Sir Lord, may you graciously
help me, I would turn your prayerful attention to John's Gospel in
chapter 6 and reading verse 27. John's Gospel chapter 6 and verse
27. Labour not for the meat which
perisheth. But for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you, for him hath God the Father sealed. John's Gospel, chapter 6 and
verse 27. I want to, this evening, go through
first of all the context of this text, where this text is found.
What is Jesus saying here? What is the surrounding context? I want to then point out what
it does not mean. What does verse 27 not mean? Because we can read the wrong
words into it. Then can it ever be wrong Can
there be a wrong seeking of Jesus? And then lastly, what it is to
seek the Lord and to truly labour for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. So first of all, the context.
This morning we read a very similar account in Matthew's Gospel,
and we strayed into John's Gospel, chapter 6, a number of times
to gain more insight into the account that we were dealing
with of Jesus walking upon the waters and the feeding of the
5,000. Well, the Lord Jesus fed these
5,000. They wanted to make him king. We read that earlier on in the
chapter. He clearly did not want that to happen. That was not
his purpose. That was, as it were, what Satan
would love to have made him king and then ruin his purposes, as
it were, of what his real work was. But no, his kingdom was
not of this world. His life here below was to be
the cross before the crown. And so the Lord Jesus did not
allow that to take place. He told his disciples to go off
and to sail across, row across the Sea of Galilee to the other
side. And he went up into a mountain
to pray. The people knew this. They knew
that Jesus and the disciples were separated. They knew that
the disciples had gone off. They knew that Jesus had gone
up in the mountain. That was the last they saw of him. But
in the morning, the next day, they could not find Jesus. They
couldn't find where he was. They knew the disciples had gone
and they didn't see any other boats that were able to take
Jesus across. And they were in a quandary as
to where he must be. But in the end they decided he
must have gone over to be with his disciples somehow. And so
they go to take shipping to get to the other side of the lake.
They make that journey across the Sea of Galilee themselves.
so that they can find him. And they come and find Jesus. And if you see what they say
here, and when they had found And when they had found him,
this is verse 25, on the other side of the sea, they said unto
him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? They were interested,
how did you get here? The disciples went in the boat,
you weren't with them, and now you're here, how did you get
here? If you notice, Jesus never actually gives them a reply.
He didn't say, well, you see, I walked on the water to get
to the other side and I met the disciples. He doesn't tell them
that. Because, you see, they would have loved that sort of
thing, that sort of thing that would make them interested in
something that was an outward sign and something that was glorious
to the human eye and the mind. He was interested in saving souls
from a lost eternity. That is why he came. He came
to save his church with an everlasting salvation. He didn't come to
be somebody who would demonstrate, as it were, great things before
crowds to gain their admiration and their praise. That was not
his work, although of course he achieved that at times, but
later on we read in a chapter in John that many walked back
and went no more with him. When they realised the real truth
of his message, that it was about sin and salvation, it was about
having a living union with Christ. then they were not interested,
they went away, and they thought this would not gratify their
natural thinking. So the context is this, Jesus
is trying to show them what is really valuable. They're
very interested. They'd gone to a lot of trouble
to get to Jesus. They'd taken a lot of steps.
They'd taken a lot of trouble to find out where Jesus was. They were very diligent in seeking
Jesus. But he does not really thank
them for that. He does not really encourage
them in their diligence in this matter, because they're seeking
him for the wrong reasons. They're seeking him. He says,
Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, ye seek me not
because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the
loaves and were filled. You just want your bellies filled.
You just want somebody who's going to give you free food and
do great miracles for you. Somebody who you can watch and
you can enjoy doing the next thing that he does. No, Jesus
used these miracles as a demonstration that he was the Son of God. But
he wanted the people to go beyond that and to see who he really
was and what his mission really was. So that is really the context
of where our verse lies. And therefore it says, labor
not for the meat that perisheth. They were laboring for that.
