The Faithfulness of God

The Faithful Servant

Romans 12:1–2 The Message

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

What does faithful mean to you when we speak of it in a Christian process? Do you have your definition in you mind and are meditating on rather you are a faithful follow of Christ. Webster says faithfulness is being steadfast in affection or allegiance; being loyal. It can also be defined as firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty or given with strong assurance; binding, true to the facts, to a standard, or to an original and last obsolete; full of faith. Can you say by those definitions that you have been a faithful servant to God or even to those you work for in your secular job or your family and friends. Being faithful to us can look many different ways, however being faithful to God can only look one way. What way is that you may be asking yourself? Well in the way of obedience.

I want to give a little backdrop to you from chapter 11 before we look at 12:1-2 today. Here we find that there are a few good soldiers or disciples of Christ that are still holding on to God and being faithful to his Word. It is a minority of followers but yet they are still being faithful to the God that called them our of bondage. Paul was reminding them to not become like the Jews and think that where they are amongst those in Rome that they are better and deserve God more than anyone else. He reminds them of how the Jews treated them as if they were not worthy of serving the God they served. There was some pruning and grafting taking place in the body of Christ and not all could stand the pressures of this type of living that God had called his children too. Many fell into the ways of the lifestyle of those whom they have come to intertwine with and live amongst.

There were a few good soldiers who stayed the course and kept their focus on God. They were the few faithful servants that gave their all to Christ and stayed the course. I want to ask you today are you one of the faithful servants today? Are you a part of the minority in the world today who still stands for justice, love, peace, and the grace of God? How do you know if you are a part of this minority of believers in a world that is change by the minute to please a appease those we encounter and don’t want to offend. You do know in this walk you will offend some who want to live a life on their own terms, yet you have got to prepare yourself to defend the faith unapologetically. You need to be firm in your faith and be the servant God called for no matter what may seem better to your eyes than you heart.

Let’s move forward to the text today Romans 12:1-2

Paul want to ensure that the Christians that are living in Rome do not find themselves looking down on others or getting caught up with the culture that they find themselves living in. Our life is not our own to live once we have given it over to Christ. Everyday we need the help of God to live a life pleasing to him. This life that God has given us should be laid before him daily. We need to be in tune with the Lord in every part of our day and when we lay down at night.

Embracing God and meditating on him places your focus on the one who has promised to give you hope. As the faithful servant the best thing you can ever do in this life is give yourself to God in all you do and watch him place you in areas you did not even know was yours. We serve a faithful God that loves us and desires to hear from us in all things. Not just when we are need of something or are in trouble. What we cannot do is become a part of this world that is destructive to your spiritual life with him. When you are focused on God and give attention to him, it is difficult to conform to the world we live in. Don’t be so easily persuaded by what those around you are gaining. God will fix it to where your reward will be long lasting when you fix your eyes on him and him alone.

What does God want from us as a faithful servant. Why do we want to be faithful. The goal can’t be just to get to heaven when we die. Being a faithful servant is allowing God to change our lives from the inside out. Giving him the praise and honor he deserves. Reverencing him and spending time in the word with him is what develops a maturing faithful servant. What has he called you to do for him in your life and the building of the Kingdom. Don’t let this world get you caught up, don’t fall for the okie doke you are so much better than what the world could ever give you. Develop yourself with the fear of God before you. A faithful servant wants to mature in God. Just like an athlete we must build muscle our spiritual muscle as we place our lives before him. We must place ourselves before him in spiritual disciplines such as church school, bible study, meditation, prayer, worship, and yes fasting to deny ourselves of this world and distractions that beset us and turn the over to God. I can assure you if you start at least one of the disciplines on a consistant basis you will begin to see God do a new thing in you from the inside out. It will be painful in some areas of your life that the world has imposed itself upon, however I’m a witness that he can change you from the heart to your mind and give your body strength to do what he has called you to do. Do not look down on others that are not where you are but yet look inward at yourself and see where it is God wants you to be in his kingdom building. Don not conform yourselves to the ways of this world, as a faithful servant of God he wants to develop you and mature you for good works in him. We must not rely on our own mind with these changes or it will just make the journey even harder. Adjust yourself to the word of God, the word says fix your attention on him and not what others are doing so that you do not get caught up in your own ways or the worlds ways. When we do this God will quickly respond to you and your desires.

A faithful servant of God is who he is calling for today. Everyone has a purpose in the world and that is not to be of it but to transform it with the help of a faithful God. Give God your all body, mind, and soul and I promise you will not be disappointed in the blessings he has ready for you. Yes, you will encounter hard times yet our God is faithful to bring you through it and deliver you from it if you are faithful to him. Embrace where you are today and build your spiritual muscle so he can mature you and shape you into the servant he has called you to be.