OWR
2026-06-28 Sunday Second

  • Introduction

    In YEAR XYZ, sociologists ABC put forward the Broken Window Theory to explain how good neighborhoods can spiral into dangerous and ugly places.
    Take a nice neighborhood without any vandalism or crime.
    Give it a small blemish - like a broken window or more litter
    The vandalism and crime rate will steadily rise
    Because when you see a neighborhood that has it all together - no cars on the lawns, no trash heaps, no broken windows - it’s telling people that it won’t tolerate any of the larger problems.
    But you let a broken window go unrepaired for long enough and it sends a different message. You can get away with a little bit. And little by little those small blemishes can transform a neighborhood - all because of one broken window.

    Text Connection

    It’s not just a problem for neighborhoods - it’s a problem for the church. In the church in Corinth there is one particular sin being tolerated by the church. Paul is worried that this is encouraging others Christians to progressively tolerate more and more sinful behaviors that would have been unthinkable at the beginning. The church was to be a holy city set on a hill but now it’s become a neighborhood that even the pagans try to avoid.

    Our Connection

    So today we’re going to consider the tolerance for sin that Corinth had, and look to ourselves to see if we’re tolerating any broken windows. Because if we don’t maintain our holiness in the small things then they will add up until we spiral out of control.

    The Problem

    1 Corinthians 5:1 ESV
    1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.

    Incest

    The Corinthian’s are dealing with a shocking sexual immorality. There’s a man in the church who is in a sexual relationship with his step-mother.
    Don’t know if dad has died - but she’s not called a widow.
    Don’t know if dad had divorced her - but she’s still called the father’s wife.
    We might have adultery mixed into the whole mess - but Paul never uses that word

    The Jews Hated This

    Paul draws his condemnation for this act from Leviticus 18, where God has a long list of forbidden sexual practices
    Leviticus 18:7–8 ESV
    7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.
    Some people have this idea that it’s blood-relation that makes something incest, but God has different ideas. He forbids all sorts of relationships that wouldn’t be related by blood:
    Insert chart in favorites folder/Documents/Diagrams
    Step-siblings, parents, and children
    Adopted children and parents
    In-laws
    Aunts and uncles related by marriage
    In Leviticus 18 it’s the household that counts, and just about everybody under that umbrella is forbidden.

    The Pagans Hated This

    And this wasn’t a sexual ethic for prudes and the extremely religious. The Pagans would have been just as scandalized because they didn’t draw the line at blood relations either. Relations with step-mothers were treated like relations with mothers - incestuous. And they were just as appalled at the act as any of us would be.
    The myth of Oedipus Rex is a scandal because he ends up marrying his own mom
    Emperors were slandered with rumors of being to close to their moms
    If you were guilty of it they would banish you to a deserted island

    Seriously, the Pagans Hated This

    1 Corinthians 5:1 ESV
    1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
    Paul reminds that church that this is something you can’t even find the Pagan’s doing. The Pagans who:
    Who considered wives as business and found pleasure in prostitutes
    Who would worship at the temple of Aphrodite's by sleeping with prostitutes
    Kept little boys for their own pleasure
    Who didn’t bat an eye at raping slaves
    Those Pagans would blush at what these Christians were doing!

    We Hate It

    I don’t think I have to hardly work through all of these examples to make the point that this was awful. The whole situation makes us squirm and we’d rather move onto a different passage where we don’t have to think about it so much.

    The Actual Problem

    But Paul says there’s something worse going on aside from this sin. Paul isn’t just amazed that this is happening, but that the Corinthians are tolerating it!
    1 Corinthians 5:2 ESV
    2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
    Paul has been dealing with their pride in the first four chapters. Here’s a church where everybody thinks they’re more spiritual than anybody else, knows more than anybody else, can work more miracles than anybody else, and are more deserving of heaven than anybody else.
    And Paul knocks that all down with one verse. You think you’re holier than anybody else while you tolerate this filth? Holy carries the idea of being different with it, and the Corinthians were different alright - they were worse than anybody else and bragging as if they were better.

