What's Occupying Your Life?
I.
John 6:16-29-Jesus is
correcting them about what their lives are occupied with, what they have allowed
to occupy their lives
A. Their lives were occupied
with meat that perishes, with something that wasn’t going to last
1.
Labor-Business, employment,
that which anyone is occupied with; Work
2.
18,19,26-The
people got up in the morning and couldn’t find Jesus so they looked for him and
when they realized he wasn’t there they got in boats and travelled 7-10 miles
to Capernaum in a small boat that they had to row to find him; They are
consumed with finding him so that they can eat, their lives are occupied with
getting their next meal
3.
TLB-You shouldn’t be so
concerned about perishable things like food.
B. *There’s a whole lot of
things happening on the planet that are useless, that mean nothing, that won’t
last, that won’t remain, that have no eternal value, no kingdom value and will
leave you unsatisfied, unfulfilled, empty
1.
Meat
that endures is doing God’s will and finishing His work; meat that perishes is
not doing His will and finishing His work
2.
We
are talking about stuff that will decay and waste away and be rendered useless
a. Perishes-Render useless, lose, ruined destroyed; Perishable-Subject to decay, waste away, wasted, rendered useless,
3.
Are
there things on the Earth that are absolutely a waste of energy and time?
a. John 6:26 MSG-Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that; VOICE-Don’t
spend your life chasing food that
spoils and rots; TLB-You shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable
things like food. No, spend your energy
seeking the eternal life
b. You have a limited amount
of time and resources and energy each day you don’t want to be spending the majority
of those things are a bunch of stuff that will mean nothing
4.
Your
life shouldn’t be occupied with these types of things; Jesus is telling us to
not be occupied with stuff that won’t last and doesn’t mean anything, that will
leave you unsatisfied, unfulfilled
a. Say It: I will not allow my life to be occupied with meat
that perishes, with stuff that doesn’t mean anything. Things that have no
kingdom value, no eternal value, no heavenly value I WILL NOT allow to occupy my life. I’m not going to labor for it, be
consumed by it, be occupied with it. NO!
C. *There are other things
happening on this planet that mean something, that will remain and have eternal
value, kingdom value and those things will lead unto absolute fullness of life,
real genuine life, blessed life and they will leave you full inside
1.
Endures-Remain, to last and not
perish, to continue to be
II.
Most people spend most of
their lives laboring for something that will perish, something that will not
last
A. *You have people on the
earth whose whole lives are occupied with stuff that will not last, stuff that
means nothing in regards to Heavenly things, Kingdom things and days and weeks
and months go buy and they give no thought to God, to the Kingdom of God, to
why they are here, to what God sent them to do and their lives are occupied
with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter
1.
This
day that they are consumed with finding him so they can eat, did they give any
thought to the KOG, why they were on the Earth, what God sent them to do? They
gave no thought to that and all of their thoughts & attention is devoted to
something that will perish
2.
Is
my life occupied by stuff that in the end won’t mean anything?
B. They are unaware that
their lives are being consumed by something that will not last; that’s why
Jesus gave them light, corrected them
1.
Can
you’re life be occupied with “meat that perishes” and you be totally unaware of
it?
2.
You
have people walking the earth in the dark, in a stupor, completely unaware that
their days are being gobbled up by a bunch of stuff that doesn’t mean anything;
Unaware that their thoughts, their focus, their attention is being gobbled up
by something what won’t bring fulfillment and won’t last
3.
Ephesians
5:13-17-The way to come out of the dark and wake up is through the light; We
need light about what’s truly valuable and what is not so that we don’t allow
our lives to be gobbled up with meat the perishes
a. 15-We need to be aware in
our lives of our lives, of what’s going on with our lives (AMP)
b. 16-We won’t live here
forever and we don’t have time to waste
c. 17-We need to understand
and know what’s him and what’s not him, what’s important to him and what’s not
important
4.
Pray this: Lord I’m
asking you in faith to show us what is important, what is priority, what’s
valuable to you and what is not.
Show us what means something to you and what does not, what has kingdom
value and what does not. And help us to value you what you value and esteem
important what you esteem important, in Jesus name.
C. So many people on the
planet are laboring for a good life and, “I want to live a good life,” and so
called “enjoyment” and “fun”
1.
All
that is going to end real quickly and the end will be here and that stuff will
mean nothing in eternity and the only thing that’s going to mean something in
eternity is doing what the father sent you do
2.
You’ve
heard people say things like you only live once and what the believe is enjoy
your life down here b/c this is all you get, this is all that there is, but
this is not all you get, and this is not all there is
3.
