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When something’s keeping you up at night—an unexpected bill, a looming deadline, a need you can’t see your way through—it’s easy to wonder whether those worries are too ordinary to bring to God. Jesus is clear in the next part of the Lord’s Prayer that simply isn’t the case.
The following study questions are AI generated and may contain errors.
=== CURRENT TASK === Original Instruction: Extract all the key topics discussed in this sermon and output them as a CSV with two columns: topic and description. The description should be a concise explanation of how the topic was addressed in the sermon.
Variant 1: topic,description Timing and God’s Awareness,The sermon opens with the theme that timing matters in everyday life—from traffic lights to cooking—and asks whether God is aware of how close we are to our limits when we feel like we’re “in the oven.” The Lord’s Prayer and Daily Bread,The central focus is on the phrase “Give us this day our daily bread” from the Lord’s Prayer and what it truly means to pray for daily provision. Over-spiritualizing Prayer,The sermon challenges the tendency to spiritualize the request for daily bread into something purely theological rather than acknowledging real physical and earthly needs. God’s Provision in the Present,Jesus calls believers to trust God for provision today—not just in the eschatological future—emphasizing that God cares about immediate needs. Eschatological Interpretation of Daily Bread,Some interpret “give us this day our daily bread” as referring to future provision at Christ’s return; the sermon argues this misses the present-tense urgency of the prayer. Polite vs. Honest Prayer,The sermon uses the analogy of a grocery store checkout to illustrate how we often give God a polite non-answer rather than honestly expressing our needs. Proverbs 30 and Agur’s Wisdom,Agur’s prayer in Proverbs 30:7–9 is cited as an Old Testament example of asking God for neither excess nor poverty—just enough daily provision. Manna in the Wilderness,The story of manna in Exodus 16 illustrates God’s daily provision for Israel and the danger of hoarding out of distrust rather than trusting God day by day. Creation and God’s Foundational Provision,Genesis 2 is examined to show that from the very beginning God provided humanity with purpose (work in the garden) and food—foundational forms of provision. Human Need for Relationship,Genesis 2:18 is referenced to show that God recognized Adam’s need for companionship and provided Eve—highlighting that relational provision is also part of God’s care. The Church as Community of Provision,The sermon emphasizes that the body of Christ is meant to help meet each other’s needs—physical and spiritual—as part of God’s ongoing provision through community. Fear and the Prepper Mentality,The sermon references the growing prepper movement and fear-based stockpiling as a cultural symptom of distrust in God’s provision and a desire to control one’s own security. Prosperity Gospel vs. True Provision,The sermon briefly critiques prosperity gospel preachers who promise wealth and jets as rewards for faith while affirming that God’s provision is about genuine need—not excess. James 2 and Practical Care for the Needy,James 2 is cited to show that telling someone to “be warm and filled” without meeting their need is hollow—and that God likewise does not offer empty words but real provision. Matthew 7 and God as Father,Jesus’s words in Matthew 7:9–11 are used to show that God as Father gives good gifts to those who ask—reinforcing that we should ask for daily provision without hesitation. Trust vs. Self-Reliance,A recurring theme is the tension between trusting God for daily needs versus trying to secure provision through one’s own efforts or planning. Pride and Acknowledging God’s Provision,The sermon addresses how pride can prevent believers from acknowledging that their income and resources come from God rather than from their own efforts.
