—Dr. Michael A. Graham
“Jack Miller … taught me how to preach grace. Whatever the subject and whatever the text, people were being changed by being brought into connection with the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. He taught me to preach grace no matter what the text… There would never have been a Redeemer Church in New York City without the impact of Jack and Rose Marie Miller on our lives and hearts.”
—Timothy Keller, Founding Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Manhattan
On what would have been Jack Miller’s 96th birthday, we remember not the legacy of a perfect man, but a life profoundly transformed and sustained by the grace of God. Jack Miller was a husband, father, pastor, scholar, theologian, missionary, and writer whose rediscovery of the gospel sparked movements of renewal that continue to impact lives, churches, and mission fields around the world.
In this article, I want to share with you the story of Jack’s life as it unfolded under the banner of grace—grace that redeems, grace that transforms, and grace that flows downward to the weak, humble, and broken. Jack’s story is organized around six simple yet profound Cheer Up! statements that became the framework for his ministry and the heartbeat of his message:
1. Cheer Up! God’s Grace Is Greater Than You’ve Ever Dared Hope.
2. Cheer Up! You Are Far Worse Than You Think.
3. Cheer Up! God’s Spirit Works in Your Weakness.
4. Cheer Up! Justification Is by Faith Alone Even in the Twentieth Century.
5. Cheer Up! God’s Kingdom Is More Wonderful Than You’ve Ever Imagined.
6. Cheer Up! Come On, Let’s Die Together; It’s a Great Way to Come to Life.
And in the end, this story—Jack’s story—culminates in one final call: Cheer Up! Grace Runs Downhill
Cheer Up! God’s Grace Is Greater Than You’ve Ever Dared Hope.
Jack Miller’s story began on December 18, 1928, in Gold Beach, Oregon, the youngest of seven children. When he was just two years old, his father, Elmer, died in a tragic hunting accident. Jack’s mother, Iva, remarried out of necessity, striving to provide for her children during incredibly difficult times. But Jack’s relationship with his stepfather was fraught with fear and tension, leaving him feeling abandoned and angry. These early experiences shaped Jack into what he would later describe as an “orphan at heart”—fiercely independent, self-reliant, and distrustful of others.
By his teenage years, Jack had rejected faith entirely, embracing atheism. At sixteen, he left Oregon for San Francisco in search of independence. However, after the death of his older brother Leo, a discouraged Jack returned to Gold Beach, where he worked on road construction. During this time, he encountered J. Gresham Machen’s book, The Christian View of Man, which stirred questions about the truth of Christianity.
It was the Bible that unsettled Jack more than Machen’s book. As he read passages like Ephesians 1, which spoke of God choosing people for salvation, Jack found himself filled with anger. He wrestled with the idea that God would want credit even for his choice to believe. “Who do You think You are?” he demanded. Years later, Jack would reflect on this moment: “What upset me most was the loss of my choice. It seemed somehow to rob me of the most important thing in my life.”
But the God Jack was resisting was also the God pursuing him. The more he argued with the Bible, the more it revealed his pride and self-reliance. Grace, he realized, wasn’t something he could control or take credit for—it was God’s gift. Jack later reflected: “I could not escape the fact that God chose me, that He wanted the credit. That broke me. I had nothing left but to believe.”
This surrender marked the beginning of a lifelong transformation. Jack’s identity as an “orphan”—living in distrust and self-reliance—began to shift as he caught a glimpse of what it meant to live as a son, fully loved by God. Though this theme of sonship would become central to his life and ministry, it began here, faintly visible in the light of grace that first reached him. Jack would later preach that grace is not for the strong or the deserving but for those who know they have nothing left. It was this grace—greater than anything Jack had ever dared hope—that met him and began to reshape his heart.
During this time, Jack also met Rose Marie Carlsen at First OPC in San Francisco, where they were both teaching youth classes. Rose Marie had faced her own challenges growing up in a family marked by deep struggles. Her mother battled severe schizophrenia, and her younger sister had a mental disability, leaving Rose Marie with significant caregiving responsibilities at an early age. She and Jack, like so many others, shared a profound sense of what it felt like to live as “orphans” in a world of broken relationships—self-reliant yet longing for something more. God’s grace brought them together, and they married in 1950.
But grace does not shine brightly without first exposing our deepest need. This leads us to Jack’s second Cheer Up! statement:
Cheer Up! You Are Far Worse Than You Think.
