elevate review Aug 8

from Pastor Mike

If you made it to Elevate this last week, you had to listen to Mike (zzz) instead of Bob, who was out gallivanting in Guatemala. I'm eager to hear about his trip and all that God did in and through him and the youth. When you see him, ask him.

On Saturday night we walked our way through John 14:12-14, in which Jesus tells his disciples that they will do the same sorts of things he was doing and, indeed, even greater things than he did. Let's list the highlights of the conversation:

1. To believe in Jesus (John 14:12) is to trust that his way is the best way, that it leads to life. Accordingly, the one who believes in Jesus conducts her life in a manner that resembles Jesus'. That's why Jesus could say that the one who believes in him will do what he did.

2. What did Jesus do? All sorts of things. My favorite summaries of Jesus' work and mission are three. In Matthew 11:5, Jesus tells John the Baptist's disciples that he is bringing sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the ability to walk to the lame, healing to the lepers, good news to the poor, and life to the dead. Luke 4:18-19 says that Jesus came "to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (NIV). That's similar to what Matthew wrote, but more thematic. Then, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 that God was reconciling the world back to Himself through Jesus. So Jesus was doing the specific things that Matthew and Luke mentioned, but by doing those things he was putting the world back into a right relationship with God, the way it was before Adam and Eve did their thing (Gen 3).

3. So that must mean that as Christians, we ought to be doing the same things. In fact, Jesus suggests that we'll do even greater things than those. I challenge you to read through the gospels and think of yourself doing greater things than Jesus did. That's what you're meant for. (Side note: for those who think Christianity is just about being a really nice person, well, I think it may be WAY bigger than that.)

4. This is possible for us only because Jesus' Spirit lives in us. So the same Spirit by which Jesus did those things is now alive in you and me. Cool.

5. Jesus assures us, then, that he will grant whatever we ask in his name. This is not to say that you can tack "In Jesus' name, amen" at the end of a prayer and it's done (that's called magic). No, this is about asking for what you know Jesus would want if he were standing right next to you in the moment. To do something in someone's name is to do what they would do if they were there.

To my mind, all of this is way challenging and way encouraging. It means that my life ought to be filled with power to affect great change in the world - change that can't happen except by God's power. Wow. But it also means I can't just sit still and wait for the end. It means I can't be satisfied with just being good.

All this led to a very good question from one of our fellow elevators: What do you do when you ask for something that you know Jesus would do, but it doesn't happen? This is a great question that is, as all great questions are, super complex. I'll offer just a few quick thoughts.

First, the question raised is called theodicy in theological circles. There are loads of books on the subject, but my favorite (so far) is Satan and the Problem of Evil by Gregory Boyd. It is, as you might expect, thick, but it's the only one I've come across so far that does justice to the notion that God is a free being and we are free beings and Satan (and his minions) is a free being. The point in bringing this up is simply to say that there are other forces in this world that are actively working against God's will. Some of these are hidden forces, like Satan, and some are seen, like people who have not aligned themselves with the Lord. So it doesn't surprise me to find that there are things that God wants to do in this world that don't get done simply because he's given much of his creation the freedom to work for or against him. That's not to say that they're stronger than God, just that for now they prevail in some battles.

Second, I don't think Jesus was lying when he said this. I think he really wants us all to strive to attain this measure of faith and effectiveness where we look more and more like him in word and action. But like all things worth striving for, I imagine the journey down a life filled with miraculous events, is one that starts slowly and is filled with a lot of hard work. No one becomes a great baseball player just because they decide it will be so, even if they've got the raw talent. Rather, it takes years and years of fine tuning those raw skills to become the best. Why should it be any different in the realm of faith?

Those are my very brief thoughts. It's all part of a huge conversation that I hope continues at Elevate and beyond. The key thing, however, is this: continue to dig into the Scriptures and embrace its truth; continue to dig into God and embrace His love and power. If you neglect the Lord's trustworthiness in asking these questions, you'll soon reject Him. But if you trust what you know of Him - His love and faithfulness - He will bring you, eventually, into more and more right understanding of some of these problems. Let's keep at it!

Blessings,

Mike