SERMON SERIES: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LORD’S PRAYER FOR DAILY LIVING
TODAY’S MESSAGE: GOD’S PROVISION IS MORE THAN BREAD
TEXT: MATTHEW 6:12; JOHN 19:28-29
FEBRUARY 26, 2006
DR. KEN SQUIRES, JR. (SQUIRESKD@INTEGRITY.COM)
(READY TO POST. PROOF FIRST)
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
‘Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals. (care for the present)
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. (care for the past)
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. (care for the future)
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.’
(Matthew 6:7-13 The Message)
At the heart of the second half of the Lord’s Prayer is the topic of daily bread, forgiveness for our debts, and not being led into temptation. In The Message Bible they are identified as
Keep us alive
Keep us forgiving
Keep us safe.
I want to suggest a couple of outlines that work for memorization and alliteration: Provision, Pardon, and Protection or Supply, Salvation, and Security. If they work use them!
28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. (John 19:28-29)
Thank you, John. We owe you a debt of gratitude for giving us the human side of Jesus; for reminding us that Jesus was more than supernatural, more than sinless, more than a sufferer, more than a sin bearer. John really messed up the sayings on the cross when He slipped this one in. It sounds too simple. It is easily overshadowed by the BIG SIX: forgiveness, salvation, care for mom, anguish, completion, and trust. He is more than a Savior; He is a man like you and me.
God came along and made it clear that He understands where you live. Jesus is so much more than stained glass pictures of the Savior holding a lamb. He is so much more than a cosmic God who has declared Himself to be without sin. Just when you thought he was only limited to clouds, the galaxy, or some 4th dimension beyond our comprehension, a knock came to your door and the messenger said, “He was human.” He was tired. He was sleepy. He was angry. He was hungry.
The reason that God’s provision of daily bread is so real is because the Savior also relied upon that provision. Don’t forget it! This prayer of provision is so human, so real, and so basic. Jesus knew what it was like to pray this prayer and have this need: Give us this day our daily bread. Whether the background for the text was the Wilderness Wanderings or Jesus own time in the desert at the Temptation, this and many other biblical texts give us a glimpse of what Jesus was thinking when He said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” One of the key elements to understand what Jesus was thinking is to emphasize the human side of his life. A brief glimpse of the Savior’s humanity gives us confidence that God is interested in our base needs:
I’m tired…
4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) –(John 4:4-6,8)
“I’m tired-I can’t go another step. You guys go into town and get some burgers and fries. I’ll stay at this well and just rest.” It was about noon. They had been traveling the better part of the morning. Jesus was trying to put as much distance between the church growth pundits as possible. They had been looking over the reports to see who was baptizing more, John or Jesus.
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. (John 4:1-2-NIV)
He needed rest. He was tired like you and me. Perhaps He walked with a limp. For some time the disciples had seen that He was slowing down. Now He was alone. To His surprise along came a woman at mid-day carrying an empty pot - and an empty heart.
Tucked deep into the interior of this prayer is a radical transition from the will of God to the need of man. Please note: doing God’s will is not somehow placed on a higher spiritual plane than asking for daily bread.
As we move towards our three applications, I want to remind you of a couple of preliminary insights that are conditions to this provision.
Conditions to the Daily Bread Provision
First, the daily bread provision is as much about God meeting your need as God enjoying fellowship with you. God is hoping that by needing Him daily you will also fellowship with Him personally. The prayer is about a relationship with a father and child. The importance of the prayer is that it keeps us in touch with Dad!
Luke 15 reminds us that a son who enjoys the gifts of Dad’s greenbacks but forgets about the grace of Dad’s company until he has exhausted his resources and needs more can seriously injure a father.
Second, the daily bread provision comes with an expectation: wants supplied, wealth shared. If you want an answer to your request for daily bread, you must share your resources with God. To receive daily, you have to give weekly (tithe - 1 Corinthians 16:2).
I wonder what God thinks when we pray for daily bread but are unwilling to live in daily obedience to giving - tithing? Many Christians never realize that God’s promises, often in the form of provisions, come with a condition:
I am suggesting that when you “cast your bread upon the water it will come back to you.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1)
In old age you will be able to testify like David, “I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread.”(Ps. 37:25)
Finally, the daily bread provision is really not only about food, it is about faith. What are you trusting God for that only He can bring about? God tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that your father knows you need those things: food, shelter, and clothes. What God is attempting to grow in us is a relationship of trust. Will we really trust Him?
I have identified three reasons why you can take a radical leap of faith and trust God even for your daily bread.
Jesus Values Our Humanity
1. Jesus can identify with you and intercede for all your needs.
15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4: 15 NIV).
Jesus experienced all that you will ever go through. When you are tempted, tired, lonely, hungry, and feel like giving up, he fully understands.
Take note of those words - just as we are. Notice the word of hope - yet was without sin. That’s worth shouting about. Jesus started his earthly ministry hungry and ended his earthly ministry thirsty. Your need for daily bread is no small prayer to Him.
How important is this to God? God considers this so important that He would place the phrase daily bread, which is found only in this text in the New Testament, as a key signal He’s saying, I’ve got you covered. You are in good hands. I’m not overlooking a thing. If I employ a grammatical usage that only shows up one time - I’ll make it happen.
It is so easy for this provision to be overlooked because of the wealth of the western world. Daily bread, who needs that when you have 26 kinds of bread at Safeway and you don’t even include bread in your diet; shame on you!
