So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. (Acts 14:3)
Paul and Barnabas went on their mission to the city of Iconium, where they continued to use their strategy of preaching in the synagogue. They used the synagogue as their entry point to preach Jesus Christ, relying on the spirit of Lord. As a very gifted person, Paul performed many miracles, such as healing sickness, driving out demons, resurrecting the dead, and he was healed from a poisonous snake bite.
According to our current thinking, why didn’t Paul heal the sick and drive out demons to attract people and make them believe? Instead, they mainly preached the gospel, using truth instead of miracles to attract people. Only when necessary did they use signs and wonders to bless others, or when God took the initiative to perform miracles through their hands. The purpose was to prove the truth of the Word of God. The reason why Paul did this was that he knew there was a primary focus and then there was a secondary focus. He knew that God's Word was more important than miracles. He wanted people to believe in the Word of God, not delight in miracles.
We hope that when we preach the gospel, there will be miracles and wonders so that more people can believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord. But what we see in this verse is that we should not spend all of our time and energy on the pursuit of miracles, but we need to put our effort into preaching the gospel. But today there are many churches and many people who are putting the cart before the horse and like to put a lot of time and energy on the secondary and ignore the Word of God which is the most important thing.
For example, many charismatic churches today spend a lot of time and energy in the pursuit of miracles and wonders to attract people to the Lord, but in the end, they use these to promote themselves and show how spiritual they are. But if some people come here to believe the Lord, their faith, which is based on miracles, is unreliable and unsound. As Augustine said: what they gained by curiosity, will disappear completely through arrogance.
Our faith is built on the Word of God, not on miracles. The Word of God is God itself, but miracles are not necessarily of God. So we must understand the difference between the two. When we don’t use miracles to preach the gospel, people will develop their faith by believing in the Word of God. But if we use miracles to preach the gospel, this kind of faith will not be unreliable.
Although some churches today do not spend a lot of time and energy in pursuing miracles and wonders, they may use a similar approach in other pursuits. For example, some churches today are building large and magnificent churches. They are willing to spend a lot of money and energy on this to attract people to the church. However, they are unwilling to spend more time studying the truth and preaching the truth. Some churches are very happy to hold various activities to attract people, but they neglect God's Word. This is why some churches have long worship services and the number of programs has been increased because people like music and performances. Some churches have opportunistically used this method to attract people, making worship seem the same as a concert. As a result, less time is spent preaching and the evangelistic part of Sunday worship service is shortened. Some churches have even canceled the preaching session at Christmas.
Because they can’t distinguish between what is most important and what is secondary, so other things have replaced the truth of the gospel. This is a practice that seduces into religion, but the result is that they are actually made the children of hell. Because these beliefs are not based on the truth of the gospel, but on the hay and straw, so the beliefs are not only unreliable but also biased. These people have values that are still of this world; they have never been renewed by the gospel, so their so-called beliefs will one day collapse.
Therefore, when we preach the gospel today, we must clearly distinguish between things of primary and secondary importance. We must put the preaching of the Word of God first, rather than spending a lot of time and energy pursuing miracles or other things. We should use the truth of the gospel to attract people to the Lord so that people's beliefs are built on that truth and their lives will be truly changed.
(Note: The author of this article is a full-time co-worker of a grassroots church in Fujian)
-Translated by Abigail Wu
使徒行传灵修系列：传福音要分清主次
二人在那里住了多日，倚靠主放胆讲道，主藉他们的手施行神迹奇事，证明他的恩道。（使徒行传14:3）
保罗和巴拿巴的宣教之旅来到以歌念这个城市，在这里他们依旧采取会堂宣教策略，以犹太会堂作为切入点，然后倚靠主放胆传讲耶稣基督的福音。保罗本身就是一个很有恩赐的人，他也行了许多神迹，例如医病赶鬼、死人复活，被毒蛇咬伤也得医治。按照我们现今的想法，保罗为什么不用医病赶鬼这种神迹奇事来吸引人，使人信主呢？他们反而都是以传讲福音为主，用福音真道来吸引人，从来没有用神迹奇事来吸引人。只是在必要的时候会用神迹奇事去祝福他人，或者是神主动藉着他们的手去行的，其目的也都是为了证明神的道。保罗之所以会这样行，是因为他懂得分清主次，他知道神的道比神迹更重要，是叫人信神的道，而不是叫人喜欢神迹。
我们现今也都希望自己传福音的时候，有神迹奇事伴随着，好叫更多的人能相信耶稣基督是主。但是我们在这节经所看到的是，不要把自己的时间与精力全花在追求神迹奇事上，而是要放在努力传讲福音真道上。但是现今有许多教会、许多人却本末倒置，喜欢将大量的时间与精力放在次要的上面，而忽略了最主要的——神的道。
譬如现今许多灵恩派教会喜欢花大量的时间与精力在追求神迹奇事上，想通过这种方式来吸引人归主，可是到最后他们追求这些东西往往都是为了抬高自己，显示自己更加属灵。或许他们真的用这种神迹奇事的方式吸引了一些人归主，但是这种建立在神迹上的信仰是不可靠的，是不牢固的。正如奥古斯丁所说的：他们藉着好奇心得到的，一定会在傲慢中完全消失。
因为信仰是要建立在神的道上，而不是建立在神迹上。神的道是神本身，而神迹却不一定就是神，所以我们必须理清楚这二者之间区别。当我们不用神迹来传福音时，人就从神的道上建立信仰，我们若是用神迹来传福音，那这种建立在神迹上的信仰也必然是不可靠的。
