Tag Archives: walk your talk

06/20/23

Walk the Talk

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In his devotional thoughts in My Utmost for His Highest, for February 19th, Oswald Chambers made the following statement: “We have to take the first step as though there were no God. It is no use to wait for God to help us, He will not; but immediately we arise we find He is there. Whenever God inspires, the initiative is a moral one. We must do the thing and not lie like a log.”

The thought applies equally to the real psychological and spiritual drudgery of progressive sanctification and the “progress not perfection” component of change in recovery. Chambers is not advocating a self-willed “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” spirituality, but pointing to how faith and works come together. After quoting from Isaiah 60:1 (“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”), he said: “It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it.”

We start with a clear recognition of our powerlessness over sin (or addiction), we have faith that God is more powerful than our sin (or addiction), we surrender our lives to God and then we begin to align our lives with His will. Our initial belief in who God is and what He promises is manifested in our ongoing efforts to live as we believe He has called us to live. After we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth, we are called to walk the talk. We must do the thing and not lie like a log. “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). Interestingly, this call to holiness in First Peter also includes the exhortation to be sober-minded:

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy. (1 Pe 1:13-16)

While the Greek term for sober-minded, nēphō, in verse 13 can have the literal sense of abstinent, here it means to be in control of one’s thought processes and not fall into irrational thinking. However, for the addict and alcoholic the term does have a literal sense: be free from every form of mental and spiritual drunkenness (i.e., passion, excess, rashness, confusion). In other words, don’t continue in your former way of life. Resist the craving to once again drink or use drugs. Be holy; walk the talk.

There is a threefold aspect to holiness that corresponds to the three tenses of salvation noted in Romans 5:1-2. That is, because we are justified by faith (a past completed action), we now have (present tense) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We also have access by faith into the grace in which we stand (present tense). Therefore, we rejoice in hope of the still-future glory of God.

All believers are positionally holy by virtue of their calling and they are summoned to live out their lives in a manner befitting their new position in Christ. With God’s help, they grow and mature “with the life of Christ as their pattern.” The third and final phase of holiness will only be reached when Christ completes the process of salvation upon His return, “when all His own will be like Him, seeing Him as He is, the perfect and glorious Son of God (1 Jn. 3:2).”

Although a believer in Christ must become engaged in this process, his involvement is not something praiseworthy. It is not a contributing factor to his acceptance by God, which is already his as a gift by God’s grace. It’s more that when he is adopted into the family of God, he should reproduce the family likeness and be like his older brother, Jesus. According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, the starting point for this character development is realizing that the mercies of God call for an adequate response: presenting one’s body as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). During this character development we will be tempted to remain conformed to the things of this world, but we are to be transformed–by the renewing of our mind–into a growing likeness to Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).

Similarly, there is a threefold transformation process in recovery, where soberness corresponds to holiness. We would then alter the Scriptural command to be holy in a relationship with Christ to: Be sober for we are sober. Addicts and alcoholics become members of A.A./N.A. by their desire to stop drinking and using drugs. And they are challenged to live out their lives in conformity to the principles of abstinence and sobriety embodied in A.A./N.A. With God’s help, they grow and mature “with the Twelve Steps as their pattern.” The end goal of such a life is to die sober; to live life on life’s terms without turning to drugs or alcohol.

In 1961, Louis R. told the story in the AA Grapevine how President McKinley once gave him a tip for watering his horse. He hadn’t known who McKinley was until someone told him. But he didn’t care as long as the man had given him whiskey-money. Louis was around nineteen at the time.

At an A.A. meeting on November 17, 1951 he raised his hand and asked the speaker if A.A. expected a man who had drunk all his life to stop drinking just like that. The speaker responded that if he’d done it, Louis could too. Louis said, “I figured maybe he was right, so I reached inside my shirt, took out the half pint of wine, and gave it to the man sitting next to me.” He never drank again. After ten years of sobriety, Louis realized he had a bad heart and knew he didn’t have too much longer to live, but he didn’t care. “The main thing I want is to die sober. And with the grace of God and the help of my good friends in Alcoholics Anonymous, I can do it.”

In the AA Grapevine article, “A Small Price to Pay,” an attorney reflected on his 28-year drinking career. With just a few years sober, he noted that some long timers he knew had slipped back into the mess from whence they came and died drunk and miserable. “I know I’ll die someday. But I prefer to die sober and happy, when my time comes.” He commented that eternal vigilance was the price of his freedom from the “thralldom” of his active addiction. “So if the form that my vigilance must take is active participation in AA and a continuing, honest attempt to work the program, that’s a small price to pay.”

