John Piper was twenty-two years old at the time. The place was Wheaton College. The setting....chapel services for about 2,000 Wheaton students at the Edman Chapel....of whom John Piper was one. The speaker was V. Raymond Edman....who had two years previous retired as president of Wheaton College. They had already....while Edman was still president....named the chapel after him....such was the respect that he had!
The topic of Mr. Edman's chapel message was....In The Presence Of The King. About eleven minutes had passed....V. Raymond Edman was still speaking....you can hear all of this on the link above....when Mr. Edman dropped dead behind the microphone!
A few years ago....four or five maybe....my wife and I were visiting the campus of a military academy....a university....I won't mention the name....and we walked into a building with a large auditorium. The entire student body was there....in uniform....and they were being scolded by one of the university leaders. It was a bit of a shock. Maybe a minute or two into this....a young man....apparently one of the student leaders as he was standing in the back....came up to us and very politely said that we probably should not be there at that time. So I apologized....and we left.
Well in this chapel service that V. Raymond Edman was giving to students on September 22 of 1967....almost fifty-nine years to the day from today....he was scolding the students! They had apparently forgotten that when they enter a chapel for a service that they are entering the presence of a king....not only a king....but the King of Kings!
Tomorrow....roughly twelve hours from my typing this....evangelicals will be entering their worship service....and it will not be as if they were entering the presence of a king. There will be laughter....and chit chat....before and after the service....and maybe talk about today's football games....or the ones on the schedule for tomorrow. Such is the America that we live in.
May God....if it be His will....and if it be to His glory....have mercy upon all of us....and upon me....as I also struggle in this Vanity Fair that we call our home. May His Holy Spirit tomorrow shake timbers in our churches....as Samson....in a blinded state as we are in today....shook the pillars.....not that they would collapse.....but that we would be rudely awakened to an existence that God gave....and that we let grow with weeds....and that now stands in judgment! May he have mercy upon these pastors who have neglected their duties to warn us....so that we who neglected to demand that they feed us all that we need....might then also receive mercy....and that all of us might finally come together in spirit....wherever we are....in whatever nation we are....not merely for fellowship....but for worship....and praise....and thanksgiving....and that we might amend our ways....and call out....Maranatha....Lord Jesus Come!
