Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee, Cabel, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Yesterday, we talked about how Jesus fed 15,000 people. Then he sent his disciples off in a boat and stayed behind to pray alone. But around 3:00 AM, he saw that they'd hit a rough patch on the windy waters and decided to go out for a stroll on the waters he created. Today, when those 15,000 people wake up, they think Jesus is still with them. They saw the boat go out and he wasn't on it, but now they can't find him anywhere. They're starting to sound like paparazzi, following him everywhere, doing little bits of investigative journalism to find out where he is. I wouldn't be surprised if they were down by the shoreline, measuring sandal prints to see if they were his size. This is one of the reasons why he's been trying to keep things under wrap. He knew that when word got out about his power, the information would spread like wildfire. Eventually, some boats swing by the dock and they convinced the fishermen to take them out on a manhunt for Jesus. When they finally track him down, they're like, Hey, how did you get here? This is the moment we talked about a few days ago where he seems to rebuke them for following him.

He basically says, You're only following me because I fed you. Instead of being blown away by the man who can do miracles, these people just want the miracles, like the kid who takes their Christmas gift off to play with it alone in their room, never thanking the parent who gave it to them. Jesus knows their hearts, and he knows that what they're after is the temporary thing. He is not interested in giving the temporary at the expense of the eternal. He points out that he has a lot more to offer than that they are not aware of. He says, Do not labor for the temporary things. Work for the food that lasts. Being traditional Jews, they latch onto the word work here and they totally miss his point. But in missing the point, they ask a very important question. The way Jesus answers it tells us something crucial about our relationship with God. In verse 28, they ask, What must we do to be doing the works of God? Before we see how he responds, What do you think the answer is? What would you give as an answer here if someone asked you? Because this is one of the most important questions of all time.

What does God require? Then Jesus, who pretty much never gives a straightforward answer, actually answers plain and simple. He says, This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. The one thing God requires is belief in the gospel of Jesus. That's it, end of list. But to be clear, this isn't just a belief that he exists or even a belief that Jesus is God. As we've already seen more than once, the demons believe that. It doesn't make them Christians. The word used here for believe means to commit your trust, to place your confidence in. It's a heart level belief, not just an acknowledgment or a cognizant ascent. This isn't, Sure, I believe in God, or, Yeah, I'm a Christian. I was confirmed when I was a kid, or even, I go to church every Sunday. Some of those things are just an acknowledgment of God, and some of those things are other types of works, not the kind Jesus is referring to. He's talking about a heart level belief, and commitment, not an acknowledgment of the truth, a surrender to the truth. The crowd doesn't get it, so they say, Well, if we're supposed to believe in you, we need some signs like the kind Moses did for our fathers in the wilderness.

Moses gave them miracle bread from heaven. First of all, have you guys forgotten that that's exactly what Jesus did for you last night? And second of all, Jesus points out that Moses was not the point of origin of that bread. God, the Father was. He sent them temporary bread. But now back to the point again, since they seem to keep missing it, Jesus says, There's an eternal bread available and its name is Me. I'm the way for your souls to never be hungry again. Then he segues into some really deep theological points that are also over their heads. But I don't want us to miss them like the crowd did, so here are a few things to take note of.

First, Jesus indicates that there's an authority structure within the Trinity as it pertains to God's relationship with mankind. This is what theologians refer to as the economic Trinity, the way God extends himself to the world. If you want to read more about this, we've dropped a link in the show notes.

This is something we've seen a few times before, but he repeats it here. In verse 38, he says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. God the Father has a plan and God the Son submits to the will of God the Father. Just a quick note on this. The Trinity is the one unified Godhead comprised of three distinct persons, Father, Son and Spirit. All three persons have always existed and still do, and none of them were created by the others, and they don't morph into each other. The Trinity is one of the single most important doctrines in our faith.

I know it can be confusing, so we're linking to some resources for you in today's show notes.

Some sermons and some books.

You may recognize one of the author's names in there because I'm one of them.

I cannot stress how important this is and how easy it is to misunderstand, especially because there seems to be very little teaching on it in churches, and much of the teaching relies on unhelpful analogies instead of just pointing to what scripture says. So check out those links when you have a chance.

So again, the first important thing Jesus mentions is the authority structure within the Trinity as it pertains to God's relationship with mankind, the economic Trinity.

In this.

God, the son, submits to the father's plan.

And the second important thing he points to is the way that authority structure translates to humanity, which is that we are dependent on the father's plan. In verse 37, he says, All that the father gives to me will come to me. In verse 44, he expounds on that by saying, No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. In verse 45, he says, Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. Our salvation starts with the Father. Jesus says we have to hear and learn from the father and that the father is the one who draws us. Other scriptures we'll encounter reveal that he uses the Spirit as a means of drawing us just like the sons is the means of redeeming us. But it all starts with the father's plan, and he's working it out through all the persons of the Trinity. They each have a role to play. One of the reasons I'm pointing all this out is because it's not uncommon to have a warped view of God the Father, in part because so many people have terrible fathers and it makes it hard to think rightly of that word, and in part because many people prefer what they see of God, the son, and the New Testament to what they've heard about God, the Father in the Old Testament.

If you're just joining us for the New Testament, again, I would encourage you to stick around with us when we start the Old Testament again on January first or whenever you wrap up the New Testament, and especially if you find God hard to love in the Old Testament. I believe it will help redeem your view of Him. But for now, hearing Jesus say that God, the Father, is the one who initiated our salvation, that he's been moving toward that all along, that alone should inform a view of him that endures us to him all the more. All of this talk Jesus is doing, especially the part where he tells them to eat his body and drink his blood, it's hard for the Jews to stomach. That is clearly not kosher, and it's definitely against Jewish laws. They're like, Jesus, that's disgusting. They think he's talking literally, not spiritually, but he's almost always pointing to things on a deeper level. He just uses some tangible imagery to make his points, and that's what confuses them. He just meets them in that moment. In verses 63 through 65, he basically says, You're right, it is hard, and the only ones among you who will get it will be the ones God reveals it to.

This sermon was a space maker for Jesus, a seat emptier. He lost a lot of people on this one because they couldn't handle the truth. And maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to make him sad. This is where my Godshot showed up today. Jesus has these 12 apostles, and two of the 12 are going to walk away from their relationship with him during the toughest moments of his life, Simon Peter and Judas Escariot. Jesus knows it, but still he keeps them close, submitting to the Father's plan. This is how it has to go. He's going to share life with people who will wound and betray him. It's probably always in the back of his mind. In this moment, he asks them, Are you going to leave me too, just like the others? And Peter says one of the best things he ever says, Where else would we go? Only you have the words of eternal life. Yes and Amen. Peter knows he's where the joy is.

Over.

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Of the Bible recap.

They both have the same great content you love, but one is full size and has a sage, vegan leather cover with floral designs, and the other is a black leather, travel size TBR with Bible paper and silver edged pages. If this is news to you, check them out on our store. Or if you're one of the early adopters who already has one or both of these versions, would you leave an Amazon review about how much you love them? It not only helps us and makes us smile, but it also helps encourage future Bible readers to pick up a copy of TBR and join the family. I love to have fun, and so do my friends at Way Nation. And one of the fun things they do that I think is sure to put a smile on your face is they make these really fun videos. Some recent crowd favorites include a video where you have to guess if a lyric is from a worship song or a Taylor Swift song. It's harder than you might think. Or you can check out Natalie Grant, belting out some covers of Whitney Huston and Celine Beyond. Click the link in the show notes to watch.