Walking the Talk in Christian Love

Jesus didn’t just talk about fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. Jesus perfectly walked in step with God’s Law for all of us who can’t. 

Jesus didn’t just talk about going to the cross. Jesus walked to the cross. 

Jesus didn’t just talk about rising from the dead. Jesus walked out of the grave. 

Jesus didn’t just talk about sending the Holy Spirit. Jesus walked up into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. 

The early church didn’t just talk about following Jesus. They actually walked together, in love—in the face of slander and persecution, displaying an embodied witness. 

I am not talking about works righteousness. We are saved by faith alone in the righteous work of Christ on a cross and through the empty tomb. Faith is created through water and the Word. Sinners must come consistently to hear God’s Word of promise in Christ, and to receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. 

Passive faith is such a gift. 

Yet, passive faith is no excuse for ungodly behavior. Passive faith precedes active love for neighbors. 

Paul agrees in Romans 6. 

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

I love Paul’s point—baptism puts us to death. This is a very good thing. Baptism also raises us up in Christ. Baptism mobilizes us to walk out of the grave of our sin, into the newness of life in the Spirit. 

The early church of the first three centuries deeply cared about the embodied witness of both Jewish and Gentile converts. One of my favorite new books is The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire by Alan Kreider. Kreider masterfully documents the writings of the early church fathers, such as Tertullian, Origin, and Cyprian. Yes, the early church fathers proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, they also encouraged the early church to walk in the new ways of Jesus: love your enemies, don’t take believers to court, only have one wife, flee sexual immorality, confess your sins to one another, offer forgiveness freely, and, if necessary, lay down your life for one another. 

The Holy Spirit filled walk—not just the talk—of the early Christians is the primary reason the early church grew. It was that attractive. 

Our “walk” must change in the LCMS, starting with the pastors. We must refuse to speak ill of one another without the courage to actually speak to our brother. We must put the best construction on everything, knowing that love covers a multitude of sins. We must reject tribalism into various “missional” and “confessional” camps. 

Zealous LCMS laymen and laywomen—I love your passion for confessional Lutheran teaching. Yet, please refrain from snarky comments online against others of your same confession with nuanced opinions of which you disagree. You can make comments and critiques online, but please remember you represent Christ. Pre-Christians may stumble on our content, and Lutheran snark is not a winsome witness. 

LCMS leaders must receive and actually listen to critique, especially when the critique is offered for the sake of the upbuilding of the body of Christ. LCMS leaders must humbly work toward unity with every corner and perspective of the Synod. LCMS leaders must be less certain they have the answers—and more certain the answers will come, by the Spirit’s power, as we work together as the body of Christ. 

I would love this type of future for the LCMS. I wrote my book, Confessing Jesus’ Mission, as a prayer toward this end. 

A kind reader of Confessing Jesus’ Mission recently sent me an email. (I love getting reader responses: tahlman@cglchurch.org.) Here is one of his points:

In Chapter 22, p. 163, you state that the LCMS collectively are like the servant who was given 5 talents. I think you mean that the LCMS in its “talk” is like the servant who was given the 5 talents. However, I wonder if the LCMS in its “walk” is more like the servant who was given the one talent.

Ouch. Sad but true. Let us not only talk about Jesus. Let us walk in His ways, to the glory of God the Father. 

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