Faithfulness: Freedom to Be Committed

Intro

What comes to mind when you think about faithfulness? Maybe it’s the faithfulness of a romantic relationship. Maybe it’s faithfulness in your relationship with God. Faithfulness actually competes for attention in all areas of our life. We may not use the word faithfulness, but it shows up in our work, in our church community, in our home, in our friends’ circle, and so on.

There are things in your life right now where you prioritize faithfulness to over others. Maybe it’s faithfulness to your work over your relationship with God. Maybe it’s faithfulness to your leisure activities over spending time with your church community. Maybe it’s faithfulness to your kids over your spouse. Maybe it’s faithfulness to making as much money as you can over spending time with people that care about you.

Where do you find yourself being more faithful in? And what suffers because of that? All trade-offs aren’t made equal. Some trade-offs may actually be healthy. I would prefer to be more faithful to my family than to my job. I would prefer to be more faithful to Jesus than to my sins.

Faithfulness looks like a young woman who husband died in a foreign land with no security, and no future. The easy choice? Go back home and start over. But the young woman named Ruth stayed—choosing to care for her grieving mother-in-law who lost both of her sons and husband. She had no guarantee of a better life, yet she remained faithful, trusting in God. It’s choosing to stay when walking away seems easier.

Faithfulness looks like a man who prayed for many years, decades even, for a child but year and year, God never answered and the dream faded. He chose to stick with Jesus and not turn his back on his faith. It’s trusting God even when it feels like nothing is happening

Faithfulness is not easy, but it is a virtue, a quality that is expected of those who follow Jesus. Specifically, faithfulness to God.

Where do you think you stand today in your faithfulness to God? Is God only there when you need something from him? Is God simply a transcendent being who created all things and is in charge of all things but is far away but is not concerned about how you live your day-to-day? Or Is God simply one that has to be okay with you giving him not your best but your left-over and he just has to deal with it?

No matter where you stand in your faithfulness to God today, here’s the good news, God wants to help you be more faithful.

Faithfulness is the fruit of the Spirit that we will be talking about today. We’ll answer two questions: 1) What is faithfulness 2) How do we grow in faithfulness?

We’ll be look at two scriptures. Matthew 25:14-27, and Colossians 1:9-11.

We’ll read our series text to start. Turn your bible or bible app to Galatians 5:16-26.

What is Faithfulness?

Faithfulness in the Bible usually refers to steadfastness, reliability, and unwavering loyalty in our relationship with God and in our commitments to others.

I think a simple way to define faithfulness is an unwavering commitment to a person, a place, or a thing.

A person that we are committed to can be our spouse, God, or our friends. Think about that one friend who’s been with you through everything—the good, the bad, the ugly. Maybe you’ve had disagreements, maybe life pulled you in different directions, but somehow, you both stayed committed to the friendship. Faithfulness in relationships isn’t about never having conflict—it’s about choosing to stay even when it’s easier to walk away.

Example of a place might be work, a vacation spot, or the gym.

I know people like my dad who would only vacation in Nigeria. Going back home is vacation for him. He’s committed to that. He might be open to going to another country if you have a conversation with him, but his first and most comfortable choice is Nigeria.

Finally, example of things that might have our faithfulness, our commitment are things like ideas, beliefs, and brands.

It is why a lot of people have a hard time letting go of their first credit card, or their first bank account. There’s a commitment, a faithfulness to that brand.

Faithfulness is the commitment to a person, a place, or a thing. As Christians, the top priority is our commitment to God. To help with further understanding, turn to Matthew 25:14-27. We’ll look at one of the parables of Jesus. This particular parable was given to describe what the kingdom of heaven is like; what are the characteristics of the kingdom of heaven. And what we find in this parable is that the kingdom of heaven looks like faithfulness to God. Meaning to experience the kingdom of heaven is to experience faithfulness to God. You reflect the kingdom of heaven when you reflect faithfulness to God. Here’s what it reads.

The master who in this parable is a picture of God, called his servants who made good use of the talents he gave them good and faithful. What made them good and faithful? It’s not because they doubled the investment. But because they were committed to their master, they chose to be diligent in how they managed what he gave them.

It wasn’t about the result of what they did with what he gave them but about how their commitment to him affected what they did with what he gave them.

You gotta catch that church because sometimes, me included, we think we’re not being faithful if we’re not doing something great for God. When God prefers us doing something because our commitment to him no matter how small the result than doing something because of our commitment to our own ego.

Notice God commended equally the one with two talents who produced two talents and the one with five who produced five. And the one with two didn’t complain that he only had two and not five; and because he was committed to his master, it didn’t matter how much he had he just wanted to manage it in a way that was pleasing to his master.

Faithfulness is the commitment to a person, a place or a thing. As Christians, the top priority is our commitment to God.

I was reminded during the sermon prep that my faithfulness to God as a church planter is not measured by the size of the church. It’s a constant struggle. Measuring how well I’m doing by the amount of people that show up. It’s easy for pastors to measure how well we’re doing, how faithful we are by the amount of people in a Sunday service. But that’s not the standard God has for faithfulness.

