Bread (Devot'l Life)
Bread—What Are You Feeding On Daily?
A Lifestyle of Prayer: Part 2 February 8, 2009
Luke 11:1-4, Matthew 4:1-4 Pastor Jeff Bassette
“Give us each day our daily bread…” (Luke 11:3)
“…to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:1-4, Deut. 8:1-5, 15-18
Ø God creates _____________ in order to ____________, for our good. (Deut 8:3, Matt 5:6)
Ø God shaped us so that our deepest satisfaction would be ___________________. (Deut 8:3)
Ø Just as eating is an acknowledgment of our continual dependence on food, so prayer is an acknowledgement of our ____________________.
Ø Our daily bread = our daily ___________, ____________.
Slides:
Title and image from Nathan
Luke 11:1-4 TEXT
Matthew 4:1-4 text
Deut 8:1-5 text (not need vv15-18, won’t have time)
Bullets:
Ø God creates _hunger in us__ in order to _satisfy us_, for our good. (Deut 8:3, Matt 5:6)
Ø God shaped us so that our deepest satisfaction would be _found in Him__. (Deut 8:3)
Ø Just as eating is an acknowledgment of our continual dependence on food, so prayer is an acknowledgement of our _continual dependence on God__.
Ø Our daily bread = our daily _instruction_, _commands, word from the Lord__.
Joseph/team: Next is a special request we’ll need to do in real time if possible. I’ll ask people to write down any random bible passage they want me to use when having a quiet time with God right then in the service. I’ll draw one card out of the box, and then have a quiet time in front, just me and God, using that passage. Everyone of course will be listening in. Could you be ready to project that passage up on the screen? You’ll only know it when I know it in midst of service.
Also I’ll probably linger on one phrase or image. Would you be able to highlight that phrase somehow as I linger on it in prayer? Perhaps underline and/or put in different color (not yellow please) as I meditate on it.
Bread—What Are You Feeding On Daily?
A Lifestyle of Prayer: Part 2 February 8, 2009, Luke 11:1-4, Matthew 4:1-4
INTRO: Jesus’ disciples got close enough to him to see that there was something different in the way he related to God, than anything they’d ever seen in anyone else.
So they asked him: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Because they recognized that they needed to be taught. “Model it for us. Tell us what it is you do.”
(That’s why today in few minutes, I’ll model for you. Some of you, it’ll help to see it.)
Jesus responded by teaching them what we now call: The Lord’s Prayer.
Begins with focus on God…desire for God’s name be honored, G’s will be done on earth.
The focus shifts… to us…our needs. And first thing Jesus begin
“Give us each day our daily bread…” (Luke 11:3)
If Jesus come to earth in China/Japan, no doubt he’d be teaching us to pray: “our daily rice”
Or perhaps if came to earth in Mexico, “our daily beans”
For those of us familiar with this model prayer, we probably understand: Jesus teaching us to
pray for our daily needs, things we need (not want) for living & for serving God each day
That would be right, so far as it goes.
But underneath this prayer, behind it, lies a rich biblical tradition. Which Jesus was steeped in,
as stories of his ancestors handed down from generation to generation, the bible.
When we understand these background stories, it fills Jesus’ teaching here on prayer,
With a whole other layer of meaning, depth. I want us to listen briefly to one of those OT passages that surely informed J’s practice of prayer, and teaching on prayer to his disciples.
As we do, we’ll see 2 things: 1. re: posture/attitude in prayer
2. re: practice of prayer, what do
But first, let’s look at one other passage where Jesus uses this image of “bread” in context
of his prayer life. It’s an actual example of Jesus praying.
Before he began his public ministry, he went into desert for 40 days of fasting and prayer. There he was tempted by the devil, and very first temptation is one I want us to look at briefly.
Because here Jesus quotes the OT scriptures that we’ll soon look at.
Fact that he quotes this OT passage when he’s praying shows us how important it is to
J’s own understanding of prayer, and how we should relate to God in prayer.
TRANS: (open your bible…)
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt. 4:1-4)
J’s 1st temptation as he’s fasting/praying comes at point his vulnerability, phys’ly, he’s hungry.
At stake though is the issue of: doing the will of God.
Jesus chooses hunger & obedience to his Father’s will, rather than eating food & disobedience.
Passage he quotes is Deuteron. 8, from OT. Turn there.
Same issues of hunger & obedience to will of God come up there.
It’s passage where God trying teach his people something, for their good.
“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.” (Deut 8:1-5)
15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deut 8:15-18)
Ø God creates _hunger in us_ in order to _satisfy us__, for our good. (Deut 8:3, Matt 5:6)
v.3 “causing you to hunger, then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor fathers had
known”, other words it was clearly unique act of God, provision from God for you
v.3 “to teach you…”to look to God for your provision each day, maintain a posture of alertness
to God, looking to God, thankfulness to God, faith, as go thru each day,
In a word: DEPENDENCE
Point is not hunger. Point is: learning to experience God, the one who satisfies our hunger.
God wants his people to turn to him in places of their hunger…not move out from posture of
obedience, humble patient dependence on Him.
Ø God shaped us so that our deepest satisfaction would be __found in Him__. (Deut 8:3)
So that….
Model Having Time with God
Ø caveat: not saying I’m perfect example, just an example
Ø Many people never had someone show them how to pray, spend time w/God, so model it.
Ø Nothhing may happened, that’s ok. But I’ll show you how to respond to God, and experience God, through scriutpre and prayer.
Ø I often use my imagination during prayer to imagine a scene, or picture an ecnoutner. Trust Holy Spirit to guide me curing such times.
Ø Point is to encounter God of the Scriptures not just scriptures. If think about it, Jesus himself probably never once in his life went away with copy of bible in his hands to spend time in prayer. He went with scripture in his heart, that he’d learned/memorized, and then he simply prayed.
[TIME With God…
Ø pray, ask Holy Spirit to guide you, speak to you, help me meet Father (dependence)
Ø read passage thru aloud, 1 or 2 times, then linger on phrase (word from God)
Ø pray the bible, pray the passage, for self or others
[DEBRIEF time with God]
Now finally, on outline, the two key things to see on prayer:
Ø Just as eating is an acknowledgment of our continual dependence on food, so prayer is an acknowledgement of our __continual dependence on God__.
Circle word: dependence
Ø Our daily bread = our daily _instruction_, _commands , word from the Lord_.
SUMM:
These are the 2 things: 1. dependence (inner posture, heart)
2. words from the Lord (so we do it, doing his commands for day)
So it will go well with us. So we can receive what God has promised us.
Hunger in us: God could have done it another way, but hunger is gift that points us to our need to eat, in order to live and stay healthy. Daily hunger need, meant to point us to daily need for God, feed on God…eat his words, his words are life.