Our Daily Bread Sermon Series: The Praying Church Deuteronomy 8:6-9 Rev. Michael D. Halley October 23, 2016 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we have noticed in this series on The Lord s Prayer, this prayer opens with three petitions exalting God: First, we exalt God s name, praying Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed [holy or sacred] be Thy name. Second, we exalt God s kingdom, his sovereign rule in our hearts, praying, Thy kingdom come. The third of the first three petitions exalts God s will, as we pray, Thy will be done. God s name, God s kingdom, and God s will are to be our preoccupation whenever we come before him 1 in prayer. This is important for us know and to remember, every time we pray. Our first concern in prayer should always -- not sometimes, but always -- be God s glory, God s name, God s kingdom, and God s will. The Lord s Prayer, as a model of all prayers, puts our focus squarely and surely upon God first. It is only then that we have three petitions 2 concerning our own selves. The first of these three is Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus teaches us to pray that God would give us our daily bread. 1
Obviously, Jesus is not saying that we should pray only for bread. But since bread was a staple in the diet of the people of that day, bread was a very powerful symbol of God s provision for His people. Page -2- You will recall how God cared for his people, the Israelites when they were traveling in the wilderness following their exodus from Egypt. The journey in the wilderness was difficult, and soon the people complained that it would be better for them to be back in Egypt, where they had plenty of good food to eat. But God was faithful to his people. God said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you (Exodus 16:4). The Bible tells us the next morning, When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor (Exodus 16:14). The people did not know what it was but soon found that it was God s provision for them. Again, the Bible tells us, The people of Israel called the bread manna 3. It was white like coriander seed 4 and tasted like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31). However, God put one condition on the provision of the manna -- they must gather only enough for their immediate daily need. If they tried to gather too much, and store it up, it spoiled. They had to be satisfied with enough for the one day, trusting that God would provide for the next day. Someone 5 figured out that a typical person will spend 35,000 hours of their life eating. Thirty-five thousand hours! That works out to be eight years of eating non-stop for 12 hours a day. That s a lot of eating, isn t it? And it s a lot of food that we will consume during our lifetime! The problem with eating, however, is that shortly after we are done -- normally within a couple of hours or so, we are hungry again. In other words, as much as we enjoy food, and need food, at best it will only satisfy us for a few hours until we are hungry and need to eat again. Isn t that true for much of our life, that satisfaction is a short-lived experience? Isn t it true that no matter what we buy, no matter what we accomplish, no matter what we earn, no matter what we receive, no matter where we travel, just a short time later that thing loses its ability to satisfy us
Page -3- and bring us contentment? Possessions, achievements, income, houses, relationships, trips, -- you fill in the blank -- they satisfy for only a brief moment. Lasting contentment and long-term satisfaction often eludes us, leaving us looking for something more in life. And so we go back to the manna in the wilderness to learn a solution to this dilemma. When God miraculously fed his people in the wilderness, he did so by giving them bread in the form of manna, from heaven. And, this bread from heaven suggested what was to come later, in the person of Jesus, who himself told us, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35). And so, bread is a powerful symbol of the basic long-term provision for our needs and satisfaction that will last. The story is told 6 that after the Korean War ended, South Korea was left with a large number of children who had been orphaned by the war. In response to this emergency, relief agencies came in to help with the many orphan children. One relief worker told of a problem they encountered with the children. Even though the children were provided three meals a day, they were restless and anxious at night and had difficulty sleeping. As the workers talked with the children, they discovered that the children had great anxiety about whether they would have food the next day. One of the orphanage workers came up with a plan to help the children. Each night when the children were put to bed, the nurses would place a single piece of bread in each child s hand. The bread wasn t meant to be eaten, it was intended to be held by the children as they went to sleep. It became a security blanket for them, reminding them that there would be provision for their daily needs.
