Fruits of the Spirit 08- Faithfulness

Reading: Matt 25:14-30
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!’ Matthew 25:21 (NIV)

I.   Faithful with What?

     A.  Faithful with Material blessings

           1.  Faithful with much

                 a.  We who have much have more responsibility with what we have.

                 b.  How shall we honor God and love our neighbor with our abundance?

           2.  Faithful with little

                 a.  None of us are among the top 10% income folks. Some of us are among the bottom 10% in our society.

                 b.  We’re not responsible for what we don’t have, but we are responsible for what we do.

           3.  Blessed to be a blessing

                 a.  We are blessed to enjoy our blessings.

                 b.  We are blessed to be a blessing.

                 c.  How shall we honor God and love our neighbor with our material blessings?

     B.  Faithful with Spiritual blessings

           1.  What are spiritual blessing?

                 a.  God blesses us spiritually with a renewed relationship with him and with spiritual gifts given to us to use for building his Church.

                 b.  Spiritual blessings come from God.

                 c.  Not merely knowing lots of stuff about the Bible and/or theology (as important as that is). Not an emotion or feeling (as significant and meaningful as they can be).

           2.  What do we do with the growth God has achieved in us?

                 a.  There are spiritual couch potatoes — pew potatoes we can call them. They want to be fed, but never exercise their faith in the context of everyday life.

                 b.  God makes us servants not simply spectators.

                 c.  Spiritual blessing, like material blessing comes to us for our enjoyment, but also so that we can be a channel of God’s blessing to those around us.

           3.  What do we do with the spiritual blessings God has given to those around us?

                 a.  An often overlooked spiritual blessing we have are the spiritual blessings of those around us — especially those who have entered into God’s life in deeper or different ways than we have.

                 b.  We are responsible for the spiritual blessings that have been handed to us by those who have gone before us too.

     C.  Faithful in Opportunities

           1.  God gives us opportunities for faithfulness, how do we respond to them?

                 a.  A door opens to share a material or spiritual blessing with someone around us. Do we see the opening? Do we take advantage of the opening? How well do we do it?

           2.  Are we prepared to “give an answer to everyone who asks you about the hope that is in you?”

           3.  Every opportunity for faithfulness is an opportunity for unfaithfulness too. (uh, oh!)

II.  Faithful to Whom?

     A.  Faithful to God

           1.  The concept of faithfulness/trustworthiness in the Bible is almost always associated with God’s faithfulness to us or our faithfulness to him.

           2.  How are we faithful in our relationship with Him?

           3.  How are we faithful in bringing honor to Him?

     B.  Faithful to People

           1.  At Home: husbands & wives; parents & children are to be faithful to each other—that’s more than simply not being unfaithful, by the way!

           2.  We are to be faithful to those around us—to be faithful to God’s work in them.

           3.  Gossip and back-biting are ways of being unfaithful to each other.

     C.  Faithful to Myself

           1.  It is amazing how we devise to sabotage ourselves. Often we prefer our familiar pain, our familiar sins to the pain of growth and change.

           2.  God is at work in us and we need to be faithful to that—to honor that—to keep from undermining that!

           3.  The great need of this decade is authenticity, honesty, integrity—the heart of that is to remain true to what God is accomplishing in me.

III. God is Always Faithful to us

     A.  God is Faithful when we are Faithful

           1.  God promises to reward those who are faithful stewards of the blessings He gives to us.

           2.  In this parable the servants faithful with the a few things are given more.

           3.  And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42 (NIV)

     B.  God is Faithful when we Aren’t

           1.  Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (NIV)

           2.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

     C.  God’s Faithfulness helps us be faithful

           1.  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6 (NIV)

           2.  Unlike the master in this story, Our Lord has promised that he will never leave nor forsake us. We are not on our own. God helps us be faithful.

                 a.  We have not only the Great Commission but also the promise of Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

           3.  When we find our fruit of faithfulness too small, to green and too sour. What do we do?

The Bottom Line:

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