The Jack Miller Archive

A Faith Worth Sharing, Kindle location 89

See Sermon: Election, The Powersource for Living

And “Outgrowing the Ingrown Church” Blue Notebook, Handwritten Intro.

The prior date and reference from Presbyterian Guardian to “Jack Miller” speaking at church on April 4, 1948 prior to sermon is confusing.

Sermon on Ephesians 1:

At first glance, this date seems to conflict with other dates Jack gives elsewhere which states he returned to SF two months after his conversion, and then in notebooks, dates this is December 1948.

How can this apparent contradiction in dates be explained?

Jack says that he went to church some with Ella Mae and had started reading his bible.

However, Jack explains the dates and his conversion in a sermon entitled, “Election: The Powersource for Life.”

a. Jack speaks of having “two years of saving himself.”

So you see, I felt that when you come to Ephesians 1, you are on the same ground. That you are having a revelation of His glory, and, the first time I ever read this, I thought I was a Christian. I had just saved myself. I don’t know whether you’ve ever met someone like that. But I had about two years of saving myself.

b. He connects the end of these two years with dropping out of college and returning to Oregon.

c. We know this was after Leo’s death which happened two weeks before WWII ended (April 45), and Ella’s Mae’s date in Iva (March 45).

And when I do anything, as you all know, I do it with my whole heart. And if anybody could have saved himself, I could have. After two years I was as miserable at the end of it as I was at the beginning. I still had no peace with God. And I was so much so that I dropped out of the college I was going to. I went back to my home in Oregon, and I got a job, and I thought that that wonderful Oregon Fall would just set me right. What I need is more fresh air.

So I got outside; I got a nice suntan; I got a job on a highway crew and I shoveled gravel. Lots of little things like that. And it was a great experience, and so on. I got a nice tan. I felt great physically.

But I was still the same restless, foolish, poor person I was before. I was in flight from God, and there was no other way to describe it.

d. JACK “REALLY GOT SAVED THROUGH EPHESIANS 1."

In response to Machen on Election (Oct/Nov 45) at his Oregon home, “I know I believe in Christ. I’ve done a lot of believing, and I know I did it. Nobody else did it.”

And so I had this book there, by a man named J. Gresham Machen. And it was boring me to death. And I was falling asleep over it every time I tried to read it. And I read it there. And he came to the section on election. And I looked at that, you know, and I got really angry.

I got so angry— I didn’t throw the book; I’m polite, I might have burned it up or something— but I was really angry. And I said, “Who does God think He is anyway?” And it never came out quite in those words, but it was always in my mind. And then the answer came back to me, “God! Who do you think you are?”

And in that moment I realized— it was just like being out on that boat— I knew that God was there. So I got out this chapter of Ephesians and I read it. And I said, I’m going to find out if it is really true. The author referred to Ephesians 1.

So I read it. And I said, “Man alive! It is there! How awful.” And this God who elects people, I said look, “I know I believe in Christ. I’ve done a lot of believing, and I know I did it. Nobody else did it.”

Of course it hadn’t resulted in anything.

And at that moment, I began to see that there was something terribly, terribly wrong with me. And the sense of shame began to come over me that I had misunderstood the God of the universe. And that behind it all, I wanted to be saved for my glory. And I wanted to insist that it had been my will that had chosen Christ.

And so in kind of a quiet meeting with God, I said, “Lord, I’m utterly ashamed of myself. I see it now. I’ve been living for my own glory. And I simply saw that I was a very, very proud person. And the one word that still sticks with me that I confessed to God, I said, “God, I’m ego-centric all the way. I love myself, and I don’t love you.” And I said, “I’m sorry for it. And I can’t even figure out why you would want me. But I’m not going to give you any choice. I’m giving myself to you.”

I was desperate. I was just cut to the heart. I almost, I thought I was going to die.

I saw how evil had been my life lived for my own glory. And when I confessed that, I said, “I was ashamed of it. I said to God something like this. I put down my weapons. I put them all down. Surrender. And when I said that, I said I’m going to live for your glory, and before I said I don’t even know whether you want me, but here I am, take me.”

And he took me.

And the most amazing thing happened to me when I committed myself to live for the glory of God, and I gave up the idea that I had somehow saved myself, or had a big part in it, I had a peace, and a song.

