Title: Meeting of Terah / Acts 20:7-12
Contents Trea meeting / Acts 20:7-12
The Apostle Paul stayed in Ephesus for 3 years and preached, then came to Troas via Macedonia and Greece.
The verse we read today is a record of the fact that Paul held a meeting in Troas, worshiped God, and preached the Word. Their worship is really the worship we should imitate. The reason is, in a word, prepared worship. In other words, it is worship that involves heart, will, devotion, and sacrifice. Verse 5 says, “They went first and waited for us in Troas.” Paul and his companions, who will lead the gathering in Troas, came first and waited.
Considering our attitude toward worship today, there are many times when we are too reckless. If you compare the person who comes to church 30 or 20 minutes early and prays for the leader and prepares for the service, and the person who rushes into the service when the time is up, the difference in devotion is huge.
This is because the former is worship pleasing to God, and the latter is worship not pleasing to God. Worship to God must always be offered in spirit and truth, and like Abel, devotion and sacrifice must follow, and God receives the devotion to prepare Abraham and Kak in the morning.
Moreover, being late for worship is rude to God. What would you guys do if you were invited by the president to go to the Qing Dynasty? It will probably be ready a few days in advance. I'll take a bath, get a haircut, put on the best clothes, and leave early so that I won't be late.
It would be really shameful if we, who come to worship the Lord God of hosts, who is the King of kings, were not able to meet the President with sincerity. If we believe in God's presence, we should put our utmost sincerity into singing, praying, and worshiping. This is the proper attitude of believers who believe in the existence of God. At this time, we are trying to find a lesson to be given to us through the gathering of Troas.
1. It is a holy meeting gathered on Sunday.
In verse 7, it says, “On the first day after the Sabbath…they were gathered together…”. The Jewish Sabbath is Saturday. So Jesus also attended synagogue services on the Sabbath, and often preached after being baptized. However, after the resurrection of Jesus, the church moved from the traditional Sabbath to Sunday and began to worship. Some church members often confuse Sabbath with Sunday, and we need to distinguish between them.
According to the Mosaic Law, the Sabbath was observed by the Jews in the Old Testament times. It is a Saturday, and even now, the Sabbaths are still obsessed with this day.
Sunday is a holy day designated and observed by the Church of Christ as a day of worship. Adventists think that it is only when they observe Saturday that they are saved. The truth is, it's not the day that matters, it's the meaning of the day.
The reason why the Church of Christ keeps Sunday as Sunday is that, first, it is the day when Jesus overcame the power of death and was resurrected to complete the work of salvation, and second, it is the day the Church of Christ began by the coming of the Holy Spirit. In the Christian faith, the object is Jesus Christ, and the essence of it is salvation. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is of great significance.
So Paul emphasized the importance of the resurrection of Jesus, saying that if there is no resurrection of the Lord, our faith is in vain and those who believe will be the most pitiful.
And the driving force behind Christian faith is the Holy Spirit. It is to be born again by the Holy Spirit, to work by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to go toward heaven under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Christian faith without the Holy Spirit is unimaginable. However, the day of the Pentecost of the Holy Spirit is Sunday. Therefore, it is a very natural response for a church that survives by the Holy Spirit to worship on Sunday when the Holy Spirit came down as a holy day.
Therefore, it is more appropriate for the saved saints to keep the Sunday, when the purpose of creation and the completion of salvation, as a holy day, rather than the Saturday observed in the Old Testament. Moreover, it is very natural to honor the Sunday with emotion and joy and worship it in spirit and truth.
2. It is a meeting with the sacrament.
Verse 7 says, "...we gathered together to break bread." An important part of the worship service of the early church was the breaking of bread. That is why they broke bread whenever they met. At first, the saints shared the bread at the same time as the love feast, but later they began to share the bread only with the sacrament. If you see that the saints gathered in Troas also gathered to break bread, you can see how important the position of the sacrament is in the meeting. As such, the Eucharist has an important meaning in the Christian faith. That's why some denominations hold Holy Communion every Sunday. Since there is a lot of possibility that the communion service will be formalized every week, our Protestant church does not hold the sacrament meeting every Sunday, but we must always participate in worship with the meaning and spirit of the sacrament. We will have to go over the meaning of the sacrament once again.
So what is the meaning of the sacrament?
The meaning of the sacrament is the confirmation of Guo Yuan, the indwelling of Christ, the unity of the saints, the sanctification and devotion. Even though I myself am sinful, weak, and lacking, I renew my assurance of salvation when I eat the bread of the Lord's Supper with the thrill of receiving the forgiveness of sins and being saved by the grace of the Lord. It is to experience. And, by sharing the same bread, we are more committed to becoming saints, while we are more committed to repaying the grace of the ransom by living a life worthy of the sacrament. Therefore, whenever we worship, we must have the meaning and emotion of the sacrament in order to become a worship service in spirit and truth.
