A Killer Instinct

A Reflection from Pastor Loren Regier

These weekly reminders accompany our Sunday morning series at Bible Baptist Church, Rooted in Christ. Each post offers key thoughts drawn from our journey through Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

My prayer is that these reminders will take root in your heart and bring forth fruit in your walk with Christ.

Colossians 3:1–9 will be our focus today.

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth . . .”
— Colossians 3:5

A Lesson From the Soccer Field

A soccer coach I had in college once told me,
“Regier, you have beautiful footwork but when you get around the goal, you lose your killer instinct!”

I left the field that day thinking, Should a nice little Christian kid like me have a killer instinct? Is that even good advice?

Coming from a Mennonite background, we were big on pacifism but not big on killing things! I thought, Maybe killing things is just a baptistic thing.

I fancied myself more a lover than a fighter.

But I do believe now that what my coach was telling me years ago was this:
Once you get around the goal, quit dancing and prancing around with the ball and just put it in the back of the net! Shoot the ball, kid! It’s the only way to win!

The Battle With Sin

Are you dancing about with a head full of doctrine, appearing skilled to spectators but continually defeated by sin?

If so, you need the practical truths of Colossians 3.

Leaving the doctrinal truths in chapter one about the centrality and sufficiency of Christ, and chapter two about the deceptive philosophies (mysticism, legalism, asceticism), Paul now, in chapter three, speaks to the believers about a golden key to maturity.

He urges them to do battle with the ongoing impulses of the flesh. He tells them that they must develop a killer instinct. And much to our surprise, the Apostle says,

“Your biggest enemy is YOU!”

“Mortify . . . your own members which are upon the earth.”
— Colossians 3:5

Salvation and Sanctification

Just because salvation is a finished work doesn’t mean your work is done!

We are not saved by works, but true faith works. You might think (but you would be wrong) that being saved means the battle with sin is over. Christ moved into our hearts by faith, so you might think that sin would just move out.

Perhaps now we can just glide into glory on “flowery beds of ease.”

Not so!

In chapter three, verses 1–4, we are given commands to cooperate with God in this work called progressive sanctification.

Control Your Eyes and Mind

Paul says, first of all, control your eyes:

“Seek the things that are above” (v1).

We are to look at things that have eternal value. Watch what you’re watching, because you tend to go where you are looking.

This is our job by the enabling grace of God. So, begin a habit of looking up at the realities of your spiritual calling and inheritance.

You are now a heavenly purchase and possession. Soon we will be living in our forever home, but until then there is much work to do. There must be a change in our focus.

We are told to look and keep looking, to seek and keep seeking eternal treasure (v1). Our eyes naturally look down, not up.

“Things that are above” are all the things that the Apostle has reminded his readers of in chapters one and two: Christ’s supremacy, sufficiency, and salvation.

Then he says,

“Set your affection on things above” (v2).

In Greek, it literally means to control your mind. Our eyes inform our thoughts, and our thoughts drive our affections (v2).

We go where we are looking, and what we gaze on fuels our thought-life. Our thought-life is our heart-life, and our heart-life frames our worship.

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
— Proverbs 23:7

A Mother’s Lesson in Focus

Idolatry has never been about little stone figurines. It has always been about our focus and attention.

My mother used to say to me, her oft-inattentive son, “Look at me, son!” Then, grabbing my little face, she would hold my face in her hands until I could see no face but hers.

She had my undivided focus. She was the center of my attention because she had my face in a vice grip!

The world has a conforming grip on us, but as we mature, the Lord asks us to bring every thought into captivity. Not by force, but because of his grace toward us.

He is jealous of our affections.

The verbs in the text make it clear: we are responsible to engage in this duty. I call this our volitional mental vice grip. We control our minds so that God can squeeze (conform/mature) us into his image.

Eye control and mind control are possible by continual submission to the Lord and a growing desire to please him.

Prepare to Die Daily

Get ready to do battle with yourself and prepare to die daily.

Having put the sword of the Spirit in our hands, the Apostle now asks us to turn it on ourselves:

“Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.”
— Colossians 3:5

This can’t mean church members, nor could it literally mean we are to amputate our ears, hands, and feet.

Paul is asking us to do battle with the ongoing impulses of the flesh — and to do so with fierce aggression and consistency.

In 1 Corinthians 15:31 the Apostle Paul stated,

“I die daily.”

This means the battle with the flesh will be a continual effort until we are removed from its presence in glory.

Every morning we should wake up with two Hallelujahs:

• “Hallelujah! I’m dead” — to sin’s dominion.

• “Hallelujah! I’m alive” — to live Christ’s life.

Then, one day we will shout, “Hallelujah, I’m finally free” — from the presence of sin.

Paul said,

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me.”
— Galatians 2:20

We call this a divine irony. Death has been put to death at the cross, and Christ has given us his resurrected life and power over sin.

It is ours to act upon this dying-to-death and living-to-life reality.

A Spiritual Killer Instinct

“Mortify” simply means: put it to death. That’s rather unsettling when it’s me that needs to do the dying!

I don’t have trouble chasing the purple-haired mystics and tattooed gnostics of the world. It’s me, myself, and I that I don’t care to confront — much less crucify!

What does the Spirit of God mean by this call for a spiritual “killer instinct” (Col 3:5)?

Some misunderstanding of this verse led some, through the Middle Ages, to misapply this Scripture and literally practice physical mutilation.

Of course, Paul is not saying, nor was Christ implying, physical surgery when he told his disciples,

“If your right eye offends you, pluck it out.”
— Matthew 5:29–30

Instead, he gives us a list of vices of the flesh (vv5–9). This list is just a sampling of the types of former sins that must be put off like a dirty garment.

Then he adds the virtues (vv10–14) of the believer that must be put on like a garment of grace.

Under the Knife

It’s high time to go under the knife and remove the hindrances to a godly life.

God has given you the Spirit’s sword. Do spiritual surgery and be brave about it. Cut out the old and put on the new!

The rapidity of growth in your Christian life is directly proportional to your daily aggression with sin and daily devotion to Christ.

“And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
— Colossians 3:10

Anchors upward,
Pastor Loren Regier