Privileges of God’s Employees - Part A

There is some divine activity that God wants you and I to spend our energy on, some purpose.

I've discovered that this is one of the greatest issues people wrestle with in life. What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here? What's the plan and the purpose of my life upon the earth? You see, without knowing that, life can be very disoriented. Welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. A few years back, the band Switchfoot released the hit single, Meant to Live, and one commanding lyric from that song, We Were Meant to Live for So Much More, struck a chord with people all over the country, and put it to the top of the charts in several music genres. Well, today in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, Skip Heisek demonstrates that there is more to life than what the world has to offer.

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You want to open up your Bibles to John chapter 14, starting in verse 12. Here's Skip Heitzig to get today's study started. I want to begin this morning by reading to you part of an actual job application form. This is an application by a 17 year old boy who was applying for a job at a McDonald's in Florida. It seems that that McDonald's decided to hire this 17 year old boy sheerly on the basis of the honesty and humor in the application.

Name, Greg Bulmash. Desired position, company president or vice president. But seriously, whatever's available. If I was in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place. Desired salary, $185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package.

If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle. Education, yes. Last position held. Target for middle management hostility. Salary, less than I'm worth. Hours available to work, any.

Preferred hours, 1.30 to 3.30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. May we contact your current employer? He writes, Oh, come on.

If I had one, would I be here? So they decided to take him on. Hire him. Worked at McDonald's. I had a position like that once.

It wasn't McDonald's. I worked at a turkey farm. My job, no benefits, no retirement package, no severance. My job was to take dead turkeys and put them on meat hooks all day long. I lasted one day and I quit.

Couldn't handle it. We work for God. We are God's employees. Or to put it in the language of Paul in 2 Corinthians 6, we are fellow workers together with him.

If you think about it, we work for the best company in the world. Our product works universally. No matter where you are, the gospel works everywhere. We have offices worldwide.

Go anywhere in the world and you will find at least a few believers who represent our company. Number three, we have a benefits package that's outstanding. Forgiveness for the past, meaning for the present, peace of mind. And we have a retirement package that's out of this world, literally. Those are the benefits. There are also sheer privileges for working for God.

And it's because of those benefits and those privileges that God has managed to create such a brand loyalty in his followers. Now, let's remember where we are in the gospel of John. We've been in it for some time.

But we are dealing with the upper room discourse right now. Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 all happen in one setting, one scene, and that is the last final meal, Passover meal, Jesus shares with his men, his followers, his disciples. We call them the apostles. There's just a few hours left before Jesus will go to the cross. What is Jesus doing in the last few hours before he goes to the cross? He's teaching. He's teaching his men. He's not entertaining them. He's not really counseling them.

He's not telling them to invest in the money market. He's teaching them to invest their lives in God's global plan that includes them. Now, let me remind you, in the course of the last meeting, this upper room discourse, as Jesus starts talking, he is interrupted, or at least fired back upon by three of the apostles. The first was Peter. Peter said, Lord, where are you going and why can't I follow you now? And Jesus said, well, Peter, you can't follow me right now, but you will afterwards later on. The second was Thomas when Jesus said, well, you know where I'm going and you know the way. Thomas said, we have no clue where you're going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The third was by the apostle named Philip, and Philip, tired of the ambiguity and wanting something concrete, just said, Lord, show us the Father and we'll be happy. And in effect, Jesus said, you're looking at him.

Have I been with you so long? You don't know who I am? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, and if you don't believe that I am in such intimate concert with you, you will not be in such intimate concert with my heavenly Father. At least believe on the basis of the works that you've seen me do. Now, at this point, beginning in verse 12 of chapter 14, the focus of our Lord is upon the future plan of God that includes them. This morning, we want to look at just three verses. Beginning in verse 12, most assuredly, 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 my Father.

And whatever you ask in my name that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now, these are fabulous promises, but they're misunderstood promises. Now, here's what's great about having this written down. When it's written down like this, we can pause and focus just on a little section like we're going to do. It's almost better than actually being there. Now, I know everybody says, boy, I'd love to have been in that upper room and heard Jesus and seen him.

