Mr. MacArthur bases his two sermons on Luke 12:22-34. In that passage, our Lord Jesus Christ is telling us that we have no reason to worry if we truly trust in God's sovereignty. He uses the analogy of the birds and the lilies, who neither toil nor spin, yet God takes care of them. Jesus concludes His analogy by telling us that we are much more valuable than the birds and the lilies. He says that if we seek His kingdom first, then everything else will be added unto us. I do not have any disagreement with Mr. MacArthur's exegesis of this biblical passage. However, what Mr. MacArthur fails to tell his congregants is that we cannot "stop worrying" about our own strength. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish that task. Furthermore, Mr. MacArthur fails because he trivializes the real struggle of people who deal with any kind of anxiety disorder. He blatantly makes the claim that people who suffer from an anxiety disorder are not following Christ properly because they do not understand what he calls "divine priority". This kind of rhetoric is dangerously close to gaslighting believers who suffer from mental illnesses, such as anxiety disorders.
The next portion of this sermon that I'd like to address is when Mr. MacArthur says the following,
We were made for His glory. We were made to serve His glory, to serve His purpose, to honor Him, to bring attention to Him, to proclaim the gospel, to live out Christ and the power of the Spirit in the world. And as long as that’s the divine priority, that’s God’s priority or purpose for us, He will sustain us to the end of His purpose.
In fact, you can work hard and save - and the Bible says you should save and you should work hard and you should be a good steward and you should make good investments, and all of that, but in the end, it wouldn’t matter whether you did that or gave it all away as far as the divine priority is concerned because whatever you wear and whatever you eat isn’t the reason God put you here
First, I'd like to point out a fundamental flaw in this portion of his sermon. I agree that we were made for His glory and that we were made to serve His glory. I have no contention with this statement. However, it seems to me that Mr. MacArthur is insinuating that a Christian who suffers from mental disorders cannot live for His glory or even serve His glory. If that is in fact what Mr. MacArthur is hinting at, then according to his logic, all Christians who suffer from mental disorders have no business serving God in any way. It is almost Mr. MacArthur who thinks that only people who have it all together mentally can serve the Lord. I believe the testimony of all the believers in the Bible tells a completely different story. The Bible is literally filled with stories of people who did not "have it together" and yet God still used them greatly. Christians who suffer from mental illnesses still have the opportunity to serve God. Our clinical mental illnesses do not prevent us from serving Him. The only qualification for a believer to serve God is to walk humbly with Him and to have a broken and contrite heart. If we have both of these concepts in mind, then the Lord can work through us mightily, despite our mental illnesses.
Next, I'd like to say that when Mr. MacArthur tells us to "work hard and save", he is not telling us anything new. As a Christian man, I do believe that I should work hard and save for me to take care of my family. However, I wonder what would be Mr. MacArthur's stance on a man who is mentally ill and desires to marry but cannot work a traditional 9-5 job because of his mental illness. Would he tell that man not to marry? I would certainly hope he would never instruct that because a mentally ill Christian man has every right to marry as any sane Christian man does. The only requirement for a man to marry a woman is that both are believers. If both the man and the woman are Christians and they want to marry one another, they should get married. Mental illness should not deter some couples from marrying. Furthermore, the mentally ill Christian man can lead his family in other ways besides monetarily.
The next portion of this sermon that I'd like to address is when Mr. MacArthur says the following,
So worry, anxiety and fear fails to understand the divine priority that God has a purpose for your life and He’s going to make sure you live to fulfill that purpose. Second, we said worry is a failure to understand God’s provision. That is to say that everything you have comes from God. It may come through your work and through your savings and through your diligence and through your talents and your training and all of that, but in the end, it really is God’s pledge to you that sustains you.
And the point is made in verse 24, “Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them.” Here’s the point: “How much more valuable you are than the birds.” He feeds birds and birds have no spiritual value. Oh, they give God glory. They manifest His creative power and His immense love of beauty and design. But they have no spiritual value. They hatch and fly around a little while and disappear. And yet God feeds them. They can’t sow. They can’t reap. They can’t store.
Again, Mr. MacArthur is blatantly making the claim that if a Christian suffers from an anxiety disorder they do not understand "divine priority". As I have stated earlier, this kind of rhetoric is clearly a gaslighting statement. For those of you who do not know what gaslighting is, it is when you know you are in the wrong, but you decide to pin the blame on someone else for the sole purpose of controlling them. It is a blatant form of manipulation. I am not saying that Mr. MacArthur is intending to gaslight people. He may be very sincere in his position, but that does not change the fact that he is indeed gaslighting real genuine believers. The reason why I say this is because if a believer who suffers from a mental disorder hears from a well-respected Bible teacher, such as Mr. MacArthur, that the reason that he is suffering is that he does not truly understand "divine priority", then that sincere believer may be led to believe that he must lack faith in God. When a Christian is led to believe that their problems are based on the fact that they do not trust in God enough, that line of reasoning will lead to catastrophic results. The truth is, as I have stated numerous times in this series, that it is possible for a Christian to truly trust in God's sovereignty and "divine priority" and yet still deal with Panic Attacks, OCD, PTSD, and many other mental disorders. Trusting in God's sovereignty will not always make anxiety disorders disappear. Sometimes God may take away someone's anxiety disorders, but most of the time, Christians may need to take medication and see a therapist to help them cope with their illness. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that either.
I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to read this series I sincerely hope that this series helps you to better understand mental illness and that it helps you understand that if you are a Christian who suffers from mental illness you are valuable and that you are not a second-rate citizen. 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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