Preached by Gregory W. Lee
28 August 2005
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6
9. "This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10. your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11. Give us today our daily bread.
12. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. '
-- back when Col Sanders was still alive, Kentucky Fried Chicken was going through bad times -- for three straight months, he watched as sales of chicken in his restaurants continued to drop -- so, he one day, he gets an idea and he calls up the Pope and asks for a favor.
-- The Pope said, "What can I do?" -- Colonel Sanders said, "I need you to change the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken'. If you do it, I'll donate 10 Million Dollars to the Vatican."
-- The Pope replied, "I am sorry. That is the Lord's prayer and I can not change the words."
-- So, Colonel Sanders hangs up -- After another month of dismal sales, the Colonel panics, and calls again. -- "Listen your Excellency. I really need your help. I'll give you $50 million dollars if you change the words of the daily prayer from 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken.'"
-- The Pope responded, "It is very tempting, Colonel Sanders. The church could do a lot of good with that much money. It would help us support many charities. But, again, I must decline. It is the Lord's prayer, and I can't change the words."
-- So the Colonel gives up again. After two more months of terrible sales. the Colonel gets desperate. -- "This is my final offer, your Excellency. If you change the words of the daily prayer from, 'Give us this day our daily bread' to 'Give us this day our daily chicken', I will donate $100 million to the Vatican."
-- The Pope replied, "Let me get back to you." -- The next day, the Pope called together all of his bishops and he said, "I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that KFC is going to donate $100 million to the Vatican." -- The bishops rejoice at the news. Then one of them asked what the bad news was -- The Pope replied, "The bad news is that we lost the Wonder Bread account."
-- this morning, we're going to be continuing our series on the Lord's Prayer and we're going to be looking at our petition to God -- "Give us this day our daily bread" -- in this petition that Jesus has told us to pray to God, I believe that He wants us to keep in mind two things:
II. Our Daily Bread
-- first, I think He wants us to understand what He meant by the term "our daily bread"
-- I told you that opening joke just to help make you aware that this petition is not just about food -- it's not really about bread or about chicken or about us just getting something to eat -- it's about something more than that -- it is about depending on God -- and God alone -- for our daily sustenance -- for all the things that we need to keep us alive both physically and spiritually
-- in the wilderness when Satan tried to tempt Jesus to turn the stones into bread, Jesus said, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' -- this prayer, then, is about more than just food -- it is about everything that we need on a daily basis from God
-- if you will notice, this is the only place in this entire prayer where we actually ask God to give us something -- in the first part of the prayer, Jesus taught us to praise God and to pray that His kingdom and His will would be made manifest on earth as it is in heaven
-- in the rest of this prayer, Jesus tells us to ask for forgiveness and protection from temptation and sin and evil
-- this is the only place where we make our daily needs known to God -- and we all know that we need more than just food to live
-- when you pray, "Give us our daily bread" you are asking Him to provide all the physical things that you need to stay alive -- food -- water -- air -- a place to live -- a place to sleep -- clothing -- protection from the elements -- protection from sickness and disease -- all the other physical things that you need in your life just to survive
-- but, it means more than that, too -- as Jesus pointed out, "Man does not live on bread alone" -- and when we pray this prayer, it means that we are asking for the other things in our life that we need -- the things that make life worth living -- family -- friends -- love -- mercy -- forgiveness -- grace -- daily communion with our God and our Creator
-- when you pray, "our daily bread" -- you are asking God to give you everything that you need to stay alive -- both physically and spiritually -- and it means that you are trusting in God's power and ability to provide what you need on a daily basis
III. Give Us This Day
-- this is the second thing that I think Jesus wanted us to recognize in this phrase -- in its most basic form, this petition is a cry of faith in God -- it is a cry of trust in the power of God to sustain us and give us exactly what we need in our lives when we need it
-- God's desire is to bring us to the point where we are in total dependence on Him for all the things in our life -- to bring us to the point where we don't worry about the future or what we will eat or what we will wear because we trust in Him and in His providence on a daily basis
-- a marvelous picture of this is seen in the Old Testament, and when Jesus taught this prayer to His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount, I expect that they immediately thought about this example -- about God providing food to the Israelites in the desert
-- as you probably remember, after God had led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, they were in the wilderness and they didn't have any food -- the people complained to Moses and Moses prayed to God to provide food for the nation of Israel
-- in Exodus 16:4, it reads, "the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions."
