Faithfulness

Presented, June 19, 2005 am

FAITHFULNESS (1)

Today I want to address a subject that we all need to think about from time to time. It is the subject of faithfulness. We find it in God’s word as a characteristic of the righteous throughout time. We find it as a characteristic of God Himself as well as His Son. And if there is to be any hope of heaven for us when this life is over, we need it in our lives. That having been said, what is faithfulness? In our lessons today, wee want to examine this subject in great detail This morning we are going to define this term and note some examples of faithfulness so that we might have a better understanding of what is expected in our lives. Tonight, we will take a look at some characteristics of faithfulness that we need in our lives.

I. What Is Faithfulness?

a. Defined in English - 1) Adhering firmly and devotedly, as to a person, cause, or idea; loyal.
2) Having or full of faith. 3) Worthy of trust or belief; reliable. 4) Consistent with truth or actuality: (American heritage Dictionary, Online version. © 2000)

b. Defined in the original language

i. From the Greek word Pistos, a verbal adjective (W.E. Vine).

ii. It is akin to the word for faith (pistis) which means, a firm persuasion or trust. It is interesting the relationship between these two. Faith is the act, faithfulness is the result.

iii. WS Dictionary, “Worthy of belief, trust or confidence” It proceeds to describe the word as one that is “trustworthy…, faithful in duty to oneself and others, of true fidelity…firmness of faith”

c. As we use the word in this study we are referring to a disposition in the Christian that not only obeys, but he has gained the trust and confidence of the one it is directed toward. I say that because, as we will see in this lesson, faithfulness is a two-way street. We are faithful to God and He is faithful to us.

d. Faithfulness in God’s word

i. A fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22. The Fruit of the Spirit is describes the one who walks in the Spirit of God and is led by Him (5:16, 18). If the Spirit of God rules your life (i.e. – you submit to His will in all things), these are the types of attitudes and characteristics that will be manifest themselves and be prevalent in your life.

ii. Faithful in all things – 1 Timothy 3:11. This passage actually describes the character of the wives of deacons (and elders). However it summarizes how true faithfulness is not something only present in certain areas, but throughout your life. In other words, it helps describe who you are.

Perhaps one of the best ways for us to understand faithfulness is to examine God’s faithfulness toward us. In His example we find a pattern that we should strive to imitate if we are to be counted faithful by Him. After all we are called upon to strive to be like Him in this life. The very idea of the word godliness is not that we become God, but that we strive to emulate His attitudes, values and character in our lives. We are told in Ephesians 4:24, “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” The expression according to God means in His image or likeness, or “after God” as the KJV says. Let us notice:

II. The Faithfulness of God

a. He is the ultimate example of faithfulness.

i. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

ii. Throughout the Bible we find examples of the faithfulness of God. We see His faithfulness whenever He fulfills a promise, when He delivers his people and as He stands by those who belong to Him.
Notice Deuteronomy 7:9, "Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;” Spoken toward the end of Moses’ life, he reminds Israel of their God. He keeps His promises and always has. They could look back to the examples of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and others and see how He had always kept His word. There were some present who had witnessed the exodus from Egypt and saw God’s faithfulness in delivering them. Moses seeks to impress upon them that He will ALWAYS be that way.
When God speaks, He means what He says. Hebrews 6:13-14 speaks of the promise made to Abraham – God “swore by Himself” because He could swear by no greater… Vs. 15 says, he obtained the promise.

iii. David knew that His Lord was faithful. We find that confidence throughout the psalms. Often his requests to God were penned as if they had already been answered. David could pray with that confidence BECAUSE of God’s faithfulness.
Ps 16:9-10, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”
Ps 17:15, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.”
Such things could only be said because David knew God was faithful.
Psalm 9:10, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.”
Psalm 36:5-6, “Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep;
O LORD, You preserve man and beast.”
Psalm 89:1-2 - Finally, a psalm by Ethan, concerning the Covenant the Lord made with David begins by saying, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, ‘Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.’”

iv. 1 Corinthians 10:13 – One passage that reveals His faithfulness in our lives. Here He says that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear.

v. 1 John 1:9 – We have the promise that He is faithful to forgive us our sins if we confess them to Him. Are we not grateful that He does not recon our sins the same way man does.

vi. 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” That is, He will do what He has promised. In this verse we find the promise that awaits us when the Lord returns – He can and will preserve us. Because of His faithfulness, we can know this.
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful”

b. The faithfulness of Jesus –

i. Isaiah 11:5 – The greatest example of faithfulness in a Man was Jesus, the Son of God. It was prophesied concerning Him – “Righteousness shall be His belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.”

