Give us today our daily bread

If you think about prayer, what we talked about last week, was this simple definition of prayer. If we can skip to the second slide there, Prayer is a conversation with our heavenly father. It is a response of communicative response of Faith to the knowledge of God revealed in Christ. That is prayer is conversation with god. What makes Christian prayer different than any other prayer is not the order. It's not the time, it's not the form, but it's the person of God, the Father whom we are addressing. It's the God who we communicate with is makes the difference make Christian prayer different than any other prayer. That's why I thought about this. When you ask things of God, does it reflect your needs? Or your wants. Your wishes. Or your hopes. Or your worries or your fears. I thought about this different kinds of prayers. You know, it's interesting if you look up children's prayers that children ask God, you know, online and you think of asking and young child, what do you want to pray about? What do you want to pray about? You know, and I and usually it's just that I would have good relationships with my friends or that I would, you know, have a smile when I go to school that my teacher would be nice to me. Maybe perhaps until there's something genuine. Isn't there about a child's prayer? Something simple, something in a certain sense, innocence Prayer is conversation with our heavenly father and so Jesus, in Matthew chapter 6, he goes over three different ways to pray. He says, don't pray like the hypocrite. Don't pray like the pagans who Babble or he use many words because they think that God is going to hear them because of their many words, but don't be like the Hypocrites who just love to pray standing on the street corner and make everyone aware that he's praying. He says, don't do either of those but pray, go into your closet. Meaning be somewhere by yourself and noticed. The text said and Matthew and Luke chapter 11, that one time while Jesus was praying, or after Jesus was praying, his disciples asked him, Lord, teach us to pray. Well, that's an indicator that Jesus spent regular time frame. He says go by yourself and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees what is in secret will reward you and so there's something spiritual about communicating with God In Prayer. And so prayer is not posturing to impress or nor is it mechanical in order to get things from God? You know, sometimes we keep a list of prayers and we keep a list of how God answers those prayers. But I think there's other times when we pray, when we just simply praise God, when we simply give, thanks to God, when we pray to him and we communicate to him and we're not as concerned about keeping a list of of record of how God has answered that prayer. I think there's room for for both of those things. So the Lord's Prayer. A one person pointed out. This is also really the disciples prayer, isn't it? I missed the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. Are you with me here, right? It's not, it's not the Lord's Prayer. In the sense that it only belongs to him. He intended it for us to pray to God. And so some one person said that the disciples prayer essentially. Well another person said well it's really the children's prayer. The children's prayer because we are children of God and to listen to this quote that I thought was very insightful. From a pastor in Britain, one of my favorites Martyn, Lloyd Jones. The only man who has a right to say our father is the one who is in Christ Jesus, it is not a prayer for anybody, but only for those who have become the children of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the relationship of the child to the father. And the moment we realize we have offended or grieved or sinned against the father we confess it and ask to be forgiven and we are sure that we are forgiven. But that was a very good Insight that children of God, Martyn, Lloyd Jones was known for asking people. Brother, are you a Christian? And if the person said, well, I'm trying he would say, are you born again? Are you a child of God? Do you know that you have eternal life? He who has the Son of God has life. He who does not have the Son of. God does not have life. First, John chapter 5. And so what he saying here is that if you are a child of God by faith in Christ, then you are praying to your father and we realize that we can go to him with anything a man. We can go to him with anything and so today we're going to focus on two aspects of the Lord's Prayer to statements. Give us today. Our daily bread and forgive us our debts or forgive us. Our trespasses the word, therefore debts essentially means trespasses or sins. And but here's some general observations about the Lord's prayer that you might want to jot down. One aspect of the Lord's Prayer, is that it follows the general division of the Ten Commandments That is you think of the Ten Commandments you shall have no other gods before me? You shall not make any Graven image or worship any. Any image that is that you make up a you shall not take the lord's name in vain. You shall honor your father, you shall keep the Sabbath. I'm sorry. Number for so the first four Commandments are related to how we relate to God, vertically. Some people have said and then the next six Commandments Commandments five through ten, honor your father and mother do not lie, do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not come it numbers 5 through 10 or how we relate to other people. So, that's a basic, a division in the Ten Commandments which I think is repeated by Jesus, where he says, what's the greatest commandment to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart mind, soul, and strength. And the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself. And those two Commandments sum up the, the Ten Commandments in the sense of the first set of four is a, is related to how we relate to God. And then the second set is how we relate to others. What? In the Lord's Prayer? You have the same thing. Do you see that and Luke chapter 11? Look at Luke chapter 11, where we see Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11 are the two places where the Lord's Prayer is given

and you'll see the same division. So to speak. Now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when you finish one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples and he said to them, when you pray, say father, Hallowed Be Your Name, Your Kingdom come give us each day, our daily bread. You see the division? They're addressing God vertically. Our relationship with God recognizing his position and then there's How we relate to one another God, and our specific needs. Give us each day, our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves forgive everyone, who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. So the Lord's Prayer follows that, same two-part category, our relationship to God and then our relationship to others and isn't it amazing that

