After we’ve addressed our God as “Father,” located his home in Heaven, and asked that his name be hallowed and his will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, it seems like kind of a let down to ask him for today’s bread. Why did Jesus put into his prayer a request for something that we all take for granted?
Matthew 6:11: “GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.”
INTRODUCTION
The story is told of an old woman who loved the Lord very much and had great faith in the power of prayer.
Next door lived an infidel. Although he didn’t agree with her about God, he liked the old woman and they got on fine. He even helped her by working in her garden.
One day, while outside her window, he looked inside and saw her seated beside the fireplace praying fervently to her God.
He came close and heard her telling the Lord that she was out of food. She asked God to please send some food along soon.
The old gentleman thought of a joke to play on the old woman.
He quickly went home and got a loaf of bread, and, quietly—so as not to make a sound—he climbed upon the roof of her cottage and dropped the loaf down the chimney.
When he had gotten down again, he peered into the window in time to see the old lady pick up the loaf and begin to pour out her heart in praise and thanksgiving for God’s answer to her prayer.
The infidel couldn’t wait to get to her door and inside to tell her: “Granny, the Lord didn’t send that bread. I threw it down the chimney to play a joke on you.”
“Well, the old saint said, as she dusted some of the soot off the loaf, “it does look rather like the devil must have brought it, but the Lord sent it.”
I. Matthew 6:11: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Working people in Jesus’ day were paid each day for the work they did that day. With their pay they went out and bought their food—mostly bread, or the grain to make bread—for the next day.
They spent most of their wages for just that one item—bread.
This has been true of the majority of the world’s people through history and even today in many parts of the world.
It is hard for us, who have so much variety in our diet to imagine that when people called bread “the staff of life,” they meant it literally, because, except for some fruit and vegetables, and occasionally meat, bread was what they lived on.
In his prayer our Lord instructs us to ask for just six things, and one of them is “our daily bread.”
Isn’t that strange that amid all those serious spiritual concerns—that God’s name be hallowed, that his kingdom come and his will be done, that he forgive our sins, and that we not be led into temptation, we have the instruction to pray for our daily bread?
Some Christians have thought it so strange that they “spiritualized” it and said that surely he meant for us to ask for “spiritual bread” or nourishment for our souls, not just plain old bread for our bodies.
I once had some little booklets of Bible readings called “Our Daily Bread.”
But when Jesus instructs us to pray for our daily bread, that’s just what he means—bread to eat.
II. This is the only part of our Lord’s Prayer in which Jesus tells us to pray for our material needs.
A. So we can take “bread” to stand for whatever is necessary for physical life.
The things we need for life include: food, clothing, shelter, warmth, clean water, some means of transportation, and medical care.
These are our basic physical needs, and here Jesus tells us to pray them.
Most of us haven’t gone without food for more than a day.
But we may have been anxious about some of the other necessities of life.
I remember the time when Charlotte had been in the hospital for two months and we had no insurance. The medical bills were getting huge. I imagined that whether she lived or died, we would be in debt for the rest of our lives.
Another time I was without work. I didn’t know when I would find a job. I was anxious about what we would do.
Those were physical needs, and we prayed about them. And God answered our prayers.
B. But few of us are content with just the basic things necessary for life.
We aren’t content with just bread. We want butter on our bread.
I love ice cream. We have ice cream every day. I thank God for ice cream. But I don’t pray for my daily ice cream. Ice cream is a luxury.
I like books to read and music to listen to. But those also are luxuries.
I like our comfortable home with its garden.
For some people a television set is very important.
For others, stylish clothes.
It’s all right to pray for these things.
And we should certainly thank God for everything that we enjoy.
C. But when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are praying for the necessities.
In 1 Timothy 6:6, Paul writes, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”
III. Notice that little word “daily.”
Most of my worries are about things that haven’t happened yet.
But Jesus wants us to trust him for today, and leave the future in his hands.
That’s why we have to pray every day.
We don’t say, “Give us bread for the rest of our lives,” but “Give us this day our daily bread,” because he wants to live in constant dependence on him.
It is nice to have money in the bank.
But if money in the bank makes me feel so secure that I don’t need God, then it is a hindrance to my soul’s welfare.
IV. Now we come to what, for me, is the most important part of the prayer.
A. Notice Jesus uses plural pronouns. He doesn’t tell us to say, “Give me this day my daily bread.” He says, “Give us this day our daily bread.
There are no first person pronouns in the Lord’s Prayer—no my’s, I’s, or “mine’s.”
Because I’m not praying only for myself but for all people.
If I pray the Lord’s Prayer to honor God, I pray for the whole world, where millions go hungry and many starve.
I keep thinking of myself in a great circle of people from all the nations of the world holding hands and praying together as the great family of God from every nation and tribe and people.
So it’s important that we don’t skip over this part of the prayer because we have no worries about getting enough food to eat.
When I pray this part of the prayer, I am praying especially for the hungry people in the world.
B. And there’s something else we must think about.
If there’s anything we can do to help God answer our prayer, we should certainly do it.
That is why so many churches and Christian organizations make it a point to send funds to buy food for people who are hungry.
And this is why we support missions to teach people better ways to farm or raise fish or make a living for themselves.
For example, you can give $200 to World Vision and they will buy a sewing machine for a woman in a third world country, with which she can earn her living.
Or $200 will pay to make a pond in which a family can raise fish to eat and sell.
Some send money to buy a cow or money to buy seeds for a garden.
Others pay for two oxen and a plow, which will enable a poor farmer to raise enough food, not only for his own family but also some to sell.
Jesus says that what we do for God’s poor people, we do for him.
Whenever we pray, let us remember that God expects us to help him answer our prayers if it lies in our power to do so.
CONCLUSION
As we pray each day, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we express our dependence on God.
We express our solidarity with the hungry people of the world.
And we commit ourselves to serve the people God loves—helping them with their need for daily bread.
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