Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Secret to Staying Awake in Church

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6)

It's been a while since I have posted anything, beloved, primarily because I remain determined to do so only when I feel like I really have something worthwhile to share with you.  Tonight I have been working on the current passage in the book of Acts upon which we are focused at present in Sunday worship.  The passage is a unique one involving a young man who "fell asleep in church" while the Apostle Paul was preaching and fell to his death from a third story window.  Often today believers assume that it was a sign that Paul's sermon was too long for Eutychus and he could not stay awake.

What I find in this unusual experience, however, is a question that immediately confronts us when we jump to such a conclusion.  That question quite simply is: "Too long with reference to what standard?"  The truth is that what is "too long" for some worshipers is in fact "too short" for others!  I have enjoyed the privilege of preaching on the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies where worshipers are accustomed to services that go on for two to three hours.  I have personally been asked by the resident pastor there to preach for 90 minutes.  I don't know about other denominations, beloved, but try that in the average Baptist church and see what happens!

In the famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus pronounced that "blessed" or happy and fulfilled are those who have a true "hunger and thirst for righteousness."  How could a worshiper possibly lose his focus in any way, much less actually fall asleep, when the truth of God is being taught in a service of worship?  Instead of asking, then, if Paul's sermon was too long for Eutychus' attention span, perhaps we should consider that Eutychus' hunger was too short for Paul's message!

How is your personal "hunger and thirst" for righteousness, beloved?  Does the enemy consider you to be a threat to his perverted purposes or does he rather find you to be "yawning" your way through each day as a professing Christian?  Are the Biblical messages we hear on a regular basis truly "too long" for our ability to pay attention, or is the problem with the degree of our spiritual hunger?

Do you want to know, then, the secret to staying awake in church?  Develop a hunger for the Word of God, an insatiable craving to live out the truths of God each and every day, and you will never become a Eutychus.  Other than this, the only advice that I can give you is to stay away from churches where the sanctuary is above the ground floor!

Ron