“Faith, Works and Prayer”
John 14:12-14
Reading John 14:11-14: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
Believe me: I am in the Father; The Father is in Me.
Last week we considered John 14:11: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” Believing that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father is an essential part of true faith because it is part of the Gospel. It is never enough to “just love Jesus” without knowing and believing the truth ABOUT Jesus. Jesus’ urging is to continually believe, not only in or into Him, but specifically this truth about Himself: “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” If you can’t accept Jesus’ word for this truth, allow the works of Jesus to demonstrate and testify this truth: No one but God could do the works which Jesus did.
Greater Works than Jesus
Then Jesus continues in verse 12: "Most assuredly, (Amen, Amen) I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
Here is a verse which has caused much discussion, as you can well imagine. Have you or other Christians you know done “greater works” than Jesus? Notice that Jesus repeats two of the words which He used in verse 11, the words “believe” and the word “works”. Jesus’ works should inevitably lead a person to believe that Jesus and the Father are ONE.
So Jesus is not only addressing the disciples in verse 12, but He indicates that ANYONE who believes in Jesus in this way is included. When one believes into or in Jesus, he abandons all self-trust and abandons any hope of salvation apart from the saving work of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It means trusting in the work of God alone for forgiveness and salvation, apart from your own works.
So what are the “greater works” which a believer in Christ will do? First of all we have to realize that Jesus is not referring to spectacular or supernatural works. All believers do not heal others, calm rough seas, walk on water, or raise people from the dead. So Jesus is not speaking of the “spectacular” which Jesus performed. Neither is He is speaking of accomplishing “More” or different works.
Jesus is most likely speaking of “greater works” in a wider sense. Jesus came in order to become the substitutionary sacrifice for sin for those who would believe into Him for forgiveness, life and salvation. By completing His atoning work, Jesus fulfilled the purpose and all prophecies concerning His appearance into the world. Jesus brings in the Kingdom of God. Because He lived a perfect life and completed His perfect work on the cross and arose from the grave, everyone who believes in Him inherits all of the blessings of the Kingdom.
When Jesus performed signs and miracles they pointed to a greater spiritual reality; now believers experience the greater reality. The UNVEILED reality is far greater than the VEILED hope: The “veiled” has become “unveiled”. The words and works of Jesus, His death, resurrection, and ascension make it perfectly clear to believers that Jesus indeed was the Word Incarnate, God in the Flesh, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament fulfilled in the New, the Yahweh of the Old who saves to the uttermost in the New!
Every believer also receives the gift of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus will introduce in verse 16. Every believer, as a follower of Jesus, fully declares and demonstrates Jesus’ true nature as they witness and testify to the life-changing power of the Gospel in this World. The “greater works” would be performed by the exalted Christ as He works through the power of the Holy Spirit, drawing others to Himself through the message of Jesus” life and death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.
The “greater works” is the privilege of being used by God to bring the message of salvation by grace in order to build God’s Kingdom, of which the Church is part. What a phenomenal and holy calling belongs to the Church, the Bride of Christ, and the qualifier is in the last words of the verse: It is “because I (the Son) returns to the Father.” Very few came to believe in the Son for forgiveness and life while He was on this earth. Remember when Jesus fed the 5,000 and they all went away in unbelief in John 6. Yet, after Ascension Day when Jesus returned to the Father, and at Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out upon believers and Peter preached that sermon, 3,000 came to faith in one day, and the Lord continued to bring believers into His Kingdom daily.
That trend has continued throughout the entire world over the centuries so that even in some of the most persecuted and darkest regions of unbelief, people are being saved by the power of the Spirit and the message of God’s saving love in Christ, of Jesus crucified, risen, and reigning. The Mission and mandate for believers in these last days of history is to testify to this truth of the Son until the last tongue and tribe has heard and all of those whom God has chosen have come to saving faith in Him.
