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.
3. Everything we know and understand comes from God’s Spirit.
4. God’s Spirit is our teacher.
5. There is no wisdom that does not come from the Holy Spirit.
6. There is no truth that does not come from the Holy Spirit.
7. Things like the theory of evolution and humanism come from man and they are in error.
8. Truth and wisdom come from God.
9. We are dependent upon God for all understanding and wisdom.
C. Elihu was right when he said that understand comes from the Spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty and then in verse 18 he said that because of that wisdom he was able to speak with wisdom.
1. Elihu said because he had received his wisdom from God, he was able to speak with wisdom.
2. Elihu said the Spirit of God compelled him to speak the wisdom he had been given.
3. Because the Spirit of God had taught him truth, he was able to speak wisdom to Job.
D. Do you see that God gave everything that we know that is right to us?
1. God gave you everything that you know that is the truth.
2. That is one thing that many people (including Christians) do not understand: everything we know that is truth comes from God.
3. We don’t know anything that we learned on our own!
4. There are so many people who think they know it all.
5. There are so many people who think they have a corner on the market of knowledge.
6. There are so many people who sit around and criticize the stupidity of others.
7. There are so many people who think that they are some how intellectually superior to others and can therefore criticize the lack of intelligence of others.
8. But the truth is that we don’t know anything that God didn’t teach us!
9. We are daily dependent upon God, because God sustains us with wisdom.
II. God Sustains us with the Breath of Life
Job 33:4 (NIV), The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
A. Elihu says that God made him and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.
1. David echoes this in Psalms 139:13 (NIV), For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
2. Jeremiah echoes it as well in Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV), "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
3. God created each of us in our mother’s wombs.
4. And God breathes the breath of life into each and every one of us.
5. And God has the power to remove that breath any time he chooses.
6. We are literally dependent upon God for our very next breath!
B. And Elihu points out that this in not just true for individuals but for mankind as a whole.
1. Job 34:14-15 (NIV), If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, 15 all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust.
2. Elihu said that if He wanted to, God could withdraw His Spirit and breath from all of mankind at once and the entire human race would be no more.
3. If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, 15 all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust.
4. Job 33:4 (NIV), The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
C. Man and his doctors think they have power over life and death, but if you’ve ever been in a hospital, you know differently!
1. Doctors don’t know how to save a life!
2. Doctors don’t know how to keep breath going.
3. Doctors can sometimes prolong the breath of life with machines and I.V.’s, but they have no power to maintain breath.
4. Sometimes we can breathe into someone else and bring them back, but only God determines when that breath we take or not.
5. We all instinctively know where to turn when life is on the line!
6. You may recall when Richard Pryor blew himself up filming a television commercial back in 1980. Later on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Pryor said, "All that I could think of was to call on God. I didn’t call the Bank of America once."
7. We are daily dependent upon God, because God sustains us with breath.
III. God Sustains us with Messages of Truth
Job 33:14-16 (NIV), For God does speak--now one way, now another-- though man may not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, 16 he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings,
A. Elihu said that God speaks to us continuously.
1. Elihu said that God speaks to us one way and then another way.
2. Elihu said that God speaks even though man may not hear it.
3. Elihu said that God speaks to us in dreams.
4. Elihu said that God speaks to us in visions.
5. Elihu said that God speaks to us in audible voices.
6. Elihu said that God speaks to us with terrifying warnings.
7. Hebrews 1:1-2 also says…In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
8. Hebrews says that God has spoken in various ways, but now he speaks through His Son.
10. God speaks through His Son in the Word of God.
11. God speaks to us through the written Word of God.
12. God speaks in various ways.
13. God speaks today through His Word, through dreams, visions, audible voices, through the Bible, and many other ways.
B. Man may not hear it, but God sustains us by speaking messages of truth to us.
1. When Jesus encourages us to daily seek bread from God, He is telling us to seek to hear from God daily.
2. Jesus is encouraging us to ask God to enable us to hear His messages.
3. Sometimes those are messages of blessing.
4. Sometimes those are messages of warnings of physical and spiritual danger.
5. But regardless of their content, we need to daily seek His guidance.
6. We need to daily seek His wisdom, His grace, His mercy, His instruction, His will.
7. God sustains us with messages of truth.
8. Not everyone hears them, but God does speak!
9. God sustains us with messages of truth.
IV. God Sustains us with Second Chances
Job 33:29-30 (NIV), "God does all these things to a man-- twice, even three times-- 30 to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him.
A. Now Elihu tells us that God gives us second and third and fourth and fifth chances.
1. God continually gives us second chances.
2. God gives us chances to turn our soul back from the pits of hell.
3. God gives us chances to let the light of life shine on us.
B. Praise God that He is the God of second chances!
1. Peter explained this thought in 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV), The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2. Our God is the God of second chances!
3. Our God sustains us with second chances.
Conclusion:
A. Those are just some of the ways we are dependent upon God for on a daily basis.
1. We need to seek God on a daily basis because we are 100% totally dependent on Him!
2. We need to beseech God daily to supply our needs!
3. Before we leave the book of Job, I must read the words of the Lord in chapter 38-41—these are the Words of the God that we are dependent upon!
4. I need as much of this God as I can get!
5. [read Job 38-41]
6. I need wisdom from that God!
7. I need breath from that God!
8. I need messages from that God!
9. I need second chances from that God!
10. I need everything I can get from that God!
11. I need Him everyday!
12. I need Him every hour!
13. I am totally 100% dependent on Him for my physical and spiritual bread!
14. I need to seek him daily!
B. [Joy Hard Won, Citation: Joni Eareckson Tada, "Joy Hard Won," Decision (March 2000), p.12, used by permission]
In Decision, Joni Eareckson Tada writes:
Honesty is always the best policy, but especially when you’re surrounded by a crowd of women in a restroom during a break at a Christian women’s conference. One woman, putting on lipstick, said, "Oh, Joni, you always look so together, so happy in your wheelchair. I wish that I had your joy!" Several women around her nodded. "How do you do it?" she asked as she capped her lipstick.
"I don’t do it," I said. "In fact, may I tell you honestly how I woke up this morning?"
"This is an average day," I breathed deeply. "After my husband, Ken, leaves for work at 6:00 A.M., I’m alone until I hear the front door open at 7:00 A.M. That’s when a friend arrives to get me up.
"While I listen to her make coffee, I pray, ’Oh, Lord, my friend will soon give me a bath, get me dressed, sit me up in my chair, brush my hair and teeth, and send me out the door. I don’t have the strength to face this routine one more time. I have no resources. I don’t have a smile to take into the day. But you do. May I have yours? God, I need you desperately.’"
"So, what happens when your friend comes through the bedroom door?" one of them asked.
"I turn my head toward her and give her a smile sent straight from heaven. It’s not mine. It’s God’s. And so," I said, gesturing to my paralyzed legs, "whatever joy you see today was hard won this morning."
I have learned that the weaker we are, the more we need to lean on God; and the more we lean on God, the stronger we discover him to be.