Your kingdom come and then in Matthew, it says, your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. And then right after that give us our daily bread. That we can pray for God's kingdom to come for, his will, which is perfectly done in heaven to be be done on Earth as well. The God who made all of the stars In Genesis it says and he made the Stars. Also I was four by that, in my first Hebrew class and Seminary, we translated the first 15 verses of Genesis and in the Hebrew, it specifically has a separate little sentence that says, and he made the Stars also,

Wow, that's a lot.

Isn't it amazing that The God Who made the universe? Now the next thing he says, in the Lord's Prayer is give us today, our daily bread. The other aspect is that it also follows the general pattern of a CTS acts. The same letters as the book of Acts, but people have used this as a helpful, reminder for prayer. Adoration first, we praise God. And we, we recognize who God is, then we confess telling God where we're at or or how we sin Ti being thankful. We thank him one of the versions of the Lord's Prayer says to him be the power and the glory forever and ever for the I think for line is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever it's acknowledging it's giving thanks to God. And then s stands for supplication or request. How many of you have seen that that acronym before a CTS? That's pretty pretty common, acronym for prayer. I think it's helpful and if you read the Psalms that pattern is there, as well, in the song, give thanks to the Lord, praise the Lord and then, you know, Lord forgive forgive send that same pattern. So here's the first one that we're going to look at today. Give us today our daily bread. and we maybe we were cited or we say it in our mind in the morning and we don't even think about What that means. I think it's important for us to think about what that means. Give me what I need for today or for the next day theologians have debated. Does that mean the day this day before evening or does that mean? Give me Lord. What I need for the next day. Well either way, it's simply a daily prayer. If you're praying it a night, you pray Lord, give me what I need for the next day, if you're pregnant in the morning, you say, Lord, give me what I need for today. Our tendency, wouldn't you say is sometimes, twist. We slip into seeing God as a cosmic, Santa Claus. And we prepare our list and we write out our once or we write out the things that really burden us. Or we make a list of things in our lives. We think should go better.

And yet Jesus said right before that God knows your heavenly father knows what you need before you ask. And yet, he tells us to ask because he wants us to come to him in, Trust Why are we told to ask because God wants each of us to learn how to trust him one day at a time? Now, my guess is most of us are not going to be worried about whether we have anything in the pantry at the end of the next 24 hours. I mean, I've talked to people who some people keep me in a three months worth of food in the pantry or six months worth of food, you know, and for most of us, that's probably not the reality, but think about Jesus, talking to his disciples in the ancient world. The parable of the workers in the vineyard, you know, they were expecting to get paid at the end of the day, that's the way it worked. If you were a day laborer, you got paid at the end of the day. So there's a, there's a sense in which we are to depend upon God for those daily needs. No Matthew 6:34 what it what else do you say? Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Hello, my name is Jim. I'm a recovering worrier. Hello, Jim. How they'd say it in the in the support groups? Sufficient for the day is its own trouble, or that makes me worried when I read that. But Lord, you said do not be anxious about tomorrow. Jesus tells us do not worry. Someone said to me one time, they said if you're going to worry, Don't Pray. If you're going to pray, don't worry. If you're going to pray about it, then leave it in the Lord's hands if you're going to worry about it, then why bother praying because you're focused on your worrying. And so there's times when we simply need to stop, amen, and say Lord give us today, our daily bread Shear one-story with you when Emily and I were first married in Chicago, we went to another couple's home that lived on the other side of of downtown. And it was I think it was January, February was told it was snowy and we were trying to scrape the ice off the outside of a car and you know, when it snows a lot and you get icy then you have trouble getting the door open and shut and so we were scraping the ice off and had trouble. Getting the door open and all the sudden, the passenger door of the car just goes crunk. and the kin is the one of the hinges on the car, had just snapped because of the cold And then the ice and everything, getting on the, on the side of the door. And so our first Victory as that we managed to shut the car door and lock it so that the door wouldn't fall off and we drove home in the cold weather and said we need to get this fixed. So we ask for prayer in our Sunday school class and we said we need to get this fixed. You know we really don't know how expensive it's going to be, it's an older car. So you know, we don't need a new part, we can probably get by with, you know, apart from a used car from a salvage, yard or something. And we got a quote and it said that the guy said it's going to be about 135, maybe $150 to fix the door. Okay. Well, let's let me know we're first married, and, you know, it's not too much money, but it's over $100. You know, that's, that's the money will turns out the following week. I got a paycheck from a place where I had worked two shifts about two or three months before, and I'd forgotten that they hadn't sent me the paycheck yet, and the check was for $134.

