Into the Streets 2 - Common Christians

Romans 12:3-8

The problem with ME
How Jesus sets me free from ME
How the free me contributes to WE

“People with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low
self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the source of our country’s biggest, most
expensive social problems.” - Lauren Slater, The Trouble With Self-Esteem, The New York
Times magazine, Feb 3, 2002

“If Christians lived out what they believed about the teachings of Jesus, we would all be
Christians.” Gandhi

1 Corinthians 4:6-7

Sinful pride is the illusion that we are competent to run our own lives, achieve our own
sense of self-worth, and find a purpose big enough to give us meaning in life without
God.

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next
person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not.
They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else
became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about.”
- C. S. Lewis

“My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre. That is always pushing me. I push past
one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being but then I feel I am still mediocre
and uninteresting unless I do something else. Because even though I have become somebody,
I still have to prove that I am somebody. My struggle has never ended and I guess it never will.”
- Madonna

How Jesus sets me free from ME:
1 Corinthians 4:2-5

How does Paul do that?
Jesus has declared the ultimate verdict, so he simply leaves the courtroom!

Romans 8:1

How the free me contributes to WE:
I am free to use the gifts from God to serve the people of God to bring glory to God.

The Big Idea: As Jesus fills our soul, we become His gifts to each other.

Three adjectives offered as guidance to use your bellows:
1. Generously
2. Diligently
3. Cheerfully

Response:
● What is God’s verdict about me?
● What will happen if I accept His verdict?
● Who can I encourage this week?