When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. 4 He was accompanied by 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. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
Eutychus Raised From the Dead at Troas
7 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. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 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. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. Acts 20:1-12
When I copy and paste the Bible verses in this blog, I usually delete the big headers like "Eutychus Raised From the Dead" because I think those are added by editors to God's word. Today I'm leaving it in because that header is the point. The editor could have just as easily said "Eutychus Falls Asleep in Church" which was just as true and would relate to all of us much more than the first header. And this is my point - God takes our failures and uses them for His glory.
One of my stories that I have shared countless times in my life was the first time I scrubbed into surgery. I was between years of college pre-med Chemistry in the summer and I was invited to observe a surgery by a noted Surgeon from my church who knew I was interested in medicine. After changing into scrubs in the locker room I followed him to the scrub sink where I grabbed a hard plastic "brush" with one side having plastic spikes. After cleaning my fingernails, I foot-pumped pink liquid soap on this brush and scrubbed my hands and arms until the 10 minute timer went off with the pointy part of the brush. My arms were bright red and actually hurt. I then backed through the door and after I dried with a sterile towel I grabbed my gown and touched a table. The head nurse yelled, "CONTAMINATED!" and I looked around to see who the idiot was that contaminated things and they were all looking at me. Surely after 10 minutes of scrubbing to the point where my epidermis layer was about removed, I was germ - free, right? Wrong. I learned quickly that no matter how much you scrub your germs can't be fully removed.
That great failure has become a great story to tell about all our efforts can't remove sin from our lives and pointing to the need for Christ, our atonement covering like a gown, glove, mask, and hat to be applied to us to cover over our guilt and sin which allows us to come into the holy presence of God like a sterile OR. Just like one germ can kill a person in surgery, one sin can keep us out of the holy presence of God.
One of my most embarrassing failures Jim Contaminates the OR becomes the headline Jim Demonstrates That Works Can't Remove Sins, Only Christ's Covering Can. I wonder if I'm the only one with blunders or lemons turned into lemonade by Christ. My wife shares her story of being told by her 2nd grade teacher that no one was to get up while she left the room for 2 minutes and Karen, even though she wasn't thirsty was drawn to the drinking fountain in the room and got sent to the principal's office for it. She relates this to our sin nature especially Romans 7.
On a practical note, if you are ever asked to share a devotion, share a story of humiliation not of success. People relate much better to our failures and will listen much more intently. Also, God tends to teach us a lot more through our failures than successes. What's your failure story? I can't wait to hear it!
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