastor preaches despite whatever might attempt to get in your way.

 

Romans 10:17

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”