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The Red Letters: Diving in Deep to the Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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The Provision of Jesus
The Provision of Jesus
At a birthday party, it came time to serve the cake. A little boy named Brian blurted out, :I want the biggest piece!”
His mother quickly scolded him. “Brian, it’s not polite to ask for the biggest piece of cake!”
“Well then” he asked his mother, “How do you get the biggest piece?”
That’s a question that many people have but seldom outright ask. The Lord addresses that human desire for the biggest piece in His Prayer.
Let’s start by praying the Lord’s prayer as it is recorded in the KJV in Matthew 6:9-13 as we continue our deep dive into the Sermon on the Mount - The Red Letters.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Last week we talked about the grand petition for God’s kingdom to come—His will be done in earth as it is in heaven. There is, once again, a progression in the prayer. Once we have prayed for His will to be done in our lives and in our world, then we can come to Him and ask for our daily provisions.
A tired-looking woman entered a grocery store and asked the owner for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for her children. When he inquired how much she could afford, she answered, “My husband was killed in an accident. Truthfully, I have nothing to offer but a little prayer.” Although the man was unmoved at first, he thought of a clever response to the woman’s simple request. “Write your prayer on a piece of paper and you can have its weight in groceries,” he said sarcastically. To his surprise, she plucked a folded note out of her pocket and handed it to him saying, “I already did that during the night while I was watching over my sick baby.” Without even reading it, he put it on one side of his old-fashioned scales. “we shall see how much food this is worth,” he muttered. To his dismay, nothing happened when he put a loaf of bread on the other side. But he was even more upset when he added other items and it would not balance. Finally, he blurted out, “Well, that’s all it will hold anyway. Here’s a bag. You’ll have to put these things in yourself, I’m busy!” with a tearful “thank you,” the woman went happily on her way The grocer later discovered that the scales were out of order. As the years passed he often wondered if that was just a coincidence. Why did the woman have the prayer already written before he asked for it? Why did she come at exactly the time the mechanism broke? Whenever he looks at the slip of paper, he is amazed, it reads, “pLease, dear Lord, give us this day our daily bread!”
Elmer Towns tells of a man who was in his Bible class many years ago. This man always wore a hat to work. although he worked in the appliance section of the department store. Everyone knew him as the tall man wearing the straw hat, shite shirt and tie., and sleeves rolled up past the elbows. People thought he wore the straw hat everywhere because he was bald. Although he was bald, that was not why he wore the hat.
He had an infectious smile and liked talking to people. The best thing about him, though, was that he was a good salesman. He had a “patterned” way of closing a sale. When people said no, he would shake his head as though he did not believe what he had just heard. Then he would take off that straw hat, wipe his brow with his forearm and look inside his hat. Pausing, he would stare into his hat for a few seconds. Then he answered the objection and made the sale. No one ever asked what he was doing when he looked into his hat. It was just a habit he had acquired. Then, holding the hat for the rest of the presentation, he usually closed the sale. He did not put his hat back on till the customer left.
After Dr. Towns taught the Lord’s Prayer in his Bible class, the bald-headed salesman came up to him one day after class to tell him the secret of his sales ability. He made Dr. Towns promise not to tell anyone because most of his customers were Christians and he did not want them to attach any “magic” to his practice of removing his hat when he closed a sale. He wore his hat for one reason, the salesman explained. A written prayer was attached to the inside of the hat band. When he looked inside his hat, he was praying what was written there: Give us this day our daily bread.
He explained that every sale was his “daily bread” to feed his family. He prayed that prayer while looking into the hat, then he continued praying the Lord’s prayer till the sale was finalized.
Still, it may seem a little odd today to pray “give us this day our daily bread,” after all, in our technological age, we have produced more bread and more of many other kinds of food than we could ever imagine. Until very recently, we could not imagine how there would be some shortage in the staples that we need to get through the day. It wasn’t until Covid 19 brought shortages of things like toilet paper and meat and all kinds of things did we ever think that there could be an actual shortage of supplies in our country. Most of you listening to this today probably have plenty of bread for your day. In fact, I could probably do with eating a little less bread! Yet, there are people all around the world this morning that this petition is necessary as there are people searching every day for their daily provisions.
But there are benefits for us in praying this petition as well.
It prevents independence.