Think of recovery as walking up a down escalator. The trick is to continue to walk up the escalator faster than it is moving down. It doesn’t matter how far up the escalator you have gone, even if you can no longer see the bottom from which you started. The moment you stop moving faster than the escalator is, you start going backwards; and eventually you will get to the bottom again. You have to walk the talk until the day you die.

If you’re interested, more articles from this series can be found under the link for “The Romans Road of Recovery.” “A Common Spiritual Path” (01) and “The Romans Road of Recovery” (02) will introduce this series of articles. If you began by reading one that came from the middle or the end of the series, try reading them before reading others. Follow the numerical listing of the articles (i.e., 01, 02, or 1st, 2nd, etc.), if you want to read them in the order they were originally intended. This article is 18th in the series. Enjoy.

10/29/19

Do They Walk Their Talk?

© Dmitriy Khvan | 123rf.com

Matthew 7:15 cautions us to “Beware of false prophets.” By their external appearance, they look authentic and may even do or say some of the right things. Like wolves in sheep’s clothing, they appear to be the real deal on a superficial level, but inwardly they are vicious and destructive. So how can you tell a true prophet from a false one? The answer is, do they bear good fruit—do they walk their talk?

The concluding section of the Sermon on the Mount makes use of the “Two Ways” tradition of early Christianity and Judaism. In three illustrations, Jesus plainly showed there are only two categories of people in the world—those who enter by the narrow gate rather than the wide gate (vv. 13-14), those who bear good fruit rather than bad (vv. 15-20), and those who build their homes on solid rock rather than shifting sand (vv. 24-27). In his commentary Leon Morris commented, “In each case the first category refers to those who hear, obey, and are saved; the second, to those who only hear and so are destroyed.” In other words, not everyone who says they are a Christian, is a Christian. They have to show it.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20)

The contrast of the two ways is not found in the other gospels, but it does appear in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 30:19; Psalm 1:6, Jeremiah 21:8); in Jewish writings (2 Esdras 7:6-13); and in early Christian literature, like Didache 1:1: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.” Some may verbally affirm that Jesus is Lord, and even preach the gospel, but inwardly are insatiably after their own interests. They are like ravenous wolves. So how can you tell who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing? By their fruits: “Their fruits will in the end betray them.”

Jesus used an illustration from the everyday life of his audience to demonstrate this. Everyone knew that the buckthorn had small black berries that could be mistaken for grapes. And there was a thistle whose flower could be mistaken for a fig, from a distance. However, as D.A. Carson said, “But no one would confuse the buckthorn and the grape once he started to use the fruit to make some wine. No one would be taken in by thistle flowers when it came to eating figs for supper.” The same principle is true of trees—a good tree bears good fruit; a diseased tree bears bad fruit.

Here the thought is that it is not the outward appearance that is important (wolves may be dressed up to look like sheep), but the things the false prophets do, the produce of their manner of thought and life. If the disciples take note of what these false prophets do and refuse to be charmed by their false words, they will recognize them for what they are.

If a tree is healthy, it cannot bear bad fruit. Conversely, a diseased tree cannot bear good fruit. The repetition emphasizes the point. Then Jesus moved to the fate of every diseased trees: “No bad tree is allowed to continue producing its bad fruit.” The consequence is universal; it is cut down and burned.

The burning of a worthless tree removes the possibility that it will infect other trees. But fire is often used of the fire of hell, and this meaning may be not far away. Jesus is making it clear that discipleship means a great deal more than religious activity.

So then, the logical conclusion of Jesus’ teaching here is a repetition of verse 16. “You will recognize them by their fruits.” The good fruit of a person’s life is the evidence of their claim to be a prophet. And since good fruit cannot grow on a diseased tree, you can discern a false prophet by their fruit as well. False prophets, like diseased trees, should be cut down and thrown into the fire.

The Old and New Testaments contain multiple warnings against false prophets. They commit adultery, walk in lies and strengthen the hands of evil doers (Jeremiah 23:14); they are treacherous and do violence to the law (Zephaniah 3:4); they prophesy lies in the name of God, the deceit of their own minds (Jeremiah 14:14). The Bible suggests these false declarations come from their own hearts (Ezekiel 13:2, 4; Jeremiah 23:16, 26). We can suggest that at least one of the ways to uncover a false prophet is to watch and see if they demonstrate their love for God by walking their talk. But what if the false prophet is a wolf in sheep’s clothing—what if they appear good on the outside?

There is a root and fruit connection to our actions (fruit) and our heart (root). A “healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” The parallel to our Matthew passage in Luke 6:43-45 declared the good person produces good treasure from his heart and the evil person produces evil treasure from his heart, “for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” In Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, Paul Tripp illustrated this process in his discussion of fruit stapling, where efforts to change behavior ignore the heart behind the actions.

