If you talk the talk, do you walk the walk?
Bible Study Outline
The bible has a lot to say about the way we walk and talk. It is in so many ways how we conduct ourselves as Christians.
It is our conversation and our lifestyle.
Using the phrase, “Talking the talk” we are in essence saying, “Is your conversation, or the way you communicate yourself, or the way you express, or verbalize yourself in consistence with what you profess to be?”
In using the phrase “walking the walk” we are saying, “Is your lifestyle, the way you live or behave yourself consistent with the way you profess it to be?
The bible has a lot to say with the way we are supposed to walk; not a physical walk, but a spiritual walk. Or the way we behave ourselves as Christians. In other words, our behavioral attributes.
As Christians we are expected to live a different lifestyle than that of the world. Our actions and reactions are distinctly different than the worldly crowd.
So, what are some of the behavioral traits God expects from us as Christians?
1. 3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
What is this truth John is writing about? First of all John writes that he is joyful to hear that the saints of God are walking in truth. The gospel is called the truth. Jesus said He was the truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
John was happy to hear that these Christians were not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, the old ceremonial laws, which still declared that the way to God was by observing and keeping these laws.
But the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The truth is that Jesus and his blood saves from sin. The truth is that we are to follow His ways and trust in Him.
Are you walking in truth today? There are many false doctrines out there. Many doctrines that say they teach the truth but do not.
2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
(KJV)
Verse 4 “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
What is truth today? God’s word in it’s absolute, pure form.
Jesus Christ, as the only salvation
Jesus Christ as the only mediator between man and God.
Jesus Christ as our supreme example.
2. Secondly, we are to walk in love.
Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.”
Let your behavior be of a loving nature. In your actions and reactions, let there be love demonstrated.
Let love be a part of your life’s attributes or characteristics.
Let every act of life be dictated by love to God and man.
That is, let your lives be characterized by love; let that be evinced in all your deportment and conversation.
“As Christ also hath loved us.” We are to evince the same love for one another which he has done for us. He showed his love by giving himself to die for us, and we should evince similar love to one another.
Paul spoke about the importance of love.
1Cor 13:1 ¶ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Cor 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Cor 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1Cor 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
1Cor 16:14 Let all your things be done with charity.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (completeness)
3. Thirdly, we are to walk after His commandments
2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
In other words, we are to walk, or live in obedience to His commandments. Then, our love is shown and proved by our walking according to the commandments of God; for love is the principle of obedience.
Are you living a life in obedience to God’s commandments? Or, is your lifestyle in consistency with the commandments of God? Are you walking in a harmonious uniformity to God’s laws?
Jesus said in John 14:15, If ye love me, keep my commandments.
4. Fourthly, we are to walk as Jesus walked.
1John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
What does that mean? It means we are to live a life that imitates the life of Jesus.
We are to model our life after his.
We are to follow his pattern of conduct, actions, behavior, and lifestyle.
We must be conformed into his image.
1 Peter 2:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”
John 13:15, “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
5. Fifthly, we are to walk in the light.
1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Light here means spiritual awareness or illumination. Seeing the light means a mental understanding of something.
Once we see the light of the gospel, once we have an understanding of the gospel, once we are enlightened about something in the gospel, we are conduct ourselves according to that enlightenment.
Example: We understand that God’s Word said we should love one another. Therefore we are to conduct ourselves in that enlightenment. We understand that God’s Word said we should trust in God, therefore we should act upon God’s promises and trust Him.
Walk in the enlightenment of the gospel. As you learn Christian principles from God’s Word, and you understand those principles, you should live your life accordingly.
6. Sixthly, we are to walk honestly.
1Th 4:12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, (unbelievers) and that ye may have lack of nothing. (or have to depend upon others)
1 Peter 2:12 Having your conversation (lifestyle, behavior) honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
How important it is to live honestly before our fellow man and especially before God.
To live honestly means to be dependable, reliable, trustworthy, unpretentious, truthful and sincere.
As Christians we are to set the example for the way man should conduct and behave himself.
7. Sevently, we are to walk worthy of God.
1Thess 2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
How do we walk worthy of God?
That we should, in every respect, act up to our high calling, that it would not be a reproach to the God of holiness to acknowledge us as his sons and daughters.
That you would live in such a manner as would honour God.
A child "walks worthy of a parent" when he lives in such way as to reflect honour on that parent for the method in which he has trained him; when he so lives as to bring no disgrace on him, so as not to pain his heart by misconduct, or so as to give no occasion to any to speak reproachfully of him. (Barnes Commentary)
8. Eightly, we are to walk in the spirit.
Ga 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The sense of this verse probably is, "We who are Christians profess to be under the influences of the Holy Spirit. By his influences and agency is our spiritual life. We profess not to be under the dominion of the flesh; hot to be controlled by its appetites and desires. Let us then act in this manner, and as if we believed this. Let us yield ourselves to his influences, and show that we are controlled by that Spirit." It is an earnest exhortation to Christians to yield wholly to the agency of the Holy Spirit on their hearts, and to submit to his guidance. (Barnes commentary)
If we profess to be Christians, let us walk in the Spirit-let us show in our lives and conversation that the Spirit of God dwells in us.
If we are born again, and have a spiritual life, let us show it by walking in obedience to the Spirit. (People’s New Testament)
9. Let us walk by faith.
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
By faith. In the belief of those things which we do not see.
We don’t have to understand everything! We don’t have to know everything!
We don’t have to know what the future holds.
The sense here is, that we conduct ourselves in our course of life with reference to the things which are unseen, and not with reference to the things which are seen. We walk by faith! We trust God!
When we walk by faith, we take one step at a time. It’s like crossing a deep valley at night on a swinging bridge. You cannot see one foot ahead of you. You can’t see the other side. You cannot even see the boards you are stepping on. But you inch forward, one step at a time, putting your foot down on the next board, then the next, then the next until you safely reach the other side.
We walk by faith, knowing God will provide, God will protect, God will deliver, God will guide and direct, until we safely reach the other side.
If you walk by sight, you might see difficulties ahead and decide not to go on. If you walk by sight you may see your own weaknesses and inabilities. But when you walk by faith, you put your dependence upon God.
10. Tenthly, we should walk in newness of life.
Ro 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Should live, or conduct. Again, the word walk is often used to express the course of a man’s life, or the tenor of his conduct.
We should rise with Christ to a new life; and having been made dead to sin, as he was dead in the grave, so should we rise to a holy life, as he rose from the grave. (Barnes)
We should live a changed life. After conversion our life becomes new. Our desires will not be the same. Our passions will not be the same. Also, our life becomes fresh. Our life is different than the old life.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
(KJV)
Our lifestyle should reflect a new nature. We should continually live in that new nature. Our attributes, our desires, our passions, should daily reflect the change that took place in our lives when we made Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Are you walking the walk?