Variant 2: topic,description Timing and God’s Provision,The sermon opens by exploring whether timing matters in everyday life—traffic lights and cooking—and connects this to the question of whether God is aware of our needs in the present moment. The Lord’s Prayer: Daily Bread,The central text is Matthew 6:11 (“Give us this day our daily bread”). The sermon examines what this phrase truly means and whether it refers to present needs or future eschatological provision. Over-Spiritualizing Prayer,The sermon challenges the tendency to spiritualize the request for daily bread into abstract theological concepts rather than acknowledging real physical and earthly needs. Eschatological vs. Present Interpretation,Some interpret “give us this day our daily bread” as referring to future provision at Christ’s return. The sermon argues the prayer is primarily about present daily needs. Polite vs. Honest Prayer,Using the analogy of a grocery store checkout clerk asking “How are you doing?”, the sermon illustrates how we often give God polite non-answers rather than honestly expressing our real needs. God’s Provision in Creation,Genesis 2:15 is examined to show that from the very beginning God provided Adam with purpose (work in the garden) and food—establishing a pattern of holistic provision. Human Need for Relationship,Genesis 2:18 is referenced to show that God recognized Adam’s need for companionship and provided Eve—highlighting that relational provision is also part of God’s holistic care. Manna in the Wilderness,The story of manna in Exodus 16:19-20 illustrates God’s daily provision for Israel and warns against hoarding out of distrust rather than relying on God’s daily faithfulness. Agur’s Prayer in Proverbs 30,Agur’s prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9 is cited as an Old Testament example of asking God for neither excess nor poverty—just enough daily provision to avoid both pride and desperation. Fear and the Prepper Mentality,The sermon references the growing prepper movement and fear-based stockpiling as a cultural symptom of distrust in God’s provision and a desire to control one’s own security. Prosperity Gospel Critique,The sermon briefly critiques prosperity gospel preachers who promise wealth as a reward for faith while affirming that God’s provision is about genuine need—not excess or luxury. Matthew 7: God as Generous Father,Jesus’s words in Matthew 7:9-11 are used to affirm that God as Father gives good gifts to those who ask—reinforcing that believers should ask for daily provision without hesitation. James 2: Faith and Practical Care,James 2 is cited to show that telling someone to “be warm and filled” without meeting their need is hollow—and that God likewise does not offer empty words but real provision. The Church as Community of Provision,The sermon emphasizes that the body of Christ is meant to help meet each other’s physical and spiritual needs as part of God’s ongoing provision through Christian community. Trust vs. Self-Reliance,A recurring theme is the tension between trusting God for daily needs versus trying to secure provision through one’s own efforts—illustrated by the Israelites hoarding manna. Pride and Acknowledging God’s Gifts,The sermon addresses how pride can prevent believers from acknowledging that their income and resources ultimately come from God rather than solely from their own efforts.
Please adjudicate: select the best answer verbatim or merge them thoughtfully.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
Yeah, it does. I have a question for you as we begin tonight. Does timing matter? There’s timing in all sorts of things. You hear someone tell a really funny joke, and they have just that perfect knack for how long to pause. It doesn’t feel awkward, but it’s not so fast. You haven’t had a bit of time to digest what they’re saying, and they just nail it, and you hear it, and they give you that punchline, and it just hits right there, and you just can’t help but laugh because it’s funny. It’s all about timing, right?
There’s all kinds of things in life that matter timing-wise every day. For example, imagine if I asked you, as you’re going home tonight, would you mind if the stoplights that you might encounter, that the traffic going different directions, maybe the lights weren’t perfectly in sync and changing at the same time, and maybe the traffic going one way, their lights were lagging behind the traffic going across that by, I don’t know, not very long, like 10 seconds. Would that be okay with you?
No, why not? You would hit each other. You don’t need a long period of time. 10 seconds, that’s enough to cause a massive pile-up, right? That would be really, really bad. There’s all kinds of examples like that, everyday examples where timing matters.
For example, maybe you go home tonight, and you stick in some leftovers that you had yesterday for dinner, put those in, and you leave them in for 10 or 20 minutes longer than they should. How’s that going to turn out? Crunchy, yes. It’s not going to be so good, right? It’s not that long. I mean, 10 or 20 extra minutes, no big deal, right? But it’s a huge deal. Timing matters.
We have needs today. We have times where we feel like we’re in the oven, we’re cooking away, and the question is, is God aware of how close we are to being done? Sometimes we wonder that. You ever feel like you’re in the oven, and you think, I know God’s preparing me, God’s strengthening me, God’s causing me to learn how to trust him more, but I don’t know, I think I’m starting to get a little burnt around the edges. I think I’m getting right across this intersection, and I don’t know if he’s turned the red lights on going the other way yet. It looks like they’re not.
And we wonder, does timing matter to God? And we read the Lord’s Prayer. We say the Lord’s Prayer. We just prayed it a little bit ago. Jim led us in it. And as we think about the Lord’s Prayer, we get to this wonderful, wonderful phrase. I’m just going to go ahead and pull it up, and we’ll take a look at it. Verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
And the question as we pray that is, what are we referring to? And does God understand how much we need it? Now, I know all of you here have a pretty good sense of what the right answer is. Well, of course God knows how much we need it. God knows exactly what we need. But I want us to think about it not on the intellectual, I know the Sunday school answer, this is, God knows this. How do you feel? Feel a little crispy around the edges? God, when are you going to pull me out of the oven? When are you going to work?
Well, Jesus calls us to pray this prayer, and I believe as he does, as he calls us to pray that line, he’s speaking to that sense. Not the intellectual, yes, God has everything under control sense, but the, in my heart I feel like he forgot me in the oven sense. And let’s go ahead and pray that he would help us in our hearts to understand what he’s doing today. Let’s pray.