Jack Miller often said, “The best news you ever heard is that original sin is true. If the sin is true, the grace is true.” For Jack, this was a deeply personal reality that emerged through his failures, his repentance, and the grace that met him in his weakness.
Finishing his undergraduate studies at San Francisco State, Jack faced a defining challenge from Alfred Fisk, a professor known as “the lion of San Francisco State,” for his sharp critiques of Christianity. Fisk’s intellectual attacks shook Jack’s confidence and clarified his need to dig deeper into theology. This experience led Jack to enroll at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1953, drawn by the opportunity to study under Cornelius Van Til, a leading apologist.
Jack’s early seminary years were marked by physical and financial strain. By this time, he and Rose Marie were raising their growing family, which included their children—Rose Ann, Ruth, Paul, and Barbara, who was born in Philadelphia. To support them, Jack worked long hours in a milk factory, enduring Philadelphia’s freezing mornings at bus stops.
Exhausted and overwhelmed, Jack and Rose Marie eventually decided to return to California, where Jack taught English at Ripon Christian High School. During this season, their youngest daughter, Keren, their fifth child, was born. While in Ripon, Jack began leading a Bible study in nearby Modesto, which grew into a small church. This experience combined his love for teaching and ministry.
In 1959, Jack accepted a call to pastor Bethany OPC in Stockton while pursuing a doctorate at the University of the Pacific. Rose Marie later reflected, “I didn’t want to be a pastor’s wife. My plan was to be the wife of a professor.” For both of them, Stockton proved to be a crucible. Jack poured himself into preaching, teaching, and his studies, but the church struggled to grow. Reflecting on a prayer meeting that no one attended, Jack confessed, “I believed I had even killed the prayer meeting. No one came—not even God.”
In 1963, Jack resigned from Bethany OPC to join the Center for American Studies (CAS), a research institute where he engaged with theological and cultural issues alongside prominent intellectuals. CAS seemed like a return to Jack’s original academic aspirations, and he thrived in the stimulating environment. However, CAS soon faced internal tensions and instability, and Jack became increasingly uneasy with its ideological shifts. When the organization’s direction changed, Jack accepted an invitation from Edmund Clowney to return to Westminster in 1964 to complete his studies and join the faculty.
At Westminster, Jack quickly earned a reputation as a brilliant teacher and sharp thinker. But his growing influence was accompanied by growing frustration. Jack often pointed out the gap between theology and practice in the church and among his colleagues, but he failed to see how this same disconnect existed in his own life. Later, with the Spirit’s help, Jack would recognize, “I was seeing in them what was true of me.”
Jack reflected, “The weaker I got, the more I cried out for grace, and the stronger I got. That is the marvel of the Christian life. My biggest problem was when I got strong, I wanted to remain strong. And it goes back to the same temptation: the desire to live as though I didn’t need God so much.”
Jack’s sharp critiques of others were often projections of his own struggles. The Holy Spirit was at work, further unmasking Jack’s self-reliance and leading him to cry out for more grace. Yet the temptation to “remain strong,” to live as though he didn’t need God so much, still gripped him.
God was dismantling Jack’s self-reliance. Though Jack couldn’t yet see it, the Spirit was already leading him toward a surprising and life-changing truth: the advantage of weakness.
This truth would go on to shape Jack’s ministry, fueling his call to risk rather than rust and deepening his total dependence on the Spirit.
This leads us to Jack’s third Cheer Up! statement:
Cheer Up! God’s Spirit Works in Your Weakness.
Of all the Cheer Up! statements, Jack Miller saw this third one—“Cheer Up! God’s Spirit Works in Your Weakness”—as the hinge upon which the others turned. While Jack is most remembered for the first two Cheer Up! statements—“You are far worse than you think” and “God’s grace is greater than you’ve ever dared hope”—without the third, the gospel risks being reduced to a pietistic individualism. Jack came to see that the power of the gospel doesn’t end with an individual’s forgiveness but flows outward through the Spirit to transform individuals, churches, and communities in a dependence that expresses itself in love to God and others.
By the late 1960s, Jack had again reached the end of his own strength (sound familiar?). Though he had seen significant highs as a pastor and professor, he remained deeply frustrated. The disconnect he sensed between what he preached and how he lived it out lingered, and prayer continued to elude his best efforts. Jack and his family took a sabbatical in Europe, traveling first to Switzerland to visit the Schaeffers at L’Abri. During his time there, Jack saw what a life of dependence on God through prayer could look like.
