FAITHFULNESS: A FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
1 Corinthins 3:1-2
We are continuing with the series on the fruit of the Spirit.
Today we are looking at the fruit of faithfulness or faith.
It is very close to the spiritual gift of faith.
But where one describes something that is within us, the other describes a characteristic of committment.
Faith as the gift is something that we are given.
It is something that is inside us.
It is something that we have.
Faithful, as a fruit of the Spirit, is a verb.
It is something that we must do.
It is a state in which we must remain, we remain faithful to a cause.
They are both closely related.
They both come from the same basic greek word.
The greek word that they come from, is the word "Pistis"
This word means "to be assured"
It has several close relative words as well.
"Patho", to persuade, to trust, to have obedience, to believe, to be confident in.
"Pistis" itself: "The conviction of the truth of anything believed in the New Testament, of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God or divine things.
This is Faith.
I have faith in God
Faithful, the fruit of the Spirit, is what we remain to God.
Because I have faith in something or someone, I remain faithful to that thing or person.
In the New Testament there is only one word that really deals with the concept of faith.
It has very few "Brother" words, or words that are related to it.
In the Old Testament there are four or five words that speak of faith, and being faithful.
They all however come from one basic word, however, and that word is "ah-man".
"Ah-man" means to believe, to have assurance in, to be faithful, to be established, to be verified.
Our faithfulness verifies the faith that we have.
If I say I have faith in God, but I don’t do anything to show my faith, then I am not showing myself faithful to what I believe.
Let me give you an example.
I have a lot of faith in the Montreal Canadiens.
I believe they are going to win the Stanley Cup, sometime.
If I start cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I’m not showing very much faith in the Montreal Canadiens, am I.
Because I have faith in that team, I am going to be faithful to that team.
I will support it in good times and in bad.
And believe me, right now we are in bad times.
The same thing is true in our relationship to God.
Because I have faith in God, I am going to be faithful to that relationship, in good times and in bad.
Our marriage vows are a covenant.
When we make our marriage vows, we covenant, not only to have faith in our partner, but to be faithful to our partner.
We already have faith in our partner or else we wouldn’t be getting married.
We covenant to be faithful to them alone.
We covenant to support them, and them only.
We covenant to a relationship and them only, and we are promising to be faithful to that covenant.
This is the difference between the fruit of faithfulness, and the gift of faith.
Faith as a gift is something that is within.
Faith as a gift is something that matures.
By a foundation of faith that was laid in the past, concerning things in the present, I can step forward into the future.
I have faith that God was with me in the past, that He is with me now, and I can use that foundation, as I walk by faith into the future.
Because I know God was with me in the past and present, I can have faith that God will be with me into the future.
Therefore, I have an obligation to that faith.
My obligation, is tied up in the verb, faithful.
I have to be faithful to God as He has been faithful to me.
That is the distinction between the fruit of the Spirit, and the gift of the Spirit.
One is something that we are given as a Gift of the Spirit.
The other is something that we offer.
We offer to God our faithfulness.
We offer faithfulness as an expression of our faith.
Faith speaks about a belief.
It is about a belief that we have in someone or something.
We all have strong beliefs in God.
We develop that faith to its maturity.
We use our present faith to build on the future.
That is the gift of faith.
To be faithful is an action based on faith.
It may be to a cause.
It may be to a person.
It may be to a thing.
Many people believe in several different types of charaties.
They are faithful to their beliefs.
They act on their faith by canvassing for that charity.
People who canvass for the heart society, for example, have a belief that heart disease and heart attacks can be cured or at least helped.
To prove that faith they canvass and are faithful to that cause.
Thus by faith we believe in God.
Because of our relationship to God, we remain faithful.
This brings us to our passage today.
I am going to suggest to you today that there are five things included in this passage in 1 Corinthians that speak about faithfulness.
First, I’m going to suggest to you, that to be faithful is a maturing process.
V.1-2: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [even] as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able. (1 Corinthians 3:1,2)
If being faithful was something that was all encompassing, and starts right away, Paul would never use the term "Infants".
He would never say "I give you milk first, and then meat."
Being faithful is a maturing process.
There are times that we will be more faithful to our beliefs than others.
On Saturday mornings, one of the things that I like to do, is sleep in.
I really enjoy it.
Some Saturdays, because of the way the work goes, I have to schedule some time to be in the office, from 9:00 - 12:00.
The last thing I want to do, is go downstairs on saturday morning
and do some studying.
Most of the times I can do this, although sometimes I am not so faithful.
The bed becomes very comfortable and I fall to it’s temptation.
Being faithful is a maturing process.
When the process matures in me, I will be downstairs more than I will be upstairs.
Paul is saying this to the people.
There will be times when you will be faithful to the cause, and times when you won’t be.
There will be times of severe persecution because of your faith.
