God’s Masterpiece
Ephesians 2:10
One of my favorite scriptures is Ephesians 2:10, because
in very few words, it says so much about the identity of those who belong to
Jesus. Paul says,
so we can do the good things he
planned for us long ago.
The Greek word translated “masterpiece” in the
translation I read, describes things masterfully designed to fulfill a great
purpose.
A sculpture brought out of a block of marble by the
skillful hand of the sculptor to honor a leader or tell a story.
A painting that displays little dabs and lines of paint
in such a way that it takes the viewer on a journey.
A poem that takes a few words carefully chosen and
masterfully combined to capture and communicate a timeless truth.
Paul says God’s people are like that—designed by the
Master to fulfill His great purpose. We
are, as one translator wrote, “heaven’s
poetry etched upon lives.”
Fred Miller, like no other man I've known, was God’s
masterpiece. By God’s design and Fred’s
obedience, he was perfect for fulfilling God’s great purpose. Heaven’s poetry was truly etched upon his
life.
You knew it the first time you heard his voice. Justin Ulmer, a young man who has grown up in
this church, says he believes God sounds like Fred Miller. That’s not true. God came first, so Fred sounds like God. That voice, so strong, yet so soothing,
proclaiming God’s Word with both a clear message and an inviting melody—that
voice was an instrument God used in pulpits and homes and hospitals and
gravesides to speak the truth in love.
Fred was a masterpiece of a preacher. Some of you were blessed to hear Fred Miller
preach in this place or in another church each Sunday. I was not so fortunate, but a few months ago,
Fred asked me if I would like to have a few recordings of his sermons. I didn't have to think about it. I told him “yes.” Those “few recordings” were in fact, several
hundred tapes of sermons he preached here at St. Andrews Baptist Church. I picked out a few at random and
listened. Those recordings left me very
confused. You see, Dr. Miller and I went
to the same schools, Furman University and Southeastern Seminary, but those schools
didn't teach me to preach at the high level of scholarship and style they
taught Fred Miller. I must have slept
through the wrong class. Fred Miller was
a prince among preachers. He knew the
scriptures and, obviously, studied them constantly to mine out the spiritual
truths, life lessons, and sustaining manna you needed to receive. He knew the human condition, where people are
hurting and need to be healed, where we are blind and need to see, how we are
lost and need to come home. He captured
God’s truth and communicated it in clear but correct English. So many of you are spiritually strong and
healthy because he fed you so well. As
our preacher, Fred Miller was a masterpiece.
He was a masterpiece of appearance. I've heard the jokes about Fred never having
a hair out of place and his surprising invitation near the time of his
retirement for Betsy to come on this platform and mess it up. I know how well he dressed for worship
services here and board meetings and other functions, looking like he stepped
out of a menswear magazine. Who can
forget his strong features and his winsome smile?
Life’s little mishaps seem even funnier when they strike
someone who looks so perfect so much of the time. Several times during his ministry, Fred
Miller was betrayed by baptismal waders.
One pair had holes, another had dry-rotted, and a third, borrowed from a
friend for baptism in our chapel, were too short for his frame. Fred was inadvertently rebaptized from the
waist down that day. On that infamous
“short wader Sunday,” Evelyn set a world record for driving from this church to
her home and back to bring Dr. Miller some dry pants. She forgot socks, so he squished a little
during the sermon that day.
But weren't you proud to see such a stately gentleman, a
man who carried himself with true dignity, and be able to say, “He is my pastor. He represents my church. He is an example of a life given to Christ.” When you looked at Fred Miller, he was a
masterpiece.
Fred’s unshakable spirit was a masterpiece. You don’t know who some people are going to
be on a given day. Former astronaut Alan
Shepherd had a secretary who would secretly change the picture outside Shepherd’s
NASA office from one with a pleasant expression to one with a scowl to warn her
coworkers to stay out of his office on one of his bad days. Emotionally and constitutionally, Fred Miller
was as constant as the North Star. He
was who he was wherever you saw him and no matter what the circumstances. He wasn't like a thermometer that changes to
match the temperature around it. Dr.
Miller was a thermostat who set the emotional and spiritual temperature of a
situation through the constancy of his inner strength.
Stephen tells a story about his dad at a Furman football
game. The game was at a critical time,
with victory and defeat hanging in the balance, when an official made, shall we
say, a very questionable call. Stephen
said that all around him, Furman fans erupted into loud protests against the
call, some of them using very colorful language. When that tidal wave of a tirade had passed,
Dr. Miller seized the moment to voice his disapproval of the call. He pointed his finger at the field and
shouted, “Poor officiating! Poor officiating!” Even in the heat of the gridiron battle, he
was Fred.
How many times have our lives felt out of control, turned
upside down, shaken to the core, only to have Fred enter the room, enter the
crisis, enter the moment, and become a spiritual compass for us, unshaken by
circumstance, remembering what matters, pointing us toward hope, toward love,
toward God. His spiritual constancy was
a masterpiece.
His visionary leadership was a masterpiece. Dr. Miller led this church through some of
its most forwarding moving years. He had
a vision for how this church could expand its ministry and serve Christ in a greater
way. He didn't hesitate to call upon you
to help his God-given dreams come true.