Inspired but still wrestling with prayerlessness, Jack continued on to Spain. It was there, during a season of study and reflection, that he immersed himself in the promises of Scripture, particularly Isaiah and John’s Gospel. Jack began to see a vital theological oversight in his own understanding: he had been interpreting Old Testament promises in the New Testament as if they were a “second Deuteronomy,” calling believers to obey the law with a little help from the Spirit. But the present-tense verbs in John—“come and keep coming,” “believe and keep believing,” “drink and keep drinking”—pointed to something far greater. Jack realized that Pentecost was not merely a historical event. “No, at Pentecost the resurrection life of Jesus Christ was imparted to the church by the Father as permanent and ongoing,” Jack explained.
On his return to Philadelphia, Jack visited the Schaeffers once more as these truths continued to settle into his heart. Back at Westminster, Jack began to integrate these new insights into his preaching and teaching. His prayers for his daughter Barbara’s salvation became an early and profound application of these truths. Jack also started praying for new conversions, and as people came to faith, they pleaded with Jack to plant a new church—what would eventually become New Life Presbyterian Church. Rose Marie noted the change in him: “Jack became freer to laugh at himself and admit his faults. It made him easier to live with and easier to follow.” David Miller, one of New Life’s elders, later described it as “a praying church rooted in the gospel. It was not about prayer as ritual or performance but as desperation and dependence on the Spirit for everything.”
This Cheer Up! statement—“God’s Spirit Works in Your Weakness”—brought harmony to Jack’s life and ministry and pulls all the other “Cheer Up” statements together. It bridged the gulf between theology and practice and pointed Jack and others to the Spirit’s power to transform individuals, churches, and communities. Without this truth, the gospel risks becoming a form of pietistic individualism, but with the Spirit’s power fueled in prayer, the gospel becomes a living, dynamic call to trust and serve God in weakness and dependence.
This leads us to the fourth Cheer Up! statement that defined what Jack would mean when he talked about the gospel:
Cheer Up! Justification Is by Faith Alone Even in the Twentieth Century.
“Cheer Up! Justification Is by Faith Alone Even in the Twentieth Century”—is both a reminder and a challenge. For Jack, this wasn’t merely a doctrinal truth to defend; it was the beating heart of the gospel. It was the truth that freed him from self-reliance and fear and became the foundation of the Christian life—not just for conversion but for every step of the journey.
During the 1970s, Jack’s reflections on the gospel culminated in a small but impactful booklet called A New Life. In it, he outlined four essential elements of the gospel that profoundly shaped his ministry: the gospel’s content (what God has done in Jesus Christ), the gospel’s promise (God’s unchanging love and acceptance in Christ), the gospel’s power (to change not only one’s standing before God but also one’s heart), and the gospel’s form (a spoken or preached message). These four aspects of the gospel became the framework for how Jack taught believers to preach the gospel to themselves daily, share it with one another in Christian community, and take it to a world in desperate need.
Jack’s clarity on the gospel deepened during a time of theological controversy at Westminster Theological Seminary. Professor Norman Shepherd’s teachings on justification sparked widespread confusion and division. Shepherd argued for a trifold definition of justification: initial justification by faith alone, but with continuing justification and final justification influenced by non-meritorious works of covenantal faithfulness. For many, this formulation blurred the line between justification and sanctification, creating theological and pastoral confusion.
Jack became deeply engaged in this debate—not just as a professor at Westminster but also as a pastor and leader within the OPC Presbytery. While others addressed the debate primarily in academic or theological terms, Jack sought to respond in a way that was both clear and constructive. He strongly opposed Shepherd’s teaching, but his critique remained rooted in a love for the gospel and a desire to edify others. Jack’s lectures on Galatians, forged during this period of theological controversy, not only shaped the Sonship course but also provided a practical way to clarify and apply the doctrine of justification by faith alone in a way that resonated deeply with both believers and those coming to faith.
