The Greater Works Of Proclaiming The Gospel

We continue to ponder Jesus' strange saying about doing greater works:

"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. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. - Jhn 14:12-14 ESV

There are those who believe that the works of Jesus were his miracles. And since there are many, many disciples of Jesus around the world, a greater number of miracles can potentially be done through the power of the Holy Spirit, thus confirming the Gospel of Christ. So they write,

In John 14:12, Jesus makes an amazing claim “I tell you the truth, anyone, who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” How? Jesus says it will be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. In John 14–15, Jesus speaks often of “another Counselor,” the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17), which we know the disciples received at Pentecost (Acts 2:4). The Holy Spirit is the mechanism through which Jesus said His believers “will do even greater works. . . Now, billions of disciples exist worldwide, and through belief in Him and the agency of the Holy Spirit, many more miracles occur today than did in Jesus’ time.

But is this emphasis upon miracles what Jesus meant?

In John 5 we read about Jesus miraculously healing a cripple beside the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. The Jews wanted to kill him for doing this work on the Sabbath. Jesus responded that he was but doing the Father's work. And, says Jesus, greater works than these will the Father show his Son, so that you may marvel.

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. - John 5:20-24 ESV

The greater works that Jesus did were to free us from judgment and grant us eternal life by his cross. These were far, far greater than healing a cripple. Jesus' greater works were accomplished on the cross when he cried, "It is finished!" Now the Spirit works through the Gospel to create faith in Jesus and his cross, as he said, "This is the work of God that you believe in whom he has sent" (John 6:29). This work of God is indeed a wonder and a marvel. Faith in Jesus means new birth, forgiveness of all sins, past, present and future. Forgiveness means that we are alive in Christ and that we who are in Christ will never die! Though our sinful bodies die, we confidently trust that Christ will raise us up and give us new bodies, filled forever with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 15:20-57).

In the light of this, what greater works can we possibly do? Greater (Greek meizon) means greater in degree: more in number, not in quality. Nothing can possibly be qualitatively greater than Jesus' works by which he rescued all mankind from judgment and eternal death. Jesus has accomplished these greater works. They are finished, complete! "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). But now we who have been made alive in Christ carry this Good News around the world. And as we proclaim this Gospel the Holy Spirit is working to create faith and new life.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. - Rom 1:16 ESV

To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 2Th 2:14 ESV

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. - Jam 1:18 ESV

Pray for an opportunity to share this Good News. Pray that the Holy Spirit will use you to proclaim the greater works Jesus completed on the cross. More on this next time.

God's Love For All You God-Fearers

We're back in John 9. Today we'll listen to the unnamed blind man whom Jesus healed by sending him to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, of course, didn't believe it had happened, even though it happened right before their eyes. To them it was all some kind of trick. They even challenged the man's parents. Those poor folks didn't want to get in trouble, so they said, "Ask him; he's of age. He will speak for himself." So for the second time they called the former blind man before them and demanded that he give glory to God. Jesus could surely have not healed him, for this work had been done on the Sabbath when it was strictly forbidden by Moses that anyone should work. Therefore Jesus was indeed a sinner. We can see the healed man shrugging his shoulders as he answered their questions.

"Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

All this did not fit in with their presuppositions. God would surely not answer a man like Jesus and heal someone on the Sabbath. Yet the man was healed. What to do? Get rid of him. They answered the man now able to see, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And so they cast him out. Done. Problem gone.

The poor man was cast out, but not forgotten by Jesus. The Lord found him and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

Jesus said, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."

The healed said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped him.

I'd like to pick up on that phrase: "he worshipped him." Note above the man said, "... if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." There were a significant number of God-fearing Gentiles (non-Jews) who were impressed with the Jewish understanding of one God, but who could not or would not submit to the legal regulations about food, Sabbath and circumcision. They were known as God-fearers. We frequently read about them in the Book of Acts. They made up a significant number of early converts to Christianity.

