Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
—John 14:12-14Most Christians recognize that we live in what the prophet Zechariah called “the day of small things” (Zech. 4:10). Churches in the West are, by and large, shrinking. The current period of Western history is now referred to as the “post-Christian era.” In a growing climate of religious apathy in which the powers of darkness appear to triumph, how should the church respond? The basic answer to this question is the same as it has been in every age: instead of beginning with what we must do, we must start with what we must believe and what the Lord requires of us. Christian labor must be grounded in Christian faith. Doing great things in the name of Christ stems from faith and obedience, rather than from our best laid plans and endeavors.
John 14:12-14 contains a manifesto that provides a theological foundation for the work of the church. This passage teaches that the primary concern of the church in every age should be to trust in the Lord to bless the preaching of the Word in response to fervent and corporate prayer. When we examine this text and then compare its teaching to the history recorded in the book of Acts, the following picture emerges: preaching is better than miracles, prayer precedes effective preaching, and corporate prayer has priority over private prayer in accomplishing the mission of the church. This passage not only provides a theological foundation for corporate prayer; it indicates that the corporate prayer of the church should revolve around the preaching of the gospel. In order to establish this point, we will consider the nature of the “greater works” and the means of accomplishing them.
“The Same Works And Greater Things”
How can Christ say that His church would perform greater works than His? He is unique in His two natures—God and man in one divine Person—and He is suited uniquely to redeem us. His work as our Redeemer is incapable of analogy or supplement in the life and work of the church. Yet in this passage, the Lord declared that the work of His apostles and His believing people would surpass the work of His earthly ministry in at least one respect.
This passage comes in the context of Jesus’ “farewell discourse” to His apostles. Much of what He said in John 14-17 applies to them exclusively. However, everything that He said to them has parallels in the ongoing work of the church. For example, while the apostles preached the Word of God with divinely inspired authority, ordinary ministers of the gospel must proclaim the apostolic Word with authority, albeit an authority that is not identical with that of the apostles (Titus 2:15; Rom. 10:14-17). The authority of the apostles resided in their teaching inspired Scripture, and the authority of ministers today resides in proclaiming the Word of God.
In chapter fourteen, Jesus comforted His disciples by telling them first, that He was about to depart in order to prepare a place for them in heaven (vv. 1-3); next, that He is the true means of access to the Father (vv. 4-7); and lastly, that, as God equal with the Father, He is the proper object of their faith (vv. 8-11). The greatest thing that the eleven feared at this stage was that Christ would leave them and all of their hopes and labors would be in vain. Here in verses 12-14, the climax of the introduction to His discourse, He comforted His apostles. His departure, far from halting their work, would extend and perfect it. They were like children who were about to be sent into the world to live on their own, and they feared the prospect. Naturally, they could not imagine continuing without their Master’s physical presence.
Faith In Christ
The first point of importance is that the work in view is performed only by those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The verb for “believing” occurs six times in the first fourteen verses of this chapter. Jesus is clearly making a point by this repetition. Faith in Christ is always the foundation of the work of the church. You cannot labor as a Christian until you believe in Christ for salvation. This is the point at which many go astray. Many view Christianity like the crowds regarded Jesus when they followed Him across the sea in John 6; they are more concerned to know how they can “work the works of God” (v. 28) than they are to trust in Christ. If you are more concerned about what you must do than with what Christ did for you, then Christ’s reply is as relevant to you as it was to His original audience: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29).
The Same Works That Christ Did
The work that Jesus spoke of in John 14:12 has two parts. The first part is unique to the apostles, while the second aspect is common to the church in every age. First, the apostles would do the same works that Jesus did (“the works that I do he shall do also”). These works are defined in verses 10 and 11 as the works that the Father gave to Jesus to perform. These works do not include His work of atonement or anything that is peculiar to His offices as our Redeemer; we can neither atone for our own sins nor for the sins of others. Rather, these works are what John in his gospel elsewhere calls “signs.” These signs were not simply miracles; they were miraculous acts of divine power that revealed great things about Christ in His person and work. So Jesus promises here that the ministry of miracles would continue with the apostles. In this respect, these men who believed in Him would do the same works that He had done.
