Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for this sermon is the Holy Gospel reading, as well as these verses that follow:

When they found [Jesus] on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord, Christ, this morning we heard about how Jesus fed five thousand men, plus women and children. The crowd was impressed, and wanted Him to keep on feeding them as much as they wanted, so they sought to make Him their king by force. Wouldn't having such a king be a dream? All your needs and wants provided, for free! You could take early retirement, and enjoy the good life, all because of a miracle-worker king.

But that is not the sort of King Jesus came to be. His Kingship would be revealed on the cross, where the sign posted above Him told the truth: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. So while the crowd was coming His way, Jesus slipped away, took a walk on the water, and crossed the lake with His disciples.

But some of the crowd of the 5000 were determined; they worked hard to track Jesus down, and when they finally found Jesus, He saw right through them. He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves." In other words, they weren't coming after Him because they thought He was the Messiah, the Savior-King of the Jews, but because they wanted more food, more stuff. So Jesus goes on to say, "Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." But after He promised to give them this eternal food as a gift, they asked Him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

Isn't that just typical of works-righteous sinners? Never content to be given to, but always eager to get busy saving themselves. Jesus says that He will give them food that endures to eternal life—that He will give them a free and imperishable gift—and they turn around with a legalistic question, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

And it is a silly question, too. The crowd knew what the works of God are – the works that God requires. They knew the Ten Commandments; those are the works they were supposed to be busy at, and we are to be busy doing as well. But the promise of free food leading to eternal life was too good to be true, so they asked, "What must we do?"

This whole event reminds me of another encounter Jesus had with a legalist. One time "a lawyer stood up to put [Jesus] to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" [Jesus] said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And [Jesus] said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."

Do all that, and you will live forever. That's a shocker, isn't it? Jesus seems to give credence to the position of the legalists: doing the works of God could lead to everlasting life. But look at what you would have to accomplish: love the Lord with all of your heart and soul and strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, because love is the fulfillment of God's Law. How have you done at that? Search your heart, and you will see that you have failed miserably.

Jesus said, "Do this and you will live." And there is the problem. There is not one of us that can claim perfect love of God and love of neighbor. He has said, "Do this" and we have not done it. So we find ourselves in the same shoes as the crowd on Pentecost day, after Peter had given a scathing sermon on the guilt of the people who had put Jesus to death. And the crowd responded, "What shall we do?" Their question was a lot like the one in today's Gospel reading, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?" In other words, what can we do to make up for our sin? What can we do to make God happy with us?

And there's another problem all of us face. There is nothing that we can do to make up for breaking God's commands. As St. James tells us, if you break one commandment, you are guilty of breaking them all. What, then, can we do?

We can do nothing. We are helpless. That is why we need to be saved by the work of God; we cannot be saved by doing the works of God. So Jesus responded to the crowd around Him, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." And on Pentecost Peter responded to his crowd, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Repent, be baptized, and believe in Jesus. In other words, the answer to the question, "What shall we do?" is "Do nothing!" That's what Peter and Jesus both say. "Do nothing! God will do everything to save you!"

But to our legalistic ears, we think we hear commands from Peter and Jesus telling us to get to work. Peter told the crowd to repent, which sounds like something we must get busy doing on our own, but think again: what causes repentance? It is true that part of repentance is our work—sorrowing over sin and turning to the Lord—but even that work is brought about by God's Word doing its work on us. His Law preaches that we are damned for our sin and causes sorrow over sin in our hearts, but then His Gospel produces faith in Christ as our Savior from sin. That is what repentance is, and it is all caused by God's Law and Gospel, so even though we participate in it, it is really the work of God the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Similarly, Peter said, "Be baptized, every one of you," and that sounds like something that we do, and it is true that we r walk up to the font and profess our faith (unless we are babies), but actually Baptism is not something that we do for ourselves, but something that God does to us and for us. Dr. Luther makes this point very clearly in the Large Catechism; he says, "To be baptized in God's name is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is still truly God's own work". Only God can forgive sins and give His Holy Spirit, which is what Peter says is the gift of Baptism. This is why infant Baptism is the perfect example of God's saving work—the baby is purely passive, not active. That's really what goes on whenever a Baptism occurs.

Still, Jesus makes it sound like we need to do a work for God in order to be saved when He says, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." It sounds like we'd better get to work believing in Jesus. And while it is true that Christian faith is an active thing, the only reason we have faith to begin with is that it is a gift worked by God the Holy Spirit in us. Just moments later Jesus would say to the crowd, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws [literally, "drags"] him. And I will raise him up on the last day". That's faith: being dragged to Jesus by the Father through the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus says that the work of God is to believe in Jesus, He is actually saying that it is God's work to cause us to believe in the one He has sent, Jesus Himself. Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, since we are helpless to come to Jesus by our own sinful wills. What a gracious God we have! Over against all of our working, all of our doing, all of our striving after food that spoils, Jesus calmly says, "I'll take care of you." He says, "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Jesus is the Bread of God, the Bread of Life. He came down from heaven to give life to the world by living the perfect life and by giving His life on the cross for the life of the world.

