A Service in Troas (Acts 20:7-12)

This brief account of the meeting in Troas is one of the few descriptions in the New Testament of a church service. Not that it mentions all that happened – Luke does not refer to singing or praying. But we can see that the service took place in the evening of the first day of the week after darkness had fallen. It was held in a room on the third floor, probably in the house of a wealthy person. The temperature was very warm, which caused at least one person to fall asleep.

The service is described as gathering to break bread, which highlights the prominence that was given to the Lord’s Supper. At that time, there would not have been a worship service without the Lord’s Supper. It was preceded by a long address by Paul which lasted until midnight. After the incident with Eutychus, they had the Lord’s Supper and a fellowship meal, and then they had a long time of fellowship, until daybreak.

The obvious feature of the service is that it was not governed by the clock. Some of the worshippers probably went straight to work after the service was over. One of the striking features of twenty-first century church life is the short amount of time that Christians spend together in the presence of the Lord. Is there a connection between that and the absence of the Lord’s power? Of course, there is no merit in a longer service if nothing spiritual occurs. But how we spend our time will make us spiritually richer or spiritually poorer.

Another surprising detail is that they did not make a big fuss about the astonishing miracle that occurred during the service when Eutychus was raised from the dead. They did not let it distract from the focus of their gathering, which was to spend time together with God. Eutychus was not even sent home after his dramatic experience. Instead, after his recovery, he joined in the fellowship that went on until daylight.

I suppose we could ask what made that service memorable. Was it because the famous apostle was present? Or was it because a remarkable miracle had occurred? Or was it that a group of sinners met together grateful to God for Jesus? Or was it that Jesus was present by the Holy Spirit, as is the case in every service? 

By the way, you may be interested to know that Andrew Bonar thought the case of Eutychus was a warning to beadles about being careful about the heating during a church service.