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When I think about bread, there's usually one story that rushes into my mind, and that story is of Louis Brown's mother, Joy. And Joy is in her 90s now, still faithfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Joy likes to encourage young ladies to be godly. And so I love the story of Joy Brown where the ladies will come and say, you know, I want to love my husband, but he's difficult to love, and we have disagreements and arguments, and our marriage is affected by the fall.
What do we do? And so Joy says to those young girls many things, but she says, why don't you make bread for your husband, homemade bread? And then when you're working on that dough, you can work your frustrations out, a little physical exercise working on that bread.
And then afterwards, when your husband comes home, you have a gift to present to him, homemade bread. That's a great thing to do. But as I study the passage this week, if you'll turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, I think about bread, I will think of Joy because I love her and I think it's a great idea.
But this verse now in Matthew 6 is locked in my mind, give us this day our daily bread. It is a wonderful passage, it is a fascinating passage. It is Jesus himself teaching us how to pray. Could there be anything more important in life, second to having a right view of the cross and salvation, our own sin, could there be anything more important than knowing how to commune with God?
Would it be something that we should just say to ourselves, we'll figure it out as we go. Certainly when it comes to prayer, we'll try this, we'll try that, we'll see what works. Maybe we could be pragmatist when it comes to prayer.
Maybe we could be very subjective and say, well, if this feels good when I pray this way, that must be the right way to pray. Thankfully though, we're not left to pragmatism, we're not left to mysticism.
Jesus Christ himself teaches us how to pray. How important must that make prayer? This is exactly how you pray. And certainly it's a prayer that is good for every person who's ever lived, who calls himself a Christian.
Jesus didn't pray this prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 6, because he didn't need to pray this prayer, he didn't need to confess his sins. But we need to understand this prayer. It would be tragic to have our entire ministry spent in such a way where we didn't understand this basic, vital, necessary truth.
How is God glorified when I pray? Now before we get into this prayer, it's been a few weeks since we've been in Matthew chapter 6. And so if we go to Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7, the big picture is Jesus is delivering what's called what?
The Sermon on the Mount. And he gives these three chapters. If you have a Bible that has red letters, you'll see 5, 6 and 7, almost all red letters. This is Jesus' discourse on the Sermon on the Mount.
This is called the Sermon on the Mount. And if you look at chapter 5, two key verses you could summarize chapter 5 with, and that would be verse 20 and then verse 48. Verse 20 says, For I say to you, Jesus speaking, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And so Jesus says, I want you to look at the most religious people on the planet. They aren't religious enough to get into heaven. That is not enough to get into heaven. What is enough? Just how good, how much righteousness do you have to have?
The answer is found in verse 48 of the same chapter. Therefore, Matthew 5, 48, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. As the Jew would think of perfection, he or she would think of an animal that is perfect for sacrifice.
No blemish, no stain, but a perfect sacrificial animal. Sound, whole, perfect. And so Jesus says, if you want to be my followers, you will have to be perfect. And basically Jesus is making sure these disciples understand and that you understand there is no way we can do this on our own.
It is going to take somebody else's perfection for me to be perfect. God who is called perfect in knowledge. Psalm 18 says, God, His way is perfect. Jesus is saying, if you'd like to be saved, for humans it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Listen to what Arthur Pink said when he summarized Matthew 5. Do you say that this is too high of a standard for us to reach? That such a standard is unobtainable by flesh and blood? We answer, it is the standard which God Himself has set before us, before all men.
It was God's standard before the fall and it is His standard still. For though man has lost his power to comply, God has not lost His right to require what is due Him. And what is it that man is no longer able to meet?
Why is it that man is no longer able to meet this righteous demand? Because his heart is corrupt. So here we have this standard, perfect righteousness, yet we know we can't make it. It's like, if you ever go to one of those picture albums on the computer, a Picasso, is it Picasso or Picasso?
Picasso. And you can get a digital picture on your computer and you can change things on that picture. Have you ever done that? Your sister's picture and you put it on there and you've kind of changed it and you've kind of stretched the face out, scrunched things around and made it this distorted thing.
Here we have man made perfect in the garden. And here we have Adam and Eve, fallen by their own wills, they have fallen and plunged all of the race of humanity into sin. And now instead of this perfect picture of Adam, we have this distorted, elongated, darkened picture of humankind.
