Sermon Central
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The Lord's Prayer - Part 2 Series
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Jul 9, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: Today we will be taking a look at "Give us this day our daily bread" what it looks like as it is worked out in our daily lives and how it integrates with "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
Please continue standing as we read what is most commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer”
Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV)
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
Last week we took a look at verses 9b-10 and found
1) We pray to God the Father in heaven and Him alone
2) We come to Him in an attitude of humility, reverence and awe
3) The first priority on our prayer list is His Kingdom and that He has chosen us to be the conduits of His Kingdom coming to earth as it is in Heaven.
Today we take a look at verse 11 starting with:
“Give us today our daily bread.”
You’ve all heard a child screaming, “Give it to me! Give it to me!”
That is NOT the attitude of this sentence. Remember Who we are praying to, that He is Holy and to be revered and our deepest desire is for His Kingdom to flourish here on earth!
So, we are not to be demanding!
Nor are we to be expecting to pray the prayer and for a loaf of bread to fall out of the sky and plop down on the table in front of us!
But at the same time it IS a reminder that all of our provision comes from the LORD.
Even when the Lord sent manna to the Israelites in the wilderness they had to go out and pick it up. He doesn’t want a do-nothing people, He wants people who are eager to do whatever He asks!
We have already established that God will be bringing His Kingdom to earth through His children acting in obedience to His will and that is exactly the same way that He will provide our daily bread for us.
How will He provide our daily bread through us?
He will give us breath and health to live another day.
He will provide work for us to do.
If we don’t have work we will obediently work at finding the work He has for us to do.
Out of our love and reverence for Him we will work to the best of our ability, working as if we were serving God Himself!
As a benefit for accomplishing the work He has provided for us to do we will receive pay.
With that pay we will purchase bread for that day.
That is how He provides our daily bread through us!
Suppose a person does as it says in Proverbs 24:33
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest” and then they say the Lord’s prayer.
Will He provide the food for that person? Not according to the next verse …
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.”
Or as Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 3:10
“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’”
Now, when we look at the Lord’s prayer we see a thread running through it and that thread is the Lord and His kingdom.
Look at this! When you look closely at the sentence you notice that it does not say, “Give me today my daily bread!” but “Give us this day our daily bread.” As a matter of fact, from our perspective this entire prayer is written in the sense of the body of Christ, the church, and not just an individual.
How pathetic would the Kingdom of God be if we all operated as individuals apart from everyone else?
But, on the other hand, how mighty and unstoppable would be the Kingdom of God if we all came together in selfless unity under the Lordship of Our Father in Heaven!
Our nation has lost its moral compass. We see this in every avenue of life. The mantra of many people is looking toward Washington, DC and Albany and chanting, “Give me this day my daily bread and if you don’t I’ll vote you out of office and vote in someone who will.”
That is the final result of a self centered, self gratifying life.
Me, me, me!
In its simplest sense, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Can be interpreted as
1) God knows our needs, He is our Father and He will care for us
2) We don’t need to spend the day worrying about tomorrow because God will care for us tomorrow just as He did this day
