Follow Up: Position in Christ

Last week at the Cru Weekly Meeting, Ryan Speicher talked about our position in Christ and what it means to truly understand our reality and identity in Christ.

Big Idea: We are accepted based by God based on the righteousness of Christ and not based on our own self-righteousness. For those who have put their trust in Christ, it’s important to focus on our “position” in Christ as opposed to our “condition”

Key Verses: Ephesians 2:1-10

A couple takeaways: (some contributions from Mitchell C)

1. The reality of our position is much different than the way our position may feel. We may not always feel justified or righteous, but the reality is that we are if we are “in Christ”

2. When you are dwelling on your identity in Christ, you get a “spiritual spine.” This means

• You no longer need others approval because you have a strong identity with Christ
• You have security in conflict and can have hard conversations
• You are awoken to the fight (the spiritual battle and reality of eternity)
• You have hope in suffering

3. “We don’t have the spiritual enzyme to process grace” (if you’re nerdy and would like to watch a video about Why Dogs Can’t Eat Chocolate, enjoy this video)

4. We all tend to doubt the love of God and have various struggles and sin, but need to remember that if we are “in Christ,” we are already royalty no matter how we feel. Refer to the scene from “The Crown” where she (referring to the crown) says “Can I borrow it?” to which the man responds “If it’s not yours, then whose is it?”

Reflection Questions:

1. What are some ways you try to earn right standing before God?

2. When do you doubt God’s love and acceptance of you?

3. In what ways do you find yourself forgetting about “the Crown” you already possess?

4. How does the reality of your position in Christ affect the way you treat other people? How does it affect the way you deal with times where you struggle with sin or doubt?

Other Resources:

Ryan mentioned brokenness and redemption and talked about Rachael Denhollander’s statement in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case. You can watch her statement here or read an article about her here

He showed the video clip from “The Crown” on Netflix. It’s in Episode 5 of Season 1 from 3:20-5:08. The episode is called “Smokes and Mirrors”

An article on Who We Are in Christ (Good stuff…read this)

Another article on our Position in Christ