It is difficult to make a choice as to what to preach about when you have three such interesting passages assigned for thie 11th Sunday after Pentecost. They are Exodus 16:2-15 (Manna); Ephesians 4:17-24 (Don’t be like the Gentiles) and John 6:24-35 (Jesus as the Bread of Life). Chosen for this Sunday to analyze from an L&G perspective is John 6:29 as the disciples ask Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
There are a multitude of self-help spiritual books out there attempting to answer the disciples’ question from Purpose Drivel (no error in spelling) churches and lives to decision theology to positive thinking and the list is endless. We can understand why Christians would want to pursue such works because we assume that they are pleasing to God and who doesn’t want to be pleasing to God?
However, upon closer reflection of the text, though many today attempt to answer the question of the disciples, Jesus did not. That’s right. Why? Because the Almighty God is not in the habit of answering the questions of theologians of glory who think that they can actually do the works of God. Only God can do the works of God. So Jesus answers not their question but instead reveals what is the work of God; namely, that “you believe in Him whom He sent.”
The disciples still don’t get it. They think that Jesus is telling them what they are to do in order to do the work of God. That is obvious in their response asking Jesus for some sign so that they can make a decision to believe in Him. You see, like many evangelicals of today, they think they have a free will to choose higher things above the earth. But that is impossible as Jesus tells the disciples in Mark 10 that for man “it is impossible.”
But what is impossible for man is quite possible for God without any help, thank-you, from sinful man. The greatest work man does is not a work that man can do by his own power or decision of the will. Man does not choose to believe in Jesus. As Jesus said, “You did not choose me; I chose you!” (John 15:16)
In fact, there is not sufficient evidence to show an unbeliever that would ever persuade him to believe in Jesus Christ. The only means by which a person is brought to faith is by the Holy Spirit through use of the Word of God as Romans 10 makes clear. “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.”
Faith is not our choice but a gift from God. Faith is as impossible to choose as it is for a person to do his own heart transplant. As David reminds us in Psalm 51, we are to thank God for creating within us a new heart and a right spirit. The natural man simply can neither comprehend nor accept Jesus Christ for that is foolishness to him. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Those who live under the Law imagine that they can make decisions and do works that are in reality only the works of God. Even after being saved, it is dangerous for a Christian to take credit for his works. If he does they are only good works in the sense of outward obedience to the commandments which even an atheist can do. The truly good work God acknowledges is referred to in the Bible as a “fruit of the Holy Spirit” which means that the Holy Spirit gets the credit for such a work, not us.
Once more we find a Bible passage that is clearly misunderstood by every other religion in the world and by even some Christians. The only way to keep the Scripture straight is to make the proper distinctions between Law and Gospel. You will have no problem doing that in heaven when asked who gets all the credit for your salvation. It’s just that here on earth, our old Adam keeps wanting to do works to please God so He will love us and save us. How sad that such individuals are not aware that God already is pleased with you in Christ and salvation is free without merit or worthiness on our part.
Name:Tom Baker
This “work” of God to believe is a phenominal revelation ! ! ! I also wanted to comment on the passage in Exodus. It says they ALL complained. It dawned on me that we all fall short here, we all complain. I usually do not think of myself as coveting but complaining might be a form of saying I do not like the situation I have here, I disagree with what God is allowing. I want something like “Joe” has . . . Is this coveting ?
Coveting is not just any desire for something you don’t have or else Jesus would have been committing the sin of coveting when He desired that Jerusalem would have believed in Him. Instead, coveting becomes sinful when self-interest trumps the interest of others. See the end of Philippians, chapter 1.