Kill or be killed

Read Colossians 3:5–7 “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.”

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Introduction

Halloween is coming soon so I want to ask you guys a question:

How many of you guys like scary movies raise your hand?

Why do you like scary movies?

Did you guys know, that the Bible can also be scary?

That the Bible teaches, that there are things in our lives that are so scary, that you have to kill it?

Like what you see in a zombie movie, where people are fighting for their lives, and in order to survive, they have to kill the zombie?

There are things in your spiritual lives students, that you must also kill in order to survive.

Which is why today’s sermon is called: Kill or Be Killed.

So that, that what you can’t see doesn’t kill you, and you remain standing.

1. You must kill ---- (v.5)

1. You must kill sin (v.5)

Many people think that the Bible is just a book of concepts.

Big ideas that are hard to understand but make your brain feel good and smart.

But that’s not true.

The Bible is God’s Word that goes deep into your mind, which makes your heart warm for God.

It makes you desire to follow God.

And that desire is what leads to action.

And God’s Word always links truth with action.

That’s what’s happening here when you see the word, therefore in v.5.

Paul is connecting action with the truth that: Christ is all you need.

That He freed you from sin on the cross, and began a new life in you through the resurrection.

And that action that Paul commands us to do is: kill.

That’s why Paul writes, ‘put to death’.

God gives you a license to kill, orders to strike, and to shoot on sight.

Now before you take that as permission to go kill your sibling or kill me, the Bible gives us a specific thing to kill.

But what are we supposed to kill?

Paul writes, ‘your members which are on the earth’.

Another translation is, ‘what is earthly in you.’

Even though we are built different on the inside because of the resurrection, we still live in sinful flesh.

This is what Paul talks about in,

Romans 7:18 (ESV)

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Paul is saying here that he has the desire to do what is right, he’s built different on the inside, but he can’t always do what is right, because he lives in sinful flesh.

So does that mean we do nothing about it?

If you fell into mud do you just sit there?

Leaving the dirt and grime on you forever?

No, you wash it off!

And so similarly, Paul is saying that because we live in the flesh, we have to kill sin.

We can’t just lie around doing nothing, hoping that it will just go away.

Now sometimes, when you become a Christian, God will just completely take a sin away from your life.

I know people who smoked drugs or loved getting drunk, and then when they became a Christian, their desire to smoke drugs, or to drink alcohol, completely went away.

But they have other sins they still deal with.

Cursing, lust, pride.

Why doesn’t God just take it all away?

Because He wants you to rely on Him.

He wants your faith to grow stronger through action.

And that action is killing.

Now if you’ve ever killed anything before, raise your hand.

I’m going to take a guess what you probably have killed.

I’m almost certain that almost everyone in here has played at least 1 of three games: Roblox, Minecraft, or Fortnite.

And in those games you have killed a minecraft zombie, an enemy player in fortnite, and whatever you kill in Roblox I have no idea what you kill in that game.

And if not, I am certain that you guys have killed at least one bug in your life.

You stomped on it or smacked it with a book.

If I see a giant bug, I show no mercy, they’re scary!

And that’s how we are treat sin with no mercy!

Kill it!

Here are some examples of sin that God wants us to kill.

First, he says, fornication.

This can also be translated as sexual immorality.

What’s interesting here, is the Greek word that is translated as fornication or sexual immorality is the word, porneia.

And you can guess what English word is derived from the word, porneia.

What it means, is any sexual activity outside of marriage.

In Paul’s day, there was an overly-sexual culture that is no different from today.

Back then prostitution was seen as acceptable, and so common, that there were temple prostitutes that sold their bodies as part of worship to Greek and Roman Gods.

Today, we are overly exposed to sexual content online.

With most exposure to sexual immorality beginning in middle school.

All the different websites and apps that are dedicated to sexual immorality are impossible to count.

And you must kill that activity in your life.

If you are looking at that stuff online, you need to kill it.

