Bemoaning divisions within the body of Christ, pastor John MacArthur this weekend said the church has been harmed by “identity” groups that have led to anger and discord – and a loss of joy.
“I don't hear a lot about pastoral joy. I don't hear a lot about congregational joy,” MacArthur said at the Shepherds’ Conference.
Preaching from Philippians 1, MacArthur read from verse 27, where the Apostle Paul wrote: “[L]et your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”
“The whole message of Paul here is unity for the sake of joy,” MacArthur said, later adding that Paul excludes heresy from biblical unity.
“The church should be the most joyful assembly of human beings on the planet,” MacArthur said.
MacArthur then lamented divisions within the church.
“Do I need to say ... churches and the church, in general, is dysfunctional?” he asked. “That it is morbidly internally hostile to itself in so many cases? Do I need to say the churches are marked by anger, disappointment, discord, resentment?
“Do we need to say,” he said, “that evangelical Christianity is fractured into all kinds of identity groups that are all demanding their moment in the sun and that everybody pay attention to them and give them what they think they deserve? Do I need to remind you that there are more victim categories than there are victims? And that everybody's been abused and everybody's been offended? And the price you pay for that is no joy.”
The sermon led to some debate on social media by those who had read only a partial quote.
“This quote makes no sense. There are no victim categories. There are abuser categories,” one person tweeted.
Another wrote on Twitter, “I firmly believe every human being at one point or another plays the role of the offender and the offended due to our common sin nature. While we cannot change our past offenses and hurts, we can all find a new way forward in Christ.”
Still, another wrote, “John's point is immediately proven by all the people who responded by acting like victims from what he said."
Photo courtesy: Islandsend/Creative Commons, image cropped and resized.
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
