11-05 Bid Aldus - 3

More than a wishlist Matthew 6:11-13 This second part of the Lord’s Prayer is generally explained as the “our needs” section of the prayer. Stating it this way evokes the idea that we’ve buttered God up with the right words at the beginning of our prayer - “Your Name, Your kingdom, Your will…” - and now we get to my stuff. That is a deficient way of considering Jesus’ model prayer for His disciples. One completely misses the point by making a division between verses 10 and 11… there is no subject change! Praying for daily bread, personal forgiveness and future temptation is the natural direction of “Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done.” Where does this need to take place? Exactly where verses 11-13 take us. His perspective on… (11-13) As we move into the three petitions Jesus makes, we need to first consider the perspectives that are offered. His first petition deals with the here and now… our daily bread. What we need today. The second petition deals with our past - forgiveness for tresspasses. The third petition - which we will look at next week - deals with our future. Not our distant future, but what comes next… leading us away from temptation. His perspective on today: bodily provision (11) This is wide term… far wider than ‘bread’ would lead us to believe. The term encompasses all of life’s basic needs. Some interpret it to include the roof over your head, good health, work and security. Jesus is petitioning for the basic human needs. A reference to God’s care of His people in the desert seems appropriate - he gave them manna, sources of water and shoes that didn’t wear out. We serve a God who takes care of the needs. You must not forget Jesus’ initial statement before this model prayer about God’s sovereign knowledge of what man requires. This petition might sound strange in our ears, since we live in such wealth. Isn’t this a petition that poor people pray? That misses the point of where this petition takes us. This is not the cry of the starving, but the honest recognition of dependence. Everything that we have comes from God (Gen. 1:29-31) and David acknowledges this in His kingly prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:10ff. Do you express your gratitude to God for all that He has provided for your daily survival and comfort? Do you consider that your job security, income, nourishment, shelter and health are all provided by the great King - your father? J. I. Packer said: “The prayer of a Christian is not an attempt to force God’s hand, but it is a humble acknowledgement of helplessness and dependence.” His perspective on my past: spiritual pardon (12) The literal meaning of “to forgive” is “to let go of”. When an offense takes place a debt accrues. We owe another person. The judicial meaning then is to let go of my right to exact payment of the debt. In the case of God, His Son pays the debt and settles the account. His righteousness for my filthiness. This is a very personal grace, because our offense is personal - we are not held accountable for Adam’s sin… we have enough of our own! We are all guilty. Romans 3:23 explains that we have all sinned… we have come short of God’s glory. Literally the word means “missed the mark”... and archery term to have missed the bullseye. Our arrows don’t even make it half-way down the field. The penalty is eternal death (Romans 6:23). The Ten commandments teach us how far we have crossed from the relationship boundaries… we have loved others more than Him, we have served lesser things and devoted too much time to them, we have failed to cherish the relationship with Him above all else. We have angered a jealous God and we understand we need a Savior. That’s what the law does… it brings us to our knees and points us to our need for a Savior. Romans 5:8… God shows us His love in this: while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That is mercy. That is grace. That is where our pardon for sin stems. And His sacrifice wipes our slate clean. What is fascinating is that Jesus expresses this in the model prayer… this is never something that we should “get over”, nor is grace something that we will cease needing. The Christian still sins and continually comes back to the giver of grace and we petition Him to let our trespass go, knowing that He will. Why? He’s my dad. The principle that follows the petition is not one of making God’s forgiveness dependent on me. Our feeble attempts to do right always fail… that would be bad theology. So what is this teaching us? This is grace leading to a changed life. When all of your tresspasses have been pardoned and your sins removed as far as the east is from the west (Psa. 103:12), you will extend that grace to others in your life. Forgiveness costs us something - we let go of our claim - and when we bear that cost we act like our dad… we follow in His footsteps. Here’s the thing… holding on to unforgiveness and bitterness and closing your heart to others evidences that something isn’t right… which is the point. If you refuse to forgive - which isn’t the same as finding it hard to forgive - then God’s grace has not been evidenced in your heart (read verses 14-15). This leads to Jesus’ parable in chapter 18. Lord Herbert said: “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.” When we pray “Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we naturally find contentment in what God - the King, but also my dad - has provided for me and considers necessary for me. I petition Him for my daily needs, acknowledging my dependence on Him and gratitude for what He gives. Thy will be done also takes care of our past, since He willed for Christ to bear our guilt, so we could be with Him forever - in His Kingdom, which I desire to come.