Sermon
The Answer To Man's Greatest Need
January 6, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

Here's what John says in John 6:22. On the following day...well what happened the day before? That's the day that Jesus fed the 5000. The night was the night that Jesus walked across the lake and met His disciples there at three o'clock in the morning on the lake. The day before...now the day following; when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone--however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks--when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?" You see, they're confused. They didn't know that Jesus had walked on the lake. He didn't need a boat. So they're wondering how their master got to the other side of the lake. Jesus, how did You get here? When did You come. Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. "Do not labor for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."

Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

Now just briefly with our notes and then we'll divert from them in a few moments. The multitudes had been fed. Jesus had thwarted their plans to make Him king. The disciples had gone ahead at the bidding of Jesus, sailing the sea into the storm. Jesus comes to them at three o'clock in the morning walking on the sea. Remember, Peter requests Jesus to let him come to Him. We talked about the last Sunday, Peter walking on the water.

And now, the multitudes start their search for Jesus. The crowd had lingered on the far side of the lake. In the time of Jesus people did not need to keep office hours. There were no factories, offices or shopping centers...most were just people of little means making their living from the ground, selling and trading their crops. They had time to wait. They didn't have schedules to keep. They waited because having seen that there was only one boat and that the disciples had gone off in it without Jesus, they simply deduced that He must be still somewhere near at hand.

After they had waited for some time, they began to realize that he was not coming back. Into the bay came some little boats from Tiberias. And surely John recognized that because the storms had hit, those fishermen probably brought their boats into the same harbor where these people were waiting for Jesus. No doubt they had taken shelter from the storm of the night. The waiting people embarked on them and made the crossing of the lake back to Capernaum.

When the crowd finally found Jesus, they asked Him the question, "Rabbi, how and when did you get here?" Jesus' reply was to ignore the question and instead deal with the manner of their seeking. He did not praise them. Instead He replied, "I tell you the truth, you are seeking for Me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On Him has the Father placed His seal of approval".

Let's stop there. As we journey along through these lessons, my heart's desire is that we can learn practical truths from these various lessons, and I immediately was confronted with this issue; that here's a searching group of people wanting to be with Jesus and they make the effort to cross the lake, and as soon as they get to Him they say, Jesus, how did you get here? And Jesus rebukes them. He turns to them and he says, you really don't seek Me for spiritual reasons. All you want is to get your tummy filled. That's a rebuke.

But then, I marveled at something, that He did it in such a way that their hearts remained open and he led them to a higher spiritual truth as the result of a rebuke. You'll find that in Mark 16, after the resurrection, it says that later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and He rebuked them for their unbelief. There was an occasion when Jesus was talking to the disciples about Him going to the cross, and it says that Peter took Him aside and rebuked Jesus. He said, Jesus, why are You talking like this? Don't talk about going to a cross. And in Mark 8:33 it says but when He had turned around and He looked at His disciples He rebuked Peter, saying, get behind me Satan. Now that's a rebuked. Get behind me Satan. Because He said, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.

You remember, Jesus had gone up to the Mount of Transfiguration. The remaining disciple bunch had stayed down at the bottom of the mountain. A father was distressed over a little boy who had epilepsy and tells the disciples, heal my boy. They couldn't. So the Father waits until Jesus comes down from the mountain and he says, Jesus, I told Your disciples to heal my boy and they couldn't. Would You heal him? Notice the rebuke. Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me."

Then there was Mary. Mary loved Jesus very, very much. And in those days instead of having a cedar chest, a hope chest, the ladies preparing for their wedding night, saved money and bought a very, very rich expensive perfume to bathe themselves with on their marriage night. Something very precious to the young maidens. Mary wanted so very much to take the most precious thing to her, her little alabaster box, and she broke it over Jesus. And here's old Judas, he said, Jesus why don't You stop her? We could sell that box of perfume and we could feed the poor. And here's his rebuke; Jesus says, let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

Like I said, He must have given these rebukes in such a way that He left the door open. He didn't put somebody down to the point they lost all hope in despair. The door was always opened, just the way He did it. You know I thought about that as I studied that this week. I said, Lord Jesus, please help me to be more like You. There come times when you have to rebuke and chasten people, but too many times I don't do it like Jesus does because when I finish with the rebuke, they walk away hurt, diminished, defeated, and sometimes, totally discouraged. So I said, Jesus, help me to learn that when somebody needs to be confronted because You confronted them, but may I do it in such a way that I don't injure, that I don't hurt, and that I don't close the door to further spiritual development.

All of us sit here today and we've had experiences where we went beyond; we rebuked. I think of it as a dad. Sometimes I was exceedingly harsh with my children, and I wrote them a letter a few weeks or months ago; I said, boys, please forgive me for being a bad daddy. Because if I could have done the rebuking and the chastening, the writer of Hebrews says that if we belong to Him, He will chasten us and He will rebuke us, but the result is that it will produce fruits of righteousness. It will be positive. Now we know it's positive with this group. Jesus is saying what are you doing here? I know why you came. You didn't come for spiritual reasons. You came because you got your tummy full, but He didn't say it that way. Maybe He said it this way: why are you here? Did you miss the sign? Did you miss the glory of God? When the thousands were fed, did you miss the miracle? You're so self-centered you missed the main event.

He must have said it in a way because in a few moments later they came back and say, Jesus, with You tell us what works of God that we must do? What they're saying is, Jesus, will You tell us how we can please God? So His rebuke left their hearts wide open. You know, as I thought about that, why do we follow Jesus? Do we follow Him because of what maybe we can get out of it? I've had the joy of raising boys, now I've got seven grandchildren and frequently they'll come up and say, Grandpa? Now I know...or daddy? And then the request, and I know that's part of my position as being their father or their grandfather.