    Connect

    This is what happens when we look at God’s grace as a license instead of something to transform us. Sometimes we use God’s forgiveness not to transform us into someone like him, but to transform into someone who lives without consequences.

    Are God’s People Any Different?

    This is a problem we see throughout the ages. We think we’re different, but we’re different in all of the wrong ways.
    We see this in the book of Amos. The first two chapters Amos is preaching to Israel about all the coming judgments on Israel’s enemies.
    Syria’s gonna burn for destroying our towns!
    Gaza’s gonna be gone because they sold our people into slavery!
    Ammonites are gonna be annihilated for ripping open pregnant women!
    And as he’s going around condemning all the nations Israel’s clapping and cheering, “Preach it brother Amos!”
    And then Amos turns around and sucker-punches them
    Amos 2:6–7 ESV
    6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— 7 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned;
    Israel though they were so holy because they weren’t like the other nations.
    They weren’t invading other countries
    They weren’t ripping open pregnant women
    They weren’t enslaving entire cities
    Amos tell them “You’re just another flavor of evil, and just as bad.” They treat people like dirt and, interestingly enough, have the same problem as Corinth - a man and his father having the same woman.
    And look at the result - God’s holy name is profaned.
    Because all the nations are invited by God to look at his people, and this is what they see.
    They think they’re better than us?
    They’re just like us!

    Are We Any Different?

    And we see the same tragedy today.
    People look at the televangelist and the thousands who attend their churches, and profane God’s name - It’s all a scam that takes advantage of the poor an naive!
    People see the sexual sins and abuses that are covered up or waved away and God’s name is profaned - This free grace and mercy is just a license for Christians to not feel guilty about how awful they are.
    And all the while those same Christians shout at the secular world around them, condemning them to hell because they’re all sinners. And so you hear often “If heaven is full of people like you, I’d rather be in hell.”
    All of us have blemishes, all of us have something in need of repair in our lives. But when we tolerate broken windows in our church, when we see no need and have no desire to do anything about those broken windows, we’re telling the world this is what God is like.
    He doesn’t care about people being taken advantage of
    He doesn’t care about victims
    He doesn’t mind being used as a tool in somebody else’s scam
    We show people the run down neighborhood of the church and tell people this is what heaven will be like!

    The Solution

    God’s solution for the Corinthian church sounds harsh and judgmental to us, to most people out in the world.
    1 Corinthians 5:2–5 ESV
    2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
    Remove him
    Pronounce judgment
    Collectively banish this man from yourselves with Jesus’s full power
    Let his flesh be destroyed
    1 Corinthians 5:11 ESV
    11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
    I thought we were all about love and acceptance? Where’s the mercy here? Didn’t Jesus dine with sinners? So why can’t we?
    There are two concerns that Paul has here for us to consider that help us see the love in this action - for the sinner and ourselves.

    Saving the Sinner

    1 Corinthians 5:2–5 ESV
    2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
    We need to keep in mind verse 5 throughout all of this - the salvation of his spirit.
    Everything else that Paul talks about here is for that ultimate goal. Matthew 18, which describes this process in more detail, also has the goal of gaining our brother back. We don’t do this because we like taking punitive measures, we do this to help the sinner.

    Purging the Evil

    And this is not something we to do anytime someone falls to temptation. We do this when someone is blatantly and knowingly sinning against God and simply doesn’t care.
    In 1 Corinthians 5:13
    1 Corinthians 5:13 ESV
    13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
    “Purging the evil person” is a common phrase found in Deuteronomy. Notice how the evil person is described:
    Deuteronomy 13:5 ESV
    5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
    This is someone who’s sin is getting other people to sin. They teach rebellion through word or deed.
    Deuteronomy 17:12 ESV
    12 The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
    This is someone who refuses to be instructed.
    And also fittingly for the Corinthians sin is Deuteronomy 22:22
    Deuteronomy 22:22 ESV
    22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
    We don’t throw people out of the church at every mistake and sin that’s committed. We wouldn’t have a church left because we’d probably have to throw everyone out the first week!
    This extreme measure is taken in extreme cases
    Blatant sin that in unquestionably wrong
    That doesn’t trouble the sinner at all
    That isn’t being struggled against or repented of
    That is communicating to everyone else “This sin really isn’t a big deal at all” even though it is

    How Does This Help?

