Living The Lord’s Prayer, Part-4, Mathew 6:6-13
“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
Introduction
There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I. A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend. “My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer,” she answered.
The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, “Write it on paper, and I will weigh it.” To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, “I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby.”
The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down. He became angry and flustered and finally said, “Well, that’s all the scale will hold. Here’s a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy.”
With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed. After that the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident.
Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales? The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers. And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman’s prayer had been written—simple words, but from a heart of faith, “Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread.”
Transition
From whence does our sustenance come? From where does our help come? “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalms 121:1-2 NIV)
The Life Application Study Bible comments on this passage say it very well, very succinct. “When we pray ‘Give us today the food we need,"’ we are acknowledging that God is our sustainer and provider. It is a misconception to think that we provide for our needs ourselves. We must trust God daily to provide what he knows we need.”
This morning we will be talking about the Lord’s provision. Few biblical subjects are of more immediate value, practical relevance, than that of the nature and manner of the Lord’s provision for this life.
In keeping with the text, our focus this morning will be squarely upon the Lord’s provision not for eternal life, not for spiritual empowerment, but on the practical daily matters of this life; “Give us today, our daily bread.”
Exposition
Just two verses prior to our focus today, “Give us today, our daily bread” Jesus says, “Do not be like them, [the pagans who think that they will be heard for their many words] for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8 NIV) If God knows our need, why pray for His provision?
If God knows our needs and He is concerned with them then what is the purpose of praying that God would give us this day our daily bread? There are two key elements in this text that reverberate with other teachings of Jesus:
(1) Acknowledgement of God’s provision. The first three areas of focus for the Lord’s Prayer are acknowledgement not to be self-focused but God-honoring in our lives. Our Father who art in heaven, Holy is your name; your Kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
The first half of the Lord’s Prayer is a declaration of God’s holiness, our need to be Kingdom-minded, and likewise the importance of His will, not ours being at the center of our aims for this world and our lives individually.
While the next three areas of the Lord’s Prayer focus more specifically on our needs, the focus is still strictly upon God. Praying for our daily bread is not just asking for our sustenance. It is acknowledgment of the source of it.
Praying for our forgiveness, as we will see next week, is not just praying for our forgiveness but our acknowledgment of where our forgiveness comes from and it is further a declaration of our willingness and calling to participate in it.
Praying for protection from temptation is likewise a request on our part that God would keep us from temptation in order that we might more fully, more completely, bring glory and honor to His name!
The Lord’s Prayer is an exemplar prayer. That is that we are not only called to pray this prayer but to pray this way. The word of God is alive. The teaching of Christ is far more dynamic than merely an instruction to pray exactly these words.
The entire prayer is giving us a way of praying as well as a specific pattern for prayer. All of the contents of the Lord’s Prayer are declarations of God’s provision, acknowledgement of His goodness and glory!
The Lord’s Prayer is an exercise in adoration because our lives are to be as well.
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Philippians 4:19-20 KJV) Even in this passage the supply or provision of God for the daily needs of this life is inexorably connected to the glory of God.
Note:
There is the tendency on the part of some in the church today to confuse these two concepts. There are those who treat the God of the universe, the Lord of our salvation, the God of all glory and goodness as though He were a slot machine.
Don’t get it wrong. We do not praise God because of what He gives us or in hopes that He will give us something. The primary aim of God in the universe is to glorify Himself; to bring attention to His ultimate worth. His primary means of glorifying Himself in us is to allow us to be fully satisfied in Him; His love, His grace, the fullness of His indwelling presence within.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7-10 NIV) We cannot live a life devoid of obedience and expect great blessing. The modern prosperity health, wealth, and prosperity Gospel is not the Gospel. It is a perversion of the provision of God.
It is a focus on the worth of the earthly gift to the exclusion of the unsurpassable worth of God’s love, grace, and life within us. The blessing of God may not be material wealth. God may grant great prosperity to some of the sake of blessing others, being a channel of blessing.
However, He may very well allow a man or woman with a disobedient heart to get the glory which his greed demands simply to turn that man over to the curse of wealth without contentment. Material wealth can be a gold medallion, the weight of which causes a man to stumble, fall, and drown in the raging torrents of the waters of despair!
O, how much more grand it is to wear beggar’s clothing with contentment than to be clothed in the finest garments which the world has to offer only to be so well dressed for the banquet of one’s own destruction!
“If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (I Timothy 6:3-6 NIV)
(2) Recognition that just as God’s provision is for today, so our focus should be on resting in His goodness and glory, today.
“So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:31-34 NIV)
Conclusion
The story is told of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” he asked. “Because I’ve caught enough fish for today,” said the fisherman. “Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?” the rich man asked. “What would I do with them?” “You could earn more money,” came the impatient reply, “and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me.”
The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?” “You could sit down and enjoy life,” said the industrialist. “What do you think I’m doing now?” the fisherman replied. Contentment, not wealth is the pathway to peace.
It is not a matter of letting go of responsibility but letting go of anxiety. It is not a matter of being a “do nothing” but trusting the Lord completely with the results of all that we do, empowered by His Spirit, reliant on His sovereign provision, concerned not primarily with our needs but His glory.
We know all the while that God shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in Christ – both our physical and our spiritual needs.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” Father, I acknowledge that all that I have, all that I am, is yours and comes from you. I turn my life over to your glory, your kingdom, you will, this day and trust you to supply my needs for this day.
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24 NIV) Whatever your need is, God is not calling you to fret and panic, but to daily, moment by moment, resting in His sovereign grace and glory.
Our personal, loving, almighty, glorious, holy, Father, may your will be done in our life just as it is in Heaven. Father, we acknowledge that our daily needs are provided at your hand and we humbly choose to rest in your provision now, in this moment, and now in this moment, concerned with bringing glory to you in our immediate circumstances now, today. Amen.
