Faithfulness

Introduction

When you’ve marked that number, be turning in your Bibles, please, to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. In just a minute, we’ll look at verse 1. We’ve got some guests in our audience tonight, and we’re just delighted that you’re here. And we hope when we get done, because the service has been scriptural and inspiring. We hope that you’ll be delighted that you were here. But we’re just thrilled to have you present in our audience tonight. And I’m really hopeful and prayerful that all the folks here at South Bumby are excited and motivated about what we’re setting out to do over the next month or two, with our gospel meeting coming up on March 25th and our teen weekend on April 6th. And then starting next Lord’s Day, this important series of lessons, raising kids that turn out right.

I hope you won’t come because you’re convinced I’ve got some wisdom about that because I don’t. My old’s only 11. I’m not sure how he’s going to turn out yet. But I tell you, there is a source to which we can go where there’s a lot of wisdom about raising our kids, so that we have the best hope of having them come out in the way that we want and the way that God’s want. And that’s the word of God, and that’s what we will be talking about next Sunday when we look at a lesson entitled The Good News About Raising Kids. We hear a lot of bad things. We’re going to talk about some good things next Sunday. I hope you’ll come. And I hope you’ll invite someone to come with you.

Walt mentioned those cards on the table in the back. I hope you’ll take some. I ordered 500, and I think there are about 496 still back there. That’s a little discouraging. Hopefully they’ll diminish some because you’ll take them this week, and you’ll invite some of your friends to come. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 1. I want you to notice that Paul states the challenge here plainly in words that are unmistakable. He says, Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. Kids do that, don’t they? They look at mom and dad, and often they’re just like we are. And sometimes that’s good, and sometimes that’s not so good. But as beloved children, Paul says, imitate God. He said essentially the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1, where he says to the Corinthians, be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

So Paul wouldn’t really say be like me. He’s saying, to the degree that I’m like Christ, imitate what you see in me. So really imitate Christ is what he says. And I think with these words, Paul lays down before the Christian what is our fundamental challenge when it comes to the way that we live our lives. What is the goal and what is the objective? And it is simply this. The challenge is to be like God, and to be like Jesus. We’re to strive to think like he thinks, to see things with the kind of perception that he has of them, to act to things, to react to, to provocation and to difficulty, the way that we saw Jesus doing it, the way that we know that God would.

Someone says that’s a tall order, David. Do we ever get it just right? And the answer is no, we don’t. Sometimes in our actions and sometimes in our reactions, we look more like the world. Sometimes our thinking is corrupted by the influence of the world around us, and sometimes we think more like they do. But we keep learning and we keep growing and we keep maturing in Christ as we study and learn his word. And in the process, we’re molded into that image that God has of us, of what he wants us to be. And you know, the more we’re molded and shaped by God’s word, that image that begins to take shape looks more and more like Jesus. At least that’s the goal. That’s one of the reasons, folks, it’s so important for us not just to know what God says, but to know God, and there is a difference.

Being a Christian isn’t just learning the instructions that God gave, learning about God’s teachings. It’s learning about God and what he is like. And his attitudes and his dispositions. And then imitating like that and becoming like that. If we really desire to do what Paul talked about at Ephesians 1 and 2, and that is imitate our God, then we’ve got to strive to fill our minds with everything about him. Tonight I’d like to talk to you about just one aspect of God’s nature. Something about God that needs to be true of us, something that we need to imitate. I want to talk to you tonight about faithfulness. You know, the Bible says God’s faithful, and I don’t know about you, but I’m sure glad that he is.

Faithfulness means that God is trustworthy and reliable. When God gives his word in a matter, that’s the way it’s going to be, and it’s never going to be any other way. When he makes a promise, we can absolutely know with certainty he’s going to deliver on us. All of us are banking on that, aren’t we? I mean, the foundation of our hope is that wonderful inheritance that Peter talked about in 1 Peter 1 and verse 3 and verse 4. Awaiting us in heaven. But how do we know that’s going to happen? Because God promised it. And you know what we know? We know when God says it, we know it will be so. And we can know that because he has a track record. We can trace him all the way through the Bible.

And time and time when God gave his word. Again, when God gave his word, he kept it. And when he said, this is the way it is, that’s the way it was. Every time. Isn’t that one of the great things about God? The Bible says he’s faithful. I love the song that Jim led us in. As far as I’m concerned, we could just sing that one every service. Great is thy faithfulness. And it is great. But what I want you to understand with me tonight is that the Bible doesn’t just say God is faithful. It says in passages like Ephesians 5 and verse 1, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And the fact is, the Bible says that that’s how we need to be.

