I’m curious, have you ever fallen asleep in church? How often do you fall asleep in church? Do you have a habit of taking a nap during the sermon? Have you constructed a plan that enables you to remain awake during the entire worship service?
Sleepy Eutychus
Luke tells a great story in Acts 20 about a young guy who fell asleep during one of Paul’s sermons. Paul was long-winded that night in Troas, and when I read the story recently, I was surprised people didn’t leave once it got dark. Instead, they lit the lamps and settled in to continue listening to Paul.
One young man, Eutychus, was sitting on a windowsill, listening to Paul. It happens to all of us at some point, and that night it happened to Eutychus. He got the nods, and even if he bit his tongue as hard as he could, he was not staying awake. Eutychus sank into a deep sleep, but unfortunately, the windowsill he was perched on was on the third floor. Eutychus fell out the window and died.
Paul did what any preacher would do, he ran to the young man to see if he was okay. Paul embraced the boy, told everyone Eutychus was fine, then went back inside where everyone ate dinner and took communion. After that, Paul preached some more. Luke says in Acts 20:11, Paul talked until dawn.
A Distracted Generation
I find the whole story mind-blowing. Even if a preacher is good, at the one-hour point, I’m ready to move on. The people in the story had an amazing ability to focus. As I considered the story, I concluded we are a distracted generation.
On our phones alone we have books, social media, games, email, shopping, and the ability to discover random facts on Google. When we get home, we not only have local TV, but we also have cable, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and more. We can shop 24 hours a day on the internet, or look for better ways to cook, decorate, travel or exercise.
We have gadgets that supposedly make life easier and therefore better. We own microwaves, convection ovens, fast spin washers and dryers, and vacuums that run by themselves. We order our groceries online and have them delivered. We can deposit our checks and pay our bills all through an app on our phones.
What is Life About?
Somewhere along the line, we bought into the idea that life is about fun, comfort, and ease. We especially buy into that thought during the holiday season. Movies, magazines, and social media all project the holiday is best with plenty of warm clothes and blankets, easy recipes, fun parties, extravagant gifts, and of course, no stress.
It all seems counterintuitive. After all, Jesus came to earth so we could gain life, not comfort, receive joy, not more fun, and discover fulfillment and purpose instead of an easy life. When did we become so distracted, we lost the wonder of learning more about the God who created us, loves us, and gave His life for us?
The Wonder of Learning About God
God doesn’t want the birth of His Son to be filled with celebratory distractions. He wants to be what we would stay up all night to learn more about. He wants to be who we are so enchanted with we give up sleep and comfort.
Romans 12:1-2 in The Passion Translation is eye-opening.
“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be His sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights His heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes.”
We have the privilege of experiencing the wonder of Christmas through the filter of God’s mercies. Think about it. God brought His perfect plan to fruition and revealed His faithfulness. God provided the perfect way for us to be restored. In addition, God opened the door for us to see Him clearly and participate in an intimate relationship with Him.
Culture is a Distraction
In the second verse of Romans 12, Paul tells us to stop imitating the ideas and opinions of this culture. During the Holiday Season we are bombarded with ideas of perfect décor, ideal memorable moments, an abundance of delicious foods, along with excessive and expensive gift giving. Whereas none of these things are inherently evil, we are often distracted by them and do not experience Advent in the way God would desire most.
Paul’s answer to our distraction problem is to be inwardly transformed by the Spirit. With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, we shift our focus from creating the perfect Better-Homes-and-Garden Christmas to centering on what God has already provided. With the birth of Jesus, God gifts us hope, the promise of salvation, abundant life and His continual presence. God wrapped Himself up in the form of a baby and presented Himself to the world.
We are to be more like the crowd that listened to Paul talk the night away. We are to focus on soaking in God’s story. In other words, we must refuse to be distracted by satisfying our human wants and choose to explore who God is.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t decorate your home or put up a Christmas tree. Nor am I suggesting you shouldn’t gather with family and friends to celebrate the wonder of the season, because God’s story deserves to be celebrated. I think you should go ahead; purchase presents that tell your loved ones how much you appreciate them and plan a festive feast.
However, please remember that those things are not the main things. Those habits and activities are often thick with our culture’s ideals and opinions. As Romans 12 tells us, we must allow God to transform our minds, so that our desires and expectations change to match His desires and expectations.
Two Action Steps
Paul gives us two actions that move us toward this transformation in Romans 12:1 and are also incorporated into the work of our transformation. First Paul tells us to surrender to God. In other words, we must release our ideas, our finances, our time, our dreams, our everything, and allow God to determine what our lives look like.
I admit, as I typed that last phase the thought flashed through my mind, “that sounds scary!” We get distracted by that thought, don’t we? We believe we are giving up so much, and we forget to see how much God is giving us. We don’t grasp the concept that since God created each of us, He knows what will satisfy us best, bring us the most joy, and cause us to feel the most loved and fulfilled.
The second action Paul gives is live in holiness. God filled His Word with scriptures that define what it means to live in holiness. Our entire life is a journey of learning how to live in holiness; we practice, fail, receive forgiveness, surrender our will, and try again. Over and over and over.
I know that may sound defeating. Allow me to reassure you, as we endure the process, we gain greater understanding and a deeper relationship with our Father God. It is in the journey we experience transformation and discover the wonder of who God is.
Living in God’s Delight
Paul tells us in Romans 12:1, as we surrender and live in holiness, we experience “all that delights His heart.” God delights to save us, bless us, love us, forgive us, nurture us, teach us, disciple us, use us for His glory, and more.
Let us not live this Advent season distracted, or asleep to the glory God longs to display. Instead, let us filter all the fun of the season through the mercies of God. I’m praying we all choose to focus on soaking in God’s story, surrendering to Him, and listening to His Spirit as He leads us to live in holiness. All while we participate in the Holiday hustle and bustle.
May we each experience this Advent season soaked in the delights of God’s heart.
