John 14:12 (Believing Ones)

We're in a section right now called the upper room discourse The upper room discourse is where the disciples are in the upper room

They've just finished Passover and the upper room discourse really gets going in John 14

They had three years of ministry now that have finally come to a close. They've heard all of Jesus's parables

They've seen the miracles. They've listened to his teaching. They've walked from town to town

They've looked over to Jesus underneath the beautiful night sky for the final time and said good night Jesus all that's coming to a close now as Judas has left

Judas has went to get the mobs who are gonna come arrest Jesus who Jesus has one final opportunity

To encourage his disciples to teach them what it is that they need to know because he's leaving

He said he's going away to the father. He's going to prepare a place for them And while he's gone, he's gonna expect them to build and to do things so this is one final lesson that Jesus is going to share with them today the lesson is going to be focused on the relationship between faith and works

Last week we talked about that that faith comes by God doing all of the work

That that's the root of our faith. We talked about the difference between root and fruit faith

When we talk about the root of our faith We talk about a God who from eternity past before he even created the first Adam for new us

Romans 8 29 he elected us to be his it means he chose us before he even created the world to be his

Ephesians 1 4 And 5 he predestined us. That means that he determined beforehand what our destination would be.

That's Romans 8 28 He promised Jesus's atonement 700 years before it happened

Isaiah 53 he paid for our atonement on the cross before you even had a name

You were crucified with Jesus on the cross before you were ever a thought You were buried with Jesus in his grave raised with him in his resurrection

You were dragged at some point in your life to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit John 6 44

You were called with the gospel Regenerated by the Spirit convicted of your sin gave a new give a new birth made into a new creation

You were justified you were adopted you were sanctified all before you said Jesus as Lord When we sing the song and we don't sing it here but if you ever sing the song

I have decided to follow Jesus there is a mountain of Decisions that God made before you sing that song

That's the root of our faith God has been so good and so kind and so gracious from before time and space began throughout all time and space leading up to the moment of your

Conversion God was at work in your life to save you and to bring you to faith

That's the root. So when Ephesians says That salvation is by faith so that no one can boast meaning you didn't do a work

You did not one single work that brought you to faith it was all the working of God But today we're gonna talk about the fruit of our faith

For all of those who have been brought to God who have been saved by God now, what does that knife look like?

What are we supposed to do? For all of you have been planted into the faith by God grafted into Christ by the

Holy Spirit of God Now, how do you live? How then shall we live?

That is what we're gonna be talking about today and we're gonna be looking at John 14 verse 12 to seeing what belief actually is

We're gonna be looking at the nature of belief is faith required in belief and what kind of faith is required in belief not the own kind the ongoing kind of faith that that is

Sanctification where every day I have to trust in the Lord and I have to actively pursue today We're actually gonna be looking at a faith that stems from the identity

It's not actually something that you do, but it's something that you are Which are we fascinating? So we're gonna be looking at that kind of faith and then in the end once we notice what faith is

Then we're going to talk about what kind of actions flow out of that kind of faith And we're then we're gonna talk about how

Christ has guaranteed it it's kind of like what you'll see is That a basketball team goes to play in the championship and they're already guaranteed that they're gonna win

Maybe there's some corrupt things going on in the background with the basketball team But they've been guaranteed they're gonna win or a boxer who's in the final round He knows that my opponent's gonna gonna fall in the final round in a similar way

We know the end of the story. We know that Christ has won and Every action that is required of the believer who is rooted in Jesus Christ Those actions have been guaranteed on the cross.

We will see that Today, so if you will turn with me to John 14 verse 12,

I was thinking about this today Yesterday I often get to the text really quick I say turn with me and then we read it

For the astute observer will be in John 14 a long time So when I start talking just turn to John 14, you'll be there.

All right, John 14 12 Truly truly 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 the Father the Word of the Lord Lord, we thank you so much for this single passage and all of the meaning that is contained therein

Lord help us today to discover. What is the nature of true faith? Help us to understand what?

