Apparently the church of Corinth seemed to pride themselves that they had a man who was known to be committing egregious sexual sin. We cannot be certain whether they merely tolerated this behavior because they didn't want to hurt someone by calling out their behavior or, more plausibly, whether they considered themselves more spiritual because they could 'tolerate' behavior like this. Either way, the Corinthians were unwilling to deal with this flagrant and widely known sin in their church.
Dealing with sin can be such a painful situation in a church.
Most of my life I have served smaller churches. One of the grand blessings of a smaller church is that people really feel like they have a family. On the flip side, everyone knows and cares for each other, and that can create real difficulty when it comes to confronting sin.
So I feel for the Corinthians…
Paul, however, makes a challenging rejoinder; Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? (6). Sin –so blatant and so well known –unchecked is a cancer that can affect the entire body over time.
At this point I shifted from the church to me personally. Is there any sin in my life that needs to be checked? It won't be as blatant and perverse as the Corinthian situation, still sin is sin and needs to be dealt with.
So my heart stills and I look inside…
Lord God, point out areas of pervasive sin. Show me. It won't be easy. Show me how to rely on Your Holy Spirit that I might gain victory over this area in my life. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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