Faithfulness
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What have you learned so far in this class?
Joy, Kindness, Love, Forbearance
Today we are going to cover faithfulness
What is faithfulness?
Steadfast in affection or allegiance
We live in a culture and society where faithfulness is dying breed. Jobs, families, marriages can all be described as a lack of steadfast affection or allegiance.
Only 46% of American adults get married because of the lack of the desire of committment or faithfulness and of those that do get married, 1 in 6 American adults have been divorced.
Look at sports. Gone as the days for most people of playing with the same team their whole career. They are all in until there is a better offer or something doesn’t go the way they want, and they jump ship.
But this isn’t a new problem.
Proverbs 20:6 “6 Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?”
So what does this look like?
Galatians 5:22–23 “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.”
The word used here means loyalty and trustworthiness
We see this throughout the scripture:
Lamentations 3:22 “22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;”
Philippians 2:7–9 “7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,”
1 Thessalonians 5:24 “24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
Revelation 2:10 “10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
So he was faithful, and we are called to be faithful. But what does that look like? Becaue we can’t be perfect, so how do we do this?
The first area is loyalty. This goes along with what we learned about at VBS this week right? What was the theme of VBS? Discovering the one true God. There is only 1. Not 3, 5, 100, 1000. And that one true God is worthy of our praise and adoration
1 Chronicles 16:25 “25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods.”
Revelation 5:13 “13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!””
He is worthy of our praise.
But what does loyalty look like?
At your tables: how do you show your loyalty to a team or group?
Okay, so how do you show loyalty to God?
Love him
Deuteronomy 6:5 “5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Obey him
John 14:15 “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
James 1:22 “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
1 John 2:3–4 “3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,”
Matthew 7:21 “21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
What are things we are commanded to do? (write them down at your table)
Follow Christ
Luke 9:23 “23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Read the word
2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Romans 15:4 “4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Memorize & think about the word
Psalm 119:11 “11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 1:2 “2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
Be apart of the church:
Hebrews 10:24–25 “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
1 Corinthians 12:25 “25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”
We could go through all the one anothers.
We can show our loyalty and commitment, faithfulness to God by doing these things.
There is another area I want to get into: integrity.
Its just a piece of the pie but oh how we can be a testimony to those around us and be faithful to what we have been called to do.
Google: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, moral uprightness”
John Piper, “our inner beings align with our outer beings”
Unknown (not mine) “Doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason; even when no one (except God) is watching”
Synonyms: honesty, virtue, ethic, morals/morality, goodness
Antonyms: immorality, evil, wickedness, dishonesty, indiscretion
And so what is integrity?
Its being undivided, true to ones standards.
Doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons, even when no one (except God) is watching.
And that includes doing the same thing that you say others should be doing.
I want to make a distinction here though.
And I will tell you to define biblical integrity I would not change my definition at all. I would use that some one. So whats the difference? Well how do you know the right thing.
The problem with the world’s integrity is that it is a moving target. You can be true to ones standards, holding fast to what you believe and what you are being told is right. Those standards are changing. We see that so much in our culture today. What is “right” is different by the day.
Let me give you a clear example using the British monachry as an example. I don’t think they are necessarily a good example of any sort of moral rightness but I do think they represent a snapshot of what our society thinks is right.
King George V reigned for over 25 years, through World War 1, dies from bad health. Well the throne goes to his oldest son which was Edward the VIII. His reign as King only lasted for about 6 months. Why did he have to leave the throne? He actually abdicated the throne which meant he gave it up and was officially no longer allowed to be part of the royal house.
His offense wasn’t committing a crime, it wasn’t breaking some law or even some tradition. His offense was falling in love with a women, Miss Wallace SImpson, who get this, was divorced. She was actually divorced twice, and both her ex-husbands were still alive. Your thinking—so what? Well in 1936 that was an absolute no-no in the Church of England and in England as a whole. He absolutely could not marry this women it was literally against the doctrine. You could not hold an official leadership position and violate this principle—the principle of marrying a divorced women.
Well fast forward—he leaves the throne and so George VI suddenly is king—never ever expected to, it was almost impossible for him to be and yet here he is. That transfer the line to his family, his daughter Elizabeth II takes over after he suddenly dies and she is just 21 years old and would go on to be the longest tenured monarch ever on the British throne.
