Accomplishing the Work

 

 

“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).

 

Gethsemane lies just ahead, with its plea, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.”  Beyond Gethsemane is the mockery and torture of Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod. Beyond them looms Golgotha. Yet, Jesus speaks to the Father of “having accomplished the work.”

 

Already Jesus is seeing beyond the Cross, already He is seeing His joy and prize, already He is beholding the Face of the Father as He anticipates declaring, “It is finished.”

 

We are reminded that on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus discussed with Moses and Elijah “His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). We know that Jesus, “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2).

 

Let us recall that Jesus said, “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27).

 

Paul displays his Master Jesus when he writes, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (2 Tim. 4:6 – 8).

 

Paul sees himself as an offering, just as Jesus saw Himself. Paul knew that his hour had come, just as Jesus knew. Paul had a sense of having accomplished his calling, of doing the works which Christ gave him to do, of finishing the course, even though trial and execution awaited him, just as it awaited Jesus. Paul saw beyond imprisonment and execution, to the crown of righteousness, just as Jesus saw beyond the Cross to the joy that lay ahead.

 

Prior to his letter to Timothy, Paul writes to the Philippians while in prison, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

 

Just as Jesus glorified the Father by completing the work which the Father had given Him to do, and just as Paul glorified Christ Jesus by completing the work to which he was called, so are you and I to glorify the Father and the Son by accomplishing the work to which we have been called. Let us never forget that Jesus says, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21; see also 17:18).

 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

 

We all have a destiny in Christ, a calling in Christ, a purpose in Christ.

 

There are at least four ways we can think about the “good works” which God has prepared for us, all of them constitute a holistic calling. The first one is what I’ll term “general good works,” that is, “good works as our Way of Life in Christ.”

 

We see this in Matthew 5:43 – 48, in which Jesus teaches that we are to love our enemies and pray for them, and to “greet” or bless all people, the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous, so that we may be the sons of our Father in heaven. Jesus tells us that we are to let our light shine before men, “That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).

 

Similarly, Paul writes, “Let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Gal. 6:10; see also John 15:8, Titus 2:14; 3:8).

 

Then we have the good work of witnessing for Jesus. For sure this work is twofold, consisting of both word and deed, they must not be separated, each is vital. We are called to make disciples of all peoples, teaching them to obey what Jesus has taught (Mt. 28:18 – 20). That witness is inherent is discipleship is seen in Mark 8:38, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

 

Paul asks, “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14).

 

The third element of our calling to good works is our placement in the Body of Christ (Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12, Eph. 4:14 – 16; 1 Peter 10 – 11). We all have a part to play in the Body of Christ, we are members of one another, we truly need one another to be complete. We need each other to function in the Body so that we may all grow up into Christ and be a faithful witness to the world. Each one of us has a facet of our Father to display to the others. Each one of us has a unique deposit of the grace of Jesus within us that the rest of us need in order to be whole, and in order to fulfill our own callings.

 

This is not so much about what we “do,” as about who we are. Our worth is not in what we do, it is in who we are. Who we are will be expressed in what we do, but we must abide in the Vine if we are to “do” anything of lasting value (John 15:5).

 

This is an ever – growing experience, this discovery of the works of God, the calling of God, including within the Body of Christ. Our roles may change, the way we play those roles may change, our understanding will hopefully grow and mature, we will learn from others, we will learn from our mistakes, we will learn and be encouraged when things go well. We ought to never be stagnant, but ought to be in God’s process of being transformed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Rom. 12:1 – 2).

 

And this leads to the fourth element of working the works of God, and that is that these works which God has laid out for us lead us into the image of the Firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29). That is, we are called to do the works that Jesus did, and does, and…in some sense which is still a mystery to me…we are called to do “greater works” (John 14:12). This encompasses the work of the Cross, again a mystery, but we see this in “death working in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:12), and in “I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col. 1:24).

 

I imagine there are other facets embedded in the idea of us being “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Can you think of other elements to this?

 

What about those of us who have gone our own way for much of life? What about those of us who have done nothing but sit in a pew year after year, who have never shared Jesus with others, who have not really lived in the Word of God, not really prayed and interceded for others? What about those of us who have frankly lived as if our lives belonged to ourselves rather than to Jesus? What about those of us who have missed opportunity after opportunity to walk in the works which our Father has purposed for us?

 

I find great encouragement in Matthew 20:1 – 16 in the sense that our Father is merciful and gracious and generous. Now I’ll say that were I an eleventh-hour laborer, I’d be happy with an hour’s pay; actually, I’d be happy and thankful to just be allowed to serve for one hour whether I was rewarded or not, the opportunity to serve would be reward enough.

 

I have missed many opportunities over the years, I have missed years of opportunity. I am afraid that I have been like the second son in Matthew 21:28 – 31. Yet, I have also been given the merciful opportunity to learn to be as the first son, and I hope that I am that son in some measure. Life can be complicated…yes?

 

Let me please share something with you, Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, and we can trust Him. Christ can redeem our missed opportunities, He can redeem our disgusting selfishness, He can bring us out of the depths to which we have plummeted, He can restore the wasted years of our lives (Joel 2:25). But let us make no mistake, we must acknowledge our sin and disobedience and turn to Him, following Him according to His call to discipleship (Mark 8:34 – 38). This is not a religious game, this all has eternal consequences, both for ourselves and for those around us – our faithfulness to Jesus Christ matters to others.

 

Am I glorifying the Father by accomplishing the work which He has given me to do?

 

Are you?