Text: John 14:8-14, Title: Wanna Be Greater Than Jesus? Date/Place: NRBC, 5/12/13, AM
A. Opening illustration: The next day, Jimmy asked his grandmother why he wasn't given the same gift as the others in his family. She told him that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been born in February, not in August, as was he. an interview with a medical expert about this bird flu that is spreading around our world. The govt. has already suggested that people should stock a couple of month’s supply of such things as canned tuna and powdered milk. This is not to throw anybody into a panic, but to show people how serious this might be. When asked about numbers, the expert said that it is very possible that up to 90 million people in the U.S. alone may get sick as a result of the bird flu. Possibly half of that number will require hospitalization, and perhaps 2 million will die from it. Now, nobody really knows what will happen, but I got to thinking about it and wondered, “How might the church prepare to respond to this crisis?” What if the only real answer to this sickness was available through prayer, and the power of God? How would we fare? Do we have enough of a sense of awe for God’s awesome power to heal, that we would let Him use us to bring healing to hundreds or possibly thousands of sick people in our community? But let’s move away from such a dramatic situation to the here and now. Do you have enough of a sense of awe for God’s healing power that you have confidence that He wants to heal those who are sick among us today? Jesus healed all the sick who came to Him for healing. He told His disciples that they would do even greater works than He had done.
B. Ignorance of the disciples: close only counts in…
C. 2/3 of a cup of the Trinity: one writer described it as mutual impenetration
D. Main thought: Jesus gives three ways how the work we (His successors) do is greater than Jesus’
A. Because He is going to the Father (v. 18-20)
1. Jesus indicates that the reason that they would do greater works is because His going to the Father would be bringing in a new age. The cross and resurrection would be completed. The necessary requirements for full salvation would be accomplished. People being born again by grace through faith could be actualized. One of the things this means is that the Holy Spirit is coming now to indwell and empower believers for sanctification and service. The church would be unleashed upon a world with a message of salvation with the power to carry it forth. So now rather than one perfect God/man who is full of the Spirit, we will see a dozen, then thousands, then millions, and eventually billions of Spirit-filled believers on this side of the life, death, and overcoming resurrection power of Christ to lay their lives down for their Lord and the world.
2. John 7:39, Rom 7:6, 8:3, Gal 3:23-25, 3:3
3. Illustration: like the boss plugging in the power, stocking up ammo, knocking down the fence, giving orders as he leaves the ranch
4. The gospel sets us free from keeping laws so that we may serve. And the greater works you do rest on the fact that Christ has paid it all. So resist the temptation to return to lists and laws. You don’t have to do this and that to be a “good Christian.” You can never do enough, you don’t have to do enough, it has been done for you. Reflect on that, love Him and believe. He did it, so you could be free from condemnation, and do the same works as Christ, and greater ones in the power of cross. We live the gospel not guilt. We are driven by the gospel, not guilt. Are we convicted of sin by that Spirit, yes. And we repent, and receive grace, which we don’t deserve, and are thankful. If you have believed the Holy Spirit lives inside of you to help you overcome sin, to lead you, and unleash you to serve Christ freely setting others free. Don’t sell yourself short, you are the one to do the greater works.
B. Because we can pray in Jesus’ name (v. )
1. Another reason He says that we will do greater works is that we can now ask for things in His name. They hadn’t done that yet. Before they had asked Jesus for things, and also He had provided things. Now they would be able to approach Him from anywhere at any time without the physical limitations of a body and plead for things necessary to the mission. In His name is not a magical or routine incantation, but an indication that we are asking in the will of God and upon the basis of faith in the shed blood of Christ.
2. John 16:24,
3. Illustration: “The point of prayer isn’t to carry on business as usual in the church. The reality is, we can conduct monotonous, human-centered religion on our own. But if we want to make disciples in all nations, we need to pray. For when we sacrifice everything we are and stake everything we have on the front lines of a battle for the souls of millions of people around us and billions of people around the world who don’t know Jesus, we are forced to pray... Let’s be honest. As long as church consists of normal routines and Christianity consists of nominal devotion with little risk, little sacrifice, and little abandonment, then we can do this on our own. But what happens when we give ourselves to something that is far greater than what we can accomplish on our own? But what happens when we give ourselves to something that is far greater than what we can accomplish on our own? What happens when we dare to believe that God desires to use every one of our lives and every one of our churches to bring about kingdom advancement to the end of the earth? We will find ourselves dependent on his power and desperate for his grace as we devote ourselves to his purpose.”