Paul could probably summarize Matthew chapter 5, verse 20 and verse 48 by saying, for all have sinned, putting all the sin in the world in one big bundle as it were, have all have sinned one time and keep on falling short of the glory of God.
So we need something. We need a Father to come and rescue us. We need a God who's not just Creator but Father. And now we run into chapter 6 and we see everywhere in this chapter, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father.
And you can hear the Father's words in chapter 6 and you can even hear the essence of this chapter through Joseph Hart's poem, Come ye weary, heavy laden, bruised and broken by the fall. If you tarry till you're better, you'll never come at all.
Not the righteous, not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call. So now we come to the great chapter 6, the Sermon on the Mount's prayer, called the Disciples' Prayer or what we like to call the Lord's Prayer.
The Lord didn't pray it but he taught it. So if you want to call it the Lord's Prayer because Jesus taught it, fine. If you want to call it the Disciples' Prayer because that's the way we're supposed to pray, that would be fine as well.
Matthew chapter 6 verse 9 and following is the prayer. Just a quick review because we're up into verse 11 but to summarize and highlight chapter 6 verse 9 and 10, Jesus says, Pray then in this way. This is not the formula prayer.
This is not the rote prayer. We have to say this every single time we come to church. But this is the template. This is the skeleton. This is the way we go about prayer because left to ourselves, what do our minds do?
They start thinking about all kinds of different things. They're scattered. They're running around. Left to our own minds, we'll probably think we pray for ourselves first. Then maybe we'll think about God.
But here, very specifically, very concretely, Jesus lays it out and says, Pray this way. How are we to pray? To whom are we to pray? Our Father who is in heaven. Or as I memorize it, Our Father who art in heaven.
There's this God who's a Father to His children. He's close. He's compassionate. He's intimate. He's there. But He's not just that. God is not just close, but God is transcendent who is in the heavenlies.
And so then Jesus says, To this God who's both close and who's over us, Sovereign, pray this way. And He gives six petitions. So far we've done the first three. The first three are all directed towards God and His glory.
The last three are directed towards our needs, our good. God's concerns, then our concerns. And you know the passage very well. Great words to remember. Hallowed be Your name. Before anything else is prayed, God, it's about Your name, Your kingdom, Your glory.
Everything about You. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. The key to understanding this prayer is, Hallowed be Your name. God, Your praise to be proclaimed throughout the nations. And then I'll take some of the benefits of that great praise for myself.
Now we come to the first petition for us. Petition number four. Give us this day our daily bread. I've said this hundreds of times, haven't you? I've said it over and over. Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us this day our daily bread. When I repeat this prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. Do we really know how much is packed in here? I was very encouraged this week. I said to Pastor Steve, There's so much stuff in this verse.
It's going to take me, It's probably going to take me a week to preach through it. And he goes, Three. It'll take you three weeks to get through this verse. Okay, maybe two. We'll see. When you pray to God, Give us this day our daily bread.
What are you really doing? What are you saying? What goes through your mind? It certainly can't just be, Give us this day our daily bread. And that's just, We just go from there. God wants our minds engaged, Plugged in, So we're thinking.
Let me give you several life lessons from Jesus Christ, The bread of life, About this verse. This prayer request, Give us this day our daily bread, Is going to teach us many things. Let me give you several.
The first thing that it teaches, You. Certainly me, But I'm preaching to you. This prayer request in Matthew 6 .11, Give us this day our daily bread, Teaches you, number one, To praise God for His awesomeness.
It teaches you, number one, To praise God for His awesomeness. Give us this day our daily bread. Now before I tell you about why I think this teaches us, To praise God for His awesomeness, What does Jesus mean when He says, Give us bread?
Is this just kind of, Give me some staple bread, Some food that's a staple food, Baking, dough, flour, water, Whether it's leavened or unleavened? Well certainly it could mean bread, But Jesus is basically talking about temporal needs.
This is a word that means bread, But in this context, He's basically saying, Let me have you men, And now women, Pray for this particular, That represents the whole class. That is to say, When we say bread to a Jew, He would not just say, It's bread and only bread, It's the stuff that you bake, But it's all my food, It's all my necessary things.
Some people have looked at this passage and said, This word bread means communion bread. They take the Vulgate and mistranslate a little bit and said, When you pray this prayer it means, Give us this day my daily Eucharist.
