MESSAGE
FROM THE
WORD
DEATH TO THE INFIDEL
Colossians 3:5-9
SERIES: Colossians Message # 15
Jackson Pollock is one of the most famous artists of the late 20th century. He is also one of the most controversial. While he has a variety of styles, Pollock became famous by taking a canvas, laying it on the ground, putting paint on the brush and simply dripping or splashing it on the canvas. Some of his paintings sold for more than a million dollars. Recently, a controversy has developed because one of his paintings is being questioned as to whether it is truly a Jackson Pollock. A critic has argued that the painting is a forgery. One of the issues being discussed is how one might tell if the painting is a forgery or an original. If all that is done is to drip paint on a canvas, how do you know if the stated artist is truly the one who held the brush? What does it mean to be an original Jackson Pollock?
That same debate is taking place in the church. What does it mean to be a Christian? Faith has always been a part of our culture. Every presidential election has seen the issue of faith raised. In the 2000 election, religion became a heated discussion when George Bush stated that is favorite philosopher was Jesus Christ. When asked why, he replied, “Because He changed my life”.
That then created an issue of what it meant to be a “good Christian”. Some claimed that pro-choice candidates were bad Christians. Others claimed that those who wanted to lower welfare payments were bad Christians. Every denomination has its criteria to determine whether one is a good Christian. Some claim that you need to be baptized, join the church, go to confession, give generously, confess Christ, read the Bible, take communion, live in America, or a dozen other activities.
In our last message, we saw the three aspects of a true believer. Their foundation is centered in identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They understand that forgiveness of sins is based on Christ’s death on the cross and His coming out of the tomb on Easter Sunday. If those historical events did not take place, then there is no forgiveness. Through baptism, we have identified with Christ’s death and resurrection. Our focus is on the things of God. While we live in the world, we understand that what is important is that which is eternal. We use the wealth of this world, but desire the things of Heaven. Our future is with Christ in Heaven. Because we will spend eternity with Christ, we spend our life doing good deeds on Earth. Why? Because that is what God has commanded us to do. We are to love our neighbor, do good to those who persecute you, give a cup of cold water, feed the poor, and so on. This is how we honor God.
As we continue those thoughts, we arrive at Colossians 3:5-9 and see the funeral we must all attend. We read COLOSSIANS 3:5-9 This is the fourth identification of the true Christian. He has died to his sin nature. There are few Biblical concepts harder to understand than this one. We are to consider our sinful nature as dead. Yet, we still face the temptation to sin and even fall to those temptations. This then gets us into the nature of the believer.
The Apostle Paul wrote, EPHESIANS 2:1-3 Because of sin, all of us are separated from sin. This is why Paul wrote ROMANS This sometimes leads to misunderstandings. This does not mean that all we do is bad. It doesn’t mean we are incapable of doing good. When we say we are dead in sin, we mean that there is a glitch in our make-up that prevents us from being in a right relationship with God. We call this our sin nature. It is the dominate force in our life. It is not the only one, but the one that is most powerful. This is why we need to teach our children to share and say thank you. We do not need to teach them how to be selfish and say mine.
Since this is the dominate force in our nature, when Christ comes into our life, that is what He wants to take over. We call this conversion. To convert something means to change it. A converter changes electricity from one form into another. When someone converts from one religion to another, they give up the beliefs of the one to pursue the beliefs of another. This is why I stated a few weeks ago that one who claims to be a Christian but who has not changed is fooling themselves. This is why it is so important to explain the necessity of repentance when talking to people about coming to Christ. If the only thing a person hears is “come to Christ so your life will be better”, “you will never get sick”, or so “you can get rich”, they may not be a true Christian. That sounds dogmatic and uncaring, so let me explain. Paul writes, II CORINTHIANS 11:2-4 What is “another Jesus” or “another Spirit”? It is a false Messiah. It is an attempt by the evil one to get people to accept a Jesus who is not the true Christ. He is more than willing for people to accept Jesus who loved the poor, the Christ who wants you to be rich, or the Jesus who opposed the politically powerful. All of these are nice thoughts, but they by-pass the true Jesus who came to deal with the issue of sin in our life and to take over. That is why people rejected Him. They wanted the conquering warrior. Instead they got they sacrificial lamb.
