Give us This Day
Posture of Worship: The Lord’s Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Meaning of the Word
Meaning of the Word
This is a compound word that means daily. It occures nowhere else so must be interpreted by understanding it’s parts. The best way is “the bread of to-morrow” which is why Luke says, day by day. Which means it will be a contiunal prayer.
This is a word of substance or being or the ‘staff of life’ that bread is the subsistanec needed that will be THIS day’s necessity.
From the earliest interpretations it was seen as not only physical noursihment but also spiritual nourishment. A prayer for heavenly bread.
Have you ever signed a petition? YOu know, a document where you write your name down to support something? Perhaps you want a policy change in government or better working condiditon at Eastman. But you want the world to know, that you support THIS. This is your way of showing your support for a particular clause.
Yet, petition doesnt have to be that official. Any time a student raises his hand or a child begs his mome, these are ways to get someone’s attention to let them lknow that you need something.
We should be doing the same thing with God. Coming to God in prayer to lift up our needs to him as We petition him and ask him for things.
Dependance. We depend on ourselve and we depend on others, but do we depend of God? One mark of a disciple of Jesus someone who is followiuing Jeus is there dependce on him for their needs.
When we depend on him, we are trusting that he cares fro us.
Continually. This is not a one off occurance. What is required of us os daily a practice of continually depending on God.
When we are comfortable, when we have evryting we need. We don’t need to depend of God. We must be careful not to fall into this trap.
Don’t over think this, this petition should be taken at face value. As a request for literal food, everyday. A lifestyle that is litearlly hand to mouth. But seeing this exclusively as spiritual deprives the Christian of one of the sweetest privilegest, to cast all of your bodily wants and needs in this one short prayer. One simple petition.
Let us not rob ourselves of this petitioin for bodily provision knowing that our Hevenly Father’s heart is one of giving. God is our provider of every physical need. To petition is to acknowledge God as provider but also trust God that he will give to our needs.
In my research this week, I learned how importatnt it is to ask of the Lord. So much so, that we should jhave no qualification. I pray like this, if it is your will, if it is your will. If you quality everything, you are setting yourself up never to be disappointed. But that isn’t the case. We need to ask in such a way that we don’t get everytingm but instead THEN trust God’s provsion for our life.
Histroacally speaking, we must undaerstand the lesson Isreal learned in the 40 years of daily manna, and any excess spoiled by the second day. They were one day away from starvation. And this is their understadning of Life. Yet, for all those decades, they ate and God provided. Tertillian and Augustine thought, especially because this petition follows such a glorious opening, how could Jesus ask us to swich to the mundane and material concerns so quickly.
But by over spiritualizing it we miss out on the supersubstantial nature of Jesus’s one Incarnation and bodily form which secures our undetading that he cared for the down to earth realities of life like good and body and weather and house and home and wife and children and government and peace.
Does this mean that we stop working? ANd deny that people have to earn a living? Isn’t it true that farmers farm and plouch and sow and reap and provide basic cerals and breatds for all of us?
God is not glutton free. He loves bread. THe smell of fresh made bread.
He wants you to work. He also wants you to know that every good and perfect gift comes for God and we must be conscious to the day to day dependance we have on God.
Either for today or for the following day. Whatever, it is immedate and not the distant future.
Eating on the elder retreat. And I eat like a bird. Just dont have must of an appetie, I snack more than I eat. So we had this big meal. Breakfast caserole and a huge homeage cinnimon roll Mrs. Liz made for us. And Juan finished the whole thing. Why? Becasue, this might be migh last meal. Its spiritual! It’s immedate not the distant future.
If you pray inthe morning, its for today. If you pray this in the evening, its for the following day. We live one day at a time.
Jehovah Jirah, our provider.
The repetited theme seems to be more like begging than asking.
The sermon on the Mount is given in rural Galilee likely to people who were either poor or oppressed or both, but it is relatively safe to say that their food source was scarse and unlike the wealth know in Jerusalem.
Ask, and ask, and ask again. Even though we will stop at daily bread, look at the rhythm of give us, forgive us, deliever us. Ask, ask, and ask again.
