The Work

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE WORK

John 6:28-33

28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 

30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 

NIV

There is so much more in the conversation or exchange between Jesus and the crowd that had followed him across the Sea of Galilee to the other side that we have to take a little at a time. Jesus had just told them not to work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life. So the next thing they would ask is what they must do in order to get this kind of food. “What must we do to do the works God requires” for that kind of food? Here is a great truth which might seem to evade so many. Jesus tells them the work of God is to believe in him. He says it a little differently, but that is what he is saying. Here is the one good work we can do, believe in Jesus. It seems we can get focused on doing a list a “Good Deeds”, but the fact is believing in Jesus, that he comes down from heaven, being sent by the Father to be the Savior of the  world is one work God requires for us to have eternal life. We know once we have done this work God requires, we get involved in a host of other “Good works” we think are also required of us. But it would seem those works would just be a natural result that pours out from us because of the love of Jesus that is within us which is prompted by the indwelling Spirit. But, it seems we have made them into a task which we need to be doing. Some have quoted that verse in the letter to the Ephesians as proving we have good works to do, or that we are required to do the works God prepared for us to do.

Eph 2:8-10

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

NIV

However, when we see these words in context, they say the same thing Jesus said. The work God prepared in advance to do, is to believe in the one he sent, Jesus. Being saved by faith, which is our “Good work”, having faith in Jesus. Yes, again we might well do some other very nice things, living a life attempting to look like Jesus. That might be harder then we think, for he is divine and lived a perfect life, which in our flesh, is not possible so that when we say we want to be like Jesus, we set ourselves up for failure. Stephen, on the other hand, was a man, just like us and we are told he was filled with the Spirit and wisdom and also filled with God’s grace and power. That is something we could do, that is someone we could be like. Having accepted Jesus, having believed, having done the work that God requires, that which he prepared in advance for us to do, we when are filled with his Spirit. Some would call this being baptized in the Spirit, such as on the Day of Pentecost. Being filled with the Spirit would simply cause us to be full of wisdom, the grace of God, which is this grace defined as the divine influence upon our heart and how that is reflected in our lives. And we would be filled with power. That is the life of a believer, one who has done the work God requires.