Behaviors flow out of that faith and Lord help us to rest in the promise of your Gospel rule and reign that you are guaranteeing those things

By what you've done and by how you rule Lord help our lives to be consistent with the gospel

Help us to live in such a way that that demonstrates your glorious gospel Lord help no one today to come out of this sermon to say

I just need to try harder work harder do more But instead

Lord help all of us to see that The things that are contained in the text this morning

Are not actions that we need to do to make ourselves better But they are actions that actually flow out of who we are who we've been declared to be as a

Christian Lord help our obedience to be rooted down to the depths of our identity and not in performance

It's in Christ name. We pray. Amen The passage begins truly truly

I say to you whatever Jesus does that it's important so to the to us as a church we want to stop and pause when

Jesus has truly truly and we want to look and see what he's saying because Truly truly he's saying it's very important Now Jesus is not talking about here faith as an action, you know as a verb

It's something that you need to do or something that you need to work hard at something that you need to practice something that you need to participate in actually the word in this passage underneath in the

Greek is not a verb at all and You're gonna have to forgive me. I'm doing this early in the sermon while our attention spans are still great

You have to forgive me. I'm gonna go in the grammar I'm gonna do what the seminary professors told me not to do We're gonna talk about grammar because if you don't see what is in this passage, you won't understand how revolutionary it is

This is not a verb in this passage When we read it in English truly truly

I say to you he who believes in me believes is a verb in English But it's not a verb in the

Greek and that is really important It is actually what's called a participle

We're treading out in the deep waters Now participles are the bane of every seminarians existence

Participants are the reason that people graduate less than honor grad Participants are why your average drops from an a to a a minus or a

B Participants are difficult in Greek to translate. They can do all kinds of strange things

For instance a participle is kind of a verb But it's also kind of an adjective.

It's like a verbal adjective Then there's another kind of participle that's in this verse that's kind of a verb

But also has noun qualities, which is kind of like hot ice cubes Right doesn't make sense to our

English minds. This is why it's difficult to translate This is why translators just translated as a simple verb because to do otherwise would make this very difficult to read

It would make it sort of awkward and wouldn't But I actually think that we do ourselves a disservice on this passage when we don't

Look at how awkward the wording is because it's in that awkwardness in that Woodenness and that literalness that actually the point comes and I think if we do ourselves a disservice if we skip it

Now this is what's called a substantive Participle pastor Derek told me not to say that word because I would lose you.

He didn't say that Substantive a participle means it's a verb that's functioning as the subject of the sentence

Which is which is Left and right at the same time in my mind. It doesn't make sense if I were to actually translate this passage in a way that I think is is

Really gets after what it means this I would translate it this way The believing one in my works

Will do works also and even greater than these he will do it doesn't say he who believes in me will do works

That's verbal. It's the believing one the believing person the believer That's what it's getting after Now the reason that this is so important is because if you translate it as a verb

Then you get you can actually have this sort of false sense of understanding of what this means He who believes in me will do works

It's a quid pro quo relationship if I just believe if I just give God my faith, then I will do good works

That is not what it means because that puts faith and works in the realm of performance It's a duty that we're required to do.

It's an action that we're required to do. That's not what the text is saying The text is saying that the believing one

Will do works the one whose identity is a believer Will naturally obey

God there's a huge difference in that Because many charlatans have used this passage

To say that if I just have faith Then I can move mountains No, you can't go to Mount Washington and faith it up Try that's not what that verse is saying

It's saying that faith is our identity Now there's Implications to that because the faith is our identity

Then it's who God made us to be not who we have worked to become The Bible doesn't tell you to do faith

The Bible doesn't tell you to do belief. The Bible says that you have become Faithful that you are a believer

The Bible does not tell you to do belief. It says you've become a believer

By the working of Almighty God, it's down to your identity and not in the realm of your performance and this makes sense of what we've learned everything that we've seen that God's doing in our life and working and drawing and and Electing and predestinating all these things make sense and come together when we see that he has made us believer

Which means that we just believe in the same way That no one

I don't have to try to be a man. I am one. I Don't have to try to be a husband.

I am one that's down to the identity level If you're a believer, you don't have to try to be a believer.

