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!
Many do not place God first in their lives but are not afraid to ask Him to provide for their physical needs and desire! They want God to provide for them but they have NO intent on doing His will or complying to His commands in their lives!
To me this reveals the inconsistency of humanity and the generosity of the Almighty as He sends the rain for the just AND the unjust… His provision is there for sinner and saint… the sun rises and sets… the earth produces oxygen and breathable atmosphere… and life continues despite the sinful and selfish motives of MOST of the world!
BUT for those who hold Him as Father and Savior… those of us who sense His love for His creation… His concern for us day to day… we seek His provision out of humility and reverence to WHO He is as Creator and God!
It is NATURAL for us as humans to take our sustenance for granted…especially here in America where food is readily available and where drought has never been a major issue and where a seemingly unending supply of sustenance exists…
Even those of us who cannot afford to buy all the food we need, our government has stepped in and has said they would provide food… God is in authority over all kingdoms, so it is HIS hand in providing for those in need! We are truly blessed…
Now other places in the world this assurance is NOT so solid… many places around the world there are people who do NOT know where their next meal is coming from… they have NO assurance of bread today, much less tomorrow!
Of course we should also take into account that this prayer is NOT self-centered and it actually is also a prayer for those who are less fortunate and in need. So often, we are preoccupied with padding our own nest and feeding our own already overstuffed faces that we lose sight of those in true need.
I want us to take into consideration that Jesus said, “…give us this day our daily bread…” and He did NOT say, “…give me all I can ever want or desire so that I can stuff my face to my hearts’ content…”
Do you remember when Jesus was walking this earth and he saw people hungry and in need…what did He do? He FED them! He did NOT ignore their need… or judge their situation…
Can you imagine him preaching and when it was time to feed the crowds… and Jesus standing up and saying, “…well all of you who did NOT bring food, shame on you because you should have been prepared!”
How often is our prayer about provision limited to our own lives OR simply to those we believe ‘deserve’ God’s blessing! How often do we pray for the one on the street corner who is in need… more often than not our hearts jump immediately to judgment and condemnation and NOT to Lord please provide for this person…
One very practical way in which we can help to make this prayer very “REAL” in our lives and in the life of our church is that we become a fellowship that goes FAR PAST pious platitudes… and we start becoming the hands and feet of Christ in a world of need around us!
Now I know that Jesus was NOT focusing solely on the physical realm when he speaks to daily bread, but that this reference carries with it a double meaning!
Jesus DID meet physical need while here in this world, but that was NOT his primary function. His primary goal was to meet their spiritual need and the way Jesus DID this was that many times He could NOT reach their spiritual issues until he had addressed their physical issues!
Food for the body is important, but Jesus Himself, after fasting for 40days in the wilderness understood that the spiritual was FAR more important when He answered Satan’s temptation of food after 40 days without food… he said, “… man does not live by bread alone, but every word that comes out of the mouth of God…”
In other words, food is for the stomach and it has its place but true life comes from God’s word and incorporating God’s word into our hearts and lives far exceeds our need for physical sustenance.
The sad part is that MOST who read this prayer or think about this part of this prayer do NOT see this… but only see it as Jesus telling us to ask God to provide for us physically.
I don’t believe it was coincidence that Jesus referred to Himself as the ‘bread of life’… We are to feed on the Word of God and the presence of Jesus in our lives as much as we do the physical food we ingest everyday!
I believe we should look to our spiritual ‘feeding’ like the Children of Israel had to view ‘manna’ from heaven during their wilderness journey!
First… it is something we must seek out and collect EVERYDAY!
Second… it is best when gathered early
Third…each day was set aside for itself and you cannot gather and store it up for another day (except for the Sabbath)
Fourth… it is directly from God
We must seek out God’s sustenance for our lives each and every day, do it early in the day so as to sustain us throughout the day. We must realize that each day we need a separate provision to sustain us for THAT day and finally that this spiritual sustenance is not something we can produce but comes FROM God Himself!
This prayer addresses two subject simultaneously… a double edged sword of truth! Yes we must place our physical needs at the feet of God and trust Him to provide for us, but also we must know that we need Him in MORE than just the physical… we need him in our spirit to thrive in the physical realm!
What is bread? Bread is ‘crushed grain’ that ground into flour and mixed with yeast and baked into a loaf. Similarly Jesus became God’s grain, sent to be crushed and ground… to take on the yeast of sin and placed the furnace of death… only to rise and burst forth greater than He was when He entered the tomb! He is God’s bread for us!
I want you to think about this comparison… think about kernels of grain and a loaf of bread. We know that one leads to the other, but they are so very different… NOW… this is how different Jesus before the cross was compared to Jesus after the resurrection!
The life of the kernel of grain is limited to the time before it is crushed and milled into flour… so the life of Jesus was limited until it was crushed and milled to become the one who bore ALL sin for those who could not rid themselves of sin!
Thinking along these lines can make the Gospels come so much MORE alive to us…especially the Gospel of John, particularly ch 14-17… Christ is made REAL to me and becomes part of my life… His life becomes MY life!
So when we view this as the background from which Jesus is speaking about prayer and seeking provision from God… this prayer becomes a very potent and powerful plea from us to God…crying out for HIS life to be made evident IN us!
This is NOT a mere request for earthly food, but it is a deep yearning to be fed by God in all areas of our lives… a cry to the risen Savior each and every day to be made whole and fed by the One who provides ALL things!
Such a prayer cannot be conceived in the heart of humanity but had to be imparted to us by His Son… We are far to self centered and selfish to lay bare our need of Him on so many levels!
If we cry out like this daily… is it going to change who we are? YES! When we cry out for God to fill us daily within every part of our lives it is going to change us and our character will be more and more like the One who is providing for us…
We will become more and more like Christ and it will find expression out from our lives to the world around us… through my thoughts, my attitudes, my words and my actions! So wherever I walk, wherever I live, the warmth of Christ will be emanated from my heart and life!
The ‘daily bread’ we pray for in this prayer is fuel for not only the body but the soul to make profound changes upon our lives AND the lives of those around us!
You have heard the phrase, “You ARE what you eat…” well it is a truism that carries forward to our walk in Christ! When we dine on the manna from Heaven that God can and will provide we will become what God desires us to become!
Let us NOT forsake the daily bread that IS our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… Pray to close!
