Learning to Show Faithfulness
If I say the nickname, "Old Faithful" - most of you think about the geyser located in Yellowstone National Park. How many here have seen "Old Faithful" in person? "Old Faithful" is not the tallest or the largest geyser in the park; but it is one of the most predictable. It's believed to be more than 300 years old and more than 1,000,000 of its eruptions have been recorded.
The nickname fits the geyser, but could the nickname of "Old Faithful" fit you..? Could people look at your life and describe you as steady, consistent, dependable...faithful?
This morning we're continuing to look at the subject of the Fruit of the Spirit. I want us to be able to repeat them in our sleep by the time we're done with this series. Let's jump in by looking once again at Galatians 5:22-25 (NIV)...
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (25) Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
While this slide is still up, I'd like to ask you to repeat that list with me - all together now, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". Why am I so insistent that we learn these? If we want to follow Jesus, but can't manage to develop these qualities in our lives – what else matters? 'Faithfulness' is the characteristic that we're going to focus on this morning.
You don't get a name like "Old Faithful" without a great track record of consistency. And I think we'd all agree that "Old Faithful" can only be called "Old Faithful" because it's…
I. Faithful at all times
If it was only predictable every now and then, we wouldn't call it faithful. If a husband was only faithful to his wife on the weekdays, would we still call him faithful..? Faithfulness is following through on a commitment at all times, consistently, regardless of the difficulty or personal cost to us. It says this in Hebrews 10:23-25 (NIV)...
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (24) And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (25) Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
On October 23rd, 1983, I was a freshman in High School and mostly unaware of world events. But it was on that day that terrorists bombed the Marine barracks in Beirut. Some of you may remember that event. Hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept. A few days after the attack, Commander Paul Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Nashton. He'd suffered a broken leg, collapsed lungs, a crushed arm, several broken ribs, a fractured skull, a bruised heart and could barely see at the time.
As Commander Kelly approached, Corporal Nashton struggled to move, despite the pain, and motioned for a pen and paper. He passed a note to his Commander. There were two words - "Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning "forever faithful." He was lying, crushed and broken in a bed - but he was not defeated.
That's the kind of faithfulness that we are called to as followers of Jesus. And for it to be genuine - faithfulness must continue despite circumstances. Faithfulness is about how you live your life – your whole life. A minister by the name of Fred Craddock, nailed it – he wrote the following...
"To give my life for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others; to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom - I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table - 'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.' But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters.
We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, 'Get lost.' Go to a ministry meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. - Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul."
I've always thought that. Very few of us are called to grand gestures, to outright martyrdom that requires a great deal of strength for a brief moment. Most of us are called to be faithful, day in and day out, in the good times and bad, in the exciting times and the mundane of everyday life - whether we feel like it or not. We're called to keep plugging away - even when it doesn't seem to make a difference from our perspective - but we are called to be faithful to Christ! We're to stand firm, to be faithful to the very end!
But before we get too much further, it would be helpful if we looked at the difference between the ideas of faithfulness and being successful. There can be a big difference in the two when we try to evaluate our walk with God. The world is always most interested in success, in big numbers, in fame, in tangible results. That's not necessarily what each of us is called to.
A Senator visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta where she cared for the sick and dying in their last days. The Senator was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the never ending suffering she faced daily. "How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?", he asked. She replied, "I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful." She wasn't successful in improving economic conditions for the poor - but she was faithful in showing them the love of Jesus. And the world won't always understand that.
God may have huge, exciting, high profile, successful looking plans for some of us. For many others, He may have seemingly smaller, less flashy roles. It doesn't mean it's any less important of a role... But no matter the role to which we are called in God's Kingdom - we are to be faithful at all times. And it's also important to remember that we are called to be…
II. Faithful in all things
If God asks me to do five things, and I faithfully do three of them my entire life – could that be called faithfulness? You may remember the story in the Gospels called "The Rich Young Ruler". In the story, a man explained to Jesus how he had kept all of the Ten Commandments. Jesus then gave him one more commandment. Jesus told him to go sell everything and follow Him. The man claimed to be faithful to one set of commands, but wouldn't follow through on that last one. It would have cost him too much.
Do we ever pick and choose which commands we'll follow faithfully, but push others off to the side because they may require too high a price? "Okay Lord, I promise I won't ever murder – but how firm are you on the whole 'lying' thing?" "I promise I'll accept your challenge not to gossip, but the whole 'talking to people about Jesus thing' really isn't my area of giftedness." Do we get to choose which commands to which we will be faithful - and which ones we'll ignore or put on the back burner?
The Apostle Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (NIV)...