• So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: "Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. - Act 13:16 ESV
• "Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. - Act 13:26 ESV
• One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. - Act 16:14 ESV
• So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. - Act 17:17 ESV
• And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. - Act 18:7 ESV

There's a great story in Acts 10 about one of these God-fearers, a certain Cornelius of Caesarea who was guided by an angel to call for Peter. Peter, in turn, was given a vision and a command to eat ceremonially unclean food. As he pondered the vision, Cornelius' men came to his house and the Spirit said to him that he should accompany them without hesitation (Acts 10:17-20). Peter went with them and proclaimed the Gospel to them. From that point on he and the other Apostles were thoroughly convinced that God's love in Christ was for all men. "Truly I understand," he said, "that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

What great and glorious news to anyone who is confused and struggling to understand God and the mysteries of walking with Him. If you are one such God-fearer, it does not matter if you do not understand everything there is to know about spiritual matters. You may even feel thrown out by some congregation of so-called Christians for not observing all the niceties and rules of their fellowship. You may feel hopeless and confused about how your sins could ever be forgiven. You may be quite in the dark about what is right and what is wrong. You may be searching and longing for understanding and light, but not knowing where to turn. Listen again to Peter's words,

"Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." - Act 10:34-35 ESV

Know that God's love is not limited or restricted. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find that He is already at your side ready to accept and forgive and love and lead you.

Righteous By Faith Alone

I have often pointed to two basic principles in the teaching about spiritual matters and faith in God.

1. The Formal Principle— the only source of my knowledge about all things spiritual is the Bible, God's revealed Word.
2. The Material Principle—the central teaching of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became man and offered His precious life as the complete sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

Both principles were at risk as Luther began his attempts to reform the medieval European church early in the sixteenth century. Church councils and traditions guarded and taught by the church's bishops and the Roman Pope had distorted God's Word. As a result, the central teaching of the Bible, that a man is declared just and righteous only by God declaring him so for the sake of Jesus Christ, was also distorted. To assist my readers to understand what this means I return again to the Apostle Paul in Romans 10.

But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." - Rom 10:6-11 ESV

Consider righteousness itself. What is it and why does the Apostle use such a complex word? Paul's Greek word dikaiosynay is rooted in the widely used O.T. Hebrew word zedek. So we read in the psalms:

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. - Psa 1:5-6 ESV

For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield. - Psa 5:12 ESV

The righteous man loves the LORD and walks in His ways. He seeks to know God's will and way for his life and obeys Him. He is righteous. But is he? Is there any man on earth who may correctly claim to be righteous or just (zedek) in God's eyes by virtue of the pious life he lives? No, not one, says King David in his psalms:

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. - Psa 14:1-3 ESV and Psa 53:1-3 ESV

Yet in Jesus' day many Jewish teachers believed they had attained to diakaiosynay, the state of perfection. They even believed they lived above and beyond God's demands. In this they took great pride. Yet of them our Lord Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount,

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. - Mat 5:20 ESV

For this reason the Apostle Paul insists that the state of being declared righteous in God's eyes is only possible when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the same LORD who came down once on Mt. Sinai (Rom. 10:9; Phil. 2:11; 1 John 4:2) to speak to Moses and lead Israel to the promised land. He is the Son of God, very God of very God, who offered his life as the single all-atoning sacrifice for all men's sins. To confirm this the heavenly Father raised him up on the third day. If then you believe in your heart and confess the same with your lips you are saved. In the words of the ancient prophet Joel,

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. - Joel 2:32 ESV. (cf. also Hab. 2:4)

This was the challenge of the Reformation. The false teaching of the Jewish scribes and pharisees had crept back into the church. Men were being taught that they could obtain righteousness by purchasing indulgences. Luther was an ordained and certified doctor of the church. He was called to teach God's Word. He was under the command of God and compelled by his conscience. He had no choice but to insist that men are righteous and just before God only by faith!

Sadly, the Roman Catholic church still clings to indulgences and the so-called treasury of merit she believes she controls despite everything that has been taught from God's Word over the course of the past five centuries.