Walking the Walk

The gospel is all about teaching us to walk. Once we walked, zombie-like, in death and sin (Ephesians 2:1), but God raised us in Christ to walk in good works (2:10). We used to walk like the Gentiles, in darkness and dissipation, without God in the world.

Now that we are in Christ and delivered from death, Paul says, we are called to walk, and to walk together, in a particular manner. In Ephesians 2, Paul said that through the cross God has broken down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, and formed them into one new man. This was the issue in Acts 15. Because of this reality, we are called to walk in a manner worthy of our calling to unity (4:1). We must cultivate unity among ourselves at Trinity, and unity with other believers here and throughout the world. As we have seen, this involves cultivating humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance. It means that we have to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Paul also says that we must avoid walking in the ways of the Gentiles (4:17). We are called to put on Christ, with a renewed mind. Instead of lying, we are to speak the truth. Instead of being angry, we are to reconcile and not let the sun go down on our anger. Instead of stealing and being lazy, we are called to labor. Instead of speaking unwholesome or rotten words, we are called to speak edifying words to our brothers. We are to put off all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander, and instead be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving. This is the walk that we are called to, this is the kind of culture we are striving to form.

Paul continues to talk about the “walk” of Christians in chapter 5. Three times, he tells us to walk in a particular way. We are to walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom. Paul exhorts us to walk so as to form a culture of love (5:2), light (5:8), and in wisdom (5:15).

When Paul turns to specifics of how we walk in love, he focuses on two main issues, which may ultimately be one issue. Walking in love means that we are to avoid immorality and the impurity of greed. By “immorality,” Paul means specifically sexual immorality. Greed may refer to covetousness, but may also, in context, be referring to sexual greediness, uncontrolled sexual appetites.

How is this related to Paul’s exhortation to walk in love? In two ways. First, walking in love means loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And from this angle, sexual immorality and greed are forms of idolatry, as Paul says in verse 5. An idol is anything that we love, desire, trust in more than God.

Greed is a form of idolatry because it involves the worship of Mammon. When we love money or material wealth and comfort above everything else; when our most intense desires are desires for new clothes or a new car or a bigger home; when all our thoughts are filled with how we can make the next buck; when all our actions are directed to this one over-arching goal of increasing our net worth; when we trust in our material wealth for our happiness and protection – then we have made an idol of Mammon and we are not walking in love.

Sex can also become an idol. If we seek satisfaction and happiness in sexual experience; if we take delight in indulging our sexual appetites more than in doing God’s will, then we are making an idol of sex.

As forms of idolatry, lust and greed are thus violations of the first great commandment. They are incompatible with love for God. But they also violate the second great commandment, and are also incompatible with love of neighbor. We are to imitate the love of Christ, who gave Himself as an offering for us. Lust is self-indulgent rather than self-giving. When we indulge sexual sin, we are seeking our own pleasure rather than giving ourselves for others. When we indulge sexual sin, we tend to withdraw from fellowship, because our sins are carried out in secret. So, sexual sin is an offense against fellowship, a violation of the demand for self-giving love that we are called to. Genuine godly sexuality aims to give rather than get, to give pleasure and delight rather than simply to take it.

When we are greedy, we covet and envy our brother rather than delighting in his prosperity and protecting his property and goods. We cannot live in unity and love as we are called to if our community is characterized by sexual self-indulgence or greed.

There is a kind of community in lust and greed. Our culture as a whole has become a culture of lust and a culture of greed. Paul makes it clear that sexual immorality and greed are not naughty toys that we can play with in safety. he lustful and covetous have no “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (5:5). And he reiterates that point elsewhere: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Paul warns against being a “partaker” with such sinners (v. 7).