No fraud in Jesus' promise to us

By John Pearring

http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Acts 13:44-52
John 14:7-14

An old Gaelic saying tells us, “There’s no greater fraud than a promise not kept.” Say that eye to eye, to someone. Throw in a Scottish accent, and watch it hit home. If you can’t do Scottish accents pretend you’re a pirate. Same idea.

“There’s no greater fraud than a promise not kept.” Best quote I could find in a rash of one-liners online. 

Interestingly, on a website about famous promise quotations, this "fraud" quote was the only one with an author. Kind of an author, anyway. An ancient nameless Scottish person. The other 35 quotes on that website were likewise untethered. All the quotes were from Anonymous. 

There’s not one person quoted for wisdom on promise-keeping. It’s not a simple task to follow through. “I promise you. I mean it. You can trust me.”

That leads us to this unimaginable and unmatched quote by Jesus. “If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.” 

Shiver me timbers. Appears to be no wiggle room for Jesus. Mind you, straight from the mouth of God himself. Sounds like that promise might get God in trouble. No, not a chance. This is not a freebie without any premise. There’s a gotcha in the promise that makes the bold offer of Jesus both reasonable and very exciting.

Jesus isn’t a super loose slot machine, as we know, nor an ATM that’s full of unlimited cash just for the taking. Jesus is a portal to God, and the living person of God. The scriptures provide a substantial step by step process to grasp this promise. Yes, a list of three major criteria leads us to this promise of Jesus. This begins in verse 10 of John's Chapter 14, and reaches a peak in verse 16.

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” That’s the setup verse, the foundation that allows Jesus’ promise. We’ve got to see Jesus and the Father as unified in both purpose and action. 

“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” That’s the format verse, the operation of Jesus’ nature. His nature makes Jesus' promise possible. Jesus is in full concert with the Father. 

Next, Jesus says, “Believe because of the works themselves.” That statement in verse 11 is the evidence that he can make such a promise to us. We don’t just “believe” blindly and trust that Jesus will come through. That’s a nice thought, but a weak premise for God's promise through Jesus. Our creator knows we are convinced by experiencing his presence and his actions. Jesus provided proof to his disciples that he completed the work of his Father through constant, steady signs. The same is true for us. The works of God — Father through the Son — are there for us to see.

More importantly, the evidence step toward Jesus' promise to give what we ask for is the more difficult step to take. We can fake the setup/foundation and the format/operation steps. We can't fake seeing the evidence. We see it, or we don't

The setup step, recognizing the Father in Jesus and Jesus in the Father, can be intellectually and spiritually acceptable. "OK, sure," we might say. We can accept the "in each other" idea as potentially true. We simply presume it’s true. Not any skin off our nose. 

The next step, accepting that Jesus does the Father’s will because Jesus is "in" the father, is similarly a thinking kind of thing. “Got it,” we can say. We provisionally accept that idea. It doesn't really affect our day to day existence.  

The third step is much more difficult. Believing that God is working in our world because we see God in action? That implies that we’re not just paying attention to what God is doing. We are actually able to identify specific stuff that God has done. This step puts our belief in to time and space. We hear God’s presence in scripture talking to us. Even in revelatory experiences. We see what God is doing. We feel God touching us personally. This evidentiary step separates us from the intellectual and cognitive side of our faith. Experiencing God's works and his real engagement in our lives requires a relationship. 

How is this even possible? Can we recognize God working through Jesus in the world?

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do …” That's verse 12. Jesus draws us into discipleship by its sheer audacity. We're not just observers. We're participants. We will see God's works by cooperating in Jesus' works of salvation, healing, and restoration.

This turning point of participating with God changes the radical promise of "whatever we ask" altogether. This is the “gotcha.” To grasp the promise of Jesus fulfilling our desires we step into a ministry, a cooperation, a collaboration with Jesus himself. To do the works that Jesus does means we’re cheek to cheek, hand in hand, following God.

Now, we get to the promise, verse 14. “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do …” 

That “And” refers back to the connectivity of the promise. We go all the way back to the first, second, and third steps. The setup of who Jesus is to the Father. The format of how Jesus operates in our existence, doing the Father’s will. Then, we acknowledge evidence that the Father through Jesus in our life. With those steps in play, then Jesus says, “And." And, whatever we ask in Jesus’ name he will do.

Jesus asks us to join him to continue the restoration of creation for a reason. This came earlier in verse 13. The reason? "... so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” A total mind adjustment must take place for us to agree to this. The works we do are not for us. They are to glorify the one we serve, Jesus; who then promises to serve us. It's the oddest win/win of creation. He creates us to love us, to love him, to love each other, and to join him in Godly, holy works. That's a win/win/win/win.

How does any of this happen? When are we so intimately engaged with Jesus in doing the Father’s will? It’s not about us. It’s about us seeing Jesus in his glory, revealing the Father to us.

There’s one more extremely important element to this holy project that helps us to eagerly participate in this Father’s will business. It’s how we pull off this relationship at all. It is the most mind-blowing part of our Christian intimacy with God. Jesus knows this promise of ask and receive relies upon both courage and a persistent and present God. We don't have to step through this on our own. See verses 16-17:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

This is how to keep a promise. First of all, be God. Be the God of creation. Next, incarnate as one of us and reveal God and his works. To assure our success in participating in his promise, Jesus fills everyone who wants to believe, who chooses to follow, and who desires the infilling of the will of God, with the Holy Spirit, the living presence of God.

Not making this up. Couldn’t do it. It’s just plain true.

Now, the promise to ask and Jesus will provide makes some sense. Not only are we in concert with the Holy Spirit helping us, but we can also add to God’s work because our desires will come from holiness. 

None of us wants to have God allow us to fail miserably, to invoke our own mistaken plans, and then just watch us crumble. We don’t want to be robotic, raw animalistic drones, or zombie-like creatures. We desire to cooperate with God with the genuine goodness that we have been given by him. This is really, truly who we are.

We are designed by God to be like him and intimately wrapped up in him. This is not a heavenly goal. This is an earthly relationship. How wonderful that our works can take place with the Holy Spirit in us. And it’s not for us. It’s for God’s glory revealed through Jesus, for all to see.

“There’s no greater fraud than a promise not kept.” 

We’ll not make a promise under the weight of that. Being a fraud, that is. We will, however, accept the promise to give God glory so that others can help us to see God for who he is. We will do that if God will intimately draw us to him and reveal both himself through Jesus, and his holy works in the world.

Holy Spirit, help me to do this.