Enjoying fun things and
recreational activities and having fun is not wrong; The wrong thing is when
that stuff occupies your life and the meat that doesn’t perish gets little time
or thought
4.
There’s
a danger in the comfort of your flesh and the enjoyment of your flesh and
pleasure becoming the biggest thing in your life
III.
John 6:27-29-We are
supposed to labor for this meat, for the meat of doing what God sent us to do; Labor
for the meat that endures unto everlasting life-Labor for the stuff that God
sent you to do and that brings true fulfillment
A. The meat that doesn’t
perish is doing the will of God and working the works of God-John 4:32-34
1.
28-You
can tell they know the meat he is referring to is to do the will of God and
finish His works because when he told them to not labor for meat that perishes
they asked him what to do to carry out God’s work
a. 29-Here Jesus gives them
the meat the doesn’t perish; They can fill their bellies with bread and that
will mean nothing on the inside and it will perish, but if they believed on him
that would endure, that would last, that would mean something on the other side
(when there were so many others on the earth who weren’t believing on him) and
that would bring fulfillment in their life
b. 29,36-This is just the
first thing he’s asking them to do; if they don’t do this, then there is nothing
else to tell them to do; If they would have done this and many of them didn’t,
the would have gotten more light
2.
You’re
going to this meat that doesn’t perish, that fills you inside and brings
fulfillment in your life from Jesus; He alone is the only source
a. 33,35,40-The bread of God
gives fullness of life, real life, blessed life to the world, Coming to him, believing
on him means a full life
B. This meat, this thing
that satisfies and fulfills us, doing what God sent us to do, THIS should be
our business, it should be the thing that occupies our life, and it should be
something that we are willing to work for and it should be our employment
1.
Luke
2:49-We should be occupied with Kingdom business doing what the Father sent us
do
a. AMP-Did you not see and know that it is necessary for me to
be in my father’s house and occupied about my father’s business; MSG-Didn’t you
know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father; Voice-Didn’t
you know that I must be working for My Father
2.
If
you’re going to be occupied with something and if something is going to consume
your thoughts and your time and your life and if you’re going to give your days
and weeks and months and years to something make sure you’re giving it to
something will last, something that will endure, something that will fill you
up, something that means something; If we are going to be inconvenienced and
make sacrifices and spend money and stay up late and wake up early and spend
extra time lets make sure that we do those things for something that’s going to
mean something rather than something that means nothing; If you’re going to
work and put forth effort and go the extra mile do it for something that’s
going to do something for you inside and bring fulfillment to your life
a. John 6:26 MSG-Don’t waste your
energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for food that sticks with
you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. To
that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?” Jesus
said, “Throw your lot in with the One
that God has sent. That kind of commitment gets you in on God’s works.
b. If we are going to invest
into something, work hard at something, be busy with something lets make sure
it’s for meat that endures
3.
Romans
12:11-If you’re going to passionate and excited about something let it by about
serving the Lord
a. Slothful-Sluggish, grievous, be slow, to feel loath, delay; Fervent-Hot, love, zeal
b. ERV-As you serve the Lord, work hard and don’t be lazy. Be excited about serving
him; TLB-Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically; VOICE-Don’t slack in your faithfulness and hard
work. Let your spirit be on fire, bubbling up and boiling over as you serve the
Lord.
C. Galatians 6:6-10-There is
a way to reap real life, fullness of life, blessed life
1.
8-The
investments you make into your flesh won’t last (Corruption-Persihing,
what is perishable)
a. Perishable is something
that will decay and be destroyed and end up being nothing
b. Investments made in the
flesh, in earthly things, in man’s earthly nature will reap no return
2.
8-The
way to reap fullness of life, blessed life and is by sowing to the spirit and
investing in spiritual things, heavenly things
a. 7-God will not be mocked,
if you make investments into the spirit you WILL reap fullness of life
b. Invest into the Kingdom
of God, into your call and assignment, into your training through prayer and
study and faithfulness
c. We need to make
investment into the spirit and sow to the spirit if we want to reap real life,
enjoyable life
IV.
It’s a strategy of the
enemy to get you consumed with earthly life and to get you preoccupied with
meat that perishes until you get so swallowed up this earthly life that you
lose sight of and have no time for your Heavenly purpose and call-Colossians
3:1-4
A. It’s a strategy of the
enemy to fill your life with earthly things until your life is so full that
there no room left from the Lord and for prayer and for study and for your
Kingdom purpose-Mark 4:19 AMP-Distractions of the age
1.