Drawing on the fruit tree metaphor in the Luke passage, he asks us to imagine that he has an apple tree in his backyard. Year after year the apples are dry, wrinkled, brown and pulpy. His wife says it doesn’t make any sense to have an apple tree that doesn’t produce good fruit and suggests that Paul cut down the tree and burn it. Instead, he buys branch cutters, an industrial grade staple gun, a ladder and two bushels of apples. He climbs the ladder, cuts off all the pulpy apples, and staples shiny red apples on every branch of the tree. “From a distance our tree looks like it is full of a beautiful harvest.”

If a tree produces bad apples year after year, there is something drastically wrong with its system, down to its very roots. I won’t solve the problem by stapling new apples on the branches. They also will rot because they are not attached to a life-giving root system. And next spring, I will have the same problem again. I will not see a new crop of healthy apples because my solution had not gone to the heart of the problem. If the tree’s roots remain unchanged, it will never produce good apples.If my heart is the source of my sin problem, then lasting change must always travel through the pathway of my heart. It is not enough to alter my behavior or to change my circumstances. Christ transforms people by radically changing their hearts. If the heart doesn’t change, the person’s words and behavior may change temporarily because of an external pressure or incentive. But when the pressure or incentive is removed, the changes will disappear.

Sooner or later they will show the wolf; a diseased tree always bears bad fruit. They cannot consistently walk the talk because the seemingly “good fruit” does not come from a changed heart.

The root-and-fruit principle applies readily to 12 Step recovery. Several of the sayings used in recovery, such as walking your talk, he’s on a dry drunk, you can’t be clean while living dirty, are illustrations of it. It even applies to judging your spiritual experiences and whether or not you can ever ‘get’ clean.

Bill W. wrote an article originally published in the Grapevine in July of 1962, “Spiritual Experiences.” It was later added to a collection of his Grapevine writings, The Language of the Heart. He said he was the recipient of a tremendous mystic experience in 1934 that was “accompanied by a sense of intense white light, by a sudden gift of faith in the goodness of God, and by a profound conviction of his presence.” He said in retrospect, the only special feature was its electric suddenness and the overwhelming and immediate conviction that it carried to him. “In all other respects, however, I am sure that my own experience was not in the least different from that received by every AA member who has strenuously practiced our recovery program.”

He said when a person approached him to find out how to have a sudden spiritual experience, he tells them that in all probability they have had one just as good, except it was strung out over a longer period of time. If a spiritual transformation over six months had been condensed into six minutes, “well they then might have seen the stars, too!” He failed to see any great difference between the sudden and more gradual experiences; they were certainly all of the same piece. The one sure test of any spiritual experience was, “By their fruits, ye shall know them.”

As Bill Sees It is a collection of selected writings by Bill W. In there was an excerpt from a 1958 letter Bill wrote to a person discouraged over repeated “slips,” lapses back into active drinking. The discouraged individual was thinking of not returning to A.A. because of his lapses. Bill advised him against staying away from A.A. because of feeling of discouraged or shameful of his lapses. “It’s just the place you should be.”

For some reason, Bill said, the Lord seemed to have him on a tougher path. But God was not asking for him to be successfully abstinent, “He is only asking us to try to be.” Here was the key feature in achieving lasting abstinence—a transformed heart; a surrender of your will and life to God after recognizing your powerlessness to do so in your own strength. And whether this spiritual experience was sudden or gradual, the sure test of whether it was real was by its fruit. If there was a true surrender, he would get the program. “It is not always the quantity of good things that you do, it is also the quality that counts.”

This is part of a series of reflections dedicated to the memory of Audrey Conn, whose questions reminded me of my intention to look at the various ways the Sermon on the Mount applies to Alcoholics Anonymous and recovery. If you’re interested in more, look under the category link “Sermon on the Mount.”

09/11/15

Practice What You Preach

© vepar5 | 123rf.com

© vepar5 | 123rf.com

One of the first things to know about Matthew 5:17-20 is that it is essentially unique to the gospel of Matthew. It seems to be an introduction to the topics Jesus addresses in verses 5:21 through 5:48. He reminds his audience in each of the following passages of what they have been previously taught as he introduces each issue: “You have heard it said.” But then he shows them the true spiritual depth of these commands: “But I say to you.”

