Why Pastors Should Engage John MacArthur

When I was in high school a Sunday school teacher took an interest in my interest in Scripture. Recently converted, I found myself hungry for God’s Word. Trying to fan this flame, my Sunday school teacher gave me a simple gift that would set the trajectory for my life and ministry. It was a vinyl album containing twelve cassette tapes. These tapes were recordings of sermons explaining the meaning of Ephesians 6:10ff. on the believer’s armor. I listened to those tapes dozens of times. I distinctly remember having the thought, “What a great idea to use the sermon time for explaining the meaning of the Bible!” This was my introduction to expository preaching, and also my on-ramp to the ministry of John MacArthur.

In my college years, I would arrange my class schedule around the 11:30 AM broadcast of Grace to You on WMBW. There would be a sprint to my car for those broadcasts where I would eat my sack lunch and listen to MacArthur preach. More than once I ran down my battery listening to Grace to You. This brief article allows me to reflect on what it was that drew a college freshman in Tennessee to drain a car battery listening to a preacher from Southern California. I believe the reasons that drew me to MacArthur in those early years inform similar reasons that should draw pastors to engage the ministry of John MacArthur today.

His contiguous tenure of fifty years as pastor-teacher at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, provides an exemplary and monolithic ministry for observation and example. He is widely regarded as “a respected champion of biblical inspiration and authority.”[1]

Engaging the Ministry of John MacArthur

The providence of God arranged for MacArthur’s ministry to flourish in a golden time of Christina mass media. From the cassette tapes that began to be distributed in the ’70s, to audio/video resources that may be downloaded onto a smartphone, engaging MacArthur’s ministry is possible from anywhere in the world. The prolific dimensions of his preaching and writing ministry invite engagement and any believer or church leader will find encouragement and benefit from exposure to this preacher from Southern California. There are countless reasons to engage MacArthur’s ministry, but allow me to isolate five.

Biblical Authority—Engaging Recorded Sermons

John MacArthur’s name has become synonymous with expository preaching. More than 1,000 times daily, MacArthur’s recorded sermons are broadcast throughout the English-speaking world on the radio program, “Grace To You.” All of his recorded sermons—more than 3,500—are available for free on the Grace To You website.[2] Access to his sermons is free and easy.

The popularity of MacArthur’s sermons is not difficult to understand; he is a Bible teacher, plain and simple. Hughes Oliphant Old makes this observation about John MacArthur:

Here is a preacher who has nothing in the way of a winning personality, good looks, or charm. Here is a preacher who offers us nothing in the way of sophisticated homiletical packaging. No one would suggest that he is a master of the art of oratory. What he seems to have is a witness to true authority. He recognizes in Scripture the Word of God, and when he preaches, it is Scripture that one hears. It is not that the words of John MacArthur are so interesting as it is that the Word of God is of surpassing interest. That is why one listens.[3]

Old is right. To listen to MacArthur is to hear God speak through the preached Word. John MacArthur demonstrates biblical authority in his sermons by explaining the meaning and significance of Scripture.

Biblical Thoroughness—Engaging the MacArthur New Testament Commentaries and The MacArthur Study Bible

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary series and The MacArthur Study Bible (MSB) demonstrate an important feature of his ministry. John MacArthur is thorough. The commentaries (thirty-three volumes) are verse-by-verse commentary based on his expositions of the New Testament at Grace Church. The format of these insightful commentaries is revealing. The biblical text is printed in bold and the commentary wraps around the Scripture. This ensures that something is said about every part of a passage. Nothing is skipped or ignored.

This same thoroughness is displayed in the MacArthur Study Bible which has sold almost two million copies. Over 20,000 footnotes provide explanatory and interpretative aids for Bible students. Care for the Word of God is meticulously exhibited in the contents of the notes, individual book introductions, and back matter in the study Bible. These resources demonstrate painstaking attention to detail corresponding to the value of every jot and tittle of Scripture.

Biblical Discernment—Engaging MacArthur’s Books

Remarkably, MacArthur’s ministry extends far beyond Roscoe Boulevard where Grace Community Church resides. He is a prolific and best-selling author, having produced nearly 400 books and study guides. His work has been translated into more than two dozen languages. Most of MacArthur’s books have a polemical tone and serve as calls for biblical discernment. But this should not be interpreted as a negative. Whether it is pleading for the Lordship of Christ, identifying mission-drift trends in evangelicalism, reclaiming the biblical definition of the gospel, or challenging the errors of the Charismatic movement, much of MacArthur’s publishing ministry operates as a warning system for the church. Whether or not one agrees with him, his books challenge the reader to dive deeply into issues and apply biblical criteria for discernment.

Biblical Care—Engaging Grace Community Church

It is important to put MacArthur’s ministry into the context of the local church. John is first and foremost a pastor. His roles as commentator, theologian, and preacher flow out of his weekly ministry as a local church shepherd. He visits hospitals, prays with the sick, counsels the troubled, officiates weddings, presides over funerals, meets with his staff, and preaches weekly. To understand MacArthur properly is to remember that he is a pastor. There is no separation between preaching and shepherding. Though most of the world knows his voice in sermons, the congregation at his church knows him as a shepherd. He knows nothing of a preaching ministry that is disconnected from ministry in a local body. Of all the reasons to engage the ministry of MacArthur, longevity may be among the most compelling. Click To Tweet

Biblical Faithfulness—Fifty Years and Counting

This year (2019) marks John MacArthur’s fiftieth year as pastor/teacher of Grace Community Church. Of all the reasons to engage the ministry of MacArthur, longevity may be among the most compelling. For five decades he has faithfully executed his charge to preach the word, shepherd the flock, feed the sheep, and finish the race. In a time when so many pastors come and go, MacArthur’s fifty-year tenure should arrest our attention. In a time when too many pastors are looking for the “next thing,” John MacArthur models the need to merely look for the next Sunday where we are. The power of staying put and locking into the task at hand is a formidable example to follow.

The ministry of John MacArthur is captivating, but only so far as it draws us to God. Telescopes are not made to be looked at, but to be looked through. Likewise, to rightly engage his ministry is to use his teaching to see through him to God, His Word, and the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Every pastor would be well-served to engage the ministry of John MacArthur.

Endnotes

[1] Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix, Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons (Chicago: Moody, 1999), 42.

[2] http://www.gty.org.

[3] Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 557-558.