For This Reason 33

[HKHaugan]

Jesus was asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires (Jn.6:28)?”

When we hear that question asked it should immediately record insights into human nature. We want a sure thing whenever we are faced with a making a decision. We’re looking for a formula. We’re not satisfied with where we are or even who we are. There’s no certainty or security. This is what echoes across the centuries, “Given our wilderness conditions, the political situation, the hypocrisy of leadership, our insignificance in the world and its inner frustration, if only we could be in control.”

Notice how the questioners started with themselves, “What must we do?” It’s this specific issue that is the evidence of sin, being separated from God. It’s not only a question about me first but also an emphasis on works. But more than this it is the very question itself. There must be something I can do, something I am capable of, something that will get the job done to let me off the hook when it comes to being acceptable to God, something that can bridge this big invisible gap between me and God. It’s not really about who or what’s ‘up there’ but ‘what’s in the here and now.’

To prove that point the crowds were looking for Jesus after the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. He told them the only reason they were following Him was that they had their fill of food and wanted more (Jn.6:26), the easy way, the assurance that wherever He went they would go and be fed. He would be their food stamps and healthcare. Also it would mean they wouldn’t have to work so hard every day. The question then was not so much about Jesus feeding them as to how they could do something that would put them in control in this world and hold up as a passport to the next. Just give us a formula, a ‘sure thing.’

If you lived in the time of Jesus getting some kind of formula would be a natural question from a Jew since so much depended on obedience to the Law which was hard work. Since there were so many requirements in and interpretations of the Law which ones were most important? Was there a shortcut, a primary principle to follow, that would still get it right? Being a Jew is more of a burden than a blessing. The bad guys, those Gentiles, seem to have it all. The Psalms are full of these thoughts. Jewish history is full of frustration.

So Jesus jars the assembled crowd with these words, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” It’s not about what we can do but about what HE can do. It’s not about this world and what you can see, hear, taste, touch and smell but about God’s presence in your mind, heart and spirit. Earlier He had told His disciples that His food was to do the will of His Father who sent Him (Jn.4:34). Here He elaborates on their history, “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…I am the bread of life (Jn.6:32,35).” Perhaps too it makes sense when He gives them a summary for all the Law and life, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Lk.10:27).”

He has given them the truth, He is God’s Son. He has given them the way, trust in Him. He has given them the life, His presence. These three are what He will tell them later as recorded in John 14.

So how does this work out for us?

First, it tells us that life is spiritual. We are spiritual beings first and foremost. Everything that starts in the mind has a spiritual base. It means we place everything in a spiritual perspective. That’s where we start. It is the Scripture that becomes the means to move our mind from a secular horizontal world view to a spiritual vertical Scriptural Heaven view.

Second, our heart needs to trust more in what we can’t see than in what we can see. What we see is temporary and what’s behind everything is spiritually eternal. In Jesus we can discern between good and evil, between Jesus and the devil, between emotional reaction and spiritual instigation, between strongholds and psychological influences. It’s all about trusting the presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit as the Word shapes that trust.

Third, our spirit can sense true life when God’s Holy Spirit does His work in us. The Holy Spirit increases our hunger for the Word and the knowledge of Jesus. He not only is the fountain of discernment. He is the fountain of motivation in the specifics of where we are at any given moment. He moves us to step out in faith with whom and wherever we are. He is the One who touches and moves the hearts of others. The Holy Spirit is the seal and the deposit guaranteeing God’s presence in us (Eph.1:13,14).”

You will probably say, “But I’ve heard all this before.” This is written not so much for you as it is for the people you encounter along the way. It’s the confidence through repetition and practice that enables all of us to share the blessing we have been given. It’s the strengthening of our faith in the assurance that the Word is true for everyone all the time in every age. It’s the experience of our day-to-day believing that others see as our witness to the truth of Jesus. It’s the inner joy that we carry into worship when the blessings pile up and we come to Him in peace and spiritual satisfaction. It’s knowing that when we fail and fall we have been picked up in the arms of His forgiveness and His grace overwhelms us. It’s the sharing with other believers in prayer and fellowship that builds our consciousness of His presence. And when Scripture is read all that it means for us at that moment inspires us to realize more and more “Faith comes by hearing and hearing come by the Word (Rom.10:17)” and that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Heb.11:1).”