Matthew 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread”
Matthew 6:12 “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Over the past few weeks we have been studying the Model Prayer…we call the Lord’s Prayer…the prayer Jesus gave us…it was never intended to be used as a repetitious mundane guide for prayer…to be recited as a “script” …but as a model to follow.
So clearly Jesus is presenting a pattern for our prayers…not just the words to use…these are the words from God Himself about the prayer that He desires.
It begins with some lofty ideals – the first seven commands given by Jesus are in the imperative…indicating a command…BUT…The Lord’s Prayer is not so much a command as it is an invitation to share in the prayer-life of Jesus himself.
Looking at the first three requests…they are addressed to God and draw us to him for His own sake: hallowed be Your name /Your kingdom come/Your will be done.
After praying for those things that relate directly to the glory of God and His kingdom…we then ask God for the things that are necessary for our everyday physical lives …the last four concern earthly matters dealing with the practical realities of life… give us…forgive us…lead us…and deliver us.
This parallels the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.”
We often learn the hard way that what we think is the endless supply in our pocketbooks…often dries up…because of a bad economy…corporate downsizing …the stock market nose-dives…the channels we rely on for our everyday provisions may dry up…but the key is remembering who the source of all things is.
In Verse 11 is the first time in the Lord’s Prayer that we directly give a command to God. (The earlier petitions use a third person singular command (he, she, it) which is vague about who fulfills the requests.)
But in this instance… ‘give us’ …is 2nd person singular…second person means it is you being told how or what you should do…meaning we are telling God to “give” us daily bread…pretty bold statement…how does God “give” daily bread?
Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·
The bread of us — daily give us today
Let me share with you an issue with this verse…the word “daily” (ἐπιούσιος)
–epiousios–occurs nowhere else in the New Testament…only occurs in the Lord’s Prayer so the meaning is really unclear…as a result… translators differ on the meaning…is the verse signifying “daily bread” or “bread for tomorrow.”
In such cases when a word is susceptible of two equally legitimate renderings… translators have no choice except to place one in the text…and the other in a footnote. —Bruce M. Metzger, “Persistent Problems Confronting Bible Translators”
Here’s what this is saying…it is referring to God’s provision that is needed for each day…give us this day…reminds us to focus on today and today’s needs…this is more in line with Jesus’s teaching regarding taking each day as it comes…so… the daily bread here could be in reference to the manna that fell from heaven during the 40 years the Jews wandered in the wilderness.
Each morning the manna was on the dew…the Jews would go out and pick it up to eat…but none could collect more than a day’s worth…because by the next morning it was spoiled…hence…the manna reminded the Jews of their daily dependence on God’s providence.
BUT…the petition in the Lord’s Prayer to give us our daily bread has several other layers of meaning…the most obvious is to express our need for food…there’s really no point in asking for anything else if we don’t have food to keep us alive, so we ask for food before we ask for anything else.
We are guilty of living in the future…we worry about the things that will happen next week…next month…next year…or even further into the future…that’s why car loans are for 72 months and house mortgages are for 30 years.
By requesting for bread, we are asking for the most basic of necessities…so in asking for bread it is representing all of our basic physical needs be met.
The need for food…shelter…clothing…health care…but we also hunger for peace …for equality…for justice for all…it’s all a petition for human dignity…to ask for our daily bread is to ask that all our ‘hungers’ be satisfied.
Because all our worrying cannot change a thing “Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” [Matt. 6:34] …the Lord praying give us this day our daily bread—is a reminder of our daily dependence …a day at a time.
But this portion of the Lord’s Prayer is also a reminder…it calls us to be involved with others.
The Lord’s Prayer can never be prayed selfishly…we don’t pray… “give me” or “I want” or “meet my”—we pray— “Our Father” … “give us,” … “bring us” … “forgive us.” …we need to remember others…this prayer is a reminder of those who are also in need of daily food and our obligation to help them.
This is what separates Christianity from the world…understand Christianity’s vertical and horizontal framework…God coming down to man vertically, and Christians moving horizontally to reflect God’s love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Without the opportunity to share this truth the second desire of Christianity…which is meeting people’s needs…is difficult to achieve…knowing God is realizing that one of God’s moral perfections is the quality of generosity.
A conviction most people have difficulty with…but for Christians…God’s generosity means giving to others in the way God gives to us…giving without expecting something in return…as opposed to what the TV preachers would have you believe…you give to me…God gives to you.
The compassion to meet people’s needs is a concern Christians readily accept and support…a conviction most people have difficulty with but for the Christian… giving to others in the way God gives to us…with no ulterior motive…just giving so others have what they need.
I believe this begins first in the church…the notion that a man’s family, and I would include those in my church as well…should be his paramount concern is expressed in 1 Timothy 5:8.
In fact, Spurgeon issued a challenge regarding the people who are under our leadership:
“Look to the interests of all who are in Christ Jesus and let them all be as dear to you as your own Children…and especially, He would have us love His chosen…At the Branches church we do that.
This is the whole premise in giving to the Church…again…this has become so messed up regarding giving…it means giving to others in the way God gives to us.
2 Corinthians 9:8 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
The term ‘good work’ means charity to others…which is further explained in [10] Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
God supplies your needs… ‘give us our daily bread’…meeting our needs…so abundantly…that we have left overs for others.
