In John chapter 6, Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 hungry mouths with five loaves and two fish. That same crowd hunted Jesus around the countryside and found him the very next day. And in that second encounter, Jesus took an opportunity to teach them the distinction between the bread that perishes, like they got the day before, and the bread that never perishes, namely, Christ himself.

He pled urgently with them so strongly, he commanded them this in John chapter 6 verse 27, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." So the question is, should we labor and work to buy bread?

Should we work at all, or should we trust God to supply all of our bread needs supernaturally? The answer to this question actually sheds much light on how we work and labor each day, as John Piper explains in his 2009 sermon. Here he is. What does the first clause in verse 27 mean?

Do not labor for the food that perishes. Now, this is mainly for you believers, you who've eaten, you who've tasted, and you're wondering, "Okay, what's the implication of this for my job? My eight to five, my nine to six, my 60 hour a week job, my home making, my mothering, my student life?" What does he mean, "Don't labor for the bread that perishes?" That's what he says, "Don't labor for the bread that perishes." And clearly, he means ordinary food, because that's what verse 26 says is the context.

"You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of ordinary food. Don't labor for that kind of food." So what does that mean for us practically day to day? Two things it does not mean, and then what it does mean. Number one, it does not mean quit your jobs.

Now we know that, and I could spend a lot of time proving this from virtually every book in the New Testament, we know that because the whole New Testament assumes and commends the dignity of work. Ephesians 4:28, just one example, "Let the thief no longer steal, but let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone who is in need." Get to work, earn a living, a straight biblical understanding of what the lion's share of our life should be devoted to.

Do your work. So it doesn't mean quit your jobs. Second thing it doesn't mean, it doesn't mean don't bring home the bread. I go and work, but don't do it for the bread that perishes. Don't bring home the bread. Don't bring home the check, put it in the bank, and then buy food.

Don't do that. It's not what it means. And we know that for the same reason, and the example that you would think of probably is from Thessalonians, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat," which implies that the ordinary, now there are clear exceptions to that, right?

But the ordinary way of eating is to work, not mooch. That's the ordinary way to get your food. And the Bible everywhere assumes that and teaches that. So two things, it doesn't mean quit your job, and it doesn't mean don't bring home the bread when you put in your hours.

Bring it home. Buy the food. Eat. Stay alive so you can work. That's biblical normal life. Well, what then does Jesus mean when he says, "Don't labor for the bread that perishes"? Well, the question I ask myself, trying to get at the deeper meaning of this is, what changes for this person who eats Jesus?

Okay? So you've got another kind of bread. You've got normal bread that I'll eat in about two hours, bowl of cereal probably, and then there's spiritual bread. If I don't eat this, then I'll die and won't be able to preach anymore. I think it's God's will that I should preach, and same thing for you.

And then we've got this other glorious, all-satisfying, eternal bread. What changes here when you eat this? That's the question I ask myself, because that would help me know, "Okay, I'm going to work," just like you said, "going back to work after I got saved. What changes?" And two things are real clear here.

This bread, it says, is food that endures to eternal life. So the first thing that changes is a new chapter is added to your work life, eternity. Mark that. A new chapter. It's the last chapter, which means retirement isn't, whatever that is. You got a new chapter added to your life called eternity, because if you eat this bread, your life doesn't stop.

It goes on with joy forever. That's the first thing that changes. The second thing that changes is that this bread becomes your supreme treasure. This bread, when you eat it and discover who He is, and over a lifetime, discover more and more of how deeply nutritional this is for souls that were made for God.

All other values go down, down, down, as He goes up, up, up. That's a huge change. So you got a temporal change and a treasure change. A chapter is added to your life and a treasure is added to your life, and the treasure is more valuable than anything, and the chapter lasts forever and brings infinite happiness.

So conversion goes like this. Your eyes are opened. You wouldn't have been able to put words on it like this, but that's why you're reading your Bibles. Your eyes are opened. You see Jesus Christ for who He is, crucified Son of God, risen, bred from heaven, righteousness, forgiveness of sins.

You see Him. He starts to grow. Even a little six-year-old can see, "Not what I need." And then you eat. You eat. You don't work for Him. You eat. And you take Him into your life and He becomes your portion in your life. It may have happened when you were a working man or a working woman.

So what happens then? You stay in your job, most of you. First Corinthians 7:24, "Let everyone stay in the job in which he was called, with God." So staying where you are is ordinary, normal, steady state Christianity. And something about everything in that job changes. That's carefully said. I'm tempted to say, "Everything changes!" I will say that eventually.

But what I mean when I say it is, something about everything changes. Christ dominates your mind as the supreme treasure. And if things look bleak in work or at home, you remember you're going to live forever. So you go to work, not dominated by the desire for the bread that perishes or for the fear of losing it.

You go to work knowing Him, trusting Him, treasuring Him, being satisfied in Him, with your heart set on making much of Him. That's how you go to work now. He's dominant in your mind. He's dominant in your heart. And every aspect of your vocation becomes a way of magnifying Him.

Living eternal life before you and snacking all day long on the bread of life will not make you a lazy worker. It will not make you a shoddy worker. It will not make you a gloomy worker. You will bring zeal and excellence and joy to your work because you know Him, you trust Him, you treasure Him.

You want to make much of Him in all that you do. You know that everything, everything done in the name of Jesus and for the glory of Jesus from the washing of the bathroom to the running of the boardroom will be rewarded forever with 10,000-fold undeserved joy. Powerful. That was from Pastor John's sermon from November 15, 2009, titled, "Do Not Labor for the Food that Perishes." You can find the whole sermon at DesiringGod.org.

And if you have a favorite sermon clip of Pastor John's in a recent message or an old message, send it to us. Give me the timestamps from the audio of when the clip begins and ends. Keep it to about five to eight minutes if you would. Tell me why that clip especially impacted you.

Give me the story behind that. And then send us your name and the closest city to you. Email me all of that information to AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. That's an email address, AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. And if you would put the word "clip" in the subject line, that'd be easier for me to find it.

I'm always very interested to hear your favorite clips and what has most impacted you over the years. And at the start of the week, we talked about leading someone to Christ. We walked through those four treasure chests that Pastor John led us through. Well next time when we return, we're going to talk to new believers who are just simply overwhelmed by all that the Bible has to say.

So where does one begin? Such a great question. We need to address it. I'm Tony Reinke. Pastor John will be back with me in the studio on Friday. We'll see you then.