The bread we need
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning church. I want give a quick welcome to those who are the cove campus this morning and to those downtown it is a joy to be with you.
If you have your Bibles go ahead and open up to Matthew chapter 6 as we continue our studying on the Lords prayer
Before we look at the Bible this morning I want to pose a question a friend of mine posed to me this week.
If you think about when or someone you know goes through a life changing circumstance what is normally the first thing we do to help?
I think for most of us the answer will be similar
Whether it’s a death in the family, a birth of a new baby, a friend recovering from sugering often in our cutlure today there is a go to way to help.
and it’s a great way to help. It’s one of my favorite ways I’ve been helped before.
This year alone I have had some major life chanign circumstances.
I had a major eye sugery, the downstaris of my house flooded, and my father passed away all in the last 6 months.
and one of the blessings in my life is when people asked what we needed most we said probably food.
and sure enough the sign up genius went out and the meals where made! It was amazing! I could not believe how much food would come our way during those times.
Carosolles, langsana meals desserts. It was amazing. One of the things that was really great for my family was one lady brought us what she called “friendship bread”
and it is amazing because it was such a great name for it. Bread is always suprising and always a blessing.
I can remember at times in my life I would pick out the restraunt we would go to based on whether or not they had good bread they served before the main course.
18 years ago we tried our best to have our rehersheal dinner at logans roadhouse becasue we loved the bread there so much.
And maybe it’s something we have in common this morning with each other and the people in the bible. Often when people are in need the first way we try to meet that need is with food.
whether it’s a full meal or friendship bread we feed people.
and the reason for this is becasue in essence food is how we show people we love them.
It’s no suprise to me as Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray the first petation they are to make for themselves is for “daily bread”
After teaching is disicples that prayer involves hallowing GOds name and asking for GOds kingdom to come and his will be done the Lords pray shifts to petations for what we need
and the thing Jesus highlights for us to pray for first in our needs is daily bread
Let’s read
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
So the natural question is why in verse 11 does Jesus teach his disciples to pray for daily bread?
and I want to suggest to you this morning that it could be because bread is a reminder of just how loved we are
and that is often one of the primary purpose of prayer. As we cry out to God as father realizing the intamicy we have with him becasue of the work of Jesus on the cross.
when we honor his name. When we are asking him to allow the kingdom to come
that the first real need we have is bread. and it’s in the receving of bread we know we are loved. and this changes everything for us.
and becasue we are loved we are free to ask God for everything we need. When we know we are safe and secure in our relationship with God there is not one need we have that we won’t ask for
because when we truly come to understand and bleive we are lvoed by God we go to him with everything.
What Jesus is teaching us is that really the christian life is all about dependency and need. It’s about receving first.
It’s something Paul would later remind us in
For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
Our life is so much about learing to receive what God gives us.
The Bible overwhelimhg teaches us that God himself is the ultimate source of every good, whether it’s food
clothing
work
leisure
strength
iteligence
friendship
whatever is good in this life is a gift from God
and I know in our world today it can be hard to even imagine a world where food would be something we have to pray for. In Huntsville there is an abudence of food. For many in this room or listen at cove the lack of food is not something we are concerend with. If anythnig we are trying not to overeat
so when Jesus teaches us pray starts with asking for our daily bread we can almost feel disconnected form this and ready to move onto some other pray
but this request, this plea, this petetion is essitial to our pray life
becasue when we pray Give us this day our daily bread we are saying to God my life really is completly dependent on your provisions
Something Jesus is teaching us in this prayer is our life is much more frail and fragile then we realize and we must depend on God for everything
The first word in this prayer is Give
I love this thought. It’s not a word which is pleasing to God
when we say God give we are saying God I am completly dependepnt on you for everything in my life
and I’ll be honest there are times I feel like there are things I shouldn’t pray about. There are needs I have, concrens I have that I jsut feel like might be silly or embarissing to pray to God
but I am learning what scriputre already teaches
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
that when I pray “give” I actually am honoring the one who is the giver of all good things.
when I pray give. I am recognizing that I truly am a needy person
and when I pray give there is a humlity that is cultivated in my. It’s my chance to say God I need you, I trust you and I realize anythingn I recicve is from you anway so I am asking you to give
the next word in the pray is US
which is pretty amazing
It’s not just give me but it’s give US. Jesus is saying our preayers and peteations are really connected to each other. That when we pray we should have this view that when gifts are given from God it’s never just for teh indvidual. It’s actaully for US.
