Acts 20: 3-12

Nov 10, 2019 // By:Dave // No Comment

3 And there he spent three months [Greece], 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.

during this time, he wrote the letter to the Romans and wrote some of 2 Corinthians.

in fact a total of four letters were written to the Corinthians:

  1. the lost letter referenced in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11
  2. 1 Cor
  3. 2 Cor 1-9 (written after chapters 10-13) thanking them for the change that has taken place and that they are back on track again
  4. 2 Cor 10-13 called the “painful letter” full of correction

4 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.

here we have the fellowship of the King

5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

“us” means Luke has now rejoined Paul

6 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.

days of unleavened bread is a feast celebrating the passover and exodus from Egypt.

Is this feast significant to us ?

Jesus Christ Himself becoming our sacrificial Passover lamb.

1 Corinthians 5:7, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (compare Isaiah 53:7-9; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

Jesus started His Church on the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2). 

During the spring of the year (March-April in the northern hemisphere), immediately after Passover and before the Feast of Pentecost, falls another biblical feast—the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread 

(Exodus 12:17-18; Leviticus 23:6-8; Numbers 33:3)

7 ¶ 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.

notice this verse says they met to break bread “on the first day of the week”

what is the first day of the week ?

what day is the sabbath (Holy/“set-apart” Day) ?

what covenant contains the sabbath ?

Saturday has always and will always be the sabbath day.

but there is no special day in the new covenant, 

every day is a “Lord’s day”

Rom 14:5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Gal an epistle against legalism

4:10-11 preferring one day over another in religion, Paul calls legalism.

Col 2:16-17 do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come, the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Amplified Translation reads:
Col. 2:16 Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath. 

Col. 2:17 Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ. 

8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.

Luke points out the “many lamps in the room” (perhaps he is implying that fires consume breathable air which contributed to what we read next)

9 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.

the word here for dead is νεκρός = dead, dead person, corpse (basically dead means dead)

10 But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.”

 In an action reminiscent of Elijah and Elisha

1 Kings 17:21 Elijah

2 Kings 4:34-35 Elisha

what is the significance of laying out one’s body over another ?

(does it symbolize total humility or surrender in prayer?)

do we pray with total dependance and surrender ?
(or more like “let me cover all the bases, just in case)

11 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.

12 They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

Basically, we are looking at a resurrection here 

John 11 contains what may consider the most dramatic resurrection story in the bible (at least the most famous)

that of Lazarus.

20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.

21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Martha acknowledges a theological resurrection but Jesus has to point out that the life is standing in front of her 

Resurrection is not just some perk as part of the club of BBB

(Born again, blood bought, believer)

It’s living now in life of Christ , as opposed to the state of death we had been in before Him 

We talked before about the valley of dry bones in Ezek 37

The words used in an immersion baptism are what ?

(Right, talks about rising in the newness of life right then and there… it’s not future tense)

Eph. 2:1 ¶ And you were dead  in your trespasses and sins,

(the word here for dead is νεκρός = dead, dead person, corpse)

Eph. 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Eph. 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Eph. 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

Eph. 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions [past tense], made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Eph. 2:6 and raised us up with Him [past tense not future], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Eph. 2:7 so that in the ages to come He might show  [future tense] the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Eph. 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Eph. 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

what does it mean to be dead in sin ?

Rom 6: 3-4

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

is Paul describing walking in new life as applied in the afterlife, or the present ?

what does it mean to be raised up with Christ ?

having the mind of Christ (seeing through His eyes)

experiential sanctification

living a lifestyle of worship

privilege to obey (“get” to not a “have” to)

 

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