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Impossible Christianity
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Week 3 | June 24th

Impossible Christianity — June 24

Molly Ratliff
Notes

Impossible Christianity — Week 3

John 3:27-28, 30

"John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.'… He must increase, but I must decrease."

The Lie

  • The lie: If you really love Jesus, you need to carry the weight of changing the whole world.
  • The lie: It is your turn to save.

2. The Truth: Jesus Alone Is the Savior

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new."

If we don't understand the new creation we have been made to be in our salvation, we will deny the role we have been made for and step into the role of the savior.

Genesis 3:4-5

"Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"

In their humanity, God gave them the assignment to image Him to the rest of creation.

  • Salvation doesn't do away with humanity. Salvation redeems humanity.
  • Our role is not to become the savior to others. It is to reflect the image of the savior to others.

"The new creation [2 Cor 5:17] doesn't mean you are something other than human. It means you are a new type of human. God the Father sent his Son not to show us how to be another God but how to be human. God does not want little gods. God wants big humans. He is not after demigods. He is after disciples." — Dr. Dharius Daniels

Savior Complex — a person compelled to "save" and fix others.

John 14:6

"No one comes to the Father except through me."

Acts 4:12

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."

3. Step Into the "JTB" Role — Be a Faithful Witness

John 1:6-8

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness of the Light, that all through Him might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light."

John 1:29

"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

John 3:26-28, 30

"Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified — behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him! John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.'… He must increase, but I must decrease."

  • We are not Christ, but we have been sent to be a witness of Christ.
  • We aren't called to save, but we can point people to the Savior.

The JTB calling — the role of the Christian — is not to be Christ. It is to point to Christ. It is to image Christ. To be a witness of Christ. And when Christ comes, we get out of the way. We let Jesus be the Savior.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."

We aren't Christ. We are Christians.