They were very busy trying to find Jesus so they could, as
it were, gain from another one of his miracles. Labor not for
the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For
him hath the Father God the Father sealed. So labour not for the
meat which perisheth. Well, what does it not mean? You see, you could, if you only
had this verse on its own, you might come to the conclusion
that the Lord Jesus is saying, don't work, don't labour. and
your natural food is not important. Don't labour, it's not worth
doing, and the natural food that you eat is only perishing, it's
not of any value. But we must take Scripture, you
see, and compare it with Scripture, and we find, you see, that the
Lord Jesus does not generally teach this at all. If you remember
on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that man shall not live
by bread alone. He does need a bread to eat. He does need food. If we do not
eat something like six weeks, if we don't eat for six weeks,
we will die. Our bodies will not be able to
continue living. So we do need our necessary food. And Jesus knows that. He said
also in his Sermon on the Mount, in the that the prayer he gave
as a pattern prayer to the disciples, give us this day our daily bread. He does not despise natural food. He's not saying that natural
food is unimportant or not to be eaten or not to be desired. Food has its place. It is vital
for life, naturally. It's very important. But it's
not the only thing that life needs. That's what Jesus is also
saying. Man should not live by bread
alone. There's also another aspect,
not just our natural food. It's also the Word of God that
we need. So I do not believe, or from scripture it's clear,
it does not mean that we are not to think that food, because
this word meat here is really not just animal flesh, it's actually
all food. Labour not for meat which perisheth.
So food has its place. It's important for us. We need
to eat, to continue to live, to keep healthy, and we have
a responsibility really to keep our bodies, as it were, as healthy
as possible. How can we do the work of God
if we haven't our natural strength? We are to use what strength God
has given us wisely for the glory of God. So he's not saying that
food is unimportant. And he's also not saying that
labour is unimportant. You see, the Apostle Paul picks this up,
picks up the necessity of work in Thessalonians, the second
epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter 3 and verse 8 are commenced
reading acts. That's 2 Thessalonians 3 verse
8. Neither did we eat any man's
bread, but wrought with labour and travail, night and day, that
we might not be chargeable to any of you." He's talking about
the fact that he didn't sponge off the people that he was preaching
of. He was diligent and sought to
truly keep himself, maintain himself, that we might not be
chargeable to any of you. Not because we have not power,
because it does say, don't muzzle the ox that treadeth the corn,
or a labourer is worthier is higher. But not because we have
not power, but to make ourselves an ensemble unto you to follow
us. So clearly it cannot be wrong
to be a labourer, to be one that works. For even when we were
with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither
should he eat. what the Apostle Paul said. So
I believe from Scripture it's very clear that Jesus here is
not saying that our natural work is unimportant. And we're not
being told here, please do not work. Labour not for the meat
which perisheth. He's not saying not to the work. So what is he saying then? I think to shed some light on
this, I would bring you to another scripture that it talks about.
If any man hate not his father and mother and wife and children
and his own brethren, he cannot be my disciples. Does that really
mean that we should hate our children? Does it really mean
we should hate our wife? Husbands, love your wives and
be not bitter against them. We have many exhortations in
the word of God that we should love one another, that we should
love the brethren. You know that you've passed from
death unto life because you love the brethren. So why does it
say any man hate not father, mother, wife, children and brethren
and his own life also? He cannot be my disciple. What
is Jesus saying here? Well, it's really taking a comparison,
you see. If we love something very much,
in comparison everything else becomes less loved, if you see
what I mean, and in that sense, hated. So if we have a love to
God that is so great that the love that we have to our brethren,
the love that we have to our wife, the love that we have to
our father and mother appears but hatred in comparison with
our love to Christ. Can you see what I'm saying?
It's not that we should hate our parents and our children
and so forth, but our love to God is so strong that That love
to our natural relations appears almost as hatred in compared
to the strength of our love to God. It's talking about strength
here and comparison in that way. And I believe what we have here
is a similar thing in this verse 27. Labour not for the meat that
perisheth. Yes, labour is important. The
Bible tells us. Yes, our natural food is important. We are told that in the word
of God. But put that in comparison with
everlasting life. And put that in comparison with
our concern for our spiritual good. that becomes, it's as if we should
not labour. As if our labour for the things
of God and our concern and our desire for spiritual food is
so great that our right and proper labour in this world and our
right and proper desire to eat food, to maintain our bodies,
almost becomes as nothing in comparison to our greater love
and our greater desire to serve the Lord. labour not for the
meat that perisheth, but for the meat, for that meat which
endureth to everlasting life. So it does not mean that we are
not to work. It does not mean that we are
not to see a right place for food. There is a right God-given
place for food, but we are to see that there's something
much more important as well, to go along with this food. that
man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. See, we would like to think,
well, the important thing is outward. It's important that
we have food on our table. It is important that we have
these earthly things, and they have their place. But in comparison
to saying, well I need all my earthly food and I need all my
earthly things and I haven't got time to give the least concern
about my spiritual things, Jesus is saying you've got your priorities
entirely wrong. It was almost as if he'd say,
don't bother with the natural food, don't bother with these
things. The most important thing is to be right for eternity in
that sense. But don't misunderstand. There
is a right place for natural work. There is a right place
for our food. but is our desire for spiritual things, makes our
desire for natural things pale into insignificance as if they're
unimportant, even though they do have their place. I hope you
can understand what I'm saying there. Labour not for the meat
which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. If we move back to verse 24,
when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither
his disciples, they took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking
for My third point was, is it ever wrong to seek for Jesus?