You are a believer The question is is your life consistent with who you've actually been made to be?

Is your identity match up with your behavior? That is the question now

The reason this is so important that we cannot perform the action of faith is in the same way that a broke man cannot pay his bills

There's a great line in a movie I probably shouldn't reference it but there's this old lady and The guy asked her why didn't you pay your taxes grandma she said cuz

I didn't have any money That's a reasonable answer. Well, the reason we can't do faith is because we didn't have what it takes for all of our life

We've been dead apart from Christ We had no capacity for faith.

We were faith less Faith is a gift that was given to us to make us faithful belief was a gift that was given to us to make us

Believer sight was given to us to make us see Awakening by the Holy Spirit was given us to make us awake

You were not a person who needed to just try harder and have faith. You were a person who was faithless in this fullest sense of the term

You were an unbelieving one Unfaithful one, but by the gift of God you were changed and Now that belief trickles down into every single part of you

You don't have to try to get belief to to find its way into every nook and cranny of your life

God ensured that by making you brand new and It affects every aspect of you

Now for a moment. I just want to talk about this in three different ways. It's affected you in your head

It's affected you in your heart and it's affected you down to your hands head heart and hands Your identity is believer

It's trickled down into your head into your heart into your hands now I'm not saying your life matches this but I'm saying this is who

Christ has proclaimed you to be now as far as the head if You're a

Christian one of the greatest evidence of your faith is that you want to know God Now you can say that you're a

Christian, but if you have no desire to know God, you're not Because you're still living in that. I have to do something in order to become something

I'm saying that you've become something now you do something if you're a Christian and He has saved you and he has redeemed you you want to know him

Even if it's a small Spark that is down inside of your heart. You want to know him you want to know the

God with whom you love Now there's ways to grow in that The desire is put in there by God The behavior that flows from that sometimes we can grow in for instance, how do you get to know

God better? This is something you can do Read your Bible Wake up in the morning and just spend time with him and get to know him

What kind of a relationship would you have with your mother your father your spouse your children? If you didn't actually spend time getting to know them

I've heard of people say that they feel like they're married to a roommate That's because for years and years and years you've not spent time cultivating the relationship

There's parents who feel isolated from their children because there's no relationship there You have to spend time to get to know the person that you're corresponding to in relationship

We spend time with God by just getting into the word. I Know that it's easy in church for pastors to hammer this discipline.

But if you only knew how important it is Not as a discipline that you have to that you have to put down on your calendar and be rigid about like a

Pharisee But it's so important because you're spending time with the Almighty God You're getting to know him.

Don't neglect the small things We often think about you know, how do

I have a better relationship with God? I need to do big things I need to I need to totally change my life.

No, it's been 15 minutes in the morning with them pray Spend time in relationship with and cultivate that not as a torrential downpour that I have to do everything today or else

I'm not gonna have a relationship. It's like a slow and steady rain That happens over decades and you'll see that you grow in your knowledge of God What are some other things that we can do we can read commentaries that's not dorky

There's different kinds of commentaries there's dorky ones But you can you can look at a book of the

Bible like say you want to study Ephesians study it Get a commentary where you can dive into it a little bit deeper and study it

It'll teach you so much about the knowledge of God. We're so I'm a little

I'm doing a little self -justification here. Forgive me We're so quick to speed through things in life that we don't slow down long enough to see things in their beauty

Sometimes we just need to look at one verse Sometimes we just need to meditate on one little clause

For God so loved the world if we really meditated upon that, you know, how revolutionary that would be in your life

That he gave his only son So you will not perish but have eternal life You don't have to you don't have to read the

Bible in six weeks from start to finish Maybe maybe you could do that. I Won't be joining you in that Maybe sometimes you need to read a paragraph.

Maybe sometimes you need to read a phrase. Maybe sometimes read a chapter The point is get the discipline of spending time with God to know him.

If you're a Christian the desire is already there Cultivate that desire by spending time with him in his word memorize the

Catechism. That's not nerdy either I've noticed my children When we talk about the catechisms, what is your only hope in life and in death?

