Arthur Stanley Jones, Jr.
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Transcript
Welcome
Stanley told me to tell you that he really wanted to be here today, but he got a better offer so he can’t make it.
He told me that had to be my opening line when his day finally came.
And it finally came.
I want to welcome you the the celebration of the life of Arthur Stanley Jones, Jr.
I honestly don’t know where to start so let’s start here.
Thank you for coming.
Your presence here means that Stanley touched you in some kind of way - I suspect most of us think we were special to him somehow.
And in Stan’s eyes, we were.
Your presence here is also a comfort to Mary Jo, Mike, Lee and the rest of the family.
It means you care and sometimes that just a good thing to know.
I know a lot of people did a lot of things for Stan and Mary Jo over the last 8 years.
Some things everyone could see.
Some things were hidden.
I can assure you they were greatly appreciate by the Jones family.
I’m not going to name names, but I was particularly impressed by the selflessness of a number of men
Who took time off of work, who showed up at odd hours, who ministered to a brother.
I thank God for you as I’m sure Stan and Mary Jo did as well.
We are here to remember Stanley and to honor Jesus.
So let’s start by talking to Him:
Bless you Lord Jesus for making a plan for sinners to be saved.
Bless you Lord Jesus for caring for sinners, while we were of no use to you at all.
Bless you Lord Jesus that no word spoken against you diminishes you or deters you from your task.
Bless you Lord for saving men’s souls.
Bless you for Stanley Lord.
Bless you for saving him and for disciplining him and for making him more like you.
Bless you for ending his pain and taking him home.
Bless you Lord for giving Mary Jo a patient and loving spirit, that she would care for Stanley on his best days and his worst.
Bless you Lord for sons who honor their mother and their father.
Bless you Lord, for loving us.
Lord Jesus, we’ll be talking a lot about Stanley but we couldn’t talk about him had you not set him free and made him new.
You Lord Jesus are the core of our being, the rock of our salvation
Our strength, our sword and our shield.
You are our everything,
And we bless you and praise you forever and ever.
Amen
Song
Congregation - The Old Rugged Cross
Congregation - Rock of Ages
Scripture
I started to read Romans 6.
Stanley was mesmerized by Romans 6.
You might want to read it 4 or 5 times tonight.
But there are other passages in the Bible
Like Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And Isaiah 40:7-8
The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
And Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
And finally 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Song
Congregation - Victory in Jesus
Special Music
George Sheffield - “Take My Hand, Lord Lead Me Home”
Comments
Mark Manghan
Special Music
George Sheffield - “The Stanley Jones Song”
Eulogy
My first official day as Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gray was July 13, 2014.
Exactly 8 days later I officiated my first funeral.
Vicki Cobb’s mother, Ms. Margaret Briscoe passed away.
And in those 8 days, I heard my first Stanley Jones story.
In fact, I used my first Stanley Jones quote in her funeral.
Many of you know where Kenneth and Vicki live.
Well, seems Ms. Briscoe lived right across the street.
And the Milledgeville highway was dirt, I do believe.
If I remember correctly, young Stan had a girl friend that lived out towards Haddock
And he’d come flying past Ms. Briscoe’s house 90 to nothing
Causing her to yell at him.
If I remember correctly, it seems he sometimes ran up into their yard just to cause some consternation.
I wonder how long it would take for all of us to simply lean back today and tell Stanley stories.
Jimmy Durante had a line that he used about as much as Stan said “Play Ball.”
Durante said, “I got a million of em”
I bet we “got a million” Stanley stories.
I’m going to tell a few - and I hope you get the point.
Stan loved to ride and we’d go for a ride on a fairly regular basis.
On one of them we went to Juliette.
He took me all over the place giving me names and places and happenings.
We drive up River Road and he told me that the bridge crossing the Ocmulgee used to be up this road a little piece.
It was one of those old metal bridges you don’t see many of anymore - and that one is gone.
But Mary Jo and Stan were out on a double date with somebody.
I do believe I remember there was Champagne involved which may have had something to do with Mary Jo’s request.
Metal bridges had cross bars above the traffic and on the crossbar was a sign - some sort of official sign.
And Mary Jo fancied that sign.
“Stanley - I want that sign”
So Stanley stopped the car and got his tools.
Back in the day you didn’t drive without a tool box in the car.
And somehow he shimmied up the braces and got to the sign and unbolted it.