Now that, I don't see that in the text. Give us this day our daily bread. Everything we need, Food, Shelter, Water, Clothing, Whatever we need, Lord, We're going to ask you to provide it. Covers all those things.
It's just a figure of speech to say, God, Give me my basic necessities. Luther said it, It means everything that we need in the physical realm. So you could say, God, I'd like you to give me everything I need when it comes to food, Water, Clothing, Oil, Gas, Whatever it is that we need on a regular basis.
Whatever serves our well-being, Augustine said. Now, here's the awesome part about it. How many people in the world pray this prayer as Christians? Well, they should. Every Christian should pray. But I just sat and thought about it for a minute and I thought, What an awesome God to hear every Christian who prays this prayer.
Every Christian who has these needs, Requesting food, Water, Oil, Shelter, Everything that they need. And God can provide for just a few of those because He's a limited God, you know. And He doesn't have a very big storehouse.
And He has to kind of piecemeal it. Wednesday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Odd numbers on this day, Even numbers on this day. You know, Can't give too much because I have to replenish my resources. God can hear every single person who's ever prayed this prayer since Jesus taught the prayer, And answer it completely, Fully, With all His resources.
And I thought, That's pretty cool about God. That is an amazing thing. I'd like to know the sheer weight of this answered prayer. Just how much God can give and give and give. That is a large amount. Millions praying this prayer for daily needs.
What a God. Everything can be provided by Him. Philippians, it says, And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. God supplies like the military supplies everything that the army needs.
That's the word in Philippians chapter 4 verse 19. I think of Psalm 145, The eyes of all look to you. You give them their food in due time and open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
When you pray, God, give us this day our daily bread. You are praying to this awesome God who can answer every one of these prayer requests, Including yours. Number two, Lessons from Jesus, The bread of life.
Give us this day our daily bread. Number one, It should teach you to praise God for His awesomeness. Number one, rather. Number two, To thank God for His goodness in all that He provides. First is to praise.
Second is to thank. Give us this day our daily bread. Has it ever struck you amazing? Amazingly to think, God cares. God cares for His fallen creation. God cares for rebels. God stoops and condescends to love sinners.
This God who dwells in the heavenlies, Who dwells in a high place, The text says it. A lofty place. Yet He stoops down low to care for us. Turn with me if you would to James chapter one. I think James knew this lesson well.
I want to talk about the goodness of God for a moment, So we would respond with thanksgiving. One of the things I hate in my life the most is when I'm not thankful. And certainly all of us should be thankful for the goodness of God.
When we pray, God give us this day our daily bread. I want you to think this not about the largeness of God, But also the goodness of God. This teaches you. It implies the goodness of God. James chapter one verse seventeen.
You'll see this graciousness of this God, Who will allow us to come and ask Him for these wonderful things. James one seventeen. Every good gift, Every good and perfect gift, Is from above, Coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows.
Every good thing, can you imagine, Comes from the goodness of God. The same generous giving God in chapter one verse five of James, Says He just gives wisdom generously. When I give gifts, I give gifts sometimes for the wrong motives.
My gifts don't match up to the person's needs quite right. But God just perfectly gives. And how does He give? He gives wonderfully every good and perfect gift. Perfect means it doesn't lack anything.
It's all-sided. When I think of God's gifts, Here's one of the things I can do to show you the intricacies. If you take some of God's work and look closely, You'll see an amazing display of who God is.
For instance, If you take a watch for instance, And you put it under the microscope, It looks fairly smooth, It looks fairly nice, But when you see it under the microscope, What will you see? Put a needle under the microscope, What will you see?
It seems good to the naked eye, But then when you look at it under the microscope, You're not too sure. But as John Blanchard said, If you take a flower, A flower petal, And put it underneath the microscope, You will see the perfect handiwork of God.
When God gives gifts, He gives the perfect gifts, Because everything He does is perfect. I was thinking yesterday about how pastors use old, boring illustrations. I don't want to do that. But I have an old, good illustration.
There was a king who died. Who will the successor be? They narrowed it down to one of two boys, Who happened to be twins. The decision was difficult, After all, they're twins. They were watching them sleep one night, And one little boy slept like this, Fist tightly shut.
And the other one slept with his hands wide open. Who would they choose to be the king? They chose the king, Based on the boy who slept with his hands open. And he was known by all in the land as the king with open hands.
Here's God's goodness, God's hands, Giving, giving, giving. And you realize that, Whether you think about it or not, When you pray, God, give us this day our daily bread, You're praying to this God who has open hands.
