4 th Wednesday of Lent Pray Without Ceasing Men and women of God, Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread 1 Timothy 6:6-10 by Michael G. Lilienthal We have studied almost half of the Lord s Prayer. All our petitions, directed to Our Father, who art in heaven, so far have been concerned with God himself, and how we perceive him. We ve asked that God s name be hallowed, his kingdom come, and his will be done. Does it seem like an unexpected shift that all of a sudden we ask, Give us this day our daily bread? Does it seem as though we have fallen from a great height? We were speaking of such lofty things! And now we speak of bread. As we ll see, this petition does indeed follow logically from the first three, and fits magnificently into the broad panorama of the whole prayer. Let s learn of this petition from our Small Catechism. Turn to p. 33 in your Hymnaries and let s read responsively the Fourth Petition: THE FOURTH PETITION Give us this day our daily bread. What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread without our prayer, even to all the wicked; but we pray in this petition that He would lead us to acknowledge this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything needed for this life, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, fields, cattle, money, goods, God-fearing spouse and children, faithful servants and rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, order, honor, true friends, good neighbors, and the like.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 2 We learn how to pray this petition based on the words that St. Paul writes to his pupil, St. Timothy: Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment. What we ought to understand from this is that I. We Have All We Need This Scripture is teaching against the love of money. Many people are familiar with the end of this passage: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Paul seems to be waxing repetitive in this passage, for that is the cap of this discourse. He said earlier, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. And it is no mere hypothetical, but after reaching the height of his point, he concludes: It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. The love of money, the desire for riches, the greediness for gain is a very serious concern. Put into one word, this great evil is covetousness. You remember your Ten Commandments, how tacked onto the forgotten end there are those two: You shall not covet your neighbor s house ; You shall not covet your neighbor s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. See how it could happen that the sin of covetousness is a root of all kinds of evil: you covet something that belongs to your neighbor, couldn t that lead to theft? adultery? murder? The example of this that comes to mind is the story of David and Bathsheba: It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the
3 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread woman was very beautiful (2 Sam. 11:2). He coveted her, and therefore he took her, and he made her pregnant. To cover up his sin, David caused the death of Bathsheba s husband, Uriah, giving the command, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die (2 Sam. 11:15). Theft, adultery, murder. Add to these deception, abuse of power, pride, selfrighteousness, and you have the catalogue of David s sins, all the branches of which stemmed from that root of covetousness of another man s wife. But David s sin was not love of money, was it? He coveted, but he coveted something other than money. Make no mistake: coveting is coveting is coveting. Don t presume to think, Well, I m not really after wealth or money; I just wish I had this or that essential thing. After all, isn t it part of my daily bread? Pay attention to how you pray this petition. Recall that list of things that is the answer to What is meant by daily bread? : food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, fields, cattle, money, goods, God-fearing spouse and children, faithful servants and rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, order, honor, true friends, good neighbors, and the like. We can say, according to Jesus command that we pray this petition, that God wants us to have food and drink, but why are there some who starve? We can also say that God wants us to have clothing and shoes, but why are there some who have neither? We can say that God wants us to have house and home, so why are there some homeless? We can say that God wants us to have a God-fearing spouse and Godfearing children, so why are some unmarried, or married to unbelievers, or widowed, and why do some remain barren, or have only dead children, or have unbelieving
1 Timothy 6:6-10 4 children? Go on with the rest of these: if God wants us to have these things, why do some not have them? Why are there unjust rulers? Why are there natural disasters? Why is there war, sickness, disorder, disgrace, or enmity? It would seem to be true that God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45), and yet just as true that throughout the world, if we stop blinding ourselves to it, God is refusing to give people their daily bread. Why? Aren t we promised it? Aren t we entitled to it because God promised it? There is a very fine, thin line between greed and need. Be sure you know when you cross from one to the other. When you pray, then, what is your focus? When you petition God, Give us this day our daily bread, what is the main point of that prayer? Is it, I need bread, therefore, God, give me bread? Or is it any other material gain? Is it a magical formula that promises to us what we ask for when we pray it? Or is it instead an attitude of prayer, an attitude that informs the soul to trust, to rely wholly on the source of all blessings, rather than on those blessings themselves. Notice how this attitude is twisted by some who call themselves Christians: when the focus is on God granting blessings (whether money, shelter, clothing, or even food), then Scripture becomes viewed as a contract between God and men: if we believe hard enough, and further if we pray and confess hard enough, then God will grant those blessings we petition him for. In this thinking (called prosperity gospel ) what is the means and what is the end? Prayer and faith and God himself are tools we humans use to accomplish the gain of blessings. One verse prior to our text, Paul wrote about people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, and notice this,
