THE ONLY SOURCE & THE ONLY COURSE

By Sjirk Bajema

 

Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 50

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-34

 

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ…

 

We have before us the fourth request of the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer – that prayer Christ Jesus Himself taught His disciples so that they could pray in the right way to their Heavenly Father. The Lord’s Prayer, is the best model for all our prayers. If we’re to properly relate to our God we must follow the pattern this prayer sets before us.

 

Naturally it follows then that this prayer is a very spiritual prayer, because it concerns our spiritual relationship with God. We see this very clearly in the first three requests of the Lord’s Prayer. As we pray there, “Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”

 

So in our previous four Lord’s Days we’ve focused on our attitude to our Heavenly Father; on making holy His Name; on advancing His kingdom; and on doing His will in our lives. But the fourth request suddenly, it seems, changes this direction.

 

We’ve been looking in a spiritual, heavenly, direction. And then we’re told to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread?”

The focus is completely turned around. Our attention goes to our everyday meals. It’s a bit of a letdown, isn’t it?

Definitely not! This is no break in the natural progression of the Lord’s Prayer!

 

Just think of those first three requests in this prayer. They are all different aspects related to our living as Christians in this world. But how can we do these things if we don’t have the energy?

We may be able to live without eating or drinking for a few days. Soon, however, you notice yourself getting weaker and weaker. Your strength ebbs away. We need to eat meals, to have those calories and protein and iron and minerals and vitamins in our bodies, so that we can live as Christians. What we ask for here is vitally important!

 

So let’s see exactly how crucial this fourth request is in two points. Firstly, we see God as THE ONLY SOURCE OF EVERYTHING GOOD. And, secondly, we see that THE ONLY COURSE IS DOING HIS GOOD. As God is the only source so also it’s only following His course that makes what we do good.

 

The Only Source of everything good

Let’s look now at the Lord being THE ONLY SOURCE OF EVERYTHING GOOD. Where do we begin in showing how God gives us good things?

 

Brother, sister, young person – you could begin almost anywhere! After all, the whole creation speaks of God’s immense goodness! In the words of Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

The apostle Paul, in his famous speech to the Athenians, declared in Acts 17:24 & 25, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” Paul was calling on those Greeks to recognise the only true God – the God who is THE ONLY SOURCE OF EVERYTHING GOOD.

 

We call this God’s providential care. Because of His great mercy, all men, both believers and unbelievers, receive His care. God blesses all the inhabitants of Australia/New Zealand very richly.

Yet is everyone who lives in Australia/New Zealand a Christian? Of course not! Think of those we work with. Many of them aren’t Christians and yet God gives them work. He looks after all people.

 

But there is a difference here between believers and unbelievers. Unbelievers don’t truly pray this fourth request of the Lord’s Prayer. They don’t recognise that it’s God who gives them their daily bread. And by bread we don’t mean just the loaf of bread – the “bread” stands for everything needed for our survival.

So when the unbeliever is in desperate straits – perhaps because his ship has sunk or his country has been occupied by an invader – and then prays to God for help, he’s not truly praying. The churches were filled in Holland during the war. And weren’t they filled in America the day after 9/11?

But as soon as war was over, as soon as the threat diminished, the real state of many of those people was shown. Because they could manage on their own then, thanks!

 

The Christian, however, sees that it is God alone who’s the source of his sustenance. Answer 125 expresses this by saying that we’re praying that we’ll come to know God this way. As it goes on, “our work and worry” cannot do us any good without the Lord’s blessing.

This is the point of what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6. He wants us to know the Heavenly Father who gives us what we need. In verse 34 of that passage He said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

We can certainly nod our heads at that! It hasn’t benefited you to worry about tomorrow. In fact, worrying only makes it worse.

 

Martin Luther, when he walked in the woods, used to raise his hat to the birds and say, “Good morning, theologians – you wake and sing, but I, old fool, know less than you and worry over everything, instead of simply trusting in the heavenly Father’s care.”

 

So what our Lord is telling us is this: “He who gives you the day will give you also the things you need for that day.” After all, who causes the sun to shine? Who makes the cloud gather, and then makes the rain to fall? Isn’t the One who gives us such great things also able to supply what your body needs?

 

So, what’s the problem here? There is a problem, isn’t there? We so easily become discontent. We want just that little bit more. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that little extra? Spice up my life a bit! We sometimes dream beyond what we have, and what we can really afford to have.

Discontent is an obvious difficulty in those parts of town with gambling dens and finance sharks. But we’re affected by that, too. We’re seeing and reading about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. We see what others have and we want it – but we don’t need it.

To be satisfied where we are – that’s a hard thing. To be at peace with what we have today – that doesn’t come naturally. So it’s a test of faith for us to do exactly that. If we pass that test we can be such a witness in the world we live in.

So friend, have you prayed for today’s food? “Certainly!”, you say. Are you sure?

 

There is a story told of a minister who happened once to have a meal with a family in his church. With the dinner on the table the father of the house asked the minister to say grace. That prayer was no sooner said than one of the children, a boy of about seven years old, asked this very telling question: “Dad, what’s the reason we always have grace said when the minister eats with us, and never at any other time?”

