Does your Walk match your Talk?

So often, there is a huge disparity between what we say, and what we actually do. The bible always links "believing" to "behavior." The two are inseparable. When we try to divorce these two terms (as they relate to Christianity), what we end up with is a mixture of truth and error. There is no doubt a great importance placed on what we say...the scriptures will bear this out. We see many phrases like "death and life are in the power of the tongue"....."by your words you will be justified....by your words you will be condemned."...."with the heart man believes unto righteousness...with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"..."I have believed, therefore have I spoken." The problem comes when we place all of the importance on the confession, and not enough emphasis on the obedience implied in the confession. For this particular study, I've chosen the first epistle of John to illustrate this truth. There are many texts which would serve a similar purpose, but John really does an excellent job of combatting this misconception. It would seem that the recipients of his letter had been exposed to false teaching concerning the need for obedience to the faith. Many bible scholars believe that the error of Gnosticism is at the forefront of John's agenda here. Regardless of the title of the error-one thing becomes patently obvious to the reader- it is not merely what we "say"....but what we do! Let's begin:

I John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth

I recently read a statistic which stated that some 75 million Americans profess to be Christians. You would think if the number were that high, there would be a lot fewer acts of violence, immorality, greed, and idolatry. Instead, we see thousands of babies aborted, road-rage on every major highway, a littany of the latest murders and kidnappings on the nightly news, and countless other atrocities. Something is terribly amiss if we live among this many true Christians. John comes out of the gate stating that our "walk" must match our talk. Jesus quoted a prophecy of Isaiah during his earthly ministry which goes something like this..."this people honors me with their lips...but their heart is far from me." (Isa 29:13/Matt 15:8/Mark7:6). We live in a very religious world, but true religion is defined by our walk. If we walk in darkness, it matters not what we say-we do not have fellowship with the Heavenly Father!

I John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us

There is a two-fold interpretation of this passage. The first interpretation is that it applies to unbelievers who do not see their need for regeneration. They trust in their good works to get them to heaven-not realizing that they have a sin-nature. While it is true that many believe they are inherently good- I don't believe this is the intended meaning of the scripture. There seems to be something far more sinister going on here. There are some who believe that once a person is born-again ,they are incapable of sinning. There are two camps: One group believes they attain sinless perfection in this life and are incapable of sinning (this cannot be true because the scriptures declare "let him that thinks he standeth take heed lest he fall" and we are warned in other places to restore the fallen in a spiritual state of meekness lest we also be tempted.) The other group believed (believes) that all matter was inherently sinful, but the spirit was pure before God no matter what they did in their bodies. There are many who still believe a version of this heresy and think that their standing in Christ cannot be affected by immorality. We know this to be a false teaching. Paul warned the Corinthians against filthiness of the "flesh" AND the "spirit" (II Corin. 7:1). Paul emphatically denounced this heresy by saying "the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

I John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

This seems to be a serious issue for the recipients of this letter, therefore John adds this theme again for emphasis. It is very clear that Christians can (and do) sin. John will deal with this in the next chapter. What becomes clear to the reader is that post-conversion sin is a big topic/problem for the Johannine community. John in subsequent chapters will deal with the topic of post-conversion sin, and the only means of dealing with it. In the second chapter of this epistle, John admits that a Christian can sin (I John 2:1), but that the remedy for this is confession and repentance to the great Advocate of heaven...the Lord Jesus Christ!

I John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Does this sound familiar? How many people do you know who are always talking about how much they love God and have an outward display of religion (no doubt there are many which come to mind)? And yet what you hear them say doesn't seem to line up with what they actually do. Emphatically, John states that only those who keep the commandments of God can honestly say that they know Him and have a relationship with Him. There are those today who scoff at the idea of "keeping commandments" but it is a biblical mandate. I'm not talking about meriting salvation by keeping the works of the law, but rather obedience which naturally flows from a relationship with the Living and True God. John is not afraid to use inflammatory language....he plainly says that those whose talk doesn't match their walk.....are liars!

I John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Many people make the claim "I'm saved." I suppose if you were to conduct an informal man-on-the-street poll today, you would find that most believe believe they're on their way to heaven. Very few would honestly say that they weren't sure or that they knew they were on their way to hell. John says that a saved person lives like Jesus lived. Peter admonishes us to walk "in His steps" (I Peter 2:21) and we read in Matthew 7 that "not every one who says Lord Lord" will enter the kingdom, but the one who does the will of the Father. Some people try to minimize the life and the teachings of Jesus and exalt the writings of Paul instead. This is not an attack on Pauline theology at all.....I love Paul and God used him mightily as the apostle to the Gentiles, but we must not dismiss the life of Jesus Christ. How can we walk as He walked if we don't know anything about his life or teachings? We must get back to a hunger for the Jesus of the Gospels in order that we may know how to walk as He did.

I John 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

Here we have yet another practical way to know if someone is truly saved. An evidence of salvation is love for the brethren (especially those of the household of faith). It does not matter what one professes with his mouth, if his heart is filled with hate for another. Any claim of "walking in the light" must be backed up by a true love of one's brother.

I John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

This goes hand in hand with the previous admonition. How can anyone claim to love the "invisible" God when they don't love His created children? Something that always astounds me is the clear communication of the apostles. They were not afraid to offend- we find John saying that those who don't "walk the walk" are liars. I wonder how well that would go over today, if John were to step in our pulpits and declare "those who claim to know God but don't obey Him are liars!"

This is by no means an exhaustive list of scripture concerning the agreement that must exist between our talk and our walk. But hopefully this is food for thought and a challenge to a higher plane of living. When I stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, I want to hear "well done thou good and faithful servant." One way to ensure this is to make sure that our walk matches our talk.