FAITHFULNESS

 Old faithful in Yellowstone National Park is not the largest geyser nor does it reach the greatest height.  It is well known because of its reliability.  You can count on Old Faithful to erupt every thirty minutes.  Faithfulness is one of life's great virtues.  Nothing takes the place of faithfulness and dependability.  Being brilliant, competent, or talented are all secondary to being faithful.

Background

          1. We think of faithful people—a devoted marriage companion, a loyal friend you have known all your life, or a dependable co-worker.  Some remember a favorite pet, a dog or a cat, always there, waiting for you when you got home. These are people or animals you can rely on and trust.  They bring to mind the idea of faithfulness.

          2. Someone who is faithful is loyal, consistent in performing a duty, sincere, true, and dependable. 

          3. Faithfulness is closely associated with faith.  Faith in the Lord leads to faithfulness in living.  One reason we can have faith in the Lord is because He has always been a faithful, consistent person.  It is His nature.

 Our subject is the faithfulness of God from three points of view, (1) in God, we trust, (2) the test of trusting God, and (3) trusting God enough to become a consistent and faithful believer. 

I. IN GOD WE TRUST

          A. It's been said that you will fail if you trust everyone or if you trust no one.  If you can't trust God, you probably can't trust anyone.  Then you will understand why the people in this world act the way they do.  It's a "get what you can, while you can, anyway you can," world.  In contrast, it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen." 

          B. Faith and faithfulness are two key messages that reach into the seen and unseen world of the Bible.   They deal with the relationship between God and man.  They work together:

                    1. Faith is a response to God's faithfulness.  God is by nature a God who can be trusted.  He never changes.  Our faith in a consistent God should lead us toward a consistent life of faith. When you think about it, He has proven Himself faithful not only in the world's history, but in our history.

                    2. Thus, our faith in a God who keeps His Word should lead us to being faithful, dependable, and trustworthy followers of God.  Because God is faithful to us, the child of God can learn to be faithful to God.

          C. The Bible is replete with evidence of God's faithfulness

                    1. In the Old Testament, He is the covenant-keeping God of the nation Israel.  It is brought out with the Hebrew word YHWH, or Jehovah.  Jehovah distinguished the Lord God from the gods of the world.  YHWH means "to be" in Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58. It not only implies God’s self existence and unchangeableness, but His faithfulness.  God is always there, always with us, always faithful.  Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20).  Moses, in response to that message, is noted for his faithfulness to God (Heb. 3:5.

                    2. Faithfulness illustrated in metaphors which describe God. God is like a "rock" (Deut. 32:4), a "fortress" and a "stronghold" (Psa. 18:2).

                    3. In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that He faithfully provides and does not permit testing above our ability.  In Hebrews 11:11, Sarah, an aged woman, considered the Lord faithful to provide a son.  She gave birth to that Isaac at the age of 90,.  Finally, in I John 1:9, God is faithful and just to forgive the sinning Christian who by repentant faith, confesses sin to God.

          D. George McDonald said, "How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource!  We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go.  And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into a safe harbor."  Elizabeth Barrett Browning recounted, "And I smiled to think of God's greatness, flowed around our incompleteness - round our restlessness, His rest."  Perhaps the most famous motto related God’s faithfulness is engraved on our nation’s currency, "IN GOD WE TRUST."

II. THE TEST—trusting God provides proof of our salvation.

          1. It's been said that the test of our Christianity, is not our feelings, but our obedience.  Testing proves the value of the object tested.  God continually tests us to develop the value of our trust in Him. 

          2. In 1 Corinthians 4:2, Paul defends his apostleship.  People accused him of all kinds of deceit.  His response to this accusation was to describe his faithfulness to God's calling Him to the ministry.  He wrote, "In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful."  The word stewardship is a manager of someone's estate.  In Matthew 25:23, Jesus commended the servant who wisely invested his master's money.

          3. Faithfulness must be proven.  The reason for the God-directed tests of all the assets, talents and resources He's given us is to develop our faithfulness.  In I Peter 1:7, the trial of your faith is analogous to the purifying of gold ore into pure gold.

          4. Faithfulness begins with the little things before it will be seen in the great ventures of life.  Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel in Rome is valued for his world-famous frescoes on the high ceilings of the Chapel.  He spent countless hours on his back on a high scaffold carefully perfecting each detail of each figure.   A friend asked, "Why take such pains to paint in such detail.  People down below cannot appreciate it at a distance?  After all," he said, "who will know whether it is perfect or not?"  "I will." said the artist. God also appreciates our faithfulness in the little things of life.

III. TRUSTING GOD ENOUGH to be consistent in life.

          A. The Christian life is not a mad dash or a crash program to please God.  The message of faithfulness is the idea of a daily walk with the Lord.

                    1. It was St Francis of Assisi who, while hoeing his garden, was asked what he would do if he were to suddenly learn that he was to die at sunset.  He said, "I would finish hoeing my garden."  John Wesley was asked the same question and his reply was "I would go on doing what I am already doing right now.  I would preach tonight, and then go home with my family for our usual prayer and Bible study.  Then I will retire and commend myself to my Heavenly Father. I will lie down in rest and wake up in glory."

                    2. Paul's traveling companions, Timothy (I Cor. 4:17), Tychichus (Eph. 6:21), and Onesimus (Col. 4:9) were men whom Paul discipled and trusted to represent him in various ministries.  He called them "faithful servants of the Lord.  But they were men Paul took time to faithfully disciple.

          B. In 2 Timothy 2:2, the key to leadership is to find such people. Like the marines, Timothy was to find a "few good men," who were faithful to the Lord.  They would have a servant spirit but a firmness of faith in God and God's word.  They are entrusted to take the message and teach others also.

IV. WHAT IS ALL MEANS

          1. Faith and faithfulness are two familiar doctrines in the Bible.  They go side by side in the walking shoes of daily Christian living. 

          2. Faithfulness begins with faith in God, trusting Him.  IN GOD WE TRUST.

          3. Faithfulness isn't easy.  It may take you through the hard times.  But testing proves the value of your faithfulness.

          4. Faithfulness means consistency, dependability, and loyalty.  What God is looking for is not instant Christianity or a memory of a moment with God.  He is looking for a life course in which graduation comes when we meet Him face to face and He says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."