...give Us This Day, Our Daily Bread... Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: May 14, 2014

Date Preached: May 14, 2014

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: A Study on the Lord’s Prayer

Sermon Title: Give us this day, our daily bread…(Sermon 8)

Sermon Text: Matthew 6:9-13 [HCSB]

Essence of the Text: Jesus wanted His disciples to know how to pray…

Essence of the Sermon: Jesus wants believers today to know how to pray…

Objective of the Sermon: Prayer is vital for the believer, but prayer is not so much in the words as it is in the attitude behind those words. This model prayer lays forth a template that guides the believer in the direction of their prayer and the attitude of their heart.

Introduction:

A few wks ago I spoke with you about the God’s will and how it should be followed “on earth as it is in heaven” and we learned that for God’s will to be followed here ‘on earth’ it begins within our hearts… not in society!

But tonight I want us to move forward in this model prayer from Jesus to the next critical phrase and that is, “give us this day, our daily bread”

Now there are many who look at this model prayer and see the grandeur of its opening where he speaks about the INFINITE nature of God and then the grand spectrum of God’s will in heaven and here on earth… but then he jumps to something as ‘mundane’ as our earthly bread?

How can this fit? How can Jesus make such a leap? Well in our finite minds we want to put everything into its own box…we want things all wrapped up nice and tidy with a bow on top!

We have the tendency to call one thing worldly and another thing religious… one thing secular and another thing sacred! But the reality of life is simply this… ANYTHING touched by God has a sacred significance and meaning for our lives!

All throughout Scripture God’s people are called to live their lives with an EVER present understanding that God is with them and providing FOR them!

So it should NOT surprise ANYONE that Jesus jumps to God’s provision of the sustenance for survival. We ALL need food/water to survive…without it we DIE! God is a God of life… A God of creation… YES He controls and rules death BUT His focus for us is LIFE! Life is precious and providing for His people IN that life is crucial for Him.

Now at first, in the Garden, EVERYTHING was provided FOR humanity and there was no need to toil for what was needed to survive, but through the selfish and sinful desire of Adam and Eve… that changed!

When they sinned, humanity was cast out of God’s presence in the Garden and was told that they would have to toil the ground for sustenance and survival.

Gen 3:19 states, “…By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat

until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

So if God has banished humanity from the Garden and we have been told that by the sweat of our labor that we will have food… why does Jesus use the phrase, “give us this day our daily bread…”

Well I believe the principle here is pretty straightforward and it is that Jesus basically is teaching that everything in life… are resources provided by God for our lives! His provision far exceeds our daily need!

Jesus is the giver of ‘good gifts’ as James put it in James 1:17, “…every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights…”

It is GOD who has bestowed ‘bounty’ on this world and WE are the benefactors of God’s blessing and provision! Jesus simply instructs his disciples in very plain language to STOP complaining, stop worrying, stop fretting over things which you have no control…

He knows what we need and what is best for our survival… He makes the bread available, but we are called to do our part in the process! Look what Jesus says just a bit further along in this very chapter… Matt 6:33 when He says, “…seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things [emphasis mine] will be added [given] to you…”

In other words, if you are willing to put God’s will first and foremost in your life… you will NOT lack for provision! But this does NOT mean that those who ‘seem’ to have it all are actually reaching and serving God…

Millions of people pray but do NOT place God 1st in their lives in any other aspect of life, but God is treated like some cosmic waiter, standing there with pen/paper in hand ready to take your order… NOT TRUE!