But first, beginning in 5:17, Jesus used four full verses to be sure his audience clearly understood that what he was about to teach them was not abolishing or nullifying the Law and the Prophets. This was a typical way to refer the entire Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament for Christians). The Law referred to the Torah; or Pentateuch; the first five books of the Bible. Jesus did not intend to bring about an extreme makeover or a demolition of the teachings of the Old Testament. Rather, he wanted to fulfill them.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)

Leon Morris pointed out in his commentary on Matthew that by using the Greek word for fulfillment, Jesus was speaking of more than obedience to regulations here. There is a sense of continued obedience; or of completing; or bringing about its full meaning. Perhaps something from all three was within his use of the Greek word here. Morris also observed there are 613 commandments in the Old Testament, 248 positive ones and 365 negative ones. Using hyperbole, Jesus said that not even the smallest letter or even a part of a letter from any word in the Law would pass away before the entire creation (heaven and earth).

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:18)

Therefore, anyone who relaxed or nullified one of the least of the commandments in the Scriptures and taught others to do the same would not be recognized for their efforts in heaven. But whoever did them and taught others to keep the commandments would be recognized in heaven for their efforts. Misunderstanding what Jesus was saying here would provide fertile ground for legalism to flourish. Legalists keep the letter of a commandment while nullifying its spirit.  To “fulfill” is not the same as to “keep.” And Jesus now was about to catch two of the most religious groups of his time off guard.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)

The two religious groups widely recognized for their knowledge of the Law and their zeal for keeping the commandments of the Law at the time were the scribes and the Pharisees respectively. So up until verse 5:20, any scribe or Pharisee hearing what Jesus said would have been nodding his head in agreement. They knew and kept the commandments—and were proud of it.  They taught others what should be done to enter into heaven. Surely they were the ones who would be called “great” in the kingdom of heaven. But no—Jesus said to his audience, your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees!

Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

If you weren’t MORE righteous than the two highest status religious groups of that time, you couldn’t enter the kingdom of heaven. The message was that getting to heaven was more than knowing and keeping the commandments. The legalism and religiosity of the scribes and Pharisees won’t cut it. Your righteousness has to be better than theirs. Now Jesus had a captive audience. What could he possibly be about to say that would fulfill the Law and the Prophets? How would he apply the Law and the Prophets so differently from what the scribes and the Pharisees taught?

Broadly speaking, scribes were individuals who could read and write—talents that were not common to most individuals back then. These talents meant they would serve as secretaries or clerks—a higher status and function than we would think of today. Scribes in Jewish times were seen as men of wisdom, who studied the Law. They were teachers and legal experts with religious authority. The Dictionary of New Testament Background said Jewish scribes applied the general instructions of the Torah to daily living. They even extended the law to theoretical situations “To build a safety net against inadvertent breaches.”

The Pharisees seem to have been drawn more from the laity and not from the priestly or aristocratic classes. They too were experts and strict interpreters of the Mosaic Law. They developed a comprehensive set of oral extensions of the Law, which were to maintain their religious identity and purity. There are even some references to the scribes of the Pharisees (Mark 2:16 and Acts 23:9), possibly suggesting that scribes were a subgroup of Pharisees. Alternatively, the sect of Pharisees could have had individuals who could read and write and thus acted as scribes within the sect.

Nevertheless, it seems that both groups were singled out as religious leaders who didn’t practice what they preached. In chapter 23 of Matthew, Jesus said: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matthew 23:2-3). So here in chapter 5 of Matthew, Jesus is saying that you have to walk your talk—you have to practice what you preach—to get to heaven. Again, Leon Morris summarized the intent succinctly:

Jesus’ understanding of keeping the law meant a great deal more than making sure that the letter of the law was not infringed. For him it was important that the deeper implications of what God had commanded be understood and put into practice.

The application here for recovery is in the call to “walk your talk.” Just as Jesus said that those who both taught and did the commandments would be great in the kingdom of heaven, those who practice what they preach in recovery will stay sober and help others to stay sober at the same time. True spirituality in Christianity and in recovery is when someone lives out what they tell others. They don’t just know the Bible or the Big Book—they strive to live it.

There are parallels to “scribes” and “Pharisees” in 12 Step Recovery as well. When you see someone affirming the truth of a Step or a saying, but not truly living out the spirit of it’s meaning, then you are keeping rather than fulfilling it. Here is an example: individuals who only count abstinent time with their drug of choice. Someone could be in Alcoholics Anonymous and rationalize they aren’t drinking alcohol anymore, but they smoke marijuana. A heroin addict might say they never had a problem with alcohol, so its okay if they drink, as long as they don’t use heroin. I also don’t think that having a doctor diagnose you with an anxiety disorder means you can take benzodiazepines. Taking a mind-altering and mood changing substance to not use another mind-altering or mood changing substance is not walking your talk.