So good. He's not like me, He's not like you, Stingy and evil, And giving for wrong motives. He's good because He's always good. He's eternally good. His goodness is underrived. God can't be better. You can't pray one day to a God who's good, And the next day He might be gooder.
He might be better. No. I did that on purpose, by the way. Some mistakes I don't make on purpose. Immutable goodness. So much so, some think James 1 .17 was a hymn. This was something that people sang.
It reads like a hymn, doesn't it? Every good and perfect gift is from above, Coming down from the Father of heavenly lights. Who does not change like shifting shadows. It just keeps, the goodness of God keeps coming down,.
And coming down, and coming down,. Wave crashing on the beach, crashing on the beach,. Crashing on the beach, day after day, Second after second, the goodness of God. He's never less than generous. Powerful, He can create stars,.
But He's not like the stars on the moon, Who sometimes get eclipsed. Here's the God who's the same day in, day out. For I, the Lord God, Malachi says, Do not change. Seasonal variations,. Phases of the moon,.
Cloudy skies,. That might describe the creation, But it doesn't describe the Creator. So what should our response be? Shouldn't it be with the hymn writer? Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,.
There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not,. As thou hast been, Thou forever will be. And when you pray,. Give us this day our daily bread,. That is the God who you're praying to.
And if He was less than that, You would not be able to pray that prayer. God creates life, and He sustains life. And think about it. When we think of the goodness of God, And how it should make us thankful, We will pray, God give us this day our daily bread.
We won't say this. How about this for a prayer? If we think we're good, We'll pray this way. God, you owe us this bread. God, I deserve this bread. God, I've earned this bread. God, I know I'm good enough.
I should have lots of bread. God, sell me this bread. No, it's out of God's goodness. And if there's a good Father, And that's the figure Jesus is painting in Matthew chapter 6, When you approach a good Father, And you have a need, What do you say?
What do you say? Give, please. I'm bankrupt. I don't have anything. I don't demand from you. I'm not going to say, You owe me. I'm going to say, God, please. As one man said, I come, Lord, with outstretched hand, With an empty palm, Stricken with hunger, Famished and ready to die.
I have heard that there is bread enough In my Father's house and a spare. Lo, I come, Not worthy to be called your son, Asking but the portion of a slave. Give me this day my daily bread. Isn't that how we're supposed to pray?
The other day, Gracie was wanting some extra snack Or food or dessert or something like that. She's my seven-year-old little girl. And I said, you know, That's enough. And she looked at me like this.
I'll never forget as long as I live. Alms for the poor. I can't believe she said that. Alms for the poor. That's give us this day our daily bread. Alms for the poor. Appealing to the Father. That's exactly right.
What was true of the church of Corinth Is true for us. And what do you have that you did not receive? The free gifts from God's hands. God said, pray for those. Sometimes they may fall into your lap. But we're to pray.
One writer said, The tree of mercy will not drop its fruit Unless shaken by the hand of prayer. And this Is exactly opposite to That horrible man who said, Pay me what thou owest. Listen to this prayer That symbolizes A person's idea of the goodness of God And the thankful response to him.
So David blessed the Lord In all the side of the assembly. And David said, blessed are you O Lord God Of Israel our Father forever and ever. Yours O Lord is the greatness And the power and the glory And the victory and the majesty Indeed everything that is in the heavens And the earth.
Yours is the dominion O Lord And you exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you And you rule over all And in your hand is power and might And it lies in your hand to make great And to strengthen everyone.
Because we're praying to this kind of God In 1 Chronicles chapter 29 David says, now therefore O God We thank you And we praise your glorious name. O Lord our God All this abundance That we have provided to build you a house For your holy name Is from your hand.
That's the response. If you think You deserve this in life And you think you're Getting this in life The difference is Depression. I deserve this, I deserve it all, I'm a good person But I don't get everything I'm supposed to get.
The difference is called depression. But if you say I deserve nothing I'm a creature. I'm a fallen creature. I'm a frail creature And I deserve nothing. But God has given me everything in Christ. The difference is called what?
Joy. God never grows tired of giving. God always delights in giving. If I delight in giving to my children How much more does a sinless God Delight in mercy,. Micah chapter 7 Verse 18. After all, God even gives gifts To enemies, let alone His children.