You might say, how can a preacher stand up and say, seeking for
Jesus is not always a good thing? Well, Jesus himself says this
just here. They were seeking for Jesus. They were seeking for him. Surely,
how can that be not a good thing to do? And when they had found
him on the other side, they came unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw
my miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. You're not seeking me for the
right reasons. You're seeking me but for the
wrong reasons. You're seeking me for what you
can get out of me. You're seeking me for what I
can give you. You can see from my miracles
that I can produce food, I can walk on the water, I can get
myself to different locations. He had so many powers, and you
might say, yes, well, it would be nice to have somebody like
that that was my friend, that could suddenly transport me to
the other side of the lake, could always provide a meal just for
5,000 whenever he pleased. That would be a handy person
to have as my friend. Jesus is not going to be sought
for the loaves and the fishes. You see, Jesus' work and his
ministry was much more spiritual. There was something deep and
there was something meaningful about it. So can it ever be wrong
to seek for Jesus in this way? Yes, I believe it can. And I
think if we bring it into the realm of something perhaps we
could imagine more in our lives, And obviously often the picture
of Christ and his church is likened to husband and wife, or a wife
seeking to go out with her husband-to-be. You might say, well, if that
wife or if that prospective wife really loves that man, then surely
that's what's important. She needs to love him. Exactly
why she loves him, perhaps you might say, isn't important. As
long as she loves him, that's the end. That's sufficient. But if you unpack that, you'd
realize that that's quite insufficient. Just imagine if she loved that
man only because he happened to own a tremendous wealth. She only loved him, perhaps,
because he had three or four houses. She only loved him because
he was able to give her many treats. Well, you'd say, that's
not really the basis of a marriage. That's not really sufficient.
Take another love in the Bible. There was a strong love in Potiphar,
or should I rather say a strong lust in Potiphar's wife for Joseph. She apparently loved him. She
wanted to commit adultery with him. She seemed to love him so much,
and this is what goes for love today in the world. They call
it love. They call it just wanting to
have that adultery, one with another, and so forth, as they
call it love. But I ask you, analyze what she
did to Joseph. Did she really love him? Was
her love to Joseph something that was a blessing to Joseph?
Something that helped Joseph? Something that was good for Joseph?
It was utterly to ruin him. It was utterly to debaunch him. It was not a love that gave Joseph
anything. It was a love that was cruel
and selfish and self-centered. And you see it as clear as anything.
When she was not able to gratify that lust, instead of saying,
well, I'll do everything for Joseph. I love him so much. I
see him as such a model person. I'd stand by him for everything.
No, she completely betrays him. She says a complete lie about
him and gets him put in prison. And, well, it could have been
his death if Potiphar had have taken it a different way. She
didn't love Joseph at all, really, did she? And you see, we can
love people then for the wrong reasons. we can love people in
a selfish way, what we can get out of it. And that's so much
what goes for love. And you dear young people need
to appreciate this in relationships. People say, I love you, but what
does that mean? Do they really love you as a
person or do they just love to get out of you all that they
can and debaunch you and then go off with somebody else? Is
that what is love? You see it with divorces going
on. You see what they called love
to their husband and so forth. All they want to do is get everything
they can out of that person and ruin them and wreck them. Is
that love? Is that true love? No, it isn't, is it? It's cruel,
it's selfish, it's self-centred. The love of God, you see, it
gives. It gives to a bride that was
unworthy of anything. It gives that bride everything.
