Faithfulness and Your Future

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) Luke 19:11-27 (NIV)

In a recent article in The Futurist magazine, writer Laura Lee catalogues some of the worst predictions of all time: "Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments." - Roman engineer Julius Sextus Frontinus, A.D. 100 "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." - John Eric Ericksen, surgeon to Queen Victoria, 1873 "Law will be simplified [over the next century]. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed." - journalist Henri Browne, 1893 "It would appear we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology." - computer scientist John von Neumann, 1949 "The Japanese don’t make anything the people in the U.S. would want." - Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, 1954 "By the turn of the century, we will live in a paperless society." - Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors, 1986 "I predict the Internet ... will go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."

The future is a tricky thing. You make predictions about it at the risk of your own reputation. That’s because we live in a world of constant change. You can’t always count on trends or patterns to repeat themselves, or people to follow through. It’s not possible to predict the future for others, but did you know that it is possible for you to determine who you will be in the future? You have the ability, through the decisions you make today, to establish what your life will be tomorrow. Want to know the secret? It’s faithfulness. It also goes by titles such as reliability, consistency, dependability.

It is faithfulness to a vision that enables us to achieve what most people only dream. It is faithfulness to the people in our lives that builds deep, enduring, satisfying relationships. The uncommitted remain in the realm of shallow, stale acquaintances. It is faithfulness to God that will elicit a “Well done!” from the lips of the Almighty. Inconsistency and unreliability bring his rebuke and ultimately his judgment.

Let faithfulness set the course for your future. Faithfulness is powerful because it is activated by the Holy Spirit indwelling us. It is a gift that’s given to us when we place our complete trust in Jesus Christ, but it is also a mature character trait that God’s Spirit works to develop in us. Faithfulness is one of the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (NLT)

If you want to be faithful there are five simple principles surrounding it that you need to know. Let’s examine them together.

FIVE PRINCIPLES OF FAITHFULNESS

Jesus told a parable immediately after a notorious tax collector named Zacchaeus came to faith in him and as evidence of that changed life he committed to give half his money to the poor and to pay back any money he’d extorted at four times the original amount. If God’s got your wallet, it’s a good sign that he’s got your heart. Jesus told the bystanders, “Today salvation has come to this house!”

His audiences’ ears would have perked up at those words. He was talking about Zacchaeus’ personal acceptability before a holy God, but they had other ideas. Zacchaues was right with God because he had faith in God’s Son. This is the deliverance from sin and death. The crowd began to think of salvation on a national level: Luke 19:11 (NIV)While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.

Because Jesus was headed for Jerusalem and he made this statement about salvation coming “today,” his audience reached into their cultural suitcase and interpreted him as saying that the kingdom of God was about to be established on the earth. They believed that the capital of that kingdom would be Jerusalem. They had an image of peace and prosperity, a perfect world without pain. They failed to understand that the kingdom of God will be established on earth but through a process that involves the faithfulness of God’s people. Yes, a person enters the kingdom of God immediately through personal faith in Jesus Christ, but it was going to take time and the effort of faith demonstrated to usher in the world-wide rule of God. Here’s the principles they had forgotten:

1. You cannot arrive without taking the trip.

We can certainly relate to their perspective. In America we want the good grade without the pain of consistent study. We want to lose weight without the trouble diet and exercise. We want the romance and the sex without the commitment. We want the big bucks without the hard work and financial planning. I spent the better part of my late teens and early twenties hoping to join a successful athlete. I figured that if the guy down the street could do it with his meager talent, I had a pretty good shot. I didn’t know all his hours of practice and sacrifice. I wanted to arrive without taking the trip.

People try to do it spiritually too, believers desire growth in personal holiness, but try to take short cuts to get there. They attend a conference hoping for that easy answer to spirituality. Some of them clamor for church services where they can get “zapped” by the Holy Spirit for instantaneous results. But, you cannot arrive without taking the trip. No matter where you want to go it is faithfulness during the journey that gets you there.

Here is the parable that teaches this point: Luke 19:12-14 He (Jesus) said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’” (NIV)

Although his followers would not have understood at that moment, the “noble man” in the parable represented Jesus himself. It was a veiled allusion to his death, resurrection, and ascension back to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Jesus would return again one day, as King over all the earth, but in the meantime there was work to be done.

