Chapter 20 contains the story of Eutychus, the young man who was sitting in an upper story window listening to Paul preach well into the night, and who fell asleep, falling out of the window to his death, only to be miraculously revived (Acts 20:7-12). I love this story for several reasons: 1) I must be able to preach like Paul since I am able to put people asleep as well; 2) churches today are better designed than the gathering places of the first century since we don’t put chairs or pews near upper story windows; and 3) when you start complaining about how long my sermons are, just remember that at least I don’t drone on until midnight, even if it may feel like it at times! Seriously, one of the best books I have recently read on preaching is ingeniously entitled Saving Eutychus: How to Preach God’s Word and Keep People Awake by Gary Millar and Phil Campbell. Obviously, I am still trying to learn and apply the suggestions of that book.
Enough humor; let’s narrow our look at Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders recorded by Luke in Acts 20:17-38.
Acts 20:21 – I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus. (CSB) Apparently, this was the primary subject matter of Paul’s teaching in Ephesus, whether in public or from house to house. My man, Charles Spurgeon, has written some great thoughts on this verse that really should help us to understand authentic repentance. He says that the key to real repentance is that it is toward God, not ourselves. Selfish repentance, or what Paul calls worldly grief in 2 Corinthians 7, is produced by 1) shame or embarrassment over our conduct; 2) guilt or grief over the consequences of our conduct; or 3) fear of future punishment for our conduct. None of these are authentic repentance toward God. In fact, Spurgeon says, “A person may go to hell with a blush on his face.” Embarrassment isn’t going to keep anyone from hell. True repentance toward God is not repentance for this sin or that sin, but of our sin nature that is an insult toward God. To repent of an evil act and not of our evil heart is like sailors pumping water out of a leaky vessel but forgetting to stop the leak. Repentance toward God is laying the axe at the root of the tree of sin and this is what allows us to express our faith in the Lord Jesus. The Puritans were great at reminding us that even our repentance is usually sinful, inadequate, and selfish. May God help us to see our sin for what it is and to respond accordingly, with hatred toward sin and how it dishonors God and with trust in Christ alone for our righteous standing before God.
Blessings!