Faithfulness

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Galatians 5:22–25 NASB95

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

We continue our examination in what is really an encouragement in Sanctification. That is the work God is doing in you as a believer.

Paul’s declaration, needs to become our declaration:

Galatians 2:20 “20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

You cannot claim Christ as your Lord, claim the Holy Spirit as your own but your desire, goal, aim, habit is to please the flesh.

Those who are truly Christ’s, it’s not that they don’t have their struggle but when they wrestle they end up choosing Jesus. They find a way to choose Jesus.

God is working these things in you, so you can work them out in your life. Now you won’t just preach change, you can present change (in yourself).

The aspect of the fruit that warrants our attention today is: FAITHFULNESS

Here are some words attached to the the concept of “faithfulness”: reliable, dependable, trustworthy, steadfast, firm, promise-keeper, having a degree of certainty about them, a guarantee that creats the environment and possibility of trust (something about the thing that makes it easy to trust thing). - “What He did before, He can do again”

What I see in God makes it easy to trust - He is FAITHFUL!

Once again, don’t listen to the voices trying to convince you that this is “minor” stuff. If it was minor, why does the Holy Spirit have to nuture it?

A careful reading of Galatians and an understanding of the situtation of the believers, will show why the Holy Spirit is calling for these “fruit”. In particular, we will see why “faithfulness” must be cultivated in light of what they are facing.

Galatians 1:6 “6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;” Faithfulness will keep them deserting the true gospel

Galatians 3:3 “3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Faithfulness will address there abandoning of the Spirit’s work for the flesh

Galatians 5:7 “7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” - The answer for them gtting back on their run is FAITHFULNESS

Faithfulness is not based on your effort, you need help!

Some of us have developed a mindset where we believe more in our ability to stay faithful than in God’s ability to keep me.

I’ve slowly started shifting to what I do is going to keep me faithful, not who I am doing it for.

It is not to suggest that my acts of service are unimportant, but it should not supercede the God I serve.

It wasn’t the tacfulness of Moses that kept him, it was God

It wasn’t the bravery of David that kept him, it was God

It wasn’t the wisdom of Daniel that kept him, it was God

The reason they were all faithful, wasn’t their performance, it was their God!!!

God has a much bigger role in our sanctification than we think

Jude 24–25 “24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 6:11 “11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Set yourself free of the burden of trying to save yourself

Similar to all the virtues we have explored thus far, FAITHFULNESS also mirrors the God who is summoning us to and shaping our faithfulness.

This means, I cannot excel at faithfuless without the help of a God who knows what faithfulness is all about. He has to cultivate it in me.

# God’s Faithfulness

AN EXPRESSION

Psalm 36:5 “5 Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

This psalm David contrasts the way of the wicked to way of YHWH.

When he begins to describe the character of God he says, “your FAITHFULNESS reaches to the sky” - There is no limit to it, because that’s just who God is. He is not faithful to a point, He is faithful to that point and beyond! (Psalm 119:90 “90 Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands.” )

Lamentations 3:22–24 “22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.””

God’s faithfulness is so great it can interupt your lament

God’s faithfulness is not exhausted. There are situation where I find myself in that exhasut certain qualities in me (patience, tolerance, love, kindness etc.) - God never gets exhausted

AN EXECUTION

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 “23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

God is faithful to finish the work in you - what is reason to give up on God, who is not planning to give up on you?

“What shall you give in exchange for your soul?”

1 Corinthians 10:13 “13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

# Jesus’ Faithfulness

Luke 2:49 “49 And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?””

John 4:34 “34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”

Mark 10:45 “45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

John 17:4 “4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”

Matthew 16:21 “21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

When I think about Jesus and faithfulness, my mind ends up on the cross

Hebrews 3:5–6 “5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

Hebrews 12:2 “2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Faithfulness led Him to the cross!

Revelation 1:5 “5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness (matyr), the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—”

Revelation 19:11 “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.”

# The fruit of Faithfulness

I should not only know and believe the faithfulness of God and His Christ

But this should impact my will to submit to it being cultivated in me

The fruit of faithfulness finds itself in two (2) expressions:

#I. Commitment to God

Can I keep believing God? (many believe in God, but don’t believe God)

If there is a failure here, it will affect everything going foward - Mark 9:24 “24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”” - “help me have even more faith”

The word is actually pistis, trans. BELIEF

Can I keep obeying God?

Heb 11. Hall of faith. Each of these persons had faith and believed God and obeyed God

If we can sum up what God is asking us to do as a church is be committed to my cause (KINGDOM)

How faithful does God want you? - Revelation 2:10 “10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

If you are following Jesus and prioritizing comfort, convenience, and divided loyalties, you’re NOT a true disciple [Luke 9:57-62]

#II. Commitment to others

What this looked like for the Galatians was:

Stop biting and devouring each other

“Serve one another in love”

Help (“bear burdens”) others

What does that commitment look like for you? What is in your hands for you to do for your brother/sister in Chrost? - What can you stop doing that will benefit your brother/sister?

Hebrews 10:24–25 “24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

The issue in Hebrews was a belief issue

Let us pray that God humbles us so we can allow His Spirit to develop in us the fruit of faithfulness

So that we can become dependable people