Father, a lot of times we don’t quite know what’s going on. We feel like maybe you have forgotten us in the oven. The alarm maybe is ringing, but nothing’s happening. We feel like we’re turning a little crispy on the edges and wondering if there’s any hope. We look at these words and we wonder, are we just praying for something to be right someday? Someday in the end all will be well? Or do you actually understand where we are right now? Father, as we meditate on your word tonight, would you help us to understand just how fully you know where we are right now and that you are with us in it? We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
There’s been a lot of speculation on this particular verse, verse 11 here. And what does it refer to? What’s in view when we pray, “Our Father in Heaven, give us this day our daily bread”? You think about that phrase, and it seems very straightforward, but I think it’s so straightforward we assume there’s a catch.
Now, I’m not saying it’s so straightforward that what it means is God has only authorized us to pray for things that come out of a bakery. That wasn’t the point. But then we go just a step further and we say, even if I understand this means the things I need, the things I need to keep myself alive, is it really about today?
Some have actually looked at this and said, what it really means when it says this day, it’s not really… I’m not saying these people are completely unreasonable because this is an unusual word that’s used here. In fact, it may have been a word that Jesus coined. Or as the Greek authors of the Gospels wrote down what Jesus probably said in Aramaic, they may have coined it to express what he was saying. So it’s a challenging word.
But sometimes people, as they look at it, will say, well, maybe what Jesus meant was, give us on that day, that future day when you return, the things that we need. Because we don’t have everything we need today. Today is rough. Today is uncertain. Today feels like things get upended. That surely can’t be what I’m praying. Lord, on that day, give me the things that I need. Let me know that someday you will.
Now, should we anticipate the second coming of Jesus? Should we anticipate that day? Absolutely. As having a conversation with a friend yesterday about what it is that we should affirm as Christians. And to me, one of the big defining lines, are you a Christian? Do you really understand what we mean when we talk about the Gospel? Do you truly understand what you’re confessing when you confess the name Jesus? Or are you just using sounds that sound like the word Jesus?
Do you think he’s going to return or not? Do you actually believe he’s going to return? Do you really believe there is a day when the Savior returns and finally things are made right? And there are people who say they’re Christians who confess with their lips the name Jesus but don’t actually think he’s coming back. Maybe you’re tuning in tonight and that’s where you are, and I mean no disrespect to you, but let me challenge you, what does that really mean then?
So of course we should anticipate that day. We should anticipate the day that Jesus returns, physically returns. He will return. The God-man will return and things will be made right.
Do you ever feel though when you hear people talking about the end times? And I’ve had conversations with a number of you on the end times. I know that like many of us, you’re fascinated by the end times. Do you ever feel though that when we’re talking about the end times, yes sometimes it feels like, well how much longer can we go like this? It must be soon. But sometimes it feels like it’s a very long way away and I’m in a desperate place right now, and if God’s going to solve it all on that day, I’m in trouble because I’m not going to make it to that day.
It doesn’t matter if it’s coming, if the red light changes at the wrong time, I’m still going to hit the car crossing the road. It doesn’t matter if God’s going to pull me out of the oven in an hour, I’m burnt in 20 minutes. It doesn’t matter.
So is that what Jesus is calling us to pray for? He may have in mind that there is that day, that may be part of it, but I don’t believe that’s what Jesus has in mind here.
And if you look at the overall flow of this passage, the overall flow of this prayer, and especially what we’re going to get to in the next few weeks, but even where we’ve been so far as we’ve been talking about, how we are those who represent Christ’s kingdom in this world and we’re called to do that. And we’re called to do that when? Right now, right?
We’re not called someday when Jesus returns to proclaim the gospel. We’re not called someday to seek to do our part in making God’s name holy in this world. We’re not called someday to act like people of the kingdom. We’re called to do it now. And if that’s the case, then why do we jump to this thing that’s right at the core of what you and I need? The one phrase here that refers to just the bare minimum.
You wake up in the morning and you need food or you’re going to die. You need something to drink or you’re going to die. You need provision or we’re going to die. Why does that one have to get pushed off into the end times? I think the answer is it doesn’t.
I think sometimes it’s because we’re afraid to actually think that God’s going to do it. To actually reflect on God’s provision and think He’s going to work in this day. Maybe sometimes it’s pride. We look at what we have and we don’t want to say, well, that daily provision I have, that check that I got from my work today, that food that’s on my table today, that’s not really from me, that’s from God. He’s working in this day.
