Three Truths About Sin in the Church

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump.
–1 Corinthians 5:6–7

The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 teaches us three sobering truths about sin in our lives and in the church.

First of all, secret sin is never secret. Proverbs 5:21 says, “The ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths.” There are no thoughts you think, no conversations you engage in, and no websites you frequent that God doesn’t see.

Second, secret sin infects the church. Earlier this year, we studied the story of Achan. When the Israelites conquered Jericho, Achan disobeyed God and secretly kept some of the plunder for himself. Because of Achan’s disobedience, the Israelites were defeated at Ai. In the same way, sin in the church can have devastating consequences for the entire body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul chastised the Corinthians for not dealing with a man who was living an openly immoral life and ruining the witness of the church. Paul said, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump” (vv. 6–7). Just as it takes only a little bit of leaven–or yeast–to cause a whole lump of dough to rise, so it takes only a little bit of sin to permeate an entire church.

Third, secret sin will eventually be judged by God. Being a Christian doesn’t exempt you and me from God’s discipline; it guarantees God’s discipline. Hebrews 12:6 says, “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines.” God loves you too much to allow sin in your life to go unaddressed, and He loves the church too much to allow that sin to infect the rest of the body.

If there is unconfessed sin in your life and you haven’t experienced God’s discipline, don’t confuse His patience for tolerance. God’s discipline is inevitable–but it is also avoidable. As the apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God is a God of justice, but He is also a God of forgiveness.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Sin in the Church,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.