REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:7-13)
REVIEW:
As partners with the Triune God in governing the world, Jesus gave us three standard prayer requests of highest priority that should be prayed for daily:
(1) That the Triune God be honored and revered throughout the world
(2) That His kingdom would come throughout the world
(3) That his desired will be done through the world.
Prayer is one of God’s gifts to us, His way to honor us, to show us His love. It enables us to play a role in the outcome of events. But there are some good reasons God doesn’t answer all our prayers. By not answering all our prayers He avoids being evil, abdicating, turning prayer into magic and feeding our selfishness.
We must focus on our Bible Study, meditation on and memorization of the Word of God. By so doing we feed our faith, avoid sin and know the mind of God.
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. Interpreting the phrase “Give us This Day Our Daily Bread”
2. Our Father Condescends to Meet Our Needs
3. Our Father is the Source of All We Need to Live
4. Our Father Cares for Our Physical Needs
5. Our Father Wants Us to Depend on Him Every Day
6. Our Father Wants Us to Live in Moderation
7. Our Father Wants Us to Pray for the Needs of Others, to Live in Community
8. Our Father Wants us to Pray Daily for Our Daily Needs
OUR DAILY BREAD!
INTRODUCTION
STORY: The President of the College of Cardinals was approached by the VP of marketing for Kentucky Fried Chicken. The VP offered to pay the Pope and the Catholic Church $500 million if the word “bread” in the Disciple’s Prayer could be changed to “chicken.” Thus hundreds of millions would be praying “Give us this day our daily chicken.” The President of the College of the Cardinals took the request to the pope. After much discussion with the Pope the President came back to the VP from Kentucky Fried Chicken and said that the going price was $1 billion. The VP took this new figure to his CEO and KFC who agreed with the new offer. The VP informed the President of the College of Cardinals who then returned to the Pope and said, “I have both good news and bad news.” “What do you mean?” the Pope asked. He responded, “Kentucky Fried Chicken agreed to pay us one billion to change “bread” to “chicken” in the prayer. That is the good news. The bad news is that we lost the Wonder Bread account.”
Some see the Trinity in both sections of this prayer: The Father’s name is to be hallowed, the Kingdom of Christ is to come and the Holy Spirit so moves in the world enabling the will of the Triune God to be done. Then the Father provides daily bread, the son provides forgiveness and the Spirit leads us away from temptation and evil.
Of the second half of the prayer Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, “Our whole life is found there in these three petitions, and that is what makes this prayer so utterly amazing. In such a small compass our Lord has covered the whole life of the believer in every respect. Our physical needs, our mental needs and our spiritual needs are included. The body is remembered, the soul is remembered, and the spirit is remembered. And that is the whole of man.” (As quoted by James Boice, Pg. 189)
Another writer said it refers to the past: “forgive us our sins”; to the present: “give us this day our daily bread”; and to the future: “lead us not into temptation.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones again writes: That is the true way to look at a person’s life. I am alive and I must be kept alive. But then I am conscious of guilt and unworthiness and feel the need to be cleansed from that. Then I think of the future and realize that I need to be delivered from certain things that face me there. (MLJ, 69)
I. INTERPRETING THE PHRASE “GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.”
You would think this would be easy but there have been several interpretations. The main reason is that ancient Bible scholars and church fathers (Jerome, Tertullian, Augustine, Cyprian) felt that there is no way that Jesus would be talking one moment about the sublime: the glory of the Triune God, His kingdom and His will and then stoop to talk about something as crass and mundane as the literal bread needed by His creatures. So here are some of their interpretations:
1. The bread refers to the (super-substantial, that is more than physical) bread of the Lord’s Supper.
2. The bread – the spiritual food of the Word of God. (Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord to me.)
3. The bread – Jesus himself since Jesus called himself “the bread of life.” (John 6:33-35)
4. The bread – the heavenly kingdom, the Jewish idea of eating bread in the kingdom (Luke 14:15)
The Reformers said that the interpretations of the early church fathers was wrong. Calvin commented on the spiritualizing of “bread” by saying, “This is exceedingly absurd.” (Stott, 149)
Luther wrote that bread was a symbol for everything we need for the preservation of life like food, a healthy body, good weather, clothing, house, home, family, good government, peace. (Stott, 149).
“Bread” certainly means our physical food and can be a symbol for everything that is necessary for a person to live in the world.
But it needs to be said that the prayer is relating to our daily “needs,” not to luxuries.
The word “daily” also poses a problem.
The Greek word is epiousios. There is no other occurrence of the word, so Jerome, the great translator of the Bible into Latin, felt that Matthew invented the word, that is, he coined it himself.
At some time this century a papyrus fragment turned up with this word on it. As they studied the fragment they realized that it was a woman’s shopping list telling which items to buy for the coming day.
There are variations of the phrase, e.g. does it mean today or for tomorrow. Here are some translations:
Give us each day our daily bread … (Lk. 11:3); Give us today our daily bread (Mt. 6:11); … every day bread for our needs …; Daily grant us food for the coming day; … our bread for the morrow, day by day (Moffat); … day after day, our bread for the day (Wms).
