By Reverend J. Loren Russell
Colossians 3:5 (Amplified Bible)
So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).
It can be said that the church is an execution chamber. It is a place where people are put to death. According to scripture, we area to “mortify,” or kill all of our sinful inclinations; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Sticking with that thought, it can be said that the church is an execution chamber, a purging station for our old, sinful selves.
But, the church is also a birthing or incubation chamber for our new identity. The old person is laid to rest and the new man/woman is bought to life; “put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self” (Colossians 3:10). Our transformation should be so complete that we could have a funeral service for our past lives.
Unfortunately, some people don’t believe that the church can clean us up and turn us around. We look at the hypocrisy of many Christians and use that as proof that there is no real transformation taking place. But the founder of the church would beg to differ. The foundation on which the church was built clearly shows that transformation is possible; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17 NKJV)
Ravi Zacharias said, “Jesus does not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.” I would agree and add “alive forever.” So, whether a church is planted by the riverside like Lydia did (Acts 16:11-14) or in the living room of an urban metropolis, the foundation of a church is built on the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s the rock on which the mortification and transformation process of our bodies and souls has it’s beginning, it’s present, and it’s future.
The founder’s intent is, was, and will always be that no one perish, but that all have everlasting life.
Be Blessed +++
Rev. J. Loren Russell is an associate minister at both Goodwill and The Greater Universal Baptist Churches in the Bronx, President/CEO of The JLR Company for Church Financial &. Strategic Consulting, and hosts “Matters of Faith – The Radio Show” on Soul 1 Radio, Mondays 8:00 – 10:00 PM. Listen by phone” at 626-226-1448. Be sure to Friend “Matters of Faith” on Facebook and email us at mattersoffaith.mof@gmail.com. Order your copy of Matters of Faith: The Book at Book Blues.
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