The Liability of Signs and wonders In evangelism

By William R. Cunningham
December 16, 2007
Inspired by the article, “Signs, Wonders, and Evangelism:
The Down Side” by Gregory Koukl (April 23, 1994)

Introduction

Should Christians seek supernatural events as a normal part of the Christian life?  Should we, for example, seek any of the following?

1. Supernatural signs
2. Prophesy
3. Words of Knowledge
4. Supernatural manifestations, e.g., healing
5. God’s voice in decision making
6. Anointing

Should we expect God to heal us miraculously or divinely rescue us from a particular predicament?  Should we expect signs and wonders to follow our ministry as we tell others about Jesus Christ?

One of the things that I was taught growing up in church is that the physical needs of the people had to be met before their spiritual needs.  In other words, if you wanted someone to be receptive to the gospel then you had to take of their physical needs first.  Therefore, we would need to feed a hungry man before we could expect to be successful in proclaiming the gospel to him.  Is this principle true? Let’s talk about this.

Scripture Study

{18} And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. {19} However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” {20} And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled. (Mark 5:18-20 NKJV)

Jesus had just healed a man that was demon possessed.  The response of that man was to follow Jesus.  He wanted to be a disciple of Christ.  However, Jesus did not permit him to follow him.  Instead he told the man to go and tell those in Decapolis what Jesus had done for him.

{36} Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. {37} And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the muteto speak.” (Mark 7:36-37 NKJV)

Jesus had just healed a deaf mute man.  He told those that witnessed the event not to tell anyone about it.  However, the more Jesus told them not to, the more they proclaimed what he did.  Their response was that they marveled.

{26} Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.” (Mark 8:26 NKJV)
Here Jesus had just healed a blind man.  He then told the man not to tell anyone what had happened and to refrain from going into town.  Again Jesus didn’t want news of the miracle to spread.  However, one would think that Jesus would want his miraculous acts to spread.  We might reason that it would have added to the credibility of his ministry.  Either that is not true or it would not have made a difference.

We tend to believe that physical needs will cause someone to be more receptive of the gospel.  The gospel is not about meeting our physical needs.  The gospel is the key to meeting our spiritual needs.  This is how the beatitudes can make sense, i.e., it has to be interpreted from a spiritual mindset (See Matthew 5:1-12).  We tend to think that the physical needs affect reception of spiritual truth.  Such may indeed not be the case.

{14} Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. {15} Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” {16} And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.” (Mark 8:14-16 NKJV)

Jesus had previously fed four thousand with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish.  The disciples interpreted that miracle physically, but Jesus meant it as a spiritual object lesson.  Many were fed with only a small amount.  This is like the mustard seed analogy that Jesus gave (See Matthew 13:31, 17:20, Mark 4:31, Luke 13:19, 17:6).

It appears that physical miracles may not lead us to a spiritual understanding.  Therefore, physically meeting the needs of someone may not lead that person to accepting the gospel any more than if the physical need was not met.

{24} For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24 NKJV)

Here we see that Jesus is not the only one that may perform miracles.  I recall even those who opposed Moses performed similar signs as he did (Exodus 7:8-12).  This suggests that signs and wonders are not necessarily authoritative with regards to confirming the works of God.  Just because a miracle occurs does not mean that it was by the power of God or that the miracle somehow authenticates an activity or doctrine.

The Liability of Signs and Wonders

There is a liability associated with signs and wonders and we can see that even in the bible.  Signs and wonders do not necessarily lead one to Christ or increase the probability of accepting Jesus Christ.  Signs and wonders may actually hinder the process of accepting the gospel.

We tend to gravitate to the physical because it is more real to us.  If a man came to us with food while we were hungry then we would hope to see him again to feed us in the future.  He met a more pressing need in our mind.  The physical sign may overshadow the spiritual need and we should therefore focus on the spiritual needs of people.

Mr. Koukl wrote the following in his article.
"When I was at work for the City of Relief society before the fire, I used to go to a poor sinner with the Bible in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other....My idea was that I could open a poor man's heart by giving him a load of wood or a ton of coal when the winter was coming on, but I soon found out that he wasn't any more interested in the Gospel on that account. Instead of thinking how he could come to Christ, he was thinking how long it would be before he got the load of wood. If I had the Bible in one hand and a loaf in the other the people always looked first at the loaf." [Quoted in George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 37.]

Robert Gupta was a high-class Hindu that converted to Christ and then founded the Hindustan Bible Institute in Madras, India, where I had a chance to teach at last year. As I read his biography he talked about the liabilities he ran into with taking the gospel to villages in India. When he used signs and wonders, which he certainly had available to him, and when he would pray for people and people would get healed, people would apparently come to the Gospel. They would come to Christ and when he would go back to follow up on these folks he found that they had fallen away and their response was simply this, "I'll contact you again next time I'm sick." They thought Jesus was merely a substitute for the doctor, not someone they should bend their knee to in all circumstances of life.
Jesus encountered these same liabilities.

