"Relaunch 2015"
pt. 7 - I Will Be Faithful
Galatians 5:22-23
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Introduction: I want to welcome you this morning to part 5 of a new sermon series based on the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. This series is all about life change and what God wants to do in our lives if we will let Him. Make no mistake my friends; the goal of God in salvation is Christlikeness. God wants to change us into the image (icon -- exact replica) of His Son in character, conduct and personality.
Let me also remind you that we can translate the first few words of verse 22, "The fruit of the Spirit..." to read "...the fruit that the Spirit produces..." This morning I want to you to ask yourself this question as we begin; "If I was a better person and displayed more goodness in my life and testimony would it make a difference in my life?" Would it make a difference in my family life? Would it make a difference in my Christian testimony? The answer to all of these is yes it would!
First let's consider:
What does the word faith mean in our text? This does not refer to faith as in have faith in God but faithfulness. What Paul is saying is that the Holy Spirit is working in and through us to produce faithfulness to God and to others.
To start this message I would like us to look at:
I. The Faithfulness of the Sovereign
When we think about being faithful what comes to your mind? FAITHFUL Steadfast, dedicated, dependable, and worthy of trust. The word it is derived from the Hebrew root having the basic meaning "to trust (a person)," or "to believe (a statement)." This is the same root that gives us the word "amen." The derived meaning is that the one so described is trustworthy, dependable, trusting, or loyal. In the New Testament the adjective "faithful" has the same fundamental meaning as the Old Testament word. The meaning is that the one so described is trustworthy and loyal. The root idea is that one has loyalty toward another person or toward God. The faithful person is steadfast, unchanging, and thoroughly grounded in relation to the other. This sort of fidelity, or faithfulness, is used in both the Old Testament and the New Testament to describe God's relation to the world and to describe the quality of relationship that Israel and Christians are called upon to have with God and with one another.
a. He is faithful in His character
Faithfulness is central to our understanding of the character of God.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalms 36:5 Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
89:1 I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
These among many other passages tell us that God is faithful. Many other passages speak of God as faithful in order to comfort and encourage Christians.
A college man walked into a photography studio with a framed picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the picture duplicated. This involved removing it from the frame. In doing this, the studio owner noticed the inscription on the back of the photograph: "My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity." It was signed "Diane," and it contained a P.S.: "If we ever break up, I want this picture back."
We are going to see that God is faithful. I hope that we see that with God there is no p.s.'
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
Our faithlessness does not affect His faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
b. He is faithful in His communications
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
God has kept His promises. God made promises to Abraham concerning having many descendants even though Abraham and Sarah were very old and they had no children. God kept His promises to David, Israel and Joseph just to name a few. God kept His promise to mankind that He made back in Genesis 3:15 where God promised that Satan's power would be broken; this was accomplished with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. God kept His promises that He made through the prophets. He kept His promise to Lot's wife when He told them not to look back when they left Sodom and Gomorrah. God was faithful to Jesus. Hebrews 3:2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. God did not send Him and then change His mind about what He was going to do.
c. He is faithful in His conduct
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD
Hudson Taylor founder of China Inland Mission) used to hang in his home a plaque with two Hebrew Words on it: EBENEZER & JEHOVAH JIREH. The first word means 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped us' and the second, 'The Lord will see to it or provide.' One looked back while the other looked forward. One reminded him of God's faithfulness and the other of God's assurances.
The Scriptures tell us that He is faithful and He models faithfulness in His relationships.