We don’t want to do that because that means it’s not from us. This is the reason when we have offerings we talk about giving back a portion of what God’s given to us. It’s not what we’ve earned. Yes, we did the work on this earth. But it’s God who’s gracious enough to allow that to actually do anything.
And it’s God, He’s the one who’s given us even the ability to do that work. And so it really is His. So it does challenge us there, too. So maybe we’re afraid to think, if I pray this, then what happens? I don’t want to pray something I don’t expect God to do. Maybe it’s because we want to kind of hold on ourselves.
But we run into this challenge. We run into this challenge to feel like we need to somehow rework this phrase. It does include the future, but it includes God’s care right now, right this minute. The fact that we’re living, we’re breathing.
I can say right now, I can’t say a lot about anything with certainty, but I can say right now I’m looking out into our church here and there are no dead people in the room. Every body in this room has breath in it. So with that in mind, morbid thought there, but with that in mind, that means God’s putting breath in each of our lungs. God’s working right now in this moment.
And this prayer is focused on this moment as we pray this every day, if you pray it every day. If you pray every week with us here, what are we doing? We’re praying for right now. Give us this day our daily bread.
What’s keeping you up at night? What is it that maybe you can’t fall asleep because you’re worried about it? What is it that you wake up in the middle of the night? I usually don’t have any trouble getting to sleep initially. My problem is waking back up. And then when I wake back up, my mind kicks into full gear with those sorts of things. It’s in that time I can’t get back to sleep.
Maybe that’s where you are. And what is it? Is it maybe you’ve been working towards a promotion at work and it’s going to help you make ends meet and it’s going to help everything seem to come together and you wonder if you’re going to get it.
Maybe it’s that unexpected bill that shows up for something that broke that you weren’t anticipating and it shows up and you don’t know how you’re going to pay it.
Maybe you have a test tomorrow. Haven’t maybe studied quite enough and you’re thinking, oh boy, I’m in over my head. I don’t know what it is for each of us necessarily in this moment, but I know that each of us have those things that we’re carrying that we’re desperately in need of provision on.
Sometimes very directly. I just need food. Sometimes it’s a little bit further out. God, I just need my brain to work. I just need to be able to focus so I can keep doing my job. I just need you to help me to understand, God, how I reprioritize because I don’t know how I’m going to pay this.
It can be all kinds of things, but what does it boil down to? It boils down to what we need provided to us just to function. Now, indeed, we can act irresponsibly. We can act in a way where we set ourselves up to struggle and to fail, but at the heart of it, when we come to God and say, I want to do my best to do this, but I don’t know how it’s going to work. What are we doing? We’re praying. Give me this provision that I need today.
That’s what’s in view here as we think about the Lord’s Prayer. I think we reword that. We look at God’s Word here and we say, but this is a holy book, and you’re talking about just normal, earthly, gritty things. You’re talking about utility bills and repair bills and exams at school and how I’m going to fit into the achievement grid that my supervisor is filling out. This is God’s holy Word. It must mean something different. It can’t mean that, and what do we do with that?
I think the problem is we’re used to people that say they care or express concern, but they don’t really mean it, and it’s part of just being in polite society.
Maybe you went to Walmart this week. Nothing against Walmart. We’ll say it’s Schnucks. They’re the friendliest stores in town. Maybe it was Schnucks, and what do you do? You go up to the checker as you have your cart, and it’s someone you don’t know. It’s different if you actually know the person, but you walk up and there’s just a checker there, brand new, brand new badge, serving here since 2024, and the checker starts running your things through the checkout line, and what is the question? “How are you doing today?”
Now, if that question gets asked to you, do you say, well, not so good. You see, my car broke down this week, and then after that my furnace went out. I am really stressed about… I took a couple hours off work because I was just so stressed. I thought I’d do some grocery shopping and clear my head, but I am so stressed. I don’t think I’m going to get this project done. I don’t think I’m going to get passed up by a promotion. I might just lose my job.
Do you say that to the checker? No.
What do I contemplate when I’m asked a question like that? Am I going to seem too stiff as a former English major to say I am well, or should I say I am good so I sound a little bit less technical about it? Do I use the grammatically correct one or the more conversational one? Which one fits in here?
I don’t think about how can I unload all kinds of things that are keeping me up at night, because that’s not what the question is really meant to ask. It’s just a polite thing. You say, well, maybe if you want to make it semi-honest, you say something like, I’m okay. It’s been nice shopping today. That’s a beautiful day. We find something we can say, but we don’t unload.
And I believe that what we think when we come to God is he’s the checker at the checkout, and he’s saying, okay, how are you doing today? I’m okay, God. Doing okay. Beautiful day today. What’s Jesus saying?
