Believers Armed and Dangerous

The term “Signs and Wonders” appears some twenty times in the Bible.  In the Old Testament, signs and wonders were used by God to show He is the ultimate authority in the universe: He could bring the plagues on Egypt, save Daniel from the lions’ den, even stand with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  With God, impossible is often just the starting point.

In the New Testament, Jesus used signs and wonders to show who He was, the truth of His message, and His authority:

Mark 2:10-12 (ESV)  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Miracles lent authority to Jesus’ words, but should we base our faith on signs and wonders?  Scripture says “no” for some very good reasons.  Signs can be used by the enemy as well as by God.  They can be used to mislead:

Matt. 24:24 (ESV)  For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Because of the emotion and the curiosity brought by miracles, we can be drawn into becoming a “miracle groupie.”  We can end up seeking out miracles for personal interest and thrill.  We don’t see mature Christians doing this in Scripture.  It is the new Christian and the lost who want their curiosity satisfied.

Miracles are meant to give credibility to the message of the gospel.  Centering on the miracles, though, in a very real way discounts the gospel.

Jesus had enough of people seeking signs and wonders and told them so (Matt. 12:39, 16:4; Mark 8:12).  Many are drawn at rumors of miracles not for the message but for the “show.”  Even atheists will often ask for a sign to prove Jesus is Who He says He is, make Him their personal bell hop.

The church has lost many followers over the centuries as these folks look for new experiences, new feelings, emotional highs.  Since Jesus spoke against such things, where should we look? It is in God’s Word we find all we need to walk the Christian walk:

2 Tim. 3:16 (ESV)  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not speaking against miracles here.  I’ve seen miracles in my own life including a friend miraculously healed.  In fact, my faith – like yours – is founded on the greatest miracle of all which was performed 2,000 years ago when our Savior raised His own body from the dead.  What’s dangerous to God’s church, though, is faith founded on emotion or seeking signs rather than on the Word of God.

Why is this important?

In John chapter four, we see two distinct groups of people interested in what Jesus had to offer.  I think this exemplifies the church today.  The Samaritans in Sychar believed Jesus was the Savior of the world because of what they had heard from Him (vs. 4:42), and the Galileans (vs. 4:45) were much more interested in seeing Jesus do more miracles.  These were probably the same bunch who saw Jesus do signs earlier:

John 2:23-25 (ESV)  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Note Jesus didn’t “entrust” Himself to them here and didn’t seem to trust the folks among them from Galilee:

John 4:48 (ESV)  So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

The “you” in both cases in this statement is plural in Greek.  Jesus was speaking to them all, not just one person.

We as Christians have a choice: do we rest our faith on God’s instruction book or on personal experience and the “Jesus Show” many Christians and non-Christians pursue?  The former leads to a much deeper faith and closeness to our Savior.  The latter leads to a shallow faith and disappointment – if it leads anywhere at all.

John 4:48 (ESV)  So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

Just after the story of the woman at the well, Jesus came to Galilee.  There, many greeted Him because of the miracles they had seen Him do at the Passover feast in Jerusalem a few weeks earlier.  They were looking to see another miracle.

While Jesus was in Cana in Galilee, an official came to ask Him to come down to Capernaum and heal his son who was at death’s door.  Jesus seems in the text to be angry about this and speaks the words in the passage above.  If you or I were the official, the boy’s father, we would likely be discouraged at first, but there’s an important nuance in the Greek.  The “you” said twice by Jesus here is the plural.  He is speaking not just to the father seeking healing for his son but to the crowd around him looking for a miracle.  The crowd didn’t get to see their miracle.

The father, though probably discouraged by Jesus’ words “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe,” tried again.  His deep concern for his son was compassionately responded to by Jesus’ words, “Your son will live.”  The father, believing Jesus’ words, went on his way, and we see that at the moment Jesus spoke, his son was healed.

Why is this important?

Jesus had just come from Sychar, a town in Samaria (John 4:5).  We’ve looked at why the Jews didn’t like Samaritans, but it’s important to see what Jesus is saying here.  He’s comparing what has been called The Sychar Revival of people who only heard the message of Jesus and His own people in Galilee who have heard but are still looking for signs and wonders.  While the Samaritans took Jesus’ words seriously (as did the official, by the way) the Jews of the crowd wanted a show.

