👨‍⚕️ Romans 6:6 | The Great Physician

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📧 In today’s email…

• 🤒 The Great Physician and the human condition

• 🌤️ 2 life-changing phrases to reinforce your identity in Christ

• 🔦 Community spotlight!

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

We ____ ____ ___ ___ ____ ___ crucified ____ ___ in order ____ ___ ____ of sin might __ _______ __ _______,

so that we would no ______ __ ________ __ ___.

Romans 6:6

👨‍⚕️ The Great Physician

When many of us hear Jesus referred to as the “Great Physician,” the first image that might come to mind is of Jesus physically healing the blind, lame or sick (aka healing on a micro level).

But when we zoom out and think about it at a cosmic level, Jesus is also the Great Physician because he brought:

• an accurate diagnosis of the true problem, and

• the actual solution needed to heal this broken world

(aka healing on a macro level)

A good doctor doesn’t just correctly diagnose the problem (that’s only half of the battle).

They must also prescribe the patient the right treatment.

When we look at the story of Scripture, we see God being the Cosmic Physician for his creation.

And in particular, we see it throughout Jesus’ ministry, death and through his resurrection.

As we head towards Easter, let’s reconnect with “the true story of the world” so we can respond in gratitude & better discern the role we can play in it.

Yesterday, we looked at Romans 6:6 phrase-by-phrase.

And we saw that everything in the verse we’re memorizing this week culminates in this one phrase:

so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

That’s the “so what?” of all of this talk in Romans about:

• death and life

• old man and new man

• disobedience and righteousness

• flesh and spirit

• justification by works and justification by faith

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were so that we would be freed from slavery to sin.

According to Scripture, THE core problem within God’s creation - the ultimate diagnosis - is enslavement to sin.

In Luke 5 when people bring Jesus a paralytic to be physically healed, before Jesus heals him physically, he tells him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

It’s as if Jesus was saying, you came to me for physical healing, but what you also need is complete restoration - body and spirit.

Saved from what? From sin.

💡 Note: The Greek word often translated 'salvation' in Scripture is the same word that is also translated as 'healing.’

As we can see in Scripture, God is no ordinary physician.

He didn’t just give us a 3-step treatment plan and send us on our way.

He became our treatment plan.

On the cross, Jesus voluntarily took the effects of our sickness upon himself and became subject to death.

And as Jesus was crucified, so was sin itself.

Sin and death themselves were nailed to the cross through Jesus’ “one act of righteousness” (Romans 5:18).

And because of it, our “old self” was crucified with him, making it possible to enjoy newness of life:

And we look forward to a day when, like Jesus, we are resurrected and death is no more:

🗣️ Practice: 2 Simple Phrases

As Paul says, our old selves have been crucified with Christ. But that doesn’t mean we never sin anymore.

We’re still in the process of becoming more and more like Jesus.

One simple practice that has been helpful in my walk (and others I’ve shared this with) is to intentionally notice and call out when you see Christ in you (and when you do something at odds with Christ in you).

There are small, simple moments in your day to day life when you do something that reflects Christ in you:

• You willingly sacrifice for your friend spouse

• You lovingly let someone ahead of you in traffic

• You speak up in a meeting at work to advocate for someone else who is being wrongly blamed for something

And there are moments when you don’t reflect Christ:

• When you lash out verbally at your child or spouse

• When you cut someone off in traffic out of anger

• When you choose to stay silent when the Spirit is telling you to speak up

Both types of moments present an opportunity to:

1. notice what is happening, and

2. allow God to work on you

Practice: 2 Simple Phrases 🗣️ 

1. When you do something that does reflect Christ, say to yourself:

“There’s Christ in me”

“There you are, Lord”

“There I am, that’s the real me”

2. When you do something that does not reflect Christ, say to yourself:

“That’s not Christ in me”

“That’s not you, Lord”

“That’s not who I am”

💡 When you start to differentiate between your flesh and what is Christ in you, your desire to be more like Jesus tends to increase.

Community spotlight 🔦 

This is a new section where you can expect to see prayer requests, shout outs, amazing things people in this community are up to, sponsorships to help us continue to operate, and examples of how God is moving in the lives of other believers in this community.

Shout-outs 📣

• Shout out to Audrie and Cormie for sharing Malachi Daily with your friends!

• HUGE thank you’s to Jessie, Ben W, Mariane and two anonymous subscribers for choosing to pay-it-forward so we can help more people memorize and learn about God’s Word!

Feedback ❤️ 

As a new believer, this format is so easy to follow and understand. I am even starting to memorize the verses!

This format not only does what I needed it to do, but it also brings me on a journey that I love. Thank you for helping me pursue Jesus with all my heart.

D. R.

I want you to realize what a blessing this is. You explain everything so clearly. It all makes sense and is easily absorbed - thank you and God bless all that you are doing!

P. L.

It not only gives me more meaning to the Scripture we’re memorizing but it also gives me a deeper understanding of other parts of the Bible too!

James

We love serving this growing community and we would love to do so much more to serve you in 2024!

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Answer key ✅ 

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,

so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 6:6