We don’t need to say, God, it’s a beautiful day today. We could say that. It would be a good thing if it’s a beautiful day. But we can also say, God, here’s the laundry list of things that I can’t sleep with at night. I don’t know what to do with them. They wake me up. They haunt me, and I don’t know how to fix them. And as far as I know, I’m doing everything I can, and I have no idea what to do next.
When you think about it, you get a phone call from a genuine friend, and that person says, you’ve seemed a little stressed lately. How are you doing? You answer it differently, right? Maybe not at first. You say, oh, I’m doing okay. No, how are you really doing?
When Jesus says, pray, give us this day our daily bread, he wants us to get to the heart of it. Not the polite answer. Not the, well, you know, spiritual bread, God, you know, just when I finish this prayer, allow me to feast on your word and feel filled for the day. That’s actually a good prayer. It’s not a bad thing at all.
But God’s saying, but you know, if your stomach is rumbling because you haven’t had anything to eat today, and you don’t know where your meal’s coming from, you can ask that, too. God cares about the real, basic, simple needs that we have, not just the spiritual things that sound almighty and good. Give us this day our daily bread. Our bread.
Why didn’t Jesus say, give us this day our daily needs? Why did he say bread? I think because he knew what we were going to do. We were going to over-spiritualize it. We were going to make it all these other things. And he wanted us to understand, no, it’s perfectly fine if you’re going to come and be a part of my family. If you’re going to actually come to the Lord of the universe and call him Father, you can come to him and say, Father, you can come to him and say, Father, Dad, I’m hungry.
It’s okay to say it. Not to spiritualize it.
I think somehow we think that’s a more advanced form of Christianity if we can spiritualize all of our needs that we pray about. It’s only the stuff that sounds theologically profound. Maybe it’s even stayed in the theologically profound language. No, it’s the day-to-day stuff. Actually coming to God and understanding that he cares about those things.
I think it’s important here at this point, we’re going to divert from Matthew for the next little bit of the sermon, and we’re going to take a little journey through Scripture. Because here’s the thing, Jesus is saying this because he knows that people are going to struggle to understand it. He knows that this is part of what we do as human beings.
That as much as we get obsessed by the things that we want and we need, and as much as we can get overly materialistic at the same time when we come to God, we end up giving the polite, check-out answer.
And yet as he’s saying this, he’s not saying it for the first time. This should not have been a mind-blown, light-bulb moment for the disciples. This should have been, oh, of course, this is exactly what Scripture said.
If we look over and over and over again in the Old Testament, what does God say? He cares about our needs. He doesn’t just want us to be all spiritual. He wants us to be spiritual. We should care about spiritual things. But he created us as physical beings. He’s okay with us bringing our daily, worrisome, earthly, bodily, survival-type needs. It’s okay.
God’s people have always been able to ask for those things.
We looked during the Verbally Speaking series we do each summer and steadfast a while back at Proverbs chapter 30, Eger’s wisdom, and he says this in verse 7 of Proverbs 30. He says,
You see, Eger here reflects on his needs. We don’t know a lot about him, but what he does show us in Proverbs 30 is he’s a wise man. He says here, the point of prayer isn’t to go the opposite direction and say, God, give me everything I could ever dream of. Let me win the lottery, God. Let me get some giant jackpot and be richer than my wildest dreams and have tons of cars and houses and I eat whatever the most expensive thing I can dream up that I’d like to eat every single night.
It’s not about that. He says, Actually, God, I don’t even want that because I don’t want to forget that you’re the one who provides for me. But also, please don’t let me starve. Please don’t let me go without the things I need to survive because I know that’s going to only bring out the bad in me.
What happens when we’re obsessed with those things in life that we need but we don’t know how we’re going to get them, it often doesn’t bring out very good things in us. He says, I might steal and profane your name. Maybe we don’t do that, but we’re just very resentful. Maybe we’re just really angry and grumpy. Maybe we don’t even see the people around us needing something even more than we do because we can’t even get past the fact that we don’t have the very basic needs to survive.
The maker says, God, just help me survive this day. Provide my daily bread. It’s what he would say if he were reflecting on the Lord’s prayer rather than anticipating it. He says that over and over and over again.
Think about manna out in the wilderness. What an incredible thing. God rains food down on the Israelites. He says, okay, I know you’re going to complain about this. In fact, they do. Where’s the variety, God? We want the McEgypt extra-value meal.