Another important point of the event is it was the first time Jesus did a miracle without being physically present.  Those who saw Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover and saw His miracles (John 2:23) no doubt saw Jesus touching the sick and lame as He healed them.  Here in Galilee it’s a different story.  Jesus spoke, and the boy miles away was healed.

The faith of the official is also important.  Capernaum, where the official’s son lay, is fifteen or twenty miles from, Cana where Jesus was.  A friend of mine has been to the area and tells me it gets hot there.  It turns out the elevation of Capernaum is 400 below that of Death Valley, California.  For the official to walk to Cana was a major effort to save his son.  Passover was in March or April.  This was a little later.  The average temperature for Capernaum in May is 95 degrees. Our official walked uphill in this heat to see Jesus in Cana.  This was a loving dedicated father

The official asked Jesus to come down (vs 47) to heal his son.  Jesus had more to do in Cana, so He just spoke to heal the boy.  We aren’t told what prior experience this father had with Jesus, if any, though we are told he believed the word Jesus said.  Like all of us when we seek Jesus, the father came with nothing to offer Jesus but returned with a promise.  A promise from God (in flesh) is a promise you can bank on as the man discovered. 

On his trip home the next day, he was met by some of his servants who told him his son was healed at the same time Jesus promised the boy would live.  The sickness of the boy gave an opportunity to show the power of God.  The text says the entire household was saved as a result.

Sometimes trials come our way and we resist them.  We do everything to prevent them.   Peter has a different view of trials:

1 Peter 1:6-7 (ESV)  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

This official saw first a miracle worker in Cana.  When he arrived home, he saw the work of the real Jesus, God in flesh, Who could simply speak a word and twenty miles away the boy was healed.

Psalm 59:8a (ESV)  But you, O Lord, laugh at them;

I’ve always been interested in what makes people laugh, and I began to wonder why God would laugh and what would He laugh at?

What started me thinking was that the late comedian, George Carlin, once gave a simple explanation of how humor works:  When telling a joke, the person is telling a story.  The person listening thinks they are hearing the same story, but at the punch line, they realize they’ve been fooled.  In the context of a joke, this makes them laugh.  Let me give an example:

A professor and a blonde are just leaving LAX on a flight to New York. The professor suggest to the blonde: “This is a long flight. Why don’t we play a game.” The blonde says “Okay. What sort of game.” The Professor says, “I’ll ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it you pay me fifty dollars. Then you can ask me a question. If I can’t answer it, I’ll pay you fifty dollars.”

The blonde thinks for a minute then says “That’s not fair. You’re a professor, and I barely made it out of high school.” The professor thinks then says “Okay. How about this. I’ll ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it you pay me five dollars. Then you can ask me a question, and if I can’t answer it, I’ll still pay you the fifty dollars.”

The blonde agrees. The professor says “Okay, I’ll start. What’s the speed of light?” The blonde thinks for a minute then opens her purse and hands the professor five dollars. The professor says “It’s 186,000 miles per second. Your turn.”

The blonde thinks then says “What’s green, made out of wood, and runs up hills.” The professor is stumped and hands the blonde fifty dollars. She says “Thank you.” The professor then says “Well. What is it?” and she hands him five dollars.

If you haven’t heard the joke before, the surprise ending may have made you, a human, laugh.  But since God can’t be surprised by what we say, He’s omniscient, what can make Him laugh?  Jokes won’t work on God. So, what could make Him laugh or does He laugh at all.

I did some study and found only the one verse – Psalms 59:8 – that says God laughs.  So, what makes Him laugh if He can’t be surprised?  He laughs when humans think they can get the best of Him, can win against Him and His people.

The full context of the verse I gave above is David speaking to God of his enemies.  David realizes God just laughs as their puny attempts to beat His people when they are doing God’s work.  Then I thought of Saul (soon to become Paul) on the road to Damascas:

Acts 9:1-5 (ESV)  But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Saul was persecuting the church.  God the Son took this personally and asked Saul why he was persecuting Him.  This tells us God considers an attack on the church as the same as attacking Him.