Because of the rise in extremist Islam around the world, the phrase “Death to the infidel” has become well known. It is usually referring to anyone who does not believe in Allah. In the Christian world, we also believe in “Death to the Infidel”. However, the infidel is us. We must practice death to self. This is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “…I DIE DAILY”. The Christian life is not “what do I get out of it”, or “how can I get all my needs met”, but rather “how can I die to my desires on a daily basis”.
As we examine our text today, we want to deal with this subject of what it means to die to self. Paul writes, COLOSSIANS 3:5-9
FIRST, WE SEE THE RESPONSE. It is interesting that Paul does not talk about our spirit. Our struggle with sin is not in our spirit, but in our flesh. Paul gives us five areas in which we need to die.
The first area is called immorality. This is a very interesting word. It is the word from which we derive “pornography”. It comes from the Greek word “Pornea” which is the acts performed by a prostitute. When translated into the Latin, the word was “fornex”, from which we get fornication. There is an aspect of physical sin in this word, but because of the words that are used later; I want to deal with the mental aspects of pornography. In some studies, the rate of church attenders linking on to pornographic websites is extremely high. Because of God’s grace and forgiveness, some seem to believe that this behavior is no big deal. We will see in a moment that this belief is wrong.
God designed sexual pleasure to be experienced inside of marriage. Outside of marriage, there is to be celibacy. If you are involved in mental pornography, it is a sin and you need to repent and cease. This is why Jesus talked about committing adultery in your heart. He was not saying that the one who lusts might as well go ahead and do the act. He was saying that both are sins and would be punished by God. Pornography is not adultery, but it has the same capacity to destroy a marriage, wound the other partner, and to completely consume your thinking. Paul wrote, II COR. 10:3-5 The number of marriages and Christians who have been destroyed by this is legion. Flee from it. I include internet chat rooms with members of the opposite sex in this.
The second area is impurity. This is a fascinating word. It is the word from which we get catharsis. Catharsis has to do with cleansing. If you are holding in a lot of guilt, have a breakthrough, and were to deal with your guilt and seek forgiveness; that is catharsis. If you are alienated from someone and they come to you seeking reconciliation, when that wall comes down and you feel cleansed, a catharsis has taken place. You may be wondering how in the world this relates to sexual misconduct? To the word catharsis, Paul added an “a” which negates the word. In English we use the prefix “un” in the same way. It takes a good thing and makes it a negative.
Think of everything that is good and wholesome about holy sex and reverse it. That is what this word means. This is the
The third area is passion. This is the unbridled sexuality that dominates our culture. It is the gay rights, hook-ups, self indulgence of our amoral culture. If it feels good then it must be right. It is the “I would never do that, but who am I to say it is wrong” mentality. Last year I served on a panel with Dennis Prager on the topic of homosexuality and marriage. In my research I came across an article in The Advocate magazine, which is the leading magazine in the homosexual community. According to their research homosexuals were involved in the following relationships.
83% had at least 50 partners
58% had at least 250 partners
26% had at least 1000 partners
70% said the majority of contacts were one time encounters
61% said they never contacted the other individual after their encounter
That is passion. It is uncontrolled sexual compulsion. This is the Zeit Geist of our time. This is why there are fifty million Americans with STD’s. This is why rape and sexual assaults on campuses is epidemic. This is why teenagers have such a jaded view about purity and marriage. This is why 8000 teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease every day. This is why divorce is staggering and half of the children in the inner cities will never know who their father is. When society sells out to sexual passion outside of marriage, it always leads to disaster.
The fourth area is evil desire. This is the prowling syndrome. This is the internet chat room kiddie porn link ups. The number of teenagers who are kidnapped by men they meet on chat rooms is staggering. The average age difference between unmarried teenage mothers and their impregnator is seven years. That means that a 13 year old girl has a baby by a 20 year old man. If the government wants to end teen pregnancy, all they need to do is file statutory rape charges on these predators.
Some have asked why the church is so anti-sex. The fact is, the church is not anti-sex. The church is anti-sex outside of marriage. God created male and female and commanded them to have sexual relations. An entire book of the Bible is dedicated to the premise that sex inside of marriage is good. Why then does God speak so harshly against sexual sin? The number of couples who are virgins on their wedding night, faithful in their marriage and who come down with STD’s, AIDS, or illegitimate children is zero. The greatest preventative of STD’s is purity. It works every time.