Being faithful to Christianity could endanger your lives.
When you face that pressure, sometimes you may fall.
It is not wrong to fail.
Look at Peter.
Peter fell.
Before the cock crowed in the morning, he had denied Jesus three times.
He was not faithful.
The other apostles had times of doubting too.
Faithfulness in our Christian walk is a maturing process.
We start, we fall down, we get up and we start again.
The important thing is to keep our eye on the goal., not so much on the process.
This is not to give us excuses for falling, or failing to be faithful.
Paul says "We are infants in Christ".
He gives them milk right now, but someday they will be ready for meat.
Secondly, faithfulness is a spiritual process and not a worldly process.
In the world there are some causes that we may be faithful to.
I am faithful to the cause of the Montreal Canadiens.
That is not a spiritual thing.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal? (1 Corinthians 3:3,4)
What Paul is getting at here is that faithfulness to God is a spiritual thing, and it is demonstrated into the world.
What he is telling the people of Corinth is that faithfulness is a spiritual battle exhibited in the world.
A key ingredient in faithfulness is unity.
There is unity in the Spirit.
What Paul tells us in v.3,4 is that when you start quarrelling, you’re showing division.
Division is something that happens in the world.
It doesn’t happen in the realm of the spiritual.
A good example of this would be our joint musicals.
Faithfulness will always lead to unity of belief.
Worldliness will lead to division.
Worldliness would say, this is what I think, or, this is what I believe.
Faithfulness comes from a spiritual base.
This is what God says.
This is what the Bible says.
We are going to build on that
That is the foundation that Paul speaks of here in this passage.
Third, Faithfulness is a self-less process:
5 Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, [ye are] God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)
Paul is being very careful here to make us realize that faithfulness is not something that we bring to God, it is something that is instilled in us by God.
Not everyone in this world is going to have the same ministry.
Not everyone will be seed planters.
Not everyone will be cultivators of the seed.
Not eveuryone will see the seed come to fruit.
We have to be satisfied with the ministry that God gave us.
Faithfulness to the ministry that God gave us gives us the freedom to believe, that while we are plantoing the seeds, somewhere down the road, there will be someone to come in and watch those seeds grow and protect them, and further down the road, someone will come in and reap the harvest of the combined work.
I used to think, that because I was in the ministry, I was responsible for doing all of these things.
I will see the harvest that God wants me to see.
I will plant the seeds that God wants me to plant.
I will cultivate what God wants me to cultivate.
The important thing is to be satisfied and secure in what your ministry is, knowing and being faithful to that ministry, because if I am faithful in planting my seed, someone else will be able to secure it.
It is a self-less thing.
The person who reaps the harvest, is the person who gets the glory.
People who see many souls saved are people who are seen as being strong in the faith.
They are seen as being the leaders.
Seed-planters and cultivators, are not seen many times as being leaders.
Unfortunate, for if it were not for a seed being planted, and cultivated, there would be no harvest.
Fourth, faithfulness is accountable:
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3)
Being faithful to God means standing up and saying this is what I believe.
Because I believe, I will teach in this way.
Everything I do will be based on scripture.
If I go by anything else, than by what the scriptures said, I am going to be held accountable.
If I have faith that God is who He says He is, that His promises are true, that everything in the scriptures are true, then I have to be faithful to them.
If I am not, then I will be held accountable.
Faithfulness means studying the word.
It means being prepared to teach the word.
It means to be prepared to witness.
And to be prepared to do them in the proper biblical way.
Fifth, Faithfulness is a witness to God:
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are. (1 Corinthians 3)
We are not our own anymore when we accept the Lord.
We become His.
Because we are his bondslaves those things in our lives that we wish to do have to change.
Why?
Because we want to be faithful to his teachings and be faithful to him.
Think about someont that you love for a moment.
Because you love that person, and because you want to be faithful to that person, you are not going to do a lot of things that is going to get that person upset with you.
You have a special relationship with them.
The hebrew word for faqithfullness speaks in spome ways about nurses and nursing.
If someone you love is sick, you are going to nurse them the very best that you can.
You will treat them the best that you can.
This is what being faithful is about.
Doing your very best for that loved one.
Doing your very best for God.
Nothing else will work.
You may not always succeed, but you always do your very best.
Why?
Because we have to face God.
We face him based on what we do as Christians.
How faithful we are.
Pual had to face him.
We can join Paul in the manner he went before God.
2 Timothy 4:7,8:
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7,8)
And he said unto me, These sayings [are] faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. (Revelation 22:6)
Paul’s last words, speak of his faithfulness to God in his relationship with him.
Paul’s relationship was one of a maturing process.
Paul’s relatoionship was a spiritual process.
Paul’s relationship was a self-less process
Paul’s relationship was an accountable process.
Paul’s relationship witnessed to the source of his faith.
Does ours?
