“Pray then like this:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’” Matthew 6:9-13
Good morning. So far we have looked at the first “half” of the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew’s Gospel. I pray that you are beginning to get a new or renewed appreciation for this very simple prayer. This prayer as we have seen is a “full” prayer and we have only looked at half of it. My other prayer is that this prayer would become precious to us and to our families for it along with all the other prayers in the Bible are given to us to teach us how to pray but also to be incorporated into our hearts for the times when we do not know what to pray.
Today we come to the 4th petition, “Give us this day our daily bread…”. But before we move on to this, what does the order of the prayer say to us so far? We pray, Our Father hallowed be your name, may you kingdom come, and may your will be done…before we pray give us this day our daily bread. God’s honor always comes first, even before we take the time to recognize where all that we have comes from.
Every time I take the time to really consider this prayer it always seems strange that at the very center of this prayer that Jesus quickly switches the emphasis from something as wonderful as honoring God first to something as mundane as earthly bread. But then when I stop another minute, I realize this is just like Him. He sees no distinction between what we compartmentalize as secular and spiritual….it is all the same to Him. We uphold one part of life as more important than another but Scripture makes the point that all things are from God and as such are all spiritual in nature. This is one reason why we give thanks for our meals…recognition that we wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t from God. Paul reminds us in I Timothy 4:4-5- “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Also, He knows how essential “bread” is for us for our continued existence …whether actual bread or His Word; as in; “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We must “eat” or we die!
The word “daily” in the Greek carries with it the additional meanings of “necessary” or even “future…or “the next day’s bread”(as in the bread that was to be collected on Friday because they couldn’t collect bread on the Sabbath in the wilderness)…or as an afterthought “the coming meal of the kingdom.” And the word for “bread” here has had 3 basic theological understanding attached to it over time:
1. Communion bread…that represents the body of Christ.
2. It symbolizes life in the coming kingdom so that this petition becomes an extension of your kingdom come…
3. It is physical food that God provides for His own with good things. God knows that we need actual food in order to do His will.
Let’s not hurt our heads with the first 2 for they are probably not the primary thing in His mind…the last view fits better within the extended context to be sure…Matthew 6:25-34. But… since Christ is the Bread of life… there is definitely an aspect dealing with communion…John 6:51…though this text is much more about election than communion…that aspect is there as well. By feasting on Christ in Communion we receive the bread representing His body as a means of grace and we have life everlasting.
Some may ask why should this be part of my prayer when I have an abundance already? Bottom line is this, we need to pray this petition every day, because what we have will be of no real worth if we are not recognizing that it is God who actually provides for His children…we simply reap the benefits or blessings of His on-going daily provision. When we do not stop and recognize this in our prayers we are pridefully putting ourselves in the place of God. We must constantly be reminded of our complete dependency of Him or our fallen nature will seek to take all the credit for what we have.
By using the phrase “Give us THIS day our daily bread”, He is consciously seeking for us to remember that life is short and we need to focus on this day to bring the Father glory…not tomorrow for we are not to be anxious about tomorrow. Let me quote from the Proverbs since we have been spending a lot of time there lately. Proverbs 27:1- “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” But here are Jesus’ words to us as well; “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
One last thought here. By praying “Give us…”, we are praying that we would be mindful of more than just ourselves…but the whole body of Christ. In this daily bread we must be content with whatever God chooses to give us. The good news is this, Christ is the Bread of Life!!!…(John 6:48) and this bread is for us daily and we need to get Him every day.
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
