Friday, March 21, 2008

"Petition 4" Sermon: Matthew 6:25-34

"Petition 4"
[Matthew 6:25-34]
March 20, 2008 Second Reformed Church

Jesus said that when we pray we are to address our prayer to God, the Father, Who loves us and chose us to be His people. Then, our petitions are to be: First, that God is known and honored as holy. Second, that God's Glory and Grace would be fully known. Third, that all creation would obey God's Revealed Will and submit to His Secret Will.

Notice, the first half of the Lord's Prayer is concerned with God. Jesus said the first half of our prayer is to be about God -- not about us getting things. That's not usually the way we think about prayer. This evening, we move on to the fourth petition, in which we are to ask, "give us this day our daily bread."

Let us notice four things:

First, when we pray this petition, we are confessing that we have nothing; everything we have is a gift from God.

James reminds us, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17 ESV).

In this land of possessions, we have become numb to the fact that everything comes from the Hand of God. We created nothing; everything is on loan to us as a gift from God. The clothes you are wearing are a gift from God, the money you earned to buy those clothes was a gift from God, as was your job. Your body is a gift from God. The oxygen you are breathing is a gift from God. The pew and the sanctuary you are sitting in is a gift from God. Everything that is is God's, so we only have it as a gift and on loan from Him. That is why we go to God to ask Him to give to us.

Second, when we pray this petition, we are asking it in the context of the second great commandment. That is, we are asking for "us."

Again in this prayer, we are reminded that we are a people chosen by God. We are the Body of Christ; the Church. We are united together through the communion of the saints with Christians present, past, and future, throughout the world. We are not lone Christians; we are one with all other Christians. So, it is only right that when we ask God to give, it is not just for "me" -- Jesus does not give us the opportunity in this pattern of prayer to ask for things solely for ourselves. No, we are to ask God to give to the Body of Believers.

It should not be strange that this is so, since Jesus said the Second Great Commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Surely, if we love our brother and sister in Christ, then if we pray for a good thing for ourselves, we would also want the same for our brother and sister. So, we ask God to give us "our" -- to give to all those He loves.

Third, when we pray this petition, we are asking for this current day only.

There is a strong emphasis in the prayer that we are to ask for this day and this day alone. Our prayer ought to concern this day’s concerns; we a re not to worry about the future. And we may wonder, then, if Jesus approves of any type of planning. James wrote, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' -- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'" (James 4:13-15 ESV).

Would Jesus tells us to sell our stock? To get rid of our 401k's? To stop paying for long term care insurance? No, Jesus and James are not saying it's wrong to plan, what they are saying is it is wrong to worry. We are being taught to rely on and trust God for the needs of this day.

In this evening's Scripture, Jesus puts forth and implies a number of questions that tell a great deal about our trust: Jesus draws our attention to the birds and God's care of them, and then He asks us if we are worth more to God than the birds. Here is a clue to the answer: Jesus only died to save humans; He did not die for the rest of the Creation -- not even the birds.

Then Jesus asks about our clothing and food and drink for tomorrow -- where shall we get our food and clothing and drink? And Jesus points us to the flowers of the field. God is the One Who dresses the field in beauty. If God provides for them, and they quickly die and are thrown away, doesn't it make sense that God will provide for His children?

Now, let us not be confused -- we are not being told to sit back and do nothing and wait on God for food and clothing and drink to fall from the sky. For the law of God is this: "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat" (II Thessalonians 3:10b ESV). God most often provides for us through natural means, such as our working a job.

The other extreme of this error is the very slippy slope that goes from preparing and planning in a righteous manner -- in a way that shows trust of God for our future -- and the sin of hoarding up treasures on earth.

We have the example of Israel in the Wilderness: "And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they didn't know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'It is bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded, "Gather of it, each of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of persons that each of you has in his tent."' And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever had gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, 'Let no one leave any of it over until the morning.' But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bread worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted" (Exodus 16:14-21 ESV).

Hear we see the issue was trust; the sin was unbelief. God told Israel that He would provide enough manna for them every day, but only one day at a time. They were not to store some up for later use. (Except the day before the Sabbath.)

So Jesus tells us to look at this day and trust for this day, and we are to pray for this day. Jesus said, "Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:34 ESV).

Again, it is right to pray for things that will happen in the future. The point is that today has plenty enough troubles to work through, so we ought to be primarily focused on today and the issues and needs of this day. And we ought to trust that God will provide for everything that we need.

And fourth, when we pray this petition, we are not merely asking for bread, but for every daily need.

Bread in the prayer is symbolic of all needs, and we can ask for wants as well, but the prayer and the promise are about what we need. And, of course, the needs will be different from one person to the next, and the needs may not always seem to be what a person needs. For example, there may be a sick person in our congregation, and one of their perceived needs is to get well. If it is in the Plan of God for that person to get well, then that person will get well. Then we will know it was a need for them to get well, just as it was their need to get sick for a time. However, it may be that it is not in the Plan of God for that person to get well; it may be God's Plan that that person remain sick for whatever reason.

Paul explained to the Corinthians that God had given him great visions and because he had those great visions, God fulfilled a need that Paul had -- God gave Paul "a thorn in the flesh." Paul doesn't explain what it was, but there is good evidence that God damaged Paul's eyesight. Listen to what Paul wrote, "So to keep me from becoming too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, them I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV).

Sometimes it is not immediately obvious what our need is. On that first Maundy Thursday, we read, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During the supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from the supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, do you wash my feet?' Jesus answered him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.' Peter said to him, 'You will never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.' Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.' For he knew who was to betray him; that's why he said, 'Not all of you are clean'" (John 13:1-11 ESV).

Peter didn't understand what he needed. It was custom in Jesus' day that the host of a dinner would wash the feet of his guests, because they had walked wearing sandals through the dusty roads. But impetuous Peter didn't want his Teacher to perform such humble job. "You will never wash my feet." He didn't know that this was part of God's Plan, something beyond footwashing that he needed. So Jesus told him he had no share with Him unless he submitted. So Peter jumped to the other extreme, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" But Jesus told him that he still didn't understand and to submit and he would understand later.

Understand from Peter and Paul that God tends to be reserved in His Giving. He surely gives most of us more than we need, but He pulls the reigns back on those He loves, because it is easier for us to fall into sin if we have too much.

In the fourth petition, then, we recognize that everything we have is from God. That, when we pray for our needs, we ought to pray for the needs of the whole Body of Christ, showing love for one another. We ought to trust God and focus on the needs we need to have provided to accomplish God's Will for this day. And we ought to pray that we would understand what our needs really are, receive God's Merciful Provision, and be thankful.

Let us pray:
God, our Father, we thank You that we can trust You to give us all of our needs each day. We ask for You Wisdom in knowing what our needs are. And we thank You for the gift of the Lord's Supper, which we are about to celebrate. You know we are weak, and through the elements, You give us strength. Meet us now. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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