I don’t know about you, but I like nicknames, even if they are rather lame!
If you happen to be in the fortunate circumstance 0f being on my receiving end, trust me, you are in privileged company, well, I’m narcissistic enough to this so, which is why, if anyone is getting uppity about the nicknames (I couldn’t decide on the best one) bestowed on our North American fellow, down boy (phew, that sentence was nearing Grecian portions of Ephesians 1:3-14… breath now).
If you still have problems with this explanation, put it down to the residual effects of spending too much time in “heathen” Australia… you know what they say about bad company and all that!
The occasion that has caused me to break forth for MacArthur is a little “gift” I received in the mail by our friends at Grace to You.
No, this was not my very own tub of John MacArthur’s Brill Cream (he must use something to keep that flow going), but a work titled, Truth Endures, which commemorates forty years, yes, that is four times ten years (on Feb. 9th, 2009) of “the Mac,” Unleashing God’s Truth One Verse at a Time, Landmark Sermons by John MacArthur, edited by Phil “the pyromaniac” Johnson and Mike “I have no idea who you are” Taylor (sorry, it was the best I could come up with at short notice).
I have yet to seriously peruse the twelve “favoured” sermons from this forty years period contained therein, but I was able to read Iain H. Murray’s biographical introductory chapter, and while it is only some sixty pages, it is a good read, and I think, worth the price of the book in and of itself.
Madness you may be saying, what about the recession, what about the trees?!
However, dear reader, there is a method for all this wordiness!
Why have I come to such a conclusion?
The reason why is that it seems everyone has an opinion of the-man MacArthur and his ministry. While I will wonder (words coming) whether this has more to do with MacArthur’s willingness to call a spade the proverbial, I am not sure whether the majority of these people (that is, you and me) have a grasp of the man.
And as a corollary, a practically integrative grasp of the corrosive impact of the “thought” culture of the day, where assurance that someone has “the truth” is representative of this culture’s anti-thesis, which further impacts on how we understand the man, as MacArthur is certain enough of the truth.
While this opinion will also, no doubt, be informed by what he has said and what he has written (maybe “how” is also appropriate), and let’s face it, whether you be his friends, Reformed or Dispensational, or both, there has been cause to be challenged by the man.
While it is unreasonable to use the “you don’t know him personally ” argument as a basis for explaining this, I do think that very few people have been able to effectively synthesize all that the man has said, which means that a more complete picture of the man, his teaching, and even his own struggles would be helpful to not only inform our presuppositions, but provide a more complete picture of the man and his ministry.
While, by his own admission, Iain H. Murray affirms that his short biographical sketch is merely an introductory attempt to summarize John MacArthur, it has definitely helped me to have a better grasp of this man’s life and ministry.
Let me offer some nuggets that stood out for me from this chapter, with the first quotation related to a seminal moment in his training, which may give some insight into the man’s ministry, one verse at a time.
This was from his time at Talbot, where Dr. Charles L. Feinberg became his chief mentor. By the way of a footnote, read this “mad” quote about this scholar:
Talbot had been chosen on account of the reputation of its dean, Dr. Charles L. Feinberg, a converted Jewish Rabbi, who knew more than thirty languages, including Dutch, which he taught himself in order to read Dutch Reformed theology (Page 14)
I know, this makes Jonny King look like the village idiot, some might say that isn’t very tough!!!
Anyway, back to my point, in his time at Talbot, MacArthur was required to preach in chapel, as all students had to, at least two times. When they did, faculty members would sit behind with critique sheets in hand. MacArthur was given 2 Samuel 7.
MacArthur thought he had done quite well, and expected to receive some good feedback from Dr. Feinberg on his critique sheet. He was right, but maybe not quite the way he expected:
Instead the critique sheet the latter handed to him was blank apart from the words, “You missed the whole point of the passage.” Later he had to enter his teacher’s study, to find him shaking his head in disappointment as he exclaimed, “How could you? How could you? The passage presents the Davidic Covenant culminating in the Messiah and His glorious Kingdom – and you talked about ‘not presuming on God’ in our personal day-to-day choices.” The hearer of these words says it was “the deepest single impression I ever received in Seminary. I can still hear Dr. Feinberg’s heartfelt admonition ringing in my ears. If you don’t have the meaning of Scripture, you do not have the Word of God at all” (Page 15).