For Jack, justification by faith alone was not simply a legal doctrine but the living, breathing foundation for spiritual vitality and power. Reflecting on Galatians, Jack explained:
“Many people think Galatians is concerned first of all with justification by faith since it’s so prominent. Galatians is not first of all concerned about justification by faith, but about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you open to [Galatians 3] and begin to read, you see that Paul’s whole argument is about the power and the vitality—and the protecting of that power and vitality—of the ministry of the Spirit. He starts out [by saying], ‘Look, you’re leaving the cross behind. You’re losing out on justification by faith, or you’re in danger of it. But then you learn, his big thing, his big idea is: watch out that you don’t lose out on spiritual freedom and spiritual power.’ … The way you get the power is always staying on that foundation [of justification by faith].”
This insight helped Jack bring clarity to others who felt caught between forensic (legal) and transformational (sanctifying) aspects of the gospel. Jack often quoted Geerhardus Vos to explain the relationship between justification and sanctification:
“Justification and sanctification are not the same, and an endless amount of harm has been done by the short-sighted attempt to identify them. But neither are these two independent one of the other; the one sets the goal and fixes the direction, the other follows.”
Jack emphasized that justification by faith alone sets the goal and direction for sanctification. For him, justification was not just the entry point into the Christian life but the unshakable foundation that enabled believers to live in freedom, joy, and dependence on the Spirit. Without this foundation, the Christian life will most definitely become a cycle of selfish independence that Van Til often warned against. But with justification as the foundation, believers can live boldly in their identity as children of God, experiencing both the freedom of grace and the power of the Spirit.
The theological controversy surrounding Shepherd was devastating for Westminster Seminary, the OPC, and the broader Reformed world. The ripple effects of this debate continue to this day, and they left many wounded and disillusioned. But for Jack, this painful season became an opportunity to deepen his understanding of the gospel and its application to life and ministry. Even in the midst of conflict, Jack’s clarity on justification by faith alone enabled him to navigate the tensions boldly and constructively.
This Cheer Up! statement—“Justification Is by Faith Alone Even in the Twentieth Century”—was Jack’s answer to a world where the gospel is often reduced to antinomianism on the one hand or legalism and moralism on the other. For Jack, justification by faith alone was the foundation on which we maintain our spiritual freedom and power, which the Spirit uses to sanctify and transform us individually and also makes a reality vibrant discipleship, church renewal, and global mission.
This foundation then of justification by faith alone necessarily leads us to Jack’s fifth Cheer Up! statement:
Cheer Up! God’s Kingdom Is More Wonderful Than You Ever Imagined.
Jack Miller’s life and ministry from 1979 to 1990 was not about his own strength, but about God’s greatness revealed in his weakness. Through personal suffering, ministry challenges, and moments of helplessness, Jack experienced the kingdom of God in remarkable ways. Jack did not have in himself the strength to lead; rather, God worked powerfully through Jack’s weakness as he depended on the Spirit while going with the gospel. The stories of these years show forth as clear evidence that God’s kingdom advances not through human triumph, but through brokenness, humility, and the surprising power of the Holy Spirit.
From 1979 to 1982, Jack made regular trips to Uganda—a country recovering from the devastation of Idi Amin’s regime. The circumstances in Uganda were dire, marked by political instability, threats, and uncertainty. Jack didn’t know what to expect in this war-torn country, devastated by Amin’s reign and the collapse of several governments during these years. Yet, it was precisely in these vulnerable moments that God’s power was most evident, and Christ’s kingdom advanced.
God’s kingdom doesn’t advance through human strength, but through His absolute control. After teaching on Bavuma Island, Jack and his companions crossed Lake Victoria, when a storm suddenly overwhelmed their boat. The winds howled, and the waves tossed them relentlessly. In that moment, Jack felt the weight of his own helplessness, but he knew this storm was no accident. God is absolute—He could take them down or bring them safely to Tommy Bay, all according to His plan. Jack’s dependence on Christ was the source of peace in the chaos. In the midst of the storm, he was reminded that God’s kingdom advances not through our strength, but through the absolute control of God.
In 1983, Jack suffered a heart attack that became a pivotal moment in his life and ministry. Lying in a hospital bed, weak and unable to even pick up his Bible, Jack had some of the nurses read Romans to him. In these moments of helplessness, God was at work. Even in his pain, Jack felt a deep concern for those who would suffer eternal separation from God. Soon, some of the nurses came to Christ, and a mini-revival broke out in the hospital. Jack led an Indian gentleman to Christ, seeing firsthand God’s kingdom moving forward through faith.
