Things That Make Christians Different From The World: Miracles
In this series on things that make Christians different from the world I want to talk about something that I know almost all of us if not all of us have had experience with and this subject is miracles. I may be assuming a little bit here but I would imagine that all of us have had something happen in our lives that would be considered miraculous on some level. And if not personally then at the very least we have witnessed something miraculous in someone elses' lives.
The world at times may also refer to things that happen to people as miraculous not because they believe that God had some supernatural hand in what had happened but rather they use the term to simply try to explain the unexplainable. And while some people in the world will use the term miraculous to describe something unusual that has occurred, most of the time the world will try to explain these God caused occurrences with science or say that was weird, or they may say that it was karma or something ridiculous like that.
In the Christian world though, we as believers, have to not only know and believe that miracles happen but we also have to know and believe that it is God who performs these wonderfully supernatural acts in the lives of those who are His children.
The Bible is full of miracles both in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. There are at least 58 miracles in the Old Testament alone ranging from the miracles that Moses performed before Pharaoh to the parting of the Red Sea and lots more besides. Now Moses didn’t do the miracles in front of Pharaoh by himself he performed them by the power of God almighty.
And in the New Testament we all know that Jesus as well as His disciples performed many miracles too. There were at least 47 miracles performed either by Jesus Himself or by His disciples. Jesus started His earthly ministry by performing the wedding miracle in Cana of Galilee where he turned water into wine. In the Gospel of John chapter 2 verses 6-11 we read this: 6 Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus said to them "Fill the water pots with water." So they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him. 9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." 11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Now it is an unfortunate thing here that when most people read about this miracle they focus on what Jesus did with the water and they blow right by WHY Jesus performed this miracle in the first place. He didn’t change the water into wine to be the hit of the party, to make his mother the hostess with the mostest, He didn’t do it to make a hit with the banquet master or the guests, Jesus performed this miracle for two reasons and two reasons only and those reasons were these: In verse 11 we see the two reasons why Jesus performed this particular miracle: To manifest His glory and to give the disciples good reason to believe in Him.
When we read in the Bible about the miracles that God and Jesus performed we as believers, look at them and say “what an amazing God we serve because He can do the impossible!” While the world in general will read or hear about these very same miracles and say what a bunch of fairy tales and myths these are and those Christians are foolish for believing in them and in the God who performs them. They would rather just say that they never happened or that there has to be some kind of “rational” explanation as to why something miraculous has happened.
A prime example of this doubting spirit has to do with what we, believers, call the Resurrection of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28 verses 1-10 we read this: After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
I chose this example for good reason and that reason is this: This is the greatest miracle ever performed in my opinion because it is what separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. And if satan can keep the world from believing in this powerful miracle then he will keep multitudes of people from getting saved and becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.
Satan wants the world to believe, and unfortunately most of the world buys this lie, that Jesus one never existed and that if He did exist He was definitely not the Savior of the world and He may have died but He NEVER came back from the dead which would make Him a man just like any other man on earth. This is a huge and very damaging lie being perpetrated upon the world by satan. And we have to tell the world the truth that Jesus did indeed die on the cross, was dead and was raised from the dead on the third day and Jesus IS most definitely the Savior of the world! Amen!?
And while the world likes to deny that miracles happen because God is doing many wonderful and supernatural things in our presence, Jesus performed many miracles to show people that He was who He said that He was. In the Gospel of John chapter 11 I want to paraphrase what happened in Bethany at that time:
Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, were friends of Jesus. When Lazarus fell ill, his sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." When Jesus heard the news, he waited two more days before going to Lazarus' hometown of Bethany. Jesus knew that he would do a great miracle for God's glory and, therefore, he was not in a hurry.
When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days. When Martha discovered that Jesus was on his way, she went out to meet him. "Lord," she said, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
Jesus told Martha, "Your brother will rise again." But Martha thought he was talking about the final resurrection of the dead.
Then Jesus said these important words: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
Martha then went and told Mary that Jesus wanted to see her. Jesus had not yet entered the village, most likely to avoid stirring up the crowd and calling attention to himself. The town of Bethany was not far from Jerusalem where the Jewish leaders were plotting against Jesus.
When Mary met Jesus she was grieving with strong emotion over her brother's death. The Jews with her were also weeping and mourning. Deeply moved by their grief, Jesus wept with them.
Jesus then went to the tomb of Lazarus with Mary, Martha and the rest of the mourners. There he asked them to remove the stone that covered the hillside burial place. Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed to his Father, closing with these words: "Lazarus, come out!" When Lazarus came out of the tomb, Jesus told the people to remove his grave clothes.
As a result of this incredible miracle, many people put their faith in Jesus.
When Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead He did it for a couple of great reasons one was to glorify our heavenly Father but Jesus also performed this miracle so that people would put their faith in Him.
This is what the world really misses out on. They spend so much time arguing and debating whether or not any miracles were ever performed by Jesus that they miss the very reason that Jesus performed the miracles that He did. Jesus did them to show the world that He was and is exactly who he said that He is, the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead to show everyone that if He told you that you would be raised from the dead as a believer that He had the power to back up that claim. If Jesus couldn’t raise Lazarus from the dead then how could anyone believe that Jesus could raise Himself from the dead?
The world may continue to deny that Jesus is the Savior of the world and satan may be at the heart of perpetuating this lie but that doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is Lord of all including death and dying. I take great encouragement in my life knowing that when I pass away that I will be forever in the presence of the One who died for me and was raised from the dead!
And since I have called the world out on its lack of faith and belief in the miracles of the Bible and why they were performed I also have to call out “Christians” and I use the term loosely, who cheapen the miracles of the Bible by turning them into parlor tricks used to do nothing but to further their own agenda which usually includes making money off of people who are being deceived.
Most of us have seen the people that I’m talking about on T.V. or heard the on the radio. They claim to heal people from illnesses and give people false hope about their conditions. And to compound this falseness they then have the audacity to ask people to send them money and not just a little but a LOT of money!
These same people also like to lie to people and tell them that if they send in “SEED MONEY” to their “ministry” That God will miraculously fix all of their financial issues and this is just sad because this is not how God works and performs miracles. God performs miracles to show His power over His creation not so that people can scam money from Christians.
And as bad as this stuff is there is actually something a little worse that happens as a result of these charlatans and that is that the world looks at them and laughs and says things like “this is ridiculous” and it causes them to not want to look at the truth nor listen to those of us who would tell them the truth about miracles and what they are really for and that real Christians don’t want to scam them but that we would rather love them into a relationship with the one and only true Miracle Worker, Jesus Christ!
Again like I’ve said before part of the reason that the world has such a hard time believing in Jesus Christ is because some would sell the Gospel for profit rather than tell the world the truth and it hurts the entire kingdom! We constantly have to go around and talk about these people and setting the record straight about them rather than preaching and teaching the Gospel and this is just how satan wants it to be because the less time we can spend telling others about Jesus, the more he likes it.
Look at all the miracles that Jesus has done in your life and reflect on them and be blessed and encouraged by them! Use them to inspire you to go tell others about Jesus Christ and tell a lost person that the first miracle that they can experience is the miracle of salvation! Where Jesus turns their heart of stone into a heart of flesh that will beat for Him forever!
Be a miracle in someone’s life by loving them, encouraging them, and walking with them as a brother or a sister and then you will both be blessed! Amen!?
