When I was a senior in high school (eons ago), a disco-song came out by a British soul band known as “Hot Chocolate.” Quite frankly, I was never too fond of this song, but the lyrics started out like this: “I believe in miracles. Where you from, you sexy thing?” I couldn’t help but think about this song when I heard about a sermon Andy Stanley preached earlier this month. I guess the song came to mind because what he had to say sounded like a record scratch to me. As you probably know, Andy Stanley is the son of the late Charles Stanley. He is also the pastor of a mega church in Alpharetta, Georgia. The question that he had for his congregation was this: “Are Christians required to believe in miracles?” For a pastor, he gave a very odd, if not heretical, answer to his own question. Stanley ended up saying that Christians do not need to believe in all the miracles reported in the Bible. Rather, according to him, all you have to do is believe in just two miracles. The first miracle you must believe is that God is the Creator of an orderly universe. I stress that word “orderly” because it is important to Stanley’s rather unorthodox take on things. I will mention more about that in a few minutes. The second miracle you need to believe, according to Stanley, is that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.[1]
Now, think about what Andy Stanley is saying here. Although he claims to be a “man of God,” he is preaching that you do not need to believe substantial portions of God’s Word. According to him, you can hold to the view that the parting of the Red Sea was a Hebrew myth. You can sink Noah’s Ark to the bottom of the sea of fairy tales. You can consider the Virgin Birth of Christ to be a still-born legend. Stanley has no problem with you rejecting the truthfulness of the feeding of the five-thousand, Jesus’ Transfiguration, His healing of the blind, the lame and the demon-possessed, the raising of Lazarus, and all the other miracles found throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. Andy finds it absolutely permissible for you to treat them as nothing but fabricated fables. Now, let me preface all that I am about to say by stating that this is my personal opinion as a pastor. I feel certain that the members of his congregation would disagree with what I am about to say concerning Stanley and his position on biblical miracles. But, again, in my opinion, those who accept Andy Stanley’s views on miracles may be many things, but one thing they are not . . . is a Christian.
So, why is Andy Stanley clearly wrong in preaching that you can reject all the miracles in the Bible except for the couple he mentioned? To begin to answer this question, we need to understand what the Bible is, and what it is not. It is not a book like Aesop’s Fables. It is not a book of fairy tales. The Bible is God’s Holy Word given to the biblical writers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As such, it is inerrant and infallible. And, with that being the case, what does the Bible say about the truthfulness of its contents? Does it say that this part is true, but some other parts are false? No—not hardly. If we open the Bible and look in the Book of Proverbs, we find a definitive statement confirming that you cannot pick and choose between what you’d like to believe as opposed to those parts you’d like to treat as fables. Proverbs 30:5-6 states: 5 “Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. 6 Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.” (ESV) Stanley’s approach to miracles would have you add footnotes declaring the majority of them to be myths and lies. In effect, he would have you delete the vast majority of God’s miracles from the biblical text—not unlike some collegiate and high school textbooks today. But, consider what Jesus had to say about God’s Word. Jesus declared: 17 “Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true. 18 Remember that as long as Heaven and earth last, NOT THE LEAST POINT NOR THE SMALLEST DETAIL OF THE LAW WILL BE DONE AWAY WITH—not until the end of all things.” Matthew 5:17-18 (TEV)
When Jesus spoke of the “Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets,” He was referring to all of the Scriptures contained in the Old Testament—including all of the miracles. He is telling us about the truthfulness and character of the Holy Bible. Jesus confirmed that God’s Word is everlasting and trustworthy. It is the final authority on everything.[2] Jesus came as a fulfillment of all those things in the Old Testament that were pointing to Him. And yet, Stanley would have you lose the benefit of such fulfillment. Sadly, this isn’t something new on his part. Back in 2018, he urged his church members to disregard God’s Word in the Old Testament by “unhitching” themselves from its contents. But, fast forward six years to the comments in his recent sermon. Now, he contradicts himself by insisting that believing in the miracle of God’s creation of the universe is necessary. It is unclear to me how you would be able to appreciate God’s miracle of creation by “unhitching” yourself from the opening chapters of the first Old Testament book—the Book of Genesis.[3] That just doesn’t make sense!
