If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (Jn 15:7-8)
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. (Jn.17:1-5).
Both of the above quotes come from the gospel of John as Jesus moved quickly toward the cross. They were spoken in the upper room and both contained thoughts about glorifying the Father by fulfilling our purposes on the earth. The first simply affirms a clear expectation that followers of Jesus will produce a great deal of fruit while serving the Father in this life and in doing so will bring glory to him. The second affirms that Jesus himself brought glory to the Father by completing the work the Father had given him to do.
In Ephesians 2, Paul echoed these thoughts when he said that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which have been prepared in advance for us to do. This might be one definition of our “destiny in Christ.” That destiny would simply be to complete all the work that the Father has assigned to us in this lifetime. Remember that in John 14 Jesus declared that those who believe in him would not only do the things that he had been doing but would do even greater things because he was going to the Father. His words suggest that every believer has a great destiny and that the works God has prepared in advance for each of us are not insignificant but are of such importance and impact that they will bring glory to the Father.
In summary Jesus said that God has ordained eternally significant things for each of us to do – things greater than Jesus did; that we are expected to bear much fruit to the glory of the Father; and that our goal, like Jesus, should be to complete all the work the Father has given us for that glorifies him as well. If that is true then the question becomes how much of that work will we leave undone that was ours to do?
From the casual approach to serving God that many believers seem to take, there may be miles of warehouses standing empty in heaven that were constructed to contain all the fruit produced by those who believe – but much of the harvest never occurred. All of us, I’m sure, pass up some of the “good works prepared in advance” for us. We miss the opportunities in the busyness of our lives or just turn them down on days that we feel weary or are distracted by the things of this world – not sinful things, just things. But surely our hearts should long to bear as much fruit as possible for the one who died for us.
I and a few others got to pray with a great lady yesterday who desired to receive a gift of healing. I loved her spirit. Even though she was retirement age she has no intention of retiring from service in the kingdom. She simply wants everything Jesus has provided for her so that she can fulfill everything God has ordained for her. The apostle Paul said that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts because those gifts are necessary to bear the fruit in our lives that glorifies God. Spiritual gifts go beyond natural talent. Though they may look the same at times, the results must be very different. One impacts the temporary while the other impacts the eternal.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit fueling what we do, we can produce no more for God than what unbelievers can produce for themselves or their worldly organizations. In his own strength man can do impressive things – great buildings, great programs, great music, great drama, great marketing, great performances. Sometimes, churches do impressive things – but in their own strength rather than in the power of the Spirit. I think Jesus had more in mind than that. When Pharaoh’s magicians could no longer match the miracles that God was doing through Moses, they finally said… “ This is the finger of God. “
I believe that should be true for the church. What we do by the power of the Spirit is not something that man should be able to do in his own strength. The works that bring glory to God must go beyond that otherwise they simply point to the glory of man. As believers we should never be satisfied with the ordinary but should desire every insight, every revelation, every gift, every dream, and every encounter that Jesus has purchased for us with his blood so that we might complete every work God has given us to do and do it in a way the honors the King of Heaven. To settle for less devalues the sacrifice of Jesus. You may want to reflect on that this Easter week. Be blessed.
