Yesterday's miracle became today's meal request. The crowds who witnessed Jesus feed 25,000 people weren't looking for their sins to be forgiven – they just wanted breakfast. Today Jesus confronts a truth that cuts to the heart of how we spend our lives.
John 6:26-27 "Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.'"
Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter. These people didn't come back because they were convicted about their sin or amazed by His divine power. They came back because they were hungry, and this guy could provide free meals.
Jesus says, "You didn't see the signs" – meaning you didn't see the significance of what I did and how it relates to who I am. You're pursuing Me because you want your superficial needs met and are blind to the reality that I'm here to meet your spiritual needs.
Then Jesus gives them – and us – one of the most penetrating challenges in all of Scripture: "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life."
Now, Jesus isn't saying we shouldn't work hard for our food. Later in the New Testament we read, "He who does not work does not eat." God tells us to work hard. But Jesus is saying it's possible for you to spend your entire life chasing things that ultimately will perish – to spend your whole life battling for bread and never partake of the lasting nourishment that God provides.
Look around you as you sit in traffic. People commute day after day after day. They sit in line, bag their groceries, battle for bread, working for the food which perishes. And they can come to the end of their life and die without what they really need.
I was reading about J. Paul Getty, founder of the Getty Oil Company, one of the richest men in human history. He died with immense wealth and profound loneliness. He could buy everything in the world except for one thing – satisfaction. He came to the end of his life and he was empty.
Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, reached the apex of achievement at 27 years old. Millions upon millions of records sold. He took his life at 27 because he was empty.
I remember bumping into Robin Williams at a Mexican restaurant in Malibu. Three weeks later, Robin Williams took his life.
You could spend your whole life, reach the apex of achievement, pursue the things that perish, realize you're empty, and die with a starving soul.
But it's not just billionaires, rock stars, and famous actors. If you gain altitude through the perspective of Scripture, you're going to look left and right and see that people are working for the food which perishes and coming to the end of their life without what they really need.
Jesus says in Luke 12, "You can be rich in things but poor in soul." In Mark 8 and Matthew 16, "It's possible to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul."
Blaise Pascal wrote, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ."
Every person has an ingrained hunger, and it's not just for the bread they eat every day. It's for that which fills them and satisfies and saves and sustains them at the soul level.
So often we seek to satisfy our life with the gifts from God rather than God Himself. And in turn, man lives in this relentless hamster wheel of seeking what only God can give them in everything other than God Himself.
Jesus tells you this morning: there is so much more than the food that perishes.
1. What are you "working for" that might ultimately perish rather than satisfy your soul?
2. How can you tell the difference between legitimate ambition and chasing things that won't satisfy?
3. What would it look like to prioritize "food that endures to eternal life" in your daily choices?
Stay dialed in.