We have to be careful in this western world We live in, where every one of us would be Considered rich in the Bible days. Where we say, you know, I have this I have this much I can go get it, I can earn it.
I have the credit cards, I have the bank accounts. We need to make sure we remember That it is even God Who gives us power to get wealth. Deuteronomy chapter 8 Verse 18. We eat God's bread in this world.
We breathe God's air in this world. We live in God's world. So let's resolve to be thankful. Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew chapter 6. What does this teach us? What is locked in here like some kind of Zip drive full of all kinds of Theological truth.
Number one, it teaches us to praise God Because He can answer all these requests Simultaneously. Number two, we should be thankful to God Because every gift is from His good hand. Number three It should teach us to be humble.
As we recognize we are dependent creatures. This prayer should Teach you to humble yourself As you recognize your own Personal frailty. Give us this day Our daily bread. We are not big shots. We are not king of the hill.
We are not anything except creatures. And one man said by definition Created people are dependent. Doesn't that make sense? I thought I better stop and let that one sit in. By definition I'm created. Therefore I'm dependent.
We are dependent upon God For everything. After all there is only one independent person. And that is the immutable Unchanging Self-existent. I am who I am. Everyone outside of the Triune God is dependent on Him.
And so when we pray we are realizing We need to be humbled. If Israel Needed manna every single day We are way better than Israel. We can just do what we want. I have a good idea. If we don't want to be humble anymore Why don't we do this.
Why don't we eat enough today. That will last the next year. Or let's see. Why don't we breathe enough air today. That we don't have to breathe again until 2010. Why don't we drink enough water today.
I felt like I almost drank enough water. It was freezing cold water In the baptism. Let's drink enough water today. We'll never have to drink again for another 2 or 3 years. Then we don't have to keep on praying.
This inane prayer That somehow makes us Less than who we are. These proud and dependent and self-reliant people. Have you ever asked yourself the question Why do you get so hungry so often. I think I just ate.
It's 8 o 'clock in the morning. It's now noon and guess what I'm hungry. Why do you think God set it up that way. Couldn't he have just said Why don't you eat once on Sunday morning. And you're good to go for a week.
Because everything in us wants to think. We have arrived and we are proud. And we are Muhammad Ali types. We are the greatest. And every single time you get those hunger pangs You should say to yourself If it wasn't for God I'd go without.
It's humbling. It's very very humbling. Because we aren't independent. We are very dependent. And we need daily bread From God. Even if we have the abundance In barns The abundance in the shelf stock From Costco and BJ's And all those things.
We are dependent people. And that's what Jesus wants us to remember. God is such a good God. Yes he knows he's even provided for Adam With a garden before he was even created. We are called sheep for a reason.
We don't make ourselves. We don't keep ourselves breathing. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. Reminds me of Psalm 104. They all wait for you. To give them their food in due season. To give them they gather it up.
You open your hand and they're satisfied with good. You hide your face. They're dismayed. You take away their spirit they expire And return to the dust. Everything is from God. By the way think about it this way.
If this prayer teaches us dependency Shouldn't prayer in general Teach us that we're dependent people. When we're having to ask Someone besides ourselves for help Rich or poor you need to pray. Give us this day Our daily bread.
Number four. Number four. Lessons learned from this Verse. Number one. Number one God's awesome therefore praise him. Number two God's good therefore thank him. Number three We're weak therefore let's be humble.
Number four Trust God for all your future provisions. Trust God for all your future provisions. Matthew 6 -11 Give us this day our daily bread. Well what about tomorrow. What about the stocks. What about the Dow Industrial Average.
Which is in the 7800's or something like that. What about the future. What about the new government. What about the pirates in Somalia. What about all these things. What are we going to do. Y2K is almost going to be here again.
I think we can trust God for our future. Look at the text Matthew 6 -11 Give us this day. By the way very difficult to translate. It either means This day or for the coming day. If you get up in the morning And say God everything I need today.
Would you please provide it. That would have the essence of this day. The Jews though they got paid at night If they were day laborers. And so they could have this sense of Getting paid at night and then having a prayer That would say Lord would you provide Everything I need for the coming day.
And both would be accurate. Both would be fine. The only knowledge we have Of this obscure word In the Greek Outside the Bible We found it. We not me. But people found an ancient document. And this word is used.
And it's used for something very interesting. It's found for an old. It's found in an old Shopping list. We think it was a woman's Shopping list. Some housekeepers Shopping list. And they had to go buy enough staples.