Her life was not all sunshine and roses, her husband Prince Philip was far from a moral man, she was famously known for a lack of emotion.
They had children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. Theres a lot we can get into there—they all are surrounded by scandal, Andrew has been allegedly involved with an international trade of abusing women in various ways I won’t get into that.
Heres the point. Charles, there son, is the King of England today, currently, in 2023.
He is married to Camilia Parker Bowles who was married when they met and started seeing each other. As a matter of fact they were both married, he was married to Princess Diana and they were having an affair.
1936 King Edward had to give up the throne for the women he loved (thats how they would pitch it now) but the reality was he had to give up the throne for violating the clear truth and standard of marriage.
2023 Charles III is king of England despite his indiscretions with women for years and years, for divorcing his wife and marrying a divorced women, and yet he is not only King he is celebrated as King.
The standard has changed. In 90 years it has moved so much that not only has marrying a divorced women been allowed so is being divorced and violating all of the marriage coventants that all parties made.
The standard is moving, it changes.
And yet the bibles standards do not. The standard that Moses was held to is the same that Jonah was held to. That John the Baptist was held to. That Paul and Timothy were held to. That you and I are held to.
And so in our remaining time I want to point out what that standard is and why we need to meet that standard and how we can meet that standard.
Here is the simplest way I can put it; Jesus is the essence of integrity.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
What we covered a couple years ago in John on Wednesday nights and I have brought up a couple times these great “I AM” statements that Jesus makes. There is all sorts of confusion about who Jesus is, “is he this or that, is he from here or there, is he going to do this or that?” The people was confused and the pharisees were intentially poking at the bear trying to get him to violate some scared Jewish law. and in a series of bold statements Jesus boldly fires back with firm, dogmatic statements about who he is.
I am---the way, the truth, and the life.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus left his throne, left the right hand of the father to join us, to commune with us and be with us. He was full of grace and truth. He is the truth, the standard.
Turn with me to 1 John
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
God is light, and in him thee is no darkness at all.
We are going to keep coming back to this idea of darkness and light—truth and lies. Jesus is the light, the truth, and there is absolutly no darkness or falsehood in him at all.
Everyone in here knows the truth that we need Jesus and that we need to be saved and born again and redeemed.
But listen carefully to the words of John by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Don’t miss the point here. (I am adding emphasis here)
If you (insert yourself here) say you have fellowship with Jesus, with Him, and yet you walk in darkness (in lies or falsehood), you are a liar, you do not practice the truth.
But, if you, walk in light, as Jesus is in and is the light, we have fellowship with one another, and with the blood of Jesus who has cleansed you, cleansed me from ALL sin.
We don’t get to partake in the benefits without being expected to live to the standard.
We certainly will not be perfect—if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins—he is faithful and just to forgive. This back and forth those in the darkness claim to have no darkness, they are wrong and clearly still in darkness. Those in light see the darkness in their life and ask for the true Light help rid that from their life and he will do so because he is faithful and just.
Skip down to chapter 2.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Why is he writing this things to us? So that we can no sin, so that we have the standard and can live up to that standard. We are going to fall short of that standard but we have one, Jesus, who can advocate for us with with the father and through his atoning blood make it so that we are worthy in God’s sight.
How can we prove that we know the truth? By living up to the standard—by keeping his commandments.
Those who claim to know him and do not follow what he says is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Those that claim to live one way but their live shows a pattern of another way are not in the truth.
I want to close with a narrative from the gospel of Matthew. Jesus is interacting with a young man who wants to know how can he get to heaven. Follow along with me in Matthew 19
And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
What must I do to be right, to get into heaven. Jesus responds, its pretty simple—do what I say. Okay what specifically about what you said? Jesus responds, do not murder, do not commit adultery, don’t steal, etc.” The man responds, probably arrogantly—well I did all those, now what?
Sell what you have, give it to the poor, come and follow me. The man heard this and wept, went away for he had all these things. Jesus is the truth, the light and walking in the light is the only way we can be made right, that we can enter heaven.
Following the commandments and doing the right things will not make us worthy. For one we are unable to do so and fall short but even when we do we still have not moved from the guilty side to the redeemed side. Following Jesus, the true light and life, and being lavished in his rightouesness is what will make us right in God’s eyes.