-- and the next morning, the Bible says that after the dew was gone, the Israelites saw flakes like frost covering the ground -- they didn't know what it was -- so Moses told them, "this is the bread that the Lord has provided to you" -- they called it "manna" and noted that it tasted like wafers made with honey
-- and God used this event to teach the children of Israel to trust in His divine providence -- the manna would only last for one day -- if they tried to keep it for more than one day, it would rot and maggots would fill the jar where the manna was kept -- so, every single day, the Israelites would have to get up and gather enough manna -- enough bread -- to sustain them for that day
-- God provided their daily bread on a daily basis -- teaching them that He would meet all their needs when they came up and not before -- teaching them not to worry but to trust in Him
-- now, we have a hard time with that, don't we -- we find it hard to trust God to provide our needs on a daily basis -- I know that this is something that I struggle with in my own life -- there's not much that I'm good at, but I am good at worrying -- the Apostle Paul said that he was the chief of sinners -- I'm the chief of worriers -- I can come up with more gloom and doom predictions of the future and more things to worry about than anyone else -- but God is working on me -- and He's trying to get me to see that I should trust in Him every day to provide what I need and not to worry about the future but to simply trust in Him -- to simply pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" and trust that He will bring it to pass
-- evidently, this was a problem with the disciples, too
-- look down at verse 25 here in Matthew 6:25-34
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 important than food, and the body more important 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. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
28. "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies 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, O 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.
-- after teaching them to pray and to trust God to provide, Jesus makes a point here of telling His disciples not to worry about the things of life
-- in essence, He was saying, "God knows what you need -- and God knows when you need it -- and when you pray to Him and make your needs known to Him then He will meet those needs on His timetable -- you'll have the food to eat when you need it -- the water to drink when you need it -- the clothes to wear when you need them -- if God provides all that to the birds and to the plants, don't you think He'll take care of you, too -- if God provided manna for the Israelites every single day, don't you think He will provide what you need, too -- so don't worry about tomorrow -- just trust in Him today"
-- the same holds true in our spiritual lives, as well -- have you ever heard the phrase, "grace for the moment?" -- that means that God doesn't give you grace to get through a situation until you need it -- but when you need it, then He will give it to you at that moment
-- I am currently reading a book by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of the organization, "The Voice of the Martyrs" -- in this book, he recounts his experiences in a Romanian prison suffering torture and abuse because of his faith in Christ -- he points out that he did not know if he would have the strength to withstand the torture and the imprisonment, but that God gave him the strength at just the moment he needed it
-- that's exactly what He does for us, too -- God doesn't give you the grace and the strength to deal with a death in your family until you face a death in your family -- He doesn't give you the grace and strength to face a severe sickness until you actually come face to face with that sickness -- He doesn't give you the grace and strength to withstand anything until you actually need it -- that is why it says in Lamentations 3:23, "God's compassions and mercies are new every morning" -- they come to us just like the manna did to the ancient Israelites
-- when we pray, "Give us this day, our daily bread" -- we are also asking for God to give us the grace that we need to make it through that day -- He knows exactly what trials and tribulations and temptations that we are going to face that day -- and He knows what we need for that day -- it would do no good for Him to give us grace now to handle a situation that may come up in the future -- that is why Jesus tells us in verse 34, "don't worry about tomorrow -- today has enough troubles of its own"
IV. Closing
-- so, in closing, let us join together in prayer realizing the two great truths that Jesus taught in this short petition, "Give us this day, our daily bread" -- Jesus taught us that we need more than just food and water and air to survive -- there are other needs in our life that only God can meet -- spiritual and relational needs that give us a purpose and a meaning for life -- and that we should trust Him to provide those needs to us on a daily basis
-- and, secondly, Jesus taught that we should not worry about the future, but simply to go through each day trusting that God will provide what we need at the moment we need it -- He will not only meet our physical needs as they come up, but He will also give us grace for the moment -- spiritual help in times of trials, troubles, and tribulations to meet what that day will hold
-- from now on, when you pray this prayer, remember that this is a statement of your faith and your trust in the providential power of God and boldly step forward into each new day with this knowledge deep within your heart
-- may God use it to sustain you and bless you in the days to come
-- let us pray
No comments:
Post a Comment