By Jack Nemeth —
Charles Spurgeon once remarked that John Bunyan studied the Bible “till his whole being was saturated with Scripture.” He studied the Word to such a degree that some would say, “Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere – his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text.”
The same could be said of Pastor John MacArthur.
Here are a few personal reflections from my time with John; what I experienced with the man, and what I experienced from his method of discipleship with me.
I was a young Christian, with 2 years of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) staff experience at USC, having attended Grace during that time. John had come to USC to speak to the football team, and we discussed my desire to attend Talbot Seminary.
Shortly after those conversations, John invited me to join the staff, in the fall of 1973. On my first day, I walked into his office, said “hello”, and asked him how he’d like me to begin my role as Pastor of Evangelism. He was studying at the time, looked up and said, “don’t ask me, go ask the Lord, He’s the one who brought you here.” I turned around to walk out with my blank note pad, startled, because I had no idea what I was then supposed to do!
On CCC staff, I knew what to do every day…witness for Christ! But John had just entrusted me to the Lord! Huh?
Some months later he explained why he said what he did on that first day; “if I told you what to do, who would you have been serving, me or the Lord?” I will never forget that first day, or the explanation that followed. It was a demonstration of trust I had never experienced. It was discipleship like I never experienced! But that was John!
John’s preaching and teaching methods are well known to us all. But how he tried to pass those on is something I’ll always remember. All of us on staff were asked to deliver a message from Psalms in one of our Wednesday evening services. I had just delivered mine, with John sitting in the front row. As soon as I sat down, convinced it didn’t go well, John leaned over and made a couple brief suggestions. When he was done, he said, “it just needs some polish, that’s all.” I thought my preaching needed a complete overhaul, but he told me it just needed some “polish.” It was a gracious “lifeline” to a young seminarian who was quickly sinking in the “slough of despond” (reference to Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress)! But that was John, full of grace, yet speaking the truth.
In the early days of my time on staff, John & Patricia invited my wife Sandy and me to go to dinner. They suggested a quaint restaurant in Laguna Beach, which was easily a 75-minute drive from the San Fernando Valley. The meal wasn’t nearly as memorable as the hours spent together, listening and observing how John talked with, and treated Patricia. His example of gentleness and kindness, a husband to his wife, was not something I grew up with.
Then there was the trip I took with John to the Moody Institute Pastor’s Conference in Chicago. (John wasn’t a speaker at the conference.) As the two of us attended the various sessions, I was making mental notes from John’s wise observations and balanced analysis of what we heard. It demonstrated to me, whether in the pulpit or a pew, John’s concern was always for the truth of Scripture and its faithful exposition! This was before John was, well…John MacArthur. (Perhaps that’s why he was free to wear an open collared shirt, filled with Mickey Mouse images that covered the entire shirt! He had such an uncommon sense of humor!)
It might have been the last time he attended a Pastor’s Conference when he wasn’t a featured speaker!
One of John’s lasting impacts was the opportunity given to observe his method of study. Having come to Christ my last semester of college, my study skills were average at best, having more interests in sports and fraternity life prior to my conversion. Learning how to research, how to ask questions of the text of Scripture, and discovering the availability and use of various biblical resources opened up a new world of biblical study for me. John spoke of these things many times, but to watch him actually study real-time, using all those methods and resources, was life-altering.
And, there was a quiet moment with him I will not forget. We all know that John was committed to expositional preaching. But there was one time I remember how he wrestled with the message he was to bring that Sunday. He had just returned from his first trip to Brazil, and it was his first Sunday back.
Since I was involved with doing the welcome and announcements in the Sunday service, he and I would connect for a few minutes beforehand, to be sure I knew what he wanted emphasized. We were sitting in the stairwell behind the Worship Center, waiting to go into the first service, and he said he wasn’t sure what to preach. I was surprised to say the least! It was just minutes before the service was to start.
He said he got up that morning and jotted on a napkin the things he saw in Brazil that grieved him, things that made him sad. He was still debating whether he should deliver a message he’d given in the past from Ephesians, or share his heart…the things that so grieved him in Brazil. We discussed it for a few minutes, and he chose to do the latter. And in doing so, he granted us access to his heart! For years, it was generally received by the flock at Grace as one of the most compelling sermons he had ever given. It was simply titled, “Things That Make Me Sad”! It was John!
These memories of the man, and of his method with me that I will not soon forget.
When I heard of John’s death that night, I was compelled to go and sit on our front porch as the sun was setting, to simply offer my gratitude to the Lord, for giving me the opportunity to know, learn and serve alongside such a unique and gifted man. It is to God we give the glory for all He has done, and is doing, and will yet do for the advance of the Kingdom!