And presented his Maid Marion with her trophy.
We “got a million of em,” don’t we?
I really started to understand Stanley on a day we took a really long drive.
I’ve mentioned in several sermons that my grandparents had a house up on Lake Nottley in the North Georgia Mountains.
Sounds impressive but it wasn’t.
It was a 3 bedroom no bath, no running water, no central heat house when Granddad bought it.
That place was special to me but after granddad died and Nanny got Alzheimers, the house got sold.
Stan wanted to take a long drive and I wanted a farewell tour to see the cabin - so we spent the day driving and talking.
He told me about his dad and being raised up on Walnut Creek.
You probably know his dad died when he was 17.
He idolized his dad.
He mostly butted heads with his mom.
Stanley contracted some kind of something when he was young and the doctor told his mom that it would probably weaken Stanley’s heart
So she needed to keep him still and rested.
Stanley Jones - still and rested.
When donkey’s fly.
Dad on the other hand thought the boy should learn to work and play ball.
Stan really wanted to play football but mom was dead set against it.
Baseball was the compromise.
There was a neat story about Stan and Kenneth Cobb that involved baseball.
Seems Stan and Kenneth had a fight one day that traveled the length of the old High School’s hallway.
The principal came to break it up and ended up taking a shot from one of the boys.
I’m inferring here, but it seems Stan might have been in trouble before.
And when blame was assessed and punishment meted out based on that blame.
Stanley was the guilty party, but Kenneth took the fall - voluntarily.
Stan said Kenneth knew that if Stan got in trouble, he’d be kicked off the ball team.
And that would be bad for everyone.
So Kenneth Cobb said that Kenneth was the guilty party.
And Stan and Kenneth remained friends even to this day.
Stan went on to college - I’d love to tell you of his entrepreneurial exploits but there isn’t time.
He went on to get a job with the Georgia Department of Health and this is where I started seeing the hand of God at work in Stanley’s life.
His territory was the north Georgia mountains.
Whenever there was a disease outbreak - the story he told me involved a particular type of disease which is transmitted by excessive friendliness among members of the opposite sex.
In this particular story, some very prominent people in that little town had consorted with a number of their brethren and sisteren’s significant others.
And weren’t especially willing to talk to a city slicker from the Health Department in Atlanta that their true confessions could cost some of them their community stature.
Not to mention their marriages.
So Stanley would find a little local watering hole and he’d sit and make friends
Something he had no problem doing.
And he’d drink and meet people and swap stories
Until the right person said the right thing and he’s be able to, let’s say, counsel them on their particular vulnerabilities.
To hear him tell it, he enjoyed it and was quite successful
With one minor hitch - he did a lot of drinking.
And while it served his job well, it didn’t serve Stanley well.
In 1973, Stanley and Mary Jo were divorced for a season.
Stanley’s life was spiraling out of control.
He had lost his wife and at least one child - I don’t know how many had been born before 73.
He was driving down Ponce De Leon Avenue and he turned on Scott Boulevard.
That’s when he raised his fist to God and shouted at him, “If you are there, I need your help. I don’t want to live this way anymore.”
And Jesus honored that prayer and delivered Stanley.
There is a poem Charles Solomon wrote called “Heart to Heart.”
It was Stan’s theme song - he had it memorized and quoted it to me a hundred times.
“When we come to the place of full retreat
And our heart cries out for God,
The only person whose heart ours can meet,
Is one who had likewise trod.
“Others may offer a word of cheer
To lift us from despair,
But above the rest, the one we hear
Is the whisper, “I’ve been there.”
Two things you should hear there.
First is the gospel.
God became flesh and dwelt among us.
Hebrews 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Stanley learned - and he so desperately wanted everyone to learn, that Jesus was never out to get us.
On the contrary, when sin overtakes us and we raise our fist and shout, “If you are there, I need your help”
Jesus whispered, “I’ve been there.”
Stanley heard Jesus and it changed his life.
I read Luke 4:18–19 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.””
You hear those people - they were Stanley’s people.
He preached Jesus’ liberty.
He preached “the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Favor - that’s another way of saying, God likes us.
If you were hurt and bruised, you were Stan’s kind of people.
Because Stanley had been there.
Because Jesus let him go there, so Jesus could change Stanley and Stanley could help us.
Eight years ago, the bad back the doctor’s kept telling Stan was arthritis turned out to be multiple myleoma.
