How Does Christ Change How I Work?
00:00:00.000 | In John chapter 6, Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 hungry mouths with five loaves and two
00:00:11.000 | fish.
00:00:12.280 | That same crowd hunted Jesus around the countryside and found him the very next day.
00:00:17.640 | And in that second encounter, Jesus took an opportunity to teach them the distinction
00:00:23.760 | between the bread that perishes, like they got the day before, and the bread that never
00:00:28.600 | perishes, namely, Christ himself.
00:00:33.280 | He pled urgently with them so strongly, he commanded them this in John chapter 6 verse
00:00:38.240 | 27, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life,
00:00:44.680 | which the Son of Man will give to you."
00:00:47.740 | So the question is, should we labor and work to buy bread?
00:00:52.200 | Should we work at all, or should we trust God to supply all of our bread needs supernaturally?
00:00:57.960 | The answer to this question actually sheds much light on how we work and labor each day,
00:01:02.440 | as John Piper explains in his 2009 sermon.
00:01:06.080 | Here he is.
00:01:07.080 | What does the first clause in verse 27 mean?
00:01:11.400 | Do not labor for the food that perishes.
00:01:13.960 | Now, this is mainly for you believers, you who've eaten, you who've tasted, and you're
00:01:20.200 | wondering, "Okay, what's the implication of this for my job?
00:01:23.240 | My eight to five, my nine to six, my 60 hour a week job, my home making, my mothering,
00:01:29.720 | my student life?"
00:01:32.040 | What does he mean, "Don't labor for the bread that perishes?"
00:01:38.680 | That's what he says, "Don't labor for the bread that perishes."
00:01:42.160 | And clearly, he means ordinary food, because that's what verse 26 says is the context.
00:01:48.440 | "You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of ordinary
00:01:55.480 | food.
00:01:56.480 | Don't labor for that kind of food."
00:01:59.720 | So what does that mean for us practically day to day?
00:02:05.120 | Two things it does not mean, and then what it does mean.
00:02:09.320 | Number one, it does not mean quit your jobs.
00:02:14.400 | Now we know that, and I could spend a lot of time proving this from virtually every
00:02:19.040 | book in the New Testament, we know that because the whole New Testament assumes and commends
00:02:25.720 | the dignity of work.
00:02:29.120 | Ephesians 4:28, just one example, "Let the thief no longer steal, but let him labor,
00:02:37.840 | doing honest work with his hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone
00:02:46.080 | who is in need."
00:02:48.400 | Get to work, earn a living, a straight biblical understanding of what the lion's share of
00:02:56.120 | our life should be devoted to.
00:02:58.840 | Do your work.
00:02:59.840 | So it doesn't mean quit your jobs.
00:03:02.600 | Second thing it doesn't mean, it doesn't mean don't bring home the bread.
00:03:08.040 | I go and work, but don't do it for the bread that perishes.
00:03:11.680 | Don't bring home the bread.
00:03:13.760 | Don't bring home the check, put it in the bank, and then buy food.
00:03:16.720 | Don't do that.
00:03:17.720 | It's not what it means.
00:03:19.780 | And we know that for the same reason, and the example that you would think of probably
00:03:26.000 | is from Thessalonians, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat," which implies that
00:03:35.440 | the ordinary, now there are clear exceptions to that, right?
00:03:38.960 | But the ordinary way of eating is to work, not mooch.
00:03:46.880 | That's the ordinary way to get your food.
00:03:51.160 | And the Bible everywhere assumes that and teaches that.
00:03:54.880 | So two things, it doesn't mean quit your job, and it doesn't mean don't bring home the bread
00:03:59.120 | when you put in your hours.
00:04:01.040 | Bring it home.
00:04:02.040 | Buy the food.
00:04:03.040 | Eat.
00:04:04.040 | Stay alive so you can work.
00:04:06.000 | That's biblical normal life.
00:04:08.440 | Well, what then does Jesus mean when he says, "Don't labor for the bread that perishes"?
00:04:17.200 | Well, the question I ask myself, trying to get at the deeper meaning of this is, what
00:04:23.600 | changes for this person who eats Jesus?
00:04:27.760 | Okay?
00:04:28.760 | So you've got another kind of bread.
00:04:30.320 | You've got normal bread that I'll eat in about two hours, bowl of cereal probably, and then
00:04:36.600 | there's spiritual bread.
00:04:38.880 | If I don't eat this, then I'll die and won't be able to preach anymore.
00:04:42.280 | I think it's God's will that I should preach, and same thing for you.
00:04:46.040 | And then we've got this other glorious, all-satisfying, eternal bread.
00:04:51.120 | What changes here when you eat this?
00:04:55.240 | That's the question I ask myself, because that would help me know, "Okay, I'm going
00:04:58.480 | to work," just like you said, "going back to work after I got saved.
00:05:02.760 | What changes?"
00:05:05.420 | And two things are real clear here.
00:05:08.420 | This bread, it says, is food that endures to eternal life.
00:05:13.040 | So the first thing that changes is a new chapter is added to your work life, eternity.
00:05:20.560 | Mark that.
00:05:21.560 | A new chapter.
00:05:24.360 | It's the last chapter, which means retirement isn't, whatever that is.
