WORD TREASURES 7/02/23
"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." (Jn. 14:12 ESV) Jesus makes a stupendous claim that I want us to wrestle with. Though the disciples were as average humans as we are, they did amazing things because the amazing Jesus lived within them. Because He lives with us and we are His address, there will be work for us to do. We are under assignment, called, commissioned (Matt. 28:18-20). This work, this God-given assignment, is to finish what Jesus started. But that work is beyond us, so the Lord has come to live within, for that is the only way we will have His POWER to do His work!
Jesus did things, like preach and teach God's way, with AUTHORITY! He forgave sin, and when He did people were really forgiven and they knew it! We get to tell them of that forgiveness. He had compassion on people and delivered them from sin's bondage and the devil. We get to bring that compassion and message to others. He went about healing and doing good to all those who were oppressed by the devil. Now, we are an extension of that work. He sacrificed His life for us on the cross, dying for sin and reconciling us to God=adopting all who believed in Him into God's family forever. We can't die for them, but we are called to point to the One who did.
My first point in referencing this passage is to have us hear the call of Christ! "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do..." We Christians are under assignment and that is all there is to it! To abandon this work to which all Christians are called is to forsake the Lord. If we are going to claim to love and believe in the Lord, then we are going to have to love and believe in what He is doing! We are His address, and because He lives in us, we must be about our Father's business! One of the most profound reasons for Christ saving us is that we would join Him in His great Gospel cause, the only fulfilling thing for people on the planet! By the way, one main reason why Christians do not experience the peace of Jesus as they should is they are not involved with His work--His assignment given to every believer. When we forsake our calling, we wander unassigned and vague in what we are supposed to do. This is pandemic in American Christians, for the vast majority of believers hardly give a thought to their God-given assignment to go everywhere and make disciples. Thus, they lack the fulfillment of being employed in the most rewarding life purpose and thereby forfeit God's peace!
Because He lives with us, He has called us--included us--assigned us--commissioned us--to do His Gospel work and be "sold out" for His cause. The Gospel is the Christian's reason for living--period! But there is something amazing here. Jesus claimed that we would do even greater works than He did. WHAT! How is that possible? What did He mean? How can we top raising the dead, healing the blind, feeding 5000 with the lunch of a lad, freeing the demon possessed, or preaching life into the souls of others?
Whatever He meant (and we'll examine that today), it is more than obvious that we will need Him to do these greater works! There are 3 ways Spirit-led Christians will do greater things than Jesus did. First, Jesus living in the flesh as a man was limited to time. When He left heaven, He lived here 33 years, ministering only 3 1/2 of those years. But when He ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in believers, and from then on God would live inside all believers down through the ages. This is why the Kingdom of God has advanced throughout the centuries--a far greater work than Jesus could accomplish as a man. The Gospel has spread throughout the world not just because of the historical truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection for believers. The Gospel has spread because of the Presence and power of the Holy Spirit in believers to enforce that truth to others who hear of what Jesus did!
Secondly, Jesus was also limited to space--one locale. (He never travelled more than 100 miles from His birthplace!) Now, all over the world, the Body of Christ is ministering to people's needs. The results--the number of people becoming Christian over the world is in multiple millions. Thank you, Jesus, that "little me" was included in Your master plan to rescue people from their sin!
Next week--the third reason!
Pastor Mike
