John 6:28-29 “Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
In the previous verse, Jesus told the crowd to work for the food that endures to eternal life. Their response shows they missed the point Jesus was making about Himself being the giver of the food. Their natural frame of reference was work they had to do to get eternal life. We want to be careful not to make the same mistake.
Notice, Jesus didn’t say, “This is the work you have to do; believe in Him whom He sent.” Jesus didn’t answer their question directly. Instead, He told them the work that God is interested in. It isn’t the work of man, but the work of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus told them the work God does, namely, believing in Him. We are going to learn later in this chapter that, indeed, it is God who does the work in the hearts of those who believe in Jesus (44-45). In effect, in this verse, He told them to do something they cannot do. They cannot do the work of God. Only God can do the work that results in eternal life.
This is why it is misleading to tell people to put their faith in Jesus, which by the way, isn’t in the NASB. When I typed in “put your faith in” in the search box of my Bible app, the app replied, “There are no verses in the current range of the NASB which fit the current search entry.” To tell people they must put their faith in Jesus to be saved is dangerous and destructive in two ways. First, it implies that God gives eternal life on the basis of something they do. It puts the power of salvation in their hands, so to speak. That’s exactly what the crowd was looking for. “What shall we do?” Second, it robs the person of assurance. Faith is the assurance we receive as a witness from God that we have eternal life in Christ. This is clearly taught in Hebrews 11. As Jesus said in this verse, faith is the work of God. It is a witness to us and to the church that we belong to Christ. Peter testified to this reality after the Gentiles believed in Christ in Acts 15:8-9. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.” Furthermore, later in this conversation Jesus confirms this truth by saying no one can come to Him unless they are brought and taught by God. It is God’s work that they believe in His Son.
Jesus spoke the truth in love to this crowd, and we should as well when people ask what they can do to be saved. We should say what Jesus said. It is God’s work that you believe in Jesus. Share the gospel. God sent Jesus to die for the unjust, to do what they cannot do—namely, pay the price for their sinful, self-glorifying lives, putting an end to their attempts to justify themselves by anything they do (1 Pet. 3:18). Then three days later, God raised Jesus from the dead to declare that the sacrifice of His life is acceptable and pleasing to Him. God raised Jesus from the dead because He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Jesus has been authorized by the Father to give eternal life to those the Father gave to Him (John 17:2-3). Jesus was raised to live for them and produce fruit in their lives for the glory of God (John 15:7-8). He therefore calls all men to repent and believe in Jesus, which entails turning from reliance on their own efforts to live for God. Dying to their own life in this world, and turning from seeking to please God in their own strength and good deeds. Rejecting the desire to receive glory and significance from men rather than from God.