Jesus said in Matt 5:29

Matthew 5:29 (ESV)

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

Here, Jesus is talking about sexual sin.

And what He’s saying, is that you must do whatever it takes to defeat sexual sin.

It’s that dangerous.

You must kill sexual immorality, you must show no mercy, and show no remorse to wards it.

Delete apps on your phone that expose you to that stuff.

Stop going to websites that expose you to sexual immorality.

Don’t engage in any sexual activity until marriage.

If you have friends that show you this stuff at school, avoid them.

Jesus is saying you must do whatever it takes, you must go to the extreme.

Not the extreme of literally pulling out your eye obviously, but you must have the attitude of doing whatever it takes.

Because it’s better to be free from sexual sin than to be thrown into hell for it.

The next word Paul uses is, uncleaness.

Another way to say it is, impurity.

That when you engage in sin, when you commit sin, it contaminates the rest of you whether you like it or not.

Sin is not free.

It will pollute your mind, your desires, and even your body.

How many of you would drink water with 3 drops of poison?

How about 2?

How about 1?

Even what you think is the smallest of sins: a white lie, or cheating just one answer on a test, will contaminate how you think, how you see the world, whether you like it or not.

And you might not even notice it.

Because let’s say for example you cheat on one answer, the next time you have the chance to cheat you will think, ‘2 answers’ won’t hurt.

Don’t go there.

Don’t put yourself in that terrible dilemma.

The third word Paul uses is, passion.

This can also be translated as lust.

Lust is the uncontrollable desire for sexual immorality.

That when you come across temptation, you cannot control yourself, you cannot stop yourself.

You become a slave to whenever sin calls.

When sin rings the bell, you come running after.

So how do you kill lust?

You need to avoid those situations that lead you into lust.

An obvious one is to not go on inappropriate websites.

Because once you are on that website, it’s too late.

But there are some things that are not as obvious.

Some apps such as snapchat or instagram are neutral.

They are not necessarily good or sinful.

But for some of us it can lead us in the wrong way.

I personally don’t use either of those apps, because it’s not helpful for me.

But I’m not going to create a rule that says, using ‘X’ app is sinful.

But students, be real.

If you see yourself, having sinful responses because of an app, then don’t use it.

Everyone is different so you need to just be real with yourself, and decide, ‘this app is not helping me, I’m just not going to use it.’

Two more words.

The fourth is evil desire.

And this means wanting the wrong things.

And this doesn’t just have to be in regards to lust, but any sinful desire.

The desire to take pride.

Talking trash to the enemy team in a game or sport.

Lying, or wanting to please your friends and family, instead of God.

This is a problem, because one evil desire leads to another.

Sin is like a bad family.

They all come together.

Being prideful can cause you to lie.

Wanting to please people instead of God can cause you to avoid challenging situations.

The last word is, covetousness.

This is wanting what doesn’t belong to you.

And this is actually the final commandment of the ten commandments.

Exodus 20:17 (ESV)

“You shall not covet

Another way to translate it is, greed.

It’s this constant desire for more.

And then you become discontent, not happy with the plenty you already have.

What’s amazing is that the average income of the world is around $10000.

The average American makes $70000.

What that means is that your parents make 7x more than the others around the world.

By statistical facts, you are rich.

But all this money, and stuff is never enough.

Now what’s interesting about these list of sins that Paul gives us, is that they are all in order of from obvious to less obvious.

When you guys ever shop online, I hope your favorite tool is the sort button.

And that you select lowest price to highest price so you can find the cheapest things!

But sometimes you click on highest price to lowest just out of curiosity to see what is the most expensive item.

So I’ve been looking for a new TV and out of curiosity I wondered, what’s the most expensive TV.

And here it is: a $150,000 TV.

And the immediate question that comes to mind, is why?

And what I realized is that this TV has everything.

It’s 110 inches, it’s 4k, it’s Microled, it has smart features, and all these other technologies.

You see the more you go up in price, the more features are added.

