Our Daily Bread - January 18 Readings: Matthew 6:1-18

Today’s Readings

Context

“I’m not a religious, I’m a Christian.”

You’ve probably heard that a million times, and perhaps you’ve said it a few times as well. I’ve preach sermons in which I attempted to make a distinction between dead religion and living faith in Jesus Christ. But reality is that we all practice religion. The word simply means the adherence to the beliefs and duties of a particular faith. The problem we have is not with religion but with dead religion, with religion that goes through the motions.

In this brief section Jesus faces down dead religion. In yesterday's reading he defined how his followers would approach the law. Today, he extends that to how they would approach religious expression - especially in three specific contexts important to Judaism. Jews were required to give alms to the poor, to pray, and to observe certain fasts. The religious leaders did these duties, but they often did them in such a way as to show off to others. They gave their gifts both to the poor and to the Temple publicly so that everyone knew they were giving large amounts. They stood to pray where all could see and prayed so that all would know how eloquent and deep their prayers were. When they fasted they went around moaning, with drawn faces so that all would know that they were observing the ritual.

Their religious deeds were done not to draw closer to God but to impress others. That's why Jesus said they had their reward. They were seeking only to get the applause of men and that is what they received. Why? Because, at the heart, their religion was self-centered. It was about making other people think highly of them. It was about making them feel better, about increasing their power and standing.

There is no reward in that. True religion does two things. First, it glorifies God and exalts his name. Second, it serves others in the name of God. Giving with the right spirit brings glory to God and serves others. Praying does the same. Fasting can draw us near to God. But only if the heart is right. 

NOTE: The Bible is inerrant in its original manuscripts – as it was written. With a science called “textual criticism” we can recreate the original text with a high degree of accuracy. There are a couple of places where there are questions as to what the original text said. You might note that the traditional ending, “Yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever, Amen” is left out of most modern translations. This bothers some folks. The evidence is that this line was not part of Jesus’ original prayer. It is drawn from other scriptures and may have been added as an ending when this prayer was sung in early church worship, then later added to the text by a scribe. No one knows. But the line, while biblically true, was likely not part of Jesus’ original prayer. To say that it was not original to the text is not to say it is false. 

Devotional - Our Daily Bread

God delivered the people from Egypt (Israel's "salvation" experience) and then took them through the Red Sea into the wilderness. There, God send them a caravan that had 40 years of food and other supplies - everything they would need so that they could survive during their wanderings...right?

Um, uh, no!

That's not how God works. That's how we want him to work but in general that's not how he does it. We want the guarantees. We want endowed chairs. Do you know what that is? That's what colleges get, when they bank a large amount of money and fund a professor off the interest. They make enough money from the investment of money that they know that they will always have the ability to pay that professor. That's what I want. I want the endowed chair of Dave! Enough money to know that there's always going to be enough. A clear path and a map with instructions to guide me every step of the way.

I want the step by step printout of the directions that show me the entire trip before I start the journey. But God tends to give us our directions moment by moment along the way, like the voice on my GPS - just when I need it.

In the Lord's Prayer, that's what Jesus told us to pray for. "Give us this day our daily bread." I want to ask for enough to last me through the rest of my life, but I am authorized to pray for enough to get me through today. It's important to remember that "daily bread" is not just money, not just "stuff." It's strength. It's power. It's encouragement. It's everything.

What happened if the Israelites tried to hoard Manna from day to day? It rotted! You can't live on yesterday's manna. God's mercies are renewed every day and you need to go to him for daily strength, daily encouragement, daily provision, daily joy, daily hope, daily love...daily whatever you need.

I've been in ministry now for much of four decades. In that time, my churches have been within a month of bankruptcy almost that whole time, but we've never crashed. My family? We've never had much savings and the stock market seems to indicate I've going to have to depend on God, not my 401K during our retirement years. But God has been good to me for 58 years, providing my daily bread and some good snacks along the way.

Perhaps I can trust him for everything else!

Father, forgive me for failing to trust you, for demanding more than you offer. I trust in you to provide for me my daily bread. Thank you, Lord. 

Think and Pray

Do you live in faith or in fear?
Do you trust God daily to give you what you need - financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically?

Can you remember times when God has provided for you in his perfect time? Perhaps after you worried and panicked? (I could write a book). Remember those times and renew your faith in God.