“OUR DAILY BREAD” (Mt 6:11)
July 9, 2003
Int. A little girl was saying her evening prayers, but got it a little mixed up and said: "Give us this steak and daily bread, and forgive us our mattresses."
1. Thomas. Manton said: "We must not use the plea of merit, but of mercy." “Give us!”
2. Paul teaches essentially the same thing when he exhorts us to be content with the blessings that God has given us:
a. (1 Tm. 6:7-8) "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
3. While is it perfectly legitimate for a man to have riches, it is the root of all sin to love riches (1 Tm. 6:10).
4. To love riches is to commit a form of idolatry: "covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5b).
5. Pastor J. H. Wilson of Edinburgh relates: “One day I asked the children in our infant school, ‘
a. Who gives you the bread you get to your dinner?’ Almost every voice answered, ‘My mother.’
b. ‘But who gave it to your mother?’ ‘The baker.’
c. ‘And who gave it to the baker?’ ‘The miller.’
d. ‘And who gave it to the miller?’ ‘The farmer.’
e. And who gave it to the farmer?’ ‘The ground.’
f. And only when I asked, ‘Who gave it to the ground?’ did I get the answer, ‘It was God.’
g. ” How many children of a larger growth, like these infants, attribute their blessings to any second cause rather than to the gift of their Father!"
I. CONSIDER THE PETITION ITSELF....(Give us this day our daily bread)
1. Thomas Watson in his book, "The Lord's Prayer", says: "Why do we pray in the plural, ‘Give us’? Why is it not said, give me? To show that we are to have a public spirit in prayer. We must not only pray for ourselves, but others. Both the law of God and the law of love bind us to this, we must love our neighbor as ourselves; therefore we must pray for them as well as ourselves."
2. Thomas Watson on sermon entitled, "The Lord's Prayer" said: "Selfish persons are shut up within themselves, as the snail in the shell, and never speak a word in prayer for others. Spiders work only for themselves, but bees for the good of others."
3. Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew Henry says: "Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God’s glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him."
4. Jesus said: “But my Father giveth you the true bread.”(Jn 6: 32).
5. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD:
a. Stealing is morally and spiritually wrong.
b. And it is hard to justify begging.
c. Giving away money or bread is a dangerous thing if it creates paupers.
d. The Scriptural way and the one way for the acquiring of bread is the way of work
6. God sometimes supplies our daily bread in strange ways: “(I Kings 17:6 ) "The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook."
7. (Phil 4:19) "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
8. (Deut 8:3) "He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna.... that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."
9. F. B. Meyers said: “In the Greek language there are two words for bread-first, cytos (corn bread). This, however, is not the word used by our Lord, but another, artos, which is a wider word, standing for food. It is as though our Lord knew that this prayer of His was to be world-wide in its use, and, therefore, selected a term which would cover equally the rice of the Hindu, the blubber of the Esquimaux, the macaroni of the Italian, and the oatmeal of the Scot-a general word standing for food. As He bids us to offer this prayer, several things are suggested.”
10. C. H. S. Commentary on Matthew:
1. “Give us this day our daily bread: "We pray for providential supplies for ourselves and others —
2. “Give us.” We ask for our food as a gift — Give us.” We request no more than bread, or food needful for us.
3. “Our petition concerns the day, and asks only for a daily supply; bread enough for this day.
4. “We ask not for bread which belongs to others, but only for that which is honestly our own."
II. CONSIDER THE PERSONS MAKING THE PETITION. (us)
1. It is the believer’s piety that he seeks all his daily portion at the hand of God.
2. We are taught our duty of being willing continually to rely upon God.
(1) We ask not that God would give us at once what may serve us for ever, and put us out of any fear to want hereafter;
(2) We ask not for that which may suffice for a long time, for many years, months, or days; but
(3) That God would give us to-day, or rather day by day; that is, that He would constantly dispense what is needful for us.