He says, well, you’re not going to get that, but I’m going to provide so you always know that I’m providing. I’m going to make sure that you have enough food to get you out here, and they’re going to discover they’re going to be out there for quite a while. They’re going to be out there for 40 years. You are never going to starve. Your clothes are never going to wear out. I’m going to preserve you because I am the one who provides.
And so as you’re working through the spiritual things, as you’re working through things like actually listening to me rather than always just going off on your own, I’m going to deal with these earthly needs so you can actually focus on what I want you to be doing.
God says he’ll do that for us as well. He doesn’t provide the prosperity that some preachers love to preach.
I heard a preacher once say, well, if you just have enough faith and you start giving money over to my ministry, you could be like me and you could have a jet.
I remember going on for the longest time. It was like watching a train wreck. I couldn’t turn it off. I’d been trying to find, I think, the news channel and ended up on this channel and said I couldn’t turn it off because it was just such a train wreck and so you too could have your own private jet.
That’s not what’s being talked about here.
But I think in fear of reaching that point, we end up going so far the other direction that we start to think that God doesn’t care about whether we actually have even the food for today.
If we die today, well, we’re with him, so who cares? He’s not going to care. He isn’t going to make sure that we have what we need. He’s just going to… You know, if it happens, it happens. If not, well, okay.
God cares.
Look very back at the very creation. Genesis 2, verse 15, what do we see? The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden.
There’s two things tucked in there. Sometimes we just go speeding by. Well, of course, that’s how the Bible begins. And you have a garden, you have a man in the garden, and isn’t that nice?
But there’s two things tucked in there that are really important when we’re thinking about God’s provision. God first, what does he do? He gives Adam a purpose. Friends, each of us is created with a purpose. Each of us has a calling from God. Each of us has things that he’s made us to do, and we need to do them. We need that.
What do we see when people don’t know what to do? They don’t know what they’re meant to do? They wander aimlessly, and they feel miserable. And why do we do that? Because God made us to actually have a purpose and go and do it.
Well, friends, that’s provision. Sometimes it’s at such a basic level we don’t even think about it, but that’s just a foundational thing. God doesn’t just set Adam in the garden and say, well, hey, figure it out. See if something works. No, God actually assigns Adam a mission so that Adam has purpose in life.
We need purpose.
We see that. Then what does he do, too? He doesn’t just say, well, now good luck. May the odds ever be in your favor, Adam. No. Then he points out he’s created all this food for him to eat.
Why? Because Adam needed to eat. We need to eat. And God provides there. So very beginning of creation, very first bits of interaction we see with humanity at all. What do we see? God’s already provided two core fundamental things that we need: purpose. He’s provided provision of food.
He’s doing that right there, right then, before Adam even gets going.
What does that tell us? That God does that for us, too. Sometimes it’s not quite as clear. We live in a fallen world. Sometimes we don’t know what to do and how to get to where we’re going, but those are things that we should expect and we should seek to understand how God is providing them for us and we should seek after them. And sometimes it’s something that we help each other with, right?
Sometimes we don’t have anything to eat and what should the church do? We should help each other so that we always have something to eat as long as we’re willing to do what we can.
Sometimes we don’t know how to serve God. We don’t know how our gifts all play into our lives and what do we see? Well, we help each other as the body of Christ to know how to do that and we equip each other and then we encourage each other to go and do the things that God has made us to do.
So Adam has purpose. He has food. Things are going reasonably well, right? But he’s missing something else. Anyone know what comes next? What comes next? Genesis 2:18. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him.”
What does God understand about us? Because it’s part of, I believe, what he made us in his image about. We need to be in relationship. We’re not meant to be alone. We are not solitary creatures. We work together. And that’s at all kinds of levels.
But here at foundational level, you have one human being. God says, no, there needs to be at least two of them to start. He creates Eve. Why? Because God knows that it’s not good for Adam. He can have purpose. He can have food. But if he’s just sitting there in the garden all alone with purpose and food, he’s going to feel miserable.
He says, no, I’m also going to provide someone to share in that purpose with you.
We human beings are made to be in relationship. And what do we see even here in the church? Why does he assemble us in the church? Because he says it’s not good for man or woman to be alone. We need to be together.
God calls the body of Christ together because we’re meant to serve together. That’s why it’s so important that as Christians we’re plugged into a church. That’s why it’s so important that church function to do those things.
That we’re encouraging fellowship. That we’re encouraging discipleship. That we’re encouraging equipping and sending and doing. Actually functioning as a functioning body with all the organs actually moving and everything functioning. Because we need those things.