We need to adopt and imitate that aspect of God’s nature. He’s faithful. And we should be too. In fact, if you’ll turn over to the book of Galatians and look at chapter 5. In Galatians 5 and verse 22, we have this list, these fruits of the Spirit. Remember that list? These are the evidences, these are the proofs that your life is really spirit guided. That is, that it’s really being lived in accordance with the word that the Spirit has revealed. And I want you to notice what’s on his list. He said, but the fruit of the Spirit, verse 22 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. What’s next? Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Paul would say one of the evidences that your life is being led by the Holy Spirit, guided by his word, is that we will be faithful.

1. What Exactly the Word Faithful Means

Now I want to ask you tonight, what does that mean? What is this faithfulness that he’s talking about? And if I’ll do it, if I’ll be faithful, how will my life be changed? Practically speaking, as I go about the business of day-to-day living, if I adopt in my character this part of God’s nature, and I become more faithful, what’s going to be different about me? How’s my life going to change? Well, if you indulge me for a few minutes, I’d like to talk to you a little bit about that tonight. First of all, I’d like to talk to you a little bit about what exactly the word means, and then we’ll get into some applications of it. Actually, the word faith or faithful can mean some different things at different points in the Bible.

But I want to talk about this evening one particular kind of faithfulness. I want to talk about the kind of faithfulness that Paul was talking about in Galatians 5 and verse 22 when he talked about the fruit of the Spirit. And if we resort to the scholars and we look up the word faithful in the dictionaries from that that give us the meaning of word from that time, what they tell us is that the word faithful means fidelity. That it means the character of one who can be relied on. It means trustworthiness. It says that those who deal with a faithful person in any relationships will find him to be reliable. He’s the kind of person you can count on, depend on. We might say he’s a man of his word.

And that’s basically what Paul has in mind in Galatians 5, when he says, among the fruits of the Spirit, you need to be faithful. We need to be a trustworthy person that others can put their confidence in and rely on. And then there’s a similar word that’s also used by Paul. Look over, if you will, at Ephesians 6 and verse 21. It is the word that Paul often uses to describe his co-workers in the gospel. And in this context, Ephesians 6 and verse 21, he says, but that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Titicus, the beloved brother, listen, and faithful minister in the Lord will make everything known to you. Paul defines Tichicus as a faithful minister in the Word. What does the word faithful mean there?

Well, it means similar to the previous word we looked at, trusted, reliable. Thayer, a Greek scholar, adds something interesting in his explanation of this word. He said it is use of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, in the execution of commands, in the discharge of official duties. This is a fella, Thayer is telling us, that takes care of his business. Titicus was apparently the kind of man that when it came to the discharging of his duties as a minister of the gospel, Paul just had every confidence that he was going to do exactly everything that he was supposed to do in the way that Paul or God wanted him to do it. He wasn’t going to be negligent or half-hearted or late in any of the tasks given to him.

Why? Well, because he was faithful. Now, what’s interesting is that both of the words that we’ve just alluded to, in other Bible passages, both of them are used to describe God’s nature, those characteristics we mentioned earlier, that God’s trustworthy and keeps his word and fulfills his promises and is there for us when we need him and does what he said he’ll do. But the Bible is saying in these passages that we need to be that way too. We need to look at God’s faithfulness and like a child looking up in daddy, imitating that aspect of his character. In all my relationships, I need to allow this characteristic of faithfulness to permeate every aspect of my life. It is a trait that needs to extend and touch every relationship.

2. Faithfulness Changes the Way I Serve God

That’s what it is. But I think the more important question is how does it change the way we live? How do we allow this attribute to permeate our character? Practically speaking, how does the change the way how does it change the way we live our lives? Let me tell you two ways it does that. Let me say to you, first of all, that faithfulness is going to change the way I serve God. If I really allow this trait to become part of my character, part of my being, I’m saying to you tonight that that’s going to make a difference in how we serve God. And to illustrate that, I’d like you to go back and look with me at Matthew 25, at the parable of the talents.

Matthew 25. And let’s start reading together verse 14.

Verse 14, Jesus says, For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. And to one he gave five talents, and to another he gave two, and to another one, each according to his ability, and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more. In the same manner, the one who received the two talents gave two more, and he who had received the one talent went away and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now the situation he’s describing for us is this. There apparently was a wealthy man with these three slaves, and he’s getting ready to set out on a journey.

