Lord’s Prayer Week 3 Notes
Week 3: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, Matthew 6:11, 25-34
Connecting: Share your favorite kind of bread (Oatmeal, Whole Wheat, French, Rye, etc.) and why it’s your favorite. If you don’t eat bread, share a favorite food that you eat almost every day.
Background Today we’re discussing the third request in The Lord’s Prayer which has to do with asking God to, “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.” Most of us, though perhaps not all, have been blessed in that we haven’t had to pray this prayer to survive. However, it’s important to remember and to have compassion for the hundreds of millions of people in the world that literally need this prayer answered to have food for the new day for themselves and for their children.
Have someone read Matthew 6:11, 25-34
“11 Give us this day our daily bread.”
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Discussion
- Have you ever looked at a refrigerator or pantry filled with food and thought or said, “There’s nothing to eat?” How do you think God feels when we stand in front of plenty or abundance and complain that we need more?
- As I am typing these words I’m a few feet away from our kitchen and I know I can eat something any time I want. How different do you think our experience of this petition in the Lord’s Prayer would be if we didn’t know where our next meal was going to come from? If there is anyone in your group who has gone on a mission trip (perhaps to a place like the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Africa, or who has worked with the homeless or poor in the US) that brought a new perspective on wants and needs, have them share briefly about how the experience changed them.
- How does Jesus’ emphasis in Matthew 6 on the immediate needs of today and what we need to live today free us up from worrying about the future?
- What can we do to keep a healthy perspective on material things? How do we cultivate an attitude of gratitude that recognizes how blessed we are by daily bread and so much more?
- Greed and the desire for more, newer, and bigger is encouraged in our culture. This attitude runs counter to the contentment and thankfulness encouraged by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer. How does this part of the Lord’s Prayer teach us to say, “Enough.” In what ways does simplicity help us to live a more contented life? For example, have you ever found that you’ve gotten to the place in life where you’re happier when stuff is leaving your house or garage rather than coming in?
- Those of us who are parents strive to teach our children good manners including the magic word, “please” and the importance of saying, “thank you.” Jesus teaches us that it is okay for us to ask for God’s help and Jesus doesn’t even mention the word “please.” When God has provided us with homes, furniture, appliances, vehicles, tools, toys and more; how quick and consistent are we to thank God for providing for our needs so abundantly?
- Remember, Jesus didn’t teach us to pray, “Give me today my daily bread.” Pastor John Ortberg writes that Jesus wants us to be concerned not only about what I need, but what we need. All through the Bible we see that God’s heart beats for those in need. If we see with the eyes of God, feel with God’s heart, and serve with the Lord’s hands, we’ll also care about those who have no daily bread. We will actually be willing to joyfully share the bread we have with others. What is a step that you personally can take or are taking to share what you have with others?
If you want to learn more about how you might become involved in Daily Bread types of ministries at BBC, you might speak with Wayne Johnston who leads our Caring Cupboard Food Pantry, Linda Viprino who coordinates our Calvary Meal program in Hyannis, see the sig- up sheet on the Mission bulletin board to help at the Lower Cape Lunch program in Orleans, or talk with Jill Scalise who oversees our Mission Core Ministry about how you might become involved. For example, in addition to all of the above opportunities, we also have members who go to the Salvation Army in Hyannis and help serve meals.
- In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for God to give us “our daily bread.” John 6:35 states, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Do you see a connection between the request in the Lord’s Prayer about daily bread and what Jesus says about himself as the bread of life? What do you think Jesus means when he says whoever comes to him and believes in him will “never be hungry or thirsty?”
Any final comments
Closing Prayer
Have each person share at least one sentence, in this way, “Generous God, I am so thankful that you have given me ____________________________”