In the second place, it may be noted that Christ came down from Heaven to do the will of the Father, not His own will but the will of the Father.

Christ did not come down from Heaven because He saw how miserable we are. He came down to do God's will.

How many times do we hear about the need here and the need there? And how often do we hear we must meet this need and that need? This is not a scriptural approach. We should be more concerned with the will of God than with the needs of people. We must wait on God to find out what God wants. Otherwise we are the blind leading the blind, just as was true of the Pharisees.

A carpenter who has never talked with the job supervisor could be building a house where there is supposed to be a playground. Is this true? If we do not know what Christ wants, how can we know whether what we are doing is helpful or harmful?

Every sensitive personal worker knows there are times to tell someone about the Lord and there are times to just be a friend. Otherwise we are merely another religious worker, trying to get people to join our group. We have no idea whether we are bringing people in or driving them away.

Jesus never acted in terms of the needs He saw around Him. He spent so much time in prayer hearing from the Father, seeing what the Father was doing, that He moved in the will of the Father. All who came to Him were sent by the Father.

Can we trust Jesus to direct us in this manner? Of course! But we have to cease from our own works and enter the rest that is found in the Presence and will of God.

Jesus never told us to build His Church. He told us He will build His own Church. And He will when we are ready to listen to Him and cease running about in our own wisdom and energy. He asked us to feed His sheep and His Lambs, and even in this we have to go to Him constantly for guidance and help so His perfect will shall be done.

This is all part of what it means to believe in Jesus.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:39,40—NIV)

Here we see that Jesus, at the close of the Church Age, will raise from the dead those whom God has given to Him. Thus we see that the resurrection from the dead is an important part of believing in Jesus.

Since the Lord told us all shall be raised from the dead, we understand the believers to whom Jesus is referring will participate in a unique kind of resurrection.

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28,29—NIV)

To be continued.