Faithfulness

Introduction

Have to keep sermon short today because we have our Father’s day event!

Go through fruits of the Holy Spirit again.

Today’s fruit is faithfulness! And today’s sermon is really really simple:

God is faithful

We are called to be faithful

Let’s dive right into it.

1. God is faithful

The first point is God himself is faithful.

Someone who is faithful is someone who has a strong alliegance, loyalty, constancy rather than being up and down. It is someone who keeps his word and sticks to his promises. Someone who is faithful is completely trustworthy and reliable.

And we must remember that God is faithful. God is completely worthy of our trust. Why is God completely trustworthy?

Read Deuteronomy 7:9 “9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”

This verse says that our God is faithful because he is a God ‘who keeps covenant and steadfast love’. We talked about covenant earlier this year and we talked about how covenant is the way God relates to us. A covenant is not a contrast, but just like marriage, a covenant is a complete commitment and promise you make towards another person. And God relates to us by covenant - God is completely committed to us.

And this next word ‘steadfast love’, is a word that comes up a lot in the OT - it is a very special word in the original Hebrew language, called ‘chesed’. It is not just any love, but it is talking aboud God’s covenantal love. God’s covenantal love is God’s complete commitment to us, his love to us, his determination to keep his promises to us, no matter what we do. No matter how much we rebel and push him away, God is not moved and He is completely determined to love us and He is completely commited himself to us.

And we can see this through OT history - Israel sinned against God time and time again. And although God did punish and judge Israel, the overall final outcome was that God never abandoned Israel. God continued to love Israel - His people. And he made sure His promises to them were never broken, by bringing Jesus into the world through the nation of Israel.

And that is how it is with us. God shows us this same covenant love - all the promises He made to Israel, he has promised to us as well. His promises of love, security, assurance, salvation, heaven. This love and God’s promises are completely unbreakable. That’s why God is completely trustworthy. God is faithful.

2. We are called to be faithful

But it is not only God who is faithful, but we are called to be faithful as well. We are also called to show alliegance, loyalty, and complete trustworthiness. But aren’t non-Christians faithful, loyal and trustworthy as well? Yes of course, sometimes they are even more reliable than Christians.

But the reason Christian faithfulness is different is because of where it comes from. For non-Christians, faithfulness is completely horizontal - it is just faithfulness and being trusthworthy between each other. But for Christians, it is first vertical, and then horizontal. We are to be faithful to God first, and from that flows out our faithfulness to our neighbour.

As believers, we are to completely be loyal and trust and be faithful to God. Our alliegance is to be God first - not ourselves, not our idols, not the world, not even our families. Our first priority in life is God himself. And being faithful to God means we listen to him - we obey his commandments and instructions for our lives. Read Deuteronomy 7:9 again “9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”

As those who are loved by God’s covenant love, we are to keep God’s commandments. And that means to be faithful and loving to those around us.

And here is one example of what it means for us to be faithful and loving to others - Read Psalm 15:2–3 “2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;”

Christians are called to be reliable, loving, trustworthy friends. Not just because it’s a good thing to do, or to build up our reputation among other people. But because faithfulness is what God is and is what God has called us to be.

Conclusion

So this week, let’s practice faithfulness. Let’s be that trustworthy, loyal and completely reliable friend, that loves others, doesn’t talk behind the back of others, sacrifices oneself for the benefit of others. And let’s do it not for our own egos or reputations, but let’s do it in obedience to God.