The other day one of my little grandsons came up to me, put his arms around me, and said, Grandpa, I just want you to know I love you. Then he runs away. (Congregation chuckles) I think there are sometimes Jesus would like for us just to come and say, Jesus, I don't want anything. All I want to tell You is how wonderful You are, and how much I love You. And I serve You because of Your grace and Your mercy. You're my God. That's what Jesus said. If you had seen the sign and you would have recognized that the glory of God was demonstrated in your presence, you may have learned a spiritual lesson. What Jesus is saying is, I want to be loved for whom I am, not for what you can get out of Me. you know if we could learn that this year. When you're on your way to church, say, Jesus I'm going to church today, I'm going there just to praise You. When Pastor Leighton leads I'm just going to open my heart. I'm just going to let my life flow in worship to You. I'm going to really praise You. I'm not going to ask You for a thing. I'm just going to go and praise You. I think you'll walk out that door with a new experience.

Jesus said, you're seeking Me for the wrong reason. Then He said, labor or strive. Now that's an interesting word in the Greek. It's a picture of that constant striving, pursuing; getting up every morning, getting washed, getting to the job, punching the clock. Just striving on and on, continuously, over and over. What Jesus is saying is don't just make all of your life and your energy and your striving and your pursuing for the things of time, but strive, pursue, reach after, hunger for food that lasts for eternity. Now throughout the Scriptures there are multiple warnings for man not to become ingrained and tied to the things of time. Jesus said, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in property in exchange for his soul?

I think one of the great testimonies is the testimony of old Solomon. He agreed 100% with Jesus. Jesus said don't waste your time laboring for the piddly things, and when you come to the end of life's journey they didn't amount to a hill of beans. Those are my words, but you got the point.

You know, I go see my mother and we put her in an extended rest home, and she has her little room and she goes down and eats with the folks in the cafeteria. Now Chico is where I was raised so when I go home I know a lot of those folks. I worked in a drugstore for years and I became acquainted with many of the folks. It was a smaller town then, so I know some of those people. So when I go to that rest home and I walk down the hallways, it's an emotional trip for me because I know some of those old people. One of them was the city mayor. I knew him. One of them was the bank president. I knew him. And now, they are in this rest home tottering on their walkers. I went there the other day for Christmas Eve to be with mom and some older gentlemen, aged, with his feeble fingers was trying to find enough pressure to get a tone out of a piano. I knew him, and I heard two others talking, saying, nobody has visited me. That gets to me. You get to the end of life and you've struggled, you've helped others, and all of a sudden when you get to the end of the journey it's lonely. It's lonely.

Old Solomon warned us. I want you to take your Bible and turn to page 448. Solomon knew this. Solomon is a king. He's got the wealthiest kingdom the world had known at that time. He was wealthy. And Solomon, when he started his reign, God said to him, what do you want? He said I want wisdom. He didn't ask for anything else but wisdom. With his wisdom came everything else. But somewhere in life he got off the track and God became very meaningless to him for a time, and so he gives us a testimony to his life. Would you join with me? This is a powerful one.

He said: Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. The world is emptiness, zilch, empty. In verse 12 he said, I, the Preacher, was king. I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they maybe exercised. Verse 17: And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly, I perceived that this also is grasping at the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases in knowledge increases in sorrow.

Go to college all your days. The more you know the more you've got reason to be disturbed about. I can just think of the bliss of being mentally deficient, (Congregation chuckles) because you haven't got enough to worry about, because you don't have the capacity to worry. Solomon is right. He said, when you've got knowledge--the more you know, the more you've got to worry about.

Notice chapter 2. So I said in my heart, come now, we'll test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure, but surely this also is empty. I said to laughter--it's nothing but madness. And I said of mirth, what does it accomplish? And I searched my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. And so I made my great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens, and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants. I had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all that were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered myself silver and gold, and the special treasures of the kings and of provinces.

I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also by wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. I'm the king. I made up my mind if there's anything in life I can find that satisfies the human heart, I'll find it. When he comes to the end it's zero. I'm glad he wrote that last chapter in his letter.

Chapter 12. Look at what he says. Verse 13. Now remember, this guy is the smartest, wealthiest man who ever lived. He could do anything he wanted to do, buy anything he wanted. And I'm sure at the end of his life's journey--if you know Solomon he's got two kids that are going to take over his throne and rip it straight apart, old Rehoboam and Jeroboam are going to rip his kingdom for which he fought. The thing that bothered him the deepest; I've worked hard and those kids are going to waste everything I worked for. They did. They split his kingdom.

So he says, here it is (verse 13): Let's hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His Commandments, for this is man's all. What does he say? The same thing Jesus said. Don't waste or life striving after the piddly things that don't last. Live your life so that what you do counts for eternity. That's a solemn lesson for those folks who chased Him across the lake. I've got to stop there. Our time is gone. Next Sunday I want to talk to you about what He said, strive for that food. We're going to find out what that food was that lasts forever.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for this wonderful time and these wonderful people who are so gracious, patient. I thank you for our church family for every person. May this be a year when we really do strive and pursue for spiritual things that last, and help us to understand the ability to choose priorities and not to piddle with the things of time that have no value. You'll have to reveal that to each of us. Please do that dear Jesus. Thank you, amen. Thank you all for coming. God bless you.