Every one of my children can answer that question now Do they know the full depth of what the answer is to and to love

God and enjoy him forever? No, they don't know the full depth of that yet But what they do know is there is that to enjoy

God is my purpose Memorize a catechism. There's so much beautiful things in a catechism like the

Westminster read a confession like the Belgic examine one of the ecumenical creeds like the Athanasian the

Athanasian if you If you like sassy creeds, that's the sassiest. It's really fun

Athanasius is almost angrily saying no the father is not the son the son is not the father the son is not the spirit It's great.

Read it Read a systematic theology if you need help on which ones are good ones ask because there's a lot of bad ones out there

Read a book on marriage You want to learn how to be a better husband read a good book on that read the scriptures on that? My point is is that I if you're a

Christian you've been given the desire to know God cultivate that desire by spending time learning

There's such a vein of anti intellectualism in the church today that it that it saddens me

That everything's about experiences. I go to church. I get my liver shivers, and then I've experienced

God We don't just experience God through goosebumps and feelings. We experience God through the mind

The knowledge of God is the greatest knowledge of all cultivate it You will see that to the depth that you study and learn who

God is Not as a dead discipline of just learning facts, but learning to know him in that intimate way

It'll sound you how much you will grow So that's the first thing God has implanted in you as a part of your identity a desire to know him cultivate it

The second thing is he's as part of your identity he's given you a heart a new heart

Cultivated you don't have the same heart of stone that you used to have Ezekiel says that that you had a heart of stone and God took it out and gave you a heart of flesh

He didn't say that by hard work and discipline and through a lot of religion then you got a new heart

He said your identity as a Christian is that you've been given a new heart It's yours Cultivate it cultivate your love for Jesus cultivate your affections for Christ Meditate upon the beauty of Christ men.

That's one of the most masculine things you can do It doesn't seem intuitive but dwell upon the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ, and it will make you a

Great man, it'll make you a great woman Cultivate the affections that are centered upon him love him

Love the things that you once hated like righteousness and holiness hate the things that you once loved like sin and lust and Do so in a way that is robustly

Christian again, I can let me give you an example of this I can tell a

Just because we just came off the back of Satan con. I Can do it if they really put forth the effort and they try they can go to the gym

They can lift weights. They can do everything that they need. They can lose weight They can both do that work.

I cannot tell both an unbeliever and a believer to go love God It's impossible for the unbeliever to conjure up affections for Christ.

That is a great evidence. It's you're really in the faith. I Don't care what you say with your lips.

Does your heart love Jesus? Does your heart beat for Christ and if it does cultivate that affection cultivate that love

Spend time with him another one your hands What God has done for you and what

Christ has done for you doesn't just apply to your head into your heart It also works itself out in your hands And when I say hands what I mean is your will and your behavior the things that you do

You don't run anymore to the old sins that used to run to you don't live in the way that you used to live it affects every single part of you and Again, this is not a quid -pro -quo relationship like we talked about earlier if you believe really hard then you will do epic works

I've seen this abuse so many times. I hate to pick on Bethel, but they're so easy If we believe really hard then we can raise the dead.

No, you can't I Watched two years ago or three years ago as a little two -year -old girl died

Sadly in their congregation was one of the worship leaders They spent 15 days singing songs instead of burying that poor child and celebrating the resurrection of Christ they held on thinking they were gonna raise her from the dead and So many people were left hurt by that because they thought if I can just believe that I can do awesome things

There's reports out of Reading that people have gotten into car accidents and Bethel showed up and said don't call the ambulance

We'll save them. We'll heal them That's not what this is saying It's not saying that if you just believe verbal action, then you'll do great things

It's saying you have become a believer and because you've become a believer you do consistent actions actions that line up with Christ Not flamboyant actions that make you feel good about yourself

We are people who are known as being conformed to Christ not as people who are celebrating our own epicness

We are the ones who do the works that the father prepared before him to do in Ephesians 2 10 What a glorious verse that is

Ephesians 2 8 Salvations by God so that no one can boast but salvation also is that you now step into the works that God prepared beforehand for you to do

They flow out of a different place now not your effort, but your identity Jesus said truly truly

I say to you the believing ones will do the works that I do and Greater works than he than these he will do because I go to the father now

We need to talk about what kind of works Jesus does Especially what does it mean that we do greater works than Jesus does that is

Really important when it comes to this passage Jesus did he said that whatever he did was from the father.

