As I was reading in John where Jesus is responding to Philip’s request of Jesus to show them the Father and then that will be enough for them to believe (John 14:8), Jesus answers him, “believe on the evidence of the works themselves;” the works His Father gave His Son to do. (John 14: 11)
What came out to me was what Jesus said next: “Whoever believes in ME will DO the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. AND I WILL DO WHATEVER YOU ASK IN MY NAME, SO THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED IN THE SON. YOU MAY ASK ME FOR ANYTHING IN MY NAME, A N D I W I L L D O I T.”
I have used this promise in prayer, as if to remind the Father of what Jesus said here, taking this promise: “ask Me for anything and I will do it,” as if it had NO CONDITION! Every promise of God has a condition from Him. Check it out. I would bet everything that the devil’s work, at least one of his greatest evil schemes is to make us believe that we can do our OWN good-seeming works for the Lord, and have this promise fulfilled. NOT TRUE!
The condition for this promise is: Whoever believes in ME will DO the works I HAVE BEEN DOING.” And then Jesus adds: “They will do EVEN GREATER things than these,” greater things than HE has done! I have read this passage many times but for God’s reason this time, ‘the condition’ stood out more than the promise. So, I asked the Lord in prayer, “Lord, help me to do YOUR works, not my own. Show me Lord if what I am doing is only my assumption of YOUR work – NOT really Yours, but rather my own works that seem good to me.
The Lord goes on to say to His disciples that if they love Him, they will keep His commands. (John 14:15) We can read through the gospels to make a list of all that Jesus commanded His disciples to finish after He replaced Himself with His Holy Spirit – so that they could. The works we are each to do are NOT the works that people (church pastors/leaders, godly employers, godly parents) ask or give us to do, or even demand of us. I have seen church leaders/pastors telling people what to do within the church. “Faith comes by hearing, hearing the WORD OF GOD.” It’s what God tells us to do, that we apply our faith to.
We were in a church where every year they used one Sunday to put up ministries (job-posters) that the pastors wanted people to commit to with a sign-up list next to the posters. Mike and I did not sign any of them. Why? None of them revealed what we heard the Lord tell us to do while attending that church.
I have witnessed a pastor say (to a prophet of God – who had come to this pastor with what the Lord put on his heart), “Don’t bring that into MY church!” Whose church? I thought the church belonged to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who is the HEAD of the BODY a.k.a., “the church.” Why wouldn’t that pastor at least pray with the man about it?
Do you think that God witnesses pastors ignoring the “calling of the Lord” on certain believers in their church, feeling threatened in some way by their calling from the Lord. Why feel threatened if you, as the pastor, see yourself as ‘one part’ of the BODY of Christ? All parts are needed for the LORD to finish HIS WORKS on earth.
I heard a pastor say that the gifts of prophecy and tongues and interpretation of tongues were no longer legitimate gifts/offices once the Bible was written. He uses the passage of Scripture that states that when “the perfect comes” then certain gifts/offices are no longer relevant or useful, such as the gift of prophecy and the office of a prophet – which is for the “church-age.” This pastor referred to the Bible as “the perfect” that came. But he’s wrong. JESUS CHRIST is the “perfection that is to come.” Jesus Christ is called (in the Bible) the living eternal Word of God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. HE was with God in the beginning. Through HIM all things were made; with HIM nothing was made that has been made. In HIM was life, and that life was the light of all mankind….The Word became FLESH and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-4, 14
“To those who believed in HIS NAME, He gave the RIGHT to become children of God.” John 1:12
Note that it does NOT say, to those who believe in ‘the Bible,’ God gives the right to become the children of God. The Bible tells us WHO to believe in and that HE IS COMING AGAIN to finish all the Father’s works on earth. (Revelation 19-22) The HOLY Bible is not “the perfect one,” Jesus Christ is.
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know IN PART and we prophesy IN PART, but when perfection (completeness) comes, what is IN PART disappears….for then we shall FACE TO FACE…then I shall know [Him] fully, even as I am fully known [by HIM]. And for now, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Love is eternal. Faith and hope are for now – until the PERFECTION comes, the perfect One: JESUS CHRIST. When you are face to face with Jesus – your faith and hope are fulfilled!
The Bible ends with Revelation 22 when Jesus Christ has finished ALL the works of the Father on the earth with His first and second coming. But the LIFE of God with His family (in Christ) goes on forever. The Bible does not tell us about eternity except that we will be forever learning how AWESOME our Father God is, how wonderful His love is for us, and what we get to enjoy throughout eternity that God has prepared for those who love Him. The Bible does not give us THAT information. “No eye has seen, no mind can conceive!” And, I believe it’s because we first need to FINISH what He’s given us to do here and now.
God has placed ‘temporary’ boundaries on everything He has created, even on our minds, and for our own good of simply understanding and faithfully doing the works Jesus Christ has given each of His disciples in every generation – to do, until HE RETURNS: The Perfection to come.
So, for now, we have this promise from Him BUT with a condition: “I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the WAY to the place where I am going.” (John 14:3-4) What is “the way?” By faith, walking with Jesus our Lord – doing what He wants to do with us, seeing what He wants to show us. If this is our true heart’s desire, then He also says:
“You are My friends…I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know His master’s business….everything I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that WHATEVER YOU ASK IN MY NAME THE FATHER WILL GIVE YOU. This is my command: Love one another.” John 15: 14-17
Love never fails! The work of the Lord is rooted in the love of Father God our Maker. His love makes the work He gives us – enjoyable and effortless.
“Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:24