The gospels are the story of Jesus but they are also the stories of people touched by Jesus. They are stories of ordinary people suffering in all the ways the world afflicts its citizens. These people suffered from bondage to sin, physical disabilities, physiological conditions, psychological conditions, isolation, rejection, bitterness, loss, discrimination, hunger, spiritual thirst, and demonic affliction of all kinds. Some even suffered from death which is a fairly serious condition. Jesus had an answer for each of those things.
Many Christians scan the gospels and accept the miracles of deliverance, healing, raising the dead, and transforming lives as true but attribute those events to the deity of Jesus. “Of course he could do those things because he was God. But, we can’t expect to do those things because we are not God.” Certainly, he was God, but he didn’t come as God. His primary identification was the Son of Man.
Jesus has the position of God but came in the condition of man. He chose to face the devil and life on this planet as a man rather than as God in a man suit. If he walked among us as God then he didn’t suffer temptation as we did. He never truly felt hunger or fear or rejection. But the writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb.4:15). Jesus wasn’t Jesus before he put on flesh. He was the Word of God and Adoni sitting on a heavenly throne in Isaiah 6. Before he put on flesh he was God and manifested as God in all things. But when he put on flesh, he checked his God and creator- of- the-universe abilities at the door.
At the point of conception in a human body he became Jesus, Son of Man. Paul declared, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim.2:5). Paul did not say the god Christ Jesus but the man Christ Jesus. I do believe God had given Jesus the right to pick up his divine capacities at any time if he chose to do so. Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (Jn.10:17-18). In another place Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels” (Mt.26:53)? It seems to me that the Word and the Father had a deal. “Okay, you go as a man, live as a man, suffer as a man, and face temptation like a man but if at any moment you think these people aren’t worth it, you exercise your deity and get out of there.” The miracle to me is that Jesus chose to stick it out as a man even unto death in the face of man’s worst scorn and brutality.
Jesus came to show us how a man could live on the earth when he walked in close fellowship with the Father. He didn’t come to show us how God could live on the earth in close fellowship with the Father. That example would have done us no good. In addition, Jesus sent out numbers of ordinary men who performed the same miracles he did and said that those who believe on him would not only do what he did, but would do even greater things (See Jn. 14:12). As Jesus walked the earth he touched lives that were radically changed by his love and power. My point is that he expects us to do the same thing. Jesus expects his church to carry on his mission of preaching good news, binding up the broken hearted, setting captives free, giving sight to the blind, and facilitating radical change in the lives of men and women.
Our church offers a ministry entitled Free Indeed and it is the source of the material in my book Born to Be Free. For the past six years we have watched God dramatically change hundreds of lives in a few weeks rather than in decades. We just finished our most recent installment of Free Indeed and watched eighty people discover the love of the God and the power of the kingdom over a period of two months and a weekend. Most were changed forever and set free by his touch and his power. People are amazed at what Jesus does in those few weeks but the truth is that we simply teach the basics of scripture – what Jesus did for us at the cross, who we are in Christ, the expectation of radical transformation in the kingdom, how to hear God and receive from him, how to walk in authority, and the basics of spiritual warfare.
We teach these basics over a period of eight weeks and then engage everyone in a weekend of experiencing Jesus through inner healing and deliverance and Jesus always does amazing things. He does those with the basics of our faith and a lot of very imperfect vessels that serve as leaders – including myself. People discover who they are. They experience deep emotional and spiritual healing as well as physical healing. They are set free from their past, the lies of Satan, and demonic affliction that has hindered their walk with the Lord for years. In other words, we simply do what Jesus did every day.
My question is, “If we see that much power and transformation from simply learning and doing the basics of our faith, how much greater could our impact be on the world if we plunged into the deeper things of the Spirit and the kingdom? How much greater impact could we have if we just did the basics in everyone’s church rather than in a few?” When we take Jesus at his word that we are to do the things he did, faith becomes exciting. When we risk being disappointed because a certain person might not be healed or delivered we find that we are not disappointed because being willing to risk something for Jesus is its own reward. Not only that, but many, many are healed, delivered, and transformed in the name of Jesus. How fun is that!
So today, let me encourage you to just trust Jesus in the basics. Believe that whatever he did, he did as a man and as a man or woman of faith, he will do it through you again. In doing so, he will bless many and you will feel the joy of partnering with your Lord and Savior in radically changing lives and destinies. Go for it and be blessed!
