Called To Be Faithful Series

Deut 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

Faithfulness is a continuous, unrelenting devotion to a faithful God.

• Our faithfulness is anchored upon a faithful God. Our life is built upon the trustworthiness of God. Without that, there can be no basis for faithfulness.

• We cannot be faithful to someone that is fickle and disloyal. There will be no ground for faith and faithfulness.

We can be faithful today because we know of a God who is absolutely faithful.

• His faithfulness is the reason we can be faithful today.

(1) REST IN GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

God is fully dependable. God is fully trustworthy. That must be a conviction.

• You cannot possibly be faithful to someone I distrust. If I allow unbelief or doubt to take root in my heart, faith in God will diminish and so goes faithfulness.

• Feed on God’s Word and build up your faith. Look at God’s works and remind yourself of His goodness.

Faithfulness of God is greatly celebrated in the Bible, especially the Psalms.

• Ps 145:13 “The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.”

• Ps 57:10 “For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

• Ps 100:5 “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Heb 6:17-19 “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

• His PURPOSE is sure. God’s will does not change; it need not because it’s perfect. If He needs to make corrections to His plan, then He cannot be all-wise and all-knowing.

• His PROMISE (oath) is sure. When He speaks, it is eternal. “You can have MY WORD!” He says.

• God’s PURPOSE and PROMISE, God’s WILL and WORD will not change.

You see the extend God goes to, to assure us of His faithfulness.

• I am now on a reading plan going through the OT in 2-years, and I came to Jeremiah 31 the other day, and I’m captivated by the way God assures His people:

• Jer 31:35-37 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD."I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 …"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the LORD Almighty is his name: 36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."

37 This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.”

God highlights the impossibility of His plan ever-changing. God cannot go back on His Word!

• 1 Thess 5:24 “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”

• What we have is an eternal security. We can be faithful because God is faithful!

We are called to be just like Him - faithful.

(2) VALUE FAITHFULNESS, NOT RESULTS

This is how God spells success. Faithfulness is what God is looking for.

• A successful Christian is actually a faithful Christian, because success is not based on results but on faithfulness.

• Results are the gracious works of God. Faithfulness is what we can offer Him.

Jesus emphasized this in the Parable of the Talents in Matt 25. The context is very enlightening:

• Matt 24A – He starts to talk about the Signs of the End of the Age.

• Matt 24B – The Day and Hour of His return is unknown. 24:45-46 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.”