Dealing With Open Sin In The Church

DEALING WITH OPEN SIN IN THE CHURCH

I Corinthians 5: 1-13

INTRODUCTION:

A. In chapter four, Paul sought to warn the Corinthian church

much like a father would warn his son

1. Paul’s warning concerned the sins that were within the

church at Corinth

2. Any consistent sin is a danger to the church’s:

a. Unity-- Corinth was divided

b. Usefulness to God-- God can’t and won’t use a dirty

vessel-- Corinth was defiled

c. Witness to the world-- Corinth was disgraced

3. Hopefully, any warning that may be given about sin is

given to prevent that sin from taking place in a believer’s

life

B. In chapter five, Paul goes one step further and gives us

instructions on dealing with a brother who falls into sin--

scandalous sin

1. Here in is instruction that we have either ignored or

refused to apply in church life

2. Instead of openly dealing with scandalous sin, we have

sought to hush it up and cover it over

a. The problem is that what we seek to cover up always

has a way of getting out

b. When that happens, the church loses her testimony in a

community

I. THE SIN AT CORINTH V. 1

A. It was a sin that Paul calls fornication

1. The word fornication comes from the same word that we

get our word pornography from

2. This points out the method by which Satan often traps a

person and causes them to fall into adultery and sexual

immorality

a. Satan takes a human desire and causes us to dwell on

how that desire can be fulfilled

b. Satan never seeks to get us to fulfill that desire God’s

way-- through the marriage relationship

c. Instead, he promotes lustful thinking and fulfilling that

desire through unlawful means

d. Satan tries to make fulfilling sexual desires through

unlawful means more exciting than through God’s

ordained method

3. He often uses what we see to entrap us

a. David sinned after he saw Bathsheba bathing

b. Ladies, because of this, you need to be careful how you

dress

c. Pornography is a trap to lure one to go further than just

looking

4. Satan’s goal is to get us to cross the line and commit an

act of sexual immorality

a. If he can do that, he can destroy a family

b. If he can do that, he can destroy our witness-- this sin is

so damaging that Proverbs says that it will give us a

reproach that cannot be wiped away

c. People will forget all the good we have done and just

remember our sin-- ask David

d. If Satan can get us to cross the line and commit an act

of sexual immorality, he can cause us to destroy

ourselves-- disease, poverty come from this sin

5. There was sexual immorality in this church

B. The sin in the church at Corinth was so vile that even the

heathens’ rejected it

1. This man had committed incest with his father’s wife

2. This sin was so vile that even the Roman government had

declared it criminal

3. Its interesting that today we have gotten proud of our

tolerance for things that wicked men years ago called

criminal-- homosexuality, incest, etc.

4. For Corinth, the bad part about it all was that everyone in

the community knew about this man and his sin and it was

ruining the church’s testimony and reputation

II. THE CHURCH AT CORINTH’S REACTION TO THE

SIN IN THE CHURCH V. 2

A. They refused to mourn over it

1. It didn’t bother them

2. Even today, we have gotten used to seeing open sin in the

church

a. We are not surprised when it happens

b. We don’t grieve when it takes place

B. They refused to deal with it

1. We often refuse to deal with scandalous sin:

a. Because we don’t want to hurt the feelings of the

offender or his family

b. Because we are afraid if we deal with someone’s sin they

will leave the church

c. Because we are afraid if they leave the church, they will

take their money with them

d. We can’t divorce personality from the principle involved

2. Because we won’t deal with sin, we justify sin

a. We hide behind the idea that we aren’t judges

b. We say we don’t want a stink

c. We claim to be open minded and redemptive

III. HOW PAUL TELLS US TO DEAL WITH OPEN SIN

A. Deal with open sin openly-- when you are gathered

together

1. Why try to hide what is open and out in the community?

2. Paul lists the specific sins that are to be dealt with v. 11

a. Sexual immorality

b. Covetousness

c. Idolatry

d. Reviling-- slander

e. Drunkenness

f. Extortion