The people who asked Jesus the question, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" (John 6:28) received an answer they weren't expecting.
Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." (John 6:29).
Since the question has been answered, why do we keep asking the question?
Love this too and soooooo true!!
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite verses.
Because its just simply to good to be true and we always seem to put qualifiers on Believe and disqualifiers on it as well so that people wont get the wrong idea thereby causing them to look to us instead of Christ alone.
ReplyDeleteYou see the "Lordshipers" always tell us everything we must believe in going as far as telling us we are lost if we dont fully understand the passive/active obediance of Christ, while the Free Gracer Theology(ala Zane Hogdes and Wilkins) make it a bit confusing as well on that front by telling what not to believe in in order to truly believe. It is stunning irony how deep this can get.
ReplyDeleteCase and point:
Believe In Jesus For Everlasting life
Only Look,
ReplyDeleteYep I agree that it's such great news that it's hard to "believe" all by itself. :)
Here's another recent discussion about the issue of belief:
Are you comfortable using John 3:16?
I see you've already been on the beat Joel.
ReplyDeleteYep...it gets weird on all fronts. I dont know why we always make it harder than it has to be. We need to trust Christ in saving people when we call people to trust in Him as well:-)
we are afraid we will get it wrong or that someone else is getting it wrong that we need to clean up behind.
Just witness and pray dude and He'll take care of the rest, as that ol Keith Green song goes.
It seems that Christians spend a lot of time quibbling over details. How does someone get saved? A formula and a prayer, repentance and faith, baptism and tongues, the mind boggles. What is repentance? What is saving faith? Everyone has an answer and none of them are exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteI think that salvation is a work of God, from start to finish. (No, I'm not a Calvinist) It's God who convicts, it's God who turns our hearts toward Him, it's God who gives us the desire to place our faith in Him...to choose Him. I think that it's up to us to share the Good News, not to define it. What is the Good News? The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it accomplished for us.
I'm not trying to be dogmatic...I'm open to having my mind changed. :)
Gary
I agree with you, Gary.
ReplyDeleteMy experience of repentance and belief was not at all even close to as organized as it is in the typical Romans Road to Salvation technique. I had a change of heart toward Him, and I later came to understand the gospel, then I later came to finally trust in Jesus after I realized I couldn't get anywhere by my dedications to be what I thought I had to be.
Only Look,
ReplyDeleteI like what you said... we need to trust Christ when we call others to trust Him. :) We do seem to take so much of this upon ourselves, rather than entrusting it all to God.
Gary,
I fully agree. We really do tend to quibble over details, but the simplicity of the gospel is, I believe, that it's all God's work from start to finish. It's either all God or it's not God at all.
Matt,
Isn't it a wonderful thing to get away from formulas, and to just see what God does in our lives as He works in and through us!
I read this in yesterday's My Utmost for His Highest and thought fit with what we were talking about...
ReplyDeleteIf in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. Rely on the certainty of God’s redemptive power, and He will create His own life in people.
Gary... that is a very powerful statement. Thanks for sharing it. I read it this morning after I got the kid off to school and it's now bedtime and I'm still soaking in the truth of it! It reminds me of my all-time favorite 'Utmost' which I'll share it in another blog post.
ReplyDelete