“Greater Things”
The second aspect of the work of the church treated in the text is not limited to the apostles. This becomes clear when we consider what these works are. In the Greek text, the term works is not included in the second part of the verse. This is indicated by the use of italics in our English translation. The text reads more literally that the one who believes in Christ will do “greater things” than Jesus did. These greater things cannot refer to apostolic miracles; the apostles performed miracles like Jesus did, but His miracles surpassed theirs both in glory and in number. Miracles were part of the “signs of an apostle” (2 Cor. 12:12) and they testified to apostolic authority (Heb. 2:1-4). Yet in the book of Acts, apostolic miracles, though important, are rare in comparison to those of Christ. As D. A. Carson notes, for Jesus, miracles were part of His everyday work. [2] The apostles performed miracles on occasion only. Moreover, the emphasis in the book of Acts falls more on apostolic preaching than it does on apostolic miracles.
The greater things are connected closely to prayer in the text. A similar pattern in the book of Acts sheds great light on the nature of these greater things. In John, the order of instruction is greater things and prayer; in Acts, the order of activity in the early church is prayer and preaching. Early in Acts, as the church met for corporate prayer (Acts 1:14 with 2:1), the Holy Spirit was poured out, enduing believers with “power from on high” (see Luke 24:49). The result was that when the apostles preached the gospel, three thousand souls were added to the church by baptism in one day (Acts 2:41). When Christ poured out the Holy Spirit from the Father in response to corporate prayer, He gathered more disciples in one day than He had in His entire earthly ministry.
This pattern continues throughout Acts. In chapter 4, the apostles preached and the number of disciples increased to five thousand (Acts 4:4). Later in the same chapter, Peter and John were released from prison under threats not to preach in the name of Jesus any longer (vv. 20-21). The first thing that they did was attend a corporate prayer meeting. Their primary requests were for boldness and to perform apostolic miracles (vv. 29-30). In answer to their prayers, the Lord physically shook the building, the apostles performed miracles, “and they spake the word of God with boldness” (v. 31). This points to the nature of the greater things that Jesus promised in John 14:12. The greater things consist in the Spirit-empowered preaching of the apostles resulting in the conversion of many sinners. By extension, this is not only true of apostolic preaching, but of all subsequent Spirit-empowered preaching.
In some respects, the Acts of the Apostles is misnamed. It should be called the Acts of Jesus Christ, through the Apostles, by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ return to the Father is the ground for the works that are recorded there (“because I go to my Father”).
The resurrected and ascended Christ still works powerfully through the preaching of His Word. When an ordained minister preaches the Word of God faithfully, speaking His will and in His name, Paul goes so far as to say that people actually hear Christ speaking (Rom. 10:14-17). In true preaching, Christ is the true preacher. Just as the Father did His work through Christ (John 14:10), so Christ does His work through His church by the Spirit (vv. 13-14). The greater things that He does through His church—in fact, that greatest work that He gives to redeemed man—is preaching.
The Importance Of Preaching
This should drive us to a very high view of preaching. Christ is the unique Son of God. His words are the words of God, whereas the words of preachers today are fallible. However, the remarkable thing that we learn from this passage is that not only is preaching a greater work than doing miracles, but that the church’s preaching is designed by God to have a greater effect and greater power than Christ’s preaching during His earthly ministry. Is not the world we live in proof of this? We may live in a “day of small things” (Zech. 4:10), but consider what Christ has done already. Jesus’ earthly ministry ended with 120 disciples hiding in an upper room for fear of the Jews (Acts 1:15; John 20:19). Though small in comparison to the world’s population, at the present time there are thousands from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation who worship Christ as Lord. There are Christians in Uganda flocking to hear the Word preached. There are believers in countries such as Korea, to whom the West used to send missionaries, who now send missionaries to us. These and similar examples are greater than the miracles that Christ performed during His earthly ministry. This is not to say that the ministry of the church is greater than the ministry of Christ, but that the ministry of Christ through His church is greater and more effective for salvation than the ministry that He exercised while on earth.
Do you value the preaching of the Word? Do you recognize that Christ Himself pleads with you through His ministers? How many come to worship with low expectations. In a sense, sitting under a sermon is the most momentous thing that you will do in your life. Spirit-empowered preaching is greater than the miracles of Christ. Let us regard it as such.
