PARTNER WITH SIN? Ever heard the phrase, “You are known by the company that you keep?” When I was 13, I was arrested and spent a day in jail. The charge was “harboring a runaway”, really a petty charge; but I was making a lot of wrong decisions in my life and one was hanging out with a group of known criminals. The police were watching a lot of these kids’ homes, and so my apartment was on their radar. It was a rough year. I eventually got my mom and I kicked out of our complex and I moved to another state to live with some friends. The Bible talks about this in 1 Cor 15: 33
“Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character.”
We are told in CH. 5 that “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump” where leaven symbolizes that which permeates the whole and corrupts truth, righteousness and spiritual life. This is the process by which sin and wickedness slowly spread into a Christian community until many are corrupted by it. We are told further,
“But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— not even to eat with such a person.”
Why? Because it slowly brings sin and wickedness into you and eventually into the Body of Christ. Remember: bad company corrupts good morals. When you fellowship with sin, you become like sin. You will soften your heart to sin. You will begin to make excuses to others, “This is my family! What am I supposed to do?”
You are supposed to love and obey God above all else. I don’t care if it’s a family member. Many in the church are departing from the faith because their children are following the world’s pernicious ways and parents will cling to their children instead of clinging to the Lord. I am watching this happen in spades. And sin, when it has taken root, brings corruption, destruction and spiritual death. You cannot continue to live a life of sin and inherit eternal life. Let no man deceive you.
“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
Ephesians 5:3-6
V. 7 “Therefore do not become partners (or partakers) with them”. To “partner with them” is to give your approval of their sin. If you partner with them, you partner with their sin and partake of their destruction. If you are in fellowship with someone who calls themselves a Christian and they are living in unrepentant sin, then you are to obey God and separate yourself from them.
Yes, you have an obligation to rebuke them. If they repent then praise God! But if they double down in their sin, you are to have nothing to do with them. God warns that if you do not separate, you will partake of their same destruction. This is love. This is God’s holy way. I don’t care what another preacher told you. Refusing to confront sinful behavior in others and take the appropriate position in Christ, has eternal consequences. Let God be true and every man a liar.
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