I hated hearing those words - that’s what killed my grandfather.
It’s what was killing Philip Stanford.
I knew it would get Stan eventually.
You remember this - Isaiah 40:7–8 “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Stanley knew the game was entering the final innings.
He played with all of this might.
He and Mary Jo made strategies.
And took treatments and stayed in Atlanta for a season.
And made a billion trips for infusions.
But the clock never stops ticking.
It seemed the breath of the Lord was blowing on Stanley
And he was withering.
But he did cling to the Word of our God.
He kept teaching - it hurt him when he had to back off.
I knew things were changing when the told me after Sunday School one week,
I’m coming off the field - it’s not my time anymore.
He was very proud that his boys as he called them, stepped up.
That group is something special and Stanley loved you so very much.
Now here’s where I take my chance on making some folks uncomfortable and some folks down right mad.
I don’t mean to - it’s not my intent.
But I can’t let us walk out of here hailing Saint Stanley.
Yes, in the technical sense of the word, Stanley was and is a saint.
Everyone who is saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ is a saint.
But I’m not talking about that kind of saint.
Stanley could be a horse’s patoot.
In fact, he could be the quintessential horse’s patoot.
Look up horse’s patoot in the dictionary and there was Stan’s picture.
But here’s the deal and this is very important.
You remember Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
Stanley knew who he was - and he hated it with a screaming, fevered passion.
We were sitting out near his property near Walnut Creek where he grew up.
He calls that spot his sanctuary.
And we were there that day so he could lick his wounds.
He had gone to the Real Men’s Bible Study back when it was at the Ole Time Country Buffet.
He said he had blurted out something way too strongly and he could see in some of the men’s eyes that he had hurt their feelings.
And he loved them and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
His quote to me was, “I invented social distancing,” referring to his Olympic ability to drive people away.
He told me once, “I’m surprised I have any friends.
“I’m dogmatic, pragmatic and hard headed.
“And if you are those things without love, you are wrong.”
Stanley did not think of himself more highly than he ought.
He thought of himself with sober judgement.
And it was almost more than his faith could bear.
Just a few weeks ago, I left Stan’s hospital room so mad I could spit.
Stan was dying - that was obvious to me.
And he was doing such a bad job of it.
He had preached over and over and over to rest - rest - rest in Jesus.
And there was no resting in that man’s soul.
He said to one of the doctors in a rather strident tone, “I want to live.”
And I was mad.
I expected more of him than that.
I called a friend who lives a ways away and ranted.
And my pastor friend did his best to console me.
But given a little time and a few serendipitous words - the folks talking had no idea what they were addressing in me.
I call that providence - Jesus loving on me a bit.
I started to see.
Stanley’s knowledge of who he was and the things he had said and the hurt he had caused was almost overwhelming his faith.
Almost - but it didn’t.
My friend died peacefully - Mary Jo said he simply quit breathing.
Jesus’ angel touched Stan’s hand and they left together.
Stanley loved the woods.
He told me he loved riding his property with Fred Allen.
He liked taking sandwiches made with a single slice of sandwich ham and mayo.
And sitting on the tail gate of his truck and they would sit and listen.
After a particular hard lesson about church, Stan and Mary Jo got some fried chicken and rode out to the Piedmont.
There is this little creek you have to drive through.
He parked the truck in the middle of the creek, and he and Mary Jo sat on the tailgate and ate chicken and tossed chicken bones into the water.
And they sat and listened.
On November the 7th of last year, on a particularly beautiful fall day, Stanley took me to their stream.
He couldn’t sit on a tail gate anymore so he brought us a couple of chairs.
I brought some white bread, a couple of packs of the cheapest sliced lunch ham I could find
Some Duke’s mayo - it’s what we ate as kids.
And we made sandwiches and sat and listened.
I pray to God above that there are creeks in heaven.
Little streams that make just enough noise that you can hear the water tumbling over the rocks.
I hope there are hawks that cry out
And breezes that blow and trees that change colors with the seasons.
I hope there are pickup trucks with tailgates
And cheap sandwich bread and lunch meat and Duke’s mayo.
So one more time, we can sit on the tailgate with our friend.
In a place where everything is made new.
Can you imagine how beautiful the sky will be?
How bright the world will be as it will be lit by the radiance of the glory of God.
Can you imagine the smell of the air and the taste of the food
And the love in the conversation between a friend and a friend
Who both know that the only reason they are there is because Jesus said so.