The Means By Which The Church Accomplishes The “Greater Things”
In spite of the fact that Christ referred to the Spirit-filled preaching of His church as greater even than His miracles on earth, preaching has fallen on hard times. Sermons have become increasingly shorter, with less biblical content and in some cases sermons have been set aside altogether. However, if preaching has fallen on hard times, then corporate prayer has fallen into appalling neglect. In verses 13-14, our Lord teaches that prayer is the means by which His church shall accomplish greater things. While the promise “whatsoever you ask in my name” is extensive in its form, its application is here limited by the context. It is “whatsoever” you ask with respect to the promise of performing greater things through Spirit-empowered preaching. Prayer is in Jesus’ name because, just as with the greater things, true prayer is possible through faith in Christ only (v. 12). Prayer without faith in Christ does not reach the throne of God; it is like shooting an arrow at an impregnable fortress in an attempt to knock the wall down. Without faith in Christ, both the greater things and the means of performing them are destroyed. According to the text, the purpose of prayer for greater things in Christ’s name is to glorify God the Father. The Father is glorified by answering prayers in the name of Christ for the Holy Spirit to bless the preaching of the Word for the conversion of sinners. In order to stress the importance of expressing our faith in Christ through prayer, this promise is in its essence repeated in verse 14.
This brings us to the theological foundations for corporate prayer meetings. The book of Acts illustrates that it is not simply prayer that is in view, but corporate prayer. The plural Greek verbs used in John 14:13-14 hint at this as well. Jesus did not tell His apostles that they would do greater things when they prayed individually, but that He would answer when they prayed together (“when you all pray”). We have already seen that the pattern established in Acts is prayer followed by Spirit-filled preaching. However, every instance of this pattern involves a corporate prayer meeting. The plural verbs in verses 13-14 would not be so significant if we did not have an inspired record of the fact that the Holy Spirit consistently blessed the preached Word for the conversion of sinners in response to corporate prayer. In fact, the exclusive pattern in Acts is corporate prayer followed by powerful preaching. What Jesus has in view, then, is corporate prayer meetings in which the church asks the Father to perform greater things through preaching in Christ’s name and by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Pierre Marcel wrote that, in this respect, the congregation is even more responsible for the sermon than the preacher is. [3] It is easy to view preaching as someone else’s responsibility because someone else is doing it. However, do we pray as we ought for the Holy Spirit to bless the preaching of the Word? Do we take the time to gather for corporate prayer? If we are willing to do so, then we have encouragement from Christ Himself that this is the very means He has appointed to bless the work of His church. In light of this, let us pray together with all the more encouragement and expectation as we look to the blessing of Christ upon the preached Word.
Practical Conclusions
This passage sets the basic agenda for the church. Her primary work is preaching, and the primary means of securing God’s blessing upon this work is corporate prayer. This does not undervalue the diversity in the body of Christ and the diversity of gifts among the members of that body, but it does bring the ultimate task of the church into sharp focus. At the end of the day, every local congregation should be characterized by two things above all others: corporate prayer and preaching. This text ought to make us search our hearts and ask several important questions concerning the place of prayer meetings.
First, note the priority of prayer over preaching. Spirit-filled preaching for the conversion of sinners is a greater work than the miracles of Jesus Christ, yet corporate prayer takes priority even over this work. This does not necessarily mean that prayer is more important than preaching, but that preaching is useless without prayer. This point is all the more striking when we consider how corporate prayer is currently one of the most neglected and undervalued duties and means of blessing upon the church. The absence of prayer meetings in many churches, as well as the low attendance at prayer meetings when they are held, indicate that the church has woefully misplaced its priorities. People often come to church to look for programs that will suit their family in particular. However, do we place the highest value upon the programs that God established for us? Is it not best to choose a church on the basis of the emphasis that it places upon preaching and prayer?
