ON THE VANGUARD

PARTNERSHIP
“Let no one deceive you with empty talk; for it is because of these things that God’s judgment is coming on those who disobey Him. So don’t become partners with them!”
Ephesians 5:6-7

Have you ever stopped to think of how many partnerships you are involved in at one time? As I walk through my duties of the day I am reminded that I am a partner with my children, with my apartment community, with my employer, and with my cat. To each of them I have made a commitment. To my children the partnership reads that I will love and protect them, help them grow in God, and meet their needs. To my apartment community the partnership includes paying my rent on time and not being a loud or obnoxious neighbor. To my employer I have agreed to show up to work on time, do a job far exceeding that of my pay, and represent the company name well. And to my cat, the partnership includes me feeding her and being there to pet her when needed. Granted in all these there is more to the partnership than what is on the surface, but I am sure you can relate with what I am saying.
Of course there are other partnerships one enters, including marriage, home buying, car buying, and even going to school to name a few more. As such, sometimes we enter into a partnership with reasoning and deliberation, and other times in haste. But despite how we enter into it, the question is if we are entering into the right relationship. In our quest of questioning what Jesus would do, I find a warning given by Paul concerning partnerships. We have already seen over the past few days the danger of partnering with sexually immorality, impurity, greed, filth, and stupid talk. Today, though, we see another area where we are cautioned to partner, that being in empty talk.
As we have looked at the Greek in all the other warnings found in Ephesians 5 so far, we look here as well. Empty talk is KENOS in the Greek. Further defined, ‘kenos’ is anything that is devoid of truth. Paul used this same word in I Corinthians 15:14 when he spoke that if Christ had not truly risen from the dead, then all the preaching he had done so far would have been just empty of truth. But the truth was Jesus did rise from the grave. Paul’s speech then was founded on truth and not lies. So here also Paul is saying that every word that proceeds from our mouth should be founded on truth. We are not to be cheated and beguiled with these empty words, which lead to God’s judgment, but rather are to be built up with true words.
Paul’s final warning as found in verse 7 is not to be partners with those who fit the description of the terms found in verses 3 thru 6. We are not to join in with the sin of sexual immorality. We are not to sign a contract with the sin of impurity. We are not to shake hands with greed. We are not to collaborate with filth and stupid talk. And we are not to associate with empty, truth-lacking words. Being in agreement with these things only brings about God’s ORGE, His temper, for these things are sin. These things steal us away from Him, the Truth, and connect us with sin, which is disobedience.
We are to be imitators of God if we want to do what Jesus would do. We are to connect and partner with truth instead of lies. Far too many of us for far too long have forsaken what Jesus would do for what we want to do. How can we call ourselves Christ followers if we are not following His example? Nowhere in the Bible does it say “Be an imitator of yourself,” because left to yourself you fall into sin. Let us draw the line in the sand, divorcing our partnership with sin and re-entering into a partnership with God. Let us imitate Him only.