Dependent Faith Series

Lessons on Faith from the Model Prayer

Dependent Faith

“Give us today our daily bread.”—Matthew 6:11

October 26, 2003

Intro:

A. [Not by Bread Alone, Citation: H.J. Duffy, Livingston, Texas. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."]

My four-year-old was standing on a kitchen chair pulled close to the wall, intensely staring at the familiar "Our Daily Bread" painting of the older man praying over a small loaf.

"What are you doing, Honey?" I asked.

"Looking," she said with a catch in her voice.

Noticing tears under her dark lashes, I probed deeper. "What are you thinking?"

With a heartfelt sigh, she replied, "He doesn’t have any peanut butter."

B. ["Shenandoah": Thanking God, Citation: Shenandoah (Universal Pictures, 1965), rated PG, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, written by James Lee Barrett. Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, the first prayer scene starts at 4:51 and ends at 5:22, and the second prayer scene starts at 1:38:24 and ends at 1:39:15.]

In the classic western movie Shenandoah, Jimmy Stewart stars as Charlie Anderson, a Virginian farmer trying to keep his family out of the Civil War.

With one empty place set for his dead wife and his children gathered around the supper table, Charlie begins a litany they obviously have heard before: "Now your mother wanted all of you raised as good Christians, and I might not be able to do that thorny job as well as she could, but I can do a little something about your manners."

He gestures that they all should bow their heads and continues: "Lord, we cleared this land, we plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. We cooked the harvest. We wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be eatin’, if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway, Lord, for the food we’re about to eat. Amen."

Through the course of the movie, we see one tragedy after another strike the Anderson clan: the youngest son is mistaken for a soldier and captured, marauders murder another son and his wife, and a third son is shot by an over-zealous sentry. When we next see Mr. Anderson at the supper table, there are four more empty places as he begins his ritual prayer. But this time we hear his voice quiver and break as the awful realization comes upon him that he is not in control, that he is not the master of his own destiny. His voice trails off as he finishes the words "if we hadn’t done it all ourselves."

He stops, gets up, and walks away, a proud man, broken and stripped of his pride, knowing that he needs to turn to the Lord, but not yet ready to fall on his knees and ask for God’s help.

C. Unfortunately, there are many people (including Christians) who do not understand that we are dependent on God for our physical and material needs.

D. We are dependent upon God for our daily material and physical needs, but I do not believe that is the extent of what Jesus meant by the statement we have before us today from the Lord’s Model Prayer: “Give us today our daily bread.”

1. We are also dependent upon God for our daily spiritual bread.

2. In this prayer, Jesus is telling us that we need to understand our dependence upon God for all of our daily needs both spiritual and physical.

3. We are dependent upon God for our daily Spiritual and physical bread.

E. In order to understand a little about our daily dependence upon God I want to direct us to the words of Elihu.

1. Who knows who Elihu is?

2. Elihu was the fourth of Job’s friends.

3. His first three friends, God was angry with.

4. God forgave them, but he was angry about their words of advice to Job in the midst of his suffering.

5. Today, I want to look at some of the wise things Elihu said to Job which I believe will help us better understand our daily dependence upon God; first…

I. God Sustains us with Wisdom from Above

Job 32:8 (NIV), But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

Job 32:18 (NIV), For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me;

A. In these two statements of Elihu, we see the progression of how things work with God and His Spirit.

B. We are dependent upon God for wisdom.

1. First Elihu said that understanding comes from the Spirit of God.

2. Jesus confirmed this in John 14:26 (NIV), But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.