现今有些教会虽然没有花大量时间与精力在追求神迹奇事上，但是也出现类似本末倒置的事，只是所追求的不一样罢了。譬如现今有些教会过于追求外在高大宏伟的教堂，愿意花费大量的金钱与精力在这上面，想以外在的建筑物吸引人来教会。可是他们却不愿意多花些时间在真道上，不愿意花更多的时间来学习真理，传讲真理上。有些教会则是很乐衷于举办各种各样的活动，想用各种方法来吸引人信主，却偏偏忽略用神的道吸引人信主。这就为什么现今有些教会敬拜的时间一再延长，节目一再增多。因为人们都喜欢音乐与节目，所以有些教会就投机取巧用这种方式来吸引人，把敬拜做的跟演唱会一样。但是一场聚会的时间是有限的，最后就把讲道的时间给缩短了。因此主日讲道时间缩短了，布道会上的讲道时间也被缩短了，有些教会在圣诞节时，直接把讲道环节取消了。
这些做法都是属于主次不分，以致于用其他事物取代了福音真道，这样的做法犹如勾引人们一个个入教，却使他们做了地狱之子。因为被这些事物吸引信主的人，他们的信仰并不是建立在福音真道上，而是建立在草木禾秸之上，所以他们的信仰不仅不可靠，而且是有偏差的。他们的价值观依旧是停留在这个世界上，他们从未被福音真道所更新改变，所以这些人所谓的信仰，终有一天会瓦解。
因此我们今天在传福音的时候一定要分清楚主次，一定要将传讲神的道放在首位，而不是花大量的时间与精力去追求神迹奇事上或者其他事物上。用福音真道来吸引人们归向主，让人们的信仰是建立在福音真道之上，使他们真正的被福音真道所改变。
（注：本文作者为福建一基层教会全职同工）
So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. (Acts 14:3)
Paul and Barnabas went on their mission to the city of Iconium, where they continued to use their strategy of preaching in the synagogue. They used the synagogue as their entry point to preach Jesus Christ, relying on the spirit of Lord. As a very gifted person, Paul performed many miracles, such as healing sickness, driving out demons, resurrecting the dead, and he was healed from a poisonous snake bite.
According to our current thinking, why didn’t Paul heal the sick and drive out demons to attract people and make them believe? Instead, they mainly preached the gospel, using truth instead of miracles to attract people. Only when necessary did they use signs and wonders to bless others, or when God took the initiative to perform miracles through their hands. The purpose was to prove the truth of the Word of God. The reason why Paul did this was that he knew there was a primary focus and then there was a secondary focus. He knew that God's Word was more important than miracles. He wanted people to believe in the Word of God, not delight in miracles.
We hope that when we preach the gospel, there will be miracles and wonders so that more people can believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord. But what we see in this verse is that we should not spend all of our time and energy on the pursuit of miracles, but we need to put our effort into preaching the gospel. But today there are many churches and many people who are putting the cart before the horse and like to put a lot of time and energy on the secondary and ignore the Word of God which is the most important thing.
For example, many charismatic churches today spend a lot of time and energy in the pursuit of miracles and wonders to attract people to the Lord, but in the end, they use these to promote themselves and show how spiritual they are. But if some people come here to believe the Lord, their faith, which is based on miracles, is unreliable and unsound. As Augustine said: what they gained by curiosity, will disappear completely through arrogance.
Our faith is built on the Word of God, not on miracles. The Word of God is God itself, but miracles are not necessarily of God. So we must understand the difference between the two. When we don’t use miracles to preach the gospel, people will develop their faith by believing in the Word of God. But if we use miracles to preach the gospel, this kind of faith will not be unreliable.
Although some churches today do not spend a lot of time and energy in pursuing miracles and wonders, they may use a similar approach in other pursuits. For example, some churches today are building large and magnificent churches. They are willing to spend a lot of money and energy on this to attract people to the church. However, they are unwilling to spend more time studying the truth and preaching the truth. Some churches are very happy to hold various activities to attract people, but they neglect God's Word. This is why some churches have long worship services and the number of programs has been increased because people like music and performances. Some churches have opportunistically used this method to attract people, making worship seem the same as a concert. As a result, less time is spent preaching and the evangelistic part of Sunday worship service is shortened. Some churches have even canceled the preaching session at Christmas.
Because they can’t distinguish between what is most important and what is secondary, so other things have replaced the truth of the gospel. This is a practice that seduces into religion, but the result is that they are actually made the children of hell. Because these beliefs are not based on the truth of the gospel, but on the hay and straw, so the beliefs are not only unreliable but also biased. These people have values that are still of this world; they have never been renewed by the gospel, so their so-called beliefs will one day collapse.
Therefore, when we preach the gospel today, we must clearly distinguish between things of primary and secondary importance. We must put the preaching of the Word of God first, rather than spending a lot of time and energy pursuing miracles or other things. We should use the truth of the gospel to attract people to the Lord so that people's beliefs are built on that truth and their lives will be truly changed.
(Note: The author of this article is a full-time co-worker of a grassroots church in Fujian)
-Translated by Abigail Wu
Devotional Series from Acts: Give Priority to God's Word of God in Evangelism