So therefore everything Jesus did was explicitly biblical Nothing self -seeking about Jesus no chest bumping about Jesus Jesus always was deflecting

Glory away from himself and giving glory to God so that if what you're doing What you're posting on social media, whatever it is that you're doing is trying to get others to look at you instead of God You are not living like Jesus You're living like Satan Who always wants the glory put on to him the spotlight on to him?

That's the first thing we have to live like Christ and Christ gave glory to God Bible says that whether you eat or whether you drink do everything to the glory of God Graham and I were having this discussion this morning fold the bulletins to the glory of God Graham Everything you do is it to an audience of one?

The way that you fold it that beautiful sharp edge that you put that could cut through warm butter on that bulletin glorifies your

God Let everything you do be done to the glory of God it's not about you

It's about who God's made you to be so that you can give him glory in all things Now, what does it mean that Jesus said we're gonna do greater works than him?

Many people have abused this passage. What does that mean? Does that mean that we're gonna be doing more powerful things than Jesus? There was a rumor that one church installed a swimming pool so they could practice walking on water.

Is that what that means? Is Jesus promising to do greater miracles?

We will do greater miracles than him is he promising that will raise more people from the dead We have to for a moment

Stop thinking like an American here Like Tim the tool man Taylor's even

I remember that show More power more horsepower So much so that he blows up things all the time.

That's not what this is about. It's not about more power It's about the expanse

The extent is gonna be greater Greater cannot mean magnitude because you are not

God you cannot raise yourself from the dead Therefore because you can't raise yourself from the dead. You're not doing greater and more powerful works than him.

That's not what that means We need to think like a Hebrew Here's an example of how a

Hebrew thinks about greater. Okay Hebrews 1124 if you're new today

There's only one supporting verse that's not normal today. It's Hebrews 1124 By faith

Moses when he had grown up Refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter that word grown up that we have an

English means greater By faith when Moses had become greater

Refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter He's not talking about when Moses had an epiphany in his older age and he had greater wisdom.

It means greater years in The Hebrew way of talking when you get older you're great with years

Now imagine if we called our elderly people that man, you're really great with years You really you really piled them up That's the way they thought about it

When you have great character, it's because you have amassed and an amount of character that makes you wise

It's not about one thing being massive. It's about accumulation of many things piled together being great

Multiplication is sort of the idea in the Old Testament. It talks about the the great Terrible waters.

It means that it has thousands upon thousands of small little waves that will wreck your boat

It's not one tsunami. It's it's an entire ocean. That's great and multiplied together.

It's this expansiveness It's this extent. So when we think about it in a Hebrew way You are not going to be greater than Christ Together the church we will do more expansive works than what

Jesus did now. Let me explain what that means Jesus lives 33 years

The church has lived 2000. We have more years piled up in a pile than Jesus by himself

Did greater works are going to be done by the church over 2 ,000 years. That's one thing numerically Jesus also did unlimited number of works

He lived 33 years, which means that he lived about 12 ,000 days a little more than that If you could add up all the works of Jesus, it's a finite number

Well, the finite number of the things that the church has done over the last 2 ,000 years is bigger. I'm not saying bigger in Quality, I'm talking about bigger in quantity.

