This is a continuation of my blog series where I critique John MacArthur's two sermons titled "Anxiety-Free Living". This is not a personal attack on Mr. MacArthur. I highly respect the man, despite my many disagreements with him. So, please do not take this series as my attack on him personally. I feel like these two sermons are harmful to any Christian who suffers from mental illnesses, such as anxiety disorders. He trivializes anxiety disorders and he needs to be addressed since he has such a huge influence on people's lives. The passage Mr. MacArthur bases his sermons on comes from Luke 12:22-34. In that passage, Jesus tells us not to worry because God is sovereign and will care for us. Jesus uses the analogy of birds and lilies as examples of something insignificant that the Lord takes care of. Then, Jesus tells us we are more valuable than birds and lilies. This means we have even more reason to not worry if we truly trust in God's sovereign care. I do not have any issue with Mr. MacArthur's interpretation of this passage. But, what I do have a problem with is his misunderstanding of anxiety disorder. I will continue to make my point in this blog. The purpose of this blog, and this series as a whole, is to show any Christians who suffer from mental illnesses that not all Christians hold to these harmful views, and that they are not second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God.
The next portion of this sermon I'd like to address is where Mr. MacArthur says the following,
Secondly, worry fails to understand divine provision. It fails to understand divine provision. Look at verse 24, "Consider the ravens (or crows) for they neither sow nor reap, and they have no storeroom nor barn and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds?" Now I think He picks birds because they're sort of, I guess, the most fragile. They just are here and kind of gone, but they are a great illustration of divine provision. Do you know that every crow that's ever lived, every raven that's ever lived God wanted to live? And for however long God wanted that bird to live, He provided its food. And if God feeds birds that only in a very modest way, in a very limited way give Him glory, as any of His creation does, don't you think He's going to take care of making sure you can eat, who have the highest and noblest capacity to give Him glory? This, by the way, is also in Matthew 6:26. It's an analogy from the lesser to the greater, common in Jewish teaching. Consider the ravens...and I just think this is probably true. Anyway Jesus is teaching in the outdoors typically and wherever there was an agricultural society, wherever there was a field, there were crows. That's why we have such a thing as a scarecrow. And that was certainly a problem over there. By the way, there were more birds in Israel, probably still true, than any place on the planet. That is because the birds that migrate out of Northern Europe, out of all of Europe and even stretching into the Middle East and the East, if they want to migrate south in the cold winter, they have to go through Israel. It's the largest area of bird migration on the planet because east is the desert, barren with little or nothing, and west is the Mediterranean. That little land is the most fertile soil in the world. And it's always been a dense place for bird migration. The Israeli Air Force has lost more pilots and more planes to birds, decapitating pilots by going through the cockpit because they're flying so fast into a flock, than they have in military combat. And all the planes that go in and out of Ben Gurion and Tel Aviv where I've gone many times are having to deal with these birds, so they've done migration studies to determine what flocks come at what period of the year and how they come and where they come and where they land and they've relocated pools of water, etc., etc., to protect the jets because the birds get in the engines, and that's obviously a problem. Massive place of bird migration which fits the biblical scene in Ezekiel and Revelation where the...after Armageddon the carnage of the dead bodies in that part of the world is so great, it says the birds come and eat them. It may indicate that during that migration season is when that event might happen. But anyway, birds were everywhere. And Jesus probably said, you know, "Look at them. They don't sow and reap. You do. You're out here slaving away, plowing, putting the seed in, watering the seed, coming along to the back-breaking work of harvest, they don't do that and they don't have a storeroom and they don't have a barn. They're incapable, He's saying, of generating their own food supply. They are totally dependent on God. What is provided them by the Creator is all they have. They don't have the ingenuity or the capability. They only have the capability and the instinct to pick up what's been provided for them. That doesn't mean they don't work. Did you ever see a bird lying on its side taking a nap? I... Birds are in constant motion.