And while he is away, he assigns to each of these men according to their ability a different amount of money. Clearly, with the goal intended being that they would go out and they would trade with it and work with it and they’d make more money for their master. That’s clearly the objective. Two of the slaves do just that. They went out, in fact, and doubled what their master had given them. One didn’t. But I want you to notice that the problem was not that this slave tried and failed. It wasn’t that he’d gone out and he’d invested in the market and chose some bad stocks and wound up losing money. It wasn’t that he’d made some bad business decisions that didn’t turn out like he had anticipated.

The problem with this fellow is he didn’t even try. He just took the money and buried it in the ground. Then the master comes back. And starting in verse 19, each is called upon to give an accounting for what they’ve done with what they’ve been given. Look at verse 19. It says, now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, Master, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more talents. Now listen to the master’s response, verse 21. And his master said to him, Well done. Listen. Good and what? Good and faithful slave. You were faithful with few things, I will put you in charge of many things.

Enter the joy of your master. The one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more talents. And the master said to him, Well done. Here it is again. Good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter the joy of your master. And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man. Now you know when a guy begins like this, what he’s about to say isn’t going to be good. I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.

And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See you have what is yours. Well, at least he didn’t lose anything on the deal. You think the master’s going to be happy with that? Listen to his words. But his master answered and said to him, You what? Wicked, lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed, then you ought to have put my money in the bank. And on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance. But from the one who does not have even what he has shall be taken away.

And cast the worthless slave into outer darkness, and the place, in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You’ll notice that with the first two slaves, the master praises their faithfulness. Why? Well, you see, they had shown themselves to be reliable in the discharge of their duties. He’d given them an assignment. They’d fulfilled it just as he had required. The slaves had proved to be what it was that he was expecting them to be. But the last one was not so lucky. Instead of being praised, he was rebuked not because he tried and failed, but because he did nothing. In fact, notice the contrast. On the one hand, he praises the two slaves, the first two, because they were good and faithful, but notice the way he characterizes the second.

Wicked and lazy. You see, the master had entrusted him with a precious gift. And he had done nothing with it. And for that reason was unfaithful. He had not discharged his duty. And he stood condemned. I think the story illustrates how faithfulness changes the way we serve God. I want you to turn with me, if you will, to 1 Peter chapter 4 for just a minute. 1 Peter chapter 4 and look at verse 10. And I want us to appreciate that, like each of the men mentioned in this story, each of us have God’s children, have been entrusted with precious gifts. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10, Peter says, as each one has received a special gift. Employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Did you see that? As each one has received a special gift, every one of us have from God special talents and abilities that are uniquely ours that can be used for the good of the kingdom. All of us, because of, because of those gifts, are blessed with unique opportunities to serve God in a variety of different ways. Every one of us has one. Now, the Bible would go on to describe the fact that we’re like a body, and not everybody does the same thing, but everyone does something, and that’s the point that Peter’s making. Faithfulness is that aspect of our character that compels us to use what God has given us for the good of his cause, to seize the opportunities that are created in our life to work for the master.

When faithfulness is part of our character, we’re just like the first two slaves in the stories who discharge faithfully our duties to God and show ourselves reliable in his service. When faithful is part of our character, we’re not negligent about the spiritual responsibilities placed upon us because of our ability. Faithful people are reliable because they have a real sense of duty. They recognize that their gifts and abilities are God given, and for that reason should be used to his glory. Now, we could just kind of mess around with that in generic terms, as we’ve had, and leave it alone, and I’d probably stay out of trouble if I did that. But then again, that wouldn’t be much fun. Let’s say some specific things about faithful people tonight.

Couple of things I’d like you to think about with me. Number one, I want you to appreciate that when it comes to serving God, faithful people can never be benchwarmers. They never will be. You ever notice that there are some people that when they move to a new area and become part of a new congregation, that they just go to work. I mean, nobody has to come up to them and twist their arm and beg or plead with them. When they go into a church, they just go to work. They have talents and abilities and gifts, and they’re possessed with a sense that God wants them to use them, and when they come into a congregation, they search around and find their niche and they just go to work.

They are faithful. They stand in contrast to people who can be in churches for years and years and years and not do much of anything. They’re unfaithful. And I want you to appreciate that, folks. I want you to appreciate with me tonight that you can come to every church service that this congregation offers and be unfaithful. Because we’re not using the gifts and the abilities that God has blessed us with. I want you to know something else about faithful people. Faithful people are always there when there’s a job to be done. And it really doesn’t matter what the job is. It doesn’t matter if it’s teaching the lost or cleaning the church building, or taking food to the sick, or going to group meetings, or attending to someone who’s weak, or replacing a burned-out light bulb.