Enough food staples For the next day. Have you ever I've been given a note before from Kim And said you know could you go pick this up for tomorrow. That's the idea. Give us this day Our daily bread. Food for the coming day.
God I'm going to have to trust you for this Food that you're going to provide Tomorrow. It's so hard today. I mean I walk into Sam's Club and Walmart and all these Places and it's just all there. Think about these people back in those days.
A little bit of drought. A little bit of famine. Some kind of wars going on. Tragedy. And somehow we think that we are less dependent Than those people were back in the Bible days. But we're not. This is daily reliance.
Daily trust. God you're going to have to take care of what I need today. I think I'm going to have to do this. I'm actually going to trust in your faithfulness Tomorrow. And your unfailing character tomorrow.
And that when I get to tomorrow I think there will be grace there for me. That's not here for me now. That is to say why do you worry about tomorrow. When God has only given you grace for today. Tomorrow there will be grace.
Does God know everything we need? Absolutely. So we're to trust him. Anxiety says I don't trust the Lord. I'm worried about tomorrow. I don't have a job. The job that I do have isn't that good. How am I going to provide.
What about the oil price. What about the gas price. What about the stocks price. What about the future price. All those things Winslow said. He who hears the ravens when they cry. Will he be deaf to you.
He who guides the sparrow to the spot Where the tiny seed awaits its morning meal. Will he not provide for you. Oh you of little faith. Wherefore do you doubt. Look around this wide, this rich, this fruitful world.
It is all your father's domain. Those are good words. Those are good words. God I've been laid off. I don't have a job. But I'm going to trust for the daily bread that I need today. Food, shelter and clothes for my children.
Everything that I need. For my wife, for myself. Oil, gas, 401K Mortgage, doctors. Everything. Why torment ourselves. How many people know George Muller. George Muller. Well not personally, have you heard of George Muller.
This is the famous story of George Muller. And I think about future provisions. Daily provisions. Trusting the good hand of God. The account reads. One morning the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty.
There was no food in the larder. And no money to buy food. By the way he's the leader of an orphanage. The children were standing waiting for their morning meal. When Muller said Children you know we must be in time for school.
Lifting his hand He said dear father We thank thee for what thou art going to give us to eat. You don't have anything. There was a knock on the door. The baker stood there And said Mr. Muller I couldn't sleep last night.
Somehow I felt you didn't have bread for breakfast. And the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2am and baked some fresh bread And have brought it. Muller thanked the man. No sooner had this transpired.
When there was a second knock at the door It was the milkman. He announced that the milk cart had broken down Right in front of the orphanage. And he would like to give the children His cans of fresh milk.
So he could empty his wagon and repair it. The writer says this. No wonder years later when Muller Was to travel the world as an evangelist He would be heralded as The man who gets things from God. He's our father.
Number five. This prayer request teaches you To pray for other people. And their provisions as well. Number one we thank God. We praise God. We thank God. We're humbled before God. We're to trust in God.
Number five to pray for other people. What's the text say? Give me this day My daily bread. But we just run through it. If we're not careful we overlook it. We aren't living in isolation. We're the church body.
Give us this day our daily bread. This is to show us that we not only pray That God you would provide For what my family needs. For food, shelter, clothing for my family. But for who else. Other people.
So and so doesn't have a job. We ought to pray for Erickson who just got laid off. We ought to pray for Chris Bowman. Because he needs a job. And the list goes on. Give us This day our daily bread. It's plural.
There's one father, God. And many children and those many children Are not just to pray for themselves. After all the great second commandment Love your neighbor As yourself. These are saints that Christ has died for.
We ought to pray That God would meet their needs. Our brother's needs. We should be in this together. Is that how you pray? Number six. Life lessons from Jesus. The bread of life. Give us this day our daily bread.
What does it teach you? It teaches you number one to praise God. Two to thank God. Three to humble yourself. Four to trust God. Five to pray for other people. Number six To be content in what the Lord supplies Through the prayer.
Give us this day our daily bread. Listen friends. Advertisement. And advertising agencies Have one goal. And their goal is to sell you their product. True? But they have one means to sell you that Product.
Their goal is to sell. Their means are to what? What does advertising do? To create dissatisfaction With what you have. If left to ourselves. And not walking by the fruit of the spirit. If not having the thought of Christ And what he's done for us.
