July 15-17, 2017 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 12:13-21 THE FOURTH PETITION: A Prayer of Daily Trust and Thanksgiving

THE LORD’S PRAYER: 4^TH PETITION

July 15-17, 2017

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 12:13-21

THE FOURTH PETITION: A Prayer of Daily Trust and Thanksgiving

Luke 12:13-21 (NIV 1984) “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I’ll say to my soul, “Soul, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ²¹“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

          When we began our sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer we started with the Address. We pray to Our Father in heaven. It reminded us of the picture God wants us to keep in mind that He is our loving Father in heaven and we are his children. All of us here were children at one point. Some would still be considered children. I have a question for all children here today. How many times did you ask parents if you could please have a meal to eat? I’m not thinking about the times you may have used the hyperbolic “I’m starving! When are we going to eat?!!” I mean when you actually asked your parents for the privilege of a meal. The reality is that most of the time children simply expect that their parents will feed them. They think it’s their right. They take it for granted. To be sure I know of no moms who would even think of not feeding their children and most if not all feel it is a privilege to feed their babies. But if you just take the first sixteen years of childhood and 3 meals a day each of us would have had 17,520 times to say please give me my daily breakfast, lunch or supper. Now the reason I bring this up is because when Jesus taught us to pray He included in that prayer the 4^th Petition. “Give us today our daily bread.” Why does Jesus have us praying for daily bread when God just seems to give it anyway? Pastor Luther picked up on that in his explanation to it when he said, “God surely gives daily bread without our asking, even to all the wicked.” That’s true. Just like parents feed their children even though babies can’t politely ask and other children don’t God continues to provide food for man and animal alike. And yes, the wicked, the evil, the god haters and people hurters they get to eat too. So what’s this petition all about?  It’s about living each day with trust and thanksgiving.

          Jesus taught that lesson quite clearly when he told the parable that’s known as the parable of the Rich Fool even though from the outside he looks kind of wise.  Jesus was teaching the crowds, warning them about the importance of faith in Him as Savior when a man in the crowd spoke up. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But settling inheritance laws was not why Jesus came. “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Jesus came to save and so he warned against the sin of greed, of setting our hearts on things.

          Then he told the parable of the rich fool but pardon me if I’m wrong but doesn’t the guy seem kind of wise? “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I’ll say to my soul, “Soul, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” OK, so this wealthy farmer found himself harvesting an abundant crop. Now we all know and most farmers know that they are God dependent for good crops. We all also know and most farmers know that they have to put a lot of hard work in as well to get a good crop. This has to be a hardworking landowner who knows what he’s doing. That sounds wise to me. He’s also a planner. His barns are too small. So he plans on building bigger ones. That sounds wise. He’s even doing retirement planning. He knows his upcoming expenses. He knows his assets. He plans it out and says I can retire, not work so hard, enjoy life. Now if that’s a foolish thing to do I’m looking at a few fools and I’m planning on being one. Financial advisers and retirement planners say it’s wise to save. Healthcare professionals encourage taking it easy later in life and finding enjoyment after employment. Sounds wise to me.

          But not to God. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ²¹“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” When God calls someone a fool everyone needs to pay attention. What makes this man who looks so wise on the outside a fool? It’s what’s going on on the inside. He was not rich toward God. Now you might think that his problem was his giving, that he wasn’t giving an honorable amount of his possessions to God. Now it’s true that stingy giving, living in luxury while pitching pennies in to the offering basket is wrong and sinful that’s not what rich towards God means. Rich toward God means giving to God what He really wants, our hearts. Hearts that are filled with thanksgiving and trust. Remember Jesus told this parable as a follow up to his warning against greed. Greed, always wanting more, never having enough betrays a lack of trust in God to provide daily bread. Greed, hoarding for yourself without generosity towards others betrays a lack of thankfulness to God. This is mine. I earned it because I’m so good and smart, not because God is so kind and giving. That’s why this man is a fool. Not because he planned and saved. He did it without a heart that trusted and thanked God.

          That brings us back to the Fourth Petition. Give us today our daily bread. Jesus included that prayer to help us, the children of God remain thankful and trusting, rich toward God. He has us pray for daily bread, not weekly, monthly or yearly so that on a daily basis we will remember who is really taking care of us. It is God who causes food to grow. It is God who gives us the ability to work. It is God who provides us with jobs or other means of income when needed. It is God who established the government that provides assistance when needed. All of those areas are masks that God hides behind to provide but expects the children of God to peek behind those masks and to know He is the real provider. And then to respond with thanksgiving. Not acting like little children who take meals for granted or consider it their right but with turning to God each day with a heartfelt thank you for my daily bread. The 4^th Petition also helps us express daily trust in the Lord. It’s easy to trust when the fridge and pantry are full and when income is covering expenses. It’s harder when you are in a drought and ravens are bringing you food like with Elijah or when a job unexpectedly ends. Praying the 4^th Petition daily points us to the God who provides, the God who did not spare his only Son but gave Him up for us all. Of course He will take care of us. It might not be the way we would want or expect (ravens delivering groceries!) but the Father will provide.

And let’s never forget the daily bread we have in Jesus, the bread of life. Through faith in Him God sees us as perfectly thankful and perfectly trusting children. In Him our own greed, arrogance and lack of gratefulness have been washed away. In Him we can be more like Him, like grown up children. Have you had that happen where the kids grow up, live on their own then come back and ask for that home cooked meal and say Thank you to boot? Brothers and sisters, praying the 4^th Petition helps us to be the grown up children of God who realize how good we have it and why, Because God is good. He deserves our daily trust and our daily thanksgiving. Amen.