I had the privilege of preaching on mental health this week (you can find the sermon here). It was quite a challenging topic to handle, especially when there is so much misinformation in the church despite the wealth of biblical data on the subject. It is already the sermon that I’ve received the most feedback on and has already resulted in a few pastoral conversations.
This may come back as a specific sermon series or a teaching series in the future because there are so many questions I didn’t even begin to address.
What about Jesus’ instruction not to be anxious? What about Paul’s? What about spiritual depression in particular? What about neurological conditions that may result in these things?
Those questions didn’t come up in my chats after church today, they are definitely things that I want to teach on in the future.
My goal for this particular sermon was simply this: to present an understanding of mental illness which is faithful to the biblical data and a correction to the lack of teaching or false teaching that my particular congregation will have received in the past.
My working theme was this:
While mental illness is a result of living in a fallen world, Christians can have real hope to endure as they seek God and the help he provides.
In my own notes, this is two separate sentences but I combine them into one in my sermon. My primary text was Psalms 42-43, though I also reference Job, 2 Timothy, and John’s gospel.
Helpful resources
My preparation for this sermon took place over a number of months and included referencing my time receiving (and studying) biblical counselling. There is more that I have but it’s a bit all over the place.
Walking With Grace
I have been reading Grace Utomo’s blog for a number of years. She writes very powerfully of her experience with a genuine psychotic disorder (she developed a rare form of schizophrenia after a car accident) while continuing to keep her faith. Some of her experience will be distressing for some to read as it describes some difficult themes.
David Murray
The US-based, Scottish pastor and author David Murray has written much on Christians and depression. The most helpful of his works for me has been Christians Get Depressed Too. His book touches on the reality of the problem as well as a realistic assessment of the causes and he helpfully synthesises arguments from varying perspectives into a coherent whole. It is also, blessedly and deliberately, short. He also provides a number of films showing five stories of recovery from depression as well as a helpful guide to how to pray while depressed.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Martin Lloyd-Jones is one of the few pastors to have written and preached on this topic. He writes addressing spiritual depression in particular, but he does so from the perspective of one who trained in medicine. I read his sermon, Fear of the Future but it’s also available in audio form. Of all of the material that I read, I found this the most challenging personally because it addresses real fears that I have (mostly surrounding visa issues and tax stress as a result of having to file taxes in two different countries).
I hope that whoever reads this will find it helpful. It’s a topic that is getting more mention in the church but there has also been some very unhelpful stuff said about it recently.
