Just a Reminder Pt. 6
Notes
Transcript
What is your favorite kind of bread?
Any homemade bread fans out there?
According to one website that I found, there are over 200 different kinds of bread in the world...
And these are just known, identified kinds..
This doesn’t count all the different kinds bakers may experiment with!
People love bread interestingly...
This morning we are going to talk about bread, but a bit of a different kind...
As we continue our Just a Reminder series we are looking at what Jesus means when He teaches us to pray...
11 Give us today our daily bread.
To pray this prayer is both a request, but also a way to remember that God is our provider.
We pray this as we hope and belief that God will provide for us...
We pray daily bread as a remembrance of what God provided to the Israelites as they were in the wilderness
As we read in exodus 16, we pick up where the Israelites are complaining about being hungry in the wilderness...
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?”
8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” 10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.
15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’ ”
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. 21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.
22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ”
24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
So, as Jesus teaches us to pray “give us today out daily bread” we remember how God provided for them in the wilderness...
Note there that we are to pray “our daily bread...” we are not asking God for more than a daily portion..
My belief is that God was teaching the Israelites to trust God every single day...
We too, should trust that as God provides for us, He provides our needs
As Paul says in...
19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
So, we rest and trust that God will provide...
The question is: do we believe the Word that God will provide what we need, or do worry?
Jesus has some to say about worrying if we read on down in chapter 6...
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
So, Jesus continues that not only should we pray and believe that God will provide what we need, but we also should not worry about it!
However, did you catch the caveat?
We often talk about how God will provide for us, but we sometimes gloss over...
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
So, Jesus begins by reassuring us that we don’t need to worry about the needs of each day, because God know what we need and He will provide it for us!
So, with that out of the way, what are we to do...
We are to seek first His kingdom and righteousness...
Start there, and then we know and trust that God will provide for us!
If our focus is first on His kingdom and righteousness, everything else will be taken care of...
Notice that seeking His kingdom is also the prayerful reminder that we talked about a few weeks ago…that the kingdom of heaven has come and can come!
Our focus should be on the things of the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be taken care of!
Colossians 3 reminds us
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
And in 1 Corinthians 10 we see where Paul is addressing whether or not they could eat meat…and he says
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Our focus is and should be God’s righteousness, His kingdom come, and everything to His glory!
And, our daily bread will come!
I want to wrap up this morning with a different kind of bread...
In John 4, Jesus just finished talking with the Samaritan woman…His disciples had gone into town to get food
As they return and the Samaritan woman leaves
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
To Jesus, doing the will of the Father was more important to Him than eating...
If it is okay to tie this into today’s message about our daily bread,
Could we say the same as Jesus?
Are we so focused on our own needs that we forget to do the will of God?
I think sometimes we get things mixed up...
We say things like “if God would only do_____then I would do whatever He asks of me!”
But Jesus says “seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and everything will come..”
How hungry, pun intended, are we to do God’s will?
Are we willing to put our needs aside to do His will?
Are we willing to say “my food, my daily bread, my need is to do God’s will?”
“I will do whatever it takes to seek His kingdom and His will”
Or am I too afraid that my needs will not be met?
Or don’t believe His word, that He will provide all of my needs?
As the deacons come up, we are going to prepare for communion...
We literally get to eat bread today!
What more appropriate time is there to think about our daily bread and God’s kingdom than communion!
As we take the bread this morning, let’s us reflect on His bread and His kingdom!