01 Fourth Sunday In Advent - How To Become Faithful

By Fr Christopher Nerreau

Date Preached: December 19, 2021

Fourth Sunday Of Advent

Main Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 4:1–2 “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

Introduction

I want to talk to you this morning about faithfulness.

What is faith in Christ if it does not include faithfulness?

Our Epistle reading - 1 Cor 4:1-5 These are wonderful verses, and they are directed to us this morning.

“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful”

Lets begin with this word faithfulness. What is faithfulness? It is the quality of possessing:

· Integrity

· Loyalty

· Dependability

· Fidelity

“Faithfulness is doing your duty ’til your duty is done” - unknown author.

Today, we live in a day of unfaithfulness—a day when man’s word means so very little, whether he puts it on a marriage certificate and contract, or whether it’s a business contract, or whether it is a treaty between nations, or whether it’s the word of a politician.

Faithfulness seems to be a commodity in short supply. Frankly, its so short in supply that we don’t even expect it any longer.

Gallop Poll - 46% of the American public admits to—now, these are those who admit—

· calling in sick when they’re not sick.

· shortchanging a customer.

· cheating on exams.

· Lying on resume

We are called to be faithful to God

· Am I faithful in prayer?

· Am I faithful in charitable giving?

· Am I faithful in attending Liturgical services?

· Am I faithful in showing mercy, forgiveness?

We are called to be faithful to our spouses

· The starting place after fidelity to God is the Home

· Never has it been so easy to destroy the home and family

· Free and open access to disgusting pornography

· Apps designed to help people commit adultery and get away with it (as if that were possible)

If our family cannot depend on us who can?

We are called to be faithful to our Church

When you don’t attend it hurts everyone

When you don’t give it hurts everyone

When you don’t invite it hurts everyone

We are called to be faithful to our employers

Do you know what the number one reason businesses have for losing money?

Wasted time -

When we stand at the water bubbler talking for 45 minutes we are stealing real money from our employer

When we surf the web during work, we steal from our employer

When we give less than our best, run personal errands, mix business and pleasure, we are unfaithful to our empolyers.

These are just some examples but ultimately we are called to be faithful in all parts of life.

Illustration

Yellowstone National Park.

Old Faithful – There are more than 200 guisers at yellowstone park. Do you know which one people visit most? Old Faithful, it’s not the biggest guiser, its not the hottest, but it is predictable, if you time it right you will see the guiser go off. It erupts every 65 minutes, you could count on it.

Every 65 minutes it’d spew water—boiling water—up into the air, about 170 feet into the air.

I wonder how many of us are faithful like that -

Now notice with me in verse 2 - “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).

You see, God not only desires faithfulness—God requires faithfulness.

One of these days, Chris is going to stand before the Lord. And, do you know what I want Him to say to me?

The same thing you want Him to say to you - “[The] Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

Transition

Are you a faithful person? Now don’t answer that, let others answer it for you:

· Does your wife think of you as a faithful person?

· Do your children think of you as faithful?

· Does your employer think of you as a faithful person?

· Do your grandkids think of you as a faithful person?

As I prepared this message I had to do some deep soul searching—ask myself this question: “Chris, do you just talk about faithfulness? Are you truly a faithful person?”

The answer I came up with is that I need a lot of work and this sermon will be a difficult one to preach. But those are the sermons we need to hear the most.

Sermon Preview

TodayI think most of us desire to be faithful people. Christ has put this desire in our hearts and ultimately it is He who will bring it to fuition.

But we are called to cooperate with His Grace. God does not force himself upon us. In the Orthodox Church we call this Theosis, participating in the divine nature by grace and invitation.

So let’s discuss this further. Today I will show you three ways to become a faithful person. And please know, I will be listening to this sermon too.

So let’s begin… The first thing we need to do in order to become a faithful person is...

1. Be Faithful in the Small Things

LUKE 16:10 - “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10).

Faithfulness requires discipline, doing what we dont “feel” like doing.

It means we make decisions with our heads not our emotions.

Discipline requires planning, premeditation and sobriety

One spiritual truth you need to remember is that the big things are made up of little things. Discipline begins in the little things.

Illustration

· Your body, has various members. It’s made up of components.

—hands and feet, eyes and ears

—and they’re made up of smaller pieces of muscle and tissue. --

—And, that is made up of cells,

—and those cells are made up of atoms and a molecular structure.