{1} After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. {2} Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. (John 6:1-2 NKJV)

So the miracles that we might think would validate Jesus’ ministry and bring people to a true relationship with him, may in fact be a stumbling block only because the people are really not interested in the relationship.

Application in Church and Ministry

In many cases, church today is more than a fellowship of believers.  Churches are community organizations that meet various physical and social needs of the people.  As a matter of fact, many expect the church to be a social and community beacon.  The church is not first and foremost a spiritual entity in people’s minds.  Many believe the church is a community service.

This reflects poorly on Christianity as well.  People expect Christianity to address social and moral issues whereas Christianity is a spiritual thing.  Though social and moral issues are important, they are however not the focus of Christianity.

The Purpose of Signs

I am not suggesting that signs and wonders are not of God or that they don’t exist anymore.  I do believe in them, but I don’t believe that we should pursue them.

The signs and wonders were used sometimes to validate the ministry of Jesus or the apostles.

{20} But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11:20 NKJV)

{2} This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2 NKJV)

They also, in a general sense were used to meet the basic needs of the people.  They were sick and he healed them.  They were hungry and he fed them (due to his concern for their well being).

Also, Jesus’ miracles also acquainted the people with the humanity of Christ.  Sure his message was spiritual, but he was also in tune with the physical needs of the people.  God looks at the whole person.

{14} And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14 NKJV)

Signs and wonders may still occur today—and I believe they do.  However, we should not depend on them as though they should be a normal part of the Christian life.  We should use the wisdom that we obtain from God and learn to trust God in normal everyday situations of our lives.

Purpose of Signs Today

Signs and wonders do not appear to have the same purpose as they did during Jesus’ ministry.  Even during Jesus’ ministry, he did not heal everyone.  I don’t know if we can really say if there is a particular purpose for signs and wonders except for the specific need that they may fulfill.  For example, if someone is miraculously healed today then we can say that the purpose of the miracle was to remove the cancer.  Does that healing validate a particular ministry?  I don’t think so.  All of the authority is with Christ and the establishment of the doctrine of Christianity was first taught by his disciples.  We cannot add to it.

Moral of This Story

The primary point that I want to make here is that we should not depend on nor seek signs and wonders.  They are not needed to validate a ministry or to increase the effectiveness of a particular evangelistic crusade.  We need to instead trust the power of the gospel.  It is the Holy Spirit that ultimately leads someone to salvation, not our particular knowledge or speaking ability.

We should not think that we must meet physical needs in order for the gospel message to be effective.  Though I think it is important to meet the physical needs of people, we should not think that the effectiveness of the gospel depends on it.  Think about that for a moment.  If it was true that we must meet the physical needs of a person in order for that person to be more receptive to the gospel, then we, for example would have to eliminate all of the poor people before they would receive the gospel.  That is not the case however.  Jesus preached to the poor, but he did not heal everyone nor did he feed everyone.

The physical needs of a person and the spiritual needs of that person are separate.  I can’t say that they are mutually exclusive, but based on the revelation from the Bible; I can conclude that the reception of the gospel is not dependent on meeting physical needs.  Would a person dying of cancer be excluded from receiving the gospel on his death bed because of the cancer?  No.  He is just as likely to receive the gospel even though the cancer remains.  We may think that he would give honor to God if he was healed from the cancer and that would make him receptive to the Christian way.  However, most likely he would be grateful that he is healed.  That doesn’t mean that he will have an affinity to the gospel any more or any less in the overall scope of his life.

Churches practice this same delusion.  They think that they can have programs and functions to attract people so that the gospel would be preached to them.  However, if a person is attracted to a church because of the music, then that is going to be what is required to keep that person there (notwithstanding that it is possible that the person, upon attending the church, could indeed be turned on by the gospel message and receive Christ).  If a person comes to the church because he or she desires a relationship with Jesus then that is what will make him or her more receptive to the gospel—not the choir, music, or church activities.

I think it is important that we realize that physical needs do not necessarily correlate to spiritual needs. We should not think that we have to meet physical needs in order to be effective at sharing the gospel message.  We should share the gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to lead the person to Christ.  It is not because of physical satisfaction that someone is more prone to receive the gospel. It is the heart of the person that compels him or her to want Jesus or not—regardless of that person’s present physical condition.

The moral of the story, so to speak, is therefore to depend on the power of God to operate in your life and your ministry over and above miracles and the like.