During his recovery, Jack’s dependence on Christ deepened. As he became even more aware of his weakness, he devoted more time to prayer. As Jack himself reflected, ‘The weaker I got, the more I prayed; the more I prayed, the more I rejoiced as I witnessed the glory of God’s kingdom grow.’ Jack’s ministry took on a new depth as he focused on celebrating the power of the gospel. Sonship, a collection of talks that had begun in Uganda and the Carriage House in Philly, was now being taught with greater clarity.
As Jack’s health improved, his focus shifted from personal recovery to the ongoing work of World Harvest Mission and the broader church. His commitment to prayer and dependence on the Spirit deepened. Jack increasingly saw and taught others that in Christ weakness is our advantage—not a hindrance to the gospel, but as a means through which God’s power is made perfect and visible. This focus was central to the culture of New Life Church and World Harvest Mission, and it became the foundation for the Sonship movement that continues to shape a generation of leaders and missionaries in the U.S. and around the world.
Jack Miller’s life, teaching, and ministry demonstrate that in the most vulnerable places, through the weakest people, God’s power is made perfect, and His kingdom moves forward in ways far beyond what we could ever imagine.
Which now brings us to our sixth Cheer Up! statement:
Cheer Up! “Come on, let’s die together; it’s a great way to come to life.
Jack Miller’s ministry was shaped by an unexpected and counterintuitive truth: the gospel is not life to death, but death to life. From his battle with cancer to his heart attack, Jack was forced to confront the reality of physical death and the constant, inevitable journey toward it. But it was through these daily deaths and weaknesses that Jack came to understand how we also die by faith as we learn and practice living by faith.
In 1996, just before Jack’s heart surgery, he wrote about his battle with his own self-effort and flesh—those parts of us that strive to control our own lives and destiny. As he put it, “I must firmly resist the devil who was stirring up unspiritual self-dependence in me.” It was in this desert of self-reliance that Jack was called to die to his self-competence.
Hunter Dockery recalled a most powerful moment he witnessed in Jack’s ministry: “[Y]ou know people talk about the unction coming upon you; I have felt it occasionally. But the Spirit came on [Jack] that day and I remember him … with this passion; that anger at the people’s hard hearts. And I remember him yelling at the top of his lungs when he said, ‘I am a dying man preaching to dying men!’ They had no idea that he was literally dying …”
Jack truly lived out what he had preached throughout his ministry: that the way to life in Christ is through death to self trust by faith in the grace of God who enables us to face our physical death with confidence. Jack’s points us to the profound truth that as we die to self trust and rely on God’s grace, His love and power flow most freely—downhill, to the least of these, and through us, weak sinners as we are, to a world in desperate need of the hope of the glory of God’s grace in Christ.
Cheer Up! Grace Runs Downhill.
The gospel is not for the strong, but for the weak! Jack’s own suffering taught him to trust in God’s perfect plan. Reflecting on his journey, he said, “Why is it so difficult to hear about God’s perfect plan? It’s very hard to see it as a perfect plan if you don’t know how much God loves you, because hard things are going to happen to every one of us. But if you trust the Father’s plan, it makes such a difference.”
At the heart of Jack’s faith was his deep, personal relationship with Jesus. He once shared a moving conversation with a dying patient who said, “I’m not interested in going to heaven because it would be too boring.” Jack asked her, “What is the happiest moment of your life?” She replied, “The best and happiest times of my life came when I was with someone I really loved.” Jack responded, “That is what makes heaven so very special. Jesus is my very best friend. And the great thing about heaven is being there forever with your best and truest friend.”
The principles Jack lived by—the primacy of the gospel, humility, prayer, and love for the lost—live on through the mission he founded, Serge. Today, Serge operates in 27 countries with over 300 missionaries, continuing the work Jack began. Rose Marie reflects, “Jack left an amazing legacy in Serge… Uganda and Ireland were the first two mission fields and are still in operation today… we are now in 27 countries with 300 workers and still growing.” Through Serge, Jack’s message continues to spread, showing that dying to self trust—and learning to rely on God’s grace—is not only the way to live fully for Christ but the key to transforming the world around us.
Through weakness and surrender, God’s kingdom advances—not through human strength, but through the surprising power of the Holy Spirit. As grace runs downhill, it reaches the least of these, and in the process, God’s love for the world is given in and through His beloved Son.
The Lord Jesus Christ and the greatness of His gospel—that is where Jack would want us to conclude this week-long reflection as we remember what would have been Jack Miller’s 96th birthday.