It keeps getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Everything big is made up of something small.

· The ocean is made up of droplets

· The beaches are made up of grains of sand

· blizzards are made up of individual snowflakes.

Discpline and fidelity begin in the small things.

if you’re faithful in that which is small, there’s no way that you can not be faithful in that which is much. Because the small become the big.

Illustration 2

Did you know the Panama Canal construction had to stop because of mosquitoes? Hundreds of people were dying of malaria from bites and construction had to stop. Imagine that, such a large project being stopped by a little mosquitoe.

To finithe the project they first had to learn how to control the mosquitoes; and when they were able to control the little things, they were able to cut through those the greatest mountains. You take care of the mosquitoes—God will take care of the mountains.

It’s the small things that really count. You see, you can do much by doing little, but you cannot do much if you ignore the little.

Parents, one of the best things you can do is to teach your children to be faithful in little things.

David, before he was King of Israel, was a shepherd boy and kept a few sheep. And, before he slew Goliath, he had killed a lion and a bear.

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in [that which is] much” (Luke 16:10).

Transition

Not only are we called to be faithful in the small things. But we are called to be:

2. Be Faithful in the Secret Things

Fr Chris is not the man you see in this pulpit, but when he is alone, when he can make choices without anyone knowing, that is who I am.

Fr. Chris Nerreau is not who he desire to be, and he is not who he pretends to be, Fr. Chris is who in what he does, especially when he is alone.

And that’s true for you too. You are the person that you are when you are alone —when nobody else knows, in the secret things.

It’s easy to preach; it’s easy to say these things. But, what are you in the secret things?

Illustration:

Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling—the great artist—and was up there working on a cornice—on top of the cornice. And, someone said to him, “Michelangelo, nobody can see that.” He said, “I can see it, and God can see it.”

You see, the things that nobody else can see—the things that nobody knows about—these secret things. This is where fidelity begins.

Now, it’s one thing for you to praise the Lord during Holy Mass; but what about privately? What is your private worship like?

Illustration 2

Praisiung God publicly at Mass and not privately in your life is a form of spiritual pornography. It’s like looking at pictures of somebody that you’re not married to.

No, don’t get intimate with a God that you’re not committed to. And, don’t just simply be committed to Him in public and not in private.

Transition

So we are called to be faithful in the small things, in the secret things. Finally…

3. Be Faithful in the Sacred Things

On the surface we can say this means - Attend liturgy, say your prayers, receive the Eucharist ect...

But when we go a little deeper we find that Just as the small things equate to big things, so the sacred things are impacted by the seemingly insignificant things.

How can we drink until we are sick on Saturday and then have intimacy with God on Sunday morning?

How can we curse and tell crude jokes on Saturday and sing hymns and prayers on Sunday?

How can we steal from our family, employers on saturday and then give charitably on Sunday?

How can we hate our nieghbor and profess a love for Christ?

How can we gossip about and then pray for a blessing

The Sacramental life is not magic. The Eucharsit is meant to be received into a pure heart in order to take root. A marriage is not fullfilled in making vows, it is fullfilled in fidelity and love.

When we are faithful in our daily lives, when we love, when we forgive, when we are honest , modest, sober, then we are prepared to be faithful in the Sacred things.

Conclusion

Now all of this may seem overwhelming. And it is but the good news is that we are not meant to go it alone.

Actually, God does all of the heavy lifting.

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

What James means is that the desire to be faithful come from God and it’s fullfillment is a work of Gods grace as well.

But we have a role to play, we are called to say yes to God. We are called to synergy, to “hunder and thirst for righteousness”.

The liturgical services, the bible, our fellowship shapes our consicnece, God’s voice grows louder within us and when we hear:

You have had enough to drink it’s time to stop.

The conversation you are having is inappropriate

You are about to Gossip, don’t do it.

Ect…

We are called to cooperate with that voice, to pray for strength, and to watch God do His good work in us.

One day (soon) each of us will stand before Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not a single one of us will stand in perfection.

But, when we meet Him, when we look upon His face, the One who died for us and saved me by His grace, I really do want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

And I know you do, too.

Friend, it’s required of stewards that a man be found faithful.

In order to become faithful people we need to be faithful In the small things, the secret things, and the sacred things.

We have just begun a new liturgical year and soon we will begin a new calendar year. What better time to assess our fidelity to God and to our own selves. Amen.