Christ has a love for his church. He loved the church and gave
himself for that church. He didn't take that church and
seek to satisfy himself on that church for his own gratification. He sought to do that church,
eternal good. This was his mission. He came
to this world. He said, I came not to do my
own will. He wasn't on his own ego mission. He wasn't seeking to do his own
thing. He was seeking to do his father's
will. He delighted in his father's
will. He loved the church. He was wanting to give himself
for the church. But you see, these people, they
were seeking for Jesus, for the loaves and for the fishes. And
you might say, look, as long as people are religious, I don't
mind why they come to the house of God. As long as they come
on the house of God and go through some round of worship, that's
acceptable. But Jesus, no, you see, he wants
the heart. He wants the affection. And you
think about it. Would you be happy for somebody
to marry you for your money? Just to see what they could get
out of you, perhaps to marry you for 10 years and then milk
you of everything that you were worth and go off with somebody
else. What's that? Is that love? Is
that true love? Is that kindness? Is that for
the good of the one that you love? No. You see, the love that
God wants, that Jesus wants to his church, He wants the church
to love his person, his work, his all. He loved the church. And he desires a church that
loves him. Not for his loaves and fishes,
not for the houses that he can give you, not for the jobs that
he can give you, not for the favoritism, as it were, he could
give you in this world by your upbringing and so forth. All
the blessings and benefits that often come associated with the
things of God. We're not to love God for any
of those things. We're to love God because of what he has done
for sinners. to love him because he came down
from heaven, he stooped from heaven and came to this sin-cursed
earth to work out a righteousness for his bride, that he may give
that righteousness to his bride. And he wants a bride that loves
him, not that flirts with the world. Not that says, well, I'll
love you, husband, all the time you provide me with a lifestyle
that is glamorous and glorious so I can be associated with you
as my husband and yet flirt with all these other lovers. That's
not the love that Christ wants from his church. That's not the
true love. So can we seek Jesus wrongly? Yes, we can. We can seek him
for the wrong reasons. We can seek him for selfish reasons.
We can seek him if we do this, if we are religious and so forth,
people will think well of us and we can have great benefits
by pretending to be religious. It's good for our bank balance.
It's good for many things to pretend to be religious, you
might think. And you see, these people were were busy, they were
busy seeking Jesus. They could not find him on one
side of the Sea of Galilee, so they went, took shipping and
came to the other. They came to a lot of trouble,
they were concerned. But what was the motive? What
was the motive? What was the true driving force? Was it love to Christ, his person,
his work? Was it because they loved him
for who he was and for what he was able to do for his people
and for the love of Christ to sinners? Labour not for the meat which
perisheth. You see, there's a negative here. Don't do this. Labour not. for
the meat which pereth it, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. So whilst there is saying don't
spend all your time laboring for earthly things, although
there's a right place for them as I try to explain, it's saying
there is something you should be laboring for. There is something
that's really worth laboring for. And that's not finding out
how many benefits you can get from Christ, how many assets
there are to being a Christian. So I think I'll throw myself
in those scales and realise that I'll go that way because it seems
more outwardly beneficial. No, labour not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. You see, everlasting life will
be an everlasting relationship. with Christ, a love to Christ. And you see, you think of it
with a happy marriage, a good marriage. There's love between
the husband and wife. There's a desire to be together.
There's an appreciation of one another. labour not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life." This is what is to be sought after, that meat which
endures, that relationship with Christ that will never end. That is what we should be seeking
for. And we need to analyse, you see, our habits. How early are we willing to get
up for an earthly interview, for an earthly benefit, for an
earthly day out? How much effort will we go to
for earthly benefits, for earthly gain, for things that will be
for our earthly pleasure? Put that on one side and put
on the other side how much we're willing to do for the glory of
God. How much we're willing to do
for His glory. How early we're willing to get
up for the glory of God. Labour not for the meat which
perisheth. There is a right place for labour.
There is a right place for these things. Surely it should be low
in comparison with our love to Christ, our love for spiritual
things, our love to serve God, our love to labour, our love
to be found in the house of God. This needs to be a high priority,
not a low priority. If we find that we have more
time and more energy, as it were, to do other things, we need to
consider earnestly this verse, labour not. for the meat which
perisheth, the things that are passing away. Yes, we need to
do our certain amount of work. We need to earn the bread that
perisheth. We need it for our bodies. We
need to provide for our families. We need to do this in the fear
of God. But is that the end? Is that
the purpose? Is that the end of our lives, just doing these
things? Is that what is truly satisfying? Or are we seeking for those things
which are above. Is that our real desire? To be
found in him, not having our own righteousness which is of
the flesh. Labour not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. You see, this life is short. The pleasures of sin for a season
are only for a season. They are passing away. Yes, there
is pleasure for a time, but it also brings its great sadness
too. Sin always does. There is a season perhaps of
enjoyment, but there is the bitter as well. Or are you laboring for that
meat which is unto everlasting life? An everlasting life to
know Christ. You see, we've sung of it in
our hymn that we've just sung. The lamb is exhorted repentance
to give, that sin may be hated while sinners believe. You see,
it's our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Does it make
us hate sin? Does it make us hate the things
that God hates? Does it make us love the things
that God loves? Or is it just for the loaves
and fishes? Is it for the outward benefits?
