God’s Call to Unjust Suffering: The Purpose that Rick Warren Overlooked

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

In the second and third chapters of 1 Peter, the Apostle calls on believers to submit to civil authorities, employers, spouses, and to their fellow church members in accordance with their various roles. Within this discussion, Peter draws yet another purpose for believers: “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly” (1 Pet 2:19; cf. 21-24).[1] To be clear, the Apostle plainly states that Christians “have been called for this purpose” (v.21). In this article, Peter’s declaration will be examined in light of Rick Warren’s discussion on God’s purposes for the Christian in his book entitled The Purpose Driven Life.

To the millions of Christians who would go on to read his work, Rick Warren boldly proclaimed,

“This is more than a book; it is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for? By the end of this journey, you will know God’s purpose for your life and will understand the big picture—how all the pieces of your life fit together. Having this perspective will reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, increase your satisfaction, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity.”[2]

Like many Christian writers of today, Rick Warren chose to sort of rewrap the Scripture such that people could turn to his guidance to better understand that which has been divinely revealed in Scripture. To be fair, there is certainly nothing wrong with writing books that delve into various biblically related issues, and many such works offer great assistance to students of the Bible. Nevertheless, anyone who does by default should take responsibility to make sure that the biblical witness is in no way obscured.

In the aforementioned quote, Warren makes several bold claims that would require definitive Scriptural support. First, he claims that his book would absolutely lead Christians to know God’s purpose for their lives. Second, he submits that the most important question in life is not something that directly relates to the Person and work of God or His Son; rather, it is the question that concerns God’s purpose for the lives of His saints. Third, Warren contends that his book will enable each believer to see “how all the pieces of [his/her] life fit together.” Finally, those who engulf all of Warren’s teachings are essentially told that they will have a better life and by extension will be better prepared to meet the Lord in heaven.

Central to the accomplishment of all of these things, as Warren would have it, is the believer’s coming to understand God’s purposes for them. To this end, Warren offers a combination of five purposes:

1. You were planned for God’s pleasure.
2. You were formed for God’s family.
3. You were created to become like Christ.
4. You were shaped for serving God.
5. You were made for a mission.[3]

While all of these purposes are biblical, notably absent from this list is the purpose mentioned by Peter. Once again, Peter states that all Christians have been called to humble themselves in the midst of unjust suffering in a such a way that Christ can be clearly perceived from the manner in which they bear up under such suffering (1 Peter 2:18-24). Apart from this being a divinely-attested purpose for all believers, it is also, according to the Apostle Peter himself, directly associated with how Christ conducted Himself as He faced His ordeal on the cross.

After making these points, Peter goes on to demonstrate how Christians are to commit themselves to follow Christ’s example by determining to deny themselves and face unjust suffering. In particular, he calls upon Christian wives to “be submissive to [their] own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives” (1 Pet 3:1). This application of Peter’s call to humility in the face of suffering demonstrates that those who submit to it will find themselves to have gained a powerful tool to aid their evangelism which will continue to testify to the gospel long after the words concerning it were spoken.

Looking back at Warren’s five purposes, one may hope to connect his purposes that cover the serving of God and mission to Peter’s remarks. Unfortunately, Warren utterly failed to add these admonitions from Peter. This is not so surprising given the tendency of many popular Christians authors who choose to focus on the more palatable teachings of Scripture. Observing this, Nathan Busenitz writes, “The Purpose-Driven Life seems theologically lopsided—downplaying certain themes in Scripture (such as God’s wrath) while extensively emphasizing others (such as God’s love).”[4]

Warren Himself seemingly acknowledges his intentional skewing of Scripture when he made these remarks concerning his teaching in The Purpose-Driven Life:

“I knew that by simplifying doctrine in a devotional format for the average person, I ran the risk of either understating or overstating some truths. I’m sure I have done that. I also knew that I’d be criticized for what I left out of the book and for using fifteen different translations and paraphrases to get the message across. But I decided when I planted Saddleback in 1980 that I’d rather reach large numbers of people for Christ than seek the approval of religious traditionalists. In the past eight years, we’ve baptized over 11,000 new adult believers at our church. I am addicted to changed lives.”[5]

By Warren’s own words, he has acknowledged that he understated and overstated some truths. Apparently, Warren believes that skewing the eternal doctrines of Sacred Writ somehow “will enable [each believer] to discover the answer to life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for?”[6] To justify his choice, he points to the many converts who were baptized at his church. If indeed Warren is just in his decision, then the only conclusion that one could make is that reaching people for Jesus (or perhaps better stated in this manner—getting people to respond to a preacher’s version of the gospel) is more important the doctrine that undergirds the Person and work of Jesus.

In conclusion, those who truly want to know God’s purposes for them should turn to Scripture. When their preachers offer messages concerning these purposes, they should test all that they hear by carefully studying Scripture. Along with this and given the prevailing climate today among evangelicals where various versions of Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now are all too common, believers need to pay particular attention to those subjects which seem less palatable to those caught up in self-centered theology. When it comes to the purposes for believers revealed in Scripture, perhaps no better purpose than suffering injustice in submission to Christ may be a way to offer this present world and its many prosperity-minded pseudo-believers a true witness to the truth of Scripture in the hopes that God will save them.

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[1]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.

[2]Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here for? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 9.

[3]Ibid., 320-22.

[4]Nathan Busenitz, “A Sense of Purpose: Evaluating the Claims of The Purpose-Driven Life,” in Fool’s Gold: Discerning Truth in an Age of Error, ed. John MacArthur (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005), 2.

[5]Rick Warren, “An Interview with Rick Warren,” Modern Reformation, 13/1 (January/February 2004).

[6]Ibid., The Purpose-Driven Life, 9.