Under Stanley’s theology, if you can “cherry-pick” which miracles to believe, then presumably you can do the same with respect to any other biblical content you might find disagreeable—whether it’s in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Apparently, many flock to his church because people love the false notion that they can pick-and-chose which parts of the Bible they will follow and which parts they will ignore. But, the truth is—you cannot “cherry-pick” among miracles any more than you can “cherry-pick” from any other parts of the Bible. So, what is Andy really doing here? He’s offering a recipe for forming “lukewarm” Christians. It’s the same path that some other Christian denominations today have chosen to take. They ignore those parts of God’s Word that they find unpopular with the secular world around them. The problem is “lukewarm” Christians aren’t going to fare too well in the long run. Why?—because the Book of Revelation says that Jesus will spit them out of His mouth![4] (Perhaps that is something else that Stanley would have his followers to delete from their Bibles!)
The Christian writer and defender-of-the-faith, C. S. Lewis, gave some of the most articulate defenses of biblical miracles in his writings. But, there is a vast difference between C. S. Lewis and Andy Stanley. Lewis was a true defender-of-the-faith, while Stanley is a mere pretender-of-the-faith. You can begin to see this when comparing Stanley’s definition of miracles to that of Lewis’. In his recent sermon Stanley defined a miracle as a “temporary suspension or reversal of the laws of nature”. . . that serve as “an interruption in the ways that God normally behaves.” He then tacks on his other comment I mentioned earlier that “God is the Creator of an orderly universe.”[5] Stanley subtly suggests that miracles are opposed to God’s orderliness of creation. In this way, he attempts to frame miracles in an unfavorable light. In other words, he sets up his definition of a “miracle” to deny anything that is supernatural. Since miracles supersede natural laws, they automatically offend Stanley’s notion of any orderly universe and, thus, must be generally rejected. So, how do we respond to this? Well, yes—God did create an orderly universe. That is a major point of the Creation narrative in the Book of Genesis. And yet, Stanley fails to see that the orderliness of the universe is not opposed to the supernatural nature of miracles. His thinking is limited to the laws of nature and is devoid of any concept that God’s miracles are supernatural. In this regard, Stanley might consider what God said in the Book of Isaiah: 8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT2)
You can see that Stanley has forgotten this Scripture in the way his definition of miracles differs from the definitions of faithful Christian leaders. For example, C. S. Lewis defined a miracle as “an interference with Nature by supernatural power.”[6] Add to this the definitions of New Testament scholar Wayne Grudem, as well as Christian apologist, Doug Powell. Grudem, puts it well when stating that miracles are “a less common kind of God’s activity in which He arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to Himself.”[7] Powell points out that a “miracle is often mischaracterized as a suspension or violation of [natural] laws. However, miracles may be more accurately characterized as revealing an element that does not normally present itself in how the world works and is, therefore, not accounted for by natural laws.”[8]
Do you see the difference in these definitions as compared to Andy Stanley’s definition? Stanley’s emphasis is upon the natural laws of the universe, while Lewis, Grudem and Powell emphasize God’s supernatural priority and power over mere natural laws. In other words, when miracles occur, they should not be viewed as something unfavorable or doubtful—as Stanley seems to imply. Rather, miracles are real events that reveal God’s sovereignty as He exercises His supernatural prerogative over the lesser laws of nature that God Himself established. God’s miracles bring glory to Himself and confer good upon those to whom the miracles are granted. As Creator of the universe, and as is consistent with His abundantly good character,[9] God has the sovereign right to “interfere” with a Fallen world in order to confer upon humanity His goodness. Lewis, Grudem and Powell confirm this. Andy Stanley does not.