John Timmerman told me a story of a call he received from Dr. Miller,
asking John to meet him for breakfast the next day. Dr. John is a good man, but still wondered
what kind of trouble he was in to be called in for a private meeting with the
pastor. Over breakfast, Dr. Miller
shared his vision of a new sanctuary, a place where many more people could
gather to worship God, a place where God’s family could continue to grow. He asked John to chair the church’s financial
campaign to build this sanctuary. In
1980, you entered this new building and began a larger ministry.
Fred had a dream for this church. He also had a dream for each person who made
up this church. He saw your buried
talents and unclaimed gifts. He believed
in you before you believed in yourself.
He called you to take frightening first steps that moved you forward
toward the person God created and called you to be.
Carl Sandburg said, “Nothing happens without first a
dream.” Fred Miller had a dream for this
church and for each person who works and worships here. His vision was a masterpiece.
Perhaps the heavenly poetry God etched upon Fred’s life
was at no time more evident than when this church and its larger Baptist family
needed a statesman. Our convention was
at war. Names were called. Lines drawn.
Wedge issues hammered.
Relationships poisoned. What was
happening nationally to Baptists was happening, to some extent, here at St.
Andrews. We could say of Fred Miller,
what the Bible says of Queen Esther. He
was brought to the kingdom for such a time as this. Fred dared to face the issues, talk about
them, be honest about them. He was
Baptist enough to believe that people don’t have to agree about everything in
order to work together. He remembered
the Baptist hallmark of soul competency and challenged this church and our
Baptist family to remember that each believer has the right to follow Jesus
Christ as led by the truth of the scriptures and the witness of the Holy
Spirit. He demanded that as we speak the
truth about who we are, what we believe, how we feel called to do missions, we
speak that truth in love, respecting and, yes, even loving those with whom we
disagree. So, these many years later, we
are a church of Southern Baptists and Cooperative Baptists. We are leaders in our financial support of
both mission groups and actively participate in the life of both. Had our larger Baptist family followed Fred
Miller’s path, the path of high principle and deep love, we would be stronger
and more faithful today. His
statesmanship was a masterpiece.
Allow me to voice a personal note of appreciation when I
say that Fred Miller’s relationship to me as his successor was a
masterpiece. I could fill a book with
stories of former pastors and their successors who try to occupy the same spot
in the life of the church and never get along.
Fred Miller wouldn't be in that book.
He told me once that his goal was to sit as close to the back pew as
possible and keep quiet. I wouldn't say
it that way. He was my greatest
supporter. He encouraged me. He praised me. He prayed for me and with me. I never asked him for help or perspective or
wisdom that he did not come through for me and make my ministry better. And, in a great demonstration of his maturity
and his ability to put the church first, he knew how to let go. He was like a father of the bride who walked
this church he raised to the altar and entrusted it to my care. Then, with no less love for you, he sat down
and allowed my life with you to begin and to grow. I loved him.
I will miss him. I will cherish
my memories of him because Fred’s relationship with me, as one who followed him
in this church’s life, was a masterpiece.
Someone has wisely said that no man is a better servant
of Christ than he is a husband to his wife and a father to his children. That truth applies to women in ministry
too. Fred’s most cherished masterpiece
was his family. Evelyn didn't know she
was marrying a minister when she and Fred fell in love, but they shared such a
deep love for Christ and desire to do His will, that they headed out together
on a kind of missionary journey, years of study, finding ways to manage the
demands of school, work and family, and a beautiful partnership in marriage and
ministry. Evelyn told me she and Dr.
Miller were married for 64 years. What a
shining example of the meaning of Christian marriage you two have been.
And through the life you've shared, you've brought new
life into the world. Sons and their
families who have grown to claim their own places in the world, their own ways
of living for Christ and making him known.
The Bible tells us to build for the storms, to build
lives that can endure the winds and rains of hardship and crisis. Perhaps there is no greater testimony to the
masterpiece of Fred Miller’s life than to see the strength of the family that
has surrounded him, supported him, and sheltered him during these very
difficult, very demanding days. Sammy,
David, Stephen, I say to you and your families, beyond anything we can say or
do today, you have honored your father and your mother with the love you’ve
returned to them when they needed it. We
admire you and love you for that.
Thursday, when Fred Miller entered the city, following in
heaven the same Lord he followed so faithfully in life, he realized the two of
them were passing through a crowd. The
crowd was not so much looking at Jesus as they were staring and smiling at
Fred. And, I imagine, Fred asked his
Lord, “Who are these people and why are they looking at me with such smiles on
their faces?” Because, I picture Christ
saying, “They know they are here because of you.” So many of us will join that
crowd one day, eternally grateful for a man who answered God’s call, fulfilled
his mission, and led us to Christ.
Fred Miller was a masterpiece.
Heaven’s poetry was etched upon his life.
He fulfilled the great purpose for which God so perfectly
prepared him.
And so, Dr. Miller, Pastor, Fred, we will thank our God
every time we remember you.
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