Today, we are continuing our examination of the prayer pattern that Jesus gave us. And like we did with the past couple of sermons, we’ll be delving into just one verse today. One short, simple verse which says, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
The Lord’s Prayer is found in Matthew Chapter 6:9-13, but if you have your Bible and you want to follow along, I’ll be skipping past that today and going down to Matthew 6 verses 25-34 for today’s sermon. So, in actuality, we won’t be focusing on just one short, simple verse. We’ll be expounding on that verse with a related teaching that the Lord gave us.
As you’re turning there, I have some quotes that I would like to read to you:
J. C. Ferdinand Pittman
“A bell buoy rings only during storms. The beating of the waves and wind bring out the music that is within it, so too do trials reveal what is inside a person.”
Andrew Murray has a couple of quotes:
“In trial and weakness and trouble, He seeks to bring us low, until we learn that His grace is all, and to take pleasure in the very thing that brings us and keeps us low. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. His presence filling and satisfying our emptiness, becomes the secret of humility that need never fail.”
“The humble man has learned the secret of abiding gladness. The weaker he feels, the lower he sinks, and the greater his humiliations appear, the more power and the presence of Christ are his portion.”
Scripture:
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
I think the point is pretty clear here: Do Not Worry, God will provide. In The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray for ‘our daily bread.’
Remember back in the 70s, they used to call money, bread? And we often call our jobs our ‘bread and butter?’ The man of the house (at one time) was called the breadwinner.
I don’t know if they got those sayings from The Lord’s Prayer or not, but it’s the same idea. Jesus is asking that we pray for the Lord’s provision.
Remember when God miraculously fed His people from heaven in the Book of Exodus? He did so by giving them bread called manna.
R.C. Sproul said that After the Korean War ended, South Korea was left with a large number of children who had been orphaned by the war. Relief agencies came in to deal with all the problems that arose in connection with having so many orphan children. One of the people involved in this relief effort told [him] about a problem they encountered with the children who were in the orphanages.
Even though the children had three meals a day provided for them, they were restless and anxious at night and had difficulty sleeping. As they talked to the children, they soon discovered that the children had great anxiety about whether they would have food the next day. To help resolve this problem, the relief workers in one particular orphanage decided that each night when the children were put to bed, the nurses there would place a single piece of bread in each child’s hand. The bread wasn’t intended to be eaten; it was simply intended to be held by the children as they went to sleep. It was a “security blanket” for them, reminding them that there would be provision for their daily needs. Sure enough, the bread calmed the children’s anxieties and helped them sleep. Likewise, we take comfort in knowing that our physical needs are met, that we have food, or “bread,” for our needs.
He went on to remind us that, “Our Father has invited us to go to Him and ask Him for our daily bread. He will not fail to provide it.”
I’m reminded of Psalm 37 starting with verse 23, “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; 24 though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. 25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.”
In what we just read out of Matthew, some translations use the more famous phrase in verse 28, “Consider the lilies.” If we continue in Psalm 37 going down to verse 37, David says, “Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. 38 But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked. 39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in times of trouble.
“40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.”
You’ll notice in both the Psalms and in Jesus’ words in Matthew the correlation regarding God blessing His people with provision. I’ll talk about that again later, but first, I have been learning firsthand the faithfulness of God’s provision–whether I like the way I’m learning it or not is another story. It is difficult, but like physical training makes us physically stronger, spiritual training makes our faith stronger. God tells us it’s okay to ask for these daily provisions. And, though we should not test God, Jesus’ point in his teaching and through adding this in The Lord’s Prayer, he is telling us that we should ask and trust in him to provide.
Last week, I briefly quoted George Mueller, when he said, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of God’s willingness.” In other words, prayer is not trying to twist God’s arm.
God isn’t unwilling or stingy in giving us our daily provisions. He requires that we work, yes, but we all know that times are tough. A dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it used to, and it can be a little scary looking at our bank account and wondering where that money went and how we’re going to pay for our daily needs. I’m reminded of a tongue-in-cheek meme I saw this week which said, “If only my bank account could touch the hem of his garment.”
But if Jesus calls us to pray for something specific, then he’s telling us–without telling us–that the prayer is going to be answered. Why else would he tell us to pray for it? And by praying for our daily bread is praying for just that. In other words, in the Greek, this sentence implies day-by-day provision.
But thank God, as the old hymn says, “Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided: great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”
Speaking of George Mueller, I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth repeating: In the late 1800s George Mueller operated an orphanage that at one time had 1,000 orphans. One morning there was no food to eat, but he called all the children and staff together and prayed thanking God for the provision of food, even though no food was on the table. A few moments later a baker knocked on the door. He told Mr. Muller that God had led him to bake bread the night before and give it to the orphanage. Before the bread was given to the children, a milkman knocked on the door. He said that his milk truck had broken down and he wanted to give the milk to the orphanage.
George Muller gave thanks, even when it took faith to do so.
Have you ever had an instant like that? Maybe you’ve not even finished your prayer and you receive a phone call from someone on the other end who has the answer you’ve been looking for.
I think that’s an important lesson in the story. They prayed thanking God. Remember the first sermon I did in this series? Jesus wants us to stop for a moment and praise God before we ask for anything. I don’t know how worried George Mueller might have actually been. He might have been filled with faith, he might have been filled with fear. Either way, they prayed thanking God for the provision of food, even though they had no food.
Paul said in Philippians chapter 4: 6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I think that was the secret to George Mueller. He didn’t seem worried. The way this story reads, he seemed at peace. He seemed to have faith. And he took this passage to heart. In return, not only was God’s promise of provision with him, but God’s promise of peace was with him.
