John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock

This is exciting. Banner of Truth, my favorite publisher, is publishing a biography by Iain Murray, my favorite historian, of John MacArthur, my favorite preacher.

This interview from the 2011 Shepherds Conference includes commentary on Murray’s biography (the relevant section begins at 31:40).

John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock will be available from Westminster Bookstore in June. Clicking that link will contribute to the operation of this site, which is also one of my favorite things.

Outside of a tremendous mustache, there is not much to like about Friedrich Nietzsche. I only half agree with his most famous statement, which titles this post. That half is illustrated in real life by the persecuted church.

John MacArthur shares lessons learned from ministry in the former Soviet Union:

Over the years I have ministered quite a lot in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other parts of the former Soviet Union. The church in those countries, repressed by Communism for so many decades, is nonetheless vibrant and dynamic today. One of the significant things that struck me when I first began to minister there was the terminology that virtually all Russian-speaking believers us to describe conversion. They do not speak of accepting Christ as one’s personal Savior. They would never say merely that someone ‘made a decision for Christ’ or that the person ‘invited Jesus into his or her life’. The language they use is simple and entirely biblical: the new believer is someone who has repented. If a person shows no evidence of repentance, he or she would not be embraced as a Christian, no matter what sort of verbal profession of faith was made . . . by contrast, we live in a culture of such shallow religion that most o what goes by the name ‘Christian’ in Western society has little or no emphasis on repentance of any kind. The call to repentance has been deliberately omitted from the most popular gospel presentations of our generation.

—John MacArthur, quoted in Iain Murray, John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock (Banner of Truth, 2011), 152.

Observing the vibrant spiritual life of the church “repressed by Communism for so many decades,” he wrote,

Your church’s greatest enemy isn’t the government, the culture, Hollywood producers, or the liberal media. Scripture states and history confirms that churches are strengthened under persecution and adversity. If our churches are to be destroyed, or rendered ineffective and stagnant, that will happen at the hands of her own people . . . One of my greatest fears for the church I pastor is that we would unwittingly abandon the vital principles that keep us healthy, growing, and strong. The day we cease clinging to those principles is the day we grow cold and dishonor God before a watching world. —Ibid., 153.

On the American penchant for turning faith into a means of “getting more from God”:

As I have studied God’s word and experienced both the exhilaration of spiritual victory and the discouragement of failure, I’m convinced the key to powerful living is not on getting more from God. The key is just the opposite. The moment we stop making demands on Him and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice is the moment we begin to please Him . . . From my own experience I know that being a living sacrifice is not an easy path. But sacrifice is absolutely necessary if we are ever to know the fullness of God’s blessing and render to Him the service He is due. —Ibid.

John MacArthur has lately been criticized for claiming never to have suffered from depression. It is thought that that can’t possibly be true, or if it is, it exposes some great defect. I believe it is an evidence of grace in his life, and not difficult to believe at all. The source of that emotional stability, I believe, can be seen in the following excerpt from Iain Murray.

The greatest privilege of my ministry that I have, is not the time I spend with people, it is the time I get to spend with Him. And the cultivation of the knowledge of Him in the study of the Word of God, and prayer and meditation, is the heart and soul of my life and the greatest joy of the ministry for me. Whatever may happen out there, or might not happen out there, whatever changes or doesn’t change, whatever disappoints or encourages, the Lord never changes; and it is in His love that I find the constancy for my life, the strength for ministry, and the joy as well.

—John MacArthur, quoted in Iain Murray, John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock (Banner of Truth, 2011), 238.

How much more spiritually, mentally, and emotionally stable might we all be if our thoughts were more focused on our Lord and his Word, and our expectations invested wholly in him?