Abundant Life: Rhythms: Godly Work

Anthony W. Franklin

After Pentecost • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Our work is obeying God, in whatever, wherever, and however He sends us.

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Scripture John 6:24-35

John 6:24–35 NRSV

24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Perishables and Non-perishables

Those of you who have been involved in the Manna Meals at our church know there is a difference between perishable and non-perishable food. Perishable food, like the bread we serve and give away to our diners must be eaten soon, or else it goes bad and becomes unfit to eat at all. Non-perishable food is food that can last months or even years, especially if you do not remove it from it's wrapping or container. These foods are often processed with special ingredients, chemicals, or materials that keep them from wasting away. Canned goods, some candies, and dehydrated foods often fall into this category.

The label, "Perishable" may sound bad, but each type of food has its place. When my brother was in middle school, he and a friend found Twinkies on sale 2 for the price of one and they decided to buy a bunch and eat them at once. He said that the first one was pretty good. The second was ok. After the fourth one he felt like he had eaten enough Twinkies for the year. Maybe for life. He mentioned that Twinkies have a particular smell that made him lose his appetite whenever he was around them.

So, whether it is considered perishable or not, all food eventually loses its flavor, its sustenance, and even its edibility. All food eventually fails.

Today's scripture is not just about food though. It is about what comes before food: our work, and the relationship between our work and how God provides for us.

Thesis: Our work is obeying God, in whatever, wherever, and however He sends us.

Signs and Belief

Our actions betray our true beliefs. We can talk the talk all day long, but if what we are following is not Jesus, we are still lost. The crowds may have claimed to be looking for the Messiah, but Jesus knew, in their heart of hearts, they were really looking for someone to take care of them. The difficulty is not just distinguishing between truth and lies, but making sure we are not settling for a partial truth. Yes, Jesus is going to take care of us, but no, our Messiah is not our meal ticket. Trust is not a switch that we turn on and off. Measured over time it looks more like a map. I trust Jesus when I'm full and happy. I don't trust Him when I'm sad. I trust Jesus with the words I use in public, but not the words I use in private. I trust Jesus with my actions but not with my money. I trust Jesus with work decisions but not my relationships. We only look for the signs that lead us to the things we want. Jesus helps us see God in the ways we were not looking for on our own. Jesus took the brave and the bold disciples, willing to leave home and family, and brought them to the edge of their own belief. From that edge, He would invite, encourage, and nudge them into uncertain areas, showing them the presence of God with them along the way. It is our Jesus who can take the best of us and show us where our trust in Him ends, calling us "Ye of little faith". You may not know where your trust stops, but you probably know where it begins to falter. We avoid those places where we are afraid our faith may fail. If we refuse to look there, we won't notice God calling us forward. It is easier to slide back into the place where we are being fed spiritually rather than a place where we are doing the spiritual feeding.

Work and Bread

If it seems a little hard to follow the discussion between Jesus and the crowd of people here, you are not alone. The people went back and forth asking about food, then asking about the signs and work that Jesus was going to perform, and then asking about the works that they might be able to perform as well. Then they were back to thinking about their own food again. This is how a Q&A session with Jesus goes. When we lead the discussion, we get ourselves turned all around until we come back to the place where God is asking us to step out in faith. Jesus consistently points to the giver, not the gift, and God, the giver, is inviting us to work with Him, trusting that at the end of the day, our daily bread will be provided. "What will I get out of it?", we think to ourselves. "Will it be enough? Will it last?" When Jesus tells us to work for the bread that will last, we want to give a resounding amen, but we are not sure what that looks like. Canned bread? Pickled bread? Bekah and I were out visiting family and shopping in a gift store several years ago and came across the true bread that lasts. It was not a Twinky. It was a small loaf of bread made out of a spongy foam rubber. It would last through floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, maybe even fires. But you would starve to death staring at this truly non-perishable bread. I don't think that is what Jesus meant by working for the bread that does not perish. The crowds are confused. The disciples are confused. We are confused. Can't we hurry up and get to the bumper sticker slogan at the end of this silly dialogue between Jesus and the people? The answer is we need Jesus... let's just skip the rest of this silliness about works and bread. But Jesus doesn't skip it. John put it in his gospel for a reason, and if we backtrack just a bit, we find that he is comparing Jesus's relationship with God to the way the rest of us often relate to God. Listen to the way Jesus describes His concept of food and work.

John 4:31–38 NRSV

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

The Gift of Godly Work

There are two myths about life that we have to dispel to understand what Jesus is trying to tell the people here. 1. The Myth that life comes from food. We all know that if we quit eating, we won't live long. That does not mean that eating is the purpose of life. A body that eats but does not exercise is just as much in danger of sickness and death as one that exercises but does not eat. Getting to the next meal is not a purpose of life. Neither is getting to your next spiritual meal. There are going to be days when God gets quiet in your life. That doesn't mean you have messed up or are no longer worthy of working with Him. Like your relationships with family, friends, close co-workers... there are times when it is enough to just be in God's presence, working together. 2. The Myth that we are on our own. We look at Jesus and say, the most perfect example of a human being did not let anyone or anything get in-between Himself and God. Jesus, was the prime example of a righteous individual. However, we miss the relationships that Jesus worked with and through, as God worked with and through Him. Jesus always had family. He always had a team. Yes, there were moments when He went off separately, but so many of those moments involved people nearby that Jesus asked to pray for Him. He didn't have to have disciples. He didn't have to take family with Him as He traveled. He chose to. That is an example for us. The work we do, we do not do alone. We work with those who went before us and those who will come after us. We harvest the fields we did not plant and we plant fields we will not harvest. We work alongside others in the same field. We miss the Christian life when we go it alone. I wonder if, instead of trying to figure out our purpose in life, what kind of Godly Work we were made to do, we should look for what the Godly work of our family is. Christian family may not be biological family at all. It may be friends, it may be the people on your ministry team, it may be the people sitting next to you today. You don't get born into Christian family, you get invited in, adopted in. What is the work of your Christian family? Who is God calling you to work alongside? When we can see how God is calling us together as a team, as a family, to work with Him, the bread and the juice makes more sense. One bread, one body, one cup, one sacrifice, one family, one mission, gathering us together. Jesus is present as as the one who calls us, forgives us, redeems us, puts us together, holds us together, and gives us the strength we need to join Him in the work He is doing with God. We are not here today to get our Jesus fix. We are gathered together to celebrate what God has done with us and to prepare ourselves for the work in the days and weeks ahead. The church does not work just one hour a week. The church works every day and we gather together here at this time, to celebrate the work that God has done with us and is leading us into in the days and weeks ahead.

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