    By removing him from themselves, the Corinthians are handing him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. This does not mean he’s being removed from the church so that he’ll die. Paul uses ‘the flesh’ to describe the sinful passions of the flesh.
    All of us are to have our flesh destroyed:
    Galatians 5:24 ESV
    24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
    Colossians 3:5 ESV
    5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
    And when we hand people over to Satan it’s a form of discipline that they are to learn from:
    1 Timothy 1:19–20 ESV
    19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
    What Paul is saying is that we belong to the kingdom of God. But if we have no interest in leaving the kingdom of Satan, then we’ll be allowed to stay there - but we can’t have it both ways. And after having experienced the kingdom of God, it should be painful when we lose it.
    What we do when we remove people from our fellowship for unrepentant sin is give them a taste of hell.
    They don’t have God’s forgiveness anymore
    They don’t get to be with God’s people
    They live in a world that wants nothing to do with God and they will find themselves alone - just like they will be in hell unless something changes.

    A Taste of Heaven

    But here’s the catch - that will only work if we make our fellowship feel like heaven. If we are not actually different from the world in all of the right ways, then nobody’s going to care if they can’t associate with us. They can find a group of folks just like us anywhere else.
    We need to be something actually different from any other club or social group out there.
    Somewhere that you actually can see yourself changing a little bit every day into someone more like Jesus
    A place where forgiveness actually means something
    A people who actually give themselves for others in sacrifice and service
    A church that feels like if you left you’d be cutting a part of your body off
    In the Old Testament God’s temple was the closest thing people had to heaven on earth.
    It was the place you came to meet God
    You could speak with him through prayer
    You could have your sins removed
    The art-work would remind you of life in the Garden of Eden - life the way it was supposed to be
    And Paul has just reminded us
    1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV
    16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
    The church is to give people something here that they can’t find anywhere else - a slice of heaven.

    Maintaining Purity

    But we will never be like heaven if we continue to tolerate sin in our midst.
    This is Paul’s second concern and reason for removing unrepentant sinners from the church - it will affect all of us.
    1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV
    6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

    Experiencing the Exodus

    Paul is using the Exodus to describe our current reality in Christ.
    The Exodus was when Israel was enslaved in Egypt. Moses told Pharaoh “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go!’” and Pharoah wouldn’t. So God brings in 10 Plagues that wreck Egypt - the Nile River turns to blood, boils break out over everyone's skin, hail destroys the growing crops, and similar horrible stuff. But throughout all of this Pharaoh still refuses to give in and let the Israelite slaves go.
    So God tells Moses that this last plague, the 10th, is going to be the worst. He’s going to kill every firstborn in Egypt - unless you celebrate the Passover. You took a lamb, slaughtered it, and ate it. And the blood of the lamb was painted over the doorposts of your house. God’s angel would see the blood and pass over that house on to the next.
    And God says that this event is going to be so horrible and cause so much death in Egypt that they would kick all of the Israelites out that very same night. It would happen so quick that they wouldn’t have time to put leaven in the bread to make it rise.
    Exodus 12:33–34 ESV
    33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
    So leaven takes on symbolic significance - it represents the old ways of life. For Israel it meant life under Egypt. For us it means life under Sin.
    Paul wants us to understand that we have been freed from sin quickly and decisively and can have nothing more to do with that old way of life. Jesus was our Passover lamb, his blood saved us from death, and made us into something new.

    Leaven

    And if we start letting in a little bit of leaven, a little bit of the old life in, it will have tremendous effects.
    Leaven is the difference between tortillas and and sandwich bread. It creates all of those little air bubbles that makes the loaf double in size or more.
    And you only need a tiny bit of it to make the big difference.

