Developing Christian Character
The Characteristic of
“FAITHFULNESS”
We have been talking about developing Christian character. We have said that character is what we portray to the world. It’s not what we do in church, but what we do when no-one else is around. The fruit of the spirit are the characteristics of God. It is these characteristics that, while manifested in the flesh, Jesus portrayed. The word Christian as you recall means to be Christ-like, in our actions, thoughts, desires, and attitude. Developing Christian characteristics is growing spiritually and portraying the image and likeness of Christ to this world. Faithfulness is one of the characteristics that God looks for in His children. Everyone in the body of Christ will not have the same abilities, but we all have the obligation to be faithful. Faithfulness is one capacity that each and every servant of the Lord will be judged in. In the book of Matthew the 25th we find the parable of the talents. The 21st verse says: “His lord said unto him, Well done, thy good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many, enter into the joy of the lord.” Faithfulness, like humbleness, is all about obedience. Faithfulness is a requirement that one must have that has been entrusted with the responsibility of feeding and caring for the people of God.
Hebrews the 11th chapter is called the Hall of Faith. It states some of the great cloud of witness that have gone on before us. This great cloud of witness had something in common and that is they all had developed their Christian characteristics. They all had the wisdom to apply to their lives the knowledge they had received. They all were humbled and because of their humbleness the Lord exalted them. They were pleasing to God because they had faith and because of faith became faithful.
We understand that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. However faith is the manifestations of the characteristic of faithfulness. We must understand that it is the faithfulness of God which produces faith in man, which in-turn causes us to become faithful, which cause our faith to grow from mustard seed faith to more faith, and finally much faith. Faithfulness is one of the most important characteristics of God. It is because He is faithful that we can trust Him to do what He has said He would do.
Thomas O. Chisholm & William M. Runyan composed the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness” in 1923, they understood that because of the faithfulness of God they have faith which caused them to become faithful themselves.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
What does it mean to be faithful? Webster’s defines faithfulness as a person who is “firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty”. It is a person who is “steadfast in affection or allegiance”. Faithfulness means to be trustworthy, true to your word and responsibilities, loyal and consistent.
PONDER THIS: If your car started 4 mornings out of 7 would you call it a faithful car. If your air conditioner cooled your house 3 out of 8 times would you call your air conditioner faithful? If you spouse only came home 2 nights a week, and they’re not a long distance truck driver, would you say they are faithful. If you only come to church, read your Bible, and pray on Sunday, DO YOU THINK GOD CALLS YOU FAITHFUL?
The word "faith" comes from the Greek word “PISTIS” and it means "trustworthiness”. The fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5 are aspects of Christ’s character in us, and are manifested in our behavior. Faithfulness, like each of the other fruit of the spirit, is built into our lives as we abide in Christ, and walk in the spirit rather than in the flesh. We live our lives to please God rather than living to please ourselves.
Faithfulness is not optional in our relationship with God, but is an integral part of our relationship with Him as it is with a marriage. In order for you marriage to work there must be faithfulness. Most people will not stay with a person that is not faithful to them. God is looking people who will consistently carry out His will. To be faithful is to be dependable, loyal, and stable.
There are two Hebrew words are often translated "faithfulness": emunah and emeth. The word “emunah” means "firmness, fidelity, steadfastness, and steadiness". The word “emeth” means “firmness, faithfulness, truth". Both of these words, in turn, come from the word aman, which means "to build up or support". This word conveys the idea of "firmness or certainty" and is the original source for our word “Amen”.
WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION BEHIND FAITHFULNESS?
