Faithfulness
Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness
BRBC 8/7/07 PM.
We have some friends who rang us and said his sister was going on holiday to the same hotel as we were going to and could we “keep an eye on her” as she was travelling alone. Chatting to her (who we’d never met before) she said that her brother and sister in law were “very faithful people” Of course we knew that by virtue of their concern for her in travelling alone, but it stook in my mind as a lovely thing to say and have said about yourself. Am I a faithful person? Dependable? Stickable? “Steadfast in affection or allegiance”[1]
Paul writes to the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. Actually the word is the standard word in the NT for faith. It could be read that “the fruit of the Spirit is faith”. Faith comes from God. Unless he gives it we can’t have it. But it is generally considered that’s not the nuance here. In 2 Tim 2:13 we read, if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. That’s the same simple word. But you can’t read it that God will remain “faith.” The context means “faithful”. And the implications of the “fruit of the spirit” relate to behaviour rather than simply belief, so it seems reasonable to take it as faithfulness rather than simply faith.
That quote from 2 Timothy also reminds us of what we have seen every week, namely that the fruit of the Spirit produced in us is the character and personality of God. God is faithful. Psalm 33:4 says, the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
Psalm 89:1 (NIV) I will sing of the Lord’s great love for ever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV) God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
The Bible throughout affirms that God is totally faithful. There are some ways whereby he is faithful directly to us. He does things that only he can do. He is faithful to us in creation and provision of the world and its resources. He’s faithful to us in salvation, sending Jesus to save us. And sometimes he is faithful to us through each other, like when our friends asked us to keep an eye on their sister. When she said they are very faithful, we knew that because they’d shown it in their request. Our very conversation and contact with her was because of their faithfulness to her by ringing us. Peter wrote in his first letter,
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace (4:10)
So when we read that the fruit of the spirit is faithfulness, there is a lot at stake. We are to be faithful in order to be like God, and faithful because God’s faithfulness to others is expressed through us. But there is more. We need to be faithful to God.
Faithful like God. Faithful to God. Faithful for God.
To see the inter-relation of these things let’s take a brief look at the famous parable of the stewards and talents in Matthew 25:14ff.
Note in verse 14 that the master is faithful. He’s going away. He won’t be seen. But he can’t be accused of dereliction of duty. He’s faithful even through absent. He entrusted his property. He’s faithful to his servants. He gives out responsibility, five two and one talents respectively, each according to his ability (15). He didn’t demand more than each individual was capable of dealing with. He’s faithful to his overall business and to each individual.
Note Verse 19: after a long time the master returned. Faithful to his business, faithful to his word…
To each of the first two who according to their ability had multiplied his money he said well done “good and faithful servant”. They were faithful with the money, but even more importantly they were faithful to the master who had commissioned them. They were faithful because they knew the master would be faithful in coming back. This is ironically seen in the third servant who states that he implicitly knew the master would be back. The very fact that he feared his return shows this. But the masters character had not been forged in him. He showed no faithfulness to the masters assessment of his ability and so it didn’t work out in his own faithfulness.
Not Faithful like God. Faithful to God. Faithful for God.
So he’s a case study in lack of fruit. Stagnation, inactivity, no risk taking or productivity, fear of his master and ultimately removal of responsibility. That is what marks faithlessness. But what marks out faithfulness? Believing the masters assessment, working with what he has given, productivity and ultimately more responsibility. Faithful with few…In charge of many. (21, 23)
If these marks show faithfulness or faithlessness, how are you marked? If the fruit of the Spirit – the natural produce – is faithfulness, are you marked? The fruit of faithfulness is increased responsibility and reward in the Kingdom of God. In one sense that reward is yet to come. The servants get their reward when the master returns. But in another sense God can reward you now for faithfulness. When he sees someone developing the fruit of faithfulness he sees someone he can use.
Luke 16:10-12 (NIV)
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
That translation uses the words trust and trustworthy, but it is the same word, faithfulness. Faithfulness is trustability. You know when you are developing in the fruit of faithfulness because God will trust you to do more. But it starts with the little things.
Faithful like God. Faithful to God. Faithful for God.
But the final reward comes later. Oh for that day when God might say to you and me, “well done good and faithful servant. Come and share your masters happiness”
An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and were returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.
No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President's entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man. As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us."
"Dear, you shouldn't feel that way," his wife said. "I can't help it; it doesn't seem right."
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President's arrival, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East Side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.
That night the man's spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can't take this; God is not treating us fairly." His wife replied, "Why don't you go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"
A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?" "The Lord settled it with me," he said. "I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, 'But you're not home yet!'"
Yes, there are rewards for faithfulness, but not necessarily down here.
-- Ray Stedman, Talking to My Father
----
[1] Merriam Webster Collegiate dictionary.