This should help to underscore the expository convictions of Dr. John MacArthur, which are further illuminated with the following words:
He has lived out his father’s admonition, “Don’t go into the sacred desk [pulpit] unless you are fully prepared.” A high view of Scripture will always lead a preacher to the right priority. The apostolic example – “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4) – has always been followed when the churches have been in their healthiest state. As another exponent of that fact wrote in the nineteenth century, “If a minister would give the pulpit its appropriate energy, he will make all his varied experience subservient to the duties of the sanctuary.” In MacArthur’s case this has meant, “I use a system I call ‘planned neglect’: I plan to neglect everything until my study is done.” (Page 30)
Wait there’s more. Read, Think, Learn, and Do:
Even If I never preached another sermon, I would thank God every day of my life for the sanctifying grace that has come to me through the daily study of His precious Word. Pastors should study to know God, not just to make sermons. For me, the greatest joy of preaching comes, not in the final step of proclamation, but in the transformation of my own life (Page 31).
Referring to painful experiences already mentioned, MacArthur has said: “I have learned to embrace failure and criticism as probably the most productive work of God in my life. I can exegete a passage; what I cannot do is to refine myself. I cannot crush my own pride. So there is a sense in which the best things that have happened to me have been the disappointments and the misrepresentations” (page 31).
The study is both a sacred and an exciting place. As MacArthur said to a friend while he was preaching through the Gospel of Matthew: There are many days when I can hardly stand what I am discovering. It just overwhelms me. In every paragraph there is the incomparable Jesus Christ and He is just devastatingly powerful and glorious. It is a crushing experience to be exposed to Him, and yet it is the most exalting thing – to realize He has embraced you for all eternity! I would rather preach Christ than anything else. He is the most compelling subject in all the universe (pages 31, 32).
You have to believe that the power of God’s Word will be more effective than any human drama or communication gimmick. Nothing is more dramatic as the explosion of truth on the mind of a believer through powerful preaching (Page 33).
There is much wisdom contained in these quotes… worth reflecting on, in light of where God has placed you!
I think the following words are illuminating, particularly as one perceives the reason why MacArthur has not remained silent in the face of what he perceived as heterodox realities.
When I came out of seminary, I really did not expect to fight the battles I have fought over the last four decades. I knew I would face some different paradigms of ministry and opinions about ecclesiology. I understood that there were various views of eschatology and of biblical inspiration, etc. But I never thought I would spend most of my life on the broader evangelical front defending the gospel and sound doctrine (Page 49)
In another book from the 1990s, MacArthur writes: “Controversy frankly is distasteful to me. Those who know me personally will affirm that I do not enjoy any kind of dispute.” But faithfulness to Christ was more important than personal comfort. He grieved at the policy of silence that affected many good men, and contrasted it with resolution of Spurgeon who spoke out in a day when nobody seemed to care “whether that which is preached is true or false.” After a visit to London in 1992, when he visited Spurgeon’s grave, he wrote: “I couldn’t help thinking how much the church needs men like him today. Spurgeon was not afraid to stand boldly for truth, even when it meant he stood alone…. his concern thrust him into a battle that ultimately led to his death.”
Increasingly, he sensed in Spurgeon “a kindred spirit,” while adding, “I sit at his feet, not by his side” (Page 50).
The words that cut deep are faithfulness to Christ was more important than personal comfort, which also makes clear the motivation.
However, as the next quotation affirms that, while not walking away from controversy, it should be conducted in a way that honours Christ.
It should also be added that in taking up the issues that he has, he has shown care in avoiding the harshness and bitterness that sometimes disfigures controversies. He has made it clear that it is the ideas fellow-believers have supported, not their persons, which he is opposing; and where separation over essential truth is necessary, he insists that it has to be without “abusive, spiteful, or venomous, behavior towards others” (Page 56).
As we change gears a little, may I say that I think that the first line in the following quotation in particular, is very helpful, particularly in light of our series, Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit.
Lifeless, dry orthodoxy is the inevitable result of isolating truth from vibrant experience. But the answer to dead orthodoxy is not to build a theology on experience. Genuine experience must grow out of sound doctrine. We are not to base what we believe on what we have experienced. The reverse is true. Our experiences will grow out of what we believe (Page 53)
Now I don’t know if this has shed some new light on the man, but even for me, who has studied under some of his students, I found the experience to be rather illuminating.