I understand that, but what I think is better is this. We have the opportunity to take what is written, divorce from the emotion of the moment. You know, the disciples in that upper room, their emotions were surging, they were dealing with doubts and questions and fears, and so a lot of what they heard was lost at that moment. We get the opportunity to take a few verses and unpack them and go deep and answer the questions. That's what we want to do in these three verses. So, I want to talk to you about three privileges of working for God, of being a part of his plan, of being God's employees.

Number one, privilege number one, is the privilege of purpose. Verse 12, most assuredly or verily, verily, if you have the old King Jimmy version. In Greek, amen, amen. It's put in the emphatic.

In other words, what I'm about to say, listen up. Most assuredly, 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 my Father. You'll notice that Jesus speaks of doing works. The Greek word is ergon or erga. We get the word energy from it.

It means activities or energy expended. In other words, there is some divine activity that God wants you and I to spend our energy on, some purpose. I've discovered that this is one of the greatest issues people wrestle with in life. What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here? What's the plan and the purpose of my life upon the earth? You see, without knowing that, life can be very disorienting.

Let me tell you what it's like. Imagine if you were to take an Amazonian tribesman and place him in New York City without any briefing, without any prep. You just stick him in the middle of Times Square and say, fend for yourself. He doesn't understand English. He doesn't understand traffic laws. He's never seen cars. He doesn't understand that in this culture, you buy your food, you don't kill it, hunt for it. He doesn't know how he fits in.

It would be cruel to do that. So too is it to live in God's universe without understanding God's plan and God's purpose and how we fit in. Henry David Thoreau once said, most men lead lives of quiet desperation.

You know why? They don't know what their purpose is. In Christ, we have purpose. In Christ, we understand that God is working out his plan in the present world and we're a part of it. Listen to what Paul writes, Ephesians 2 10. We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.

That's what Jesus is telling these disciples. There are works that I want you to do. I've prepared you to do them and prepared them for you.

Roll up your sleeves, boys. You have the privilege of knowing the purpose for your existence. This is how it works. The first stage of your Christianity is salvation. You get saved. You start growing.

You come to church. You get fed. You get more fed.

You get maybe a little bit spiritually fat even. And after a while, that's not enough. After a while, you don't want to just keep receiving. You come to a point where you want to start giving. You want to start engaging in the plan. You want to be a part of it.

It's more blessed to give than receive. So you enter into phase two from salvation to service. In this phase, you're interested in your purpose, the plan of your life. What are my spiritual gifts? What is my calling from God? How can I be equipped to be a part of the global plan of God? Like James said, be doers of the word, not just hearers only. One author explains, it's like a son who's being brought into the family business. Instead of racing fast cars and running around with girls, he finally buckles down and says, Dad, I want to be a part of it.

It's my business too. And I'm going to work hard and undertake the burden of this work. That, says this author, is real maturity. So our Lord is growing up, maturing these disciples by showing them the first privilege of working for God, and that is knowing the purpose of your life, engaging in the works. Here's the second privilege, if that isn't good enough.

Proportion, the privilege of proportion. Now watch this, and I wonder if it's going to blow you away like it blew me away. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also.

Here it is. And greater works than these, he will do because I go to my Father. Now what could Jesus possibly mean by that? Greater works than Jesus did? I did a little snooping around in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and I discovered that there are 40, four zero, 40 miracles recorded that Jesus did. And I mean real miracles. Raising the dead, walking on water, not walking near water, not swimming under the water, walking on top of water, while doing that, calming a sea, the wind and the seas obeyed him, turning water into wine, feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and fish. And here Jesus says, and greater works than these shall he do.

And by the way, those are just the recorded works. Did you know that John, the author of this gospel, at the end of his book says, Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book? I've never raised the dead. Have you?

I've never walked on water. Have you? I prayed for people. Sometimes they've gotten better.

Sometimes they've died. So what could Jesus possibly mean in telling his disciples the works that I've done, you're going to do, and greater works than these you will do. Let me give you three possibilities. Since we're only taking three verses this morning, I can go a little bit deeper. Let me give you three possible interpretations. Number one, maybe Jesus means miraculous physical works that the apostles will do. It's confined to just those apostles in that room. They're going to do the same kind of miracles that Jesus performed. That's interpretation number one.

