We’re a few weeks into this “HOW” series, and I want to refresh together about why we’re even having a conversation around this topic.
Eternal Life
Heaven, eternal life, the “sweet by and by.” There is a lot of speculation and theorizing about the afterlife. Churches often talk a lot about this topic. Many focus on entry into heaven; “How can I be saved? How can I know if I’m ready to die?” Other churches focus on our time-proximity to heaven; “When is Jesus coming? What are the exact signs? How do I prepare?” This emphasis on the afterlife makes sense. After all, our realities are often marked by heartbreak, disappointment, fear--we need the hope that there is a better future awaiting us through faith in Jesus. But was granting us a ticket to heaven Jesus’ only purpose for becoming a human? What does He have to do with now, this moment, your life—family, school, work, and everything else you do?
In the language of theologian Dallas Willard, Jesus came not just to bring eternal length of life (what we often think of as heaven), Jesus came to bring us access to the eternal kind of life. In other words, Jesus came to give us access to a quality of life that is not of this world—a life marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness . . . (Galatians 5:22-23). Through Him, we can experience a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven in our ordinary, mundane, everyday life. The Kingdom of God is not just a far off, future event--it is a present reality that we can each experience.* With this in mind, let’s look at the words of Jesus in John 14 and 15.
“Erga”
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” - John 14:12 NIV
Here, Jesus is saying that those who follow Him will do the things He did. I’ve always assumed that the “works” of Jesus were His miracles—turning water to wine, healing the sick, raising the dead. That’s what Jesus did, so he must be saying that those who believe in him will also do these things . . . right? At first, this sounds pretty empowering—those who believe in Jesus will be able to do all of these awesome supernatural things?! Yet, it doesn’t take too long to realize that, as a follower of Jesus, every day does not feel supernatural. Most days feel pretty ordinary. And since I wasn’t finding myself really doing the “works” of Jesus, in other words miracles, I figured I wasn’t believing hard enough, or I was missing something.
However, after a long time of not reading this passage, I did some research into it. The word for “works” in the beginning of the verse is the Greek word ἔργα (“erga”), which is simply defined as, “that which one normally does.” In other words, rather than only referring to miracles or unusual activities, ἔργα seems to have a lot more to do with the everyday, the ordinary. This brought me to a totally different understanding of this verse: “. . . whoever believes in me will do [that which I normally do] . . .” Put another way, the one who believes in Jesus will do that which Jesus normally did. This leads us to ask the question, “What did Jesus normally do?” What was his everyday, ordinary work?
We get some clues in two primary places—his teaching and his example. In Matt. 5-7, a summary of the teachings of Jesus, we encounter a person that is humble, merciful, peaceful, pure in heart, never lusts, is always truthful, never takes revenge, and loves his enemies without exception . . . and that’s just chapter five. In his example, as shown through the Gospels, we see Jesus regularly engaging in prayer, fasting, loving every person he encounters, bringing healing into people’s lives, and that’s just scratching the surface. In other words, what Jesus normally did was love the Father, and love people . . . always. And he says that those who believe in him will do the same.
I know I’m not currently living up to His example. What about you? Are we really not believers according to Jesus?
For those of you reading who are new to faith, maybe this makes sense; If you believe in Jesus, shouldn’t you take on and accept and implement what He says about life? Shouldn’t your belief make a difference in your everyday reality?
However, for those of us from certain Adventist circles, I imagine you might be having a different reaction. Maybe some anxiety, maybe some shame? Maybe you’re trying so hard yet wondering why you’re not seeing growth? Maybe you feel like you know where I’m going with the rest of this reflection: “You’re not good enough, in fact you don’t even know if you’re saved right now. Go try harder before it’s too late!” Have you heard that type of teaching? Doesn’t really sound like “good news,” does it? (If some of these thoughts did come to your mind, check out HOW pt. 1: https://www.canyoncreekproject.com/praxis The rest of this reflection is built on that framework.)
Well, that’s actually not where I’m landing this plane. Let me explain. (By the way, this is why we should always keep reading before making a conclusion about what a certain verse in the Bible means . . . but that’s for another discussion.)
“4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5 ESV
Jesus is saying that if you want to bear fruit, in other words, live your everyday life like Jesus did, you can’t do it apart from Him. You need His help. In fact, you can do nothing apart from him. But with him, through “abiding,” your life will organically begin to look more and more like Jesus’.
Imagine your inner life being more like Jesus; what type of emotional health would you have? What kind of character would be formed in you? Or what about your relationships? What would they look like if you became more and more like Jesus? Would there be healing, breakthrough, peace? What about your family? Your work?
I want to re-emphasize a point I made last week—there are certain things that God does, and certain things that you do. Please don’t miss this—I’m not saying that you have to be perfectly like Jesus in order to go to heaven or in order to earn His love. Scripture clearly teaches that our works cannot earn us anything before God. Salvation comes from Him, and if we simply believe in Him we will have eternal life (John 3:16). Yet, there are other things that God puts in our hands. It is our choice whether or not to abide in him and let him transform our lives.
So how do we begin to do the works (“ergon”) of Jesus, living more and more like Him in our everyday life? By abiding in Him, like a branch stays connected to a vine. In the next few weeks we’ll be looking more at what abiding means, but for this week, I want to leave you with this thought:
Training vs. Trying
John Mark Comer, pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, makes a great point about how we change as people. He makes a distinction between trying and training. He explains that “trying” has to do with raw effort. Training, on the other hand, is consistent effort in a set direction. So while an out-of-shape person would be unable to run a marathon, even if they tried their very best, that same person, through consistent training, could build enough endurance to run a marathon.
You cannot try your way into being more like Jesus. It just doesn’t work. If you’re not patient today, you can’t expect to be patient tomorrow, no matter how much you pray between now and then. However, by consistently abiding in Jesus, over the course of time, you can become the type of person to whom patience comes more and more naturally. In other words friends, becoming more like Jesus is a process—and we’re in this together.
HOW?
Try connecting consistently with Jesus this week. Here are a few ideas:
When you wake up, set a timer for 10 minutes, putting your phone away. Concentrate on the words of Jesus in John 15, writing down any questions or thoughts you have.
Pick a time in the middle of your day to have a “check-in” prayer (ex. one minute at 1pm). Tell Jesus what’s on your heart. Invite him to be with you and help you through the rest of your day.
Whether to or from work, try driving in silence and using that time for prayer. Talk about your day, be yourself—no need to be fancy.
If you would like to pray or talk with someone, feel free to email me at ianreyes567@gmail.com, or another member of the Canyon Creek Project team at hello@canyoncreekproject.com.
On the journey with you,
-Ian
* My ideas in these first two paragraphs are based on Dallas Willard’s, The Divine Conspiracy, chapter one)