The Works God Requires

Jesus, speaking to a crowd of seekers, said: Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."  Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." John 6:27-29.

This teaching by our Lord is startling to the modern ear because it runs counter to our secular culture, which says it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are a law-abiding citizen doing some kind of productive work. But the work they speak of does not produce “food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus, the sent one, was saying that the only way to be productive, really productive, is to believe in Him. The belief Jesus spoke of was no half-hearted thing. He was saying that our faith in Him, expressing itself in a determined seeking to know Him better is the work God requires. Centuries earlier, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God had said, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”(Jer 29:13).

Jesus told His disciples, his chosen ones, that there are rewards for those who believe in him.  He said, “…the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”(John 15:16). What does it mean to ask in Christ’s name?  It means that we ask according to his character and will, and we can only do that if we know him.  How do we know him? By paying attention to the two ways he has revealed himself to us: his creation and his word, the Bible. When we meditate on his creation and his word, with a heart full of desire for him, asking him to show us more of his glorious character, he gives us what we ask because we are asking for the things God wants with all His heart to give us. He gives us himself. His Holy Spirit indwells us, we are born again.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor. 4:7). We need never fear that we cannot do work that has eternal consequences.  Why?  Because God himself is doing the good works, through us, that he prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10).