Faithfulness is more than just attending church every time the doors are open. Faithfulness is more then singing in the choir. Faithfulness is not being part of a praise dance team. Those are all part of our show or manifestation of our faithfulness. However, there is a driving force behind faithfulness and until you understand that driving force you will never truly be faithful. The motivation that produces faithfulness is mutual respect and adoration. It is love. Because I love my wife and she loves me we made a commitment to each-other, before God, to forsake all others and be faithful to one another. Why, because of love. Because God loves us He has made a commitment to us and because He cannot lie, will keep that commitment to a thousand generations. Because you have a love for God you are faithful in serving Him. Because of love for God, I will bless His name. Because of love for God I go to church every time the doors are open, because He said in His word fail not to assemble yourself together and because I have love for Him and His people, I will be there regardless.
THE TWO KEY ELEMENTS IN FAITHFULNESS
There are two key elements of faithfulness, consistency and reliability. It is impossible to have faithfulness without these elements. Remember we are talking about developing Christian character. The word Christian means Christ-like. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and forever.” We in-order to be faithful must be the same from day to day. Understand that this doesn’t mean that some time in our life that we will not go through some emotional changes, because even Jesus Christ himself did that. The Bible says to get angry but sin not, Jesus got angry but yet He sinned not and that was consistent. Therefore we must be the same from day to day and not sin, but remain consistent to doing the Will of God. There are going to be times when we just don’t feel like it, there are going to be times when people, especially church folk will get on your last nerve. Being the son of a pastor I have seen times when I wanted to smack the taste out of someone’s mouth, because of the way the disrespected my parents. But the consistency of my parents to show them love and compassion, even when their feelings were hurt, has literally help me to become consistent within myself.
Because God is consistent we are able to rely on Him, for He is reliable. The Bible says in 1st Thess. 5: 24 “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” Because God cannot lie He is reliable, because He is reliable our faith in Him grows which produces faithfulness in us. When we are consistent in doing the will, He is able to rely on us and place more upon us to be responsible for. Consistency and Reliability do you truly have these elements or do you have show and popularity.
HOW DO WE BECOME FAITHFUL?
There is what is called the 21 time effect. This says that if you do something over 21 times it becomes a habit; if you keep doing the habit it becomes a part of your life. To become faithful we must develop the habit of obeying God and those that He has placed over us. If you look at the 11th chapter of Hebrews we see the great cloud of witness that exemplified faithfulness. If we follow their example we too will become faithful. It was faithfulness that caused Enoch to be translated and not see death. Because he was faithful in his walk with God, he pleased God, and because of faithful obedience to God he did not taste death because of his faithfulness. Because of his faithfulness Abraham became the father of many nations and the entire world is blessed by his seed, because he was faithful, he even received the title faithful Abraham. I would rather be called faithful more than any other title. Because of faithfulness Joseph went from the prison to the palace and became the second in command. Faithfulness opens the door for the Christian to do those things that would be impossible, because of our faithfulness God empowers us and blesses us exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think and causes what seems impossible to man to become possible through Christ who strengthens us. However, in-order for that to happen we must meet the condition and that is obedience, which will produce faithfulness.
We must understand that faithfulness in one area of your life will flow over into other parts of your life. If you want to excel on your job start by being faithful in the things of God. If you want to prosper financially start being faithful in your family life. If you want to excel in leadership start by being faithful in being a follower. Once you are faithful in little God will make you ruler over much. You cannot wait until you are entrusted with much to become faithful, but be faithful in what you have now. It’s funny but people want to hold positions and titles in the church yet are not faithful in attending the services of the church. Contrary to belief they are not faithful.
We must strive with all our heart to become faithful men and women whom God can trust to carry out His purpose with the same mind and obedience which Jesus Christ portrayed. We should not wait for the big challenges in life before starting to learn faithfulness; but we should start now in the small battles of life, we must learn how to be faithful to God and His Word, so that we will be ready when the big fights come.
In the book of Judges the 6th chapter we read of a man named Gideon. Gideon and his father Joash were faithful in threshing wheat and hiding it from the Midianites and because of his faithfulness God used him and was with him. Because of the faithfulness of Gideon, Israel lived in peace for 40 yrs.