But man, when I saw what God had done for me, I began to see what the Cross meant, I saw what God had saved me from, I saw my utter wretchedness, and I just wanted to dance for joy.

Man I had a song, I had Ephesians: immediately I knew, I understood the passage, and I realized that this was music.

Later on I’ve read some very penetrating studies of Scripture, and one of them by Verstermon makes a comment about how Paul writes right out of the music of the Psalms.

And when you read Ephesians 1, he is singing. And my heart sang for joy over a God who has God all the way.

And the amazing thing was that I just wanted Christ to be preeminent. And that is really the first thing you meet in this passage.

If you look at it in Ephesians 1: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

And then in vs. 4 he says, “He chose us in Him.” Christ is preeminent here. And as he goes through here, every time it is through Jesus Christ.

Vs. 5— In love He adopted us, after His predestinating love He adopted us, it’s through Jesus Christ.

And then He speaks in vs. 6 of the grace which came to us, freely given to us, in the One He loves, in His beloved Son, that’s Christ.

In Him we have redemption, that’s in vs. 7.

And when we move on down through the passage, its all these things coming together in vs. 10— the plan, it comes together. Everything in the whole heavens and the earth in Christ.

And so you have it back in eternity, you have Christ in time redeeming us, and then Christ gathering us all together—its all in Christ.

And the thing that seemed to me at that point such a shame was that there could be anyone in this universe who didn’t live for the preeminence of Christ.

e. Jack explains TRANSITION FROM “COVERTED SORT OF HALF-WAY” TO “THEN I REALLY GOT SAVED THROUGH EPHESIANS 1.”

Before "I could see God had a kind of a general plan over things. He had led me out of Oregon to San Francisco.

MY SISTER WAS CONVERTED FIRST AND I WAS CONVERTED A LITTLE LATER, and others became Christians. But others had power I didn’t.

AND I WAS SO INSISTENT ON THE FACT THAT I HAD CHOSEN CHRIST THAT I WAS REALLY MY OWN SAVIOR."

f. Jack preachers and returns to San Francisco.

“I’d always disliked the Presbyterian church. I had been a Presbyterian atheist. And I GOT COVERTED SORT OF HALF WAY. AND THEN I REALLY GOT SAVED THROUGH EPHESIANS 1. And when I did, I loved Presbyterians. Now of you can love Presbyterians, I figured you could love anyone. And I sent down to the church where I had grown up, and I said, “Would you like to have me preach you a sermon?”

g. Jack’s Summary Application

“One thing I’m terribly afraid of is that some of you might think you know Christ, but you are still living for your own glory, and you haven’t had the joy of a surrender to God and His grace in Jesus Christ.”

h. The Affect, Timeline, and Message

And when I left there, I could hardly wait to get back to San Francisco. I had this desire to make Christ preeminent.

I was about 20 years old.

What I did was, in a very urban area, I had not done any calling at all. I was a country boy. And I went there knowing and I said to people, at door after door,

“HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT JESUS AND THE JOY HE BRINGS TO THOSE WHO HAVE HIM ALL THE WAY AS THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR?”

THAT’S WHAT A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY BRINGS.

It brings a freedom. You know why I had that freedom? Before I had been afraid of people, and once you haVE been in the storm of God’s revelation, you don’t say, “Alright, He’s a little man like me. He may be 6’10”, but its only relatively bigger than me, because God in Christ has all the preeminence. (sarcasm)”

Now are you man-centered in spite of everything in your thinking? Are you really seeking for your own preeminence?

You see this doctrine of election can help you, and it can liberate you from that.

From “A Faith Worth Sharing”

Owner was named Bill

Worked as a breakfast cook for over 12 single men

Couple blocks from San Francisco State Univ downtown campus Gus was a fellow student at sfsu

First shared his faith at the boarding house
Became a Christian two months before while working as a flagman and laborer on a highway maintenance crew in SW Oregon.

Jack had previously dropped out of college at SFSU.

Location: San Francisco

Around October, 1948. See "Outgrowing Ingrown Church (Notebook Notes), page 2.

"Reading it turned my world upside down. I had come to the end of the road (ironically while working on roads), where there is nothing left but God. But he was all I needed."