Here’s one more rather long, more personal quote from MacArthur, which describes certain possibilities he faced:
While I was writing this book [The Gospel according to the Apostles] my whole life suddenly changed. One afternoon while waiting for my son to join me at the golf course, I received a telephone call informing me that my wife, Patricia, and our youngest daughter, Melinda, had been involved in a very serious automobile accident. Patricia had been gravely injured and was being airlifted to a hospital about an hour away from where I was. No other details were available. Inadvertently leaving my golf clubs on the practice tea, I immediately got in my car and headed for the hospital.
That hour-long drive to the hospital will be forever etched in my memory. A thousand thoughts flooded my mind. I realized, of course, that I might never see Patricia alive again. I thought of the gaping hole that would exist in my life without her. I reflected on the essential part she has had in my life and ministry over the years. I wondered how I could ever manage without her. I remembered when we first met, how we grew to love each other, and hundreds of other little things about our life together. I would give anything to keep her, but I realized now that choice was not mine to make.
A supernatural peace flooded my soul. My grief, sorrow, uncertainty, and fears were all enveloped in that restful peace. I knew Patricia and I were both in our Lord’s hands, and under the circumstances that was the only place I could imagine any sense of safety.
When I arrived at the emergency room, I learned that Melinda had been badly bruised and cut but was not seriously injured. She was severely shaken but not in any danger.
A doctor came out to explain Patricia’s injuries to me. Her neck was broken. Two vertebrae were severely crushed. The damage had occurred above the crucial nerves in the spinal cord that control breathing. In most cases like hers, the victim dies immediately (pages 63, 64).
Patricia would survive and slowly recover (miracle?), with MacArthur summarizing it this way:
This whole experience has been the most difficult trauma in our lives together. Yet through it all Patricia and I have learned again – in a very practical way – that faith works. Our faith in Christ – the same faith with which we first trusted in Him as Lord – has remained strong and enabled us to trust Him through the trial (Page 65).
I am not sure how these quotations have impacted your understanding of the man and his ministry, but in my opinion, they bring the man out of the shadows, giving us a more complete picture of John MacArthur, Jr.
Now, getting back to what I believe is the major gripe people have with MacArthur.
Based on some reasonable experience in Christian circles (in Australasia, anyway), the voice of complaint often relates to the forthrightness and dogmatism of the man that tends to go down like a hot-air balloon (think about it), even with some of his theological offspring (so to speak).
Trying to sort out the random thoughts running through both my personalities, one wonders if it is summarized with the comment “that we would not put it the way that John MacArthur does.”
But does this sense, justify the response?
While there are occasions when I can say that I would not frame a given issue that way, I also want to affirm that a great deal of the time, we Evangelicals, cheer MacArthur on when he is playing a tune in an area we like, as he fearlessly (seemingly) champions such things as the sufficiency of Scripture and the exclusivity of Christ, even in the face of the lights, camera, and action on TV.
In addition to this, as MacArthur continues to believe that Scripture has the truth, the “total truth (to quote a book)” that man can know, and thereby live, one wonders if the response of many Christians is more reflective of their willingness to subtly succumb to the tomfoolery parts of post-modernity, thereby running away from anything that looks like a kitchen on fire, as the heat of certainty is like Elvis at the Prom… Yes, he has left the building.
Remember, this world system and its wisdom does not know God (1 Cor. 1:21), which helps to explain why they view the message of the Cross as foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18, 21b)
Therefore, is this “turn-off” more symptomatic of a punch-drunk church, a church, like the deer caught in the headlights that has wondered from home, now transfixed by those bright lights coming to meet this (deer) maker, thereby jeopardizing its future impact.
Is this another sign that this “world system” has not only invaded the church, but has made itself at home, when it should have been the other way around, and the reason that this is not the case is that you and me Christian, who willingly proclaim that we have The Truth and The Life in our safe confines, step out into the world, and too often let our silence be our consent?… you be the judge.
Therefore, we should thank God for John MacArthur’s commitment over these forty years to Christ as outworked in the multiplying ministries around the world, which are not ashamed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him God, and we should be asking God to lengthen his days and increase His wisdom, so that he can continue to speak the truth in love… after all, love is not mere sentimentality, is it about doing what is best for the person (I am confident that this is MacArthur’s motivation).
And, when MacArthur does speak strong words that may irk, we should remember the man, his motivation, and hold fire in humility, digging deeper both into the Scriptures and our hearts that, without the grace of God move mercilessly to wanton destruction.
In the process of Christian becoming like Christ, where the paths can be dark and dangerous, we can be thankful for MacArthur’s exposition of love, which shines a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105).
Thank God for John MacArthur!… even with that slowly maturing slick-back!
Until Next Time
I am Jonny King
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