Our Daily Bread
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
Intro
Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray, and here in this next petition.... this next request is for Bread. I think the 23rd Psalm illustrates well what Jesus is sharing with the disciples. The truth about God and his care for us and how he provides for us.....
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
God provides to the point that we shall not want… we lack nothing that he does not deem necessary for us to have.
The psalmist points out clearly that it is God that...
makes us lie down, he leads, he restores, He protects us, He prepares a table for us.......
Prayer is a platform for our dependency, thankfulness, and to request his providence.
In this verse/petition this morning, I want us to see a few things......
1. Depend on God
2. Keep us Alive
3. Give us this bread always!
Matthew 6:11 “11 Give us this day our daily bread,”
1. Depend on God
1. Depend on God
Give Us - Asking with expectation in God’s providence. We are not beggars hoping he will provide..... we are asking based on his providence.... “Grant US”..... Give Us (Asking him on behalf of what he said he would do).
Humans are dependent creatures to God our creator......
Infant to it’s mother...... we rely on the kindness of others to meet our needs. “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SELF-MADE MAN” - Al Mohler
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Do you hear the dependency we should have on God? We depend on God down to the very smallest of aspects in our life.... important aspects in our life.... what we are going to eat next, what we are going to wear next!
Let’s consider in the Bible those that were asked to depend on God....in extreme circumstances!..... Israel in the wilderness.... these words of Jesus “Give us our daily portion of bread,” comes from the book of Exodus and the children of Israel....
Like the Israelites in the Wilderness
Like the Israelites in the Wilderness
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
Discontent verse Content
20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
God gives us the daily portion we need.... the Israelites tried to hold onto more than they needed.... BUT God wanted them to depend on him for their daily portion… their daily bread..... The test isn’t how much can you store..... the test is how much you can trust and depend on God..... Content with his daily portion.
Grateful or Disappointed
Exodus 16:3 (ESV)
3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
I need thee every hour.... O I need Thee.... every hour I need thee....We are truly dependent daily on God!
Our Dependence of God’s providence leads to thanksgiving..... Are your prayers filled with Thanksgiving?
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
ACTS - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.....
Our Thanksgiving is a direct reflection on our understanding of God’s providential care on our life!
2. Keep us alive
2. Keep us alive
Keep us alive.....so that we may bring you Glory! Hallow your name! See your kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven!
Jesus moves from the transcendent heights of theological perspective of God and His name and down to the gluten on the plate.... the wheat.... the bread!
Matthew 6:11 (The Message)
11 Keep us alive
the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. - Martin Luther
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
What are your wants and what are your needs? The devil is a scheming, crafty, liar..... He wants you to think you have no need of God. Or he tries to convince you that what you want is really what you need.... Krystle used to visit home for young children in need of help growing in some ways.....dietitian helping parents know how to best feed them to see the results..... One day she got into a surprising discussion with a parent that was arguing that her child “candy”..... and Krystle being the dietitian was trying to communicate well that’s not true.... the response.... “Then why do they make it?”......
Right now...... I would say the majority of us have food at our house..... like you could find a random can of veggies, peanut butter....something in the deep freezer....
But that is not the case for everyone in the entire world...... People around the world go to bed each night wondering where the next meal will come from....... There is a story of orphans that would be anxious to go to bed because of their worry about the next days starvation. The orphanage began placing a small piece of bread in their hands when they went to bed.... to give them the mental understanding that there would be bread available when they awoke the next day...... It helped ease the anxious hearts of those children.
Our excess can put blinders on the truth that all things are from God...... We are to rely on God in faith.... not rely on God to fill our lives and the barns we build with more things..... He may give in abundance.... he may have times of need for us......
We will get answers from God in Prayer.... but not get everything answered with a yes from God…(J. Piper)
God is God.... His will be done
God is our good Heavenly Father..... He will not give us what we don’t understand, would hurt us, etc.
God’s answer tests our faith in HIM.. our dependency on HIM!
This is the progression Jesus brings us through in this prayer!
Philippians 4:11–13 (ESV)
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
3. Give us this bread always!
3. Give us this bread always!
Jesus is the bread of life....more than bread.... more than water.... more than food...... Will you choose the bread of life, JESUS HIMSELF!
Nothing we consume is silent about God. Every bite beckons us to enjoy something sweeter, more satisfying, more soul-sustaining: him. - Marshall Segal
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
When we pray for our daily bread.... our daily needs..... our daily reminder of the dependency of God for life..... It is an echo (Mohler) of the eternal bread that we need to be sustained by in Jesus HIMSELF. The true Manna from heaven..... if we believe in him we have eternal life!
You have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You sin deserves death and eternal separation from God. Yet in God’s kindness and His love for us He sent Jesus to live on this Earth, fully God and fully man, He was God in the flesh..... He is as Jesus claims the Bread of Life...... If we believe in him your sins are forgiven, if you believe in him He will never let you go for eternity, if you believe in Him and enjoy him as the bread of life your soul will be satisfied and full for eternity!
Let us feast of the bread of life!.....and echo the people that day in John 6 “GIVE US THIS BREAD ALWAYS!
Our prayer reveals our need of our Savior Jesus! - You wouldn’t need to pray if you were God..... but you are not.... prayer is the constant reminder that we are in need of a better relationship with God and that is only found through Jesus Christ!
Conclusion
Believe in Jesus this morning?
Obedient to be baptized or join our church!
Spend time with Jesus in prayer..... depending on him to keep you alive! For his providence!