I've been giving some
thought lately on my discovery of John MacArthur a few years ago. As
I pondered this, I realized that this discovery has been a HUGE
blessing to me in so many ways. However, I've also realized that
this discovery came with a curse of sorts.
After completing two whole
years of Bible College – each year at a different school and
roughly six years apart – I felt I had a pretty good grasp on things.
I sailed along for many years in this condition. Along the way, I
was introduced to Calvinism by a group of people that began to attend
the Church I was a part of. I couldn't stand their arrogance!
There's just no other way of putting it. I did not agree with them
AT ALL!, but a big part of this had to do with how they carried themselves. I went to my Pastor with my concerns about this only to discover that
he was a Calvinist as well. All this time and he never said anything
of the sort, neither in one-on-one conversations nor from the pulpit.
I picked up “What is Reformed Theology” by RC Sproul and
finally discovered, with all the snotty arrogance left out, what Calvinism
was about. I realized that this is what the Bible taught and did a
complete turnaround in my belief on this. I'd like to think that the "snotty arrogance" in those who initially introduced me to these doctrines has remained with them.
Both the Bible schools I
went to never taught any specific Doctrines, except for one class. It was at
the first school I attended. The class was the Doctrine of
Salvation. The school's Director came to give us a talk before the
teacher came, and one of the things he stressed was a warning for us not to get
caught up in the “doctriney stuff”. I realize this now, years
later, that I imbibed basically a “We love Jesus, not doctrine”
mentality.
Fast forward many years later.
The night I discovered John
MacArthur I was searching Bible teachers' names on You Tube. I had
heard of MacArthur when I was a new Christian so I put his name in.
There were a number of hits and some were with him on Larry King
Live. For years prior to this I had watched numerous talk shows in
dismay when they had a pastor giving the “religious perspective”.
“Wishy-washy” is about the kindest term I can use to describe
what those pastors would usually say. MacArthur was COMPLETELY
different! Whatever question he was asked would be given an answer
based out of the Scriptures. No matter how hokey or crazy the other
participants thought he was, it didn't matter – his answers were
based on the Bible. I respected that! I watched a number of those
Larry King shows and my respect for him continued to grow. I went to
the Grace to You website and discovered I could download his sermons
for free – I did! I then discovered that he had whole sermon
series from the books of the Bible. Galatians, Philippians, Romans –
I could get them all...and I did. I began to listen to him teach
from a book starting at chapter one, verse one and continuing all the
way through the entire book. This was the first time I had ever
experienced anything like that. I began to see what God had to say
to these specific churches about what was going on in them. It was
so eye-opening! ALL the sermons I had ever heard were more often
than not based on verses taken out of their context and used to speak
to an issue going on in our lives today. Hardly any effort at all
was made to exegete a specific passage and teach what was actually being
addressed. MacArthur was completely different - he did EXACTLY that!
Over many months I continued
to listen and learn. In the process I began to grow in the Lord. My
knowledge of His Word increased and so did my love of Him. I began
to see that loving Jesus can never take place unless one begins to
learn sound doctrine. Divorcing doctrine from Jesus is an absurdity!
We must worship God in spirit AND in truth – John 4:24. The huge
blessing of discovering John MacArthur has been my growth in the
Lord, beginning to really love the Word, and starting to understand
what the books of the Bible are about.
Almost on the heels of this
blessing has been the curse. In my growing understanding of the Word
I've come to see how enemic the teaching in the churches I've been a
part of has been. When I began to see how completely ignorant of the
Word I was, the term “Biblically Illiterate” came to mind. There
I was, standing in my own arrogance (those two whole years of Bible College, don'tcha know!) while all the while being
completely illiterate when it came to doctrine. I fit right in with
pretty much everyone else because we all were/are illiterate. Two
years of Bible school and very little understanding of any of the
Doctrines of the Christian faith. Almost two decades in the Church
and very little understanding of any of the Doctrines of the
Christian faith. The shepherd digging into the Word to feed the
sheep is foreign. Shallow and superficial, cultural relevancy,
social justice – these are what spews from pulpits Sunday after Sunday.
The church has become one more social gathering that meets together
to make itself feel better and to help the community. The curse is
in seeing this taking place and not being able to do anything about
it. In learning the Word and beginning to understand the plumb line
of Doctrine I am seeing how far from that plumb line the church has
moved...and it kills me!
I am not being facetious
when I say that I am thankful to God for these. Raising up John
MacArthur, a faithful man who ministers the Word of God in the face
of hatred, antagonism and jealousy – and these come from within the
Church! Year after year he has taught the Bible, chapter and verse,
to the sheep God has given him to shepherd. God has used him to open
my eyes to the truth of Scripture, to see how far I am not, and to
call me to repentance. Because of this I see more clearly the
wretched state of the church today. But I also know that God is
sovereign over all, and that He is continuing to save His own. For
this I am truly thankful!
This has been the blessing,
and the curse, of discovering John MacArthur. And I thank God for
this discovery!
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