I long for it.
I crave it - my soul aches for it.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Pray with me: From the Valley of Vision
O Lord,
Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,
my present deadness,
my inability to do anything for thy glory,
my distressing coldness of heart.
I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,
And loathe and abhor myself.
I am at a loss to know what thou wouldest have me do,
And feel amazingly deserted by thee,
and sense thy presence so little;
Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,
And the dreadful sin of my nature,
So that I feel all sin,
I cannot think or act but every motion is sin.
Return again with showers of converting grace
To a poor gospel-abusing sinner.
Help my soul to breathe after holiness,
after a constant devotedness to thee,
after growth in grace more abundantly every day.
O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,
And am ready to sink because I fall short of my desire;
Help me to hold out a little longer,
until the happy hour of deliverance comes,
for I cannot lift my soul to thee
if thou of thy goodness bring me not nigh.
Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,
lest I offend my blessed friend
in thought and behaviour;
I confide in thee and lean upon thee,
and need thee at all times to assist and lead me.
O that all my distresses and apprehensions
might prove but Christ’s school
to make me fit for greater service
by teaching me the great lesson of humility.
Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching this lesson to my friend.
I pray I, and we all, learn it as well.
Make us all fit for greater service.
And Lord, thank you for making our friend new.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
Song
Matthew Pittman and Kim Hice - When The Saints Go Marching In
Graveside
I have to read this because of where we are.
Genesis 49:29 “Then [Jacob] commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,”
Jacob was giving instructions to his children as he prepared to die
And he said, “Bury me with my fathers.”
And here we are.
Among Stanley’s people.
The people without whom Stanley would not be.
“Bury me with my fathers.”
There’s a lot of stories in this place.
There’s a lot of grief and pain here.
Michele is here as is Stan’s dad and mom.
Relatives unknown to us
All here - all having gone the way of all flesh.
When Stanley was in the hospital the next to last time
I visited late on a Sunday evening.
It was dark outside.
Stan was in a recliner and he hurt so badly.
I wanted to comfort him somehow
And so I started reading scripture as it came to mind.
When I got to this scripture, I hit pay dirt.
Stanley very weakly asked me, “read that one again.”
Revelation 21:1–5 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Stan mourned over losing his life.
He wanted to be on the field.
He wanted to play the hot corner and field those blistering line drives
Hearing hurting hearts and telling them, “I’ve been there.”
“Let me tell you how to be free.”
Stanley saw so many people either Pharisees like he once was
Or trapped in sin’s bondage like he had been
And he was like a megaphone in a burning theatre yelling this is the way out.
Because he knew what Jesus had done for him.
And it was real and amazing
And Stan knew, if Jesus would do it for Stanley Jones, He’d do it for you too.
Stanley cried real tears.
And he had pain - so much pain.
But then Jesus - Jesus came and wiped it all away.
Everything that Stanley ever longed for is now fulfilled.
Every errant want has been forgotten.
Every Godly desire has been fulfilled beyond his ability to comprehend.
All because of Jesus.
Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday.
We remembered Jesus’ crucifixion.
His death on a cross so that I don’t have to die.
His being raised by the glory of God on the third day so we could be made new.
So Jesus could proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Not because we deserve his grace.
But because of his Amazing Grace.
Romans 5:8 says “But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”
Who would do that?
Who would take on every anti-God thing that I have ever done so I could stand before God and be loved by Him?
Only Jesus would do that.
Only Jesus could do that.
And He did do that, for you and me.
I have no clue what you might think about Stanley, but this much I know for sure.
He stood on the Word of God and the Word of God says John 3:16–17 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
And if Jesus can save me and Stanley, He can save you too.
Song
George Sheffield - Amazing Grace
Prayer
Pray with me one last time:
1. We commend into thy hands of mercy the soul of this our brother departed, Stanley.
And his body we commit to the earth, beseeching your infinite goodness, to give us grace to live in your fear and love and to die in your favor
So that when the judgement shall come which you have committed to your well-beloved son,
Both this our brother, and we, may be found acceptable in your sight
And that we receive that blessing, which your well-beloved son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear you, saying
Come you blessed children of my Father: Receive the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world.
Grant this merciful father for the honor of Jesus Christ, our only Savior, Mediator, our Advocate and our Friend.
[Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB] 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Now, let's go play ball.