The Works God Requires

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: 28 – 29)

I always thought that John 6: 28 – 29 were strange verses. These words came right after Jesus fed the 5,000 and walked on the water. He just performed food multiplication and defied the natural law of gravity. At this point, Jesus was extremely popular, incredibly amazing and people would do anything for Him. If He said, “Go build a church,” then the synagogue will be out of business. If He said, “Go feed the poor,” then this social issue would be instantly resolved. But out of all the things that He could say, He said, “To believe.” I used to think that was the easiest but the most unproductive thing to do on earth. Ever! Why didn’t Jesus tell them to “do” something rather than just “believe?”

After being here in IHOP-KC for a few months, these verses began to make sense. This is a strange place where strange verses make sense. People spend hours and hours praying here every day. That is strange to most churches that I know, where works are valued more than prayers. People care if you are “serving” more than if you are “praying”. Meetings, even prayer meetings, are about getting things done, rather than realigning our focus on Jesus once again.

I try to get things done here at IHOP-KC, but I don’t know what the deal is – God slows me down every single time. Whether it is because of the leaders or due to the circumstances, I can’t run but crawl in a snail pace here (at least in my own eyes). This might be good news to some – you get fed but not required to do much, but for a diligent, gifted, middle-age (heart aching term for Gen X), Asian male pastor with two master degrees, truly, truly, this is a torture. I came before God and pleaded, “Use me! Use me!” The response that I got was a tug to reread the Gospel of John. I am like, that was the first book that I read as a baby Christian and I read it many, many times in the past. But once I began to read it, I kept noticing a theme that I never thought that it was there before – glory. There is a constant battle between the glory of human and the glory of God. John the Baptist was glorious in the eyes of men but he wanted to dim his own glory so Jesus could shine. Jesus was popular but He did not entrust himself to people (John 2: 23) and constantly “missed out” the opportunities to take his popularity to the next level, like here in John 6: 28 – 29. The question began to emerge as I going through the book: Do I want praises from people or do I want praises from God? Do I work to win people’s approval or God’s?

When people praise me or affirm me for my works, there is undoubtedly a sensation stirred up inside of me. I “feel great” and reestablish my “self-worth.” On the other hand, when my works are rejected or unpopular, I feel disappointed, depressed and disqualified. But the thing is that no matter what others say about me, God loves me and He treasures me. Do I believe more in His Word or do I believe more in people’s approval? It is easy to accept the comments of the visible men than the love of an invisible God. So Jesus said, “Believe!”

How much freedom there is in that belief! How much power there is in that belief! It releases you from all kinds of self-destructing bondages and meaningless efforts. You don’t have to work to prove your self-worth. You don’t have to serve to show that you are loved by God. You don’t have to win people’s approval through your looks, your words or your efforts. The ironic thing is that in this way your work happier, serve longer and love people much, much easier. When I don’t expect people to repay my love with gratitude, affirmation or growth, it makes loving unburdened and easy. But I must believe in God’s love. I must believe that He loves and cares about me, so much that He sent Jesus to die for me. So I must come before Him often, throwing off the constant persuasion of the world and gazing on His love and to know that I have a Father who will accept me and protect me no matter what others say.

Teenagers are always looking for their own identity. Sadly, most of their earthly fathers are absent physically or emotionally. Imagine if they have a loving father who always encourage them and affirm their self-worth, they will not have to “work out” their images to be like someone cool on their campus or in the parties. How wonderful when the words of Malachi come to pass, “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” I pray for the day when the hearts of the God-fearing fathers will turn to their children, so once again, the children will believe in the One who cares for them and treasures whom they are in Christ.

Praises from people or praises from God? Work or Belief? I have to constantly remind myself in the prayer room that Jesus came to prove to me God’s love so I don’t have to prove myself through works anymore. I saw a musical play once where the Apostle Peter tried to save his wife Abby. The soldiers threatened him that Abby would be crucified unless he denied Jesus. Peter was struggling. I love the part where Abby refused to be saved by Peter and sang, “I am already saved, and for this reason there is no price that I won’t pay. Get behind me, Satan!” She volunteered to be crucified and Peter went on to be crucified upside down. I am already saved, too, so that desire of wanting to prove myself again by works must be crucified. When all those noises inside my heart to tell me otherwise, I know that the most important work to do is to believe in the one he has sent.