So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. (2) Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
A good servant doesn't tell their master what they will or won't do. A good servant is faithful in all things. We've been given a huge trust – to carry out God's plans here on earth until Jesus returns; that means all of God's plans for us! And His plans will absolutely benefit and bless us the most! - Every time!
What if a soccer team only focused on defense but completely ignored the offense - what happens? What if they placed every single player, two rows deep, entirely blocking the soccer goal? If any team could do that - they might be able to keep the other team from scoring but they probably won't score many points either. You can't win without focusing on all the parts of the game.
I think many who've been Christians for a while can become guilty of 'buffet style' faithfulness. We choose some commands we like – 'don't do this, don't do that'. - But then push others off to the side – 'you should do this, you should do that' - hoping someone else might come along and do that part. Some congregations can get good at going to Church and the KNOW and GROW part of the mission, but then forget – God gave each of us the entire mission of KNOW GROW and GO.
Sometimes we're tempted to neglect going and serving people and going and sharing God's message. If we as a body of believers aren't working on all of God's mission – can we call ourselves faithful..? And we can only accomplish part of our mission while sitting on these seats in these four walls. A good part of our mission is lived out in the world. And we are called to be faithful in all things.
As we more deeply understand the scope of the mission to which we're being called, we may need to focus more on…
II. Developing faithfulness
Does an apple tree grow out in the middle of an orchard and think to itself, "Now how do I develop apples?" - An apple tree produces apples because that's what apple trees are designed to do. When we are following Jesus, in step with God's Spirit, when we are a branch attached to Jesus, then we produce fruit because it's the natural thing to do. We shouldn't have to sit around and think about it or overly analyze it.
When our focus is on Jesus first – everything else will fall into place. If we put our wants and our desires before His – we will have a very hard time producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. But if we focus on Jesus – faithfulness will follow!
In the book of Revelation, John talks about the hardships of the end times. Then in chapter 14, verse 12, he says this…
Revelation 14:12 (NIV)
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
In order to allow faithfulness to develop, we need to admit and accept that in this life struggles will come. God never promised us that following Jesus would be easy. If we believe otherwise, we're setting ourselves up for failure and disappointment. Knowing that we will have struggles, we need to be prepared!
Ephesians 6:12-18 (NIV)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (13) Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
(14) Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, (15) and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (16) In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (17) Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
(18) And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
There will be struggles, but we are not alone in this fight. God has given us the tools and we have His Holy Spirit in us! We need to intentionally choose to use those tools, guided by His Spirit. We need to intentionally choose to be faithful.
There is something that I do need to mention before we get to the wrap up. I don't want anyone to get the mistaken idea that in order to be completely faithful means we have to be perfect. If that were the case – none of us could ever be called anything even close to faithful. In our walk with God, perfection is what we're shooting for. – But ultimately - in our walk with God, because of God's great love and grace - faithfulness is more about getting back up.
The Apostle Peter is one of my favorite 'heroes' in the Bible. He probably wouldn't consider himself a 'hero' - but I like him. It's not because he always did the right thing. Sometimes he made some huge mistakes, including denying even knowing Jesus at one point. But every time he stumbled, Peter got back up. When it came time to choose someone to preach the very first gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost, who was chosen? - The guy who denied Jesus.
The Holy Spirit said, "Peter, you speak up. You've had the experience of being down and getting back up again. You've made some big mistakes and these people need to know that. They need to see, that despite how flawed you are, God is able to do His work through you. Despite all your mistakes – you have been found faithful in the end."
I suppose, sometimes, being faithful means getting up one more time than this world knocks you down.
So What?
To close things up – I want to go back to the idea of 'being faithful in all things'. I want to challenge us a bit. Look at the different areas of your life and evaluate your faithfulness. There may be some areas where you're pretty strong, pretty faithful - and others where you might need work. Give a little extra thought this week to those areas.
Perhaps you haven't been as faithful in spending time in God's Word as you should. Maybe commit to a Bible Study, or Sunday school class, or our Bible reading program found at the welcome center...? Or maybe you are being faithful in studying, but it's putting faith into action where you need work. Maybe reach out to someone you know who could use some prayers? - Maybe you need to be more faithful in generosity? Perhaps you need to give of your time or money to your 'neighbor', or maybe to the Women's Care Center - a ministry to women that we support?
Maybe you've gotten really faithful in attending Church services - but perhaps you've never invited a friend or family member to join you...? Imagine what Deep River might look like if each of us got serious about inviting others to KNOW Jesus! Let's be faithful in all things at all times! Let's be faithful in our part of His mission – and I promise God will be faithful in His part!