When Jesus had told the lawyer, "Do the commandments and you will live," He wasn't lying, but He was giving an impossible task for us sinners. But then Jesus came along and accomplished the impossible, since He was not a sinner! He never disobeyed His Father and He loved those around Him as the Law required. So Jesus actually did earn eternal life through obedience to the Law.

But that only solved part of our problem. Since God also promised to punish anyone who sinned by damning them to hell for eternity, Jesus did the ultimate work of sacrifice when He Himself took the punishment we deserved. Yes, He suffered the pain of physical and eternal death in our place. He went to hell so that we do not have to. But since Jesus did not deserve to die and instead had earned eternal life by living a perfect life, He could not remain in the grave. Death could not hold Him, and His Father vindicated the Sinless One by raising Him from the dead, never to die again.

And did you and I contribute anything to the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? Of course not! We did not perform any works that helped the Father save the world through His Son. In fact, we actively fought against God's work by heaping sin after sin upon the perfect back of the Lamb of God. So when it comes to being given God's salvation, we are completely passive. We cannot do or work even the tiniest part of it.

But what are we doing here today? Aren't we doing works? Aren't Christians supposed to do the works of God? After we are saved, how then shall we live? Shall we do works? Of course! You and I got out of bed (an hour early) and came to church this morning—that's doing something. We confessed the Creed a little while ago – that's a work. It sure "feels like" we're doing something for God, somehow doing things to keep ourselves in the faith. And it is true that the Christian life is not lived in a motionless vacuum. Jesus did tell the crowds who were seeking Him not to labor for food that perishes, but to labor, to work for food that endures to eternal life, which Jesus Himself would give them when they came to Him seeking that bread. And Scripture also describes the Christian life as a race, or a struggle, which involves much work.

St. Paul shows the proper distinction between our work and God's work when he says in Philippians, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure". It is God at work in us, saving us, and so we are to humbly and patiently work at remaining faithful to the Lord by using His Word and Sacraments and remaining steadfast in prayer.

But we always must remember who gives us the ability to do any works, who gave us the strength to get out of bed this morning, who gave us our lives to begin with. The Lord did this, and it is all His gift to us, not anything we can deserve. He gave us the mouth with which we confess Jesus Christ as Lord. He gave us the feet that we use to seek the Bread of Life here this morning.

We always must be very careful to distinguish between believing and doing—or put another way, between what faith is and what faith does. The important thing to remember is that God is the one working salvation in us, and He brings that about through the Church and through actual events in our lives, the working out of our salvation with fear and trembling as we live in repentance and use His means of grace. But we do not earn salvation, as St. Paul explains in Romans: "To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." Paul specifically says that faith is not a work. Rather, faith is the empty hand into which God delivers your salvation.

By faith, you know that God is pleased with you for the sake of Jesus. He has justified you, declared you righteous. The guilt of your sins has been removed by Jesus, who is the Bread of Life. That's all by grace, not by your works. So you are set free from the legalism that binds Muslims, and Jews, and Pharisaical Christians. You don't have to live your life as you were earning your salvation. Eternal life is yours in Jesus. You are free. So enjoy the days that the Lord has given you. Delight in the goodness of His creation. When you suffer trials, pray to the Lord for strength. Find comfort in God's Word and sacraments here in the Church, where He assures you that He is 100% on your side.

And God has set you free from the Law so that you can work for the good of others and for the extension of His Kingdom. So be busy; help others when you can, serve your friends and family, sacrifice your time and money to help those in need and to support the Church. Everything is yours in Christ Jesus, so you are free to give away everything you are and have. God has given you all that you need and promises to continue to give you all that you need to support this body and life.

But as you live a life of love toward God and neighbor, above all, let God keep doing His work on you. Martin Luther wrote a hymn about the Ten Commandments, and for the Third Commandment, the stanza goes like this: "You shall observe the worship day / that peace may fill your home, and pray / and put aside the work you do / so that God may work in you / have mercy Lord!" God works on in us through His Word, right here in the Church. And remember that Jesus had said, "The work of God is that you believe in Him whom He sent." St. Paul wrote that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ, and that means that faith is given and nourished by hearing the Word of the Gospel—having it preached into your ears and being taught it in Bible Class.

Let God keep doing His work on you. Remember the work that God did in your Baptism into Christ Jesus and what He is still doing for you. We confess in the Small Catechism about Baptism that it "works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare." God continues to work in your Baptism to forgive, cleanse, and rescue you, and one of the ways He does that is by leading you to this altar.

Keep letting God do His works in you by receiving the Bread of Life here at this altar. Jesus said that we should work for food that endures to eternal life—food that He will give us. And then a bit later He said, "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

Here at this altar you can find your hunger satisfied and your thirst quenched, when Jesus gives you His true body and true blood. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." The Bread of Life comes to you here today, to give you His true body and true blood, for the remission of your sins. So here's what you should be working at and doing: you should be plowing down any obstacle that gets between you and the Bread of Life. Anything that would keep you away from the food that endures to eternal life must be cast aside.

Jesus said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." And we pray to Him, "Jesus, give us this bread always." In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.