The next portion of this sermon I'd like to address is where Mr. MacArthur says the following,
Secondly, worry fails to understand divine provision. It fails to understand divine provision. Look at verse 24, "Consider the ravens (or crows) for they neither sow nor reap, and they have no storeroom nor barn and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds?" Now I think He picks birds because they're sort of, I guess, the most fragile. They just are here and kind of gone, but they are a great illustration of divine provision. Do you know that every crow that's ever lived, every raven that's ever lived God wanted to live? And for however long God wanted that bird to live, He provided its food. And if God feeds birds that only in a very modest way, in a very limited way give Him glory, as any of His creation does, don't you think He's going to take care of making sure you can eat, who have the highest and noblest capacity to give Him glory? This, by the way, is also in Matthew 6:26. It's an analogy from the lesser to the greater, common in Jewish teaching. Consider the ravens...and I just think this is probably true. Anyway Jesus is teaching in the outdoors typically and wherever there was an agricultural society, wherever there was a field, there were crows. That's why we have such a thing as a scarecrow. And that was certainly a problem over there. By the way, there were more birds in Israel, probably still true, than any place on the planet. That is because the birds that migrate out of Northern Europe, out of all of Europe and even stretching into the Middle East and the East, if they want to migrate south in the cold winter, they have to go through Israel. It's the largest area of bird migration on the planet because east is the desert, barren with little or nothing, and west is the Mediterranean. That little land is the most fertile soil in the world. And it's always been a dense place for bird migration. The Israeli Air Force has lost more pilots and more planes to birds, decapitating pilots by going through the cockpit because they're flying so fast into a flock, than they have in military combat. And all the planes that go in and out of Ben Gurion and Tel Aviv where I've gone many times are having to deal with these birds, so they've done migration studies to determine what flocks come at what period of the year and how they come and where they come and where they land and they've relocated pools of water, etc., etc., to protect the jets because the birds get in the engines, and that's obviously a problem. Massive place of bird migration which fits the biblical scene in Ezekiel and Revelation where the...after Armageddon the carnage of the dead bodies in that part of the world is so great, it says the birds come and eat them. It may indicate that during that migration season is when that event might happen. But anyway, birds were everywhere. And Jesus probably said, you know, "Look at them. They don't sow and reap. You do. You're out here slaving away, plowing, putting the seed in, watering the seed, coming along to the back-breaking work of harvest, they don't do that and they don't have a storeroom and they don't have a barn. They're incapable, He's saying, of generating their own food supply. They are totally dependent on God. What is provided them by the Creator is all they have. They don't have the ingenuity or the capability. They only have the capability and the instinct to pick up what's been provided for them. That doesn't mean they don't work. Did you ever see a bird lying on its side taking a nap? I... Birds are in constant motion.
Now, I do not have an issue with Mr. MacArthur telling us that if we trusted in God's "divine priority" we should have no reason to worry. God's sovereign provision should indeed comfort us and give us peace of mind. However, Mr. MacArthur severely misunderstands anxiety disorders. When someone deals with OCD or PTSD, it is not because they have somehow forgotten God's "divine priority" in their lives. People with OCD feel like they have to perform certain rituals or something bad may happen. It is possible that if they believed in and trusted in God's sovereignty they would understand that their rituals have no control over what happens. But, when someone is dealing with OCD, it is not as simple as "just think about His sovereignty" and your OCD will go away. It is just not that easy. As for PTSD, when someone suffers from that, they keep reliving a past traumatic event. It does them no good to think about God's sovereignty when their mind keeps reminding them of their past trauma. Sure, the knowledge of His sovereign care can help them eventually heal from their trauma, but their PTSD will not go away overnight. I am in complete agreement with Mr. MacArthur on the fact that the knowledge of God's sovereign provision can help people with anxiety disorders eventually cope and heal. However, I do not like how simple Mr. MacArthur makes it seem. When someone is dealing with an anxiety or panic disorder, mere platitudes to "not worry" or "not be afraid" simply do not work. These people need medication and counseling to help them overcome.
The next portion of Mr. MacArthur's sermon that I'd like to address appears at the end of the next paragraph. He says the following,
You don't need to spend your life worrying about whether you're going to have enough, whether you're going to have enough now, whether you're going to have enough when you retire, whether you're going to have enough in the future. Your God promises to sustain you to the end of His purpose. And by the way, when that comes, you want to leave anyway, right? Thomas Watson said, "This life is like an inn. You spend a couple of nights there, but you never forget where your home is." Paul said, "It's nice to be here, but I would rather depart and be with Christ, but I have to be here for your sake." But he also knew when it was over and he said, "I've finished the course. I've kept the faith. I've run the race.” I'm ready to go. The time of my departure is at hand. And until that day, He knew how to be in abundance and how to be in little and God supplied all his needs because He always does that for His own.
On the surface, this seems to be pretty good right? Mr. MacArthur is telling us that we do not need to worry about our lives because God will always take care of His own. I have no contention with this because I know that it is true. God will always take care of His own no matter what. My life is a perfect testament to that truth. However, Mr. MacArthur makes the fundamental mistake in thinking that if someone is dealing with an anxiety disorder they are worrying about whether or not they will have enough. Some people's anxiety does indeed cause them to worry about that. However, when it comes to anxiety and panic disorders, it is a lot more different than that. The person with PTSD is not worrying about whether he is going to have enough for the day. No, he is traumatized by his past events, and he cannot function in daily living because everything he sees or does reminds him of that past event. Mr. MacArthur is wrong when he insinuates that this man with PTSD is only suffering because he is worrying about not having enough in life. The person who suffers from OCD is not worrying about whether or not she is having enough in life. She is worrying about something bad happening that only she can prevent. The person with Social Anxiety is not worried about having enough but about whether or not they can trust being around people. All of these are examples of people who suffer from anxiety disorders that have nothing to do with what Mr. MacArthur is accusing them of. These people are not worrying about "keeping up with the Joneses". Mr. MacArthur's trivialization of their struggles is not only offensive but downright ignorant.
This concludes this segment of the series. Please stay tuned for Part 8.
I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read my blog and I sincerely hope this edifies and blesses you, but more importantly, I hope that this gives you a better understanding of mental illnesses, such as anxiety disorders. Mental illness is a serious struggle and it should never be trivialized. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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