"Satisfaction Guaranteed"
Matthew 6:9-13
Sunday, October 22, 2006
The Lord's Prayer Series: #3

Introduction: Illus. “ A Kitten from Heaven.” A pastor finds a kitten in a tree, but cannot coax it down. The tree is not sturdy enough to climb, so he ties a rope to the tree and to his car and slowly lowers the tree. It is almost low enough to grab the kitten, but then the rope breaks and the kitten is flung through the air. The pastor feels terrible, but cannot find the kitten. He prays that the Lord will watch over it. A couple of days later a mother is telling the pastor how her daughter had been asking her for a cat. The mother told the girl that if God brought her a cat, she could keep it. The daughter then decides to go in the back yard, kneels down and begins to pray to God for a cat. And then the mother says to the pastor: “Pastor, I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but suddenly a kitten came flying through the air, paws outstretched, and landed right in front of her!”

This morning we look at the third phrase of the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus says: “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors…” If we were to visualize the Lord’s Prayer in 2 parts, the first part would be what God may properly expect from us (things like respect for God’s holiness, commitment to God’s Kingdom, and obedience to God’s laws and will), and then the second part is what we may properly expect from God (things like provision for our physical needs, liberation from our bondage to sin, and deliverance from the powers of evil).

I. Give us this day- (Matthew 6:11, 34; James 4:14-15)

At first glance, this request “Give us this day our daily bread,” seems simple enough. But it is actually a little more complex than we might imagine. This request centers around the understanding of the 2 words "daily," and "bread."

a. Today or tomorrow?- One of the unique problems in deciphering the meaning of the word "daily," is that the Lord's Prayer is the only setting in the Bible where this word is used. The Greek word that is translated as daily is episousios. One way to understand the meaning of a word, is to compare how it is used in other parts of the Bible . We can't do that here.
So what does it mean? Well, the debate is whether this word “daily” is referring to the present time of today, or future time of tomorrow. If the word has meaning for the present time, then what Jesus might intend for us is that this is a prayer for the moment; it is a prayer for us to understand that we can trust God’s faithfulness today.
But if the word refers more to the future time, then what Jesus intends for us, is that this is a prayer for tomorrow; for God’s providing for us in the coming days. And yet, couldn’t it be that this word is for today and tomorrow? Couldn’t Jesus mean that He will provide for us not just for today, but for tomorrow as well?

b. Ongoing providing- Scripture does talk about the future and the hope

that we are to have for the future, but if we get caught up in living for the future, then we forget about the present. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:34- “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of it own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” When we live for tomorrow, it can bring us unneeded worry and anxiety. When we live for tomorrow, we can miss out on what today has for us.

EX. “The movie: Click”- I have not seen the movie “Click,” starring Adam Sandler, but I do know that the premise of the movie is about an over-worked architect (Adam Sandler) who finds a remote control with special powers. The remote allows Sandler to fast forward and rewind his life. In one part of the movie the remote control gets stuck and a large part of his life goes by very quickly. He then realizes how precious each moment of life really is!

I believe that Jesus wants us to be concerned with today. Give us this for today, should be our request. We do not know what tomorrow holds, so why worry about tomorrow? Let us pray for God’s provision today, trusting that if tomorrow comes for us, then it is a new opportunity to turn to God and trust God.

As James tells us in James 4:14-15, “Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring… Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’”

Gregory of Nyssa, who lived in the forth century, once made this comment: “He who gives you the day, will also give you the things necessary for the day.”

II. Our daily bread- (Matthew 6:11)

The second word we need to understand is the word “bread.” Now this

would appear to mean food, since we eat bread as a food substance. But did Jesus mean it to be used as a symbol for something greater, something significantly larger, something much more eternal? I believe so. So, let’s look at 4 items that will help bring this into better perspective.

1. Dependency- First, what matters most in our lives, in the eternal

perspective, is our dependency on God. One of the dangers of living in the society we live in, is that we can believe that we can make it on our own; that we are self-sufficient; that our future is in our hands; that we make our own destiny; that we are the providers of our own sustenance. But in doing this we forget about God.

The Israelites had this same struggle. They would turn away from God, their

LORD and creator, and forget how God had rescued them out of slavery from Egypt. Time and time again we read in the Bible how the Israelites had to remember the days of old and how God provided for them. When they did this, it caused them to again let themselves become dependent on God.

In teaching us to pray this simple petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus is telling us to remember that God created us not for independence, but for dependence upon Him. Our future is not in our hands, but in God’s.

2. The basics- Secondly, when we pray for daily bread, it is referring to our

basic needs. In a time when society gets so focused on the exotic and the extravagant, usually at the expense of the impoverished, I think Jesus wants us not to forget the basics of life, and that God is there to provide for us in the most basic of needs.

I have been to Mexico many times, often with high school students, and it is always amazing to see the reaction of these students when they see the poverty of the people living in many of the areas of Mexico. You could tell that they were surprised that these people struggled with having even the basics of life. This caused them to want to help give to these people, and it also helped them to appreciate the basics that they have in their life day to day.

God uses us to provide the basics. When we give, we help our church to be sustained, and we help this church reach out to the poor and the struggling of this community. When you trust God, not hoarding your money, but sharing it with the church and with others, you are answering this prayer for another human being.