    Connect: Just a Little Bit of Sin

    We justify things that aren’t good for us by saying “It’s just a little.”
    I’ll have just one bite, just one drink
    This movie has just a little bit of nudity in it
    I’ll let this happen just once
    And we justify it even more:
    I really need it just this one time
    I’ve had a hard week
    I just need to blow off some steam
    I can’t get behind on my favorite show just because of one scene!
    And it becomes so much easier to do just one more after that as well.
    This is how TikTok exploded in popularity - it’s easy to use and easy to justify. All those videos are just a minute long, so why not just one more? A little won’t hurt.
    As I was writing this sermon at the library there was a woman who sat down at one of the public computers in front of me. She opened up TikTok and started to watch some videos. I go back to my writing and an hour later I look up and guess what she’s doing - still on TikTok. This went on for hours.
    I don’t think this woman woke up and said “Today’s the day! I’m heading to the library to watch TikTok for four hours!” But even though she didn’t plan to, she did. And all of that starts with “Just one more video won’t hurt.” And we say it over and over again until one more video has turned into something far more.
    How many of your sins started out small? How many of them have grown into monsters?
    We say it’s not porn if they’re still wearing ‘something’ and then we go just a little bit further.
    I’ll tell a little lie right now to cover things up, but then I need bigger lies to cover that one up.
    I’ll threaten my spouse with a bit of violence, but maybe they’d actually respond if I just gave them a little more of a push.
    We need to understand that a little bit of sin is just as horrible as a lot of sin.

    Connect: Bailey Brownies

    I’ll invite you over for dinner. Arianne makes dinner and I’m the one making dessert - brownies. And you love them, I’m a guy who knows how to follow directions on the back of a box!
    But I did add one little secret ingredient - just a tablespoon. You see, my dog Bailey leaves quite a bit of mess out in the backyard and I thought it would add a really interesting texture to the dessert your currently chewing.
    How many of you are still chewing?
    You’re spitting
    You’re gagging
    You’re angry at me
    You’re rushing home to brush your teeth until your gums bleed
    And I don’t really see the big deal!
    It was just a little.

    Pump the Brakes

    In all of our strivings for holiness and to be different we need to remember why we’re different. We are showing the world the true way of live that God has set out before us. And we are not trying to maintain our neighborhood for our own benefit, but to show the world that things could be different if they too followed God.
    It seems that some people were mocking Paul’s idea of no longer associating with the sexually immoral. If we were to do that we would have to completely remove ourselves from the world!
    1 Corinthians 5:9–13 ESV
    9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
    We have an obligation to show the world what’s different about following God. To be the salt of the earth means getting mixed in with the world. IT means coming out from under the basket so we can shine all the brighter.
    We also have an obligation to ourselves to judge those within the church who refuse to be different.
    Because if we tolerate a little bit of sin now, what sin will we be tolerating tomorrow?

    Conclusion & Invitation

    Every Sunday we offer anyone a chance to come forward to confess their sins so they can find forgiveness and help from God and his church. You have a chance to start repairing those broken windows.
    And nearly every Sunday that invitation is heard but never acted upon.
    And that’s fine. You don’t need to go through the whole deal of walking down the aisle. You are always more than welcome to reach out to me or any of the elders privately so we can supply the help you need.
    But even so, most of us don’t see the need.
    Because we don’t have any big sins - just a lot of little ones. And why should we be worried about just a little bit of sin?
    This is your invitation to stop your little sins from growing into something bigger. This is your invitation to do something about it now instead of having it over your head for the rest of your life.
    Why wait for it to get worse? It’s enough to kill you right now.

      • 1 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • Leviticus 18:7–8NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:1NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:2NIV2011

      • Amos 2:6–7NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:2–5NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:11NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:5NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:13NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 13:5NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 17:12NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 22:22NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 3:16NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:6–8NIV2011

      • Exodus 12:33–34NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 5:9–13NIV2011

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