Many of you have heard the expression: “This church, or that church, is dead!” I want you to know that my prayer—my second greatest desire—right after seeking God’s will in my life, is to pastor a dead church! “Yes. You read that right. I want to pastor a dead and dying church!” If honest, every truly committed Christian would say, “I want to be a member of a dead church.”
We need to be a dead church; a church that is dead and dying to the old way we did church, a church that is dead and dying to the old way we lived, one that is dead to the sinful ways that do not please God, dead to habits that separate us from God, dead to the flesh that entangles us, dead to self and our sinful nature, and dead to the world and its sinful enticements. We need to die out—to become a dead and dying church so that we can become alive unto God!
In Galatians 2:20 (NKJV), we read the words of Paul when he said: “ 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Whoever or wherever you are today, can you say with Paul this morning: “I have been crucified with Christ?” Can you say: “The Supreme Judge paid the price of death for me?” Can you say today: “He paid the debt I couldn’t pay?” Can you say with Paul: I am “. . . crucified with Christ.” Do you know that you know? Do you know Him in a Divine Intimate way?
I began by stating, “I would love to pastor a dead church.” You see, Christ loved His church and died for her. According to Ephesians 5:25b NKJV): “ 25 . . . Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” Because Christ died for His church, the church is dead. She is dead to Sin! She is dead to the world of chaos and confusion, dead to culture, and dead to society! She is dead to the worldly ways of compromise! And she is dead to the old way of life!
You see because He loved you that much. Sin, the world, a sinful culture, and society can no longer have dominion over you if you choose and accept Christ. Return to the verse in Galatians: “. . . the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” You can be set free to walk in holiness. Through Him, you can experience joy, peace, and hope again.
You are to be a brand-new creature—created to have newness of life!
According to Romans 6:6 (NKJV), “ 6 . . . knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Everyone is a slave to something— either to sin and the evil wiles of the world, or to a holy God. You can be free of doubt and despair. You can be rid of depression and loneliness. You can choose to be alive. It is the wisest decision you will ever make!
Always in His Service, Pastor Ron Fellowship Church of the Nazarene