If he had not been faithful in the small battles of his life, the 120 thousand would not have fallen, but because of his faithfulness he was exceedingly abundantly blessed. There’s a song that says “Because of your faithfulness it your time.” But you have to be faithful before hand in order for it to be your time.
STANDARDS OF FAITHFULNESS
FAITHFULNESS IS NEVER COMPROMISING. We are living in perilous times society tolerates our faith as long as we are willing to compromise on certain things that make them uncomfortable. They will accept us as long as we remain peaceful and quiet in our church buildings and have our services and stay to ourselves. But they don’t want to hear us say that homosexuality is wrong. They say that we are violating their civil rights. When we say abortion is wrong, they say that we are infringing upon their freedom of choice. They want us to stay out of their schools and their government facilities, their hospitals and their courtrooms. They demand that we compromise our beliefs and our standards to make them feel good about themselves. Faithfulness is being steadfast and unmovable; it is doing as the three Hebrew boys did when they told King Nebuchadnezzar. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” They were faithful even unto death because they understood Revelation 2:10, even before it was written. Because they knew God was faithful, which caused their faith in Him, which produced faithfulness in them.
FAITHFULNESS IS TRUSTING IN THE POWER OF GOD. The three Hebrew boys knew that God was able to deliver then from the fiery furnace, because they knew that God is omnipotent. Omnipotent means all powerful or sovereign power, it is not just a name given that encompasses all power, but describes a characteristic of God. Omnipotent is derived from a Latin word “Omnipotentia” which means able to do all things. We must not limit the meaning of this word to just an expression referring to he can do all things, but understand that all things are possible, including that which seems impossible. Omnipotent simply stated encompasses the fact that God does not just have all power, but is absolute power. Absolute power exceeds all boundaries and is only limited to the sovereign will of God. The Bible says in Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask of think according to the power that worketh in us.” Matthew 19:26 reads: “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Abraham believed in the power of God, for he knew that if he offered up his son that God was able to raise him from the dead. Moses believed in His power when he stretched forth the rod in his hand, which opened up the Red Sea causing the Children of Israel to be able to cross on dry ground. Job believed in His power and said though He slay me yet will I trust Him. The man whose son was sick unto death believed in His power when he came to Jesus and said my son is sick unto death come to my house and heal my son. The woman with the issue of blood believed on the power of God when she said if I can but touch the hem of his garment. Peter believed on the power of God when he stepped out of the boat onto a raging sea. We must believe in His power for He said all power in heaven and in earth is in His hands. Faithfulness is knowing and trusting that nothing can happen in our lives that God is not able to intervene and change the situation according to His Will. Because of faithfulness, we know that No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper.
Faithfulness is not just saying that you believe God, but living as you know God can and He will, because He is faithful and because He is faithful I can depend on Him, which produces faith in my life, which causes me to be faithful.
PORTRAIT OF A FAITHFUL CHILD OF GOD.
A FAITHFUL CHILD OF GOD WILL BE FAITHFUL IN HIS WORDS. As you will recall from our characteristic of humbleness we said he who thinks twice before saying nothing is wise. A faithful child of God has their words seasoned with salt. A faithful child of God understands that a fool has more hope than one that is hasty in his word, Proverbs 29:20. This simply means that the faithful one will consider all the consequences before opening their mouth and make a promise. It is better not to make a promise than to make one and break it. The Bible says in Matthew 12:33-37 "Either make the tree good and his fruit good: or else make a tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. O you generations of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the hearth the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things" But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned”.
The faithful child of God will make sure that all his affairs are taken care of before speaking that they will commit to something. They will not entangle themselves in the affairs of this world that they may please God. The Bible says in Proverbs 13:3 “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.” Simply put a faithful person knows when to open his mouth and when to keep their mouth shut.