That's another thing one more aspect of this Jesus limited himself to one nation

I Think this actually is the more important the most important point about this he he was born in Judah and it just for a tiny moment went to Egypt and then came back

He spent the majority of his life no more than 70 miles away from the place that he was born

He spent all of it focused on one nation So when Jesus says you're gonna do greater works than these he's talking about you're gonna go beyond Judah and We know that this is what

Jesus meant because when he talks to the Syro -Phoenician woman he says I'm here for the lost sheep of Israel and then she shows this great faith and he says, all right

I'll heal your daughter, but he announces that I came for the lost sheep of Judah When he prepares his disciples and he sends them out to go on mission

He says do not go to the Samaritans. Do not go to the Gentiles. I've sent you to the lost sheep of Judah He is limiting the ministry to Judah now the reason that's so important is because the pages of the

Old Testament were closing a New covenant is being opened up and the first people that he offered it to was the

Jews And when they rejected it, he rejected them and when he rejected them, he rejected their temple

He closed it down in 80 70 He rejected the old covenant sacrifices not that they weren't good for what they were

But they were like we talked about last week. They were a state. They were a placeholder for Christ. He's the greater sacrifice

When I hear people talking about one day Jesus is gonna is gonna build a third temple in Israel and there's gonna be sacrifices again.

Why would Jesus do that? That would nullify his death on the cross that would nullify his sacrifice

That would say that that Israel had it right all along and Jesus just came for a temporary fix

No, he came to Judah To tell them that the Old Covenant was coming to a close that he is the true temple

He is the true sacrifice. He is the true priest He is the true and better of all these things and now

He is the way the truth in the life so that you can't come to the father through a temple anymore through Sacrifices anymore you have to come to God through him

And when the Jews said we have no King but Caesar will go to Caesar instead of God They lost the path to him

Now it doesn't mean that they can't be saved but they can only be saved through Jesus It doesn't mean that they can't be forgiven.

They can only be forgiven through Jesus. There is no future temple There is no future lamb sacrifice in Jerusalem It is through Jesus Christ and Christ alone that they will come to the father just like us

Either Jew or Greek male or female all of us come through Christ Now when that happened that event when the temple was burned down and destroyed

What naturally happened is the same thing that happened when God confused the languages in Babel they scattered in Jerusalem they scattered and they took their faith with them and they took it to Samaria and They took it to the other outer parts of Judea They took it to Turkey and Spain and Rome and they took it down to North Africa.

And what we see is That in the first 200 years Greater works were done because different countries are now hearing the gospel

It's a multiplied effect where now many people are getting to hear the gospel and over the last 2 ,000 years that gospel has continued

Every single century to grow and to expand to where now there's not a single time zone that doesn't have a church

There's not a single latitude or longitude or whatever latitudes this way, right? It's been so long since I was in the fourth grade

There's churches in every hemisphere in every in every latitude and longitudinal nine because of the greatness of the kingdom the expansiveness of the king

Multiplicative nature of the kingdom Jesus said greater works Will you do the fact that we're meeting here today means that we're doing the greater works that Jesus was talking about on a continent

That he didn't visit Joseph Smith was wrong If you know your

Mormon mythology Today we're a part of that great

Mission that Christ gave us to see the entire world filled with the glory of God covered with the gospel

When Abraham received the promise that every family on earth was going to be blessed God wasn't lying But it wasn't gonna come through Abraham It was gonna come through the seed of Abraham through the church so that the whole world is going to see

The glory of God at some point now. We're as a nation experiencing some pretty tumultuous times

Our country is schizophrenic to say the least

God did not promise that America would prevail God promised that he would prevail that his kingdom would prevail that the gates of hell would not stand against him in our lifetime, we may experience the downfall of America in our kids lifetime, maybe

We're not promised that We're promised that the kingdom of God Will go to every tribe and every tongue and every nation that every creature under heaven will hear it that all the families the world

We blessed by it that Jesus will put every single one of his enemies under his feet Do we really believe that Jesus is going to return back?

To the world without having put all of his enemies under his feet Can you imagine Jesus coming back and saying there's a lot of nations that haven't heard the gospel

Yeah, well It matter what Psalm 110 says or first Corinthians 15.

It's not like I'm holy Jesus wouldn't say that It says that he is reigning

That he is going to ensure that his word is completed and it even says in first Corinthians 15 that he won't return

Until every enemy is put under his feet so that he can hand that completed kingdom over to his father

He's not gonna return until that day So the fact when I when we were outside of Satan con and I saw all this madness

I'm like the church has got a long way to go before Jesus returns when

Jesus prayed for unity in John 17, I'm like Wow, we've got a long way to go before that prayers answered

Now there's so many different ways we can describe this work that we get to be a part of the greater works that we get to be a part of I Was thinking about it this week as far as like us men.