3. Place the emphasis on “OUR.” We do not ask for the bread belonging to others.
4. This little word “our” excludes every calling which is injurious to the interests of our fellow men.
5. We are to think of the poor and needy.
Ill. Socrates said: "How many things there are that I do not want."(or need).
6. C. H. S. Commentary on this verse: “our daily bread.” It is the prayer of a lowly and contented mind, of one who is so sanctified that he waits upon God even about his daily food, and of one who lovingly links others with himself in his sympathy and prayer. Give me, Lord, both the bread of heaven, and of earth: that which feeds my soul, and sustains my body. For all I look to thee, my Father."
III. CONSIDER THE PERIOD OF THIS PETITION. (This day) (Our Daily)
1. (Luke 11:3) "Give us 'day by day' our daily bread."
2. Such as the manna that fell day by day in the Wilderness. (Ex 16:)
3. Daily bread: —That even the wants of our bodies are to be subordinated to the purposes of religion.
4. That our dependence upon God for the supply of our bodily wants ought to be recognized.
5. That a sufficiency and not a superabundance of the supplies of life ought to be solicited.
6. That unnecessary anxiety about the future ought to be condemned.
7. That all selfish grasping, and all unfair living upon others ought to be avoided.
8. Matthew Henry says: "We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow.” (Mt 6:34),
9. Thomas Watson in "The Lord's Prayer", said: "Is it not lawful to lay up for the future? Does not the apostle say, that he who provides not for his family, ‘is worse than an infidel’? (1 Tim.5:8).
10. True, it is lawful to lay up for posterity; but our Savior has taught us to pray, ‘Give us this day our bread,’ for two reasons:
1. That we should not have anxious care for the future.(See Vr. 34)
2. To teach us to live every day as if it were our last.
11. Pulpit Commentary: "The manna was gathered daily. So is our spiritual as well as our natural food.."
12. Newman Hall said: "A dress that fits is more useful to the wearer than one which is too large, though more costly. A shoe that pinches the foot is no easier for all the gold lace upon it."
13. We learn to ask only for so much as shall be fit to maintain us, not for
(1) Rich or plentiful store; not for. (1 Tim 6:9) “ But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition
.
(2) Full barns nor: (Lk 122:20) “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
(3) Heaps of treasures, wherewith to pamper ourselves; but for
(4) Daily bread, a moderate provision then to be dealt to us when we need it.
IV. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PETITION....(Bread—food)
1. Barnes Notes: The word bread here denotes, doubtless, everything necessary to sustain life.
2. Thomas Watson says: "There are two sorts of bread that cannot properly be called our bread:"
1. The bread of idleness. ‘She eateth not the bread of idleness.’ (Prov.31:27)
2. An idle person lives at another body’s cost. ‘His hands refuse to labor.’ (Prov. 21:25).
3. We must not be as the drones, which eat the honey that other bees have brought into the hive.
4. If we eat the bread of idleness, it is not our own bread.
5. ‘There are some which walk disorderly, working not at all; such we command that they work, and eat their own bread.’ (2 Thess. 3:11, 12).
6. Some eat the bread of wickedness: (Prov 4:17) "For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence."
3. (Deut. 8:3) " And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."
4. (Prov. 30:8) "Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:"
5. (Isa. 33:16) "He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."
Bread of Heaven
Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou are mighty,
Hold me with thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more.
Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through:
Strong deliverer,
Be thou still my strength and shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fear subside;
Death of death, and hell's destruction.
Land me safe on Canaan's side:
Songs of praises
I will ever give to thee.
[Welsh William Williams 1717-91 TR
Peter Williams 1727-96]
BREAD OF HEAVEN, ON THEE WE FEED
Josiah Conder, The Star in the East, 1824.
Bread of Heav’n on Thee we feed,
For Thy flesh is meat indeed:
Ever may our souls be fed
With this true and living Bread;
Day by day with strength supplied,
Through the life of Him Who died.
Vine of Heav’n, Thy blood supplies
This blest cup of sacrifice,
Lord, Thy wounds our healing give,
To Thy cross we look and live:
Jesus, may we ever be
Grafted, rooted, built in Thee.