Furthermore, by suggesting that it is permissible to deny the vast majority of miracles, Stanley makes the laws of nature superior to the will of God. It is similar to, if not the same, worldly philosophy asserted by such unbelievers as the 18th century Scottish philosopher, David Hume. As such, Stanley’s position advances nothing but a return to disbelief. We should not be surprised by this—for Jesus warned about what Christians can expect as the end of the age approaches. Jesus said: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15 (NASB) I strongly suspect there’s a false prophet in a wolf’s lair in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The greatest wolf-repellant available today is God’s Word. And, when we read the Bible, it becomes apparent just how real and wonderful the reported miracles really are. We can begin to see that miracles have an essential purpose. Because God is sovereign in all things, miracles serve to show us God’s infinite power and unparalleled glory. They also reveal that He is not bound by the usual patterns of physical science, but is free to act in miraculous ways to reveal Himself to humanity and to intervene wonderfully on our behalf. As an example, we can see this in one of the Old Testament miracles that Andy Stanley says is optional for you to disregard. It is the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea. Moses was leading the Hebrews out of Egypt, but the Pharaoh changed his mind about allowing God’s people to go free. Pharaoh sent the entire Egyptian army after them and, as the Hebrews stood on the edge of the sea, they thought that they were doomed. But, then a miracle happened. God used the winds to fold back the waters, dry up the sea bottom, and make a way for the Hebrews to cross over to the other side. But, when the Egyptians tried to cross through, the waters came crashing back and drowned Pharoah’s army. (Exodus 14:13-18) So, what was the purpose behind this miracle? It gave a concrete example of God’s mighty power, His great faithfulness, and His provision for His people when it might otherwise have seemed that all hope was lost.[10] But, this miracle also has a prophetic purpose. It points to the reason that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, would come to this earth centuries later. You see, Jesus would also perform many miracles that set captives free from the slavery of sin. This Old Testament miracle foreshadows what Jesus would one day do in His own ministry. When Jesus appeared in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth, He identified Himself as both the Messiah and a miracle-worker. While reading from the scroll of Isaiah, Jesus tied the Red Sea miracle to what He would do on the Cross. Luke’s Gospel tells us: 17 “And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 ‘THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." Luke 4:17-19 (NASB) Isn’t it interesting that Andy Stanley claims it is acceptable to deny Jesus’ miracles relating to healing the blind, when Jesus Himself confirmed the reality of those very miracles, and others, in these verses from Luke’s Gospel? And, think about what would be lost if we followed Stanley’s cue in abandoning such miracles as the parting of the Red Sea. Just as God the Father freed the Hebrews from physical Egyptian slavery, God the Son would one day make it possible to free all of humanity from the slavery of sin. And so, both the Father and His Son set the captives free. Also, note that the miracle of the Red Sea’s parting symbolically points to that time when the veil in the Temple was torn[11] upon Christ’s crucifixion, thus, opening to us, as Christians, a relationship with the Father through Jesus, His Son. The dry sea bottom is like the narrow path to salvation of which Jesus spoke.[12] The crashing of the waves that swallowed the Egyptian soldiers provides the prophetic imagery of the unsaved—those who reject Christ and drown in their sins for eternity.[13]
Or, consider the miracle when God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. They refused to bow down to the king’s idol and stood up for the one True God. This miracle also pointed to Jesus. In fact, to the king’s amazement, a fourth man was walking there in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar said: “Look! I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!” Daniel 3:25 (NLT2) Nebuchadnezzar was correct—for it was the pre-Incarnate Jesus walking there in the flames encouraging those three mere mortals and shielding them from the fire. And, what miracle in the New Testament does this one point to? Again, it pointed to the day when Jesus would endure a very different fiery furnace as He hung on the Cross to take on our sins and to shield us from the fires of Hell. This miracle on the Cross, followed by the miracle of the Resurrection, are the two greatest miracles of all time. Isn’t it strange that Andy Stanley recognized the Resurrection as a “must-believe miracle,” but left out the miracle on the Cross! But, such is the way of wolves and false preachers!