Why is this important?

When we feel the world closing in on us, when it seems our enemies are getting the best of us, we should remember if we are right with God, He laughs at our enemies because He sees these attacks as attacks against the all-powerful Being and not us. 

God is omnipotent which means He can do anything He wants to do.  For finite man to come against the infinitely powerful Being who spoke and all of creation came into existence is funny to Him.  I think it’s pretty funny myself.

So, maybe we should laugh at the trials we face, the enemies who seek to damage and destroy what God has built.  Jesus sits on His throne at these times and says “Now that’s funny.”

Have you ever studied a passage of Scripture and “wrung it out” to get everything you can from it, and someone points out something that illuminates the entire passage for you in an completely new way?  This happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

A friend of mine, Don, taught a study on the woman at the well (John chapter 4) and I was privileged to be there.  We’ve talked about the woman here, but Don gave a whole new perspective on the passage for me.  As the story goes, Jesus was tired from His work and sat down by the well to rest.  He had sent His disciples into town to buy food, and a woman came to the well to draw water.  This woman was the lowest of the low in Jewish culture: she was a Samaritan, had been married five times, she was currently living with a man she was not married to.

Jesus spoke with her, though, and convinced her He was the Messiah.  Jesus’ disciples returned with food for lunch as the woman was leaving to tell the people of the town what she had learned.

Most of us view the disciples as the elite Jesus chose to further His work and worthy of His instruction.  If anyone was going to be sensitive to the spiritual needs of others, it should have been the disciples.  But it was the woman, not the disciples, who returned to Jesus with much of the town’s population anxious to meet Him.

What were the disciples doing in town, then?  They were sent there to buy food, but was that the main thing Jesus’ disciples were trained to do?  No, they were trained to share the good news and bring people to Jesus.  Why didn’t they?

I think they were focused just as we can get.  We get our minds so set on something else when there is a whole town ready and willing to hear the good news, and in the midst of this we’re just buying lunch. That’s what our minds are on, and that’s all their minds were on.  They didn’t apparently think of sharing the good news with the townsfolk.

To the Jewish culture, this woman at the well was the dregs of society, not worthy to even speak with.  But Jesus shared with her, and she returned from town leading people to Jesus which was the job of the disciples, wasn’t it.  Verse 38 tells us, Jesus wasn’t sending the guys into town just to buy food.  He knew the people were ready to hear the gospel and wanted to show His disciples what they had missed.  By concentrating on just one thing they missed an opportunity to further God’s kingdom:

John 4:38 (ESV)  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

When we go to the store, have our tires rotated, visit the doctor, pick up our kids at the library, or any other common task, we do the same thing. We become insensitive to those around us. We just want to get in, do our thing, and get out. I’m not sure we should.

Why is this important?

While I don’t think we all need to be street preachers or the obnoxious person in the line at the hardware store, we could certainly try to be more aware of the people around us: share a good morning, start a conversation.  God may have a greater mission for us than the one we think we’re on.  If we pay attention, He will point people out to us, maybe not very often, but what have we lost, a couple of minutes cheering up someone’s day?

Stephen Covey says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” and he’s right.  Of all the commands God has given us, I believe the Great Commission is at the top:

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I think that’s the main thing.

John 4:35-38 (ESV)  Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

In this passage, Jesus has spoken with the woman at the well, she’s gone into town to tell everyone, and the townspeople are coming to see for themselves.  Jesus had planted the gospel in the woman’s heart.  She, in turn, did the same for the folks in town.  Now they were coming back ready to hear for themselves and to accept Jesus as their Savior. 

There are several steps to a person coming to Jesus for their salvation.  We as Christians often feel the need to “Close the deal” when sharing the gospel, but Jesus didn’t do that here.  He planted, the woman and disciples watered, but it was God who moved in the hearts of the people to accept Jesus.