 

And even if we do pray, are we honestly praying? Do you believe now that whatever you receive, whether a lot, or little, or someone in-between, is God’s answer to your prayer? Are you content with what you have?

 

You think about it. Are you truly thankful? Do you see it’s the Lord looking after you? Do you think of this prayer when we so much want the latest ‘thing’! What is it for you; the latest jeans, the video game, that trip overseas? We can almost convince ourselves that we have to have those things.

But do you need them? Without them would you think that God isn’t the source of everything good?

 

You know, there are some Christians who believe that. They have become so caught up in this materialistic world, they’ve changed their theology to suit it. So they believe that real faith means you have to be blessed in a big way by the Lord. Then you’ll have the same Harley as the Pastor, you’ll go to the same clothes shop as his wife, your kids will hang round with his.

That is so sad. And it’s terribly un-biblical. For when do we find godly people most truly looking to the Lord? Isn’t it when they had so little themselves? Revival really happens amongst the poorest of all. Because they suddenly realise what matters most of all! And then they’re far from poor!

 

To pray this fourth request honestly means that we must trust in God. For how can we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” if we don’t also believe God will give it to us? Praying this way means we believe what He says. We know that He will give us what we need.

 

The only course is doing His good

This brings us to our second point. Because of that trust we have in God we then know THE ONLY COURSE IS DOING HIS GOOD. The Source leads us to the Course.

The only real good we can do is doing His good. That’s why the Catechism goes on to say, “And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put our trust in you alone.”

 

To trust someone else totally doesn’t come automatically. It takes time to learn to trust someone other than yourself.

 

We can use the example of a marriage relationship. When we see a bride and groom on their Wedding day it would be wrong to say that they trust each other completely. Those affectionate looks they have for each may seem very trusting. But there’s still a long way to go in getting used to each other so that they can fully trust each other. It’s not long and that honeymoon phase is over! Reality bites!

We have to allow for a maturing in their relationship. They need to spend time together so they can understand each other and grow together.

 

Our relationship with the Lord is similar. The one difference is that God does not need to grow toward us. Instead, if we mature in our Christian walk, we grow toward our Lord. The more we trust and depend on God alone the more these words, “Give us this day our daily bread,” become a recognition of God’s hand in our lives.

 

In His great love for us, God moves us in this maturing direction. It’s as Moses told the Israelite nation there on the plain of Moab as they’re about to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. In that sermon in Deuteronomy 8:3 he said, “God…humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Yes, God teaches you – in the food He gives you every day!

 

For our part we have to recognise that it is indeed God who gives us this food so that His Kingdom will be furthered in this world. This is why the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.”

 

Our trusting in the Lord for our material needs is to be the same as our trusting in the Lord for our spiritual needs. Both go together. There’s no division, there’s no holy and unholy work. It can never be that washing dishes in the kitchen is part of a different world than participating in a Bible Study. Both are necessary. And both must be done with that awareness that we’re doing what we’re doing because God has placed us in that position.

 

Of course, surviving physically is not the most important thing. Looking at our society, though, we can’t help but get this impression. The life here-and-now is the be-all and end-all of so many around us.

 

Sooner or later, though, we will die. Then our daily bread – or whatever else we’ve managed to accumulate – won’t help us anymore. Then the boy with the biggest toy, or the most toys, loses.

What matters most of all is our attitude to what we’ve been given. Our attitude shows whether we’ve set our hearts on the things below or the things above!

 

So: Are you trusting only in the Son of God for your being made right with God, and for your salvation? Do you believe in the words of Jesus, when He says in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came from heaven. If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever.”

 

We have to trust in what Jesus Christ has done for us – not in what we’ve done or what we’ve got. And, in the same way, with the praying of this fourth request, we are to see that it’s God who gives, not that we’ve somehow “earned” it. We have earned only eternal damnation. But in Jesus Christ we, as believers, eat of the bread of life. That’s the great comfort of the Lord’s Supper!

 

Through Christ we see that it’s indeed God who provided in the most ultimate and world-shattering way. Then we can pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Through our faith we see, as the Catechism says, “that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do any good without your blessing.” And so living out our faith is a blessing. As also the world will be blessed through us!

So live out your faith, brother, sister, young person! Show the world that the only way to be truly blessed is by trusting God, and following God. He’s the Source and He’s the Course!

 

We may not know what lies around the corner waiting for us. But let your life show what we sing in one of our hymns. The last stanza of ‘I know not why God’s wondrous grace’ includes these words: “I know not what of good or ill May be reserved for me Of weary ways or golden days, Before His face I see. But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I’ve committed Unto Him against that day.

 

Look to Him in everything, dear friend, and He’ll live with you through anything you do.

Amen.

 

 

PRAYER:
Let’s pray…

O Father of the heavenly lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift: We thank and praise You for every gift of body and soul.

But most of all we thank You for the greatest gift of Your own Son – our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Through Him we can now truly receive. And with Him we will truly give.

In His Name alone, we pray, Amen.