So, just how important is it to believe in the reality and truth of ALL biblically reported miracles? Well, the short answer is it’s eternally important! That’s right, your failure to believe in miracles may well affect your eternal destination—in other words, whether you end up in Heaven or in Hell. Jesus put it quite clearly: “Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son.” John 3:18 (TEV) So, to be a true Christian, you must believe in Jesus. Who is Jesus? John’s Gospel proclaims that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.[14] You cannot believe in Jesus if you don’t believe in the Word of God. The Word of God—from Genesis to Revelation—reveals to us many, many miracles. You can’t simply forget about them. Rather, than forget, the psalmist instructs: “Don’t you ever forget His miracles and marvels. Hold to your heart every judgment He has decreed.” Psalm 105:5 (Passion NT Psalms) Therefore, believing what the Bible has to say about miracles isn’t optional for a Christian. To suggest otherwise is tantamount to denying the authority and validity of God’s Word.[15] The Bible does not offer a pretty picture for those who deny God’s Word. What will happen to them? Isaiah warns that: “God will deal with them and burn them. They will disappear like straw on fire. Their roots will rot and their flowers wither, for they have thrown away the laws of God and DESPISED THE WORD OF THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.” Isaiah 5:24 (TLB) This, of course, creates a big problem for someone in Stanley’s position as a pastor who teaches his congregation falsehoods—for as James warns: “Not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.” James 3:1 (NLT2) Preachers who teach heresy put themselves in an eternally dangerous position.
So, do you believe in the miracles set forth in the Bible? Or, like Andy Stanley, do you believe in some of them, but not the others? It’s much like asking if you are spiritually alive or spiritually dead. Do you trust God and believe His Word to be trustworthy? Or, do you only trust Him when you need Him, and believe the parts of His Word that fit conveniently into your lifestyle? We believe in Jesus’ Resurrection. Apparently, even Andy believes in that miracle. So, isn’t it time for Christians to rise out of their tombs of unbelief and reject the loud howls of those wolves in sheep’s clothing? You have two choices—and only two. You can either accept Jesus Christ—the Word Made Flesh, or you can reject Him by failing to accept ALL that God’s Word has to say. It might take a miracle to change Andy Stanley’s mind, but for you—the case is clear: You can’t be a “lukewarm” Christian—it’s all, or nothing when it comes to faith in Jesus Christ!
Let us pray.
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
October 27, 2024
©2024 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] “Andy Stanley: Christians ‘only have to believe in 2 miracles,’” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/andy-stanley-christians-only-have-to-believe-in-2-miracles/ar-AA1swDDR (October 18, 2024).
[2] “What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law, but did not abolish it?”, Got Questions Ministry, https://www.gotquestions.org/abolish-fulfill-law.html [Accessed October 24, 2024]
[3] “Andy Stanley: Christians ‘only have to believe in 2 miracles,’” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/andy-stanley-christians-only-have-to-believe-in-2-miracles/ar-AA1swDDR (October 18, 2024).
[4] Revelation 3:15-16 15 [Jesus said:] “I know you well—you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! 16 But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!” (TLB)
[5] “Andy Stanley: Christians ‘only have to believe in 2 miracles,’” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/andy-stanley-christians-only-have-to-believe-in-2-miracles/ar-AA1swDDR (October 18, 2024).
[6] C. S. Lewis, Miracles (1947; reprt., San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 18.
[7] Doug Powell, Holman Quicksource Guide to Christian Apologetics, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2006), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Chapter 9. Do Miracles Happen?".
[8] Ibid.
[9] Psalm 100:5 “For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.” (KJV)
[10] Doug Powell, Holman Quicksource Guide to Christian Apologetics, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2006), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Chapter 9. Do Miracles Happen?".
[11] Matthew 27:50-51 50 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.” (NASB)
[12] Matthew 7:13-14 13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (NASB)
[13] Psalm 38:4 “I am drowning in the flood of my sins; they are a burden too heavy to bear.” (TEV)
[14] John 1:1,14 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . 14 THE WORD BECAME FLESH and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (NIV)
[15] Greg Smith, “Andy Stanley Says Christians Don’t Have To Believe In All The Bible’s Miracles,” Protestia Ministries LLC, https://protestia.substack.com/p/andy-stanley-says-christians-dont (October 16, 2024).
