Rational Miracles

Miracles, by definition, are phenomena, welcome phenomena, which stand outside the bounds of what is expected, normal, or natural. They don’t have a scientific explanation and so are attributed to divine intervention. For the materialist, therefore, a miracle is an impossibility, and to believe that they occur is irrational. No matter how extraordinary a phenomenon, it must have a rational, scientific explanation.

Given their presuppositions, I don’t know how materialists would have explained the healing of the man who sat day by day at the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3). Everyone familiar with the Beautiful Gate knew him to be one who had been lame from birth, who was brought to the location so that he could beg for alms. When it came to pass, therefore, that he was suddenly able to stand and leap about they couldn’t deny that it was he or that he was now completely healed. But what brought this about? Why was he suddenly able to walk? The explanation given by Peter wouldn’t have satisfied the materialist. It wasn’t scientific. It wasn’t rational.

Well, actually, that’s not completely true. The healing might not have been scientific, but it was totally rational, for it was done in the name of Jesus.

Prompted by the healing, Peter offers the incredulous onlookers a string of titles and adjectives for Jesus, when put together, provide a perfectly rational explanation as to why the man was healed “by faith in his name.” Jesus, the one those listening had “delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate,” was the “Holy and Righteous One” who had been glorified (ascended and now seated at the right hand of God, as attested to by the outpouring of he Holy Spirit) by the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers,” who was raised from the dead and shown to be the “Author of life.” He was the “servant” of God, the “Christ” who “suffered” as “foretold by the mouth of all the prophets,” who himself was the one of whom “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’” He was the object of “all the prophets [had] spoken” about the age to come in which the covenant that God made with Abraham that “’in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed,’” would be realized. Given the reality of who Jesus is, it makes perfect sense that Peter and John, ministering in the power of Jesus could heal the man in the name of Jesus.

The hope is that the materialist (or anyone else for that matter) would reason backwards from the miracle and come to the conclusion that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). For some who listened to Peter that was the case. And for those in any age who hear the testimony for themselves, and are willing to weigh the evidence, a perfectly rational response will be to repent and believe.

Becoming Established

I think it not unlikely that when we hear that some one is involved in preaching the gospel we think of an evangelistic effort designed to bring someone to faith in Christ. Paul’s language from Romans 10 tracks along these lines: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved . . . But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” Yet, in this same letter, when writing to Christians, Paul speaks of the gospel being used by God in an additional way: “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ . . .” (16:25). This is what we considered on a recent Sunday: how the message the church preaches, the good news that God has acted to save us from his just condemnation, not only saves us, but also strengthens, or establishes, us.

The goal that God has for his children (and, therefore, the goal that we his children should have for ourselves) is that they would become increasingly mature and steadfast in the faith. According to the apostle, this requires that we not leave the foundational message of the church behind after having been brought into the church by it. God intends to use the reality framing truth that we are sinners saved by grace to continually shape our thinking, responses, motivations, and plans.

How does this work? Well, knowing that all you deserve is hell yet you have been given heaven, and this gift was not anything you earned or bargained for, should temper any temptation you might have to think of yourself more highly than you have a right to think. Such humility will do wonders for your relationships across the board! It will also allow you to be grateful for your successes rather than boastful. On the other hand, knowing that God has expressed his love so profoundly and concretely in giving his son to intervene on your behalf, and that at the cost of his son’s life, should allow you to rest in the knowledge that you are cherished by God even when everyone around you devalues you to the point of virtual non-existence and you are inclined to agree with their estimation. Either response, self-exaltation or self-denigration, will be tempered by a deepening appreciation for the gospel. The shedding of both of these mind sets, along with a host of others, will mark us out as mature, established, strong men and women of the faith. And the source for such transformation is the gospel.

A Changed Man

Onesimus, a slave, had run away. When he fled he took something of value from his master's home: money? jewelry? He probably thought he had made a clean get away, traveling many, many miles to the city of Rome where he could live out his days, and his freedom, in anonymity. But things did not go as planned. He was now on his way back to his master to face the consequences of his flight and thievery. What's remarkable about his return is that he was going back not under guard, or in chains, but of his own volition. He was going back because he had come to a new understanding of his obligations to his master. How had this change come about? What made a man, who had decided it was best to flee his circumstances, now decide to face them? It was the presence of God's redemptive power in his life. While in Rome, he had met the apostle Paul, who shared with him the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, Onesimus came to faith and he was a changed man, a new creation.

The brief story of Onesimus, which is the subject of Paul's letter to his friend Philemon, is a powerful example of what can happen when a person who comes to faith in Christ embraces the process of change that God intends to take place in the lives of his children. That process involves (at the very least) the renewing of the mind (so that we understand the will of God), the practice of repentance (when something we formerly thought acceptable is discovered to be outside of God's will), the participation in the life of the community of God's family (for mutual provocation and support in the process of change), and, most importantly, the resource of Jesus himself (who unites himself to us when we confess him as Lord; see Ephesians 4:17-24).

As the story of Onesimus illustrates, change is possible. We need not respond to the circumstances of life with the same default responses that exhibited themselves when we were governed by our old nature. With God's help, utilizing the means he has provided, we can put off the old self and put on the new and face the challenges of life with faith.

The Church

I spoke of the Church, with a capital C, this past Sunday. It was one of our joint services and it seemed a good time to speak of the entity with which, by God’s grace, we are identified. We considered the Church under four headings. The Church is one; the Church is universal; the Church is apostolic; and the Church is holy. 

All who confess Christ, no matter their age, gender, language, or culture, are one in Christ. This promises the real possibility of peace between peoples no matter how deeply the warring parties have been offended. All who come, from whatever tongue, tribe, or nation, partake of the life that flows from our one common source, Jesus Christ, the head of the Church.

This leads us to the next heading: the Church is universal. The fact that God intends to draw people from every nation opens up the worldwide missionary enterprise. The Church represents the most diverse collection of people of any other religion or belief system. This is because the gospel transcends cultures and tongues and gathers in peoples from across the spectrum of human expression. Contrary to the common perception that the Church is a Eurocentric entity, the most vibrant center of Church life currently is found in Africa and Asia.

The Church is also apostolic. The Church is defined by the faith proclaimed by the apostles and preserved for us in the Scriptures (Cf., Ephesians 2:20). When the Church abandons the Scriptures it abandons its message and, therefore, its reason for existence. We were sent by Jesus to bear witness to him and if we don’t believe what has been said about him we have nothing to proclaim.

Lastly, the Church is holy. It is a unique entity that has been brought into existence by a holy God to be holy unto him. The gospel is not one path among many to God nor is it merely another form of therapy. The gospel calls people to faith and repentance in Christ alone. We must resist every attempt of unbelieving critics to fold Christianity into the deck of world religions. The Church has been set apart by the grace of God to bring glory to his name and to carry out his mission on the earth.

The culture around us works hard at marginalizing the Church, painting it to be bigoted, oppressive, and a threat to an open, pluralistic society. As a result, we are often hesitant to openly identify with the Church. Truth be told, the people around us need the Church for it is the repository of the gospel, the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). They need us to be faithful to and unashamed of the Church and its mission.