And so God’s provision today is satisfied to even as we stand here by the fact that we can stand here together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we think about starting at the beginning and going over and over again. God provides manna. God provides a king. God provides prophets to correct the people. God continues to provide community even when the people are unfaithful. God provides and he provides. Ultimately provides redemption but he provides it in that context.
Not to make less of redemption but if you’re getting ready to die because there’s nothing to eat. You don’t even have time to think about…
You know it’s interesting. I’m not sure how much this was reflected upon by most people in the ancient world. But when you’re in constant need. When you’re constantly wondering if there is going to be bread for the next day. You don’t have time to contemplate all the things that we get all angsty about in our culture.
Why? Because you’re totally focused on, can I get anything at all? What do we see in the perfect setting? In Adam’s setting before their sin? God’s already provided. Hey Adam, there’s the fridge. Go ahead. Take everything you want. Except that one thing. Don’t do that.
But other than that, just open up any time. It’s all stocked. I’m going to restock it. You just go ahead. I don’t want you to worry about that. I want you to go and do your purpose. And I want you and Eve to go do your purpose. Enjoy being human. Enjoy relationship with me. Go and fulfill it. I don’t want you to worry about it.
We do live in a fallen world. It isn’t always that perfect. But that’s what God wants for us too.
So what does he do? He brings us together as a body of Christ to help each other through these things so that we can actually think about the deeper things. What happens when I have time to eat? What happens when I understand sort of where I’m going? Then I start to reflect on how do I fall short? How do I understand the desperate need of the Lord? How can I understand the glory of who the Lord is?
All those sorts of things start to be able to be brought more into focus because I’m not just thinking, I can’t think of anything because my stomach hurts. I’m so hungry. And God is willing to honor that prayer.
Here’s the question. Am I willing to pray it? To really pray it? Am I willing to come up to God and say, God, I want to put my trust in you that you are the one who’s going to provide. God, I want to trust you that you do provide.
And God, I’m going to trust you so much in that that I am willing to listen to what it means to faithfully seek your provision.
You see, even after the Israelites saw the manna raining down, what happened? What was the problem? The forecast predicted manna today. It looked like cloudy with a chance of manna and it came down and all is well for today.
But tomorrow it might be blue skies and I don’t know if we get any manna on a blue sky day. So you know what? We’re going to save the manna even though God told us not to.
Exodus chapter 16, verses 19 to 20:
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 until the morning and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
You see, the Bible isn’t really even the least bit afraid to get into the nitty gritty stuff and we think, well that doesn’t sound like holy stuff. Worms, stinking rotten food. No, it’s more than comfortable telling us these things.
Why did God make it so that something as miraculous as manna couldn’t even last overnight? A twinkie can last for how many years? Why couldn’t manna?
Because God wanted them to trust.
You know when Hostess was in bankruptcy it wasn’t clear if there would be twinkies. I did, I went and stocked up. I need this miraculous thing that’s sort of undefinable for as long as possible before it goes away forever.
And thankfully it didn’t. They’re back.
But why do we stock up on things? We’re not sure we’re going to have any more.
God called the Israelites to say, listen to me. The Lord said to them, “Listen to me. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Now trust me.”
And Jesus says he calls us to pray this prayer. He’s saying, trust me. Trust that you can come and say, Father, I need food for the day. I need to know how to handle the responsibilities, the bills I need to pay, how I keep a house over my family’s heads, how I just fulfill the basic things of life.
That we can come and say, God, I need those things.
God doesn’t say, don’t you understand? This is a socially polite situation. You’re supposed to say, I’m doing okay, God. God says, that’s why I’m here. I want you to feel comfortable trusting me.
Why do we start to stockpile?
I like to listen to Kamlox, the voice of St. Louis. Of course you can hear the Cardinals games every summer on it, and boy is it nice to have some spring training games going. Generally speaking, I like to listen to Kamlox.
I’ve noticed in recent times that it doesn’t matter which program you have on, there’s this deep voice announced that will come on and say, times are getting really tough. We don’t even know if our government’s going to hold up.
What you need to do is you need to call this number and buy supplies so that when everything collapses and you can’t get food, you can go in your basement and you’ll have a 10-year supply of tasty, allegedly, food that you can eat.
What’s the point of that? It’s fear.
People are afraid.
I actually read an article this weekend about how this prepper movement is dramatically increasing. It used to be associated with certain political elements. It’s going across the political spectrum.
Why? Because things keep seeming to go haywire in our society, and we’re scared.
A few weeks ago we had AT&T’s network go down and shut down cell phones, which we’re not really sure how to function anymore, but it’s also cascaded. It took out other networks. It seemed to take out things that weren’t even necessarily clearly related to cell phones, and we look at that and we say, boy, everything we depend on seems kind of fragile, doesn’t it?