He is faithful to help us when we are tempted.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from our sins.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He is faithful to those that He calls into service and has promised never to leave us or forsake us.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
II. The Faithfulness of the Saints
a. In their devotion
Galatians 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Numbers 12:7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
Hebrews 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
b. In their doctrine
1 Corinthians 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
c. In their death
Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Revelation 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
III. The Faithfulness of the Servants
a. To the sanctuary
Leviticus 19:30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
ILL - In his book, When God Whispers Your Name, Max Lucado tells the story of John Egglen, who had never preached a sermon in his life before the Sunday morning when it snowed and the pastor wasn't able to make it to the church. In fact, he was the only deacon to show up. He was not a preacher, but he was faithful and that meant on that particular Sunday morning he preached. God rewarded his faithfulness, and at the end of his hesitant sermon, one young man invited God into his heart. No one there could appreciate the significance of what had taken place that morning. The young man who accepted Christ that snowy Sunday morning was non other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the man who has often been called, the "prince of preachers." God blessed his preaching and when he was still less than 30 years old he became the pastor of London's Metropolitan Tabernacle. His sermons were so powerful that although the building could hold 5000 people, the crowds who came to hear him were so thick that they would line up outside trying to hear his sermons. That amazing life of faith all started on a cold Sunday morning with the faithfulness of a deacon who had never preached a sermon before that day. Faithfulness means being committed to what God lets us have the chance to do, whether it looks like a big assignment, or a small one. Giving the sermon to a handful of people on a Sunday morning when almost no one shows up doesn't seem all that significant, but it demanded faithfulness & God blessed John Egglin's faithfulness.
b. To the stewardship
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
c. To the Savior
Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
People will be looking at those of us who profess a faith in Jesus to see how Jesus has changed us. If we say we are a Christian or if people see you going to church, they expect to see something different about you. They expect to see a process of growth. We may be the only Jesus that person sees. Paul tells us God is literally making an appeal to the lost world through us. Payne Stewart's death caught nearly everyone's attention. There has been much said about the PGA player who had recently said after his U.S. Open win that, "I'm proud of the fact that my faith in God is so much stronger and I am so much more at peace with myself than I have ever been." His friend Paul Azinger who had been diagnosed with cancer in 1994 helped steer Payne towards faith, primarily by how Azinger handled his health issue. Payne said, he saw such unbelievable faith in Paul, and it started him in a more spiritual direction. Payne recently said, "I'm a lot more mentally prepared to deal with situations than I have been in the past," he said. "It goes back to my faith being so much stronger over the past couple of years." Faith matters in how we handle life issues and it really mattered when Stewart's plane went down. Who knows how much influence you might have in the lives of people around you as you live out your faith, faithfully! Jeffrey Anselmi
Conclusion:
Faithful progress in the Christian life is a necessity. We should get "better" as time goes on. This is illustrated by want many consider to be the greatest horse and the greatest horse race ever run. When Secretariat won the Kentucky derby by 20 lengths, each successive quarter-mile in the race was run faster than the one before. The longer the race went, the faster Secretariat ran!
Let me ask you a series of questions and I want to you to think seriously about the answers:
If you went to cash you paycheck at the bank and the teller gave you the right amount of money 90% of the time, would you consider that teller to be faithful? If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If your paperboy skips delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don't go to work once or twice a month, are you a loyal employee? If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, "Oh, well, it works most of the time." If you get an icy-cold shower every now and then, is your water heater dependable? If you miss a couple of loan payments every year, does your bank say, "Ten out of twelve isn't bad?" Now let apply that same standard of faithfulness, reliability, dependability and trustworthiness to our Christian life and see where we stand. What does God really expect from us? Paul makes it plain that a faithful Christian is one who will finish the race; Max DePree, in an article in Leadership magazine stated, "A friend of mine described a colleague as great at running the "ninety-five-yard dash." That is a distinction I can do without. Lacking the last five yards makes the first ninety-five pointless." A faithful person is one who you can count on to keep their word. They will keep the promises that they make even if it costs them something to do it. I am sure that some of you who have been married for many years have had to make some personal sacrifices in order to remain a faithful spouse. The world needs to see more faithful and trustworthy people. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, cited in Harper's (4/96) said that only 35% of Americans believe that "most people can be trusted."
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' (Galatians 5:16-17 & 23 TLB). Is living like this really possible? Yes, but you must do four things:
1) understand that you're a target for the enemy and protect yourself with God's Word and prayer
2) get angry with sin - don't put up with it: '...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles...' (Hebrews 12:1 NIV)
3) be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Without it, you lose every time
4) stand in God's strength, not your own. How? By exercising your choice to obey Him rather than going for the easy option
All believers have God in their heart - but not all believers have given their whole heart to God! The question is not, 'how can I have more of the Holy Spirit?' It's 'how can the Spirit have more of me?'