A
lot of what is filling people’s lives is not sin and in and of itself is not
bad and that’s the deception in it
2.
2Thess3:11-Busybodies who work not at all but are bustling about
uselessly, busying themselves with needless, useless, matters
3.
If
you are busy you need to ask yourself, “I’m busy doing what?”
B. This is a strategy of the
enemy that we have to be on guard against (He wants you earthly minded,
consumed by earthly things)
1.
We’ve
been unaware of just how much getting you earthly minded is part of the enemy’s
strategy
a. The enemy wants you to
get so busy with this earthly life that you miss your heavenly purpose
2.
There
is a danger in becoming preoccupied with earthly things (meat that perishes)
and have days and weeks and months go by and all the while we are giving no
thought to meat that endures and if we are not a guard against this years will
go by wasted and we will be in the dark and live unfulfilled lives
C. Luke 12:15-There’s a
danger in your earthly life being consumed with doing things to provide earthly
provision so that you can live
1.
A
man’s zoe (fullness of life, real genuine life, blessed life) doesn’t consist
in the abundance of things he possesses
a. Possession of things does
not equal you being full on the inside; There’s
more to life than just the stuff you possess
b. 15-Beware of covetousness
(Beware-Guard against, keep watch; Covetousness-Greedy desire to have
more, desire inordinately)
c. Covetousness is thinking
that life consist in the things that you possess
2.
19-To
him his life was about getting enough to eat so that you could lay back and
enjoy is life; He has no thought life beyond himself
a. To many people life
consists of getting a good job and working until I can store up enough so that
I don’t have to work anymore and I can sit make and enjoy my life
b. 20-His life is over and
all this stuff did nothing for him, it produced no fulfillment
c. 21-He was what the world
would call “blessed & happy” but he wasn’t rich toward God (Not doing what
God called him to do)
1)
We
want to be rich towards God, rich in our calling, rich in our relationship with
God, rich on the path of God, being where he called us to be, doing what he
called us to do
3.
23-Why
would He say, “The life is more than meat?” Because there is a danger in our
lives becoming consumed with these things
a. There’s more to life than
eating and drinking and clothes and yet that’s what most people’s life consists
of; they go to work to get money so they can eat and drink and be provided for
and never give one thought to what God has called them to do
b. This guy’s life had
become consumed by this and there’s more to life than this
4.
24-28-He’s
telling them all of that stuff God will take care of so there is no need to
have your life consumed by it or worry about it
a. He’s showing them by the
spirit how easy it is for God to take care of that stuff for you
5.
29-Don’t
let your life be consumed by that and don’t doubt God’s ability to take care of
that stuff for you
a. Seek-Strive after, aim at, to seek by thinking, meditating,
reasoning
b. 30-To the world getting
enough to eat and drink and clothes on your back that is life
6.
31,32-We
are to seek the rule of God – What’s your plan,
where do you want me, what do you want me to do? This should be what occupies
our life and if we will immerse ourselves fully in the plan of God we have a
promise that the provision will be there
a. When you have sought
first the Kingdom of God and you are where He’s told you to be and you are
going hat He’s told you to do that gives you grounds upon which to approach him
concerning your provision-1Cor9:7-A solider serves not
at his own expense
b. God does not finance what
He does not commission; you get somewhere you’re not supposed to be and you’re
a-wall and on your own; The military is not going to provide for you to disobey
and go and do what you want
c. This is the problem with
many people; Trying to get financed outside of their kingdom place (It doesn’t
work)
7.
John
6:26-Their sole purpose for seeking Jesus was that wanted to provision, they
wanted to eat
a. Many want Jesus for the
provision that He can provide and they seek him on that same basis
b. Why do you need
provision? You need provision so that you can complete your assignment
c. You cannot just seek him
for what he has and not be interested in what He’s assigned you to do
d. Provision is for
assignment and if you’re not interested in His assignment for you, then he’s
not responsible for your provision
e. John 6:2,11,26-When they
were kingdom minded, they were kingdom financed, but when they fell to an earthly
mindset the financing of the Kingdom stopped – If you’ll get kingdom
minded, you’ll get kingdom financed
8.
Genesis
1-3-Adam started in the place where he was completely focused on his assignment
and the vision was provided by God
a. Genesis 1:28-This was his
assignment (He’s occupied with this)
b. Genesis 2:16-This was his
provision (He didn’t have to work for this)
c. Genesis 3:17-19-He fell
to this place where now he’s consumed by the provision and has no time for his
assignment