For example at under $100 you get 1080p, but then at $300+ you get 4k, which makes the picture looker clearer and more detailed.

And that’s what’s going on here with Paul’s list of sins.

Every sin adds on top of one another.

Lust leads to impure motives and thinking, which leads to the final action of committing the deed.

But what’s at the bottom of all of it?

Covetousness.

Greed.

All of these horrible sins start with greed.

And greed is so bad, that Paul calls it ‘idolatry’.

When you become greedy, you are basically worshipping the thing that you are obsessing about.

When you worship money, entertainment, and even friends and family, you always want more.

Because those things can never satisfy you.

There’s a reason why some millionaires end their own lives because they got what they thought would fulfill their life but it didn’t.

So how do we kill greed?

We have to change our desires.

But it is impossible to change what we want on our own.

Only Jesus can change what you want in life.

Psalm 37:4 (ESV)

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What this Psalm is saying is enjoy God, and He will change what your heart wants!

And how can we enjoy God?

Spend time, and grow our relationship with Him in the Word.

That’s why the Word of God is called a sword, Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word of God is your weapon, your sword, your gun, to kill sin.

We can do all the right things: avoiding certain places or websites.

Remove bad influences, bad friends in your life.

But if you don’t put time in your relationship with God, if you don’t love God, all of these won’t truly work, because it doesn’t deal with the real problem: greed.

The heart.

So students, kill sin in your life.

When you see a cockroach in your home, you don’t let it live there.

You kill it.

Treat sin the same way.

If you are struggling with any of these sins and feel like you need help, please talk to me and talk to your parents after service today.

There is one more reason on why you must kill sin.

2. You must kill sin because ‘------’ will kill sin (v.6-7)

2. You must kill sin because God will kill sin (v.6-7)

That’s what God’s word says, in v.6, ‘because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.’

These things refer to sin.

Because of sin God’s wrath is coming.

Now what is wrath?

When I think of human wrath, I think of someone in rage breaking things around the house and punching a hole in the wall.

An uncontrollable anger and rage.

That’s not what God’s wrath is.

Have you guys ever heard of karma?

What goes around comes around?

Karma is not real.

When justice comes upon bad people, that’s God’s justice, not karma.

And when you see it you feel this satisfaction.

There’s this short video of a woman getting robbed by a man on a motorcycle.

Now, I don’t want you to go out and ram or attack a robber if you see one.

But I want you to think about how you felt when you watched it.

When you watch it don’t you feel this very satisfying emotion?

Is that karma?

No, justice was served.

That’s what God’s wrath is.

It’s this incredible satisfaction on doing the right thing on evil doers.

Now the SUV running into the bike is not God’s wrath.

But when Jesus returns, it’s not some uncontrollable angry rage, but a deep and satisfying event of punishing evil.

Jesus will never pour His wrath on people who believe in Him, but on those who reject Him.

And so students you must kill sin in your life because God is coming back to also kill and destroy sin.

Fear God, not because He will destroy you but because you respect your all powerful Father.

Don’t be involved in the activity, that God will destroy.

But you must stay humble.

Because in v.7 it says, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

It’s easy to feel proud when you realize that God will not pour His wrath on you but others.

But you must kill pride, and stay humble.

Pride was the first sin in garden, it is the sin of Satan, and it was the sin that Adam and Eve committed, because they wanted to be like God.

When you are proud, no sin is off the table.

So you must kill it.

How can we stay humble?

Thank God for your successes.

When you get a good grade, when you score in a game or sport: thank God for it.

Stay humble.

Because you also used to live the same sinful way.

We’re just beggars helping another beggar where to find bread.

If you are listening today, and you don’t have the bread of life: Jesus Christ.

God’s wrath is coming on you.

But there is good news, that He sent His Son Jesus, to die on the cross and rose Him free the dead to offer you the free gift of eternal life.

All you have to do is put your faith in Him today.

If you would like to talk more about this, come find me after the service and I’ll be glad to help you.

Let’s pray.

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