TABLE ACTIVITY: List as many principles as you can about the life of the Christian based on the verse “Give us this day our daily bread.” List both the obvious and also “implied” principles. But if you list an implied principle make sure it is valid.
1. We need humility; 2. God condescends to mankind; 3. We must live moderately; 4. We must put our faith and trust in God; 5. We must live in dependence on God; 6. We must labor for or daily bread; 7. God expects us to be generous; 8. We need the Bread of Life daily; 9. God is the source of our Daily Bread; 10. We are to pray for our daily bread; 11. God plans to provide for us daily
II. OUR FATHER CONDESCENDS TO MEET OUR NEEDS
When we pray for something as mundane as daily bread we are making an amazing statement about the goodness of God.
To think that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe is concerned that I have adequate food, clothing, shelter is amazing.
The natural mind cannot fathom how the Almighty God can concern himself with bread. The Bible says that God notes every sparrow that falls to the ground, every hair on our head, every tear that we shed. He is a God of the smallest of details and knows all about our daily needs.
“Is not this one of the most wonderful things in the whole of Scripture, that the God who is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the God who is forming His eternal kingdom and who will usher it in at the end, the God to whom the nations are but ‘the small dust in the balance’ – that such a God should be prepared to consider your little needs and mine even down to the minutest details in this matter of daily bread!” (MLJ, 70).
“For this is what the high and lofty One says – he who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isa. 57:15)
III. OUR FATHER IS THE SOURCE OF ALL WE NEED TO LIVE
When we pray “Give us this day our daily bread” we are acknowledging that God our Father is the source of all we need.
QUESTION: What is one key story in the OT that points to God as our provider? In the story He is called “The LORD will provide.”
ILL: In the story of the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis God provided a ram caught in a thicket as a substitute for Isaac and thus Isaac’s life was spared by God. Abraham was so amazed that he called the name of the place: The LORD Will Provide or Jehovah-Jireh. We all can daily call the Triune God by this name – Jehovah-Jireh, Our Provider!
“Father” also refers to the individual in a family who is the “Source” of provision, at least this was certainly so in past history. The “Father” worked to provide for the family. And in the case of this prayer the “Father” is seen as the source of daily bread.
We are all to work. The Bible is clear about that. But the Bible also states: But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth ….” (Deut. 8:18). “ … The God who made the world and everything in it …. He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:24-25).
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father ….” (James 1:17).
IV. OUR FATHER CARES FOR OUR PHYSICAL NEEDS
QUESTION: What Biblical proof do we have beyond this prayer that God cares for our physical needs?
Jesus abruptly changes from the sublime, The Will of God, and tells us to pray for our physical needs.
A loving and kind father may not be concerned about helping his enemies or strangers but when it comes to his children, that is a different story. He will make a supreme effort to meet their needs.
It must certainly be insulting to our Heavenly Father to be counted as less loving and caring then an earthly father.
We have great evidence that God cares for our human bodies. Jesus spent his three years in ministry in healing people’s diseases and satisfying their physical hunger. The crowds that followed him needed food and he provided for them. We need to remember that God himself took upon himself a human body in the incarnation. God created the human body and our Father cares for our body.
Jesus promised in Mt. 6:33: Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things (food, drink, clothing) will be provided.
David wrote in Psalm 37:25 – – I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
ILL: Students at Prairie Bible Institute used to debate, when eating out, when was it appropriate to say grace. If you only got a coke, should you say grace. Or only when you purchased a full meal? Or what should be the limit in price? A dollar or two? They missed the point. Grace is a way of acknowledging and thanking God that everything comes from His hand. Saying Grace is not a mechanical, religious thing that a Christian does. It is a way of reminding ourselves of His goodness and thanking Him for everything we receive from His hand.
V. OUR FATHER WANTS US TO DEPEND ON HIM EVERY DAY
We work very hard so that we don’t have to depend on anyone, including God, for the necessities of life and even retirement.
It is an odd thing to note that the more God supplies it seems like the less we trust Him.
ILL: One fellow said, “I am a self made man!” Henrietta Mears, the great Bible teacher, responded, “Thank God we don’t have to blame God for who you are.”
We are much more aware of our need of God for daily bread when we don’t have abundance. Abundance seems to quench our dependence on our Father for our daily needs. It shouldn’t but it seems to.
This request begins with “Give us …” It is beggar’s language.
ILL: The idea of “daily” bread is well illustrated in the story of manna in the Wilderness (Ex. 16:1-21). God provided just enough for every day. In the morning it was to be collected. If they collected too much and kept it overnight it bred worms and stunk. On the day before the Sabbath they gathered enough for two days and on the Sabbath, what was gathered from the day before did not breed worms. For 40 years God provided for them day by day exactly what they needed. It was “daily” bread and they were very aware that God provided it daily!!! They were taught to depend on Him every day. The pantry was not full, there was no store house. If He did not provide they would not eat.
ILL: Some animals eat continually but others only once every other day or once a week or less. But why is it that humans generally eat three meals a day. Why has God so ordained it that we get hungry if we only eat once a day? Of course some may eat once or twice a day but the general rule is three times a day. It seems to me that eating three times a day gives us more times to acknowledge our dependence upon God.
