“Acts 20:1-16”

Sunday, February 07, 2016

“After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days. On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, ‘Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.’ When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“On the first day of the week” Paul and his traveling companions “gathered together” with the Christians in the city of Troas to “break bread” (verse 7). I am so glad that these verses are in today’s Bible reading. This is a good reminder for us of just how important it is for Christians to assemble on the Lord’s Day and worship our God together in spirit and in truth, and an important part of that worship is to “break bread” together.

What does the term “break bread” mean? Well, that’s all according to the context in which it is mentioned in the New Testament. Sometimes it just means to eat an ordinary meal, and other times it means to take the Lord’s Supper. In Acts 2:42 we read that, after the church was established in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the Christians there “were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The bread-breaking here is obviously a reference to the Lord’s Supper because it is mentioned in connection with other spiritual things (acts of worship), such as teaching, praying, and giving (fellowship). And just a few verses later, we read in Acts 2:46, “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” So we see they also ate ordinary meals together at each other’s homes.

What type of bread-breaking was taking place in the city of Troas when the Christians gathered together to worship the Lord that day as recorded in Acts 20:7? Once again, the context reveals the nature of that meal to us. This is obviously a reference to the Lord’s Supper. The Christians had all assembled together on the first day of the week, which is the day that the Bible teaches Christians to meet together in order it do spiritual things—to worship God in the congregational setting (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). Notice also that Paul and his companions had been in Troas for seven days before they gathered together in the assembly to break bread (verse 6). In other words, they arrived there on our Monday, and waited there until the first day of the week (our Sunday) to gather together to do this. Surely they didn’t wait a whole week just to eat an ordinary meal together. This was obviously a special occasion—one that was specifically reserved for the first day of the week gathering. And when they gathered together, it was to do spiritual things. It was to worship God. They took the Lord’s Supper together and Paul preached a (rather lengthy) sermon to them.

Please friends take note of just how important the first day of the week (Sunday) worship assembly was to the inspired Apostle Paul and his traveling companions. These were very busy people. They were traveling all over the known world and tending to the most important business in the world—Saving souls. Quite often, when they left one region to head for another, they were doing so fleeing for their personal safety (verse 3). They were busy, they were stressed, they were sleep-deprived (verses 9-11), they were exhausted. But they weren’t about to miss church services because worshiping God together with their brothers and sisters in Christ was just too vitally important to their spiritual wellbeing. And they knew it.

Please read Acts 20:17-38 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed Lord’s Day!

-Louie Taylor

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