Calling the Faithful to Faithfulness

Calling the faithful to faithfulness- what a task. Sounds good as a tagline, sounds noble as a desire, sounds obtainable as a goal- but the reality is that is quite the tall order, isn’t it? For calling the faithful to faithfulness is not merely a one time event, or a singular action. No, calling the faithful to faithfulness is a perpetual commitment, one that is intertwined with discipleship, worship, stewardship, and call.

Faithfulness is likened to a pressing on towards a prize for Paul. His words a seared into our minds and hearts, as we can feel his strain in the words he is speaking. But we need not forget the words that surround this familiar trugh; for they have a lot to say to us about faithfulness to Christ and how we, as God’s people, can seek it out in our lives.

Consider the springboard that Paul uses for this text. In verses 1-11 Paul is writing about his confidence in Jesus.In fact, many of your Bibles might have a heading over these verses that reads something like “confidence in Christ” or “No confidence in the flesh“

Friends, i might contest today that confidence is a foundational concept of faithfulness- you cannot be faithful to something you are not confident in. And Paul is clear, his confidence is not in himself but he is confident in Christ. This is the challenge for many- what, or who, do you place your confidence in?

Paul was aware of this, as he built his rationale for faithfulness from the seed of confidence.

A man once came up to C. H. Spurgeon, the great English preacher, at a Christian retreat, and said that he had reached a state of spiritual perfection. Without a word Spurgeon picked up a pitcher of ice-cold water and poured it on the man's head. When the man became angry and reacted like any normal person would if cold water were poured on his head, Spurgeon said, "Well, now I know exactly what spiritual perfection you've come to!"

Are you confident in the Lord, church? Is your wagon hitched to the things of the Lord? Some people have their confidence in money- so they cast their lot with the stock market; some have their confidence in their job- so they cast their lot with overtime and extended hours; some have their confidence in their family and friends; so they cast their lot with social engagements and events. But me, I have confidence in Jesus; so I cast my lot with the cross and the community of faith. How about you? Can we join in the praise of David in Pslm 20:7 and say together: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Second, Paul tells us the heart of Christian faithfulness- the call of Christ. A often used principal for visioning, business, leadership and other journeys is “keep the main thing the main thing.“ In other words, while it is important to have some diversity, some peripheral goals and projects- the main thing of any journey should always have the most time, energy, and focus given to it.

Keep the main thing the main thing- and as Paul reminds us the main thing for followers of Jesus is the call of Christ.

The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs ever built, but there is something fascinating about its beginnings.

In 1629, when the favorite wife of Indian ruler Shah Jahan died, he ordered that a magnificent tomb be built as a memorial to her. The shah placed his wife’s casket in the middle of a parcel of land, and construction of the temple literally began around it. But several years into the venture, the Shah’s grief for his wife gave way to a passion for the project. One day while he was surveying the sight, he reportedly stumbled over a wooden box, and he had some workers throw it out. It was months before he realized that his wife’s casket had been destroyed. The original purpose for the memorial became lost in the details of construction.

Let’s face it, friends, we can be guilty of the same. There is much noble work in the mission of the church. In fact, I would say pretty confidently that I cannot think of anything my church- Mt Zion- does that is not rooted in a noble cause. The challenge is that church folk can make a habit of being more faithful to church things than to Jesus. We can get so caught up in committee work; church programming; our responsibilities we have committed to for the church; that we miss the point and the point is Jesus!

Wasn’t that the ultimate call of Jesus in the words of Matt 6:33- “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you” Seems to me like that is Jesus’ way of saying- Keep the main thing the main thing church!

Please hear me, friends. I know many of you, I know many of your pastors. I have heard the stories of your ministries- the soup kitchens, the VBS programs, the outreaches and nurturing ministries that so many of your congregations are a part of. We are blessed here in the Valley to have so many cool things happening in the lives of so many churches. But there is a flip side to that conversation. We live in a time when nationally church attendance is at an all time low; trust in the church has eroded, and many congregations are worried of their futures. It can be tempting for churches to look at programs and gimmicks to brighten their futures- to say if only we start a kids ministry; or if we only had a praise team; or a coffee shop in the foyer- or whatever the newest church trend is- then we would thrive. But friends, the center of church vitality is not program- it is JESUS.

That is why we need faithfulness.

But make no mistake, friends, it is not just noble intentions that can distort our faithfulness- it can also be the stress and pressure of this world.

William Still once recalled that it is impossible to be faithful to Jesus and not experience the opposition of the world. After all, being faithful to Christ means that you are choosing priorities, values, and behaviors that are completely opposite of what the world encourages and adopts. Remember, it was Jesus himself who said “in this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.”

The question is not if we have trouble, but what does that trouble do for our faithfulness.

It was a fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new to her; she had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.

The water was numbingly cold that day. The fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her party. Several times sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit. . . only one-mile from her goal.

Later she said, "I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it." It wasn’t the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail. It was the fog.

It was the fog- the stuff that got in the way of the goal that made her quit early.

The same might be said about us- sometimes the pressure of the world- the fog can get the best of the church. Let’s face it, the past year or so has been filled with some fog, hasn’t it? Covid, quarantine, polarization in society, there’s been some fog. For some the picture of faith and the picture of the future of the church has been painted in a pretty bleak light, hasn’t it? In the eyes of the world there might not be any harm in casting our eyes inward and losing faith.

There is a reason that Paul’s encouragement to us in Phil 3 contains the phrase “I press on” two times- the word we find in our Bible as press or hasten- comes from the Greek word Dee-oh-co which is often translated into the English word persecute. It means to track something down with zeal and intensity. In the most negative contexts we call this persecution- when someone is coming after Christians with zeal and intensity to snuff them out- but in this context Paul is calling us to run after the call of the Lord- to seek faithfulness- with zeal and intensity.

Why would we need zeal and intensity? Because faithfulness is not always easy, is it? In fact, some might argue that if it is not sometimes hard, it is not faithfulness at all- because faithfulness bears the most fruit in times of challenge. In these moments, the moments of challenge is when our faithfulness has an opportunity to shine the most.

Finally, notice how Paul ends this portion of Scripture in v20-21. The end result of our faithfulness is connection with our Savior. This is the promise of Scripture, that our faithfulness comes with a guarantee, and that guarantee is Jesus. A Heavenly citizenship.

A woman had been diagnosed with cancer and had been given three months to live. Her doctor told her to start making preparations to die. So she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what she wanted to be wearing.

The woman also told her pastor that she wanted to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. “There’s one more thing,” she said excitedly.

“What’s that?” came the pastor’s reply.

“This is very important.” The woman continued, “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”

The pastor stood looking at the woman not knowing quite what to say.

“That shocks you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked.

“Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,” said the pastor.

The woman explained. “In all my years of attending church socials and functions where food was involved, and let’s be honest, food is an important part of any church event, spiritual or otherwise, my favorite part was when whoever was clearing away the dishes of the main course would lean over and say ’you can keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming.”

“When they told me to keep my fork, I knew that something great was about to be given to me. It wasn’t Jell-O or pudding. It was pie - something really good. So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them, ‘Something better is coming, so keep your fork too.’”

Something better is coming for us, friends. How far away? We are not sure. What will it look like? Can’t tell you all the details. How will we know? All I can say is we will know. But in the midst of all that we don’t know there is one thing that we can hold fast to with all certainly- Jesus.