REMEMBER HIS WORD
John 6:25-29
The work that god requires is for us to believe in his Son. The word "work" implies effort and also an objective. When we work, we work towards something specific. So why is it work to believe in Christ (?) - because it is not easy to believe. It requires deliberate effort.
Romans 10:17 The source of faith is the word of God. Therefore, the work of believing in Christ requires us getting our faith from the word of God.
1. STORE HIS WORD IN YOUR HEART
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of God dwell in you richly.
John 6:30-66
v. 31 The people are still focused on food rather than faith, their stomachs rather than their spirituality.
vv. 37-40
Because the people's minds were already focused on one thing, they failed to understand what Jesus was saying. A preset mind or outlook on life will prevent us from getting anything out of the Bible.
vv. 41,42 Though hearing great things straight from Jesus himslf, the people failed to be impacted. This shows that it is not simple or easy to come to true, deep faith and convictions in Christ. It requires work - a clear goal and constant effort.
The word of God is life and it is spirit. If we do not sit down and make the effort to understand the more difficult passages or to have the Word in our hearts, then we are finished. In many cases we make poor decisions about key issues because of lack of depth in our bible study. We end up relying on humanistic ideas, tribal tradition, and philosophy.
2. WORK ON YOUR HEART IN ORDER TO BELIEVE
We hear a lot about Jesus through various media - radio, TV, magazines and public gatherings. This is good. However, Christ is often not taught accurately. People are encouraged to want things from God rather than to work on their hearts.
In the course of any given day, we are wrong more often than we are right. We all have rebellious tendencies and want things to be done in the way that best favours us. As a result, we need to work on our hearts.
John 8:12-59
v. 33 Of all that Jesus had just said, all that these people (those who believed) understood was that Jesus said that they could be set free, which implied that they were slaves. Too often, we do the same. As people try to counsel, teach or train us, we pick on one or two things they say and get upset about it.
v. 37 The people had no room for Jesus' word in their hearts. Q. have you made room in your heart for Jesus' word?
v. 47 - this was true then and is still true now. Being at church, watching religious TV programs, speaking in "spiritual" language, etc. do not mean that you belong to God.
The people initially believed, but the more they heard and the more they were challenged by Jesus' message, the more they resisted the very word they had initially believed.
It is not easy for anyone to hear "negative" things about himself. It's hard for everyone. But we must, nonetheless, have a level of humility that allows us to listen to the input that people give us about things that we need to change.
It takes humility to ask the input of others in order to make character changes and in order to get help to understand difficult passages of Scripture.