The Work of God

"Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" ²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

John 6:28-29

Belief in Jesus as the promised Messiah is not only the start of a relationship with God but the only way we grow as we exercise faith in submission to Him.  When the Jews asked Jesus about doing the works of God, likely thought about what they needed to do.  Jesus pointed to the work He desired to do inside them, that they would believe Jesus was the Christ and follow Him obediently.  It is much easier to attempt work for God rather than allow Him to work and continue working unhindered in us.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  The illustration Jesus used was an ox wearing a yoke, a device that allowed two oxen to walk along beside each other as a team.  Jesus extended an open invitation to whoever was weary to come to Him and find rest for their souls.  One might think the place of rest is not in a yoke but once the yoke is removed.  Jesus says when we take His yoke upon us and learn from Him we find rest for our souls.  Walking alongside Him we are greatly helped and our  crushing burdens lifted.

Yoked oxen walked together in cooperation according to verbal cues or a goad.  The farmer who directed the plough that cut through the soil behind them into furrows to prepare for planting.  As a trained ox recognises commands, Jesus always did the will of the Father.  Oxen could not see the "work" that was occurring behind them as they walked forward on hard-packed, fallow ground.  The relationship of a team to their trainer and owner was based on trust, and so is our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  We might not realise the work ordained by God that taking place out of sight behind us.  The real work can begin when we humbly respond to the invitation to come to Him and take His yoke upon us by faith in Him.

A farmer might employ the strength of an ox to plough a field, to thresh grain or to pull a cart.  What was required of the oxen was fairly simple:  to obey the commands of the farmer.  How privileged we are to come alongside and to learn from Jesus who is gentle and lowly of heart, not condescending and arrogant.  No amount of working can earn God's acceptance or approval; no sacrifice is worthy of an audience with the almighty God.  The work of God is to believe in Jesus and that is the place where the weary labourer finds rest by God's grace.  It isn't the fields we clear or the furrows we cut that are evidence of the work of God in us but our position wearing Christ's yoke, a work that takes place in and then though us.

An Error Code and Divine Intervention

God who created all things is able to do everything, and this includes using a common household appliance to reveal unbelief in a heart and mind.  Allow me to explain. :)

A couple weeks back our condensing dryer stopped working.  I have a systematic approach to such events:  I dig up the manual, look up the error code and see if there is anything I can do about it.  In this case our Electrolux dryer flashed the letters "EHO" which meant there was an electrical fault in the circuit board.  Since the machine is under warranty for another 6 months it was not a repair I was willing to tackle.  And besides, I have never bothered to invest in a soldering gun.  The manual was hardly informative, and from what I gleaned online the only way to reset the machine was to turn it off for a few minutes and turn it on again.  It was the same problem over and over.

When my wife handed me the extended warranty paperwork for the machine, it was evident to me she wanted nothing to do with it.  I also voiced my feelings that I didn't want to handle it either.  But in our household the dryer has plenty of use and it was still under warranty.  The loving thing to do was to make the call.  Since the fault occurred on a weekend I needed to wait until Monday to contact the company.  On several occasions I tried to start the machine again, only to see the same error code.  "LORD," I prayed, "fix this machine so I don't need to organise this repair."  Well, Monday came and the machine was still broken.  I called the company and there was more I needed to do to prove my identity online.  I ended up scanning documents and applying for the repair online, no need to torture you with the details.

Days later I received a call by the service technician who said the soonest they could inspect the machine was 2 weeks later.  Without a choice I agreed to the service and then went back to the machine...which worked perfectly.  I was gobsmacked.  I know machines don't fix themselves!  Again and again the machine turned on, spun and turned off without any trouble.  After all the hassle the machine worked!  I didn't know how to feel about this sudden changed condition.  I didn't want to immediately cancel the service call because what if the persistent fault started again?  But since the machine worked fine having a technician test it was an unnecessary waste of time.  Then I remembered I had prayed for God to fix the machine.  Given the circumstances and how many times I checked the machine, the most rational option was to credit God for fixing the dryer.  It occurred to me my motive for praying was more about my convenience and comfort than it actually be operational, I mean, we have insurance for that.

The fact it was hard for me to accept God had fixed the dryer exposed unbelief secretly nestled in a heart that believes God can do everything.  My reluctance to call and cancel the service call immediately betrayed a mind that did not trust God to enable the machine to keep running, a person who selfishly hoped to receive the benefit of an extended warranty, and disdain to pay to repair or for a new machine if it died 7 months from now.  My troubled feelings were symptomatic of selfish flesh and unbelief.  As I am writing I can hear the machine whirring in the other room like a trooper, all by the grace of God who is faithful to teach us even when I doubted He did anything.  How important it is for us followers of Jesus to credit God for all He does and how much we desperately need Him.

Unlike machines, we don't have the benefit of a touch-screen or user manual that shows our errors plainly for us to see.  But God has given us the light of His word and the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment.  The thoughts and feelings I experienced were a evidence of faults inside me due to selfishness, unbelief in God and lack of love towards others.  Just as God fixed the dryer, He is able to transform us from within when we confess and repent of our sin He brings to light.  If anything goes well in our lives it is by His merciful hand, and when He divinely intervenes to correct and chasten us it is with gentleness.  When things go wrong it would be foolish to assume it is the devil having a go at you when it can be the God-ordained means to draw you to Himself in faith so we might rejoice in Him and proclaim His goodness.