If there’s a task to be done, and they can help faithful people, just jump in there and do it. They’re not among the percentage of people who always seem conspicuously absent. You ever notice that? It amazes me, brethren, that there are some Christians that when it comes, well, it doesn’t matter what the work is. If it’s Thursday night of a gospel meeting or a group meeting on Saturday or whatever. For some reason, there’s a percentage of the church that is always conspicuously absent, for whom it is always inconvenient. There’s always some problem, some hits, and their schedule. It’s just not a good time. All the time.

They are unfaithful. And I challenge you to think about that. What kind of person am I? When needed, am I there? Or is there always is there always some reason I can’t be? Let me tell you something else about faithful people. Faithful people always work eagerly and willingly. Have you ever noticed there are some folks that you can not only always count on, but they’re always willing to do it with a smile. If you have a job that needs to be done, a task that needs to be helpful, it doesn’t matter what the task is. Just ask. And they say yes. And they stand in contrast to those who don’t seem to be able to do anything without complaining. You know the people I’m talking about.

They’re the people when there’s a job to be done, you leave them to the very last on the list. If absolutely no one else can be found to do it, well, I guess I’ll call this guy because I just know he’s going to complain. You know, a person like that isn’t very reliable, are they? Because you’re never sure how they’re going to react when you ask, and maybe they’re going to say no anyway. Let’s twist that just a little bit. You know, as I read the Bible, I never read of a single occasion where the Apostle Paul complained about his missionary journeys. I never read a single occasion where the Apostle Paul griped about how rough he had it. And how inconvenienced he was about having to travel to all these different places and about how put out he was and how much he missed because he had to go on these missionary journeys.

And that makes me ashamed of my whining. Because I’m not asked to do nearly that much.

They do their work well and timely. They’re the kind of folks that if you give them a task to complete, it’ll probably be done two days before it’s due. And it’ll be done well. And they stand in contrast to folks who, when it comes to the Lord things, the Lord’s things, that’s always the last thing. That’s done at the last minute and probably isn’t done very well. Folks like that just aren’t reliable. And folks, you know what? The brethren at South Bumby in one particular way need to be more reliable. We are late all the time. And we need to stop being that way. We have visitors that are getting here 10 or 15 minutes early and arriving before a good percentage of this congregation, and they can’t be greeted because we’re not here.

3. Faithfulness Changes My Relationship With My Fellow Man

And that’s not being very faithful. Do you all agree with that? We need to be more faithful in that regard. I want you to think, folks, back in Matthew 25, about those servants called before their master, and who were called to give an account for their gifts and abilities. And I want you to understand that that’s not just true of them, that’s true of every one of us, that one day we will stand before the master, and we will give an account for what we’ve done with his gifts and abilities. What are we going to say? Have we been faithful? Well, that day’s coming. We need to think about that. Well, let me say to you, secondly, tonight, that faithfulness is going to change my relationship with my fellow man.

Relationships going to uh faithfulness is going to change my relationship with others. It’s not just limited to the work that we do for God. In fact, faithfulness, when it really becomes part of my character and part of my being, it’s just going to permeate everything I do in every relationship. And I like to note the example of Daniel in that regard. If you’ll go back to Daniel chapter 6 for just a minute.

Some of you may recall that Daniel was taken captive as a young man by the Babylonians and raised in the court of the king to serve him there. And actually grew to a position of great and great prominence and power, not only in the Babylonian Empire, but later in the Medo-Persian Empire. And chapter 6 and verse 1 tells us something of his progress. It says, and it seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 savetrips over the kingdom, that they should be in charge of the whole kingdom. And over them, three commissioners, of whom Daniel was one. So here there are these bureaucrats, these sub-rulers, and then over this group of 120, three commissioners. Daniel was one of the three. That these satraps may be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss.

Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and the safety because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom. He really advanced himself well. But as we’ve learned all too well in this country over the last many years, with political advancement also come political enemies, and Daniel had some of those too. Verse 4 says, then the commissioners and the satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs. They began to try to dig up the dirt on him. To put it in modern terms, somehow they found his FBI files. And they were going to find out about this Daniel. They’re going to find out everything about him. We’ll see how honest a character this Daniel is.