ii. Revelation 1:4-5 says, “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.” Notice how Jesus is referred to as “the faithful witness”. God could count on Him.
We see His faithfulness in His willingness to die for our sins, in His total obedience to the Father, the way He lived His life upon the earth, and what He continues to do for us even now.

iii. Because He died for us, He is NOW there for us. Hebrews 2:17-18, Coming to this earth as a man, He is able to be a faithful High Priest on our behalf.

iv. Hebrews 3;1-2 speaks of Him being faithful in to God who appointed Him.

v. ALWAYS faithful – 2 Timothy 2:13. Christ remains faithful always, even when we are faithless.

vi. It is because of His faithfulness that the Hebrews writer can say, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

c. The faithfulness of His word –

i. Faithfulness is often associated with God’s word to us.

ii. Titus 1:9 describes the work of elders as including “holding fast the faithful word…”

iii. Faithful sayings – There are several passages that speak of “faithful sayings” in God’s word. The idea of such is that these are sayings that can be counted upon always -
1 Timothy 1:15 – Christ came to save sinners
1 Tim 3:1 – It is a faithful saying that to desire the office of a bishop is worthwhile
1 Tim. 4:9 – Bodily exercise is not as profitable as exercising yourself to godliness. Paul says that “is a faithful saying”

iv. Revelation 21:5, 22:6 both speak of “faithful and true words”. Concerning the book of revelation, assurance is given that these things WILL COME TO PASS. What is said here is that you can count on that fact.

Thus we can see the faithfulness of God and His Son. Because He is faithful we have hope and assurance. We have reason to obey Him and put our trust in Him. Understanding the faithfulness of God, we can gain a fairly good understanding of what is involved in being faithful. But there is much more to be said about this subject so tonight we want to notice how we are to be faithful by noticing some examples of faithfulness and examining in greater details characteristics associated with being faithful.

Sunday, June 19, 2005 pm

FAITHFULNESS (2)

This morning we began studying the subject of faithfulness by first defining the term and then noticing the faithfulness of God to us. Tonight we want to notice some ways to apply this to our lives. We are going to examine some of the characteristics of faithfulness and note examples of these characteristics in godly examples.
Let it be noted that in virtually every example in the entire Bible, we have examples of faithfulness or unfaithfulness.

III. What faithfulness involves

a. Being trustworthy (dependable) –can God count on you?

i. This word is probably the closest to faithfulness because it demonstrates a proven character. All other characteristics that we will notice make us trustworthy.
To be trustworthy means you are reliable and can be counted upon at all times. It is a PROVEN character trait that is a mark of maturity. It is not something you gain overnight – but in time it manifests itself.

ii. Matt 24:45-47 "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.”
Jesus often made reference to the servant relationship and noted the importance of faithfulness. What made them pleasing was the fact that they were trustworthy.

iii. Matthew 25:21, 23. In the parable of the talents we often emphasize the wicked and lazy servant. But note what was said to the other two, “Well done good and faithful servant…” Notice that both of these servants proved themselves and as a result they were to be placed in positions of greater responsibility.
IF you want God to use you more and to give your life more spiritual meaning, it MUST begin with being faithful to Him in what He has given you.
NOTE what was said to the unfaithful servant in vs. 29-30 – even what he had would be taken away from Him.

iv. Daniel was faithful – Even in captivity, he proved himself trustworthy. So much so that he was put in charge and made other captives jealous.
Daniel 6:4 – trying to find a charge against Daniel, the other governors and satraps could find NOTHING of which to accuse him, “because he was faithful.”
How hard would someone have to look in our lives to find some fault they could us against us?
Faithfulness seeks to eliminate those charges.

v. Acts 6:1-3 – When a work needed to be done in Jerusalem, the apostles called for men with proven character to do the work. They wanted men of “good reputation” meaning they wree trustworthy to do the work and they were faithful.

vi. 1 Corinthians 4:2 – stewards are to be found faithful. In that context Paul is talking about US. We are to be “good and faithful servants”

vii. The gospel has been entrusted to “faithful men” to take to the lost. 2 Timothy 2:2
Can God count on us to ensure that His word is preserved?

viii. 1 Corinthians 4:17 – often when Paul had a task to be done, he would send men that he could count on. In this text, he refers to Timothy as “my beloved and faithful son in the Lord.”