Greg Koukl’s “Tactics” series on Youtube takes this principle and expands on it powerfully.  He uses this passage to show most people don’t come to Christ through a single act.  They are “fertilized” and “watered” before they reach the harvest.  Paul makes the same point in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

1 Cor. 3:7-9 (ESV)  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

The point Greg and Paul are getting at is we need a lot of gardeners since the “gardening” process, the preparation process, is a long and varied one.  The harvest only comes after the seeds have been planted, fertilized, and tended.

When we share Christ with others, we feel we need to have that person on their knees or we have failed.  That’s not true.  Think of how many people you have spoken to over the years about the Lord and how many have come to Him.  I’m sure I’ve spoken to hundreds of people over the 47 years since I met our Lord, but I’ve seen fewer than a dozen come to Him.  Most of that “harvest” was due to someone else’s work before me.  I just was given the privilege of being used by the Holy Spirit to reap what the others had sown.  Most of our labor as Christians is used in the planting and watering process.

Often those with whom we’ve been able to share have heard the message before but needed some clarification or needed to be reminded of the gospel once again.  We may never know what God is doing in the hearts and minds of those with whom we’ve shared.  Maybe they go home and God just keeps poking them, reminding them of their need and of what they heard from us that day.

Why is this important?

Understanding this does a couple of things for us.  It takes the heavy burden off our shoulders to hit a home run every time we share Christ, and we should be happy to “put a pebble in the shoe” of the person we’re talking with.  If gardening is the goal, then success is most often achieved. If we overpower someone with our witness, they can walk away confused and uncertain of what they heard.

I used to teach an adult Bible class at our church in California.  After that class, but in the same room, was another adult class.  As a practice, I would write a sentence or two on the board knowing the next class would see it and maybe discuss it with the teacher.

The statement I got the most feedback on was “We are not here to save people,” and we’re not.  That’s God’s job.  Our job is to inform people of what Christ has done for them and how to take advantage of God’s offer.  This is almost always done in small pieces, short opportunities, but God does the major work.  All we are to do is just say something.  Give people something to think about.  If the person is interested, of course, the conversation can take as long as needed.

When we share, we should keep it short.  If the ground seems fertile and the person wants to know more, by all means share more.  Otherwise, just put that pebble in their shoe, let go, and let God.

Eph 5:18-21 (ESV)  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

God is in favor of interaction.  In the passage above, He assumes we will interact with fellow believers.  He, the one true God, even chooses to exist in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  God’s perfect order is for persons to commune with one other.  We see this in creation:

Genesis 2:18 (ESV)  Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.

It’s not good for man, or woman, to be alone.  We all have a need for the input of others.

The Greek word for Church, ekklesia, means “assembly” and is translated as such in Acts 19:32 when describing a confused mob:

Acts 19:32 (ESV) Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

I’m not trying to compare the church with a confused mob, though sometimes . . . . I’m just pointing only to the fact ekklesia refers to a group of people.  Jesus sees His church as one with Him.  Like a true Bridegroom, He sees an attack on His church as a personal attack on Himself. We see this best when He speaks to Saul on the road to Damascus:

Acts 9:4-5 (ESV)  And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.“

Notice Jesus said Paul was persecuting Him.  Our communion with Jesus is such that Jesus sees any attacks on us as a personal attack on Him.  We are His church, His bride.

The Bible uses other endearing words to describe us.  We are God’s fellow workers, working beside Him to be used in His plan:

1 Cor. 3:8-9 (ESV)  He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

But at His resurrection, Jesus uses my favorite term for His disciples; He calls us His “brothers:”

John 20:17 (ESV)  Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Why is this important?

Our God is a God of interaction with His people and expects interaction among His people.  We are not to be lone Christians but are to be a part of a whole, the body of Christ.

All the communication devices we use today, often without thinking, also reduce our fellowship with others.  Texting, emailing, social media don’t give us the same interaction as with personal one-on-one conversations.

If your Christian life does not include frequent interaction with other Christians, you are missing out and so are they.  After Covid, many Christians stayed home and watched church services on television. Sadly, that habit became too hard to break.  Many are still at home and missing out on the needed interaction with other believers.  Their lives are not as full as God would like. 

