09.27.2009 From Epic Fail to Greater Things

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09.27.2009 Grace Summit Sermon - From Epic Fail to Greater Things from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

09.27.2009 Grace Summit Worship - led by Dick Cooper from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Good Morning! My name is Jeff Yackley – I’m one of the deacons here - Over the past few weeks, Pastor Mike Marette has been, as he phrased it, giving a New Members Class for everyone. Last week he talked about Church Leadership and structure. By the end of next month, Pastor Mike is hoping to appoint Dick Cooper and me as elders (co-pastors) – so if you have any concerns or issues, please let Pastor Mike know in the next few weeks – better sooner than later. Today, Mike is in California visiting his parents – and while Mike gave me liberty to share whatever the Lord leads me to share – so I have taken that liberty to go to a section of Scripture that has had a big impact on my life – and yet I feel it is a continuation of last week – how God can take each of us in our failures and frailty and use us in greater ways than we can even imagine. My focal text for today is from the book of John, chapter 14, beginning in v. 12 – a little background here – Jesus has just wrapped up The Last Supper – Judas has already left, and Jesus is trying to prepare the disciples for the failure, pain, and helplessness they were about to experience:
12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. 13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. 20 "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him." What an encouraging section?!

Let’s pray.

In this section, Jesus is taking a pre-emptive strike at the disciples’ forthcoming failures. He is warning them that THEY WILL FAIL – in their own strength. At the end of the preceding chapter, we see Peter professing his faithfulness -

John 13: 37 Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You." 38 Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.”

Right after this section – they go from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane, where all Jesus asks is that they watch and pray – but in their own strength, they can’t even do that.

Have you ever felt like a failure? The kids have a term today for a major failure – Epic Fail. I had an ‘epic fail’ in my sophomore year of college. After Calculus 1,2, and 3, the next math course in the progression is called Differential Equations. Through high school, I was a straight A student – and was not used to failure. So when I got a 64 on the first test and a 54 on the second, I thought it might be best to withdraw from the class and take it later that summer. I wanted to ask the teacher if my grade was a reflection of his ability as a teacher, but I thought better of it.

God had really started to work in my life that summer…. I had been seeing a young lady on and off for about 5 years when we decided to stop dating and focus on following God more fully. I was just learning to play guitar and I had been learning what it meant to meditate on a section of Scripture – and this section was one I was meditating on and I was also knocking around the idea of writing a song about this section from John 14.

Well, that summer I was re-taking Differential Equations. I was on my way home from a study session when I was thinking about this song – so I flipped on the radio – specifically to get a feel for a tune – and let me preface this by saying – at the time, the Christian radio station mostly played music and RARELY had anyone speaking – so I turn on the radio to get a feel for a tune, and I hear a voice saying, “I’d like to read from the Gospel of John, Chapter 14 beginning in v. 12…I tell you the truth, if you have faith and believe, you will do the works that I have been doing – and even greater works than these will you do, because I go to the Father…”

I couldn’t pull the car over fast enough… - It was as if God was saying – you are not a failure – but you can’t do it on your own… -

Let’s take a deeper look at this section
John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

A couple of weeks ago I was at a Men’s Leadership retreat where Tom Short asked the question – “What is Jesus’ instruction to become leaders in the gospels?” Well – the answer is that Jesus never calls us to be leaders in the gospels – He calls us to be followers. “Follow Me,” He says, “and I will make you fishers of men.” He says if we want to become great, or leaders, or rulers – we need to be like Him – - Mike shared this last week – and it is worth reiterating here:

Mark 10: 42 And calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. 43 "But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

The following morning at the Leadership retreat, I was on a prayer walk and I was meditating on this section - So, when Jesus says, “the works that I do shall He do also” – I realized – This is exactly what Tom was talking about last night – This is what followers do. Followers do what the Leader does – What does the Leader do? He sacrifices for the sake of others. He does what He is asked to do. Jesus said in John 5 that He only does what He sees the Father doing:
John 5: 19 Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him,
I didn’t realize what a parallel passage that is. Henry Blackaby says that we look to see how God is working and we join Him in that work. Instead of asking God to bless what we are doing, we need to ask God to help us do what He is blessing! So what is it that the Son does that He sees the Father doing? v21 "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

Jesus takes people from death to life. He takes those who are spiritually dead and gives them spiritual life. BUT – We believe in the resurrection – that at the last day, Jesus will take us from physical death to eternal life with Him.