We’re going to dig into his background and we’re going to dig into his work for the government, and we’re going to find out about him. Guess what they discovered? Latter part of verse 4 says, but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption. Inasmuch as he was what? Faithful. And no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. They dug into his files, they checked into his government reports. They looked into everything that he had done. And guess what? They couldn’t find a thing. Not any, not any ground to accuse him of corruption. God said, My man Daniel, he was faithful, trustworthy, reliable. And notice that faithfulness is said in contrast to negligence and corruption. To be faithful is to be free from all those kinds of things.

Daniel did his job well. He was a diligent, hard worker, an honest man. So that whenever somebody looked into any aspect of his work in the government, they couldn’t find anything. And I sometimes wondered, could I, could I stand up to the Daniel test. If somebody could put little cameras all over my life and watch everything that I do all the time. And I know that’s getting a little too close to reality today, but I’m just using illustration. And see, everything that I do and everything that goes on, could I withstand the Daniel test? You know, what was true of him needs to be true of us. We need to be faithful, brethren, in every aspect of our lives. We need to be faithful, trustworthy, reliable employees.

Your boss ought to have no better worker on the job than a Christian. And there are some specifics that apply to that. It means we show up on time, ready to go to work. And that we do good work. And that we’re always honest about our work. And that we don’t steal. And let me tell you what I mean by steal. That means we don’t call in and say we’re sick when we’re really not sick. And it just baffles me that there are some Christians who don’t think that’s lying. I’d be curious to know what it is to say we’re sick when we’re not, to get out of a day of work. Even if the supervisor winks at it. It’s still lying, brethren. It’s dishonest. It’s not faithful.

In Colossians chapter 3 and verse 22, every employee probably ought to write this verse and put it on his locker at work. Colossians 3 and verse 22. Paul says, slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not only with external service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of an inheritance. It is, listen to this, it is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Paul says when you go to work, you need to work like you’re working for God. We need to be faithful in dealing with our with our friends, even friends who aren’t Christians.

When we promise our friends that we’re going to do something, we need to keep our word about that. When we’re shared confidences, we need to keep those confidences and refrain from gossip. And let me say to you, thirdly, that we need to be faithful in fulfilling our responsibilities at home. Husbands and wives need to be faithful to each other. By faithful, but faithful I mean that we need to be responsible to execute the commands that go with being a husband. You realize that God’s laid down some rules about how husbands function at home. Being faithful means that I execute those instructions. And the same thing to wives. I’m not trying to cut them any slacks tonight. I just begin with the guys because we’re supposed to be leaders after all.

But wives, too. God says some things to them about how they’re supposed to function in the home. And faithfulness means I discharge my duties as God would say I ought to do it. And we ought to keep our word in the home. And when we promise our kids things, we ought to follow through and do it. Just because we’re at home doesn’t mean I don’t have to worry about this, even more so in the home. Where are your kids going to learn it, folks? If mom and dad don’t demonstrate before them faithfulness. That’s what I’m saying. It’s a characteristic that gets into our lives and flows around and touches everything that we do. Let me tack one thing on to the end of that and then I’ll stop tonight.

We need to be faithful about that great commission that we were talking about this morning. We need to be faithful in terms of winning the loss in the execution of that duty that Jesus laid on the shoulders of those who are his disciples. Will we be that way? We’ve got some stuff to do. We’ve got some folks that we need to invite to come and hear these lessons on raising kids. And we’ve got some work to do to get ready for this meeting that’s coming up. And we’ve got a teen weekend that’s coming up and some work that needs to be done with that. And what God needs his faithful children to do is to discharge their duties. God needs some folks in the coming weeks that South Bunby He can count on.

Conclusion

And I know he can count on us, can’t he? Let’s discharge those duties in this important work that we have to do. Well, take out your songbooks, if you would, please, and turn to the number that has been selected as the invitation song. And what I want to say to you in closing is that what we’ve talked about tonight is one small part of the journey. The journey in life is to become like God.

Imitate God as beloved children, Paul told us. Faithfulness is a little part of that. And I hope we said some things tonight, brethren, that’ll cause all of us to think more seriously about that in our lives and to be more faithful. And I’d ask you tonight, if you’ve not yet obeyed Christ, you’ve not yet begun the journey. It’s not yet even time to start thinking about imitating him or being like him, because we’ve not yet become part of him and become his child. And we don’t want to close tonight without appealing to anyone who’s here, who’s not right with their God, whether you’re a Christian that’s that’s not been very faithful in your service to him, or someone who’s never once obeyed him and become the journey of being more like him.

We want to urge you to do that. If you’re subject to his invitation, come to the front while we stand and while we sing.