“If you’re hungry, it presupposes bread.”

Steve Brown:
If you’re hungry, it presupposes bread. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’ve suffered too long under a do more try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Justin Holcomb to join us every Monday throughout the Lenten season. Justin is a Bishop, a teacher, and the author of God With Us: 365 Devotions on the Life and Work of Christ.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Justin.

Justin Holcomb:
Hi Steve.

Steve Brown:
Dr. Justin Holcomb is here. He’s coming in during the weeks of Lent, and I’ve asked him every Monday to pick out a theme, a life changing theme. And Justin, who, by the way, is the Bishop of this Central Florida Diocese of the Episcopal Church. He almost makes me become an Episcopalian. But if I did it, I would have to be a Presbyterian missionary to Anglicans. This is such good stuff we’re getting from the Book of Common Prayer, the prayers that are being prayed, and the themes to consider during Lent. What’s up this time?

Justin Holcomb:
This one’s a little bit different. This one’s about Jesus being the bread of life from heaven. Up until this point we’ve been talking a lot about us. About we’re not powerful enough to help ourselves, we’re assaulted by many temptations, and that kind of thing. Which is an appropriate focus of Lent. Again, Lent is this 40 day season after Ash Wednesday leading up to Holy Week where It’s a penitential season where we’re thinking about our sins. We’re thinking about how we’ve been sinned against. We’re thinking about the temptations which assault our bodies and souls and the harms against our bodies and souls. And looking at the theme of repentance and humility, that’s the big thing. Repentance and humility, but not for a groveling, but to refocus our attention on Jesus Christ and the person and work of Jesus. And so, we’re looking at Romans 2:4, is God’s kindness leads to repentance is the real heartbeat of Lent and what we’re talking about on Mondays. This week, there’s a shift toward fixing our eyes on Jesus. Who is he? So, we’ve been looking at our human situation, our temptation, and our condition. But at the same time, that should drive us to Christ. Not kind of curved inward. You know, Luther talked about sin is about the curve inward. And this is not about navel gazing and exploring my interior spiritual life only. But the whole point is from last week, we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves, was the prayer from last week. And so, if that’s the case, what do we do? Go further into our souls and explore that? No, no, no, no. Get your eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. And so, let me read the prayer for the fourth Sunday in Lent.

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him.

That one, there’s not a lot of like repentance, this is not a lot about us. It doesn’t even talk about, doesn’t even talk about our hunger. It implies our hunger, but this isn’t, we’re hungry and we can’t find food. This is different. This has this kind of in the middle of Lent, after you’ve been just slogging through all of these, this focus about, you know, your need for repentance, you know, call to humility. You have this. You have the God man who came down from heaven. And so, we’re talking about, and this prayer is looking at John 6. John 6:35.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst.”

So, what’s noteworthy is Jesus has no problem pointing to himself and saying, I’m the solution. We can get into the whole thing about Jesus claiming to be God because he does it all the time. But here, this one is, this one’s more than not just I’m God, but I’m the bread of life. This is why he got stoned cause he kept on saying, he’s the solution. Whoever comes to me will never hunger. Whoever believes in me, this whole faith in Jesus shall not thirst. And this passage looks to this, you know, that prayer that says he’s the true bread that gives life to the world. And he sustains us, and he is life giving bread that nourishes the soul. And then you look at John 6:56.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

Which, this is the union between Christ and believers, which the prayer is referring to. The prayer says.

That he may live in us, and we in him.

So, you have this amazing idea that the second person of the Trinity, the Son, takes on human nature at the Incarnation. So, at the Incarnation, he’s the God man, fully God, fully man, but without sin. And he does that and then because he did that, if we’re in him, we’re united, we’re in union with Christ. Which is actually a big theme from John Calvin. He loved talking about being united in union with Christ because he took on our humanity to redeem humans, that humans were the ones that had the debt that we could not pay. So God says, okay, since that’s the situation. I, you know, the second person of the Trinity, will take on human nature, and in his humanity pays the debt that we could not pay. But that’s the legal dimension. The other piece of this is that Jesus is the bread of life. I mean, what’s amazing about this bread of life stuff is there was another miracle. In the feeding of the 5,000 where Jesus made bread. And that’s, this is him talking about being the bread of life after he does a miracle feeding a few thousand people, which by the way, I love the fact that there’s always too much bread and in each one of the disciples had a basket, they had to go pick up the scraps. Which was kind of the extravagance of Jesus going, Hey, check this out. And then all the, this is the idea of each one of the disciples having a basket, picking up the scraps of here people are starving and hungry and they need food. So, he doesn’t just sustain them. He gives them more than they could ever want that they have leftovers just laying around to pick up. But that miracle was looking to the miracle of manna, of bread from heaven. And Moses was the one who oversaw that miracle. Jesus is saying, I’m not just like Moses who can do a miracle of making bread from heaven.

