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"But Paul said to them, 'They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.'"
(Acts 16:37)
Why was Paul so upset? He made a big deal about what had happened to him and Silas. He was not pitching a fit or having a temper tantrum, but he was methodically protecting the Philippian church. He knew that the authorities were not inclined to be kind to the followers of Christ, so he was helping the church. The authorities would want nothing to do with anyone associated with Paul, for he might report to Rome his mistreatment at the hands of the Philippian magistrates. I like the way John MacArthur describes what Paul was doing in this passage: "Ever the faithful shepherd concerned for his flock, Paul knew he had to take steps to protect the newborn Philippian church from official government harassment." ( Acts 13-28: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, p. 110)
I find this statement most interesting considering the church John MacArthur serves, Grace Community Church, was recently awarded $800,000 by the state of California for how they were mistreated by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church won their legal battle with the state of California and Los Angeles County after the governments agreed to pay $400,000 each as part of a settlement for violating the church's religious liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic." ( Source.)
Don Meyer was a remarkable man. He was the basketball coach at Northern State University in South Dakota. He won over 900 games and is the eighth winningest coach in college basketball. ( Source.)
But Meyer's life changed drastically on September 5, 2008, when he was in a devastating automobile accident and nearly died. The doctors operated on Don, and as they were attending to his broken body from the accident, they discovered that he had internal cancer. When he awoke from surgery, he wrote a note to his daughter asking, "How long before I can coach?" He had multiple surgeries and had cancer treatment. He also has had his left leg amputated from the knee down. After much rehab and sheer determination, Coach Meyer was back on the sidelines in his wheelchair and coached his team to victory in just over two months after the accident. He was awarded the Jimmy Valvano Award at the 2009 Espys. I listened to this man's speech as he spoke on national TV. He said we are not to whine, complain, or make excuses, and he said the most important things in life are faith, family, and friends. He said the reason God spared his life was so that he could serve others. ( Source.)
Coach Meyer died in May 2014 and has been praised by great coaches like Coach K at Duke and Pat Summit who coached for years at Tennessee.
I thought about a lot of things when I heard Don Meyer's story. I thought of Paul. If Paul were in a similar situation, he would ask, "How are the churches?" His life was totally given in service to the local church.
The greatest things we can do in life are serve God and serve others. The world defines greatness by what we accomplish or attain. But Jesus and His saints define it totally differently. Jesus said in Matthew 20:25-28: "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Let us go and be great today by serving others! |
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