It’s for the church it’s for the body of Christ.
The next phrase is so awesome.
This day daily
Jesus is once again teaching us when we pray like this, these kind of prayers beging to foster us a daily dependce upon God himself.
It’s the lesson he would teach isreal in the wilderness when he provided mana from heaven daily for them. At any moment GOd could have given them enough food for the rest of their lives. But this would have led to indepndence instead God gave them just enough for thier daily needs
and it allowed Isreal to grow in their depedence upon God.
If you are anything like me I find myself thinking a lot about the future. And praying a lot about the future. IN fact I can find myself praying about things years or even decades in my future. Sometime it’s not always a formal pray either. Sometimes these prayers come more in forms of worries
Will I have enough money to retire
Will the economy get better
Will my kids be ok
Will my family be ok
When will I need a new car/espically with these gas prices
what about vacation? What about my eyes? What about my friends? My extended family?
How will I know everything will be ok?
While there nothing wrong or sinful about thinking about these things or even trying to plan for these things I think often my worries and anixites about them reveal something about my heart
there is an unhealthy longing for independce. If I am not careful I think if I could just control all of these things then my life would be good
and what Jesus is teaching us in praying for this day our daily
is to depend on God daily. He wants us to pray daily for our needs
It’s what Jesus begins expound upon later in Matthew chapter 6
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What I love about Matthew 6 is Jesus knows we will have worries. We will be anxious but he doesn’t want us to stay there
He doesn’t dismiss them or downplay them either
He reminds us
life is too important v 25
then he reminds us you are too important
and it really doesn’t do any good to worry
My friend Jeff Toomer siad this once. You can’t add a single day to your life by worrying but you can take some away
and then in verse 28-30 Jesus reminds us God cares about us
and finishins with the idea the kingdom matters more and tomorrow has enought to worry about itself
Whne Kevin Deyoung reflected on this passage he gives a really helpful defention of anxiety
ANXIETY IS LIVING OUT THE FUTURE BEFORE IT GETS HERE
and If I am honest I do that from time to time. I can play the worst case sceniro game all the time.
Even this week while I was prepping this sermon there where moments I started thinking about a decsion I need to make next Janraruy and I startedd living out the future before Janraruy is here. And I found myself anxious
and in that moment I was reminded of the Lrds prayer. And I said Give us this day our daily bread. becasue as Jesus said “don’t be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itslef.
So I am learining. I am learning to slow down. To allow my desire for idependece to be turned into depdnece and when I pray give us today our daily. It really starts to shift my perspective on things.
My hearts starts to soften
My faith grows.
and what is it Jesus tells us to pray for daily. Bread
Jesus is inviting us to come to him with all our request. All our cocnerns. Some might call bread small but Jesus is showing the kind of depdence which praying for bread cultivates is big.
No matter how ordinary it may feel to pray it’s a remind God cares about the dimple, ordinary, day-to-day things of life.
Bread plays such a signficant role throughout the story of Jesus ministry. In Matthew 14 we are told the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. It’s a pretty amazing story. Jesus is not there when the crowd intial gathers. But when he arrives we see the disciples are a little concered about the state of things
Read Matthew 14:15-17
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
They come to Jesus and say the people need to go home and get food. And Jesus looks at them and says you give them something to eat.
It was suprsing to them. THey thought all we have is 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish there is no way this will feed everyone.