This prayer is split into 2 parts, the first concerned for God’s glory and then the needs of man. Which are the parallel to the 10 Commandments. Divided into tow and express the same priority.
Remember, when we ask, we are not asking from some impersonal force, with no name, he is not just the Ultimate Force or Inner Being. This personal love and power of God, creator has made us children who then engager with him as Father.
See the pronound change: YOur Kingdom Come Your will be done to OUR. We turn from God’s affaris to our own.
It seems strange to break the pattern and ignore this idea of God’s future kingsome altogether by requesting a daily bread. This is a symbol of God’s salvation both in word and action. There is the histocal Exodus event that lies in the background when God provided bread from heaven so that the Israelites had to collece on the day by day basis. This Kingdom come is one of provision in which we are already sharing in that blessing today. It was in the ‘wilderness’ when God first redeemed them by this daily renewal and refresment of basic daily needs.
Even though we put these petitions after adorationi, that does not elimate them or make thiem unimportant. This does not mean that we should not bother God with such trivialities, instead its the exact opposite. Do believe this, is a grave error and should dominate our prayers. He loves us with the Father’s love and is concernted for our total welfare and wants us to bring our needs trustingly to him.
Proverbs 30:8 give me neither poverty nor riches but feed me with the food that is needful for me.
Matthew 6:34 ““Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Exodus 16:4 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.”
Practically speaking, sometimes God asks us to be the ones to be the hands and feet of Jesus who James 2:15 “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,”
John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.””
Luke 14:15 “When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!””
Erasmus says that the petition is a petition of everything necessary for the preservation of the life such as food and health and body and home and wife and children.
Especially when wealth or luxury is take from you when delecacies or riches are no longer available.
Christianity can be reduiced to one simple phrase: God gives and we recieve.
We then understand the childlike dependant that we must have on God.
Don’t forget that this petition comes directly after this notion that God is to be adored.
Benedition is to be read over you. WIth your hands out.
Elliot Grudem, hands our and palms up. Do you recieve it?
Speaking of divine substance, this is Jesus Christ who is the bread of life which is the Word that nourishes the soul. Especailly when taking of the Eucharist. When Jesus gave himself as the Bread in the Upper Room and continually give himself as the bread Church.
Jesus wasn’t telling his disciples to pray only for bread but realize that breatd was a stapel in the diet of the Jews. Bread had always been a symbol of God’s provision to His people in the Old Testament. The wilderness was hard and soon people began to complain that it would have been better to be back in Egypt where they had wonderful things to eat. But in resppnse to these complaints, God promised to ‘rain bread from heaven’. A small round substance as fine as frost was like white coriander seed and tasted like wafers made of honey.
Even today we speak of somone in the house being the bread winner because even in our culture bread is a powerful symbol of the rudimentary basis of provision for our needs.
If you find that God’s hand seems to be invisible to you, and we cannot discern his providential intrusion of our lives we tend to pray generically or generally. It is only way we see the hand of God’s providence is when we put our petitions before him and pour out our sous of our needs speicafically.
Closer than you think. Most of us don’t live hand to mouth or day to day. We are able to go out to eat after church today. We are able to access any number of grocery stores and see shelves filled with food. And fill our grocery carts brimming over. In fact, for many of us in here, our problem is not that we eat too little but eat to much because in a world filled with poverty we are surrouned by great wealth and great prosperity.
Do you remember the toiltet paper shortage during Covid when one link in the supply chain went down, we were all impacted in some way. We were not used to seeing empty shelves. But in our lifeteim, we can say, we were ‘that close’ to tragedy. Even in a wealthy world, we could be close to being reliant of God for everything.
Regular Reminders. Praying daily bread prayes is our way to stay conneced that we need God for everything. We usuelly do Yearly Goals and Annual Planning, but hardly ever live day to day. Yet, this is how Jesus wants us to live. He wants us to be more dependant that annual planning. And look closer to ‘his mercies are new every morning’ type of thing. That we are like the Israelites in the Wilderness.