I am the bread from heaven and I will sustain you.

And so, in the middle of Lent, you are being sustained, not the middle of Lent, in the middle of your Christian life, but in the fourth Sunday in Lent, we get to focus on you are united with Christ, you’re united with God in Christ, and you are being sustained, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and you are being sustained in your Christian life, whether you feel it or not, because the bread of life has come down from heaven and is within you.

Steve Brown:
In other words, and we’ve talked about repentance and self righteousness and the good things to consider at Lent, but the good news is you’re going to get better.

Justin Holcomb:
Yes.

Steve Brown:
So don’t, and it’s narcissistic to constantly think about me, me, me going to be better. Listen, cool, chill out. You’re going to get better and you can’t help it because of what you just taught us.

Justin Holcomb:
Yeah. And if we get our eyes off of ourselves and fixed on Jesus, that’s actually how you get better. And he, here’s the kicker is that he cares about you getting better more than you care about you getting better. Your freedom from sin and walking in the Spirit and in holiness, He’s trying to conform you to the image of Christ. And now, I don’t mean trying like he can’t do it, he’s conforming you but that’s what he, here we are going to, how do I conform myself to the image of Christ? He’s like I’ve got you. This is how you do it, I’m going to transform you to look like my Son. Oh, the perfect one who was without sin, yeah, that’s the trajectory, that’s what he’s shooting for. So, and you have that, this is why you need some of our theology terms. We talk about sanctification. Sanctification is after you have professed faith in Christ and you’re forgiven of your sins and declared righteous. The Holy Spirit works in your heart and mind to transform you to look more like Jesus. That’s from Philippians 2:13.

God works in you to will and do his good pleasure.

That’s the Christian life. At the end of the Christian life is glorification, when we’re dead and in the presence of God, where we can sin no more, and we will be completely new. And so, the kicker that we need to tell people is, you are genuinely new if you are in Christ. You’re not completely new, but you’re genuinely new. That’s why you have a fight going on. And so, this Christian life is you’re genuinely, so you have this war of desires. You have hunger, and then, what do you do with your hunger? You either try to feed yourself, or you can be fed by God who loves to provide and give you sustenance that never fades.

Steve Brown:
That is so good. And it sure takes away the pride for aren’t I doing well? I mean, I thought I did good. What do you think, God?

Justin Holcomb:
Well, you have to get served. That’s the thing about Jesus being the bread of life. And one major theme throughout the entire Bible is divine hospitality. God loves eating with his people and in all the stories of God eating with his people, he’s the one doing the cooking. He invites Adam and Eve eat in my garden. With Abraham, the the messengers show up and say here we go, and then Jesus with The Last Supper. And then you have the wedding supper of the lamb. All of these meals with God are always God preparing a table for his people to sustain them and provide for them, not that we are somehow hosting God with our cooking. We are receiving his sustenance in this prayer and the fourth Sunday of Lent highlights it.

Steve Brown:
So good. And by the way, guys, just a reminder that in John 17, this is what Jesus prayed for us. He prayed

That we would be in him and he in us and we should be a part of the Godhead himself.

You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Justin Holcomb. What a fascinating look at Lent. Again, we’re doing this every Monday throughout the Lenten season as we journey toward Easter. Hope you’ll continue with us on this journey. Well, we’re blessed to speak with a lot of terrific Bible teachers. Justin is just one example. Another is Chad Bird. We spoke with Chad recently on Steve Brown Etc. about his newly reprinted book. It’s called, Your God is Too Glorious: Finding God in the Most Unexpected Places. His premise is that even if your life is pretty ordinary, God still wants to use you. That’s encouraging, right? So, we put that episode on CD and we would love to send it to you for free. If that sounds good to you, then call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail Steve@keylife.org to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for your absolutely free copy of the CD featuring Chad Bird. And finally, if you’re blessed by key life, would you help share that blessing with others through your giving? Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course you can always just text us. Simply text key life to 28950. And we always say this, but we always mean it. If you can’t give right now, or maybe you’re not called to, all good. But please do pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.