00:05:34.380 | You got a new chapter added to your life called eternity, because if you eat this bread, your
00:05:43.000 | life doesn't stop.
00:05:45.040 | It goes on with joy forever.
00:05:49.880 | That's the first thing that changes.
00:05:51.400 | The second thing that changes is that this bread becomes your supreme treasure.
00:05:59.480 | This bread, when you eat it and discover who He is, and over a lifetime, discover more
00:06:05.760 | and more of how deeply nutritional this is for souls that were made for God.
00:06:13.320 | All other values go down, down, down, as He goes up, up, up.
00:06:19.880 | That's a huge change.
00:06:22.720 | So you got a temporal change and a treasure change.
00:06:25.840 | A chapter is added to your life and a treasure is added to your life, and the treasure is
00:06:31.560 | more valuable than anything, and the chapter lasts forever and brings infinite happiness.
00:06:40.880 | So conversion goes like this.
00:06:43.880 | Your eyes are opened.
00:06:45.200 | You wouldn't have been able to put words on it like this, but that's why you're reading
00:06:48.240 | your Bibles.
00:06:50.160 | Your eyes are opened.
00:06:51.760 | You see Jesus Christ for who He is, crucified Son of God, risen, bred from heaven, righteousness,
00:07:01.960 | forgiveness of sins.
00:07:03.000 | You see Him.
00:07:04.000 | He starts to grow.
00:07:05.000 | Even a little six-year-old can see, "Not what I need."
00:07:09.400 | And then you eat.
00:07:11.120 | You eat.
00:07:12.120 | You don't work for Him.
00:07:13.120 | You eat.
00:07:14.120 | And you take Him into your life and He becomes your portion in your life.
00:07:20.240 | It may have happened when you were a working man or a working woman.
00:07:26.780 | So what happens then?
00:07:28.520 | You stay in your job, most of you.
00:07:30.720 | First Corinthians 7:24, "Let everyone stay in the job in which he was called, with God."
00:07:36.720 | So staying where you are is ordinary, normal, steady state Christianity.
00:07:42.620 | And something about everything in that job changes.
00:07:47.800 | That's carefully said.
00:07:49.780 | I'm tempted to say, "Everything changes!"
00:07:53.600 | I will say that eventually.
00:07:56.420 | But what I mean when I say it is, something about everything changes.
00:08:03.920 | Christ dominates your mind as the supreme treasure.
00:08:09.020 | And if things look bleak in work or at home, you remember you're going to live forever.
00:08:18.240 | So you go to work, not dominated by the desire for the bread that perishes or for the fear
00:08:24.240 | of losing it.
00:08:25.600 | You go to work knowing Him, trusting Him, treasuring Him, being satisfied in Him, with
00:08:31.560 | your heart set on making much of Him.
00:08:34.160 | That's how you go to work now.
00:08:36.560 | He's dominant in your mind.
00:08:39.040 | He's dominant in your heart.
00:08:42.640 | And every aspect of your vocation becomes a way of magnifying Him.
00:08:50.260 | Living eternal life before you and snacking all day long on the bread of life will not
00:08:57.680 | make you a lazy worker.
00:09:00.500 | It will not make you a shoddy worker.
00:09:04.340 | It will not make you a gloomy worker.
00:09:09.020 | You will bring zeal and excellence and joy to your work because you know Him, you trust
00:09:16.540 | Him, you treasure Him.
00:09:18.940 | You want to make much of Him in all that you do.
00:09:23.020 | You know that everything, everything done in the name of Jesus and for the glory of
00:09:27.820 | Jesus from the washing of the bathroom to the running of the boardroom will be rewarded
00:09:36.220 | forever with 10,000-fold undeserved joy.
00:09:43.020 | Powerful.
00:09:44.020 | That was from Pastor John's sermon from November 15, 2009, titled, "Do Not Labor for the Food
00:09:50.700 | that Perishes."
00:09:51.700 | You can find the whole sermon at DesiringGod.org.
00:09:55.820 | And if you have a favorite sermon clip of Pastor John's in a recent message or an old
00:10:00.060 | message, send it to us.
00:10:01.440 | Give me the timestamps from the audio of when the clip begins and ends.
00:10:06.840 | Keep it to about five to eight minutes if you would.
00:10:09.800 | Tell me why that clip especially impacted you.
00:10:12.940 | Give me the story behind that.
00:10:14.900 | And then send us your name and the closest city to you.
00:10:18.700 | Email me all of that information to AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:10:23.540 | That's an email address, AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:10:27.380 | And if you would put the word "clip" in the subject line, that'd be easier for me to find
00:10:31.340 | it.
00:10:32.340 | I'm always very interested to hear your favorite clips and what has most impacted you over
00:10:37.080 | the years.
00:10:38.080 | And at the start of the week, we talked about leading someone to Christ.
00:10:41.460 | We walked through those four treasure chests that Pastor John led us through.
00:10:45.580 | Well next time when we return, we're going to talk to new believers who are just simply
00:10:48.880 | overwhelmed by all that the Bible has to say.
00:10:51.780 | So where does one begin?
00:10:54.540 | Such a great question.
00:10:55.540 | We need to address it.
00:10:56.620 | I'm Tony Reinke.
00:10:57.620 | Pastor John will be back with me in the studio on Friday.
00:11:00.660 | We'll see you then.
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