We’ve all heard, “I don’t need church.  I like to commune with God in the great outdoors” and similar “reasons” to not join others in God’s assembly.  God didn’t design the church for loners.  We are important to one another.  For more on this, see our blog on the church.

James 1:19-20 (ESV) Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Boy I lost it this week.  Our family car’s engine blew over a month ago, and I’ve been trying to get the manufacturer and dealer to do something about it.  I finally resigned myself to the fact they were going to do nothing and left it at the dealer for repairs.  The had quoted me a price but increased it after I had put down a hefty deposit.  I’m afraid this resulted in my foolishly sending an angry email to their service department.

I don’t know about you, but anger is sometimes a difficult thing for me to control alone.  God has to deal with me and straighten me out.

As is my habit, whenever something becomes a big topic in my life, I research it.  “Anger” is all over the Bible but is seldom mentioned in a good light, for instance:

Prov. 14:29 (ESV)  Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

I found the expression of our anger has consequences.  We end up passing it along to others:

Prov. 15:1 (ESV)  A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

But, if we work to control it, we are among the best of us:

Prov. 16:32 (ESV)  Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Controlling our anger is the hardest part, I think.  And how do we do that?  We do that by turning it over to God again and again, every time we get angry.  I found sitting down and writing about my anger and researching what the Bible teaches about it helped me cope and gave me peace.

I think much of what angers us is rooted in pride:  “They can’t treat me that way!  Who do they think they are?”  We’re not always angry at people, though.  Sometimes we’re angry at ourselves for doing or not doing something.  Ever assemble something and it looks more like a trapezoid than the square it’s supposed to look like?  I often wonder how many marriages “Some assembly required” has damaged.

Why is this important?

Still, we need to find ways to quell our anger.  A God who will listen, His Word that calms us, friends to talk with, learning not to blow up in the first place are things to try.  While writing about the problem and seeking what the Bible teaches helps tremendously, there is still the ultimate deterrent, the apology to someone you’ve been angry at.  As Calvin’s (and Hobbs) father would say, it builds character.

I make a point in my apologies (yes, plural) to tell the offended party what I did was not the way a Christian should act and to ask for forgiveness, you know . . . . grovel.

During the period I was angry with the car dealer, God kept bringing one Scripture to mind that I just ignored.  I enjoyed my self-righteous anger, so I wallowed in it far too long.  Here is the Scripture:

Psalm 46:10-11 (ESV)  “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

¹¹     The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

To paraphrase, “Don’t sweat it. Just sit back and let the Creator of the universe deal with this.” The day after I sent my angry email and spent most of the night awake thinking of ancient torture tactics I might use on said auto dealer, he came back to me with a fix to our problem.  God had been at work while I was not.  All I needed to have done was to be still and know that He is God, that He has control of the situation and will see to it it ends as He wishes.

All day, He reminded me “Be still, and know that I am God.”  I pray God will impress that passage upon me the next time I let anger get the best of me.

1 Cor. 12:27 (ESV)  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

When I was a boy, I asked God to show Himself to me

Not in a spiritual sense, but something tangible I could see.

He didn’t appear to me that night, He wouldn’t show Himself,

So, just to show who’s the boss, I put His Book back on its shelf.

As the years went by, His Book came down, now I know Him as my Lord

But, He never forgot my prayer, He remembered every word.

When I look around the church, I see some very dear friends of mine

Who show me through their lives and loves, God’s qualities divine.

In some, I see the joy of God, His patience, and His kindness

While others share His love in truth to cure the world’s blindness.

With some, it’s His authority that comes bursting through,

With others, His sense of humor with the funny things they do.

If you ever prayed a prayer like mine on some dark and lonely night,

Just look around, He’s wall-to-wall, behold the Body of Christ.

I wrote that poem maybe 40 years ago for a church “talent” show.  In case you can’t recognize the standard required for the entrants, one fellow whistled all four stanzas of Amazing Grace.  The poem may not be the best ever written, but I like the premise.

The truth of what the body of Christ truly is was made very clear to me this last week.  Saturday afternoon, I began to feel chest pains.  As a man, I was sure they would just go away.  After an hour and a half of that, Pam (my wonderful and caring wife) convinced me to go to the VA and get checked out.  Both my father and brother died of heart disease, but I’ve always been told I was fine.