3. Spiritual Sustenance- Thirdly, we have the basic need of spiritual

sustenance. We are more than just a body, we are a body and a spirit, and our spirit needs to connect with the Spirit of God. This is a need, and yet too many people turn a blind eye to this need; too many people think they don’t need to have a relationship with God. Just as when we eat physical food our body gets hungry again, so we are continually hungry for the spiritual food of worship, prayer, and God’s word.

EX. A number of years ago a man wrote into the newspaper, which started an important dialogue. He wrote that he didn’t think that sermons were important because he didn’t remember any of the sermons he ever heard. The debate went back and forth between those who thought sermons were important, and those who didn’t. Finally, the dialogue ended when one man wrote: “My wife has been cooking me meals for 20 years. I can’t remember most of the meals she has cooked for me, but I do know that eating them has kept my body healthy!”

4. Remember Others- Fourthly, we see that in praying this phrase in the

Lord’s Prayer, Jesus wants us to remember others; especially those who have less than we do. There is a Jewish saying: “A person should always join himself or herself with the community in his or her prayers.” There is a poem that is along this same line: You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer in the first person ‘I.’

You cannot say the Lords Prayer and even once say ‘My.’

Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer and not pray for another;

for as you ask for ‘daily bread,’ you must include your brother.

Yes, others are included in each and every plea;

from the beginning to the end of it, it doesn’t once say ‘Me.’

III. Forgive us our sins- (Matthew 6:12)

Illus. “Christian Woman and her parrot,” Holy Humor, p. 182. There is a story of a Christian woman who decided she wanted to get a pet, so she settled on a parrot. She went to the pet shop to buy a parrot, but the owner told her that this particular parrot wouldn’t be good for her, since it had been previously owned by a sailor and tended to swear often when it spoke. The woman decided to buy the parrot anyway, thinking that a little Christian discipline and love would change the parrot. No sooner had she brought the parrot home that the parrot began to swear. She warned the parrot she was going to put him in the freezer for 10 minutes if he didn’t hold his tongue, but the parrot continued to swear. So she held true to her word, and put the parrot in the freezer. After 10 minutes she took him out. The parrot was shivering, but seemed remorseful as he asked the woman: “Pppplease llllady, wwwwould yyyou tttell mmme ssssomething? Wwwwhat dddid tttthe tttturkey dddo?” We need to forgive, AND be forgiven.

a. Receiving forgiveness-Jesus tells us to pray for forgiveness. But before a

person can honestly pray this petition, they must realize they need to pray it. That is to say, they must have a sense of sin; a sense that they have sin in their life. The trouble is, most people have a wrong conception of sin. They think that those who commit crimes, those who are hurtful to others, those who don’t live respectable lives (whatever respectable means), these are the people who sin. So many people don’t believe that sin has anything to do with them. “As long as I live a good life, I’m okay,” they think.

We all have things we do that affect others negatively, or that hurt others, or that bring some bad into the world. So when we pray “forgive us our sins,” we are acknowledging that we are not perfect, but in fact have sin in our life. And even more, we are acknowledging that only God, through Jesus Christ, can forgive our sins.

b. Giving forgiveness- But along with being forgiven, we need to also

forgive. In fact, this phrase reminds us that we will be forgiven in proportion to how much we forgive others. So if we refuse to forgive others, or can’t bring ourselves to forgive others, then God will not forgive us. This might sound harsh, but it really isn’t, because human forgiveness and divine forgiveness are linked with each other. Ex. I have people come to me sometimes to borrow money, or even just get a gift of money in their time of need. Now, it isn’t wrong to ask for help when we find ourselves in trouble. God calls us to help support each other. But the problem comes about when all this person does is ask for money, and never gives away. In time, what happens is the person forgets to feel thankful for the gift, and actually expects that the gift should be given./ But when we learn how to give, then when we receive, we understand the blessing that this is.

This is true for forgiveness as well. If all we do is ask for forgiveness, we will not understand what it means to receive it. But once we start giving forgiveness to others, we understand what forgiveness is about. We understand that it is not easy to forgive. We understand that it is overlooking the wrong that has been done. We understand we have to rise above the hurt that we feel from being wronged. And we learn that we must seek to understand the circumstances which caused this person to sin. If we cannot put things right with our fellow brothers and sisters of this world, then how can we expect to put things right with God? In forgiving others, we learn how to stop judging, and we learn how to forget. Only then can we receive the forgiveness that God has for us.

Conclusion: Dr. Tony Campolo, the well known speaker and evangelist, once wrote about a television advertisement for Coca-Cola. He describes an outrageous claim that is made in the commercial. In the midst of the world being deeply divided by racism, sexism, classism, and violent crimes, in this ad there were about a thousand people on the top of a mountain, somewhere in Italy, holding hands, and representing people from every part of the divided world. As they were holding hands they were singing the song: “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony, I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company. I'd like to see the world for once, all standing hand in hand, and hear them echo through the hill for peace throughout the land.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? But the problem here is that the thing they say can bring harmony is Coca-Cola. Is it realistic to think that Coca-Cola has the power to bring harmony to the world?

The Bible tells us that only Jesus Christ can provide for our physical needs, and our spiritual needs. Only in Jesus can we understand about the need to forgive others and receive forgiveness. Only in Jesus can the hunger of personal peace and meaning and purpose of life come about. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive our debtors…” May we understand today and always, that God is our provider, our sustainer, and the one who teaches us how to forgive and be forgiven. Amen.