And so it was just a reminder write that God does care about our daily needs that we can ask him for our daily needs. And so the trust lesson was God saying to me I know what you need today and I will know what you need a week from now, come to me in Daily trust and ask for what you need. You know, the people of God had to learn this the hard way in the Old Testament, right? So you go back to the Book of Exodus and I'm Exodus chapter, 16 tells the story of God providing Manna for the people, in the wilderness, the bread in the wilderness. Then the Lord said to Moses behold, I'm 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, God does test us tests our faith and he was testing them to see whether they would follow him. And so they go out and they collect the Mana and it says on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. Now, what was the point of gathering twice as much on the sixth day?

You rest on the seventh day so God was telling them collect twice as much on the sixth day so that you have enough for the 7th Day when you're going to rest and not go out and collect the manor. And what did some people do? They didn't collect twice as much on the Six-Day and they found out on the 7th day. They went out to look for it. It wasn't there. The next verse that says on the sixth day they gather twice as much bread to omers each and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn, rest at the holy Sabbath to the Lord bake, what you will bake and boil what you will boil. And all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.

And so, then verse 25 Moses said eat it today for today as a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. 6 Day, You Shall Gather it there on the seventh day which is a Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather but they found none. So the point was collect what God has provided for today because God knows what you need on the following day. The point of the manor was a test of faith to see if they would trust God, step by step.

We when you're, when you're in the middle of a trial of a trial or something that you know, is going to take a long time.

Do you resent when someone says take it one day at a time?

I mean that's really the best assurance that Jesus is giving us here. Take it one day at a time. Ask God for your needs one day at a time. The other thought from this, The Lord's Prayer is forgive us. Our debts. So we asked for God's pardon, for our sins, we asked for God's pardon, for our sins sins, against God sends against others. Unknown sins sins that we have committed that we're not aware of or willful. Since the Old Testament talks about sinning with a high hand, as someone who's really rebellious their sinning with a high hand. They're sort of shaking their fists at God. Will we ask for God to forgive our sins? And so the ordination Council as that this week, for the pastor in Monroe, North Carolina in the in the ordination with the Evangelical Free Church today. They make you talk about which is good. They they talk about what's your view of the atonement. What Christ has done for us on the cross and we want you to define the word expiation and propitiation. And those are two more technical words relating to the atoma. But the idea of expiation is that God has carried away. Our sins that you have Leviticus chapter 16 with the day of atonement that the sins of the people. Moses put his hand on there. An Aaron, put his hand on the goat and the Goat was sent away. So God carried away our sins and then propitiation has the idea that that the sacrifice absorbs God's Wrath and God's judgment. So that God is now propitious towards us. God is now favorable towards the Romans. 5:1 there for now, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So God carried our sins away and and God Jesus was our exact substitute where our sins were placed upon him, until there's a whole range of of Of of things that are happening there. But we simply ask God, forgive us for our debts and when we see what Christ has done for us, the scope of what Christ has done for us, it is incredible. Do some people have objected to this. Did you ever hear of anyone who objected to, if I'm forgiven by Christ? And I asked to be saved, do I need to confess my sins or do I need to ask God again and again to forgive my sins? If you ever run into anybody who says that I've run into a few people who who have said that some people have objected to this. They say, well, I'm justified in Christ, I'm fully forgiven. Once I am saved, my sins are forgiven past present and future, so I don't have a need to ask forgiveness again. Well, I can understand what they're trying to say is that when were saved when were Justified, God sees us in the righteousness of Christ and all of our sins are forgiven past present and future. But in, in order to have that continual fellowship with God that continual communion with God, not our salvation but just your experience of relating to God. We need to confess our sins. The others. So I don't think that's exactly correct. If if someone says, why don't need to confess my sins again or ask God's forgiveness again because Jesus tells us to ask God to forgive our sin, then you have to teach maybe the Christian perfectionism that you can reach a point where you don't need to ask forgiveness for sins and that that is a misguided teaching, I think as well because you have the book of 1st John, if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. And the Book of James tells us to free confess our sins to one another So Jesus is telling us how to pray. He's telling us, that regular confession of our sins is good for us. Now, again, there's the counterbalance there, right? So, the, the Protestant Reformation comes along and says, well, what is all this about? Going to the priest, and what is all this about Works in about Penance in about you, no confession and all of these things. And so the Protestant Reformation takes the swing the pendulum all the other way. And says, we know where justified by Christ Alone, in faith alone, through grace alone, a man,