You go to the store, and we just take it for granted. Every aisle, it’s all stocked. Everything we might want to buy, it’s all available.
Now you go in, and they’re out of eggs, or they’re out of this, or they’re out of that, and you think, it’s not even snowing. Why are the eggs and the bread and the milk gone?
We see things like that, and we think, well, maybe I do need to stock up. Maybe I need to somehow overcome this on my own.
I think even when things are going relatively smoothly in life, we still kind of feel that way at a more theological level.
Okay, God is providing blessings for me right now. God is providing for me right now, but what if tomorrow God gets busy with something else? What if God tomorrow, he’s taking care of people over in India tomorrow. He doesn’t have any time for the United States tomorrow.
Maybe two weeks from now, by then I’m going to be starving to death. I better somehow get this under my own control.
That’s what happens. Observing the prepper movement, one expert said people want to regain their agency, their sense of control, and do something to match their fears to their actions.
And when we over-spiritualize daily bread, and we try to turn it into something where it’s really about all the spiritual stuff, I’ll take care of the earthly stuff, God. I really think that’s what we’re doing.
We’re saying, God, I’d like to trust you with the daily physical things, but I’m just going to talk on this really heightened level because it sounds really good. It makes me feel like a mature Christian, and I don’t have to worry about whether you’re actually going to come through or not.
But here’s what we can know from Scripture.
God will come through. God is there for us.
Matthew 7, verse 9, just a little later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or he asks for a fish and will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?”
We say, well, yes, he gives us spiritual blessings. He loves us. He redeems us. I can’t ask for any more than that. I’m not going to ask.
But as we do that, it’s just like in Isaiah 7 when we see the king is unwilling to do what God has commanded him in asking a sign, and he thinks he’s sounding so spiritual. I’m not going to test the Lord. Generally, that’s a pretty good idea, but when God says to test him, you go ahead.
And when God says, ask me for your daily provision, we ought to go ahead and ask him for our daily provision and trust that God isn’t bothered by that. We don’t need to spiritualize it away.
Because if he says this in James 2 for all of us to follow, God’s going to do it too.
Listen to what James says. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is it?”
And we say, okay, so that means our church should have a mercy ministry. That means we should keep putting blankets out so that people aren’t cold like we’ve been doing it. And we help the homeless and maybe we donate to a food pantry. We’re going to be, you can see some crates back there in a few weeks. We’re going to talk more about it. We’re going to gather canned goods again and work with our postal service mail carrier to get that to local food banks.
We should do those things. We can do those things. Absolutely. That’s faithful to what James is talking about there, that we as believers should do that.
But here’s the thing that we need to let our hearts really rest on, that if God is calling us to do that, that he’s saying it’s not enough to say to our brothers and sisters be warm and not give them a coat, that God isn’t asking us to come up to him and hear him say be warm and not give us a coat either.
God cares about what we need.
As we pray, give us this day our daily bread.
Yes, future, someday it will be made perfect and there will never be a need. Yes, someday in the future all will be well.
Yes, more than anything else, we need the living bread and the living water that redeems us and takes away our sin, but fundamentally the one that gives that to us is someone who cares deeply about every aspect of us.
And we can come down with the stuff that we think is too trivial, too menial, too basic, too earthly. God gives us what he cares about us enough to give us what we need. He truly loves us.
And that’s what we find here in this passage.
Would you pray with me, please?
Lord, we come before you as those who have a lot of needs. We’re sinners. We definitely need your redemption, but so often we’re just stuck reflecting on something that seems so basic that we shouldn’t even put it at the same level.
Yes, we should pray and ask for your forgiveness. Yes, we should pray and ask for your kingdom, but Lord, help us to understand that we should also pray and ask you for food to eat, for shelter, for the basic needs of life.
And we can see from the beginning, Lord, that you remind us that you gave us purpose, you gave us food, you gave us relationships. Lord, you’ve given us the things that we need, the things that are required to be human.
And Lord, would you help us as we go further into life to not just think that was something in the past that you cared about, but to understand that today, this very day, as we pray this prayer, that you care about our daily needs, our just genuine, physical, keep-our-bodies-running kind of needs, that that matters to you.
And would you help us then to take that passion and use it to serve each other and to serve this world, understanding we have a God who heals the whole. We’re going to talk about that more in Sunday School, Lord, and as we wrestle with this more, would you help us? Would you help us to hold on to the fact that you are a God who cares holistically about us?
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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