Some Things Need To Die!

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Many years ago when I was relatively young in my service before the Lord, I was challenged by a woman in what was at the time a new pastoral charge. I had been serving in that new assembly for only a matter of weeks when, during a message to the new congregation, I commented that some things needed to die. I was quite clear in stating that I was speaking of attitudes that exalted the self, attitudes that were unworthy of the Risen Saviour. Almost before the service had ended, one woman in the congregation was registering a complaint. She was incensed and immediately complained to her husband, browbeating him until he approached church leaders.

There were already hard feelings among some of the leaders because I had been adamant that because we are Christians we must look to the Word of God for guidance in how we conduct our lives. Thus, this woman received a sympathetic hearing from those to whom she complained. The woman charged that I had said some people in that church needed to die. Of course, I had said no such thing, but that was nevertheless what she argued that had heard, and she was determined to have her revenge on me because she was certain that I was speaking about her. As it turned out, she was not a pleasant woman. Candidly, she was a tyrant, and she had exercised a death grip on the conduct of the church. What I had said offended her because it apparently struck home.

In light of this experience, I will say that I’m not attacking anyone in this message. I am, however, stating without equivocation that some things need to die if we will honour the Saviour. There are attitudes we gladly harbour and favoured actions that mark our conduct that need to die if we will please Him Whom we call Master.

THOSE WHOM PAUL ADDRESSED — “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” [COLOSSIANS 3:1-4].

If we wish to understand what is being said in Scripture, it is essential that we understand who is being addressed. Not all that is written in the Word of God is meant for a general audience. Some things are specifically addressed to saved people; the lost cannot appropriate what is promised to God’s holy people. Sone things written to the redeemed are meant to urge them toward righteous lives. Lost people attempting to apply these things will be disappointed. Some things that are written are addressed to the lost. Though these statements may serve to caution God’s saved saints, the immediate implication of what is written is meant for the lost so that they will take warning, so that they will realise the consequences of their failure to receive the love of God in Christ.

However much he detests his weakness, it is a caricature that a drunkard will waken each morning after a bender resolving that he will take control of his drinking. However, nothing ever changes for him. A drug addict awakens from her stupor admonishing herself that she must quit destroying herself. Her resolve lasts for a short while, until the monkey on her back begins to claw at her again, driving her to seek a fix. The sex addict is ashamed of the debasement that destroys respect for others and respect for self. Determination to change seems somehow to elude the one gripped by this degrading, soul-destroying craving for gratification. The issue is that the casual sinner has no power to do good. To tell the lost that they should act right makes about as much sense as trying to teach a tiger to eat straw. Character is not casually changed.