Making Signs
“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’
He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.’”
Today’s Text: Matthew 12:38-50 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Honestly, sometimes it feels like church ministry is about chasing after and manufacturing “signs.” And we may think and feel as if we are doing that to draw people to Christ, but really, we’re just drawing people to the “signs.”
If church ministry is about highlighting “signs,” then we are not highlighting the gospel—Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning. Rather, we are producing spiritual entertainment in order to incite spiritual emotionality, but even then, most of us don’t do it that well. And thank God for that. If we did it well, we might fool people into a false spirituality that lacks any real power—the power of love, the power of obedience and faith.
The church always belongs to the next generation, and if everything that we do is not grounded 100% in the person and work of Jesus Christ, we are woefully missing the mark.
Do I seriously think I need anything beyond Jesus Christ and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning to equip, enable, and empower my ministry? No. None of us do.
Not only do we try to produce spiritual entertainment, we tend to listen to the wisdom of the world rather than the wisdom of Christ. We see this all the time in church ministry.
We operate in a manner that makes perfect sense according to the values of the world, because the values of Christ seem “naive” to us.
The word of God has a lot to say about what church ministry is about and how churches should operate. We must listen and act accordingly. Otherwise, the “signs” we chase and manufacture won’t be pointing to Christ at all.
Father, You have given us all we need for faith and obedience. You have given us all we need to build up Your church. Forgive us for basing our ministries on “signs” rather than Christ. Give us a course correction every day, every week, every year so that we might grow into a mature body. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