Dominate our lives. If not walking by the spirit. Galatians chapter five. We will be uncontent with what God gives. We'll always want more. We'll always want different. Grumbling like the Israelites. Give us this day our daily bread.
And then when God grants it Our response should be contentment. God in his sovereign will Has chosen to save us. Then God in his own sovereign will Can decide to bless us With whatever he decides to bless us with.
With however much he decides Or however less he decides. I don't want to be a kind of Christian That cries out for quail. When I've been given manna. Because frankly I don't like quail. Coming out of my nostrils, do you?
One man said God gives us our needs not our greeds. I thought that was right. I could ask you. There's a holy discontentment. Let me say that first God. I'd like to be more practically holy. I'd like to reflect Christ more in my life.
I'd like to depend on the spirit of God More in my life and obey you more. Because he's enabled me to do that. Okay I get that. But besides that How content are you in your life? Are you content with the wife that God gave you?
The husband God gave you? How about the wife or husband God didn't give you? How about with the way you are. The way you look. Your age, your physical health. The list goes on and on. Your children, your children's strengths.
Weaknesses. Just how content are we? And I think if we get this in our mind Give us this day our daily bread. We'll be so focused on God. It's going to be up to your sovereign goodness And pleasure to give me Whatever you give.
I think it would just be better To say thank you And to be content. Probably one of the worst things I've ever done in my life. As I look back In terms of being just Rude and obnoxious And unrighteous I almost hate to admit it.
But she's no longer around anymore. So I could probably tell the story. I guess I got tonsillitis a lot when I was a kid. It was always Some kind of antibiotic here or there Antibiotic. And my tonsils were taken out.
I was 21 Home from college. And I had a cold that night. And so the doctors always tell you If you have your tonsils taken out. You don't cough from your throat. You cough from your stomach. Because if you cough up here You break the bleeders.
The scabs fall off. And then you bleed. And actually you type it in. Can you bleed from tonsillectomy. You can, you can bleed to death. So I wake up in the middle of the night. It's 3 in the morning. Probably who knows without drinking or something stupid.
And I wake up and I was coughing. Because I had a cold. And I start bleeding. And so I went and got the yellow pages. And I got the hospital's phone number there. And I thought alright If I don't stop bleeding in a minute I'll just have to call 911.
I'll have to go in and I'll have to cauterize my throat again. Blood's coming up all over. I just thought oh great. I woke up 7 in the morning. It was actually Christmas morning. My head was on the yellow pages and I was still alive.
Then I did something really stupid. I don't know how the conversation came up. But I basically to her face Blamed my mom for giving me a body And tonsils that would have so many problems. And I'd have to get them removed.
You basically, you know Through my father's genes and your genes. You made me like this. I'm glad my mother forgave me. But if that is horrible If that's one of the shames of my life. Saying something stupid and idiotic And asinine like that.
That was to my mother. A creature. A fallen creature. And all of a sudden we go to God. And we're like you know I don't like the way you did it. And I can't believe you made me this way. And gave me these kids and this wife.
And this job and this church. No we wouldn't want to do that. God doesn't bless a little. We don't want to be covetous. We want to be content. We want God to grant us contentment. Sure these are all commands today.
We know it's only the spirit of God. It is by Christ's death and resurrection Where we have the power to do these things. But we would never want to do that. Last one for today. Last one. Number seven.
This prayer Should teach you To reconsider what is really important in life. Give us this day Our daily bread. Now some will say You shouldn't pray for physical needs. Because that's kind of like these Platonists These Gnostics and other people.
The body is really bad. So who cares what happens to the body. Why would you ever ask God for something to eat. We don't believe that. But we also don't believe that. This temporal world has it all. And here what are we to pray for.
We are to pray for what we need. Give us this day our daily bread. God I want you to be honored. And here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray for these things. And it's going to help me in my mind And not consider everything else so important.
I'm also going to think that by the way. When I pray this way I'm not going to think that food is the end all. Rest is the end all. My job is the end all. I'm going to think this. I've been given food so my body can function As a good machine as it were To glorify the Lord.
I've been given a good home so I can sleep there And rest there so I can function better. To glorify the Lord. I've been given something to drink And other things so I can use that to say This is for not myself.
Food is not an end. It's the means To the end of glorifying the Lord. What really is important. I thought to myself the other day With this stock crash. Is everybody going to be in church now Afraid of their future.
