Sermon Tone Analysis

Do Not Labor for things that Perishes

 

*September 21, 2008*

*John 6:27-58*

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On June 11, in Experiencing God Day-by-Day, Henry Blackaby quoted Galatians 5:22-23

/But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law/

and then commented, “ examination of the fruits of the Spirit can be intimidating.

Working all nine of these traits into your life seems impossible, and indeed it is.

But the moment you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit began a divine work to produce Christ's character in you.

Regardless of who you are, the Spirit works from the same model, Jesus Christ.

The Spirit looks to Christ in order to find the blueprint for your character.

The Spirit will immediately begin helping you experience and practice the same /love /that Jesus had when He laid down His life for His friends.

The same /joy /He experienced will now fill you.

The identical /peace /that guarded the heart of Jesus, even as He was being beaten and mocked, will be the peace that the Spirit works to instill in you.

The /patience /Jesus had for His most unteachable disciple will be the patience that the Spirit now develops in you.

The /kindness /Jesus showed toward children and sinners will soften your heart toward others.

There will be a /goodness /about you that is only explainable by the presence of the Spirit of God.

The Spirit will build the same /faithfulness /into you that led Jesus to be entirely obedient to His Father.

The Spirit will teach you /self-control /so that you will have strength to do what is right and to resist temptation.

All of this is as natural as the growth of fruit on a tree.

You do not have to orchestrate it on your own.

It automatically begins the moment you become a believer.

How quickly it happens depends upon how completely you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit's activity.”

Labor Day has been a national holiday in Canada for many years.

The purpose is to honor the working people of our land.

In 1956 a commemorative Labor Day stamp was issued with a picture of a strong man holding a sledge hammer, a pick, a hoe, and an ax over his shoulder.

His wife was seated by his side with a book in her lap showing a small child how to read.

In the lower left hand corner was a large block with words of Carlyle carved into it: "Labor Is Life."

The meaning was clear and I think it is true: without industrious labor there will be no life—no means to feed, clothe, house, and educate a family or oneself.

And the concept of Labor is biblical.

The Bible says a lot about labor and work.

Proverbs 13:4 says that those who work hard will prosper.

Proverbs 21:5 reaffirms this truth and adds good planning with hard work as a way to prosperity.

Ecclesiastes 5:12 says people who work hard sleep well.

Then in verse 19 of the same chapter, Solomon said we should enjoy our work.

Romans 12:11 says never be lazy, work hard.

Ephesians 4:28 emphasizes good hard work versus stealing.

Then, the verse I remember best, 2 Thessalonians says, in essence: You want to eat?

You better work!

But it is an amazing and disconcerting thing how a true statement (like "Labor Is Life") can mislead us and devastate generations when it is isolated from other truths.

If you look at your life solely in terms of food, clothing, shelter, transportation, machines, books, and toys, then the statement, "Labor Is Life," will mean that you should work mainly with a view to providing those things.

But in spite of the fact that it seems so natural to work for such things, Jesus said to the Jews in John 6:27, /"Do not labor for the food which perishes."

/And of course Jesus didn't mean it is just food that's ruled out, but clothes and homes and cars as well.

Anything that perishes, anything that wears out, anything of no eternal worth—all that is implied in "food that perishes.

The Believer’s Bible Commentary adds: “So Jesus first advised them *not* to *labor for the food which perishes*.

The Lord did not mean that they should not work for their daily living, but He did mean that this should not be the supreme aim in their lives.

Satisfying one’s physical appetite is not the most important thing in life.

Man consists not only of body, but of spirit and soul as well.

We should labor for the food which endures to everlasting life.

Man  should not devote all his strength and talents to the feeding and clothing and entertaining of his body, which in a few short years will be eaten by worms.

Rather, he should make sure that his soul is fed day by day with the Word of God.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

We should work tirelessly to acquire a better knowledge of the Word of God”, /“to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior.”/

(2 Pet 3:18) The Living Bible states John 6:27 this way: /“don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food.

Spend you energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you.”/

Now we are in a precarious place, because you believe in your heart it is legitimate and good to work in order to buy food.

Yet you hear Jesus saying, /"Do not labor for the food which perishes."/

I call experiences like this crises of spiritual discovery.

You can discover two things in the next few minutes.

First, you can discover the measure of your submission to Jesus as Lord.

There are two very different attitudes you may be experiencing right now.

One is resistance and hardness.

You may be saying, "Well, I don't care what it means; I'm going to keep on working just the way I always have."

Another is humble, open submission to Jesus.

You may be saying, "Well, Lord, I never thought from your Word that it might be wrong to work for food and clothing.

But, Lord, there is nothing I want more than to do what pleases you in the way that pleases you.

I know how bent I am to sinning, so please help me understand your surprising command and make me willing to obey gladly."

There is a quantitative and eternally significant difference between those two attitudes.

The first one is not from the Spirit of God, but of the flesh.

The second one is a gift of the Holy Spirit, fragrant with the fruit of humility and submissiveness to Jesus.

It is not naïve, but is thoughtfully and soberly ready to say, "Anything, Jesus, anything, anything in my mind or in my behavior I am willing to change if you say the word."

The other thing you may discover in the next few minutes, if you are open to the voice of Jesus, is a new dimension of obedience in your work.

Listen to the familiar passage of Scripture from Matthew chapter 6, verses 19-21 and 24-33: /"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; \\ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

\\ "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

So why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

For after all these things the Gentiles seek.

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

/Many of you have already made the discovery and simply enjoy hearing it reaffirmed from Scripture.

Others of you may discover for the first time an aspect of Jesus' will for your life which you have neglected.

/"Therefore take heed how you hear,"/ Jesus said, /"for to him who has, will more be given, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away"/ (Luke 8:18).

I think we should acknowledge from the outset that the point of John 6:27 is the positive statement, /"Labor for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you."

/Jesus, on the day before, had performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.

When the people seek him out the next day, he accuses them in verse 26 of not coming because they had seen signs but because they ate their fill.

In other words, they had no spiritual sensitivity that Jesus' miracle pointed beyond itself to the spiritual nourishment people need so badly and which Jesus came to give.

To use the language of the apostle Paul, they set their minds on the things of the flesh, not the things of the Spirit.

So Jesus said, /"Don't work for fleshly food that perishes, work for eternal food."/

They respond in verse 28 with complete misunderstanding, "'What works do you think God requires in order to give us the bread of eternal life?" Jesus answers in verse 29 that all the works you can do for the bread that endures are summed up in one work, which is no work at all: /"Believe in him whom God has sent."/

Come to me, trust me, feed on me.

Draw life from me, and you will have the food that endures to eternal life.