On the way, I texted a group of friends who began to pray for me immediately.

Chest pains give you a golden ticket to the front of the line at any emergency room.  It was no different for me.  After some poking, prodding, and an x-ray or two, the diagnosis changed to gallbladder.  It needed to come out.  Our VA is a smaller one, so they sent me down to the Phoenix VA where a surgeon and a bed were available.  By Monday afternoon, the gallbladder was no more, and I was on my way home by Wednesday.  They kept me longer than usual because the gallbladder looked particularly “angry” said the surgeon afterward, and the surgery went much longer than expected.

During all this time, I was constantly checked up on and prayed for by brothers and sisters in Christ with texts, emails, phone calls and visits assuring me I was loved and missed.  It was like a well-oiled machine.  My wife had never driven deep into Phoenix, so I asked her to stay home rather than be swallowed by the city.  She’s smart, but the city is confusing to everyone the first time and especially alone.

So, it “happened” a Christian couple, friends of ours, texted me shortly after Pam told me she wanted to visit.  Our friends were going to Phoenix and asked if they could stop in.  I asked if they had room for Pam, and I got to see my wife.

Why is this important?

The body of Christ is made up of all the Christians past present and future.  Not only were the people from my church worried about me and seeking to love and encourage me, but so where the Christians at both VAs.  I met Christian techs, doctors, nurses, and specialists as well.  Even the guy the VA paid to drive me home from Phoenix was a fellow believer.

God is present on this earth and presents Himself in the body of His people.  When God acts, He likes to use us to join in His work just as any other Father wants to work with his children rather than work alone.  He could do it all by himself, but the bond with his child is strengthened when they work together.

We must not undervalue the Christians God brings into our lives.  He is acting through them to accomplish His purpose and blessing us all in the process.

Most of us ask this of God often:  “Am I worthy?” We know who we are, what we’ve done, who we’ve hurt.  Most of all, we’ve hurt God.  So, how can we be worthy?

John 4:27-43 brought this to mind this morning.  The passage is the end of the story of Jesus with the woman at the well and addresses the results of their talk.

In the chapter, we find this woman had been married five times and the one she was living with at the moment was not her husband.  Just as a side note, those five husbands were probably not dead.  Imagine if you were number four considering marrying a woman whose previous three husbands had bit the dust.  Wouldn’t you consider hiring a food tester, a body guard, or maybe paying for some anger management for the woman?  So, these men probably left her.  She may not have been easy to live with. There may be a good reason number six hasn’t married her.

The fact she showed up at the well to draw water at the noon hour (the sixth hour by Jewish measure) when the women of the town normally came in the cool morning hours, points to a woman of poor reputation, a woman in sin and the talk of the town.  She wanted to draw water alone. The next thing that happens is the disciples return to Jesus at the well:

John 4:27 (ESV)  Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

Any decent rabbi wouldn’t be caught talking with a woman alone, especially a Samaritan woman, and a woman of poor reputation, but Jesus did; and the disciples didn’t question either of them.  They knew enough to accept what Jesus was doing even though it seemed odd.

Next, after Jesus had His discussion with the woman, we see this result:

John 4:28-29 (ESV)  So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

So, the woman left her water jar – an indication she planned to return to the well – and ran to tell the townsfolk.  Think about this, now.  A woman of bad reputation, who no doubt had made a lot of bad decisions in her life, the subject of town gossip, came to the townspeople all excited and was able to bring people to Jesus.  In fact, the people of the town asked Jesus to stay and tell them more.

Why is this important?

Sometimes we feel unworthy to do anything God asks or commands.  We think the sin in our lives holds us back, maybe we feel ill equipped to share the gospel, or maybe we feel no one will listen.  When that happens, we should think of the woman at the well.  This was a woman of ill repute who was deep in sin.  If anyone would consider themselves unworthy, she would.  Yet, she was approached by the very God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and told all about her sin.  Though she was aware of all that, she ran to tell others of this glorious Savior she had met at the well.

