Give us today our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11

Give us today our daily bread.

 

[A] We have to live faithfully for a day.

 

○ Today I want to share a message about the meaning of prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that the Lord taught his disciples. “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is the first petition of the disciples in the Lord’s prayer.

 

○ We can find the Lord’s prayer in three texts. The gospel according to Matthew, the gospel according to Luke(11:2~4) and the Didache, one of the early Christian writings. In Didache, one sentence added: “You shall pray three time of the day in this manner.”

 

○ “Give us today our daily bread.” In here, the word translated ‘daily’(επιουσιον) has two meanings. One is ‘necessary for living’ and the other one is ‘for the coming day.’ So we can read this prayer: “Give us our necessary bread today.” or “Give us our daily bread for the morrow.”

 

○ Anyway what is important in this petition? To whom do you pray? It is usually easy for us to memorize this prayer unconsciously. But we can think of one case like this. How many will give us food for nothing if we ask to someone passing by on the street?

 

○ I mean, when we pray to God, we must pray in personal relationship with God. And we must admit that God is the one who gives us infinite grace. Otherwise, praying through the Lord’s player is like begging people on the street.

 

○ Therefore, we should deeply realize that God is the source of all grace. We should know that the food to live is God’s grace. So we have to promise to live today faithfully. The Lord’s prayer must be our confession and decision to live in response to God’s grace.

 

[B] We must not misunderstand God.

 

○ God knows all about our needs. Eating food is essential for us to sustain our lives. God knows what we must have.

 

○ Let’s read Matthew chapter 6, verse 31 and 32:

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”(Matthew 6:31~32)

 

○ We need to know who God is. We should know who God is exactly. Jesus taught his disciples two bad cases of prayer.

 

○ Let’s read Matthew chapter 6, verse 5 and verse 7:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”(Matthew 6:5)

 

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”(Matthew 6:7)

 

○ Jesus pointed out the wrong form of prayer because the hypocrites and the pagans misunderstood God. When we read the Bible and understand God correctly. This is the first step of our devotional life. Remember this. When we know God right, we can pray right!

 

○ In Matthew chapter 25, we can read the parable of Talent. A man who received one talent misunderstood God.

 

○ In Matthew 25:24~25: Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”

 

○ What was wrong with this man? He received God’s grace in vain. 2 Corinthians 6:1 says: “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”(2 Corinthians 6:1)

 

○ God wants us not to receive grace in vain but to respond to grace. Likewise, God wants us to live our given lives with responsibility. Jesus said: “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”(John 5:17)

 

[C] Rely on God entirely.

 

○ Then now we would like to think about God’s grace more. It is difficult to what grace is in our words. Even Jesus explained grace by parables. Chapter 18 of Matthew, we can read the parable of ten thousand talents. This is a story about a man who did not know God’s grace and could not forgive other.

 

○ In here, ten thousand talents(ten thousand bags of gold) is a metaphor of infinite grace of God. Ten thousand talents refers to the cost or debt that we can not pay back at any way. Being forgiven, likewise eating day by day is God’s grace. It is impossible to pay back God’s grace by on our own.

 

○ There is the Lord’s prayer in Luke also. Let’s read Luke 11:3 together: “Give us each day our daily bread.”

 

○ Compared to Matthew, Luke added the word ‘each day.’ This is more specific petition about our daily needs. Everything that comes from God is grace. Our necessary food for daily life is also God’s grace.

 

○ It is amazing to live day by day. Consider the forty years of the Israelites’ wilderness march. Israel relied on God’s supply day by day in the wilderness. God gave them abundant grace every day. God provided them food each day.

 

○ Let’s read Exodus 16:4 together:

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.”(Exodus 16:4)

 

○ Food coming down from the heaven. This was Manna! Manna was essential for Israel to survive in the wilderness. This story teaches us today that our daily lives are entirely in God’s hands.

 

○ From now on, when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” it should be our confession that we will entirely rely on God. It should be also confident that God will fulfill our needs.

 

○ We can not live without God’s help. So when we pray the Lord’s prayer, I hope that we pray with a more serious and earnest mind.

 

[D] Those who rely on God receive answers.

 

○ Finally, the prayer, “Give us today our daily bread” is an expression of faith that we will live today by the word of God. It is natural for us to obey the word of God because we will live by eating food God provides.

 

○ In Luke chapter 5, there is a story that Jesus called his disciples after teaching many people by the lake of Gennesaret.

 

○ Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”(verse 4) And then how did Simon answer?

 

○ Let’s read Luke chapter 5, verse 5 and 6 together:

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.(Luke 5:5~6)

 

○ When we give up our way we have done, When we break up our way we have used to, and when we put down our knowledge we have learned, then God will work.

 

○ When we obey the word of God, then amazing things will happen. When we obey the word of God, our daily lives will come as a miracle.

 

○ As we experience the depth of grace, our prayers will change. As we get to know God more deeply, the dimension of our prayer will change.

 

○ Beloved brothers and sisters, remember this. Those who rely on God entirely will receive answers. I hope that we would feel God’s breath in our daily lives. I hope that we would experience God’s salvation in our daily lives.