The answer is I don't think that's going to happen. But I'd like it to One day. P .S. just a side note. Every stock in the world is going to be worth Zero. It's going to be less than Rite Aid is worth today.
Sorry. I think it's like 60 cents or something. It's zero. What's really important. God give me food, clothing and shelter. So I can go serve you. That's why I have these things. That's why I eat. Sure it tastes good.
But I eat for other reasons. And that is because I need to eat so I can serve. Alright I'm going to give you the last one. Number 8. This might as well. Some people drove a long way this morning. Give us this daily bread.
Number 1 Teaches you to praise God for His awesomeness. 2. It teaches you to thank God for His goodness. 3. It teaches you to humble yourself As you recognize your dependency on the Lord. 4. To trust God for all your future provisions.
5. To pray for God's people. 6. To be content with what He supplies And how He supplies. 7. To reconsider what's really important in your life. And number 8 This prayer teaches you Nothing about being lazy.
It does not remove personal responsibility. Give us this daily bread Does not mean you don't have to get a job. The desire of the sluggard Puts him to death. God for His hands refused to work. All day long He is craving.
While the righteous gives And does not hold back. We do not think it's right for us to say. You know God give us the bread. And we're going to be like Elijah and the brook. And when the two ravens fly over We'll open our mouths.
That's not what we do. We believe it is praiseworthy. Male or female To be like the person in Proverbs 31. She looks well to the ways of her household And does not eat the bread of idleness. Do you know If you're able to work Especially as a man.
And you don't work. You should be disciplined out of the church. Because Christians by definition work. Now we command you brethren In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ That you keep away from every brother Who leads an unruly life.
What kind of unruly life Would Paul be talking about. To the church at Thessalonica. Some unruly, unordered. He doesn't follow in line after the commander. Verse 7. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example.
A working example. A tent making example. Because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you. Do we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. Then Paul says what we could. Back to the text. For even while we were with you We used to eat.
We used to give you this order. This is an unbeliever Could quote this verse right here. If anyone will not work Neither let him eat. I've been at Grace Church for many years. And Grace Church actually disciplined people Out of the church If they refused to work.
And basically what happened to these people. They thought they were above An $8 an hour job. A $7 an hour job A $10 an hour job. And they refused to work. Paul says We hear that some among you Are leading an undisciplined life Doing no work at all But acting like busy bodies.
They're meddling in other people's lives. Now such persons We command and exhort In the Lord Jesus Christ To work In quiet fashion and eat their own bread. And for those of you that do work. Verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians 3.
Don't grow weary in doing good. There's some hard workers among you Just because some people aren't working. You keep working hard. You say that's pretty harsh. If anyone does not obey our instruction In this letter, take special note of that man And do not associate him So that he may be put to shame In a mean way, in a hating way.
No, verse 15. And yet do not regard him as an enemy But admonish him as a brother. God provides And he provides often Through the means of hard work. If you don't have a job Your job should be Getting a job.
And the Lord will bless that. Well, how do we pray for bread? Maybe you pray for Your meal every day Grace before you eat. I would like to add something By the Spirit's enablement. And that would be to pray for your daily bread Your daily food Your daily shelter Your daily provision.
So that we can recognize it all comes from God. Next week we'll look at The bread of life. Or whenever I'm here preaching again Let's pray Thank you Lord for this day Where we can celebrate Your goodness in baptism.
Thank you that you'd allow us The vocal chords to sing in response To what you've done in our lives With praise of your Son And praise of the Spirit Praise of the cross and the finished work. Lord I know in my heart of hearts That as I preach sermons that Proclaim duties That we need your help to do these things.
We know that power comes from resurrection power. We realize that it's the Holy Spirit Working in our lives. And we recognize that we're needy people Even to obey these commands. So Lord I pray that You'd stir in the hearts of the church here As you've stirred in my heart this week.
That our prayers need to mean something. And give us this day our daily bread Is so rich because You're the rich one. And you have granted us all these things. I pray for those today who have come And they've seen the baptisms.
They've heard the songs, they've seen the word And they have not bowed their knee to Christ Jesus As Lord and Savior Father. I pray this would be the day That they would humble themselves Because you would give them a brand new Heart and soul and mind.
I pray for some of the families who have come And encouraged their loved ones in baptism. I pray for those families as well That everyone here would say Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior And King to the glory of God.
Amen.