Acts 20:7-12 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. 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. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. 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. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. Previously we identified Eutychus as a young man, in church, among good people, and listening to a good man of God preach the truth, but fell and died. What was the problem?
It could have been:
1. He was too close to the outside!
Sitting in the window would put him on the edge of the congregation. He was part of this congregation, but one little move and he would not be. So many young people today are in the church, but on the edge. They are in the church, but not taking part, not involved, and we are satisfied to allow them to stay there! One slight nudge, influence, or movement in the wrong direction and they are a casualty. Something is wrong with us when we allow this with our youth?
2. His was positioned for his flesh to be pampered by the night air of the world.
In that room, heated up by the many lights and the body temperatures of the congregation, he was hot, but sitting in the window the night air was relaxing. It was cooling him down! No doubt this was satisfying to his flesh. He was subjected to two influences, the heat inside and the cool air from the outside, and the influence of the outside kept him where he was! Have we allowed our church kids today to position themselves to be influenced by the world, and is this spiritually cooling them down, and keeping them from going on with God? Parents if your children are sitting in the window get them out. It is a life and death situation. Do whatever you have to do, but get them out of the window.
3. No one realized the danger!
In our text we see a sleepy young man sitting in a window three stories up. It doesn't take a genius to know this is a deadly situation, but no one seems to realize this! Perhaps they are pre-occupied with other things, but for whatever reason it doesn't seem to alarm anyone! In the church today, there is family after family with a Eutychus sitting in the window getting ready to fall, and no one seems to realize the danger. No attempt is being made by anyone to salvage the poor soul! I don't understand why, thr problem seems so obvious.
4.There were those who realized the danger, but didn't care enough to warn or help him.
The average believer today operates on the spiritual philosophy of "my four and no more". They have the idea that if my family is saved, and in church then nothing or no one else matters. For them Serving Christ is a matter of convenience rather than conviction. Shame on you if you are living your Christian life by this rule. It is an ungodly, self-centered, selfish philosophy. The Christian life is to be a life of self denial, a life of giving and sacrificing and a life of putting others ahead of yourself. Anything less is displeasing to the Lord, and will result in spiritual casualties.
5. He knew the danger, but stubbornly refused to listen to godly counsel.
Eutychus may have been warned. Perhaps numerous times, but he would not heed godly advice. The fact of the matter is there are young people in churches all across America who have decided the path they are going to go down, and it doesn't matter what advice they receive they are not going to listen. If this is the case there is only one thing to do, and that is pray.
Although there is some degree of supposition in the above study which can be spiritually dangerous, I hope I have said some things to spur your thinking. Let's work hard at helping our young people avoid becoming a Eutychus.