We now come to the 5th Request, which deals with forgiving and forgiven… there is a difference in wording between the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew’s Gospel and the Lord’s Prayer in Luke’s Gospel.
There are two parts to this request…the first, includes the forgiveness we RECEIVE from God, and the second, deals with the forgiveness which we are to GIVE to others:
The text in Matthew reads:
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·
“forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
The text in Luke reads:
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἀφίομεν παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν
“forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us.”
OK…have some confusion…in one version [Luke11:4] the word sin is used…in Matthew Jesus is quoted as using the word ‘debt’
Sounds like possible confusion…again…a word that is only used twice in the entire N.T. …so…is Jesus using the word ‘debt’ in reference to the forgiveness of sins…or to material or monetary debts…which is how we normally associate the word debt.
The word debt has two connotations…when the word ‘debt’ is used in a financial context, it means to release the debtor…the one owing money…from the obligation to pay the debt.
But when it is used in a moral or spiritual sense, it means “to pardon” or “release”
Here the use of the word debt is referring to our sins…because our sins are like debts that mount up before God.
We are debtors to God [Romans 8:12] because He paid for us a debt, that we were unable to pay ourselves… He paid the price for my sins by sacrificing His Son. That’s what it means when it says we have been redeemed…been bought back
God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:6-8; cf. 1 Peter 1:18-19] and forgave us of our sins.
Thus, it means that we are asking God to send away or wipe away the debt of our sins.
Both texts include the two aspects of forgiveness…both Matthew and Luke understand that God has forgiven us our debts…or sins…in Jesus we have been restored to fellowship with God…in doing so…we have received the grace to forgive others.
Therefore, we are called to forgive the sins of others as we have received the same forgiveness from God.
To see how important this concept is…we only have to look at two verses down… [14] for if you forgive others…your heavenly Father will also forgive you… [15] but if you do not forgive others…then your Father will not forgive you.
Maybe all of us here would say “I’ve already done that” …but we are never to lose the attitude that we are indebted to God…we need to remind ourselves of how we were saved…as a constant reminder against becoming arrogant.
To think that I can stand before God based on how religious I now am…because I’m now saved…or…because of how much I go to church…or…on how much I read the Bible…or because I live up to a certain moral code…is arrogance.
As Christians…characteristically…it’s easy for us to “look down” on other people who aren’t “living up” to the things we’re living up to….so we become a bit holier than others…hence…the need to confess our sins every day.
To demonstrate how important this principle…or command is…Jesus Himself give a parable to emphasize the need for forgiveness.
The parable of the Two Debtors (Luke 7:41) There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.
And the parable of the Unforgiving Creditor whose own debt had been forgiven (Matthew 18:23-35) but was demanding that those who owed him pay him back or be thrown into jail.
Matthew 18:32-35 32“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ …’I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34In anger (the) master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
This is how we stay humble before God…and how it helps us to keep from being judgmental of others…because it is a reminder that you were and are only saved by God’s grace in Jesus.
Here’s another reason for us to confess our sins daily… NOT because we need to be saved daily…a lot of misunderstanding about this…in TWO ways;
FIRST — Some fear that if they don’t confess their sins every day that they will lose their salvation…this is not biblical…SECONDLY…tied to the first… you are saved from your sins….past and present…but not future…the thought is…if you never confessed another sin for the rest of your lifetime…you would still be saved and go to heaven.
That’s true…you do not have to confess your sins daily to be saved…trusting in the finished work of Jesus is all that is needed for salvation.
WHY do we need to confess our sins every day? …WHY keep confessing our sins to God daily if we are already saved from them? … “didn’t realize that confessing sin was that important.”
That’s one of the biggest problems people have is the trivialization of sin. We just don’t see sin as that big a deal…and it IS…sin is rebellion against God…the sin of Adam & Eve wasn’t that they took a piece of fruit…it is that they purposefully disobeyed God.
The fact that Jesus dedicates one whole section of the prayer just for the confession of sin, shows just how seriously the Lord takes our sin.
Some go so far as to say that we do NOT need to confess sin because all our sins are already forgiven for all time…this is erroneous teaching.
The way you are forgiven of sins is by asking Jesus to forgive you of them… you’re not automatically forgiven because you’re a Christian… [I John 1:9] that’s why it says “If we confess our sins”.
TWO Things
First…as are most promises in the Bible the word ‘if’ implies a condition… you must do something before God does something.
Second…it’s in the present tense…meaning something that is to be done every day…because when we do…the rest of the verse is what God does…He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Two consequences of not confessing, forgiving, and forgetting:
Not confessing our sins daily causes a break in our fellowship with God… [Psalm 66:18] “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
If you have sin in your life that you have not confessed with God through repentance and confession, it doesn’t make you “lost” but it does put a separation between you and God, that hinders your fellowship with Him.
The consequences of not forgiving and forgetting someone also places a barrier between us and God.
Notice [v. 12] reads in the past tense… ‘have forgiven’ …Jesus is teaching us here how damaging our sin is with respect to being in fellowship with Him…and how because of our unwillingness to forgive and forget other’s sins has the same affect.
C.S. Lewis: “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable (in others), because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
The fourth request: “Give us this day our daily bread” is asking God to be the source of all our needs. This He has promised to do.
The fifth request: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors is where the Lord wants us to confess our sin…while also forgiving those who have sinned against us.