5 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread imagining that godliness is a means of gain (1 Tim. 6:5). The wrong way to pray this petition is to think that by being devout we ll gain. The right way is to reverse this. As Paul says, Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. If this is so, then we must understand that all the good things [we pray for in this petition] and other things like them do come from God and must be prayed for. 1 The purpose of this petition is centered in that God wishes us to pray for these blessings, so that we may recognize that they come to us from His hand and, when we receive them, feel His fatherly goodness toward us. 2 Prayer and these material blessings are therefore the means through which we are strengthened in our faith in God. All these blessings that God gives us, he intends them to be used all for the same purpose he has for everything: the eternal salvation of souls. See therefore why contentment is gain. The Devil intends to take from us the things that come to us from God or to interfere with their benefiting us. 3 Compare how the Devil tempted Jesus: he said, command these stones to become loaves of bread, because he knew that Jesus was hungry and needed food (Matt. 4:3). If God truly desires mankind to have daily bread, then literally, Jesus should have used the means at his disposal to receive this blessing. But the Devil s temptation would lead Jesus to see the bread as the end in itself. But Jesus refocused the truth of the matter, refuting the Devil: It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 1 Martin Luther, Large Catechism, 91. 2 Ibid., emphasis added. 3 Ibid.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 6 that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Bread is not the end. It is just one among many blessings from God, which when viewed with eyes of faith encourages us to rely more fully on God. So, the difference between greed and need: we have all we need already. Even if according to bodily needs we have only the basics, the smallest of things, if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. We will be content, because we already have everything we need from God, because these gifts encourage us to look at the source of the gifts, to realize that this great giver, God, has given us the single greatest gift: by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Understand it as Paul expresses it to the Roman Christians: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:32). Jesus himself died. That sacrifice paid for our salvation, our eternal lives. We, and all who receive faith in this Jesus, have this single greatest eternal blessing. This is the great gain we receive. Can we not be content with this? Notice how this petition connects to a later petition in the Lord s Prayer. Later we ask, Lead us not into temptation. God never gives us our daily bread in order to lead us into temptation. He gives it to us to lead us instead closer to him. It is the Devil, or the world of sin, or our own sinful flesh which abuses and misshapes those blessings and causes us to be led into temptation. Whenever you pray, Give us this day our daily bread, therefore, keep in mind that later petition: Lead us not into temptation, so that what we pray for is this: Let all our material blessings be used to
7 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread fill our true needs, as you understand them in your wisdom, dear Lord, so that we might draw ever closer to you in faith, and become ever more certain of that single greatest blessing you have given us: forgiveness, life, and salvation. As you pray this, realize the irony of what Paul says in verse 6: Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment. Contentment, being satisfied with the status quo, what we already have, somehow, ironically, means that we will gain. How does this work? How can we ask for something while being content? This is like what Paul wrote to the Philippians: I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:11-13) No doubt you re familiar with that last passage. But, I can do all things through him who strengthens me, doesn t mean that if I have faith in God he will give me the ability to succeed in sports, or that through my strong faith God enables me to pass a test, or that God will give me the energy to face the day that awaits me, or that God will help me with my job. What it means is that, because I rely on God, I am able to endure every situation of life, whether I have nothing or everything, whether I am a success or failure because in God I already have everything I need (I need nothing more), and therefore I have the gain that truly matters, and that God will give all I need. II. God Will Give All We Need Now, notice, this contentment is not self-generated contentment; it is contentment which rests on God s provident care. See this further irony: we need
1 Timothy 6:6-10 8 something in order to be content. Ultimately, this is what we ask God for in this petition. We ask for some perspective. Here s the perspective as Paul gives it: we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. Luther gives this advice: Consider where you come from. 4 Where do you come from? This petition, indeed this whole prayer, continuously calls upon us to acknowledge our humble place, and God s exalted glory: he is in heaven, he has a kingdom, his will is greater than ours, and as we confess at the end of the prayer, his are the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. And where are we? We are called upon especially in this petition to realize that everything we have is only from him, to realize that he can do everything, that he knows everything that we need, and that he wants to give us what we need, therefore to realize that we can rely on him with complete faith. This prayer paints the picture of us on earth, of Father in heaven, and of him actively tending to our every need, while we rest with contentment in his arms. Thus contentment is a gift of God, connected to faith, which is set in opposition to what Paul calls craving, synonymous with love of money or covetousness. As he writes, It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Notice the double curse that comes from this craving: one is wandering away from the faith. As talked about, this craving inverts the proper attitude of prayer: craving turns God into the means of gaining material things. 4 LW 28:370.