And of course, they did. You turn to the book of Acts. In fact, do you mind? Turn to Acts chapter 5.

It's just one block over to the right. Acts chapter 5. Let's just scoop up a couple of verses. Acts chapter 5 verse 12. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. Verse 15. So that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. That's power. Verse 16. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits.

Now watch this. And they were all, all healed. That's a lot of power. Physical miraculous power. So we have the disciples basically replicating the miraculous signs and wonders that Jesus did in his own ministry. But if we say that when Jesus made the promise in John 14 that you're going to do the works and greater works, we have a problem. If we say that just means miraculous works just for the apostles, we have a problem. We have a problem, first of all, because Jesus didn't seem to limit it to the apostles.

Notice what he said. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me seems to include anybody, right? Not just apostles.

Anybody who believes in him. Number two, when we turn to the book of Acts, yes, the apostles did miracles, but did you know that people other than the apostles did miracles? Two deacons come to mind.

Stephen was one of them. Philip, not the apostle, Philip the deacon, also did signs and wonders. Number three, they did signs and wonders, the apostles, but can we say that what they did was greater than the signs and wonders that Jesus performed?

I don't think so. And number four, if it only means miraculous physical signs and wonders to the apostles, what about all of the reports we have in subsequent church history from men like Irenaeus, Tertullian, Justin, Martyr, Ignatius, in the first, second, third, fourth centuries, of all of the miracles that were done at their hands. And right there in that first interpretation is where we're going to have to wrap up our teaching today. The message you heard today was titled, privileges of God's employees, as we go in studio to check in with Skip and Lenya. Today we focused on the purpose God has individually for each person. I mean, we know that he has a universal plan, and he has a plan throughout history in the Bible from the Old Testament 66 books all the way to Revelation, but sometimes we think, where do I fit in that plan? And sometimes it's difficult for us to know how to serve God or where to serve God or do you have suggestions for someone who wants to do more but doesn't know where to start? I'm always going to answer that question with Romans 12. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service or spiritual act of worship, depending on what translation. I think that it's as simple as waking up as your eyes open up before your feet hit the floor, Lord, what do you want me to do today? I'm yours, these hands, I want to be used for your glory, my feet, my mouth.

I offer my body to you to be used. And then I love adventures. So when I think that my day can begin that way, and I can in an adventurous way discover what things God's going to put in my path and to be used by him.

But I can go to sleep at night going, that was an exciting day. And God uses anyone anywhere. I mean, we don't have to be Billy Graham or Mother Teresa or some kind of thing like that. He wants to use you in the school where that you attend, where you work, maybe where you work out, that wherever you are is a ministry field.

And that's what I loved when I first met you. You worked in a hospital, and you weren't behind a pulpit at that point in your life. You were just telling other people at work about Jesus. Yeah, you know, your pulpit is wherever you live, wherever you move, wherever you have your being. It could be at a kitchen, you know, if you're a mother, you're preparing meals. There was a woman who put us that sign in her kitchen, the divine service rendered here three times a day.

She saw that as a calling. Well, and Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples. So wherever you are, that's where you're called.

And you should go there and tell them. And I think that a witnessing, a non-witnessing Christian, you got to wonder. Yeah, it's like a contradiction of terms, isn't it? Yes. So wherever you are, that's your ministry. Start there, and who knows where God will lead you?

That's exactly right. Who knows where God will lead you? I do believe there's seasons in life. You might feel restricted now because of job constraints, child constraints, you're taking care of an aged mother or father, but this is just a season, and you be faithful in those things, and watch the doors that the Lord will open up for you.

Well, thanks, Skip and Lenya. And if you want to get a personal copy of today's message entitled, Privileges of God's Employees, you can find it at connectwithskip.com, or you can call us and order one at 1-800-922-1888. Learn more about being one of God's employees next time from our current series, Believe 879, right here in Connect with Skip weekend edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, a connection, a connection. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.