Th question is are you committed to Jesus? And if I am, then faithfulness is managing the resources, and pastoring the people he has given me in a way that is pleasing to him. No matter how big. No matter how small.

Notice the third guy with the one talent complained. He didn’t manage the talent given to him in a way that was pleasing to the master because he was not committed to him.

Our excuse might be different from his. It might not be about the character of our master, but about our need to fill a void with materialism. A need to fill a void with a sense of accomplishment. A need to fill a void with endless pleasure.

No matter what your excuse is, it’s not a valid reason to not be faithful to God.

But the good news is, we’re not left to figure it out on our own. We are not left to pursue faithfulness in our own strength. It is a fruit of the Spirit which means we need the help of the Spirit of God to be faithful people to God. We just have to be committed to being committed to God.

How to Grow in Faithfulness

How then do we grow in faithfulness? How does the Spirit of God produce the fruit of faithfulness in us? For that we’ll turn to turn to Colossians 1:9-11. We’ll see three areas in the text where Paul prayed that the church in Colossae would grow in their commitment, faithfulness to their God. Those same areas are true for us today. These are the areas where the Spirit of God uses to produce faithfulness in us.

“9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience”

The three areas are commitment to growing in the knowledge of God, commitment to reflecting Jesus, and commitment to following God in the highs and lows.

Commitment to Growing in Knowledge of God

We can’t grow in faithfulness to God if we are not growing in our knowledge of who God is. What did the two servants with five and two talents know about the master that the servant with one talent didn’t? It’s important that we are committed to knowing more about the character of God, about the promises of God, about the nature of God. We want to know what is true about God and not merely what some preacher, or what some person told us about God.

Knowledge is a crucial part of the Christian life and growth. The Christian faith is not just about what you experience but also about what you know.

Imagine playing a game of telephone and you’re the 10th person in line. The information you’re getting may or may not be accurate. The only way to be sure is to go the source.

We have to be committed to reading our bible. That is the source for growing in the knowledge of God. Pastors and bible teachers are helpful in helping us to understand what the bible teaches but there are also plenty of resources that you can use to understand the scriptures. The most important one being the Holy Spirit. Another is a study bible which is why I gave you all one at the beginning of the year to aid in your understanding of what you are reading.

If the only time you interact with God’s word is on Sunday or from a preacher during the week, that needs to change. Listening to sermons during the week and coming to church on Sundays are important and helpful but so is personal reading on the scriptures.

You can be faithful to God if you are confident in the God you believe in and you can be confident in the God you believe in because you know him as revealed in his word.

Commitment to Reflecting Jesus

We grow in our commitment by being committed to reflecting Jesus. This is the commitment to a life of righteousness, a life of kindness, a life of love, a life of joy, a life of peace, a life of faithfulness, a life of patience, a life of gentleness, a life of self-control. It is the commitment to confession and repentance. Commitment to living in a manner pleasing to God.

And I want to emphasize this part a bit because of the context most of us come from. Africans are generally very religious. So, it is not abnormal for someone to tell you they believe in God, or they are Christian even though there is no commitment to reflecting Jesus.

Faithfulness to God means we can’t separate our personal lives from our spiritual experience with God. If God is important to you, then he should have a say so in how you live your life.

Commitment to Following God in Highs and Lows

The third area in our faithfulness to God by being committed to following in the highs and lows of life. Paul prayed for endurance and patience because that is needed in the hardships of life. It’s not enough to follow God in the mountaintop of life, we must also follow him in the valleys. And that requires endurance and patience.

Conclusion

As we wrap up, if God has saved you, then it is up to us to take that gift, that talent, and use it in a way that is pleasing to God.

And that way involves growing in our knowledge of God, reflecting him in our lives, and following him in the highs and lows of life.

Faithfulness is active not passive. If you want to grow in your faithfulness to God, then it requires you to put in some work. The Spirit of God not only supplies the strength to put in the work, but he blesses the work and use it to produce faithfulness in us.

Here’s what happens when we are committed to God, it shows up in our commitment to people.

When we invest into our commitment to the God who saved us, then it shows up in our commitment to the people he saved us to be a light to.

Faithfulness is not about perfection or big results; it’s about commitment. It’s about showing up—even when it’s hard, even when no one notices, even when the results aren’t what you expected.

You don’t have to do it alone. The Spirit of God gives you the strength to be faithful—to Him, to your calling, to the people He’s placed in your life.

So where is God calling you to be faithful? What commitment have you been neglecting? What person, place, or thing has your commitment when it shouldn’t?

This week, I encourage you: Take one intentional step of faithfulness. Maybe it’s committing to daily time with God, maybe it’s showing up for a struggling friend, maybe it’s choosing integrity in a difficult situation. Whatever it is, choose faithfulness.

And as you do, trust this—our God, the most faithful One of all, sees you, strengthens you, and will never leave you.