The bread in their little hands calmed the children s anxieties and helped them sleep. Likewise, you and I take comfort in knowing that our physical needs are met by our loving heavenly Father, that we have food, or bread, for our needs. Page -4- This petition of The Lord s Prayer teaches us to come to God in a spirit of humble dependence, asking God to provide what we need and to sustain us from day to day. We are not to ask for great riches, but we are encouraged to make our basic needs known to God, trusting that he will provide. Hudson Taylor 7, a missionary in China in the late 1800s, had complete trust in God s faithfulness in providing for us. He wrote in his journal, Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning... He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all... Depend on it, God s work done in God s way will never lack God s supply. Our Father has invited us to go to him and ask for our daily bread. And God will not fail to provide it. This petition tells us to live one day at a time, trusting God. It forbids the anxious worry which is so characteristic of those who have not learned to trust God. But a caution here. As Dr. William Barclay tells us, This petition very wisely reminds us of how prayer works. If a man prayed this prayer, and then sat back and waited for bread to fall into his hands, he would certainly starve. It [this petition] reminds us that prayer and work go hand in hand and that when we pray we must go on to work to make our prayers come true. It is true that the living seed comes from God, but it is equally true that it is man s task to grow and to cultivate that seed. 8 We must notice that Jesus did not teach us to pray: Give me my daily
Page -5- bread. He taught us to pray: Give us our daily bread. The problem of our world is not that there is not enough to go around; there is enough and to spare for everyone. The problem is not the supply of life s essentials; it is the distribution of them. This petition teaches us to never be selfish in our prayers. It is a petition which we can help God to answer by giving to others who are less fortunate than we are. This petition is not only a prayer that we may receive our daily bread; it is also a prayer that we may share our daily bread with others. Jesus as the Bread of Life was wonderfully captured in the words of the hymn, Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea; Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word! Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me, As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee; Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall; And I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me, Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me; Give me to eat and live with Thee above; Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me, That He may touch my eyes, and make me see: Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word, And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord. 9 Let us pray: Lord Jesus, Bread of Life, thank you that you satisfy our
Page -6- hunger, that you quench our thirst, that you meet all our needs. Nothing can satisfy like you do; no one can meet our needs like you do. May we not turn away from you, Jesus, Bread of Life: may we come to you, and may we believe in you always. We pray this in your name, Jesus our Saviour. Amen. Amen +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. Quoted from Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, by Dr. Derek Thomas, http://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/thy-will-be-done-on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven. 2. First, Give us this day our daily bread ; second, Forgive us our debts [or trespasses] as we forgive our debtors ; and third, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 3. Manna was small round grains or flakes, which appeared around the Israelites camp each morning with the dew... [it was] ground and baked into cakes or boiled (Exodus 16:13-36 ). Their name [ manna ] may have come from the question the Israelites asked when they first saw them: What is it (man hu)?. From Manna, by Barbara J. Bruce, in Holman Bible Dictionary, edited by Trent C. Butler, http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/view.cgi?n=4084, c. 1991.
Page -7-4. Coriander is a herb (Coriandrum sativum) of the carrot family with aromatic fruits used much as poppy, caraway, or sesame seeds are today. The manna of the wilderness period was like coriander seed either in appearance (Exodus 16:31 ) or taste (Numbers 11:7 ). Source: Holman Bible Dictionary, cited above. 5. Quoted from What Satisfies You?, by Brian Doten, 2001, www.higherpraise.com/outlines/woodvale/iam1.html. 6. From What Does Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread Mean?, by Dr. R. C. Sproul, posted on August 31, 2016, at http://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-does-give-us-day-our-daily-bread-mean/. This article is excerpted from his book, The Prayer of the Lord. 7. James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission. Mr. Taylor spent 51 years in China. (Wikipedia) 8. Commentary on Matthew 6:11", William Barclay s Daily Study Bible, www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/matthew-6.html, c. 1956-1959. 9. Break Thou the Bread of Life, by Mary Artemesia Lathbury (1841-1913). Ms. Lathbury composed at least ten hymns. See http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/l/a/lathbury_ma.htm.