When you think of a dead church, what do you think of first?  I would guess that you would think of something negative.  However, I want to suggest to you that we should want to be a dead church.  Let us look at some ways in which this is true.

We should want to be a church that is dead to sin.  In Romans 6:2 Paul asked the question, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”  Paul realized that we cannot live in sin and be dead to sin at the same time.  Being dead to something always carries with it the idea of separation; thus, to be dead to sin means to be separated from it.  While we all sin from time to time, no local church should want to have a member who is living in sin.

The church at Corinth failed in this area, leading Paul to admonish them.  They had a member who was guilty of committing ongoing acts of fornication, yet, they did nothing about it (1 Corinthians 5:1-7).  A church that is dead to sin is a church that does not act passively when a member begins to walk disorderly.  That does not mean that churches should act rashly, withdrawing fellowship from members hastily.  It does mean, however, that sin cannot be tolerated by local churches.  All should be done in an attempt to encourage repentance when a member goes into sin, but in the end, if a member becomes hard-hearted, the process of withdrawing must begin.

The church at Pergamos, like the church at Corinth, had a problem with tolerating sin.  Jesus rebuked them in the following fashion:

Revelation 2:13-16 (ESV)
¹³  “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴  But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. ¹⁵  So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶  Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

We must strive to be a church that does not tolerate sin, but instead a church dead to it.

We should also strive to be a church that is dead to the world.  We should remember that while we are in the world, we must not be of the world.  The example has been given of a boat in the water.  While it is okay for a boat to be in the water, it is not okay for water to be in the boat.  If we are not careful, we can allow the world to get into us.  As individuals, we can begin to act, talk, and dress like the world.  Before you know it, one cannot tell the difference between us and a person in the world.  Paul instructed us not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2), and we should take those instructions seriously.  Do not be afraid to be different.  Christ was different, and He is the one we should be patterning our lives after, not the world.  Paul knew the importance of this.

Let us be a group of people who have crucified the world and are attracted to things that are spiritual, not worldly.   Let us make heaven our goal, and while we are here in this world, let us keep our gaze in that direction.

We should also be people who are dead to our old way of life.  In Ephesians 4:22, Paul wrote, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust.” 

The old man must be put off because we are now new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  I know old habits are hard to break, but with the power of God working in us through the Word, we can live new lives and form new habits that are wholesome and helpful.   When you obeyed the gospel, the old man was crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).  Don’t let the devil resurrect him.

Let’s be a church that is dead to sin and worldliness.  If we are, we will be a church that is alive unto God.