What Did Jesus Mean When He Said We Would Do Greater Work Than He Did? FROM R.C. Sproul

Found here. My comments in bold.
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Amazingly, this article was written by a pre-eminent theologian. 
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First of all, He said that to His disciples and only to us indirectly, if at all. He is speaking to the first-century church, and He makes the statement that the works they do will be greater than the works that He performed (John 14:12). (Why are these cessationists so unwilling to actually quote the Scripture? We shall do the job Dr. Sproul does not want to do:

Jn. 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Now with the actual text in front of us, let's read on.)

Let me tell you what I don’t think it means.

There are many today who believe that there are people running around this world right now who are performing greater miracles, performing miracles in greater abundance, and actually doing more incredible acts of divine healing than Jesus Himself did. (What people are doing or not doing is not relevant to what the Bible says. It would be more profitable if Dr. Sproul explained the verse to us.)

I can’t think of any more serious delusion than that, that somebody would actually think they have exceeded Jesus in terms of the works He has done. (Again, let's quote the text:

Jn. 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

On what basis is it delusional to take the plain meaning of Jesus' statement and believe what He said?)

There’s nobody who comes close to the work that Jesus did. (Again, what people have done or haven't done is not relevant to the biblical statement. Dr. Sproul was a Bible teacher. Why not teach the Bible?)

Some say that perhaps we can’t do greater works than Jesus individually but that corporately we are able to exceed in power the things that Jesus did. We see amazing things happening in the first-century church through the power that Christ gave to His apostles. We see people raised from the dead through Peter and Paul. But at the same time I would challenge people by telling them to add up all of the miracles that, according to New Testament records, were wrought through the hands of Paul, Peter, and the rest of the disciples corporately, put them all together, and see if they measure a greater degree than those which our Lord performed. (This is an Argument from Silence. The miraculous content in the Bible is not the same thing as all the miraculous things that happened.)

If Jesus meant that people would do greater miracles than He performed in the sense of displaying more power and more astonishing things than He did, then obviously one of the works that Jesus failed to perform was sound prophecy, because that just didn’t happen. (We will review the text for a third time:

Jn. 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Notice it is conditional. Anyone who has faith in me. Clearly it's a matter of faith to do what Jesus says we should do. 

It's very nearly astounding to me that Dr. Sproul would countenance the idea that the only other possible explanation would be that Jesus prophesied falsely.) 

Nobody exceeded Jesus’ works. (Another appeal to post biblical activities, as if what people actually have done is relevant to the biblical case.)

That’s what leads me to believe that’s not what He meant. I think He’s using the term “greater” in a different way. (In other words, because the Church did not continue in faith and therefore forfeited Jesus' promise, Dr. Sproul needs to invent another way to interpret the verse.

Dr. Sproul lacks the faith to believe as well. It's a shame that he must invent a cover for his unbelief.)

I heard a church historian say that he was convinced that when Jesus made the statement “Greater works than these will you do,” He was referring to the whole scope of the impact of Christ’s people and His church on the world throughout history. (No, the Greek is singular. Jesus is referring to individual actions. The promise is for each one of us.)

I know a lot of people look at the history of Western civilization and say that the bulk of the church’s influence has been negative—the black eye of the Crusades, the Galileo episode, and holy wars, etc. If you look at the record, you will see that it was the Christian church that spearheaded the abolition of slavery, the end of the Roman arena, the whole concept of education, the concept of charitable hospitals and orphanages, and a host of other humanitarian activities. I think, personally, that that’s what Jesus meant when He talked about greater works. (Orphanages? While noble, these "greater works" are not the "greater" in the context of what Jesus was explaining. Let's look at the surrounding verses:

Jn. 14:11-14 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Now, what is the context? Hospitals and humanitarian activities? Nope, Jesus appeals to His miracles. That is the baseline measure for the "greater things" we are supposed to do.

Dr. Sproul is trying to reconcile his experience with the truth of the Bible, and cannot eliminate the dissonance. Rather than let the Bible speak for itself and allow faith to arise in his soul, Dr. Sproul is content to simply explain away the truth of this promise.

Sad.)