Sermon Audio

Countless times we have heard the story of the ten lepers. Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Samaria, through no-man’s land. Approaching a village, they are approached by ten men with leprosy. They cry out to Jesus, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” They didn’t call out with the usual cry to stay away since they were unclean. However, having heard of Jesus, they knew He could make them clean. “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” Jesus replies. On the way, all ten are made clean and would be declared as such by the priests, allowing them to return to their regular routines and lives. However, one of the ten, realizing that he was clean, returned to Jesus to thank Him; the priests could wait—Jesus had done to this man what he believed Jesus could. (cf. Luke 17:11-19)

Countless times we have heard as St. Paul exhorts Timothy, and by extension, Timothy’s hearers, to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. For one thing, with regard to kings and those in authority, they would not be kings or have authority apart from God granting it to them. God gives government so that all people can live a quiet and peaceable life—so that believers can do so in godliness and reverence to Him. For another, with regard to all men, including kings and those in authority, we are to give thanks because God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-14)

Countless times we have heard as God briefly recounts Israel’s past as they are about to enter Canaan. “Remember,” God tells his chosen people; “Remember the LORD your God who led you through the wilderness these 40 years out of the land of slavery.” Through those 40 years, their clothes and shoes did not wear out, and God provided them just enough manna and quail to survive one day to the next. This He did to teach them that “man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that process from the mouth of the LORD.” And why? Because He was about to bring them into a good land flowing with brooks and springs of water, land filled with wheat and barley and vines and figs and pomegranates and olive oil and honey. God’s chosen people were about to receive much more than they could have ever imagined after 40 years of want and destitution. And God says, “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” (cf. Deuteronomy 8:1-10)

Through all of those times, and especially on this day, one thought permeates those three readings. Hear Jesus’ words on the matter: “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11) God gives faith to trust in Him for all things, and so to you as to the leper He says, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.” God gives us rulers so that you may live your life in this world in godliness and reverence of Him, and for this God is to be thanked and praised, served and obeyed. God provides lean times to teach us to trust in Him for all things, gives us all things to support our body and life, and, at times, gives us an abundance with which we can serve our neighbors, so when we eat of the bounty that God has given us, we bless and thank Him for the good which He has given us. Therefore, we are given the words “Give us this day our daily bread” to pray.

The Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us what? For one thing, we are taught that

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

Daily bread includes those things we heard about in today’s lessons, and have heard about countless times. From Luke we hear of the lepers being given health and their livelihoods back as their daily bread. From 2 Timothy we hear of the gift of good government and neighbors being part of daily bread. From Deuteronomy we hear of food, drink, clothing, shoes, land, animals, minerals, and ores all being part of daily bread.

So, when you pray the Fourth Petition, you are praying for those things which God, already gives you and all men out of His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in you. As Jesus said, “[The Father] makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) This is God’s nature as Creator—He did not simply create the cosmos and then step back to watch what would happen; God is an involved Creator who loves and cherishes what He has created so that He continues to provide for it. As one to whom is proclaimed, “Arise, go your way; your faith has saved you,” as indeed it should be for all creation, it is become your duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him for all of His First Article gifts—God commands it; He wishes to hear your thanks for all the good He has given to you.

Nine lepers ran to show themselves to the priests, never to see Jesus again or thank Him, most likely returning to the livelihoods without a second thought of the want and need they had been in before they ran to Jesus pleading for healing and cleansing. Kings and those in authority persecute Christians or subtly rule against them or in one way or another rule unfavorably according to one person or group of people or another—even in our day as religious liberty is under attack by the current administration—all for which thanks is not rendered to God but scorn and hatred, perhaps even a desire that the king or those in authority would somehow find an early or untimely exit from their position of authority. Following the book of Deuteronomy is the book of Joshua, in which is recounted for us the conquest of Canaan as the Israelites take possession of the land and its bounty as God had promised them; then comes the book of Judges which tells of how the result of sinful man living with God-given bounty, goodness, and peace is apostasy, not thankfulness.

No, sinful man’s track record isn’t good when it comes to rendering to God the thanks he deserves and commands. As you search your own past, doubtless there are times and events for which you should have and could have thanked God, but didn’t. Even worse, there are times when you took the credit for the blessings that God lavished upon you. It should come as no surprise that you and your neighbors are unable and, dare I say it, unwilling to thank and praise, serve and obey God for His lavish goodness and First Article gifts; you have a hard time with all of God’s decrees and commandments, why would this one be any different?

Listener beware! That was said not as an excuse. God commands in His Word that we thank and praise Him; you heard as much from the reading from Deuteronomy—“When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you”—and 1 Timothy—“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men...” If that’s not enough for you, then hear the Word of the Lord, in which you have life:

• Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34)
• Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. (Psalm 30:4)
• It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night... (Psalm 91:1-2)
• Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Repent of your unthankfulness and rejoice in the mercy of your God. He does not remove His abundance from you, nor remove from you from His providence. Like the nine lepers who did not return to thank Jesus, yet were still healed and restored, He still gives you all that you need to support His body and life, whether or not you acknowledge and thank Him. To you, to whom He is giving faith to believe and trust in Him, to receive from Him goodness for the life to come, He again says, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

And that’s why He gives us the Fourth Petition (among them all) to pray. “Give us this day our daily bread.” What does this mean?

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

In a sense, this Fourth Petition serves as a little confession. For when we pray it, we acknowledge before God that we do not always realize that God is the giver of the daily bread we receive and that we do not always receive it with thanksgiving. Therefore, like beggars asking for a crumb of bread, like lepers seeking mercy, we ask that God would grant that we realize that He is the giver of daily bread and that we receive it from His hand like the one leper who returned to thank Jesus—we ask to be forgiven for those times when we don’t. And in His grace and mercy, God does just that—more daily bread from the giver of all good.

He points to the cross, upon which He has given for all the world the Bread of Life. There, sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins, is the Word that proceeded from the mouth of the LORD by which man lives. Yes, God Himself, in the flesh of His Son, took your unthankfulness from you, and in your place was perfectly thankful for every blessing, temporal and spiritual, that God lavishes upon man—for bread and fish (cf. John 6:11), for right faith and knowledge (cf. Luke 10:21-22), for hearing his prayer (cf. John 11:41), and even for the giving of His own body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins—He was perfectly thankful for every First Article gift and the every gift of righteousness.

And if God in Christ has taken your sin, every bit of it, not only unthankfulness, then He has left none of it for you. Your sin is no longer yours, but His. And, taking it into His flesh, He died the death due for sin in your place, giving you the benefits of His perfect life and death. Jesus Christ is your ransom—“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”—the greatest gift for which to give thanks.

For Jesus’ sake, your God says to you, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you. You are forgiven for all of your sins.” God gives you the Fourth Petition to pray—“Give us this day our daily bread.” And He answers your prayers with Jesus Christ. By His answer, through Jesus Christ, you are able say with the Psalmists,

• To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever. (Psalm 30:12)
• I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. (Psalm 35:18)
• I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30)
• So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, Will give You thanks forever; We will show forth Your praise to all generations. (Psalm 79:13)