For the things that interest us? Master, how did you get over
that lake last night? Is that the greatest importance?
Is that the thing that we're most interested in? The most
recent miracle that's taken place? Something that we can chat to
our friends about? And something that we can just
be interested about in an earthly way? Jesus, you see, never told
them actually that he walked on the water. Because that was
not what he wanted them to glory in. He wanted them to love his
person. Not just the things that he could
do, because obviously he, as Lord of all nature, he could
do things which would amaze the world. He could do things that
nobody else could do. But that was not his purpose.
His purpose was to work out a righteousness for an unworthy bride. That was
his purpose. He came for this purpose. He
came as a humble servant. You see, it's so beautiful words.
In verse 38 of chapter John, I think they're sublime, these
words. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. This is Jesus, the son of God. The one who is the second person
in the glorious trinity. I came down from heaven. not
to do mine own will. And we think often that we have
the liberty to do our own will, to do what we want to do in our
lives, and to gratify ourselves. I came not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. You see, our lives, you see,
should be laboring lives. We're to labor. Yes, we are to
do those outward things for our natural bodies, But surely there
is here a word that we are to labour for spiritual things. We are to be involved in that
harvest. We are not to be bystanders.
We are not to be saying, well, we've done all these earthly
things and we've provided for our families and we've got them
all in a certain situation and therefore that's it, that's all
we can be expected to do. Labour not for the meat which
perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. And what is that meat? The lamb
is exhorted repentance to give, that sin may be hated whilst
sinners believe. Contrition is granted and God
justified, the sinner is humbled and self is denied. You see,
there wasn't denial of self here. They were interested, they were
gratified with something that would benefit them. It wasn't
clothed with humility. They weren't coming and saying,
Lord, reveal thyself unto us as thou dost not unto the world.
Show us all our great need. We're vile and empty and naked
without Christ. Reveal thyself to us. Make thyself
precious to us. That was not what they wanted.
They wanted earthly things. They wanted earthly gratification.
Jesus says, labour not for the meat which perisheth. But for
the meat, for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you. You see, it's the gift
of God. The gift of God, He gives repentance,
you see. You see, the Lamb is exhorted,
repentance to give. He gives it. Out of His hand,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again. He gives. Son of Man shall
give unto you for Him hath God the Father sealed. He's the one
that he has set at his right hand. He is the one that God
the Father has anointed. Christ means the anointed one. The one that is anointed. And
the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God the Father
sealed. So God the Father has given His
gracious approval, you see, to the Son. He chose the Son. He's well pleased with the Son.
He ever delights in His beloved Son. And yet, when that Son bore
the sin of His Church, the Father took out that sword of divine
justice. and struck it through, that son,
his only begotten son, the son of his love, the son that he
ever delighted with, the son that he had lived with, as it
were, from all eternity past. And he did it because of his
hatred to sin, because sin must be punished. But you see, the
Lord Jesus was coming to work out that righteousness for his
church. Not so he could clothe them with earthly benefits, but
there are many earthly benefits with being a real Christian.
There are many blessings in the counsel from God's word. There's
many things that are beneficial, but is that what you're really
wanting? Are you wanting to come to the
house of God to see how you can, as it were, weave your life so
you can be affluent and so on? Or are you saying, Lord, I'm
not after these things. Give me the visits of thy face
and I desire no more. You see, as I was mentioning
in prayer, We are to be seeking for those things which are above.
We are to seek to be conformed to the image of his son. Is that
your ambition? I was at a work do yesterday
and there was a former student that was speaking about her experiences
at Surrey University and how wonderful it all was. It was
a bit of a publicity stunt for 50 years we've been at the Meck
Eng. And she was saying all these things, and she has aspirations
to be involved in the Mars Rover project, and now she had done
that. And she just made this statement that really made me
think. She said, at the age of 26, I came to realize all my
objectives. And I wondered what to do after
I'd received them at just the age of 26. What do you do then?
