John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
A vital question for you to answer this morning is, “Who is God?” The way you respond to crisis, the way your respond to plenty, and the way you respond to good times and bad really does hinge on Who you believe God to be. In John 5-6 Jesus is addressing that question, and He makes very clear the contention that He and the Father are one.
In John 5 Jesus said, “He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” The response of many that were hearing Him is that they basically said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” If Jesus is merely Joseph’s son, if He is Joseph’s son at all, He can’t help you. If He is more than that, if He is indeed Who He claims to be, that changes everything. It changes the entire complexion of your world today.
The message of the gospel is that living in harmony with God means living in fellowship with the Son. It means accepting His Son. Jesus showed that in a couple of different way. First, God the Father bears witness to His Son, Jesus. In John 5:36 Jesus says, “But I have greater witness than that of John.” John the Baptist was a witness. Moses was also a witness. But in verse 37 He says, “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.” So, why did God send the prophets, John the Baptist, Moses, and that which Moses wrote? Jesus said, “If you don’t believe Moses’ writing, how will you believe my words?” Both Moses’ and Jesus’ own words all funnel down to God’s provision of a Messiah, a Savior, Jesus.
So, how you view God to be in times of crisis depends on who God is in the first place. The good news of the gospel is that fellowship or harmony with God means accepting His provision, His Son. And, God bears witness to His Son, Jesus.
The work of God, likewise, is Jesus. If you look at John 6:28 people were saying, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Jesus’ answer is, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Don’t you know people who are just knocking themselves out to be at peace with God, to be good enough for God? The truth of life is that you cannot live long enough or do good enough to be good enough for God. You can’t do it! All of us are sinners. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God, but God loves us so much that God the Son, Jesus, came and died in our place after living a perfect life that we could never live. He took our sins, our judgment. The holiness of God is satisfied in Him. So, the work of God is Jesus.
What about the will of God? John 6:40 says, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” So the will of God is that you do right by Jesus, that you accept God’s provision, God’s Son, for your life.
I don’t know what tomorrow will hold and I don’t know what your problems are today, but I do know that living in harmony with God Almighty means accepting His provision by accepting His Son.