FAITHFULNESS
by Louis Stahnke

Adult teaching, November 19, 2006

In our membership vows we commit ourselves to fidelity in marriage. Marriage is a significant relationship where fidelity or faithfulness is very important and gives us a place where we have endless opportunities for practicing being faithful.

But this morning I want to focus on fidelity or faithfulness in all of life.

What does it mean to be faithful? (dependable, consistent in duties…)

In Matthew chapter 24: 45-47 –“Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master has placed in charge of the other servants to give them their food at the proper time. How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home! Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property.”

Then Matthew goes on to relate 2 other examples of faithfulness—the 10 virgins who wait for the bridegroom, some with enough oil, some who lack enough and aren’t there when the bridegroom comes—and the parable of the 3 servants each given a different number of coins to deal with while the master is gone. These accounts are grouped near the very end of Jesus’ teaching when he would soon be gone from his disciples. And in each example, the faithfulness or lack of it is shown in the master’s absence. So being faithful has something to do with how we behave when the boss is not looking over our shoulder.

In order to be faithful, we have to put our moods and feelings aside and simply act in ways that we know are right. This means we don’t stop caring for our responsibilities just because we don’t feel like it that day. A parent who is healthy but just doesn’t feel like getting out of bed to go shopping when that needs to be done just doesn’t make it as a faithful parent lying there in bed. Those of us who care for Donna at nights would fail at being faithful if we just decide to stay home when we feel like it. Caring for Donna has been a time of teaching me quite a lot about faithfulness. In watching Jim and others of us care for her, in doing my part, and in seeing the Lord’s faithful provision many times especially in providing people to help at night. As I’ve learned to be more faithful in helping Jim and Donna, I’ve marveled at the Lord’s faithfulness to us. If we can give the care needed over these years, how much more must the Lord be faithful to us.

The Lord is in fact our teacher in what fidelity is. The Old Testament is the record of God’s fidelity to his unfaithful people. I believe that whatever we have learned of fidelity comes from learning it from others. A faithful parent teaches a child to be dependable in doing chores, so that the dog gets fed and the trash taken out even when the parent is not watching. We see a child being faithful in these small areas and recognize that he or she is growing up—growing in maturity.

We too are called to grow in maturity by being faithful to our “small tasks”, which may not seem so small to us. A spouse is called to be consistently loving of husband and wife, whether the mood to do so is there or not. Marriages and other relationships grow strong when we learn to expect to be consistently respected by the other. The Body of Christ here can grow strong as we learn to consistently respect each other and carry out duties that are expected for each other. One of these duties is to pray for each other.

Most important things in life and growth we learn by example. A child whose parent is inconsistent in their care of him or her is not likely to learn to do a good job of feeding the family pet. We may also learn to be faithful in some areas of life but not in others.

As a man who provides financially for his family but then treats them badly in other ways.

What are some areas in your life where you have learned to be faithful?

And where you still need to grow in being faithful to others?

How have God and/or other people been faithful to you?

What have you learned from those times? About yourself? About God? About faithfulness.?

In Hebrews 13:8 we read that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

This means that He is entirely faithful. We can depend on Him to love us tomorrow as He has today and in the past. We can get confused about this if we depend on circumstances of life to show us if we are loved by God or not. Maybe yesterday life felt good, the sun was shining, we felt safe and secure. Then something very unexpected and challenging comes into our lives, and we no longer feel safe and well loved. So did God decide not to love us when He allowed that difficult thing to happen? No. His love is totally consistent. He is consistently “on our side”, working to bring us into closer relationship with Himself. For that is the ultimate good, the true Joy of life that we are promised through our belief in Jesus. The one thing we are created to need the most is relationship with our Creator. As we find that, through easy and not so easy things in our lives, we find the fulfillment of our deepest desires and needs.