Whatever you ask in my Name
Look at John 14:13-14: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” This verse inevitably raises the question, “Do you receive everything that you ask for in Jesus’ name?” Of course not, yet taking this verse by itself and not knowing the correct understanding would lead you to a false conclusion. Many people make that error. In fact, a week before, in Mark 10:35-38, James and John said to Jesus: "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask." 36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 37 They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory." 38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
Asking in the “name” of Jesus is not a formula or mantra for believers to acquire what they want or desire or what they think they might need. Just because a person includes “in Jesus’ name” in a prayer is not a guarantee that you will receive what you ask for.
In the O.T., the name of Yahweh is often used to reflect the very character of God as He has manifested Himself to mankind. His name is equivalent to who He is. This being so, Jesus said in John 5: 43: “I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” Jesus was declaring His coming into the world to be equal to the Father’s name or authority.
In John 10: 25: Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.” Here again the words “believe” and “works” are used in relationship to Jesus accomplishing miracles “in My Father’s name”. The very power of God was demonstrated in Jesus’ works.
After Jesus’ return to the Father, the disciples would do “greater works”, a wider scope, a worldwide scope, and the power of God would be seen in the Church as the message and the Spirit do its work…AND the prayers of God’s people directed to God through Jesus will be answered so that “the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Jesus repeats in verse 14 what He promised in verse 13 but with a little difference; He says, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” The object of our faith, the Lord Jesus, has lived in the flesh and knows all of our weaknesses and struggles. He identifies with us even though He is God the Son and one with the Father, and so we should take the greatest of comfort in knowing that there is no limit to the scope of what we can bring to our Great God in prayer in and through our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can bring ANYTHING to Him in prayer because He lives to continually make intercession for us.
We must always remember that the effectiveness of our prayers is in Jesus Christ as mediator between the Father and His People: It is because of HIS position and relationship with God and the Holy Spirit that our prayers are heard and answered. It isn’t how good or effective our prayers are but how mighty, gracious, loving, compassion, and powerful God is.
Listen to the way that Jesus explains prayers “in His name” in the remainder of John:
John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (We will be looking at this next week.)
John 15:16: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (This is part of the “greater things” of those who believe in the Name of Jesus.)
John 16:22-24: “Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. 23 And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (Our Savior is no longer in the grave but reigning in the Heavenlies.)
Lastly, when we pray in Jesus’ name, we identify with the purpose of our Lord to the extent that our will has become identified with the will of God. 1 John 5:14 tells us: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Jesus gave us the model of the Lord’s Prayer, which included, “Hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Kingdom prayer is prayer seeing the world and others the way the Savior sees. It means praying with the heart of Jesus. Kingdom prayer is first of all God-focused, bringing adoration and worship to the Almighty as He has revealed Himself to us.
It includes confession of our own sins as well as petition and intercession for others and for self. Prayer should also express our faith and dependence upon God in all things, depending on His perfect will in His answers. We have God’s glory in heart and mind first of all and His Name at the guide for our petitions and confessions, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
May God grant us the same in our living, that God may be glorified in our faith, in our works for Him, and in our prayer lives. To Him alone be the Glory forever. Amen.
I. Have you done Greater Works than Jesus?
A. Jesus is NOT referring to the spectacular or more works.
B. Jesus is referring to greater works in a wider sense:
1. Believers inherit all of the blessings of the Kingdom by faith.
2. The “veiled” has become “unveiled”: Jesus IS the Word Incarnate.
3. The exalted Christ performs His works through believers through the power of the Holy Spirit.
II. Do you receive everything that you ask for in Jesus’ name? (John 5: 43, 10: 25, 14:26, John 15:16, John 16:22-24, 1 John 5:14)
A. The “name” of Jesus is not a formula or mantra.
B. The object and the answer of prayers offered in Jesus’ name with the OBJECT and the ANSWER being that “the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
C. We can bring ANYTHING to our Lord in prayer.
D. The effectiveness of our prayers is in Jesus Christ as mediator between the Father and His People: HIS position and relationship with God.
E. We identify with the purpose of our Lord to the extent that our will has become identified with the will of God
