The Work of God (John 6:24-35)

One way some people organise themselves in our busy world, or they organise others, is to use ‘To-Do’ lists. These are lists in which people detail all the things that need to get done in a certain time frame. People might make these lists in the order that things need to be accomplished, in order of their importance, or as different tasks come to mind. They might be lists we make for ourselves, or others have made for us of things they want us to do.

If God made a ‘To-Do’ list for you, what do you think might be on it? Some Christians who want to please, honour or obey God can spend a lot of time, thought and prayer seeking our heavenly Father’s will for their lives. We can construct our own religious ‘To-Do’ lists based on what we think God wants us to do, or what we think he wants others to do for him.

In the gospel reading from John 6:24-35, people who were following Jesus asked him what God required of them (v 28). They were kind of asking for God’s ‘To-Do’ list for their lives. While they had the Law of Moses and other commands to live by which detailed what was expected of them, it seems like they were still looking for some direction in what God wanted them to do. It is possible that when Jesus talked about God the Father giving his seal of approval to Jesus (v27), the people listening to Jesus wanted to know what they had to do to gain God’s approval, too.

Instead of giving them a long list of things to do, Jesus gave them just one item for their list: ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’ (v 29 NIV).

How does that sound to you as God’s ‘To-Do’ list for us? For some people who like practical things to do, Jesus’ reply might sound surprising or hard to understand. Jesus didn’t give them a detailed list of specific things to do. Instead, Jesus’ reply tells us that God is more interested in why we do the things we do, and the beliefs that are the foundation of our actions and behaviours, rather than just keeping busy or following a set of instructions.

Jesus points us to the importance of faith in our lives. The central message of the New Testament, and especially the letters of Paul, is that we are saved by faith and not by works of the law (Romans 3:28 etc). Using the language of this story, the good news of Jesus is that God approves of us not because we keep a ‘To-Do’ list of things he wants us to do, but because we believe in Jesus. This faith goes much further than agreeing to a set of doctrines or theological ideas. The way the Bible describes faith is that it comes from hearing the promises of God (Romans 10:17), trusting that God will do what he promises, and living in ways that flow from those promises. In his Introduction to St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Martin Luther described faith in this way: ‘Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it.’ When Jesus said the one thing on God’s ‘To-Do’ list for us is to believe in the one he has sent, he meant God wants us to boldly trust his grace to us in Jesus in every aspect of our lives.

While we can spend our whole lives learning what this looks like, basically the faith God is looking for is trusting his grace to us in Jesus. It is trusting that God is with us through Jesus in all of life’s joys, struggles, pain, loss and uncertainties, even if it feels like he has deserted or abandoned us. Faith in Jesus means trusting that God freely forgives us, accepts us, blesses us, welcomes us, embraces us and approves of us because his Son lives in us. Having faith in Jesus means trusting that Jesus has overcome and made us clean from everything that is wrong, broken or messed-up in our lives through his crucifixion, and that his resurrection gives us eternal life and a better tomorrow to look forward to in hope. To believe in the one whom God has sent means boldly trusting that God is with us and for us through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in everything that happens in our lives.

This faith makes a difference to the way we see ourselves, we see others, and how we live our lives. Secular psychologists recognise that everything we do is shaped by what we believe. Our beliefs shape our values, which shape our attitudes, which can be seen in what we do. The Apostle Paul understood this too. In his letters, he first points us to the good news of Jesus, giving us someone to believe in and trust, and then he explains how this faith looks in what we do, the ways we treat others, and how we live in community with others. When Jesus gave us the Father’s one-point ‘To-Do’ list of believing in the one whom he sent, he was asking us to trust him so this faith would shape everything we think, say and do.

In saying that ‘the work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’ (v29 NIV), Jesus wasn’t just telling us what God wants us to do. There is a double meaning to the Greek wording Jesus used. ‘The work of God’ can mean the work God wants us to do, but it can also mean ‘the work God wants to do’ in us. This gives Jesus’ words a whole new meaning. Trusting Jesus can be really hard, especially when what we experience in life seems to be the complete opposite of what God promises. God knows this, so he works faith in us so we can trust in the one he has sent. This is the most important work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we hear God’s promises and the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for us, as we experience his love and grace in our relationships with other Christians and the faith communities into which he has called us, God works faith in us through his Holy Spirit. Trusting Jesus isn’t something we have to do for ourselves. It’s something God wants to work in us through his Word, his Sacraments and in Christian community.

Our congregations can often have long ‘To-Do’ lists of things that we or others think need to get done. What do you think our faith communities could be like if we discarded our ‘To-Do’ lists and replaced them with the one item Jesus says God wants to do? Can you imagine what our church could be like if we prioritised the one thing God wanted us to do and wanted to do in us: learning to trust in Jesus and helping others to trust in him? Of course, there will always be other things that we need to do, but maybe re-thinking what we do with faith in Jesus as the first and only essential item could result in shorter ‘To-Do’ lists, fewer expectations, lighter burdens, and a clearer focus on what is really important.

As we start this new week, there will be plenty of things on the ‘To-Do’ lists that we create for ourselves, and that others give to us. In the middle of them all, remember that there is only one item on God’s ‘To-Do’ list for us: that we believe in Jesus as he gives us the faith we need through his Holy Spirit. As we trust in Jesus, everything else will fall into place.

More to think about or discuss:

• Do you use ‘To-Do’ lists? Why or why not? How can they be helpful? How might they make life difficult or challenging for us…?
• What is your reaction when Jesus says, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’? What do you like about that? What do you find challenging about it?
• How might your life be different if you made trusting in Jesus the #1 item on your ‘To-Do’ list? How might our churches be different if we did this?