But Jesus still tells us how to pray. So, in terms of relating to God on a daily basis, it is good to confess our sins, I find it when I confess my sins to God and I start, I start saying, okay, let's think about the sins that I've committed maybe in the last couple days or so, once I think of two or three, then the Lord starts reminded me of a lot more. I don't know if you've ever found that, but that's a good thing. That's a good thing because God wants us to have a contrite heart before him.

Another objection is maybe that this may appear that will God forgives us on the basis of how we forgive others. Some people have interpreted that way. It makes it appear. As if forgiving the offenses of others is what earns, our forgiveness of God. But remember Jesus teaching that one mark of a repentant person, is that he or she forgives others? We can never forgive others perfectly. We, we can never forgive others perfectly for the sins that we don't even know what we're committed against us. Matthew 18:33, should you not have mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? The next slide there? Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? The parable of the unforgiving, servant. Until the point of the parable is this servant has been given a tremendous amount of forgiveness, incalculable amount of forgiveness. And so, for him to go out and not forgive his fellow servant for a small amount, doesn't make any sense. It means that he didn't realize what forgiveness was in the first place. So we don't learn forgiveness by confessing sins but when we confess our sins and God makes us aware of what he has done for us. Then by his holy spirit, we forgive others because it is a fruit. It is a it is a demonstration of the Forgiveness that we have received.

The larger, you allow another person sins to become in your eyes. The smaller, your sins will look in your eyes. You ever noticed that when it comes to confessing our sins when we when we, when our minds are filled with how large someone else's sins are well, something like we have much to confess. but when we asked the Lord, Lord reveal to me what I need to confess Then we realize the gravity of our sin and the more we recognize the gravity of our own sin, in the price that Jesus Paid for us, the more generous, we will be in forgiving others sins. I just wrote this as a putting, the Lord's Prayer and in my own words, Lord, I confess that my sins. I committed today, those those sins were part of what put you on the cross. Thank you for loving me. I ask you to forgive me. And thank you that your forgiveness is full and complete in Jesus. Mark 10 versus 46 through 48 and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, the blind man on the road. He began to cry out and say Jesus Son of David have mercy on me and many rebuked him telling him to be sign up but he cried out all the more son of David have mercy on me. The simplest prayer we can give to God is Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

And I pray that you will know the Lord today and that way and if you don't that's a simple prayer that you can can pray. And the Holy Spirit, will give you the Assurance of knowing that your sins are forgiven. I read this. I was about to read this last week with, but we were running a little bit over, but let me just give you this last quote.

And it has to do with. How can we be assured that God hears our prayers. It is because the Lord Jesus Christ, went through the depths of the agony In The Garden of Gethsemane, because he went through Calvary that we can boldly come before God. We are based on the platform of reality In Prayer by the atonement of our Lord. Jesus Christ. It is not our earnestness that brings us in touch with God nor is it our devotedness nor even our times in prayer, but it is our lord Jesus, as vitalizing death. What an all and What a Wonder of privilege to enter the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus. And here's the encouragement that he gives. This is Oswald Chambers, pray on the realization that you are perfect. Only in Jesus Christ, that God is our perfect heavenly father and that we are his children.

There is a gentleman, I met from Jamaica when we lived in Florida and after we pray together on a few occasions and after we would say, amen, he would look up to me and he would say we can consider it done. We consider it done. Because we have given it to the Lord and we pray based on the realization, the truth that we are perfect in Christ, Jesus. And God will Aunt. He is our perfect family father, excuse me, and that we are perfect only in Christ Jesus and that he is our perfect, Heavenly Father. Let's pray