Here Jesus directed the parable at his followers. He’s the noble man who’s going on a journey and we are his servants, entrusted with his riches. A mina was a piece of silver equal to about three month’s wages. The principle for his followers then and now is:

2. You are responsible for the Master’s investment.

We are called to be faithful to everything and everyone God has placed in our lives. The talents and abilities and spiritual gifts that we’ve been given, we’re responsible to use in a way that honors God and serves his people. Clearly this is a call to all those who follow Jesus Christ to what they’ve been given in ministry. Ministry is one of the purposes of our church and ministry simply means meeting needs. Christian ministry means meeting needs in Jesus’ name. Are you being faithful or are you a spectator? You are responsible to God to find and fulfill your personal ministry. You are responsible to determine and then faithfully embark on your God-given purpose in life. And you do have one.

If you think about it, the sum total of your life is an investment from God. I want you to envision all the things God has blessed you with. Ask yourself, “Am I being faithful with that stuff?” Are you spending the money God gives you the ability to earn for his purposes? What about the things money can buy? Are you taking care of them like a good steward? You could even apply this to your physical body. Becoming healthy is important, we should give our bodies the rest, exercise and proper fuel that they need.

Let’s enlarge our vision even more. Think about the people God has surrounded you with. Are you being faithful to your spouse, kids, family, friends? By this I’m asking, “Are you giving them the time and attention they truly need?

What about God’s reputation? I hope you realize that as a follower of Jesus Christ you carry around God’s good name. You faithfulness reflects rightly or wrongly on the faithfulness of God. Are you a person who keeps their word or do you slip occasionally? Are you being faithful with his investment?

The parable continues: Luke 19:15-19 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. The first one came and said, ’Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ ’Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ’Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ The second came and said, ’Sir, your mina has earned five more.’ His master answered, ’You take charge of five cities.’” (NIV) I think the principle here is easy to see.

3. Dependability with a little indicates reliability with much.

The master knew he could trust his productive servants with more responsibility. If God can trust us to be faithful with a little, he can trust us to be faithful with a lot. The opposite is also true.

There was a book out a few years ago called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. That title is a problem because sweating the small stuff is what makes people successful. If you want to successfully lose weight, you don’t just start exercising like a maniac and eating only tofu and bean sprouts. People who successfully change their bodies do so by altering their lifestyle one step at a time. They replace one bad habit at a time until they reach their goal.

In his book, Leadership, Rudolph Guiliani, describes how he led New York City to dramatically reduces its crime and murder rate. In 1993, there were 1,946 murders. By 2001, Guiliani’s last year in office, that number had fallen to 642, a reduction of 67%. He reduced crime by faithfulness to small things. He started by removing the notorious “squeegee men” who harassed motorists as they entered the city. They began arresting them for jaywalking and found many of them had outstanding warrants. Just by banishing the squeegee men, Guiliani improved New Yorker’s and visitors’ impression of the city and amazingly reduced crime by 5,000 felonies per week. Faithfulness to many little things like this is what made Guiliani’s two terms as mayor so successful.

Faithfulness with a little indicates faithfulness with a lot and also leads to a lot of success. Next we get a look at a servant who was not faithful with his Master’s investment:

Luke 19:20-23 “Then another servant came and said, ’Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’” (NIV)

This servant was full of good intentions. He took the money given him and laid it in a piece of cloth. This was no ordinary piece of cloth. It was a “spoudarion,” the ancient world’s equivalent of a handkerchief. It was used to wipe away sweat from the brow during a hard day’s work. You see, this servant really intended to do something with his mater’s investment, but he just never got around to it. Something came up. Circumstances prevented him from following through. Maybe he just didn’t feel led to invest the money. He had good intentions, but he was unfaithful. No matter how pure your motives or truthful your initial promises, unless you follow through and do them, you’re faithless.

How good is your word? Do you always and completely follow through with your promises? Do you do what you say you’re going to do? What about your kids? Do you keep your promises to take them places and do things with them? Do you show up when you say you’re going to be there? (F.Y.I – In kid language a “maybe” means “yes.”) Do you honor your promises to your spouse? Do you follow through with even the little things that you say you’re going to do or do you let some slide because you know they won’t mind?

