Amen. We're going to turn to Psalm 111 and the 10 verses that are there as our scripture reading tonight. And then along with that, we will consider the words of Lord's Day 50. And it'd be a good thing for us to read that answer together in just a few moments. We'll be bringing Psalm 111 into especially in the last point of our sermon tonight, as we also, of course, consider what Jesus has taught us in Matthew about praying for our daily bread each day. But let's read then from Psalm 111, these words. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him. He remembers his covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His works in giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of His hands are faithful and just. All His precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. Grateful for that very true and triumphant and worthy praise of God there. We want to take a moment to respond in kind to these things. Answering as we do out of Lord's Day 50, question 125, page 62 in the back of the hymnal. Let's answer that question and gather. The question is this. What does the fourth request mean? Give us this day our daily bread means do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. And so help us to give up our trust in preachers and to put trust in you alone. Thank the Lord for the truths of his gospel. May they be a blessing to us today unto his praise. Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, it would be a rather interesting exercise if we could go around communities or around the country and ask people if they lived or they worked so that they could have things, or if they have things so that they could live or work. In some respects, there's a need for both philosophies to some extent. In order for me to be able to live, I'm in need of some basic things, after all. Scripture would say, on the other hand, though, that if people shall not work, they shall not eat. We need to work to eat. And yet, for some people, and this is where the balance thing, I guess, comes into play a little bit, too, again, but for some people, their life is to work. Sometimes we call them workaholics. who let everything else fall by the wayside because their work is everything to them. They live to work for work's sake. And that's the end of things for them. They eat to work. For others, life's about having things, whether it's needs or wants, where even the needs develop into undisciplined wants. And they live to have things. And that's the end of things. To have them. They may even live to eat, not just to work so they can eat. Eating is everything that could even happen. Just like for some, having things is everything. The Lord Jesus helps us in our praying, and in the process, he helps us in our living. And that's no less so than in the fourth petition, as Jesus teaches us the need for prayer on a daily basis, and he gives us perspective on our daily needs. The fourth petition, give us this day our daily bread, helps us in understanding our place and priorities in life. as God's children in Christ, our needs, and as well as the source of those needs. And so you see our sermon title is The Daily Prayers of God's Children, who know their place, who know their need, and who know the source of all things for them. And we wanna think about those three things a little bit this evening. First of all, Christ teaches us when he teaches us how to pray, give us this day our daily bread, how Christ teaches us to remember or to know our place and our priorities as we pray. The first three petitions of our Lord speak directly to our Father's name, our Father's kingdom, and our Father's will in Jesus Christ when we're Christians. Everything's directed in that sense to the cause of God in Jesus Christ. And it reminds us, as we have seen to some extent already, that contrary to our natural propensity, contrary to the spirit of the age, contrary to the temptations of the evil one, it isn't our cause, it isn't our needs, let alone our wants, that come to the forefront in our prayers and therefore should not come to the forefront in our living. We seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And the promise comes our way in that, that all these other things, the things we need, will be added unto us in Jesus Christ. When we ask the question then, do we eat to live, or do we live to eat, the Lord Jesus gives us further insight. Yes, we're called to work for a living, But when it comes to the priority of life, the Lord Jesus sets it straight for us in light of his grace to us, for whose sake we are possessing and for whose sake we produce both of those sides, the work and the things for which we work. And we come to find out that It's not for possessing sake and it's not for production sake that we live. It's for God's sake. We eat to serve the Lord's cause. We eat so that we can worship Him. We even say that we eat and drink and whatever we do, do it to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. We eat to the glory of God. We drink to the glory of God. We eat so that we might seek his kingdom. We eat so that we might do God's will. We seek and ask and knock, not first of all, nor for the end and for the ultimate goal that we might have Our health isn't the end of life. Our financial need is not the end of life. Our success or our accomplishments are not the end of life. Are those things important? Are those things not important to all of us? Of course they are. But they're not the end of life. As important as they are, They're still subservient to something greater, to someone greater, to the greater cause to which we've been called, which is namely the glory of our God and the magnification of God's name. You know, from an athletic framework, from an athletic perspective, you might have heard this said before sometimes, you know, that the name on the front should mean a whole lot more to us than the name on the back. because the name on the front is dealing with the team, the name on the back is dealing with the individual. And so for Christians, it's not the cause of John or Mary or Bob. It's the cause of the