4. Christ assumes here that we will be doing works that require His aid and power. Quick note, it doesn’t say whether we are praying to the Father or to Christ, but it does say who is answering. Think about the tasks they were about to attempt: facing angry mobs and councils, martyrdom, preaching Christ in synagogues, discipling thousands of new believers, planting hundreds of new churches, sending of the first missionaries, winning of the first gentiles, imprisonments, beatings, shipwrecks, invasions of three continents with the gospel, caring for thousands during famine, revival, and on we could go. Ask about the things that we attempt that truly require divine intervention? Now I know that the prayer room is not the only place that people can get serious about prayer, but I was surprised the other day when I went it and found it not exactly like I left it the day before.
C. Because the Father is glorified in advance (v. )
1. Jesus working through successors over a much expanded area to reach a much greater numbers. We discussed how concerned Jesus was with the mission a couple of weeks ago, and how He was preparing the disciples for what was to come. A few weeks before that we discussed how all of this, in fact, all of everything in the universe is about bringing God glory and exposing His fame to a world that desperately needs it. Being limited to a human body, Christ poured His life into 11 men, never leaving Palestine, then left a spiritual body so they could take what they had and teach the world to follow Jesus. By Acts 2, more believers than in Jesus’ whole ministry; by Acts 8, nations in Africa were being touched; Acts 9, Paul took gospel to Syria; Acts 10, Gentiles saved in Israel; Acts 13, missionaries sent to the islands; Acts 14, Asia Minor; and on it went till the Moravians, and Puritans, and Wesley’s brought it to Americas.
2. Rom 16:3-15
3. Illustration: without Jesus going to the Father, the five men in 1956 wouldn’t have gone to the Auca’s, then their widows wouldn’t have taken their children to live among the men who speared their husbands, “the church never fosters an unhealthy dependence on, or an unhealthy admiration of any particular leader in the church. The Bible is not in a church leader’s hands so he or she can give people answers to every question they have and guidance for every situation they face. Instead, the Bible is in a church leader’s hands to transform people into the image of Christ and to get people in touch with the Holy Spirit of God, who will not only give them counsel for every situation they face but will also walk with them through those situations. And when church leaders use God’s Word for this purpose, then church members develop a healthy dependence on God’s Spirit and a healthy admiration of God’s glory.”
4. You succeeded Jesus because of the greater works of many that went before you. But you will do the works that Jesus did according to John 14:12, and greater ones because He went away. You will go to Peru, you will rescue the fatherless from DFACS, you will make the pillowcase dresses, you will visit those in prison, and those who are sick and lonely, you will heal them. Let me give you names of those who were not church leaders who did the greater works: Tabitha, Lydia, Rom 16:3,
A. Closing illustration: I was sitting at a table with an old friend who leads a large and thriving church. “We try to make everything easy for the members of our church,” he said to me. “We encourage them to get to know people in our community, whether in their neighborhood or office or anywhere else. Then all they have to do is invite those people to church. At church, those people will hear relevant, gifted communicators in a warm, attractive, and appealing environment where their children can be a part of top-of-the-line programs.”
He concluded, “If our members will just invite their friends to the environment we create, then we can take care of the rest.”
Then he asked me what we do at Brook Hills.
Hesitantly I said, “We actually do the exact opposite.”
“Oh really,” he said. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when we gather as the church, our main focus is on the church. In other words, we organize our worship environment around believers, not unbelievers.”
He looked confused. “Why would you do that?” he asked. “If your worship environment on Sunday is not appealing to non-Christians, then how is your church going to intentionally lead unbelievers in Birmingham to Christ?”
“We’re going to equip our people every Sunday to lead unbelievers in Birmingham to Christ all week long,” I said.
“Your members are going to lead them to Christ?”
“That’s our plan.”
“Well,” he said, “once those unbelievers become believers, how are they going to grow in Christ?”
“Our people are going to be equipped to show new believers how to live as followers of Christ,” I said. “I want people in the church to be able to fulfill the purpose for which they were created without being dependent on gifted preachers, nice buildings, and great programs to do it for them.”
Looking puzzled, he said, “Well, that’s a new approach.”
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
● Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