ix. And of course Paul himself proved to be faithful to God and the brethren. In Acts 20:20, 27, as he speaks to the Ephesians elders, he notes that he had done all he could do.
1 Timothy 1:12 – He notes that God had counted him faithful, putting him in the ministry. Faithfulness is a trait every minister of the gospel needs.

b. Obedience –

i. Faithfulness is seen in being busy doing what we are commanded to do. Lip service will NEVER accomplish faithfulness

ii. Again in Matthew 25:21 “well done good and faithful servant…” we find servants who were not only trustworthy but they obeyed and did whatever they were commanded to do.

iii. Moses was a faithful in all his house – Hebrews 3:5. Not only could he be counted upon, but he obeyed.

iv. You can look at every example of faithfulness thus far and you find obedience accompanying their trustworthiness. Obedience is what proves our faithfulness.

c. Loyalty –

i. Loyalty means one who is always there and behind you. He is not a fair-weather friend, but a friend at all times (Proverbs 17:17).

ii. We see this trait in Daniel. In fact we see it to the point that others became jealous. You might say, made everyone else “look bad”. Think about that today. Society almost expects you to be less than loyal – workers will tell you to “slow down”, etc. All that the Christian does must be “with all your might” Ecclesiastes 9:10, Colossians 3:23 – “heartily, as to the Lord.”

iii. Joseph is a great example of loyalty. As Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, he refused. He noted in 39:8-9 that he was trusted with everything his master had. He knew that affair would be disloyal to both Potiphar and God. He was unwilling to sell himself.
He was loyal first to God and then to his master, even if it meant he would be wronged. Genesis 39:22-23 – later in prison, he showed the same loyalty.

iv. Job also demonstrated this loyalty. In 1:21 – even after losing everything he praised God. Later when his wife told him to “curse God and die, he refused - 2:9-10. All this because of loyalty.

d. Faith –

i. A part of being faithful is the fact that you DO trust God and believe Him. We mentioned earlier that the word faithfulness is akin to the word faith. IF we don’t have faith in God we are going to let Him down more often. The heart is not going to be where it ought to be.

ii. Abraham is an example of a faithful faith.
Hebrews 11:8 says that by faith, he went wherever God asked him to go. Vs. 17-19 tells us that when he was tested he offered up “his only begotten son”, Isaac, trusting that God could raise him back from the dead.
Galatians 3:9. “Believing Abraham” is the same Greek word from which we have derived many of our texts today dealing with faithfulness. The point being Abraham believed God and therefore obeyed him. This in turn made him faithful in God’s eyes.
Vs. 6 quotes Genesis 15:6 which says, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

iii. You may obey someone’s commands without faith, but if you do you are not faithful.

e. Endurance –

i. Our salvation will depend on whether or not we die faithful. It is something we CAN lose. Faithfulness means we don’t give up or quit.

ii. It is the one who endures to the end that will be saved – Matthew 24:13.

iii. 1 Corinthians 15:58 summarizes faithfulness – steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord

iv. Revelation 17:14 – those with the Lord who overcome the devil

v. To the persecuted church in Smyrna, the angel of the Lord encouraged endurance. Revelation 2:10 says, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life”

IV. Other faithful men.

a. As I conclude this lesson I want to notice some unnamed and lesser known men in the Bible – men who proved themselves useful to Paul and the Lord’s work. Why? Because they were faithful. And in the case of some of them, it is the only thing we know about them. Men like:

i. Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21) – “a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.”

ii. Epaphras (Colossians 1:7) – “a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf”

iii. Onesimus (Colossians 4:9) – “a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you”

iv. Sylvanus (1 Peter 5:12) – it was through him that Peter wrote that letter, his “faithful brother as I consider him”

v. Gaius (3 John 5) – “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers”

vi. Antipas, a faithful martyr of the Lord (Revelation 2:13).

b. Paul in writing some of his letters addressed them to, “saints” – Ephesians 1:1 – “faithful in Christ Jesus”
Colossians 1:2 – “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ.”
Paul treasured faithfulness in the churches he dealt with.
If Paul were writing to us, what would he say about us?

Conclusion: Thus we can see the importance of faithfulness in our lives. What about you? Can it be said of you as Paul said, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,” (1 Timothy 1:12). Have you proven yourself faithful to God, your brethren and to yourself? If there is need for change in your life, why not commit to that change today?