Father. It's the cause of Christ for which we seek our need. That priority follows not just in terms of the position of the petition, God first, me second, the first three of the Lord, and then me, but also in the relationship that I have as a child of God in Christ. The cause of the family name of God and his Christ is to be more important to me and more important to me to honor than my individual wants and desires with what I possess and need. It's like making sure that in other ways, in lesser ways, but that the corporate name or the family name comes before the individual's wants and desires. If I go forward somewhere, and if I have it with my own children, there's a part of you that says, to a lesser extent, remember, you're representing the family name. Or if you're on a school team, And you're considering how you're going to be behaving somewhere far afield. You're going to go away somewhere or you're going to go to an away game or whatever. Remember the school that you're representing. part of what we do in a more grand sense, in a more ultimate sense, when it comes to the name and the family name of God. We see ourselves as children of God. These are daily prayers of God's children that are concerned about the family name. They're concerned about the honor of the Lord. Again, it's that idea, again, that the name on the front is more important than the name on the back. And such a priority impacts the content of a prayer then, even a specific petition, and certainly the spirit of the prayer. If I don't come to the Father like some spoiled brat who has had everything given to himself all his life and demanding more, demanding that God step up and give me whatever it is that I demand. because I have convinced myself that what I'm requesting is what I deserve. I have it coming to me. I don't come demanding my cause to take priority to that of God. I've come to know my place. I'm God's child in Christ. I'm called to serve His cause. It's not the other way around. as much as we know of Christ as the servant of the Lord and the one who's come to serve his people. When we remember the place of the petition for our daily needs in the Lord's prayer, we remember the proper order of life. It's not that our cause comes before God's, and it's not even that we work and serve to eat. Neither of those are the end of life. We don't eat for eating's sake, and we don't work for work's sake. God's sake. and God's cause come before our own as his children in Christ, and we're supplied what we're supplied, and we seek our supply for that cause. Our eating and our drinking are so we can glorify God. We're to eat and drink even in those things to glorify God, and even our eating and drinking themselves are done for that purpose. They're to be that way. When we pray daily as God's children saved by Christ, taught by Christ, we are also doing so as people who have come to know our need. We pray, give us this day our daily bread. Now, I suppose that if you and I decided that we were gonna start an eBay company, it probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to say, and here's what we're gonna do when we get on that eBay company. We're gonna try to sell a loaf of bread. Let's put some loaves of bread on eBay. And let's see how many bids we get. Not gonna get a whole lot. Even if we supply free shipping. Well, if we offered gold or a platinum bar, the bids would multiply before our eyes. But when we pray, give us this day our daily bread. We're praying for what we need, and what we need and receiving what we need really are both more precious than the platinum bar or the gold one. If I need to live today, a gold bar is not going to feed me, but a loaf of bread will. I've not been promised or asked to pray for luxury. But I have been promised and been directed to pray for what I need. The Father will provide what I need in accordance with his glorious riches in Christ. That's the promise. Philippians 4. And that's what I've been asked to pray for, what I need. for what I need and receiving what I need are most precious. They're what I need for the day. See, I come to see what's precious in the fourth petition, what's really precious. Because I like to think that what's precious to me are my wants. I'd like to think that what's precious to me are those things that I cannot afford on eBay, on which I'd get outbid. Or that would cost me a tremendous amount of cash or time or sweat or worry. But Jesus teaches me that what's most precious to me is what I need. What I need to be able to serve my God. And I come to see through the fourth petition that the Lord has taught me to grow in contentment and perspective in what is truly precious. What's precious is to be able to serve my Savior. And to have what I need to be able to carry that out. And what I need to carry out for today. Because I don't have tomorrow. I don't. I also discover how needy I am in the fourth petition. I discover what it really means to be needy. Because often I can act like I'm not needy at all. I'm not needy with each new day. I'm breathing. I'm prosperous. I go to the fridge and there's the food. Food's on the table. I don't always appreciate how needy I am. On the other hand, I can get so worried about what I don't have for tomorrow, I forget that I haven't been given tomorrow yet. And see, the fourth petition squares us up that way, doesn't it? Our need is as long as the day, the whole day. And every day that I'm given, the need is as long as the day, so that I may not live out the day that way in proud self-reliance. Every day, I come to an acknowledgement of that. My need is as long as the day, but by our Father's mercy, my need is also not beyond the day, so that I'm not weighed down by what I cannot bear. We can all be thankful to the Savior for such a petition, so that while we know we have our need, They can be qualified and they can be quantified by the Savior's teaching on prayer. Give us today our daily bread. May I pray every day then. Because I need my God every single day. We also come to know the source of our petitions each day, and Psalm 111 especially