The fifth area is greed. I have to be honest with you, the very first time I read this verse I thought Paul had flipped out. What in the world does greed have to do with all of this disgusting sexual misconduct. After all, didn’t Michael Douglas say in the movie Wall Street that “greed is good”? The word for greed comes from two words meaning “to have more”. Do you see the connection now? Whether it is an out of control quest for sexual pleasure or an out of control quest for more wealth, it is all the same. Whether it is sex or wealth, it is desire out of control. For the true believer, God must be in control, not the desire for another conquest, not a need for another mental fling, not a quest for the next financial deal. Sex is good when used in the right context. Wealth is good when used properly. Out of control, they both destroy.
SECOND, WE SEE THE REASON. Why should believers stand against the tide and oppose sexual immorality? We could look at several issues throughout the Bible, but Paul gives us two reasons in this passage.
The first reason is the wrath of God. We read, VERSE 6 This subject is one of the most important and yet misunderstood topics in the entire Bible. It is not one of those “HAPPY VERSES”. What is the wrath of God? As you look at the scripture, there are two aspects to it. In one case, the wrath of God refers to God’s open judgment on sin. We read REV. 14:18-20; 15:1,7; 16:1-7 In these passages, God vents His anger on a rebellious world. Since the fall of the angelic host until this time, God held His temper. His limit was reached and He released His anger on sin. There are many who think this is unfair. Why does God blast away? We receive the answer in REVELATION 16:9 The moment they repented of their sin and worshipped God, He would have removed them from His wrath. However, when someone hates God, nothing else matters. There are times when God has had enough and He acts in judgment.
There is another aspect of God’s judgment. We read ROMANS 1:18 In this passage, God reveals His wrath against sin, but not on an immediate scale. In this case, the wrath of God is revealed and sinners are allowed to do whatever they want. This is where our passage from Colossians fits in. In Romans 1, men want sexual perversion so much that they are totally consumed by its power. Paul tells us that in this situation God’s wrath is released. The consequence? God allows them to do whatever they want and they are totally destroyed by their sin.
In a very real since, the incredible rise of STD’s, sexual violence against women and children, the rise in internet pornography and every other immoral aspect in our nation is an act of God’s wrath. God is trying to get our attention by this incredible rise in promiscuity and all some can say is “MORE”.
Our nation is fast approaching this point. We are not there yet and thousands of believers around our nation are praying for God to move in revival and not in judgment. This is the challenge facing the church. There are two forces that restrain this powerful wave of immorality.
The first is the power of the gospel. Paul wrote that the gospel is, “THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION…” When the church is focused on proclaiming the life changing power of God’s word, society is better. When the church either denies the gospel or waters it down, sin takes over the culture.
The second is law. What is happening in the legal field in regards to immoral behavior? Laws are being changed to make it acceptable. Remove the Ten Commandments, ban prayer and the Bible, cut out the cross, and refuse the Boy Scouts and so on. These are nothing more than the culture’s will to do its own thing. When the church weakens, sin becomes stronger.
The second reason is our conversion. Paul writes COL. 3:7 Why should Christians resist sexual sin? We resist because it was a part of our life before coming to Christ. It is inconsistent with being a true believer. Everyone else does it is a good reason for the believer not to. Paul discussed this issue with the Thessalonians. We read 1 THES. 4:3-7 This is why the church must be strong. When church leaders fall into sexual sin, the church message is weakened and immoral forces are free to promote their message. The pagan world understands this totally. When a religious leader falls into sexual sin what is the response of unbelievers? Their instinctive response is “They shouldn’t act like that”. O that the church would respond in the same way. When sin enters the church leadership, it must be dealt with. The issue is not “how does the sinner feel”, but rather “How can we protect the holiness of God”. The response of the leader must not be “I am free in Christ, God will over look my sin”, but “How can I live my life to reflect the holiness of God”?
When the church is filled with holy people, God moves. When the church allows sin in the leadership and then into the fellowship, God’s work is stifled. It also prevents the Holy Spirit from moving in the culture. This is why God stated, II CHRONICLES Can the church act in a judgmental way in regards to those in sin? Of course they can. We must love the sinner. However, we need to deal with the sin because it will bring God’s judgment and is inconsistent with being a Christian.
Are you a Christian? One way to determine this is simply to look at your attitude to sexual sin.
