4th Sunday in Advent Service December 22, 2002
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Be Prepared for Christ’s Coming with Faithfulness
I. Remember God’s faithfulness to us
II. Reflect God’s faithfulness to others
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ;
I recently read some statistics that I find hard to believe. Supposedly, the Institute of Behavior Motivation has determined that 97 out of 100 people tell lies; and they do it about one thousand times a year. Maybe this is true, but I think that there is a good chance that this information about lies is less than accurate. It’s not that I am naive; I know that people lie. I just don’t think that 97 percent of the people lie on the average of three times a day.
But as we study the fruits of the Spirit, we aren’t focusing on what others do. We are examining what we are to do. So, regardless of the statistics that exist about lying, we want to look at our own involvement in it. Are we less than always truthful? Do we tell lies? As sinners, we have all told a lie at one time or another. In fact, maybe the statistic that was the most unbelievable from the Institute of Behavior Motivation was that 3 percent claimed that they never told lies.
Because we Christians are sinner-saints, we display none of the fruits of the Spirit perfectly. This includes “faithfulness,” which is our focus for today. But as we have heard from each of the sermons during Advent, as Christians we want to strive, with the Spirit’s help, to display these fruits more and more. Today we are being encouraged to be faithful. People need to be able to trust us in little things as well as in big things. To be more faithful, we need to be more faith-filled. The more we trust God’s faithfulness to us, the more we will be faithful to others. This Advent season we are reminded to BE PREPARED FOR CHRIST’S COMING WITH FAITHFULNESS.
1. Remember God’s faithfulness to us.
First we remember God’s faithfulness to us. At times we might be tempted to question God’s faithfulness. The Old Testament believers might have wondered if God was really going to keep his promises to send a Savior. As Noah and his family waited out the Flood in the Ark, as the Israelites waited out 400 years of slavery in Egypt, as other nations defeated them in battle, as the people of the Southern Kingdom were exiled to Babylon, as 400 years of silence passed since the last word from a prophet, as the worldly empires of Syria, Greece, and Rome controlled their land—during all of these events and others, the Old Testament believers must have had times of doubt concerning God’s faithfulness. Would God really send them a Savior as he had promised?
We, too, have faced experiences in life where we may have wondered about God’s faithfulness to his promises. The pain that comes with an injury or illness may have led to doubts about God’s promises not to give us more than we can bear. The death of a loved one or family problems may have led us to question how such things can work for our good. Financial difficulties and job insecurity may have caused us to wonder if God does care for us. Days of loneliness and unhappiness tempt us not to trust God and the promises he makes.
But even if God was not faithful to us would that really surprise us? What if God based his faithfulness on how faithful we are to him?
How faithful have you been in the study of God’s Word? Do you make it an everyday part of your life; are you faithful in coming to Bible class or do you want to keep it special and only use it on special days like Christmas and Easter?
Are you faithful in your worship attendance? Or do you plan your worship around your schedule which basically boils down to making God a very low priority. You know what I mean don’t you? We can find the time to do all kinds of things but when it comes to worshiping God, well we give him one hour a week and only one hour a week.
Have you been faithful attending the Lord’s Table to receive his sacrament? This one really ties in with our faithfulness to worship attendance – Do you come to the Lord’s table every time it is offered or because the service has gone over the hour you set aside for the Lord, you cant wait the extra 15 minutes it takes to receive the Lord’s body and blood you get up in the middle of the service and leave. Are we so busy with the things of this material world that we have become unfaithful in the beautiful gift of Jesus’ body and blood which he faithfully gave for the forgiveness of our sins?
No what we have actually done is lied to God. At our confirmation we promised God to be faithful to his Word – to come and hear it regularly. We promised to make regular use of his Sacrament and because it takes to much time or maybe we think we don’t need it, we go back on that promise. If the truth be told, we have failed on every occasion, every opportunity, at being faithful and keeping our word to God.
But praise God that he does not base his faithfulness on how faithful we have been to him. Even though there are times when we give into temptation and doubt God’s faithfulness, these times pass, and we know that God can always be trusted. We are not always faithful, but God is ever faithful; his promises are ever true.
Christmas is a great time to refresh our memories about that fact. God promised that he would send a Savior to take away the sins of the world and he kept that promise. It happened as God had promised to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. It happened as he said through Isaiah, Micah, and the other Old Testament prophets. Christmas took place. God’s faithfulness was evident in the Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. God’s faithfulness would continue to be evident through that Savior’s thirty-three years on earth. Keeping the law perfectly for us, suffering, dying, and rising—all were accomplished exactly as God had promised. The world’s salvation was secured and is now offered and given to all through faith in the Jesus Christ.
2. Reflect God’s faithfulness to others.
How do we show God our gratitude for his faithfulness? We do it, first of all, by keeping our promises to him. We do it by making his Word an active part of our lives. That means reading the Bible every day. It means coming to Bible class at the various times offered.
We do it by attending worship whenever the doors are opened and we gather to praise and thank God for his faithfulness. That also means even when we are not at home we seek out a sister church and attend wherever we might be.
We show our gratitude to God for his faithfulness by coming to the Lord’s table every time it is offered for the assurance that our sins are forgiven and the strengthening of our faith.
These are ways in which we can reflect God faithfulness to us.
Secondly we show our faithfulness by declaring his faithfulness to others. The prophet Isaiah said that he would exalt God and praise his name. The psalm writers said that they would make known God’s faithfulness to all generations and proclaim his faithfulness every night. We are to take advantage of every opportunity to tell the world that our God is a faithful God.
To perceive Christmas through its commercial wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. We need to point people beyond all the glitter and distractions to the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Tell them that this Child came, as God promised, to save them and to save us all from sin, eternal death, and hell’s damnation. Tell them that this Child came, as God promised, to give them life with God that has true meaning, quality, and security for a believing child of God. Tell them that because of this Savior we can rely on all of God’s promises. He will help us through this life into the next, just as he promised.
But if we want people to listen to us as we talk about God’s faithfulness, we need to be faithful to others also. That also is a vital part of reflecting God’s faithfulness to others.
If people know us to lie, or to act in an unchristian manor, why should they believe what we have to say about God sending his Son to earth? Every time we live and act contrary to the Word of God, we take away a little more credibility from any testimony that we make about God saving us through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his Son.
If we want people to listen when we tell them about God’s promises, then we also need to make them confident that they can trust us when we make promises. We need to make every effort to keep our word so that our testimony about God’s Word isn’t harmed.
We Christians need to realize that our children, friends, neighbors, and all others are going to find it more difficult to believe the message of Christmas or anything else we tell them from God’s Word if they hear us making promises that we don’t keep or if they hear us lying to others.
Of course, just as with all other sins, the times that we fail to be faithful are forgiven through God’s faithfulness centered in Jesus. But the next time you are tempted to lie or break a promise, remember what that does to your efforts to share the Christmas message, or the Easter message, or any other part of God’s plan of salvation.
Thank God that he was faithful. Be confident that he will continue to be faithful. Rely on his help so that you may reflect his faithfulness to others, God grant us a full measure of this fruit of the Spirit to each and every one of us so that we rejoice in his faithfulness as we remain faithful to him. Amen.
