John MacArthur: No Grace For Some

John MacArthur—well-known Bible teacher, frequent guest on Larry King Live, Christian author, senior pastor of Grace Community Church, and host of the extremely popular Grace to You radio program—in recent years has joined the ranks of Rick Warren critics. He has not only criticized Warren himself, but has allowed those connected to him and his church launch various assaults against Warren through articles made available at the official Grace to You and Grace Community Church websites (for example, articles written by Nathan Busenitz).

Unfortunately, like so many of Warren's critics, MacArthur has lashed out at Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, and Warren's "Purpose-Driven" ideas with little regard for accuracy or sensitivity to the issues. He has:

1) falsely accused Warren of teaching things that Warren does not teach; and

2) publicly criticized Warren without seeking to contact Warren for clarification on Warren's views (i.e., to get his facts straight).

For example, on a widely-viewed CNN broadcast, MacArthur accused Warren of adopting a "feel-good kind of approach" to preaching. MacArthur further alleged of Warren, "This is telling people exactly what they want to hear, telling people that God agrees with you. God wants you to be what you want to be. And this is pretty heady stuff, to tell somebody that the God of the universe wants them to be exactly what they want to be.”

In other words, to put it in bottom-line terms, MacArthur is saying that Warren is preaching a false gospel (at least that's how it sounds to me). But both assertions are absolutely false. Warren's sermons are not based on any kind of "feel good" approach. Nor is it asserted anywhere in Warren's teachings that the "God of the universe wants them [people] to be exactly what they want to be." In fact, Warren has really said is the exact opposite. In 1993, Warren declared:

"You become what God made you to be. . . . You will never be fully satisfied in life until you begin to be what God made you to be. . . . Find out what God made you to be and be it. . . . You cannot conform to the will of man if you're going to be what God wants you to be" (Rick Warren, "Building on My Strengths: The Purpose-Driven Life," part 3, May 9, 1993).

Clearly, there is nothing here in Warren's words about people telling God what they want to be. And he has never produced any documentation to substantiate his claims.

Moreover, MacArthur's apparent spokesperson, Nathan Busenitz, is equally careless in making false accusations against Warren. In his article, "A Sense of Purpose: Evaluating the Claims of The Purpose-Driven Life" (at MacArthur's Grace to You website), Busenitz cannot even properly define "seeker-sensitive" services as a concept taught by Warren (and Saddleback). Consider the following erroneous/false charges that continue to be made by MacArthur through Busenitz:

Busenitz says: "[t]he seeker-sensitive movement (which is encapsulated in The Purpose-Driven Church) emphasizes marketing techniques and business strategies as the primary method for healthy church growth"
Warren actually says: "A lot of books and conferences on church growth fall into the 'How To Build a Wave' category. They try to manufacture the wave of God's Spirit, using gimmicks, or programs, or marketing techniques they try to create growth. But growth cannot be produced by man! Only God makes the church grow. Only God can breath new life into a valley of dry bones. Only God can create a waves—waves of revival, waves of growth, and waves of spiritual receptivity. As Paul pointed out about the church at Corinth "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow" (The Purpose Driven Church, pp. 13-14).

Busenitz says: "[a]s a result, seeker-sensitive churches tend to minimize the Gospel message in order to soften topics such as sin, repentance, divine wrath, and eternal punishment. The goal is to make unbelievers feel comfortable until they are ready to accept Jesus"
Warren actually says: "What does Pastor Rick teach about sin, the need for regeneration, and the necessity of repentance? Some people assume that a church with lots and lots of visitors must somehow be watering down the gospel in order to attract such crowds. They apparently think it takes a Christianity-lite to draw crowds. But the New Testament records that Jesus drew enormous crowds (called "multitudes") without compromising his message. He did it by being clear, practical, and loving. And he did it by speaking in ways that those listening to him could understand. That's one reason Billy Graham has always drawn such large crowds to his evangelistic events. Being sensitive to unbelievers or the unchurched in no way means you have to compromise the message of Jesus. It simply means you think through ways to communicate with them that will help them understand eternal truth. In other words, you remove any unnecessary barriers—those not rooted in theology—that keep people from hearing and understanding the Good News. For example, you might add air conditioning to your church building—removing a barrier that would keep some people from coming to your church—but you still preach on the centrality of the cross—a non-negotiable element—even if some people view it as a barrier. When unchurched people are going to be present in a service, any wise preacher considers their struggles and asks God how to apply his Word to their lives. We've found that the unchurched aren't asking for watered-down messages; they're looking for practical truth to guide their lives. The purpose driven message is that our hope lies in Christ, who died for our sins and rose again, breaking the bonds of death forever—and that all who believe in his name shall have eternal life. This is not a watered-down gospel; it is the gospel!" (Who Are We: Frequently Asked Questions ).

