Learning How to Walk
1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God.”
Introduction: Throughout the New Testament the daily life we lead is often characterized as a walk. Our daily walk as Christians is so extremely vital because it is our witness to the world. We need to learn to walk in such a way that we please God and are a witness to the world of Christ’s redeeming love. Learning to walk can be frightening. After all as someone has said “Walking is just one step away from falling.” The only way to learn to walk is through practice. A small child just learning to walk will keep at it until walking becomes so well developed that it seems to be done unconsciously and effortlessly. We need to practice walking with Christ daily until it becomes second nature to walk pleasing to Him. We need to practice walking worthy, circumspectly and charitably.
I. Walk Worthy
A. 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 “...you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
B. ESV – “walk in a manner worthy of God”
C. God wants us to walk or to live lives that honor Him.
D. Alexander McClaren says this verse is “the whole law of Christian conduct in a nutshell.”
E. Two aspects of this call:
1. Follow in His footsteps –or His example
a) 1 Peter 2:21 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps”
b) A great preacher closed his sermon with an earnest and eloquent Gospel appeal. Among the score or more who responded was a woman of wealth and social distinction. She asked permission to speak a few words to the audience. "I want you to know," she said, "just why I came forward tonight. It was not because of any word spoken by the preacher. I stand here because of the influence of a little woman who sits before me. Her fingers are rough with toil; the hard work of many years has stooped her low; she is just a poor, obscure washerwoman, who has served in my home for many years. I have never known her to be impatient, speak an un¬kind word, or do a dishonorable deed. I know of countless little acts of unselfish love that adorn her life. Shamefacedly, let me say that I have openly sneered at her faith, and laughed at her fidelity to God. Yet when my little girl was taken away, it was this woman who caused me to look beyond the grave and shed my first tears of hope. The sweet magnetism of her life has led me to Christ. I covet the thing that has made her life so beautiful." At the request of the minister, the little woman was led forward, her eyes streaming with glad tears, and such a shining face as one seldom sees on this earth. "Let me introduce you," said he, "to the real preacher of the evening," and the great audience arose in silent, though not tearless, respect.
2. Give back to Him what He deserves for what He has done to you.
a) Christ has poured out all His riches on you; what have you brought him back? He shown you His tender forgiving mercy, His infinite goodness and showered you with His love. Have we repaid such amazing love with a life of devotion, adoration and gratitude?
b) Do we give honor to Him by walking as His children?
F. Leviticus 20:7 “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.”
G. Being Holy consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.
II. Walk Circumspectly
A. Ephesians 5:15 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.”
B. Circumspectly - means characterized by exactness, thoroughness, precision, accuracy. When taken in context walking circumspectly refers to ethical behavior with a focus on careful attention especially regarding the dangers and deceptions that continually assault us from our mortal enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. Walking wisely.
C. We are to watch very closely each and every step that we take as we conduct ourselves in this sin-filled world, wherever and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
D. AMP – “Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately”
E. Wild turkeys furnish an excellent example of walking circumspectly. The best hunters have to admit that wild turkeys are hard to kill. Part of the reason for this is two uncanny characteristics of wild turkeys – their uncanny ability to watch and to listen. Their amazing eyesight and color sense enables them to quickly perceive even the tiniest movement. Add to that their phenomenal hearing ability, not only hearing sounds, but distinguishing exactly the nature of the sound. During their daily walks they are always alert to what is going on around them. – adapted
F. Mark 14:38 “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”
III. Walk Charitably
A. 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 savor”
B. Love – agape – a love that gives freely, sacrificially and unconditionally regardless of response -- that goes out not only to the lovable but to one’s enemies or those that don't "deserve" it.
C. Paul words here are a command calling for our way of life and daily conduct to be in the sphere of unconditional, sacrificial love, the love that God is, the love that is a fruit of His indwelling Spirit in the yielded, obedient saint.
D. 1 John 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
E. Note that we are to love as He loved us. We didn’t deserve His love yet He loved us and gave His all for us. We are to have that same willingness to love others who don’t deserve it in our life, just as He gave of Himself. This is true within the body of Christ and towards those who are lost.
F. Luke 6:27, 32 “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you... For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
G. F.B. Meyers said, “We are to imitate God's love in Christ. The love that gives, that counts no cost too great, and, in sacrificing itself for others, offers all to God, and does all for His sake. Such was the love of Jesus--sweet to God, as the scent of fields of new-mown grass in June; and this must be our model.” – Devotional Commentary on Ephesians
H. A man was working a crossword puzzle and asked, "What is a four letter word for a strong emotional reaction toward a difficult person?" Someone standing nearby said, "The answer is hate." A lady interrupted and said, "No, the answer is love!" Everyone is working that same crossword puzzle, but the way you answer is up to you. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 23)
I. 1 John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
