Part 8 – How to reflect God’s Love through Faithfulness?
Patrick Jansen van Rensburg
Galatians 5.22-23 “Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …”
Gal 5:22 Maar die vrug van die Gees is liefde, blydskap, vrede, lankmoedigheid, vriendelikheid, goedheid, getrouheid, sagmoedigheid, selfbeheersing.
Faithfulness
“Faithfulness” is translated from the Greek word pistis. In the King James Version this word is translated “faith.” Pistis includes both meanings (faith and faithfulness), but in Galatians 5:22 it seems to carry more of the meaning “trustworthiness or reliability”
It is the characteristic of the man who is reliable”
The Hebrew word rendered “faithfulness” is emunah, which Strong’s says literally means “firmness,” figuratively means “security” and morally means “fidelity.“
Faithfulness means to TRUST GOD
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines faithful as constant; loyal; marked by or showing a strong sense of duty or responsibility; conscientious; accurate; reliable; exact.”
Other synonyms include dedicated, steadfast, devoted, dependable, accurate, true, conscientious, dutiful, careful, scrupulous and thorough.
Faithless means “not keeping faith; dishonest; disloyal; unreliable; undependable; unbelieving.” Its synonyms include doubting, treacherous and unscrupulous.
God’s Faithfulness
2 Timothy 2:13 (NKJV) If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise. Heb 10:24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Heb 10:25 Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer
God is called faithful – He keeps His promises.
Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvellous things, things planned long ago
God Is Faithful In Many Ways
God Does Not Lie About Anything
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?.
God Is Faithful To Forgive
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness
God Will Not Abandon His People
Deuteronomy 4:31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
God Desires Faithfulness From His People
God desires faithfulness for those who have trusted Him
1 Corinthians 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Matt 25:23 Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master”
Jesus doesn’t say “good and gifted servant,” or “good and skilled servant.” It is being faithful where He puts the emphasis
Ninety-percent of serving is just showing up, so being faithful means being available. One person that doesn’t show up is one person who won’t serve.
If you think what you are doing is insignificant, don’t miss the fact that Jesus said that if Matt 25:23 “You have been faithful over a little,” He “will set you over much,” so you might “Enter into the joy of your master”
Your faithfulness doesn’t depend on how little or how much you have, but what you do with it. Are you faithful in showing up and in using what you have been given by God?
Availability, Just Show-up
If we make ourselves available, we’ll be more faithful, but the world competes with our time and resources. It’s a battle of the flesh verses the Spirit.
Rom 7:15 “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate”
Heb 10:25 Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer
Now ask yourself: How do I make myself available to God and his work?
What can I do to develop an attitude of and willingness to be Available?
What blocks me from being Available to others?
How can I make Availability function better, stronger, and faster, even in times of uncertainty, stress, and, most importantly, time constraints?
Availability is being willing to adjust our own schedule, agenda, and plans to fit the right desires of God and others. It makes personal priorities secondary to the needs of God and others. It is to reflect God’s priorities, so we are always available to Him, and others, when we are serving.
Irritate, careless, hassling, and inconveniencing others are opposite terms. These imply the ability to ignore and put people down, when we are called to embrace and lift them up.
This will cancel out any good you or your church may have done, by the needs of people and communities being unmet, and by the uninvolved, careless mentality that many churches and Christians have today.
It is the refusal to make use of the available time, talents, and resources to meet those needs, or to help accomplish the desired results to which God calls us.
Romans 12:4-8 NIV “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many from one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”