How can we join Him in that work? Can we really take people from death to life? Let’s continue in this section:

John 14 13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it..

What does ‘in My name’ mean? Does it just mean that we end our prayers, “In Jesus’ name?” It means “in union with Him.” If we ask anything in union with Him – in union with His will – He has promised to do it.

A couple of weeks ago – Mike asked us to write down two or three names of people who don’t yet know Christ and to pray for them. First of all, I want to reiterate and remind you to do that – how faithful have you been to do this? Has anyone seen God answer this prayer yet? I believe that is a prayer that is in union with God’s will – let’s be faithful to pray. Let’s continue on in verse
15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

We show we love Him by obeying Him. Which commandments is He referring to? Obviously, the Big Two – Love God and Love Others – we love God by believing in Jesus. One way we show we love others is by obeying one command I’ve already mentioned – Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. But we can’t do it in our own strength – in our own strength, we are like Peter denying Jesus – we are like the disciples falling asleep when all He asks is to watch and pray – we are epic failures. Well, how do we do it then?

16 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.

Another helper – one who is like Jesus – a helper, comforter, the Spirit of Truth. Jesus knows the pain we experience and is able to comfort us. This ‘another Helper’ that Jesus gives will be like Jesus and will know the pain we experience and will be our comfort and joy.

(Acts 5:32 "And we are witnesses of these things; and [so is] the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.")

Forever. In the Old Testament – the Spirit would fall upon a person for a time – and that person would have the capability to do amazing things because the Spirit was working in him - but it wasn’t forever. But Jesus promises us that the Spirit will not only abide with us, but will be IN US.
This term here literally means not merely with us, but ‘by your side’, and ‘at home with us’ – and ‘in the midst of you’


18 "I will not leave you as orphans (helpless); I will come to you. 19 "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.

This too is a promise of the resurrection – because Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall we who believe be raised from the dead.

20 "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him."

Do you want to know Jesus more? Obey His commands. Do you want Him to disclose Himself to you? Have his commandments and keep them! Memorize his words. Search the Scriptures to understand His commands.
Love as He loved. Forgive as He forgave. Pray as He prayed. Have compassion as He has compassion.

Let’s review:
In our own strength, we are epic failures.
Jesus calls us to do what He has been doing – to be His followers and fishers of men
He promises to send us the Holy Spirit – so it is no longer we who live, but Him living in us.

Let’s jump a few verses to
John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Part of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives is to help us to understand the Bible. He can help us to remember it and He can help us to understand and apply it. If you struggle in understanding Scripture, I encourage you to ask The Holy Spirit to give you a greater understanding.

How can we allow Christ to work in us?
He tells us in the a few verses later:
John 15: 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

To abide in Christ is to remain in connection with Him – Read His Word, meditate and memorize His commands. Remain in communication with Him through prayer - and do as He commands to become fishers of men –

Now, this brings us back to the beginning – Have you ever felt like a failure? Have you ever had an Epic Fail? Does it seem like every day is an Epic Fail? If it does, you are one step closer to realizing that you can’t do it in your own strength – and as we learn to do these things – to remain tightly connected to The Vine, we will do the things that Jesus did…–
John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

He promises that as we believe in Him – we will do the things He has been doing – and even greater things than these will we do, because He goes to the Father. How can we do greater things? When Christ left the earth, He gave the Holy Spirit to continue His work among His disciples. Now Jesus is not just in one place – but He can be wherever His followers are. The first evidence of this came immediately upon receiving the Holy Spirit when 3000 were converted on the first day. We can be his ambassadors – His fishers of men – doing what He did – taking people from death to an understanding of eternal life.
Finally – why does Jesus share these things?
John 15: 11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
There is no greater joy than when God is working in our lives and we are being fruitful for His kingdom. So Jesus can take us, in our failures and frailty, and give us peace and joy

Let’s pray – and then I will sing you this song from John 14…

So that summer, after my Epic Fail in Diff EQ – and taking the class again – God was working in my life and I wrote this song about John 14:12 – incidentally – I got 110% on the first and only test in the class. When it came time for the final – the professor did one of the most unusual things ever…