Recovery is not just knowing and “keeping” the Steps, but fulfilling them in your life—and then passing how to do that on to others.

This is part of a series of reflections dedicated to the memory of Audrey Conn, whose questions reminded me of my intention to look at the various ways the Sermon on the Mount applies to Alcoholics Anonymous and recovery. If you’re interested in more, look under the category link “Sermon on the Mount.”

10/24/14

How to Handle Hypocrisy

I don’t know the man; not even his name. But if I ever did, I’d tell him what a jerk he is. No, that’s not true. My thought language as I read about what he did was much stronger. I can get really angry at the blatant duplicity of some of the supposedly “Christian” men I hear about. This unknown man had multiple affairs, which he denied and lied to his wife about. He even went on vacations with his women “friends;” sent them money; and more.

Yet when his wife had enough, and legally separated herself and their children from his emotional abuse and manipulations, he called foul. He also argued that garnishing his wages to ensure that child support was paid would bankrupt them. He said she was ruining him and out for revenge. Then he pulled out the big guns. He claimed that her actions in going to court over child support was “unbiblical” because the ungodly shouldn’t determine what they do within their family. What a hypocrite!

In Matthew 15 is an example of how Jesus handled a bunch of hypocrites. Jesus was approached by a group of Pharisees and scribes who had traveled all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee to see him. They came all that way to ask why his disciples broke the traditions of the elders by not washing their hands before they ate.

In this particular case, the tradition was an extension of the ceremonial washing required of the priests (Exodus 30:17-21). Contact with unclean things made your hands unclean. And if unclean hands touched food, that too became unclean. The tradition of hand washing before meals to remove ceremonial defilement can be traced back to the teachings of Hillel and Shammai, two of the greatest rabbis in Jewish tradition. Both were Pharisees. So these Pharisees weren’t seeking to be enlightened by Jesus. They were trying to pick a fight.

Using a typical rabbinic technique, Jesus answered their question with another question, “Why do you break God’s commandments for the sake of your tradition?” Quoting the 5th commandment in Exodus 20:12, and then citing Exodus 21:17, Jesus pointed to how the tradition of Corban could be used to justify not helping others in need; even someone’s parents. Corban meant that money or other material resources that were pledged to the temple could not be transferred or given to anyone else. When the individual died the funds or resources would be turned over to the temple, BUT the materials could still be used by the giver while they were still alive! In this way, the Corban tradition of men nullified the word of God.

So these upright, religious Pharisees were really just hypocrites; they said one thing but did another. Jesus again turned to Scripture, quoting Isaiah 29:13 to show how they honored God with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. Their “spirituality” was in vain, for they presented their own wisdom as being on par with the word of God.

Verse 14 of Isaiah 29 adds to their condemnation, and would likely have been understood by the Pharisees as being implied, but left unsaid by Jesus. In Isaiah 29:14 God said: “I will again do wonderful things with this people.” BUT “The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” In other words, the traditions taught to you by the Pharisees will wither and die. Turning from the Pharisees and calling the people to him, Jesus prophetically acts out the application of Isaiah 29:14 in his situation.

Jesus turned away from these religious leaders who had come from Jerusalem to see him and started to teach the ordinary people who had gathered to hear him. And he has the audacity to negate the very tradition they had come to confront him about. He said that it wasn’t what went into a person that defiled them. Rather, it was what came out of them that defiled the person.

The disciples apparently missed what Jesus said at this moment. Seemingly overcome with jaw dropping amazement at what he had just said, they watched the Pharisees walk away in a huff. The elite spiritual, religious group of that time and Jesus had just insulted and humiliated them—intentionally!

The disciples essentially asked him if he realized that he had just offended the Pharisees. Jesus responded by saying that the Pharisees were blind guides; let them alone—don’t chase after them. Peter then asked Jesus to explain what he meant when he said: “It’s not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiles them, but rather what comes out of their mouth.”

Seemingly frustrated that they still didn’t get it, Jesus said that whatever a person puts into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eventually “expelled.” Rather, what comes out of the mouth, what proceeds from the heart, is what defiles a person. Things such as evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander all come from the heart. These are the things that defile a person. “But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

So how did Jesus handle the hypocrites? First, he confronted and exposed their hypocrisy. Second, he didn’t chase after them to smooth over the perceived offense. Third, he neutralized the hypocrisy and taught that true defilement begins in the heart of the individual.

So how do you handle your own hypocrisy? Confront it. Don’t rationalize or justify it; don’t coddle it. And walk your talk—be sure that not only do you say what’s true, but that you do what’s true.