Corona Chronicles - The Lord's Prayer

Welcome again to this special corona chronicles this month, which is looking at what is commonly known as the Lord's prayer. It's so fantastic. And and I hope you are using it as prayer. And actually reading it through and and I'd encourage you to to, you know, follow some of the themes through in the bible in your reading, you know, because that can really take us to sort of deeper things because there's so much in every 1 of these verses. Anyway, let us let's read again.

We're looking at Matthew chapter 6 in the sermon on the mount. Jesus says when you pray, say, our father in heaven Hello be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And that's where we are. In verse 11, give us today our daily bread.

And it's interesting that twice in that short sentence, that the the every dainess of it is stressed, isn't it? Give today our daily bread. And this is 1 of the key ways that disciples are gonna bring honor to their father's name. And it's daily dependence upon him for the things that we need. And in our part of the world, this this request, maybe more than any other, it it's hard for us to see God's involvement in it, isn't it?

Because when we've got a Tesco and a coop in every corner, we tend to think we live in this closed system of I work, I earn money, I go to Tesco, I get my bread, and that has nothing to do with God. That's just a secular setup, you know. But actually, it is crucial, isn't it, to recognize that I know there's there's other dimensions to this prayer, but that the daily ostinance, the daily provisions come from the Lord's hand. And he graciously gives it to us in lots of different ways, but part of honoring him is recognizing Without him, we wouldn't have it. You know, we really wouldn't have it.

He provides for us through those things and that we need him to keep doing that for us. Yeah. I think you're right. I mean, let's just deal with the the physical because I mean, it's obviously more than that. But, you know, and that that is right.

And and we we can It's interesting, isn't it how there are substitutes to prayer and to God that take us up sort of secular think almost they could they could almost because they substitute for God be evil. But you you think of the internet. You've got this vast resources out there that you can't quite see. I can scroll through whatever I want to buy And it's like a prayer, isn't it? I can say, I fancy I fancy that and I can press my button and it's delivered to me within within days even hours.

Mhmm. And it just as you say, it just I don't what do I need god for? Yeah. I've got the internet. Yeah.

This is all set up for me. He's got nothing to do with it. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't even see any money or, you know, I just press that button and it's all sort of done and and it it it's some bloke is delivering it to me.

And it it makes me feel powerful. Yeah. Yeah. But we we're seeing that isn't prayer. No.

Because we're coming to And be careful. We don't treat God like that. He's our father. He's got things that he wants his family members to be about, and we need to be daily reliant on him. And it's foolish to think we're not.

It's like all this talk, isn't it on corona? We're in control. We're in control. We got this. We got that.

We're not. No. And this is this is just This is right. Yeah. We need we need God for everything and that's what this prayer is about.

And It's why it's why Christians have always liked to give thanks for their food. You know, it it can become silly if, you know, everyone is starving themselves because we're waiting for that last person to come through the door. You know, it can become a bit of a thing, but actually, it doesn't do us any harm, does it? To just take a moment to say, this this was from the Lord, and we're thankful for it. Yeah.

And it's teaching them your kids that, isn't it? Yeah. That they don't just grab and take and -- Yeah. -- that there there isn't this personal God provider. Yeah.

Yeah. But it means a lot more, I think, than just daily bread. Yeah. Although, as you say, that's that's absolutely right. I mean, I think the whole bread thing in the bible is such a big thing.

You know, you go into the wilderness where God provides the manor from heaven. And it's a daily provision, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And they're not to take up. No. No. They're not to to take a week's worth of manner because otherwise they're gonna be cursed. Yeah.

And it's gonna come out their eyes and their nose and their ears. It's a bit horrible doing that. Yeah. And, you you know, you think, well, you know, what that about? Does it does it really matter?

You know? And the reason it matters is because God is trying to say, look, you know, you you you you need me every day. This is not a vindictive spiteful thing. You know, I'm trying to show you that every day when the sun rises, you you need to know that your life depends on me and you need me for everything. And so that that's the kind of dailiness of it, isn't Yeah.

And then I think it gets even more specific because I do think this is talking about the lord Jesus Christ who is the bread of life. And so you go back to the tabernacle and you get the bread of the present, don't you? Mhmm. Which is very interesting because the bread of the present is in the holy place. You've got the tabernacle.

You've got the holy of holies. And just outside of the holy of holies, the very, you know, where God's presence is is the holy place. And there, right up against the the the curtain is the bread of the presence. Mhmm. It's definitely a picture of the lord Jesus Christ who's come, you know, from the father to us.

And so we need his presence. We need him -- Every day. Yeah. -- every day. So it's not just now bread, physical bread.

We do need that. But it's him and he comes to us through his word, isn't it? So you don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And that is the word Jesus himself. And that that's right.

That's the spiritual food that we we we need. And again, if we only confine this prayer to the physical, We're not we're we're not recognizing the depth of this prayer because we're not we're not just physical beings, you know, we're physical and spiritual, and we need food to sustain both aspects of who we are. We need the bread to keep us going physically, and we need the word of God keep us going spiritually. And And that is definitely not we've without it. That's it.

Yeah. Yeah. Because we're living in the western world. Yeah. And, you know, and we look we look physically, you know, so prosperous.

Yeah. You know, we're we're well fed, we're, you know, we wouldn't look like famished people. But if you could see it through the spiritual goggles -- Yeah. -- you would see it was like a famine land. Yeah.

You know, because we've we've separated us. We're starving ourselves from the from From the presence of the lord Jesus Christ. Yeah. Who we were created for? And to be in this family.

Mhmm. So we've we've we've, you know, we've broken away from the family of God. We're out in the sort of desert wilderness on our own, trying to feed ourselves. I mean, it is a very lonely thing, isn't it? So that picture of the person on the internet on their own in the dark, looking at a screen, pressing a button, thinking they'll have everything, are actually in a desert a wilderness, a spiritual desert, and what they need is the lord Jesus Christ, and he's the present, and he's the 1 that brings us to the father.

He's the 1 that gives us the, therefore, the bigger picture of halloween his name and his will being done. And there's suddenly life. Isn't that? And that's the bread of life. It is.

And I and I was just thinking about how Jesus, you know, models, you know, much of this in his own life. When he was out in those wilderness years being tempted by Satan, you know, that was his food, wasn't it? His food was the word of his father. His desire was to see the name of his father honored. And, you know, he he doesn't just kind of he's not 1 of these terrible religious teachers you hear about where they they teach people a load of things, and then their own lives are just consistent with it.

No. Jesus teaches the disciples this, and then he he enfleses it for them. Doesn't he? Yeah. He shows them what it looks like to live for the for the honor of the father and to depend upon the father.

So we must leave it there, but there's a prayer for you to to pray today. Give us today. It's us and our again. Yeah. It was just interesting.

It's not just me and mine. My only Because again, we're in the family of God. So we're asking for other brothers and sisters, aren't we? Mhmm. So give us today our daily bread.

And so that would be a really good prayer, wouldn't it today? To be asking God to give you his presence and therefore the energy and the ability to serve him and to honor his name.