How do I do the work of God?

 

An Emoji Devotions for Fri 27 May, 2022

Topic: How do I do the work of God?

by Pastor Wenger

The disciples just had a tremendous eventful time. They experienced how Jesus fed five thousand people with five small barley loaves and two small fish; and how there were twelve baskets left after all of them were full. 

They had a fearful night on the stormy sea; they saw Jesus and Peter walk on the water; and they witnessed how half the distance of the sea was conquered in the twinkling of an eye. They must have been in awe after that eventful day and the happening did not stop there. The crowd which had been fed by Jesus spent the night on the east shore and remembered that only one boat with the disciples had set out for the west shore. So, they began to search for Jesus and could not find him. Finally they decided to search on the west shore and it seems that whoever could find a place in one of the boats, sailed over to Capernaum.  When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ His answer is astounding: ‘Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’ (John 6:26 – 27) Jesus’ reply did not really answer their question, but it cut through to the deeper question, how our deeper hunger and thirst for life can be satisfied. The people pick immediately up on this and ask: ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Now, Jesus makes clear that there is only one work of God: ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’ Is it that simple? What does it mean to believe? It simply means to trust and to obey Jesus, who is the incarnate word of God. Our world is full of secular believes. We trust for example the schedule of an air carrier and do everything to be on time on the airport. We have the attitude that requires to first see the plane start, we will be left behind. Our world can only function well, when it is built on human trust. Wherever trust is broken, evil is at work and sin abounds in betrayal, strive and hate.  Do I believe in the total goodness of God? Do I trust God that he has done through Jesus everything necessary for my redemption and salvation? Do I trust him when he says: ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’ (Matthew 7:21) Do I trust him, when he says: ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ Believing in him means that I hold on to his word, even everything looks different. It is exactly what Jesus did in his earthly life. It is absolutely despicable how the creator of the world has been treated by his creation, but he trusted his Father that the end would be victorious and glorious. You may go through many trials, through humiliations and injustices; you may be persecuted and violated, if you are his child and you believe in him, you will be glorified with him in life eternal. Jude reminds us in his short letter (Jude 1:4): Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”

The work of God for you and me is to keep faith in him, to trust and to obey and he will bring about the glory. In an old hymn we sing: Not a burden we bear,  / not a sorrow we share,  / but our toil He doth richly repay;  / Not a grief nor a loss,  / Not a frown nor a cross,  / But is blest if we trust and obey.  / Trust and obey, for there is no other way / To be happy in Jesus, /  But to trust and obey. 

The apostle John exclaims in 1. John 5:3 – 4: In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. 

And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please help me to do God’s work in every situation of my life. You are faithful,  and you never let me down.  Amen.