What's With Baptism?

The Bible contains a vast wealth of revelation and information and it is intended for us regular people to be received by faith, comprehended and obeyed.  While the tenets of the Christian faith can be  easily understood by a child, the most learned scholars can never plumb the depths fully.  Biblical doctrine is complex, but it doesn't need to be complicated.  This is where we can muddy the waters despite our best efforts and confuse rather than clarify.  Water baptism is one topic many people do not understand.

Occasionally there are people who express an interest to be baptised, and I find it important to ask them why.  Among those of the Christian faith there is diversity in practice and teaching concerning the significance of baptism for believers.  There are also many traditions and assumptions people have that are not always based on scripture.  While there is nothing wrong in itself with tradition, the Bible (that teaches us about baptism in the first place!) ought to be the ultimate authority in guiding our beliefs and practices.  The purpose of this post is to briefly discuss water baptism in particular.

The Bible teaches salvation by faith in Jesus alone, so baptism in water cannot save anyone.  Atonement for all our sin comes by the price paid by Jesus on Calvary with His blood, so baptism in water cannot cleanse us from sin.  Some shrug off water baptism as unnecessary because it is not required for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience to our Saviour.  Matthew 28:18-20 reads, "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen."  Like each person makes a conscious decision to place his or her faith in Jesus to be born again, disciples of Jesus are commanded to baptise and make disciples of all the nations, teaching to observe and obey all Jesus has said, following His example.

Being baptised in water in obedience to Christ's command follows His example when Jesus drew near to be baptised by John.  John preached a baptism of repentance, but Jesus was without sin.  He was baptised to fulfill all righteousness and be identified as the Messiah when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove.  Peter directed new believers to be baptised in Acts 2:38:  "Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  The Ethiopian eunuch who believed Jesus Christ the Messiah in response to Philip's preaching from the book of Isaiah in Acts 8:36-38 requested to be baptised:  "Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" ³⁷ Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." ³⁸ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him."  Belief in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour is the sole requirement for baptism, and as we are born again once we only need be baptised once with understanding.

In addition to baptism being a step of obedience, it is personal identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus, that we have been raised to new life by faith in Him.  Baptism cannot add to what Jesus has done for we are complete in Him as it is written of Jesus in Colossians 2:9-12:  "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. ¹¹ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."  Those who are Christ's are immersed in His life.  Even as Jesus died, was buried and rose from the dead, baptism is a picture of dying and burial with Christ and being raised up to new life with Him by God's miraculous power.  Baptism symbolises being born again and cleansing through the Gospel.

If you ever wondered why Christians are baptised, hopefully this sheds light on the matter.  When Peter saw the Holy Spirit come upon Gentile believers he exclaimed in Acts 10:47-48, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" ⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days."  No one can earn salvation or forgiveness, but all who have received the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus ought to be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Peter commanded the Gentile believers to be baptised, and all who are born again ought to heed this command in submission to our Saviour--as well as obeying all the commands of Jesus like loving God and one another.

Jesus Cares

God created human beings with limitations.  We can only carry or juggle a limited amount of items, and our bodies can only grow so tall.  The dimensions of our bodies are different yet all measurable by height, weight and volume.  There is only so much information we can retain in our minds from a conversation or movie.  Whatever can be stretched can also be broken or ruptured, and even the most fit professional athletes and labourers are no exception.

I have learned when I am easily provoked by a small thing it can be due to carrying a heavy mental load.  Unresolved conflict within me, awareness of troubles others are experiencing, bad news or unexpected obstacles--really any and every little thing--can give rise to overwhelming feelings that stir aggression, frustration and depression.  Peter exhorted believers to be submissive to God and one another, being clothed with humility because "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."  He said in 1 Peter 5:6-7, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, ⁷ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

Followers of Jesus are commanded to be casting all our care upon Jesus because He cares for us.  There are countless things we can care about:  we can be emotionally, financially and physically dependent upon them.  Peter urged believers to keep casting these cares upon Jesus, not like a fisherman casts out a hook or lure with intent to reel it back to himself, but to throw our anxieties and worries upon Jesus for good.  Why?  Because Jesus cares for us.  Jesus is not worried or anxious about us at all, for this "care" is a different word in the Greek that means "to be an object of care, concern."  Worry and anxiety is a symptom of our natural weakness and inability to do anything to help ourselves or others.  Instead of exalting ourselves we are called to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, knowing the smallest burden is too heavy for us to bear in our own strength.

It seems ironic to cast away our cares, for aren't cares evidence of us caring?  Aren't we supposed to care?  The truth is, carrying burdens we ought to cast upon Jesus is evidence of our carelessness.  It is evidence we have neglected to guard our hearts and chosen for a season not to walk by humble faith in our awesome Saviour who cares for us.  Instead of condemning us for our forgetfulness or rejecting us God remains merciful, gracious and compassionate towards us.  He knows our weakness, limitations and foolishness.  God's hand is mighty to save and deliver us by His grace.  Knowing God cares and does everything gives us great confidence to throw all our anxieties and worries upon Him.  We give Him all the feelings, things and circumstances we cannot do anything about, and thus we by faith invite Him to do His wonders concerning those things in His time and way.