Aug 10
2
The Thing That Directed Jesus To Do Or Not Do
During three years of public ministry, did Jesus go everywhere in the world? Did He heal everybody? Did He raise every dead person of every grieving family? Did He always walk on water? Did He always feed every hungry person? Did He always do what people wanted Him to do?
The answer is NO. He did not operate indiscriminately or haphazardly. Every work of His was directed by something. What was that something? And is it something we should use?
The secret can be found in His statement and His actions.
In John 5:19-20 He said,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”
Here we see the secret of His operation –
1. He does nothing of Himself – meaning that He does not operate by flesh, mental logic, or His own human ingenuity or power – nothing!
2. He performs on the basis of what He sees the Father doing and He does exactly that, nothing more and nothing less.
3. He believes that the Father will show Him other things as well.
He reiterated this concept again in John 14:10 where He affirmed,
“The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”
In chapter 11 is the classic example.
Lazarus, his beloved friend had died. The family was upset that Jesus had not been there to heal him. But Jesus was away with His disciples. When He heard word of the death, He did not respond but waited which further puzzled his friends. He waited until Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. Then He went to the tomb.
The secret to this procedure is found in 11:41 where He prays a simple little prayer as He stands before the tomb.
“And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
He was there only because the Father had shown Him what was to happen. He was there when the Father said to be there.
Thus, there was no question, confusion, or concern.
Jesus knew beforehand what was to happen. He saw it from the Father. The Father showed Him what to say, when to arrive, and what would happen.
Jesus did not have to use much faith or take a blind leap of faith or risk anything. He was absolutely sure of what would happen and even why it would happen. He had already seen it when He was away across the brook with His disciples.
This is why He arrived when He did, why He spoke what He spoke, and why what happened, happened.
The same type illustration is in the Old Testament with the story of Elijah and the Prophets of Baal in the “showdown” on Mount Carmel. Elijah responded much the same way as Jesus. He got a word or vision from God, went to the mount and did little more than offer a prayer of thanksgiving. The fire fell immediately and consumed the altar that had been drenched in water. Read the story.
Now, does this apply to us?
Absolutely, I believe that it does. We are to get God’s word on our heart – see what He wills and wants – see His Word and act on it by faith.
But is this difficult? Yes it is. We have to pray, fast, try to get our head straight and our heart receptive.
We cannot deal fully with this here, but it is the core of my book, Logo Dynamics and something I believe in deeply.
Our goal ought to be to get to the place where we do only what we see on our heart that is a word from the Father. Then with just a speck of faith we do what we see.
Let us not be so carnal and animalistic that we are dull of hearing and seeing and doing. Let us not be like those Jesus spoke about that had eyes to see but saw not – ears to hear but heard not – and a hard heart that He could not work.
This is our goal – the example of Jesus.