Are We Becoming A Dead Church

Are We Becoming a Dead Church

Romans 6: 11-14

Intro: Back in the early 1990’s there was a movie that came out about the Jamaican bobsled team that was trying to qualify to race in the Olympics. Now I know that sounds much like an oxymoron but it’s true. There was a Jamaican bobsled team. I don’t remember how well they did when they finally made it to the Olympics but there was a very memorable scene that I want to use as I introduce this sermon.

. As this team started out they would use something that looked much like a soap box derby car that kids would build to race in. In the scene I’m talking about, Derice Bannock and Sanka Coffie, the two teammates are practicing and using one of these soap box derby type sleds. They go down this steep hill and they lose control of the sled and crash really bad. Derice then calls out to Sanka as they are all banged up and bleeding and he says ‘Sanka, are you dead” and Sanka answers him “Ya mon, I’m dead”

. As I was preparing this sermon, and studying the scripture for this morning this question that Derice asked Sanka kept coming back into my mind. God kept asking me. Anthony, are you dead mon.

. You see, as our scripture tells us this morning, I must be able to say yes Lord I am dead.

. In order for you to have eternal life with our savior Jesus Christ, you also must be able to say yes Lord, I’m dead.

. In order for our church to be a living breathing organism that we call the body of Christ, we must also be a dead church.

. We must be able to say yes Lord we are a dead church.

. With all the love that a pastor can have for the church, I tell you this morning that my prayers for you are that you will die.

. I love you so much that I want you to die.

. Lets read our scripture

. Romans 6:11-14: 11So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

12Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.13Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.14Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

.Folks. in order to be a dead church, it’s members must first die to their sins.

. Paul writes that people who have accepted the free gift of salvation are dead to sin.

. Look at verse 11 again: 11So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

. In order to be a Christian we must die to our sin.

. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:14b-17 that; Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.15He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!17This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

. The old life is gone; a new life has begun because we have died to our old life.

. We cannot try to cling to our old life.

. That life is dead.

. That old vessel that was filled with sin and shame is to be torn apart and a new person is to emerge.

. In order for this new creation to be built, the old must die.

. A read about a man who was selling an old warehouse. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Gangs had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and thrown trash everywhere.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, he took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

The buyer smiled and said “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.