Purpose Driven Signs and Miracles

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20: 30-31 ESV)


I work on top of a lot of roofs. My job is an HVAC Service Technician. I am blessed to get into all sorts of conversations with people about all sorts of topics.

One day I was chatting with a maintenance man about his church. He was on the building committee of his Methodist Church. They were in the process of re-designing their sanctuary. They wanted to add better lighting, better audio, better video; you know, all the things that are in most large modern churches these days. I asked him his purpose for doing all this. He told me that they were doing it so that they could "entertain" people better, "like Jesus did," he said. I asked him what he meant, and he told me that Jesus performed his signs and miracles so that the people could be entertained. They were just trying to do what Jesus did.

Basically this man thought of David Copperfield as a modern day Jesus. Did you know that Copperfield puts on over 500 shows a year, and has outsold every entertainer to date, including Madonna and Lady Gaga. He has sold over 40 million tickets and grossed over 3 billion dollars (says Wikipedia).  Which raises the question, what is the purpose of Copperfields signs and supposed miracles? Is it the same as Jesus' purpose?

Jesus performed his signs and miracles so that you and I might believe something, and that you and I might have something. The thing I am suppose to believe is that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." And the thing I am to have is "life in his name."


Can you imagine if David Copperfield was doing all his work and performing all of his illusions for me? He was doing it so that I could inherit the kingdom he was building through all his work. The 3 billion dollars he has grossed would soon be mine, all mine! And somehow, it would be yours and all yours as well!

As you go back through the gospels and read of the miracles that Jesus performed, know that they are purpose driven. Has his purpose for his miracles been accomplished in you? Do you have the first purpose, and eagerly anticipate the second?

If not, why not?