How do we get involved in the kingdom of God? How do we do the things the greater works that Christ has told us that we get to be a part of well?

Do your vocation to the glory of God go to work and do it to the best of your ability

There's a man who came up to Martin Luther one time and he said Martin I've become a Christian. What should I do now and Martin said well, what do you what do you do for work?

And he said I'm a make shoes and Martin Luther said We'll make a really good shoe

There's this idea that now that we've become a Christian we need to remove ourself from the world far be it we're salt night Do your job better than anybody else if you work with if you work with people who are not believers outwork them

Not to compete for your glory do it for the glory of God when somebody asks you why do you work so hard while you're here because God Saved me.

What an opportunity. It doesn't have to be corny. You just say God did so much for me I'm indebted to him. I want to do my best for him

God did his best for me on the cross. I'm gonna do my best for him, you know carrying your burden Don't sit don't say that to your boss

But do your work well Do your work to the glory of God listen build businesses

Men who are entrepreneurs go build a business that glorifies God Do something to bring attention to the to the fact that you're a

Christian build a plumbing business an electrician business Do it with honor and integrity treat your clients, right?

Don't make the bottom line the the thing That's the bottom line make it all about the glory of God build things

Build businesses don't make your your work all about your life. Also come and build in your neighborhood.

There's neighbors who need you Conversations that you can have there's there's local government types of things that you can get involved in build into your neighborhood

But most importantly build into your marriages if you're if you're married Build into your wife build into her and love her and do that to the glory of God Jesus says that your marriage is a picture of the very gospel.

Don't neglect that Don't think about well I'm going to church and I'm gonna I'm gonna serve in this way or I'm gonna do this or that No, you serve in every aspect of your life

Whether you eat or whether you drink you're doing it all to the glory of God Love your wife like Christ loves the church build into her help her support her

Build a family that glorifies God men if you're not leading your family right now and family worship do it

You're gonna be graduating children out into the world. Have you have you prepared them for that? You're not gonna prepare them for that Apart from the

Word of God get them into the word spend time with them pray with them lead them And I'm not telling you this again

I want you to be very clear on how you hear this don't walk out of here today and say gosh it look at all The stuff

I've got to do no Look at who you are If you're a

Christian man, that is who God has made you to be now live according to who you are

Live according to what you've been called to do start small and it can grow But build a home that glorifies

God build children that glorify God The kingdom is being built brick by brick grab your hammer brother and help build

What does it mean to do the greater works It means love God with all your heart soul mind and strength love him where you're at Do what

God has called you to do be consistent with what the scripture said do it to the glory of God? That's the greater works that Christ is talking about and as we multiply those to the ends of the earth

We will see the greater works have an effect in the kingdom will grow great women

How do you do the greater works that God has called you to do? Come on inside your husband as a helper

God made you to be his helper help him if you two are fighting one another repent of that and help each other men lead

And that's hard for us because of Adam Adam really set the bar, didn't he? Men lead ladies help him

Multiply his resources. I was thinking about an example in Proverbs 31 the the wife takes all of the resources that her husband gives her and she multiplies them

She makes them living. She builds a home off of them. I've not seen that modeled in my life all every woman in my family

Was incredible at spending money But not at building something. How often do we have nothing to show for our labors?

We work and we work and we work and we have nothing but straw and the stubble Take the things that you've been given and multiply them turn your home into a garden that's flourishing where life is at Live up to your value

Bible says that you're excellent worth more than rubies. Stop living like you just crawled out of a mud puddle You're valuable live that way

Single women prepare for this work. Hold your head high. I Remember that George McDonald you may not have heard of this man

But he said one of the greatest quotes that changed the way that I father my girls He said the problem with parenting is not that you tip that you tell your daughters that they're princesses.