reminds us of that, particularly that fifth verse. But so often in this psalm, He provides food for those who fear Him. He remembers His covenant forever. In various ways, God is seen here as the benevolent covenant Lord of His people, worthy of praise, worthy of imitation, and worthy of imitation that is reflected if you do your devotions and you want to read this one along with Psalm 112. Psalm 112 ends up being a sister psalm to Psalm 111, because Psalm 111 talks about how God is a giving God, and Psalm 112 speaks about how the recipient of God's generosity shows that very generosity himself. When we know our Heavenly Father as the source of all things, we come to see an even greater degree that what is often considered mundane and ordinary is truly precious and extraordinary and praiseworthy. It's worth, as it were, coming to church. It's worth praising God for them every single day and whenever we get together. the mundane, the everyday, the daily needs, not just the extraordinary and praiseworthy that we would consider praiseworthy. We pray, give us this day, our daily bread, knowing that it is first of all, not the work that I did, or the cleverness that I showed, or the way I was able to work that deal out, or the truck driver that delivered it to the store, or the store itself, or the farmer, or worse yet, the whims of fate that somehow got me what I needed. It's he who provides seed to the sower and bread to the eater. It's God himself. And that may not be very miraculous. And for some people, that's not good enough when it comes to their religion, because they want something sparkly and spectacular and something extraordinary. And that may not fit the standard for some people. It may not be miraculous, but it is supernatural. Because it's a gift from on high. confession that everything good that we have has come from this source and this one alone. It's a divine gift. And when you remember things as divine gifts, you appreciate them more and you don't take them for granted. No less so than the day that is provided. A day that could never be supplied except by the governing and upholding hands of the Father in heaven, the Son who has all authority, and the Spirit that makes life to abound. But it's only God's children who understand this. And it's not because they're so smart. And it's not because they have an armload of degrees. And it's not because they're better than somebody else, it's because of the grace of God. By God's creative hand, we live and move and have our being. And by that very same God and his re-creative hand, we're adopted into his gracious family through the grace of Jesus Christ, so we can know where all our needs, both spiritual and physical, are met. where they come from. It is in this Father who says, I didn't spare my son for you, and I will also along with him graciously give you some things, give you a few things, give you all things. See, everything that's needed and everything that's provided to you and to me in Christ is a gift from on high. All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. You see, even the little things are big things. And sometimes we get reminded of that in certain ways, right? Where maybe we have that our health curtailed Things that we thought were so ordinarily able to be done, suddenly we can't do them like we once did. Maybe we get that back again, but we start realizing then that, especially in this petition, not just in experience, that even the little things are pretty big that way. And that's good when we learn that lesson. Coming to the Father as the source of all things is a coming that takes nothing for granted. You don't want to be of the attitude, and it's something that, again, when we're sinners, we do that. You don't know what you've got till it's gone. The petition here is telling us, don't take anything for granted. including the need for the Father to bring blessing on whatever it is that you do receive. Because when we think about it, we can have all that we need and everything that we want, in fact. But it doesn't mean anything without His blessing. That's a wise thing that the Catechism writes about that. We see that all your gifts can do us no good without your blessing. It's for Jesus' sake that we pray for that blessing. It's for Jesus' sake alone that this blessing is secured. It is for Jesus' sake that having our needs met by the Father is truly worthwhile, as we're blessed with what we need to serve our God, who's already blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Jesus teaches us in the fourth petition to make prayer a daily priority. Our prayers will be that way more and more. As we remember the priority of God's cause in our lives, as His children in Christ, and as we remember the daily needs that we have. And that are met as we come to the Father. who were called to confess, is the one who didn't spare his only son, but gave him up for us all, and who has promised to graciously give us all things. No wonder that we are called by the Savior to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Amen. Let's respond a moment to ourselves in prayer. Father, we come and recognize again that all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. Help us not to take for granted the little things, the ordinary things, the things that we are tempted to consider mundane and lose sight of how precious they are. Lord, help us to have the blessing of taking the teachings of Christ to heart here too, as we hear your word always, calling us to square things right. To realize that we don't possess for possession's sake, and we don't produce for production's sake, but we produce and we possess for Christ's sake. And help us then, Father, to know your peace, Be reliant upon you and to serve you even in our praying as we also are called to in our living As those who recognize above all that you gave us the bread of life first of all in Jesus Christ And along with him you'll graciously give us all things May we take that spirit to heart in our prayers and lives. We pray that you'd hear us in Christ's name. Amen We're going to sing number