How about when you tell people you’ll pray for them, do you follow through? At Faith we’ve folks signing up to help out and then not showing up. They’ll be fired up about serving God by serving others one minute and then the next they’ve vanished.

I place vows and covenants in the same category. When folks get married they make promises in the heat of romance. The years go by and passions cool. It’s then that the couple must decide if their going to be faithful. These days 50% do not follow through.

At Faith Community we have a membership covenant. To be a member you commit to attend worship to the best of your ability each weekend, to pray for our church and her leadership, to participate in a small group, serve in ministry, and build a relationship with unchurched people. Most of our members take their covenant seriously. Some do not and aren’t following through. God takes all our promises seriously. In fact, Jesus said: "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36) Our word matters to God because it reflects on him.

The servant in the parable had good intentions, but did not follow through. Why? His excuse was that he was afraid: “You’re such a hard man. I knew you’d expect a return, so I didn’t give you any.” Does that make sense to you? Me either. The master judges the servant by his own words, “If you knew that something was expected of you why didn’t you bring a return?” The problem wasn’t that he was afraid of his master, just the opposite. He thought his master wouldn’t follow through in judging his laziness. If he were really afraid, he’d have done something. He was apathetic in his thoughts about his master. He didn’t really think he’d be held accountable. This leads us to the fourth principle:

4. Your faithfulness is only as strong as your accountability.

Modern translation and interpretations of this parable really try to pretty up how demanding the master is in the story because he represents God. But if we’re to take this parable at face value it tells us that God is demanding. He expects a return on his investment. The servant thought that the master wouldn’t be true to his character.

Some people think that they will magically wake up in heaven and skip judgment day altogether. Even worse are people who have faith in Jesus Christ but disregard his command to be faithful and live life their own way. They have a distorted view of God as their big buddy in the sky. They miss the fact all will stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

The fact is that unless you think someone is going to hold you accountable for your actions you will probably not follow through. If the people in your life let you off the hook, you won’t be faithful. By the way, in psychology they call that enabling. Let me tell you although people may not hold you accountable, God will. Luke 19:24-27 “Then he said to those standing by, ’Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.’” (NIV) The principle here is simple:

5. If you don’t use it, you will lose it (plus some).

You can have a great ability – artistic, academic, or athletic, but if you don’t use it consistently you can lose it. You can apply this principle to any sphere of life. Let’s use the example of marriage and family. Be faithless with your spouse and you could lose them. The relationship will die, but there’s a spiritual dimension to it as well. Do you realize, men, that the Bible says that if we don’t treat our wives with the honor they deserve that God will not answer our prayers. If we fail to be faithful with our kids, not only will they despise us and perhaps become rebellious, but the Bible says that such unfaithfulness disqualifies a person from spiritual leadership in the church.

I invite you to take a long hard look at your life. Are there abilities, possessions, careers, relationships that are gone because of your faithlessness? If you’re losing ground in life, check your faithfulness. If you don’t use it you will lose it (plus some.)

Faithfulness, on the other hand, brings the reward of more responsibility from God. Not only do you get to keep what God has given you, but he will add the blessings. Your ability and authority and influence for the kingdom of God will increase. You can experience positive change in your life, in your relationships, and in your pursuit of God by faithfulness. You can set yourself up to one day hear the Lord say, “Well done!” Let faithfulness set the course for your future. Before we leave this parable there’s one more verse that closes it out. Luke 19:27 “‘But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them - bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” (NIV)

In ancient times kings had the power of life and death. This noble man who became king was within his full right to do what he did. In the context of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is pointing to the fact that his own people, the majority of the Jews in Jerusalem, would reject him as their king. In fact, when the Roman governor offered to release Jesus from execution and called him King of the Jews the people said, “We have no king, but Caesar!” 4 decades later many in that crowd were starved to death or savagely murdered when the Roman army invaded Jerusalem, set it on fire, and tore down the temple, stone from stone.

This parable serves as a warning to all who would reject Jesus Christ as the authority in their life. Those who ultimately reject his accountability will pay the ultimate price for their faithlessness, eternal death, a hopeless, miserable existence, separated from God and all goodness permanently. That is the fearful expectation of the enemies of God.

God is faithful. Romans 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”