VI. OUR FATHER WANTS US TO LIVE IN MODERATION
The prayer in Luke reads, “Give us day by day our daily bread.”
And then he prayed, “God, I’m asking for two things before I die; don’t refuse me — Banish lies from my lips and liars from my presence. Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little. If I’m too full, I might get independent, saying, ‘God? Who needs him?’ If I’m poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9, The Message)
Paul challengers in I Timothy to be content if we have food and clothing. Jesus does the same in Matthew 6 mentioning how He cares for the birds and flowers.
The emphasis in the prayer “Give us this day our daily bread” is certainly on the necessities and life and not the luxuries of life.
VII. OUR FATHER WANTS US TO PRAY FOR THE NEEDS OF OTHERS, TO PRAY AS A COMMUNITY
The prayer starts by praying to our Father, not my Father. We are told to pray, “Give us [and not give me] this day our [not my] daily bread.”
Praying for our daily bread is a communal prayer. The goal is to build mutuality between me and my brothers and sisters.
“Give us …” takes us to the Second Commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22:39) and the Golden Rule, “…do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Mt. 7:12)
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanies by action, is dead. (James 2:15-17)
VIII. OUR FATHER WANTS US TO PRAY DAILY FOR OUR PHYSICAL NEEDS
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
The first thing God tells us to pray for when praying for ourselves is bread. We need first of all to be sustained physically. It is very difficult to get a starving person to think about spiritual concepts.
Some people throughout history felt it was selfish or trifling to ask God for daily bread. Catherine of Genoa [Saint Catherine of Genoa ( 1447 – 15 September 1510) was an Italian Roman Catholic saint. She was a member of the noble family of Fieschi and spent most of her life and her means in succouring and attending the sick, especially during the plague which ravaged Genoa in 1497 and 1501. Saint Catherine died in that city 1510.] took pride in never asking anything for herself in thirty-five years of constant prayer. (Yancey, Prayer, 318)
“According to Jesus, nothing is too trivial. Everything about me – – my thoughts, my motives, my choices, my moods – – attract God’s interest.” (Yancey, Prayer, pg. 318.)
God is not a “cosmic fix it man” but nevertheless we do need to pray about things that matter to us, our daily concerns and our daily needs. We would talk to an intimate friend about such things and to a loving, caring father. What more we should be talking to God about these things.
ILL: Why tell God about things that He knows already? This brings us to the heart of the meaning of prayer. We do not tell God these things because He is not aware of them. No, we must think of prayer more as a relationship between father and child; and the value of prayer is that it keeps us in touch and contact with God.
. . . So many of us tend to think that God our Father gives us the great gift of grace in one great lump sum, and that, having received it, we just go on living on it. But it is not like that. That would be dangerous for us. If God just gave us all His glorious gifts of grace in one lump sum, we would be in danger of enjoying the gift and forgetting all about God. For though we cannot understand it, God wants us, and as our Father, He likes us, to speak to Him. He is like an earthly father in that respect. The earthly father is grievously wounded by the son who is content to enjoy the gift the father has given him but who never seeks his company again until he has exhausted his supplies and needs some more. No, the father likes the child to come and speak to him; and this is God’s way of doing it. . . . God gives to us in installments so that we will come to Him again and again and speak to Him often. (Adapted from MLJ / A.B. Simpson, pg. 71)
ILL: Shortly after World War II, a woman went into a grocery store and went up to the owner and said she’d like enough food for a Christmas dinner for her children. And the owner said, “Well, how much can you afford?” She said, “My husband was killed in the war and truthfully all I have is a little prayer.” And the owner who was not a believer and had no compassion on the woman’s situation said, “Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ll cut a deal with you. You take a piece of paper and write down your little prayer and I’ll give you the equivalent weight in groceries for what that prayer weighs.” Well, the woman immediately pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and said, “I’ve already done that. I was up all last night and here it is.” He didn’t read it, he just took it and set it in the pan of one of those old fashioned scales, and he said, “Ok, lady, let’s see how much your prayer is worth?” Imagine his amazement as he stuck a loaf of bread in the other pan and the scale didn’t move. And he became extremely upset as he began to put other items in the pan and again the scale moved not one iota. Finally, he became utterly exasperated, and said, “Well, that’s all that that scale is going to hold. Here’s a bag. You bag it up, I’m busy.” The woman said, “Thank you,” and went on her way. As soon as she left the owner went over to the scale. It had been working fine that morning, but he noticed now that it was broken. And he thought to himself, what’s the chance that that was a coincidence? What’s going on if that lady already had a prayer written out? And he opened up that piece of paper and it read, “Please Lord, please, give us this day our daily bread.”
SO WHAT???
1. God condescends to listen to our prayers for all the small details of our lives and to take care of our physical needs.
2. He wants us to depend on Him daily. Saying Grace at every meal, at every opportunity is a great way to show our love and appreciation and dependence on him!
3. We must live in moderation showing concern for our brothers and sisters with the realization that this is a communal prayer.
4. He provides day by day according to our needs because He loves for us to come to Him in prayer and ask of him.