Busenitz says: "Biblical sermons are often replaced with short talks, videos, and skits—anything that the audience will find more enjoyable and entertaining."
Fact: The weekly sermon at Saddleback Church is never "replaced" by anything. For many years the sermon was a straightforward 45 to 60-minute sermon. On some weekends, however, scattered throughout the year, the sermon was punctuated by either a short video (or perhaps 2-3), a testimony (or perhaps 2-3), a skit (only two to five minutes in length, maximum), or a combination of these, which illustrated the main points of the sermon. In recent years a fairly new format has been initiated wherein Warren will still do an hour-long message, but it is sometimes broken up by a special inspirational song that helps punctuate a specific point of the sermon.

Busenitz says: "Success in the ministry is measured in terms of numbers of people in attendance."
Warren actually says: "Saddleback is not a story of numbers. It's the story of individual lives changed one at a time. Every number represents a real person transformed by the power of Jesus Christ" (Rick Warren, May 3, 2000, interview, Baptist Press). Numerical attendance, it is secondary, if not tertiary, to Warren. His main interest is church HEALTH, not church GROWTH. In fact, numerical growth is only one of five ways that Warren measures church success. He lists ALL of the different ways a church should grow, saying: "Every church needs to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism" (see The Purpose-Driven Church, p. 48).

Interestingly, Philip Johnson—an apparent spokesperson of sorts for MacArthur and Grace Community Church (although I may be in error here about his official position)—did seek to refute/rebuke my remarks about MacArthur misrepresenting Warren. Johnson's replies came by way of his personal blog. His main contention was that MacArthur was taken out-of-context in the CNN interview and that readers should consider the full transcript of the CNN-MacArthur interaction on Newsnight with Aaron Brown, March 16, 2005. To use Johnson's words, the CNN program was a "gross misrepresentation" of what MacArthur said, and that "the main substance of John MacArthur's complaint about The Purpose-Driven Life had been deleted in the editorial process."

This is an odd argument, however, since deleting the "main substance" of MacArthur's many complaints about Warren didn't change what he did say about Warren on the air (see previously quoted comment). In other words, airing a less-than-complete picture of all of MacArthur's criticisms didn't change the meaning of MacArthur's accusation against Warren that was aired.

The truth is that MacArthur took a snippet from Chapter 10 of Warren's The Purpose Driven Life book out-of-context, and used that snippet—"i.e., God wants you to be yourself" (p. 103)—to make his false accusation.

In context, Warren was talking about "Worship that Pleases God" (chapter title, p. 100). The sub-heading section from which MacArthur lifted the quote was "God is pleased when our worship is authentic" (p. 101). Then, finally, on page 103, is where Warren says, "God wants you to be yourself." But it is only after Warren has been talking explicitly about the different ways that various individuals enjoy worshiping God (e.g., in solitude, through traditional liturgy, via social action, by way of caregiving, etc.). Then Warren says:

"There is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to worship and friendship with God. One thing is certain: You don't bring glory to God by trying to be someone HE NEVER INTENDED YOU TO BE. God wants you to be yourself [i.e., how he created you]. "That's the kind of people the Father is looking out for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship" (p. 103).

The only thing Warren is addressing here is how God wants us to worship him in a honest and real way, rather than being fake or trying to worship God in ways that are not consistent with how we were created (e.g., trying to copy someone else's behavior or mode of worship). You (and MacArthur) have misrepresented Warren's views, and pulled a quote from his book out of context in order to prove your false accusation.

Despite their inaccurate nature, these and other charges continue to be made against Rick Warren and Saddleback Church by MacArthur, Busenitz, and Grace Community Church. Most disturbing is how these accusations against Warren have continued despite my having personally met with representatives of MacArthur's church, taking time to explain to them where MacArthur had misrepresented Warren's views and the teachings of Saddleback. I received no further communication from these individuals, nor were there any retractions made by MacArthur.