“A mother feared that her little boy had been watching too much television when she heard him saying his prayers. Bless mommy and daddy, and give us this day our slow-baked, oven-fresh, butter-topped, vitamin-enriched bread.” We have all of the modern conveniences and inventions. Too often, when I go to the grocery store I hardly know what to buy because there are just so many choices. If we aren’t careful, we could easily forget that those daily provisions come ultimately from God, who created the soil, energizes the farmer, and provides the sun and the rain to grow the wheat.
Praying “Give us this day our daily bread reminds us that we are not independent. Paul says in
17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Back of the loaf is the snowy flour and back of the flour, the mill and back of the mill is the field of wheat, the rain, and the Father’s will. Everything we eat today can be traced back to the the Father’s gracious will. He is the giver of all good things.
For many years there was confusion over this request for daily bread. Some have thought it referred to the Lord’s Supper, or to spiritual provision. To be sure, Jesus tells us that He is the bread of life, and He tells us to use bread in memory of His broken body in the Lord’s Supper. But the word that we translate as “daily” is the Greek word epiouisios. “The extraordinary fact twas that, until a short time ago,” says William Barclay, “there was no other known occurrence of the word in the whole of Greek literature. It was not possible to be sure what it precisely meant. But recently,” he continues, “a papyrus fragment was found that was actually a woman’s shopping list. And against an item on it was the word, epiousios. It was a note to remind her to buy supples of a certain food for the coming day.
God really cares about our daily physical needs!
Further, this phrase of the Lord’s prayer is a prayer for balance. Jesus would have had the proverb from which this phrase comes in mind when he taught the disciples to pray it.
5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words, or else he will rebuke you, and you will be found a liar.
7 Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need,
9 or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?” or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.
This Proverb teaches us to pray for just the right amount in our lives. Not too little so that we take matters in our own hands and so discredit our Father. Not too much so that we do not come to the point of seeing no need for God and say, “Who is the lord?”
Praying this petition also prevents false hope.
Our hope is in Christ and Christ alone. It is not in the government or some business or the stock market. As the prophet Jeremiah said:
7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
8 They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
The Psalmist says it this way in Psalm 33
16 A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.
18 Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield.
21 Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
On all of our money in America “In God we Trust” is printed, yet, for years, we have been systematically removing that trust and putting it in ourselves. We have been attempting to remove God from our education, from our business ethics, from our justice system, form the public square. God has not forsaken America, America has forsaken God.
Another thing this petition prevents is the love of money.
6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment;
7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it;
8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
One of the greatest symbols of our love for money in our culture is the love of gambling. As many as 3% of Americans are addicted, compulsive gamblers. Mark Twain gave good advice for all of us when it comes to gambling. He said: “There are two times in a man’s life when he should not gamble…when he can afford it and when he can’t.
The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t say, “Lord, give me everything I want and give it to me now.” It says, Give us today our daily bread.
This petition prevents worry
The Lord’s prayer teaches us to trust the Lord for today.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Finally, this prayer prevents self-centeredness.
It is interesting to note that the Lord extended the prayer from the Proverbs: “give me only my daily bread” to “give us this day our daily bread. The prayer is not focused on the Lord’s daily provision for me…it is not MY daily bread; it is OUR daily bread. The Lord’s prayer is a corporate prayer that prevents our focus from being on self. We must pray that the Lord would provide all his children with daily bread...”Lord, as you meet my needs, also meet their needs.”
Randall Earl Denny, in The Kingdom, The Power, The Glory writes, “World hunger is not the result of the lack of supply; it is rather a lack in distribution. This petition is something that we can help to answer. In order for this prayer to be answered, those that have much must help provide the needs of the less fortunate.”
Years ago a poet wrote:
Bow thy head and pray that while thy brother starves today thou mayest not eat thy bread in ease. Pray that no health or wealth or peace may lull thy soul while the world lies suffering, and claims thy sacrifice.
Use this phrase of the Lord’s prayer to pause and seek God’s counsel if there be one that he desires to meet their need through you.
Take time to pray this morning…as you thank God for your daily bread today… is there an action step he would have you take? Don’t harden your heart…do as He asks.
George Mueller wrote this beautiful poem:
I believe God answers prayer,
Answers always, everywhere
I may cast my anxious care,
Burdens I could never bear,
On the God who heareth prayer,
Never need my soul despair
Since He bids me boldly dare
To the secret place repair,
There to prove He answers prayer.