You see the Church of God. when they awake with Christ-likeness. They will not be saying, well,
I have awaked with Christ-righteousness, what do I do now? No, you see,
they shall be satisfied when they awake with Christ-likeness. The world doesn't satisfy. Being
part of the Mars Rover project will not satisfy you eternally.
It will leave you short. It will not bring real, true,
solid pleasures. but having living union with
Christ, having Him as your beloved bridegroom, the one that gives
you life eternal. The one that is able to give
you the words of eternal life, that you do not live by bread
only, although that's important, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. These are the things that you
should be labouring for. The world, you see, encourage people
to throw their lot entirely into earthly things. Give them your
fill and have great ambitions and seek to gain them. But what
do you do when you get there? What do you do at the age of
26 when you've reached all your goals? What do you do then? It's
emptiness, you see. It doesn't satisfy. It doesn't
bring real joy. It doesn't give lasting pleasure,
which endures unto everlasting life. What is the pleasure to
this world compared to everlasting life? No, these are the things
that are to be desired, to be found in Him, not having mine
own righteousness which is of the flesh. but that which is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my righteousness. He is
my friend. I do not love him because of
the loaves and fishes. Yes, he is able to open his hand
and give those loaves and fishes, and the Lord's people love those
loaves and fishes as they receive them from his hand. Why? Because
they're crumbs from the Master's table. You see, when God gives
us, as he has done, you know, he does provide for us. I know
when we when the Lord granted us with the house that we now
have. The Lord provided that house, I firmly believe, and
it was a great blessing to receive it. But you see, we are to be
thankful for the gift, but we're to go back and love the giver. You see, if we delight then in
the house, the house is passing away. The house will not last
forever. We will not live here forever. It's clawing in something
that's empty, that's fleeting. But if you see every gift that
God gives you is from the hand of a loving God that cannot just
give you a house and a wife and children and other things and
a job and so forth in life. He is able to give you eternal
life. He opens His hand and satisfies the living soul. He can give
us life eternal. Yes, He can give us earthly things,
but we don't as it were, follow him for the loaves and fishes.
We labour for that meat which endureth unto eternal life. We
are concerned for our spiritual good. We're concerned that we're involved in the things of God.
And I ask you seriously, are you labouring, honestly, more
for spiritual things than you are for natural? Is your greatest
desire your spiritual things? Are you truly seeking to be found
in Him, not having your own righteousness? Paul says, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ. He uses
the analogy of running a race, that you don't run with anything
extra on you that is necessary for decency. I run, not having... He ran with certainty, looking
toward the end, for the mark of the high calling of Jesus
Christ. He's looking for that blessed
hope. Are you labouring? The Apostle Paul was labouring,
you see. He was not saying, well, I'm nearing retirement now. I
can put my feet up, nothing more to do, just enjoy the things
of this life. He laboured. He wrote from a
prison to Timothy. to encourage him in the ministry.
He says, I have finished my work and I am now ready to be offered.
I've fought a good fight, I've kept the faith, and now there
is laid up for me a crown of glory, and not for me only, but
for all those that love his appearing. This was the Apostle Paul. But
you say you're in a prison. You're facing Nero as your executioner,
as it were, or somebody below him to do it. You're facing,
where did all this spirituality get you? Paul looked beyond it
and he realised, I am ready to depart to be with Christ which
is far better. He had finished his course, he
had laboured, his labour was coming to an end and he was going
to enter into that eternal rest that remaineth. to the people
of God. He laboured more for the bread
of these meat that endureth. Yes, we read his own words to
the Thessalonians that he did work hard, day and night, so
that he wouldn't sponge off the people he was preaching to. But
that didn't stop him labouring more for spiritual things. And
may that be a message to us each, that we may labour not for the
meat which perisheth, right as there is place for it. but in
comparison to our labour for the meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you."
It's God, the gift of grace. This is what we should seek for.
Seek earnestly for. Seek him, that he may reveal
himself unto us. Then we can let the world grasp
their toys. They can gloat over them. They can glory in them. But if we have Christ, We have
everything, and we shall be satisfied in his likeness when we awake
with his likeness. May that be true of each one
of us, that we may turn our back to the world, what the world
calls good and great, what the world will make you labour 24-7
to try and achieve these great achievements as they put them
up, as being to be desired. Grant me the visits of thy face,
and I desire no more. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.