This request for bread was set in an altogether different culture. At the writing of this text all laborers were paid daily. The wages were so abysmally low that the income often didn’t go any further than a family grocery list for one day. Add to that a society that was agriculturally driven and when a crop failure meant sure disaster. This was no prayer of rhetoric to a follower of Christ. It was their life.
As we drive our BMW’s, live in our $400,000 homes, and offer our kids unlimited sports opportunities, praying “Give us this day our daily bread” somehow just doesn’t feel right. Some of us can’t remember the last time we had a daily bread need.
Need I remind you that under the surface this prayer is more than deciding between wheat or rye? More than hoping there are some day old Krispy Kremes to buy or more than remembering to pick up some bread from the gleaners table on your way out of the church today. Jesus is teaching us to learn how to lean on God to meet all our physical needs.
Perhaps Martin Luther can help us with what he had in mind concerning this text in 1529:
What does daily bread mean? Everything that nourishes our body and meets our needs, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, yard, field, cattle, money, possessions, devout spouse and kids, devout employees and faithful rulers, good government, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these…
2. Jesus’ life shows us that our human nature is not to be despised.
31So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:31-RSV)
God approves of your human nature. From the days of Plato and Aristotle mankind has elevated the spirit and soul and devalued humanity. The net result was that matter or the physical component of man’s being was considered to be bad.
Remember what Paul said to the Corinthians, in whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV)
The best thing some of you could do is get a good night’s sleep. Others of you might just need some Christ-honoring recreation. Maybe coloring with your kids will put you back at the top of their list of the most influential people in their lives. Go on and eat. Go ahead and play. Your physical needs are not be despised.
I’m sleepy…
37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:37-38)
For the last half-hour he had been nodding off. It had been a long day. The crowds were large. The teaching was simple. And the weather was perfect. As the sun settled over the Sea of Galilee sleep caught the Son of God by surprise. He made a gesture and nodded that He was going to sleep. He was out like a light. His sleep was so deep that the storm that swept down from Mt. Hermon didn’t even cause Him to turn over. The white water that left spray in their faces didn’t even cause Him to sigh. Not even the tossing of the boat was enough to get His attention. It was only the desperate screams from his friends, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” that could penetrate His dreams and wake Him from His slumber.
3. Jesus only satisfied His physical needs on the cross, in order to accomplish a more noble cause. “It is finished.”
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
After three long, grueling hours of carrying our sin, only then did He look for relief for His own needs. Jesus was about to announce what God was going to accomplish through His death. In order, for Him to make that declaration, He had to be heard. It was at this moment that He said, “I thirst.” He wanted a drink in order to open His parched throat so He could declare a statement of triumph: “It is finished.” Jesus only satisfied His physical needs when it was used to accomplish a more noble cause. What an incredible model on how to submit our physical needs to the on-going work of the spirit in our lives.
If this prayer reminds us of nothing else, it reminds me that I can’t live a day without God’s blessing, presence, and provision. You must learn to live somewhere between utter anxiety and satisfied self-sufficiency. God wants you to know, dear one, that this is not simply soul salvation it is whole salvation. God offers provisions for your spirit, soul, and body - daily bread.1
Finally, I can’t help but notice that without God we can do nothing, and without our prayers God will do nothing!
And when you pray, say, “Our Father, which art in heaven.. …give us this day our daily bread…
Don’t make the mistake that so many Christians slip into by thinking that God our Father gives us His gift of salvation and provision in one lump sum then we just go off and live on that gift. This thinking is as dangerous as attempting to walk on thin ice. The thin ice we are walking on is enjoying God’s gift and forgetting the Giver of the gift, God Himself.
God’s gift is a deposit of His grace placed in you for safekeeping. Your salvation is the opening of an account from which you can make regular withdrawals. Each time you need a transaction from the account you must fill out a withdrawal slip in the form of prayer – “give us this day; forgive us our debt; lead us not into temptation.” God offers you salvation and forgiveness of sins instantaneously, the provision of your needs happens daily.
Summary Thoughts
1. First, the daily bread provision is as much about God meeting your need as God enjoying fellowship with you. God is hoping that by needing Him daily you will also fellowship with Him personally. The prayer is about a relationship with a father and child. The importance of the prayer is that it keeps us in touch with Dad!
2. God approves of your human nature. From the days of Plato and Aristotle mankind has elevated the spirit and soul and devalued humanity. The net result was that matter or the physical component of man’s being was considered to be bad.
Remember what Paul said to the Corinthians, in whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV)
The best thing some of you could do is get a good night’s sleep. Others of you might just need some Christ-honoring recreation. Maybe coloring with your kids will put you back at the top of their list of the most influential people in their lives. Go on and eat. Go ahead and play.
Surprising Thoughts
1. Tucked deep into the interior of this prayer is a radical transition from the will of God to the need of man. Please note: doing God’s will is not somehow placed on a higher spiritual plane than asking for daily bread.
2. Second, the daily bread provision comes with an expectation: wants supplied, wealth shared. If you want an answer to your request for daily bread, you must share your resources with God. To receive daily, you have to give weekly (tithe - 1 Corinthians 16:2).
3. As we drive our BMW’s, live in our $400,000 homes, and offer our kids unlimited sports opportunities, praying “Give us this day our daily bread” somehow just doesn’t feel right. Some of us can’t remember the last time we had a daily bread need.
End Notes
1. William Barclay. Gospel of Matthew. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1975, pg. 217