A FAITHFUL CHILD OF GOD IS FAITHFUL IN CONDUCT. 1st Peter 1: 14-15 says “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” Faithful children of God do not conduct themselves like the world does. The word conversation means your everyday life. The way you carry yourself in actions, both toward the world and toward the church. The faithful understand that they are a chosen generation a royal priesthood and a peculiar people. They realize that you cannot act like the world and portray Christ. The faithful are not conformed to this world, but are transformed, changed, metamorphosized in their mind, which produces their actions. The body carries out what the mind tells it to do, if the mind is transformed by the spirit of God, then the actions and conduct that the body carries out is different than if the fleshly carnal mind was in control.
A FAITHFUL CHILD OF GOD IS STEADFAST. Faithfulness is not something that is proven overnight. Abraham waited 25 years for his promise. Noah preached for 120 years, Daniel waited 21 days for his prayer to be answered, Job was sick so long that the flesh fell from his bones, yet he held on, the disciples and the others in the upper room waited until the Day of Pentecost was fully come. Faithfulness requires the child of God to be steadfast, unmovable, planted like a tree by the rivers of water. There are going to be trials that come in our lives. There are going to be times that we don’t even feel like going on, but we must be steadfast. We must stand after we have done all we can do. I remember when I was in the Army in basic training and we had this one drill that the D.I. would make us do. We would have to hold our weapon straight out in front of us and just stand their until he said we could move. Sometimes we would stand there in that position what seemed like hours, but regardless of how tired we got we stood right there until he said move. Why because he required us to be faithful and stand. Jesus is still waiting for all those that have not repented of their sins to do so, for He is truly faithful.
A FAITHFUL CHILD OF GOD UNDERSTANDS THAT FAITHFULNESS IS COSTLY. Faithfulness cost you something. There is a sign as you enter the V.A Medical Center that says “The Price of Freedom is Visible here” it simply states that in order for us to have freedom someone had to pay a certain price. Faithfulness comes at a price as well. Faithfulness cost us to deny our selves, pick up our cross and follow Him. As you may remember from the characteristic of HUMBLENESS, that the cross represented shame and disgrace in the sight of man. Faithfulness may cost you not to be popular in the eyes of man. Faithfulness cost sacrificing ourselves of fleshly pleasure. The Bible says crucify the flesh daily. Faithfulness to the Word of God will cost you some friendships. Faithfulness in preaching may cost you not to be liked by those that get offended by the Word of Truth. Faithfulness may get you cast into the lions den like Daniel (understand that the lions den I am talking about is the court room, not a natural lions den). Faithfulness may cause you to become unpopular in the sight of man, but pleasing in the sight of God. Faithfulness will cause you to be hated by even some of your own family. Faithfulness may even cost you your life. But know this the faithful shall mount up with wings as an eagle, they shall walk and not faint, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk on streets of Gold, they shall have peace that passeth all understanding. They shall ask and it shall be given unto them. They shall knock and the door shall be open unto them. The faithful are more than conquerors. The faithful understand 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.”
Summary
Faithfulness requires commitment and reliability and not that stuff that many people call faithfulness just because they show up for church on Sunday or sing in the choir. Faithfulness is the characteristic of God that is developed in us because of His faithfulness toward us. Faithfulness is a costly investment and the reward is out of this world.
Because of faithfulness Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God and was translated not having to feel the sting of death because of his faithfulness.
Because of faithfulness Job received double for his trouble. After loosing everything he had, yet he remained faithful.
Because of faithfulness Moses lead the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and through the Red Sea on dry ground.
Because of faithfulness the 3Hebrews boys were protected in the midst of the fire.
Because of faithfulness Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist.
Because of faithfulness Abraham is called faithful Abraham.
There are many benefits to being faithful, such as deliverance from the bondage of sin, the ability to birth that which God has for you to birth, protection in the midst of trials. Joy unspeakable full of glory and a Peace that passeth all understanding, but the ultimate benefit of being faithful is that we shall have everlasting life.
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
