"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."
Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, 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 sent." John 6:26-29
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This is a rather interesting discourse between Jesus and the people who had sought Him out when they noticed that He was no longer on their side of the sea, just after He had multiplied the bread and fish to feed the multitude. While in the process of this conversation about bread and being fed, Jesus makes a pretty interesting statement that we should all take notice and grab hold of.
Jesus answers them and tells them that the only reason they are there; the reason they are seeking Him out isn't because they believe in Him but because they ate and were filled. They came for more bread and fish. He then tells them they shouldn't labor for food that perishes but for food that endures to everlasting life which, (He) the Son of Man will give them. He then tells them the reason it is possible is because God the Father has set His seal upon Him.
Jesus as the Son of Man left all that was God behind. He, as the Son of Man (our example of how its done) is able to give us everlasting life because the Father has set His seal (The Holy Spirit - Eph. 1:13) on Him. He is saying that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are about providing everlasting life.
The people understand what He is saying when He referred to Himself as the Son of Man; they seem to understand that He was telling them, this is how its done because they then ask, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" The word work here means; toil as a task, by implication, effect, or to be engaged in or with. So, In other words, what do we have to do, what task do we do to do the works of God the way that He does?
Jesus responds with this truth: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." This time the word work means; toil (as an effort or occupation) by implication an act. The occupation of God is to ...? You and I wake up and go off to work or rather our occupation. The thing we focus on to meets all our needs. Our job or our work, the thing we toil at in order to put bread on the table etc. We understand the concept of an occupation is to provide. God's occupation is that we would believe in Jesus, the Son of Man, who is equipped with the Holy Spirit to provide to us everlasting life.
God's Task, God's work, God's occupation, all His effort is towards this end - that you and I believe in Jesus! All His signs, All His efforts are focused with that one thing in mind. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It is that simple and if we truly want what these people were asking; to do the work of God, then that is our focus as well. To believe! To believe everything He said and everything He did was to this end, everlasting life. If we want to work the the works of God than we need to know and understand that every sign, every miracle, every act, every deed, and every word was with one purpose - to point to Jesus that we might believe in He whom He sent!
So what should our occupation be? What work should we be about? The same as Jesus, after all He is the Son of Man, our perfect example. Luke 2:49 " Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business." According to the Vines's the words 'about My Father's business' literally means "in the things of My Father." We too must be 'in the things of God.' We too must be in the business of believing in all things that pertain to Jesus that we too might have everlasting life! We must be about Believing in Him! Believing in Him is the only work that matters! It is what provides us with the bread of Life!
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