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The Scriptorium

Greater Works?

Greater works than Jesus did? Really?

The Gospel of John: John 14.1-14

Read and meditate on John 14.12.
This incredible promise remains for all the followers of Christ today. We need to make sure we understand just how important this is.

                                                                 12“Assuredly,
I say to you, he who believes in Me,
that works that I do he will also do,
and greater works than these works will he do,
for I am going to My Father.”  

- John 14.12

Reflect
1.  Our first response to this promise is surely something like, “How can this be?” We want to answer this question fully, so that we can lay hold on this promise in the way Jesus intends. First, let’s catalog the good works Jesus did during His earthly ministry. How many different good works can you identify? And did you include in your list the good work of calling and making disciples? What did that involve? Complete this prayer: Lord, keep before me each day Your example of good works, and let me take up as many good works as…

2.  When Peter bore witness to Jesus with Cornelius, he started by mentioning Jesus had done many good works (Acts 10.34-38). It seems almost everyone in that neck of the woods had heard about Jesus’ good works. How did Jesus explain the relationship between the works He did and the words He taught (cf. vv. 10, 11; Jn. 5.36)? What does this suggest about the place good works should have in our witness for the Lord? You have appointed me as Your witness, Lord, and I want to be effective both in words and works. Today, help me to…

3.  Jesus said the works He did, those who believe in Him would do also. Does this mean that we should expect to do miracles? Explain. Why was Jesus able to do these miracles? To what did Jesus’ miracles attest? Lord, there’s something miraculous in every good work we do, since our bent is normally to pay attention only to ourselves and our own interests and need, and since we can only do such works as You work in and through us. Let Your Spirit work in me today, Lord, so that…

4.  We recall, from verse 10, that Jesus intentionally conflated the words He spoke with the works the Father did through Him. Do you think that, in Jesus’ mind, works and words were necessarily separate? Were the words Jesus spoke part of the works He did? What are the implications for us in the Personal Mission Field to where Jesus has sent us? Give me words today, Lord, that I may work Your work by…

5. It’s the “greater works than these” that gives us pause, and especially because Jesus addressed this to an individual believer (“he”). But how many individual believers have there been since Jesus ascended to the Father? Does this help us in understanding what He might have meant by “greater”? And note the basis for this promise: “because I go to My Father.” Meditate on Psalms 2.6-9, 45.3-5 (cf. Rev. 6.1, 2), and 110.1-3. What is Jesus doing at the right hand of God? How is He doing these things? Are these works “greater” than what He did during those three years in Judea and Galilee? Explain. Bring together into one your prayers from questions 1-4.

Summary
“‘He who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do.’ If, then, he who believes shall do such works, he who shall not do them is certainly no believer, just as ‘He who loves me, keeps my commandments’ implies, of course, that whoever does not keep them does not love.… In a similar way, also, it is said here, ‘He who believes in me shall do such works.’ The one who does not do good works, therefore, is no believer. What have we here, then, brothers? Is it that one is not to be counted among believers in Christ who will not do greater works than Christ? It would be hard, unreasonable, intolerable to suppose so, that is, unless it is rightly understood. Let us listen, then, to the apostle when he says, ‘To him who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.’ This is the work in which we may be doing the works of Christ, for even our very believing in Christ is the work of Christ.” Augustine (354-430 AD)

Discipleship involves us in good works and good words – works and words like Jesus did. But this can only be the case as God is at work within us, willing and doing of His good pleasure (Phil. 2.12, 13). How can we know which good works Jesus might have in store for us on any day?

Closing Prayer
The LORD said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
Your people shall bevolunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.

Psalm 110.1-3

Psalm 110.1-3 (Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
“Sit by Me at My right hand,” the Lord says to my Lord,
“Until I make Your foot stand on all who hate Your Word.”
From in His Church the Savior rules all His enemies;
While those who know His favor go forth the Lord to please.

T. M. Moore

We are happy to offer each week’s Scriptorium studies in a free weekly PDF, suitable for personal or group use. You can download all the studies in our series on the Gospel of John by clicking here. Please prayerfully consider sharing with The Fellowship of Ailbe through your giving. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from
The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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