9 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread But true faith understands all things, including material things, as tools through which we more fully rely on God. So the sin of craving ultimately is the sin of idolatry. Thus disobedience to the Ninth and Tenth Commandments is disobedience against the First, because now these material things are considered greater than God himself. This is what Jesus means when he says, You cannot serve God and money (Matt. 6:24). The second curse is that those who crave or covet or love money pierc[e] themselves with many pangs. This is what Jesus discusses in the Gospel of Matthew: Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things (Matt. 6:31-32), that is, the ungodly, those who crave and are not content, they seek after these things. Those of the prosperity gospel seek after these things. What is their ultimate concern? Is it for true faith and eternal life? or is it for material gain? If our central concern is what we eat or drink or wear, then we pierce ourselves with pangs of anxiety and desire, rather than, with contentment, rely on God s care and indeed receive his care. Notice the comfort Jesus adds: your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt. 6:32-33). Who would you rather be worried about getting you all the things you need would you prefer to make that list yourself and go do your shopping, with the possibility that something unexpected may come up soon; or would you prefer that God be concerned about it, the one who knows that you need them all, and knows precisely what you need, and all the unexpected things that will come up for you?
1 Timothy 6:6-10 10 Therefore, rather than pierce yourselves with anxiety, trust in God, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and we have gain. And notice here how this petition connects with earlier petitions: we previously asked, Thy kingdom come. That petition prepared our attitudes for this one, for if we seek God s kingdom first, then we know how to ask him for our daily bread. But does this therefore advocate laziness and carelessness about material things? If we should rely on God to give us all we need, then really we shouldn t worry about going and shopping for groceries (God will provide); we shouldn t be concerned to get a job to earn money (God will provide); we shouldn t bother making rent or mortgage or utilities payments (God will provide). Is that what this is saying? Is that what contentment really means? Paul is writing against wicked ambition, but realize that there is such a thing as godly ambition. Wicked ambition seeks gain for gain s sake, seeks the exaltation of self it craves, it covets, it loves money. But godly ambition, as the name suggests, is godliness with contentment. Both godliness and contentment must be held together. Remember, there were those who tried to use godliness [as] a means of gain, but Paul says, true godliness is united with contentment. Contentment realizes that we already have everything we need, and God will continually give us all we need. And this contentment indeed comes from godliness, which Martin Luther defines: Godliness is to worship God with the Word, that men may be made similar to God. 5 Does that 5 Ibid.
11 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread sound provocative? Can man be similar to God? Before deciding whether we can, realize that we must: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48). This is not strange, because at the creation of the world, God created man in his own image, so that the original, perfect man was similar to God (Gen. 1:27). When man sinned, he lost that image of God, was no longer perfect like Father in heaven. But this fall into sin was rectified by the second Adam, by Jesus Christ: For as by the one man s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man s obedience the many will be made righteous so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through the righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:19, 21). How is it accomplished that we are made similar to God? It is through the worship of the Word. We hear the Word of God and we receive his Sacraments, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). Through this Word we possess godliness, we possess salvation, and this godliness is the reception of the kingdom of God, and of faith in the will of God. Therefore godly ambition is the seeking of godly things; godly ambition prays, Thy will be done, and therefore seeks to be an agent of that will. That means primarily that the one who has godly ambition will seek to promote God s Word, to see to it that God s Word is preached in truth and purity, and will believe every word that comes from the mouth of God. Second, godly ambition will take that Word to heart and live it. That is, if you are a husband or wife, you will fill that vocation in such a way that Christ is visible in you. If you are a parent or a child, likewise you will live
1 Timothy 6:6-10 12 according to God s will, and exemplify Christ. If you are an employee, you will obey your employer s wishes let your light shine. Part of this petition to give us our daily bread, then, is to give us opportunity in our earthly life to glorify the Gospel. Allow me to summarize: Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, we are enabled to receive salvation, and this comes through faith instilled in us by the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God. Because of this faith, we are certain that just as God has given us salvation and his kingdom, so he will also give us all things, so that if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. When we pray, Give us this day our daily bread, then our thoughts are centered on our God, the source of every blessing, and we trust in him to provide for our every need, because our greatest need has been filled: we have eternal life given to us by this God. Because he has not withheld such glory from us, we can certainly rely on him for everything. Amen.