Faithfulness-Week 1

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Begin with Prayer

Colossians 4:2 NIV

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

FAITHFULNESS

What is faithfulness?

Faithfulness means ‘allegience to’, or trustworthiness, or constancy.

This word shines in relation to someone or something else. You’re trustworthy if you’re generally a person of their word. You’re faithful if you’re a person of your word TO something.

We’ve taken the word to mean ‘reliable’. And to some degree, it does. But in order to really appreciate this word, we have to understand something here, that gets a little lost in translation.

In the bible, there’s two words that whether in the hebrew or the greek, they can be somewhat interchangeably -

Faithfulness and Faith

In the bible, the terms ‘faithfulness’ and ‘faith’ are the same concept. The same words can often be used to translate both ideas.

Last week we talked about the word Pisteuo, which translates as ‘I believe’, but means ‘I trust this, or I entrust myself to this’.

This word is the verb form of the noun ‘pistis’ which means ‘faith’ or ‘faithfulness’. (Matt 23:23 - jesus accuses the pharisees of neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness - he uses that word).

We’ve twisted this word ‘faith’ to mean ‘confidence in a fact’ (I believe that this healing will happen right here, the way I want).

But what it really means is, I trust the one in whom I have faith, I entrust myself to the person in whom I have faith.

So really,

Faith is the act of living in light of God’s faithfulness until the very end

Faith is the response to the acceptance of the faithfulness of God. Faithfulness is the other side of the coin of faith.

Hebrews 10:23 NIV

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Paul says this in a section dedicated to reminding people to endure to the end in order to be able to receive salvation and stand face to face with God.

These people weren’t facing (at least in this chapter) some external threat they had to fight. This was internal - that temptation to keep sinning, and reject the truth.

So they were up against this scenario to doubt and test the goodness of God. They had made this profession of faith, but now they were in that spot to test if they were living it every single day.

It’s one thing to show strength in that moment of challenge. It’s another thing to show it every single day, in the decisions you make, especially when no one is looking and nothing seems like it’s immediately on the line.

And paul reminds them - you had undergone persecution, you showed faithfulness then, and God was faithful to you during it. Now, don’t walk away and give up on that same confidence that drove you before.

Paul ties off this section with an interesting verse:

Hebrews 10:36 NIV

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

So basically - hold on and keeping doing what God wants NOW, because THEN, God will show just how faithful HE’S been.

God Rewards This Kind of Faithfulness

Jesus speaks about faithfulness. And interestingly, it’s in the exact same sort of context that Paul does - making sure we keep doing the right thing until the very end.

CONVERSATION WITH JESUS - look at the beautiful temple! Jesus - nope gonna destroy it, here’s the end times.

Then Jesus says - so because of this,

Matthew 24:42–46 NIV

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

So Jesus says, that faithful servant is the one who’s committed to doing the work I have for them.

then he tells three different parables - the parable of the ten virgins, the parable of the bags of gold, and the parable of the sheep and the goats, all to illustrate this idea of what it means to be faithful.

Notice this here in the parable of the bags of gold (SUMMARIZE)

Matthew 25:19–21 NIV

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Notice this exchange here.

They are the servants of their master already.

The master ENTRUSTS them with something.

First question -

What has God entrusted you with?

I’ll give you a hint - this list is a lot longer than what you think it is.

We can’t think, ok, here’s that one skill that I’m willing to give to God - i’ll be faithful with that. The question isn’t ‘What will you entrust God with?’ - It’s ‘What has God already entrusted you with?’

My leadership abilities - but also, my family, my time, my desires, my ability to work, my proximity to my neighbours, etc etc.

If you ask yourself, ‘what has God given me?’ (hint: everything), then congrats. That’s your list of things that God has entrusted to you to be faithful with.

So back to this parable.

They demonstrate that they trust and want to work for their master - So they put it to work.

The master comes back and says - You were faithful!

But there’s this third servant. And he says, I don’t trust that you deserve this effort.

He literally says, I don’t think that what this generates counts as yours.

And that servant is punished.

So here’s the second question

Are you being faithful with everything God entrusted to you?

Are you the first and second servant, who look at everything you have, and say, OK God, i’m going to be faithful with this.

Or are you that third servant who says, OK, God, I know you’re out there, I know you’re in charge - BUT - here’s the part YOU get, and the rest isn’t yours.

There’s great news that we’re going to explain more next week - and that is that even with our faithfulness, God works IN us to move us to that place. So we’re not alone and we’re always forgiven for stumbling on the way.

But this ties back to that root question of trust.

Do you TRUST God , or do you merely ACKNOWLEDGE God?

Faith and Faithfulness linguistically in the OT/NT are the same concept

In the OT, truth is a synonym of faithfulness

Faithfulness means ‘maintaining allegience’, similar to strengthen, support, hold up, firmness, constancy, trustworthiness.

Faith is more than simply accepting a truth. It is expressing a constancy and trust of God. To say one has faith is to say that one is full of faithfulness to God.

Faith is ‘the trustful human response to God’s self-revelation’

Failure to trust God (aka, to rely on God’s faithfulness) was the first sin (Gen 3:1-7)

God has historically demonstrated that He will save those who trust in Him. Faith occurs when we respond to the evidence / words of God with ‘Save me’.

When we call God ‘our rock’ and ‘our firm foundation’, we’re effectively saying ‘God is faithful’.

God’s faithfulness stems from, among other things, his truthfulness. He is always true, always right.

Abraham as an example of faith

He was willing even to sacrifice his son Isaac, because he trusted the Lord as good.

The word for belief (pisteuo) meaning ‘I trust this, and entrust myself to this’ is the verb form of the word ‘pistis’ which means ‘faith/faithfulness’

In the NT, our faith is even more about a response to God’s self-revelation (because we have the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus)

We can only express faithfulness as enabled by the Spirit in our lives