It’s interesting in the Gospels no one except Jesus is called “worthy” of God.  John the Baptist says he’s not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals.  In Matt. 8:8, the centurion says he is unworthy to even have Jesus under his roof.  Jesus said in Matt. 10:37 if we hold our parents in higher regard than we hold Him, we are not worthy of Him.

But in the book of Acts things change.  Jesus has made the sacrifice.  We now stand before God cleansed and worthy to suffer for Jesus (Acts 5:41).

If God can use a poor sinful woman like the one Jesus spoke with at the well, He can use us.  She had no training in evangelism or public speaking, yet the two days Jesus spent in her town of Sychar in Samaria are known by some commentators as the “Sychar Revival.”

Eph 4:1 (ESV)  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Only through Christ are we considered worthy, you and I.  We are worthy to be used by Him here in this world and later to stand before Him faultless at the time of judgment.  Halleluiah!

Over the past six years and more than 300 blog posts (this is #317), I’ve made an effort (not always successfully) to try and keep myself out of the picture.  After all, this isn’t supposed to be about me but about our common faith and the God who is at its center.  However, I was asked the other day by a Christian friend what I would say if I were asked why I believe.  I thought this would be a good thing to share with the BAAD readers.

I told him I’m not a Christian because it makes me feel good but because it’s true.  The very miracle that is at the center of our faith, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, is the best documented event in ancient history.  We have eyewitness accounts of that are considered genuine even by secular Greek scholars and historians, genuine in that they were really written by who we believe wrote them and they wrote what they believed they saw.

I’m challenged occasionally by atheists who want to discount the documents of the Bible because the writers were “biased;” they were Christians after all.  My response is always “If you saw Jesus die a terrible death, put in a tomb sealed with a ton and a half to two ton stone, then saw Him walking around three days later and the tomb empty, wouldn’t you become a Christian.  The fact the writers were Christians is evidence for the genuineness of the record they’ve given and not against it.

Another reason I believe is all the New Testament writers except for John died a terrible death but never recanted their message.  In fact, many continued to preach the gospel to their tormentors while dying.  Bartholomew was skinned alive, Andrew was crucified on an “X” shaped cross, Thomas was run through with a spear while preaching to a crowd in India, Peter was crucified upside down.  All could have been spared if they had said the gospel was a lie, yet all continued to speak of Jesus as they were dying.  Their concern was for those listening and not for themselves.

I believe because the Bible has been shown to be reliable both internally and externally, internally because it contains predictions of future events which come true.  Externally because it has been tested and has the greatest manuscript authority of any ancient document or collection of documents, greater than the Homer’s Illiad, Plato’s Republic, and Caesar’s Gallic Wars.  There are nearly 25,000 manuscripts of the New Testament in existence and more being discovered all the time.  The earliest manuscript is dated within 30 years of its writing and less than 90 years of the events it records.

I believe because the existence of God is by far the best explanation for the existence of the universe.  Without God, we would need to believe something comes from nothing, order comes from chaos, abstract thought comes from matter in motion, consciousness comes from a collection of amino acids in a primordial soup.

Astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross came to believe God existed and reasoned a God intelligent enough to create a universe like ours may have wanted to communicate with His creation.  Ross began to read the books of the major world religions to see which best matched the cosmos he had studied as his life’s work.  Interestingly, he found all but the Book of Mormon and the Bible to be unscientific.  He then realized the Book of Mormon was somewhat accurate because it greatly plagiarized the Bible.  But the Bible was an accurate representation of the Universe he knew, so he pursued the Christian God and began Reasons to Believe, a ministry attempting to show people the sound scientific basis for the Christian faith.

Why is this important?

Ours is a faith founded on fact and reason.  We need not shrink from critics who seek to discount the things we believe.  We have the upper hand and can stand strongly in the marketplace of ideas.

Let me add one more reason I believe.  I believe in Jesus Christ, the God who sat and conversed with people like the woman at the well in John chapter 4, because like that woman, I’ve met Him.  We talk every day, and as I study His Word, I see Him more clearly, feel Him more closely, and as a result seek Him more earnestly.

Enough about me; what about you?