3. It is a meeting with the proclamation of the Word.
Today, we can see that the worship of God is becoming more and more degenerate. It is not centered on the Word, but centered on praise, and it is also centered on the gospel song, and sometimes it becomes a meeting centered on testimony. And they tend to make it the purpose of worship to get emotional satisfaction by exciting themselves with a variety of programs. But this is not worship in the strict sense.
The purpose of worship should be worship only. Of course, worship does not ignore the joy and emotion of the worshiper. However, the purpose of worship is to prioritize the joy and glory of God, the object of worship, rather than the joy and excitement of the worshiper. If this order in worship is also changed, it is not called worship, but rather a kind of religious enjoyment.
Therefore, although gospel chants and testimonies are good in worship, the proclamation of the Word should not be neglected. This is because the Word of God is God's self-revelation, food for life, and the measure of our religious life. Therefore, here at the Troas Assembly, Paul preached the Word all night long, and the gathered crowd also listened to it. Today, the Korean church needs to establish a worship theology that places more importance on the proclamation of the Word in worship, and for this, we must all be awakened.
4. It was a crusade where everyone gathered.
The church is one body. Therefore, it is not necessary to gather only the mori, not only the arms, nor the legs. This cannot be called retardation. The members should be like one body. The church is like one member, so when we all gather together, we can stand as a true member of the church.
However, if you look at the meeting in Troas here, you can see that it was not a meeting that many of the saints were missing, but many and all of them participated and there was no room for prejudice. In verse 8, it is said, “Many lamps were lit in the attic where we were gathered.” And in verse 9, “a young man named Eutychus sat across the window…” You can see this.
If only a few people had gathered, the lamp would not have been lit more than necessary, and there would have been no reason for Eutychus to leave an empty seat and sit on the window sill and do dangerous things. Therefore, from the fact that many lamps were lit and Eutychus sat by the window, it can be said that this meeting was a meeting in which all the church members were mobilized.
Worship is better when there are a lot of people together. More importantly, the number of believers is not a problem, so if there is a hundred people, if there is a hundred people, if there are a thousand people, then a thousand people will not be missed. Therefore, we must remember how important each member of the church is at the church level. Since I am absent, I have nothing to say about myself before God, but I must do my best not to miss the worship service knowing that it has a huge impact on the entire church. 80% of the church members will be more pleasing to God than 50% of the total church members, and when you worship with 100% participation rather than 80%, God will receive complete worship.
5. It is a meeting with the grace of God.
A great event occurred at the meeting of Troas. That is when Eutychus fell asleep while sitting on the window sill, and the worship service was interrupted. There are many voices of criticism against this. First, because he sat by the window, and second, because he was sitting dozing off.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 says, “When you enter the house of God, watch your feet, for it is better to come near and listen to the word than to offer sacrifices to fools...” Draw near, and he will draw near to you... sanctify your heart, you double-minded."
Therefore, Eutychus is to be blamed for choosing a seat where he could sit on the window and see both the outside and the inside. Besides, I really deserve to be blamed for saying I was sleeping. This service is Paul's farewell service, and it may be his last sermon, but this service is a kind of service, and he fell asleep while falling asleep.
But Paul didn't think so. So I immediately stopped preaching, went down and prayed for Eutychus, and God heard his prayer and saved Eutychus. This is the so-called silverware. Why did God care for Eutychus and show him grace?
Because we can think of Eutychus's fall from a different perspective.
In other words, it is Eutychus' humbleness and zeal for worship. It was not because he was vigilant that he sat at the window, but because he gave up his seat to others, so he would end up sitting on an uncomfortable and dangerous window. It is said that it must be a physiological phenomenon that occurred force majeure because he took the risk of attending the worship service until the end.
God's purpose is not to perish, but to save. Therefore, even though Eutychus' fall was entirely due to his negligence, God loved him. Needless to say, it is because of his concession and his zeal for worship. How precious is it to come to church and participate in worship as a member of the church, rather than those who fall for worship anyway?
In any case, it is God's great grace. Therefore, God saved Eutychus. Whenever we worship, we must experience God's grace and we must repay it. As a result, the crowd gathered at the Troas meeting was greatly comforted. It is because they witnessed the fact that God works among them and takes care of those who worship them with grace, even if they lack it. The purpose of worship is to give glory and praise to God, but the result of worship is comfort and peace that come to worshipers.
Dear saints, I pray in the name of the Lord that our worship today can be a blessed worship just like the crusade of Troas.