This past Sunday, we kicked off our new series Signs of Jesus with a sermon about the amazing ways that God works in the world (Listen here). By far, the most comments, feedback, and questions I’ve received about this topic relate to the purpose of these miracles. Why did Jesus do them? As a reminder, this is what we discovered.

The small-picture purpose

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)

This passage points us to the three personal things we must have in response to the miracles of Jesus: (1) Belief  (2) Confession and (3) Life in Jesus . We desperately need to “follow the signs” of John’s gospel and apply it to our own hearts. Have you believed? Has that belief led you to confess Jesus as Lord and God? Has that belief and confession led you to find your life (your everything) in him?

The big-picture purpose

But Jesus is doing MUCH more than just saving individual souls. He is doing nothing less than restoring the entire created order and reversing the effects of the curse. The “7 signs” give us a sampling of this restoration. Jesus comes to bring...

Celebration in a joyless world—Turning Water into Wine

Healing in a broken world—The Paralytic and Royal official’s Son

Satisfaction in a hungry world—The Feeding of the 5000

Safety in a dangerous world—The Walking on Water

Comprehension in a world of darkness—The Man born blind

New Life in a dying world—Raising Lazarus from the dead

What does this have to do with Pink Spoons?

"The pink-spoon samples that we experience are only a 'foretaste' of the ice-cream that is coming."

It turns out, Jesus' miracles have a direct impact on our day-to-day activities-like eating ice-cream! On Wednesday, I had the privilege of hearing writer Amy Sherman speaking about how the gospel shapes our vocations. She described all of the “work” of Jesus (miracles, teaching, etc.) as a “foretastes of the kingdom.” To illustrate this, she described those little pink spoons that are used at Baskin Robbins to give out samples. The pink-spoon samples that we experience are only a “foretaste” of the ice-cream that is coming. In the same way, the miracles of Jesus are a foretaste of what is to come—in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21)!

In her book Kingdom Calling, Amy makes the case that we (like Jesus) are all called to bring about the kingdom with our everyday work. In other words, we are supposed to be doing the very things that Jesus did with his miracles. Of course, we can’t do the supernatural, but we should at least be asking ourselves these questions this week:

How and what will I celebrate? Where will I bring healing to a relationship? How will I “feed” another person? What will I do to make my house, neighborhood and city places of safety? Who will I pour life into?