They still didn’t realize who was with them. It was the one who would give the daily bread to his people.
in mark 8 after feeding 4000 people Jesus is in the boat with his discipels. Everyone had just ate enough food until they were satsifed. Yet the disicples bring one loaf in the baot. and Jesus reminds them of all they had just done. Knowing how they were worried about one loaf. He asked them Do you still not understand?
and sure enough they still didn’t know who was in their presence. Imagine this with me for a moment. you had seen someone turn a few loaves of bread into enough bread to feed 4000 people and 5000 people and those who are your followers and worried becasue they only had one loaf of bread
But what the disciples didn’t see yet is they had more then just one loaf of bread in the boat with them.
No they had the bread of LIFE with them.
He was the real bread. The bread they needed the most. They were worried about their physical needs but didn’t realize how needed their souls were
See when we pray give us this day our daily bread
we are praying for physical needs but not only physical needs Jesus is teaching there is a bread you need for your soul
He is saying there is better bread out there.
and that bread is Jesus.
Look at John 6 with me. This is Johns account of the feeding of the 5000 but he gives us a little more insight what’s really happening
On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Jesus is so gracsiouly and emphallticaly saying. ALl of this is about me. THis is why I came. I came so when you come to me you would never hugner again
He is saying all of the bread this world has to offer will leave you hungering for more. Even if this bread meets our physical needs it can never meet all of our needs. Espically the our greatest needs.
Only Jesus the bread of Life can do that.
In the simplest way praying about our daily bread is praying that God would meet our most basic needs and growing our dependence on him
but becasue God is so good he doesn’t just leave us there. When we pray give us this day our daily bread
we are saying Father today give me what I need the most. Jesus.
He is the only one who can meet the greatest needs I have
The need to be loved
The need to be forgiven
The need to have my soul restored
The need to be accepted
To belong
Jesus brings all those things to us. And he deons’t do that just in the future. He does this daily
and we are told by Jesus in John 6:54
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
When Jesus gives us himself we truly get to “taste and see the Lord is good”
and we realize Jesus satisfys more then anything else this world has to offer ever could.
and Jesus being the bread of life ultimently shows us just how far he is willing to go to meet our needs.
because this bread is ultimently broken on the cross to the point of death.
at the cross the bread is broken complelty so we could be made whole.
the bread is broken for all of our brokeness
the bread of life is emptied compeletly so we can stop empntying ourselves on the things of this world
and as he is broken, as he dies we realize we can find new life if we come to him
because after the bread of life died and was buried in a tomb he Rose again and he is alive today. And he and he along has the ability to change everything about us.
I want us to see what Jesus does after his resercction with his disciples. DOn’t forget these are some of the ones who desserted him and denyed him on his worst day. But even on JEsus worst day he was doing some of his best work
and after he rose from the dead we are told in John 21 his disciples were fisihnig again. Peter does all he knows to do. He goes back to the familiar. And Just as dawn broke. A new day started his daily bread was on the beach. as he is fishing he sees Jesus on the beach. Jumps off the boat and swims to shore to see Jesus.
and don’t miss what’s waiting for him on the shore
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.
Do you see it? A meal. But not just any meal. Fish and bread. Jesus once again reminding peter Just how loved he is by brining him some bread. Maybe peter felt like I do whenver I recive that friendship bread I talked about at the beginning of this message.
Loved, Thought of, accepted, welocmed. It’s what a meal often reminds us all of.
But Jesus does more. He doesn’t meet Peters Physical needs. He goes deeper. Peter needed to be resotred. He needed the bread of life
and that’s what Jesus offered. It’s just how Good Jesus is
and he will do the same for each one of us. Sure he mets our physical needs and we should pray for those daily
but he does even more for us. he gives us real bread, the bread of life
If you ahve never tasted this bread and seen how Good Jesus is I urge you to repent of your sin and bleive the gospel so you can have the eternal life Jesus promised.
For the rest of us let’s pray give us this day our daily bread
Lets trust God to meet the phyusical needs we have and learn to trust him each and every day for the needs of the day
but let’s realize when we pray there is a greater bread he offers us and today let’s reciive this bread. Jesus .
Pray