The problem comes when you don't Because far too many little girls he said look like orphans instead of Queens Fathers teach your daughters that they have value

Teach them that they live up to a standard of royalty ladies, the Bible calls you a fine jewel

Celebrate the fact that you are called the weaker sex. That doesn't mean that you're weaker Qualitatively, that means that your husband is like wrought iron, which isn't beautiful at all

He hits stuff and break stuff good for him You're like fine China live according to your value

Feed the ones you love clothe the ones you love cultivate godly femininity in a culture that doesn't even know what a woman is

What an incredible opportunity and you don't need a biology degree to prove it Raise the ones you love live like a queen to the glory of God Build up your house so that life and that generations spring forth out of your home

That's doing the greater works. Is it not? It might not be glorious. You're not gonna have on a

Hillary Clinton pantsuit Maybe you maybe you you cultivate your home in that Okay But it's the it's the everyday work the slow and steady rain men and women children

It's that work that brings incredible glory to God. We have to stop thinking about the minute to a minute

We have to start thinking about the next hundred years. What's my family gonna look like when I'm gone?

What's this church gonna look like after I'm gone after you're gone? What are we doing right now to build based off who he has made us to be now

We could go into this for a lot longer, but I think that gives sort of a foundation. I'm just kidding We're almost done

The greater works that Christ has called us to do. We don't do in our own strength. That's the point We don't do them in our own strength.

We do them in his strength. We don't do them as a verbal effort we do them out of a participle identity if you've been made a

Christian you've been made a believer to live like a believer and Christ is guaranteed that those works will flow out of his people

Because of what he says at the end of this verse Truly truly I say to you the believing ones will do the works that I do

He and greater works than these he will do because I Go to the father

He's not saying because you tried hard. He's not saying because you heard a sermon. You're like I need to leave families.

No He's saying you will do these things. You will live like a godly man a godly woman children

You will live like godly children because Christ ascended to heaven The power in your works is not you the power in your works is the ruling

Christ Think about what did Jesus do when he ascended to heaven? He went to the father the heaven heavens angels were were welcoming him with fanfare and shouting and joy

And he receives the crown he sits down on the throne and like a king. He's reigning

He is reigning over the church he's reigning over his people He is ruling and leading the reason that you and I can

Obey God is not because we are smart that we're successful that were spiritual that were any of those things

The reason that we now as redeemed people made Believers through the gospel can obey

God is because he rose and triumphed and is sitting at the right hand of God reigning over the church

And by the power of his Holy Spirit He is indwelled you with the power that it takes to be able to live like him and obey him

It's not your power. It's his power at work in you. Paul says I've been crucified with Christ It's no longer

I who live but Christ who lives in me. You can't take credit for anything The only thing we can do is stand back and say praise

God give me more Praise God help me to live more like you praise

God for what you've already done Lord help me to see it more feel it more know it more and whenever you grow in any amount of grace

You realize that it wasn't you it was him So you're the most grateful thankful joyful person on earth because it's everything that's been done to you and not from you as A Christian you are a believing one

That's your identity You don't have to try to be a believer. You are one The question is does your life?

Match up to the vision that Christ has created for you. Are you resisting the

Holy Spirit? Are you quenching the Spirit of God? Are you living in rebellion against who he's made you to be?

brothers and sisters repent Repentance is freedom

Repentance is life turn from your selfishness and live according to who he's called you to be

It will set you free it will bring you joy and You will do the greater works that he has promised.

Amen Let's pray Lord Jesus, thank you so much that Christian obedience is not about our hard work

That Christian obedience is not about our intelligence That Christian obedience is not for a certain class of spiritual people

But it's an identity that all of us share You crucified us with Christ You raised us from the grave

You put the seed of faith inside of us so that we could grow to be faithful Lord, I pray for everyone here

Who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God Lord I pray that we would not resist your spirits work

Lord I pray that we would grow to live authentically That we would stop living like The old man that we used to be the old woman that we used to be and that we would simply embrace who we are

We are Christians We are ones Who've been made like Christ?

To live like Christ to proclaim Christ and all of life Lord Let us step into that receive that accept that rebel in that and be grateful for that in Christ's name.