Second, many people say that God is able to work with or without our prayers, and that our prayers are no more effective in private than with other Christians. Unfortunately, this type of thinking often passes as Calvinism. What initially sounds like pious trust in the absolute sovereignty of God ironically sets aside the express teaching of Christ and the example of His apostles regarding corporate prayer. You do not have because you do not ask (James 4:2). Moreover, you must ask corporately, not independently. The New Testament teaching is that preaching without public prayer is virtually worthless. A good sermon without prayer and the presence of the Holy Spirit is like a powerful freight train that holds the potential to be very useful, yet all the while it sits on the tracks without fuel. What good is the train without its fuel? What good is a sermon without corporate prayer? This thinking creates a tension between the sovereign will of God and the use of means that God has appointed—a tension that does not exist in Scripture. William Perkins (1558-1602) noted helpfully that by this line of reasoning, we may as well neglect every means that God uses to preserve our earthly lives, since food and drink cannot profit us unless God blesses them. If we waited to eat food until we felt the blessing of God upon it, then we would all commit suicide. [4] Let us rest upon the command of God for public prayer and His promises to bless our prayer meetings rather than upon conclusions drawn by our flawed and foolish reasoning.
Third, corporate prayer must be a priority in our lives. Prayer meetings are often relegated to the lowest place on the list of church activities. If this attitude continues, our American churches will likely die a slow and painful death under emaciated preaching.
Do you view corporate prayer as Christ viewed it—as the means of performing the greater things that He spoke of? Without using His prescribed means, how can we expect to see His promised results? Churches that have no prayer meetings implicitly declare that they do not require the work of the Holy Spirit in their church. If your church holds a weekly prayer meeting, then prioritize it in your family. Many families do not attend prayer meetings because they have young children at home. However, children learn from our priorities. They may not understand much or be able to participate in prayer meetings, but families who prioritize and participate in prayer meetings are likely to instill the same attitude and practice in their children. Children who do not attend prayer meetings become adults who do not attend prayer meetings.
Fourth, the focus of corporate prayer must be on fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Christ not only gave us a mandate for corporate prayer, but He gave us the agenda for our prayer meetings as well. We must focus on the blessing of the Holy Spirit to exalt Christ through the preaching of the Word to the glory of the Father. In other words, we must pray for the greater things. This does not mean that we should neglect one another’s needs in corporate prayer meetings. But we must ask whether or not the overall tone of our prayer meetings matches Christ’s teaching in these verses. Are we praying most fervently and predominantly that the preaching of the gospel would bring sinners out of darkness into God’s marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)? Or are most of our prayers occupied with physical needs only? Even physical needs should be cast in our prayers in such a manner that the spiritual well-being of those for whom we pray comes first.
Fifth, we must confront ourselves with our unbelief in our prayer meetings. Prayer inherently involves faith (James 1:5-6). The public prayers of the church reflect the public faith of the church, since we must pray according to how we understand God’s will (1 John 5:14-15). How many people in our churches every week are in our midst in answer to someone else’s prayers? Do we not lack faith when we see daily evidences of greater things all around us, but we lose heart that God will continue to convert sinners in our churches? Believing prayers for conversions under faithful preaching is not a magical formula—the Lord works when, where, and how He pleases—but our hope rests upon the promise of Christ in verses 13-14. It is as though He anticipated our doubts when He twice repeated the promise that He will do what we ask. This is an important reminder that we are not to rest upon the strength of our corporate prayers, but upon the strength and the faithfulness of Christ. A fine line can exist between trusting in appointed means and trusting in the God who appointed them. Nevertheless, the promises of this text should yield much comfort and fruit in our prayer meetings. We may not see immediate results; someone once said that the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century was an answer to the prayers of the Puritans of the seventeenth century. In the “day of small things” in which we live, our greatest need is to revive our commitment to preaching and to corporate prayer. Upon Christ’s own Word and authority, He will infallibly answer the prayers of His church to perform greater things though Spirit-empowered preaching.
Notes
- This article is adapted from a sermon the author preached. This sermon is available at http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=66111118488.
- D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), in loc.
- Pierre Ch. Marcel, The Relevance of Preaching, trans. Rob Roy McGregor, ed. William Childs Robinson (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1963).
- William Perkins, An Instruction Against the Idolatry of the Last Times, And an Instruction Touching Religious or Divine Worship (Cambridge, 1601), 152.
No comments:
Post a Comment