Enduring Word commentary said, “This peace doesn’t just surpass the understanding of the worldly man; it surpasses all understanding. Even the godly man can not comprehend this peace.”
Have you ever surprised yourself with how peaceful you are in times of trouble? Yes, even I am surprised at how God’s peace overcomes me sometimes. I sometimes wonder if there’s anything wrong with me. Shouldn’t I be worried now? I was worried a few moments ago. I was stressed out. Shouldn’t I be stressed out? Is this a sign of a mental breakdown?
No, it’s the sign of God’s peace at work.
When you look at The Lord’s Prayer, you’ll notice that it’s only in this one short sentence that Jesus tells us to pray for our physical needs. The rest is spiritual. But the intent in asking for our daily bread is not just bread–or food–it’s for everything we need for this physical body.
As Ray Steadman put it, “Bread here is a symbol of all the necessities of physical life. It includes more than mere bread; it stands for all that our physical life demands — shelter, drink, clothing — anything that the body requires. The vital concern in this area is that there be an immediate unbroken supply. So this prayer moves right at the issue when it says “Give us this day each day our daily bread.””
If we go back to the scripture verses that we read earlier about not worrying, we’ll find that Jesus says that the pagans seek after all these things, meaning food and clothing, and then Jesus said, “33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Do you see that there’s a correlation there? God, whom we address and acknowledge as our loving father at the beginning of The Lord’s prayer, wants to provide for His children. It’s what fathers do. Like I said last week, he doesn’t want to give us a snake, a scorpion, or a rock when we ask for bread. He wants to give us our daily bread and then some.
We also talked about “thy kingdom come” and what that means for us, in us, and through us. So there’s a correlation between “thy kingdom come, our daily bread” and “seek ye first the kingdom of God” and “all these things shall be added unto you.”
God wants to give good gifts to his children.
The NIV Application Commentary puts the Lord’s Prayer and Seek Ye First into perspective.
It says,
“The use of the imperative “seek” does not mean to look for something not present, for Jesus has already announced the arrival of the kingdom. In this context it means that his disciples are to make the kingdom of heaven the center of their continual, daily priorities. They have already entered the kingdom of heaven and are to live with that reality, drawing on God’s ordering of their daily lives. In doing so they will “seek … his righteousness.”
It goes on to say:
“When his disciples pursue God’s kingdom and his righteousness in their daily priorities and activities, they will have all of their needs met by their ever-caring, ever-watching heavenly Father.”
While I believe God wants to bless us with nice things, we need to remember that having the biggest and best doesn’t reflect your level of faith or your level of Christianity. Nor does having the least. What Jesus is talking about here is having your needs met, and as Paul reminded us, to be content with what we have no matter our situation.
And dealing with life’s difficulties is not punishment from God. In many cases, it’s God’s way of testing and refining our faith–like I said earlier about exercising our faith muscles.
Jesus said, “34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
We tend to focus on that last part, “each day has enough trouble of its own.” But why did Jesus say that? To tell us to “not worry about tomorrow.” And that’s why we need to pray for our bread, daily. The way this is worded in the Greek is a little redundant, so the translators make it more simple for English. But the translation here could read more accurately, “Our bread, that for the coming day, give us today.”
D. L. Moody knew the secret of spiritual “daily bread” writing, “A man can no more take a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough today to last him for the next 6 months, nor can he inhale sufficient air into his lungs with one breath to sustain life for a week to come. We are permitted to draw upon God’s store of grace from day to day as we need it!”
So remember, in praying for God’s provision, we are to also seek His kingdom. Not our own. In other words, I believe it was also Moody who said, “Prayer should be more than a wish list so if we pray as Jesus taught us, we’ll do much more than say, “Our Father, give us.””
That might be our relationship with Santa Claus, but it shouldn’t be our relationship with anyone we call, abba father.
It is The Father’s joy to provide for us. But I think the key to prayer on our part lies in these three things: thanksgiving, faith in God’s provision, and seeking above all, the Kingdom of God.
This is summed up rather succinctly in a well-known proverb, one of my favorites:
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Trusting in God’s provision requires action on our part. It is not passive, it is not easy and it is not always something that comes naturally. Leaning on our own understanding is. Submitting to him is not natural–especially in all our ways. Maybe some of our ways, but all of our ways?
I remember a few years ago, I hosted some area pastors here for a Bible study, and during the study, they referenced the song, “I surrender all” and how hard it is to really, truly sing that song. All? God, you want me to surrender all?
There’s a reason why God wants us to surrender all. It’s better for us to trust in God. It’s better for us in the long run to surrender everything. We’ll have a life of less worry, not because we have a life of less trial, but because we have learned to trust in Him. Through trials and through God’s faithfulness, we’ve exercised our faith muscles.
God wants to assure us that there is no need for worry. He’s got it under control. Unfortunately, the way God often wants to assure us that there is no need for worry is to make us panic. He may just intentionally break us. It’s like Evelyn when she trains horses. She has to break their spirit. She’s got to show them who’s boss. But if you do it right, it’s to show the horse that you’re a good and loving boss and your intention is to develop a relationship. It’s not just, “do as I say.”
God’s daily bread isn’t meant to be like the old Soviet Union where people stood in line for bread, and then went back home. God’s provision of daily bread should be based on our relationship with him as our abba, father; our bread-winner.
We need to, as much as we can, be thankful for the things we have and the promise of his goodness because of his love for us. Did the Soviets receive love or just provision in those bread lines?
I believe, that through that trust in God, through that loving relationship we have with ‘our Father who art in heaven,’ we will not only see today’s provision and tomorrow’s provision, but we will start to see with new eyes the provisions we have had all along with a greater clarity, which will bring us greater gratitude, greater faith, and–as another hymn says, “a closer walk with thee.”
