Faithfulness

When I say the word, “faithful” what comes to mind? Who are some people that you would describe as reliable?

Illustration of Dad on 5th grade yearbook day.

What are some areas that you struggle to be reliable?

Well, in our lives there are people who aren’t faithful to us. They aren’t there when you need them and that let’s us down. If we really look at our lives and ask ourselves, “Where am I unfaithful in my life?” we will be sure to find that there are areas where we ourselves struggle to be what we expect from others and as we do that, we should be driven to be more commited, reliable and trustworthy to the people in our lives and responsibilities we have been given.

I want us to leave here encouraged to be faithful people. But what is our motivation? Where do we find our purpose?

Well, as we study this topic today and find it’s application to our lives. I can find no greater Biblical motivation for us than that...

1. I Know God’s Faithfulness Personally

His Faithfulness to Israel

Throughout the Old Testament there is reference after reference to God’s faithfulness to His covenant people. He reminds them time and time again that He is with them. In Exodus 34:6-7 we read,

Exodus 34:6–7 NKJV

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

and in Joshua 1:9 we read,

Joshua 1:9 NKJV

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Years ago my Papa gave me the first Bible he got when the Lord saved him. After he died I spent a lot of time reading it, looking at note after note of him writing of God’s faithfulness to him in his life and it greatly encouraged my faith and comforted me along my walk with Christ. As you and I read the Old Testament, our hearts should be encouraged the same way. These are our forefathers and we can read of God’s faithfulness to them and say, “Wow, if God could be there for them as messed up as they were and if He provided for them as frail as they were, then I must know He will be faithful to me.

So, when you’re facing battles, and you’re terrified of the armies marching toward you. You can be like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:21 where there is an enemy army of 3 different nations coming to fight him. He sends out his choir first to trumpet the praises of their faithful God.

2 Chronicles 20:21 NKJV

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”

This faithfulness is not just an emotion but a sense of love and loyalty that inspires merciful and compassionate behavior toward another and what could be more compassionate than what Paul tells us in Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 NKJV

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ’s Faithfulness to the Father

John 6:38 NKJV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

His Faithfulness to Us

Ephesians 1:13–14 NKJV

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Philippians 1:6 NKJV

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Hebrews 13:5 NKJV

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

2. I Know God Uses Faithfulness Powerfully

Here in Galatia there is a bit of an issue. Apparently when Paul was with them they really loved on him and made him feel really special, but since this issue with the false teachers has come in they haven’t been faithful in their friendship to him. He tells us about this in Galatians 4:13-20

Galatians 4:13–20 NKJV

You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

Here we read that these guys have changed their tone towards Paul and within Paul’s heart he is deeply mourning their situation and is praying for them to come to repentance that they may grow in Christlikeness because all of this legalism and divisiveness isn’t Christ-like!

You know Jesus dealth with people who felt like majoring on minors was a godly thing? In Matthew 23:23 we read,

Matthew 23:23 NKJV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

These guys have taken the command to tithe on ten percent so seriously that they are tithing a tenth of everything and the Lord brings out that while they’ve been focuing on these little things that they themselves created, they’ve missed the majors! They aren’t living with God-honoring hearts! And I wonder if that’s true of us. Are we majoring on minors in our Christian life?

You know, I grew up in a culture like that, where we couldn’t be brothers unless we were twins. But that isn’t the heart of the gospel. We are to be people who are enraptured in God’s grace and faithfulness to us and because of that we are to be full of justice, mercy and faith!

And this brings us to our last point.

My Faith Should Inform My Works and My Works Should Adorn My Faith

James 2:14–18 NKJV

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Matthew 5:16 NKJV

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Titus 2:9–10 NKJV

Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

Here in Titus 2, Paul is showing how even bond-servants can have lives that majorly impact people for the Gospel. That word adorn is interesting. It has to do with the lifting up or exposing of a jewel. And that is what our faithfulness does for the Gospel. But what does that look like? Let’s consider Jonathan and David in the Old Testament where we read, 1 Samuel 18:1

1 Samuel 18:1 NKJV

Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

1 Samuel 19:1–3 NKJV

Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David. So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you.”

These were reliable friends

Conclusion

In 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul dealt with an unfaithful friend as he wrote 2 Timothy 4:10

2 Timothy 4:10 NKJV

for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.

But here in Galatians we are reminded to live in light of God’s faithfulness to us and in return to show that faithfulness to others in our lives.