PURSUING HOLINESS: FAITHFULNESS
2 August 2009
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians 4
1. So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
2. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
3. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
5. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
-- the story is told about the great missionary, Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission in the 1800's -- one stormy night in Birmingham, England, Taylor was supposed to speak at a meeting at the Seven Street schoolroom -- but, because the storm was so fierce and so strong, his hostess told him there was no need to go out -- nobody would attend on such a stormy night -- but Taylor insisted on going -- “I must go even if there is no one but the doorkeeper.”
-- As it turned out, less than a dozen people showed up, but the meeting was marked with unusual spiritual power -- God moved within that small crowd of dedicated and committed believers, and half of those present either became missionaries themselves or dedicated their children as missionaries -- all of them became faithful supporters of the China Inland Mission for years to come
-- that night, Hudson Taylor demonstrated the quality and depth of character that has made him a continuing inspiration for Christians for almost 200 years now -- Taylor was committed to serving God "regardless of names (who showed up) or numbers (how many showed) or the nature of the situation (stormy conditions)"1 -- he was faithful to God and God honored and rewarded that faithfulness by increasing the ministry of the China Inland Mission
II. The Faithful and the Summer Sermon Series
-- we are continuing in our summer sermon series on pursuing holiness through the fruit of the Spirit -- and today, we are discussing the attribute of faithfulness -- that characteristic of God that we must have in our life if we are to fulfill our calling as the people of Christ
-- I don't know if I've ever actually mentioned this in here or not, but the reason I started doing a summer sermon series was because of this very topic of faithfulness -- you see, it took me a while, but I have finally learned something that all of you probably already knew years ago -- namely, that churches are comprised of different groups of people depending on the season and the day
-- Rick Warren, in his book, "The Purpose Driven Church," talks about three such groups -- first, there's the crowd -- the group of people who only come to church on the major holidays -- Christmas -- Easter -- and Mother's Day
-- then, there's the congregation -- this is the group of people who come to Sunday morning worship on a regular basis -- they're not present every Sunday, but they're there most of the time although they tend to miss church more during the summer months
-- but then, there's the committed -- this is the core of a church -- the group of people who are serious about their faith and about their God -- these are the people who are there every time the door is open -- by and large, and this is generalizing of course, but these are the ones who carry the ministry of the church -- the rest of the congregation may join in, but it is this group who has the vision and the drive to develop and implement ministries in the church
-- these are the people who are the like the ones Hudson Taylor spoke to on that stormy night in England -- who come regardless of the season -- who come regardless of the weather -- who come regardless of what else may be going on in their lives
-- now I know we don't, but a lot of churches have Sunday night services -- if you want to know who the committed in a church are, visit on a Sunday night -- the few who show up -- and I would say this is about 10-20% of the congregation of any given church -- are the group that Warren calls the "core" or the "committed"
-- in his book, Warren suggested that a church focus its ministry and its message to the audience that would be in a given service -- and I've tried to adopt that philosophy -- for instance, if my goal is to preach an evangelistic message to reach people who are unsaved or unchurched, then I know I have to do it at Christmas, Easter, or Mother's Day, because that is when this group of people are in the church
-- and that's why I started the summer sermon series -- you might have noticed that these summer sermon series tend to be a little deeper and a little more challenging than most of the messages that I preach -- for instance, I normally don't use Greek and Hebrew words in my messages, but I do quite frequently during the summer message -- and that has been intentional -- because I know that the audience at church in the summer is primarily the core and committed group of believers who are trying to become more mature in their relationship with God and who are actively pursuing holiness in their lives
-- it's the same way with the Bible studies I lead -- they are designed for mature believers in Christ who are ready to really dig deep into God's word and get the most out of the scriptures
-- it comes down to this concept of faithfulness -- this fruit of the Spirit that we are trying to acquire in our lives -- faithfulness is a commitment to something that we hold important -- I have heard it described as faith in action -- acting in accordance with what you believe and are called to do
-- Webster defines faithful as "maintaining allegiance; constant; loyal; marked by or showing a strong sense of duty or responsibility; conscientious; accurate; reliable; exact." -- The American Heritage Dictionary goes one step farther and defines faithful as, "Consistent with truth or actuality -- [as in:] a faithful reproduction of a portrait.”
-- the Greek word that we find translated as "faithful" or "faithfulness" in the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 is pistis -- you'll also see it translated in your Bible as "trustworthy," "steadfast," or "loyal"
-- in regards to the Christian life, these definitions carry with them two important concepts related to faithfulness -- commitment and copy
-- commitment to the message and ministry of Christ -- dedication to completing the task that Christ assigned us -- and, copy -- the faithful reproduction of Christ in us -- in other words, becoming more and more like Jesus in our attitude, our motives, our behavior and our lives so that when others look at us, they see a picture of Jesus
III. Scripture Lesson -- 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
-- this idea of commitment and copy can be seen in these verses from the epistle of Paul to the church at Corinth -- Paul was dealing with a church that had divisions because some people were listening to Paul and others would only listen to Peter while others would only listen to the teachings of Apollos -- similar to what we see today as people tend to have their favorite preachers or favorite authors
-- the problem with the church at Corinth, though, was that these new Christians were putting their faith into the teachers rather than into the message -- they were becoming faithful and committed to the wrong thing -- they were following men rather than God
-- and so Paul reminds them here of their calling as Christians and gently points them back to the only message and only person they should be committed to
-- if you would, look back with me at verse 1 in 1 Corinthians 4
1. So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
-- we see here in this first verse the concept of commitment and copy -- like I said, the Corinthians were putting their faith and loyalty behind individual human teachers -- so the first thing Paul does here is remind the Corinthians of who they are -- they are servants and ministers of Christ -- they are the ones entrusted with the mysteries and the secrets of God Himself
-- Paul is telling them, "Stop committing yourself to men -- stop putting your faith and trust in me or Apollos or Peter -- instead, you should be committed -- you should be faithful -- to the One who has appointed you His servant and His minister -- your commitment and your loyalty should be to Christ"
-- secondly, Paul points out the concept of copy to the Corinthians -- "I want you to be so committed to Christ -- so faithful to His call and His charge to you -- that when men look at you -- when they regard you -- they don't see you but they see Jesus"
-- what Paul is talking about here is the essence of what we have been going over this summer in this sermon series -- Paul wanted the Corinthians to imitate Christ -- to copy Christ in their attitude and behavior and motives so that they would become mature believers -- so that they would be holy as Christ is holy
-- "Reach the point," Paul is saying, "where people look at you and see Jesus in your life."
-- verse 2
2. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
-- here Paul emphasizes that concept of commitment and faithfulness -- as Christians, we have been given a responsibility -- verse 1 tells us that we are not just people who are called to sit on the pews on Sunday morning -- but that we are people who are called by God to be His servants -- or, as the King James Version puts it, His ministers
-- this implies that we have a calling -- that God has given us a job to do -- just as there can be no Lone Ranger Christians who are not part of a community of faith -- there can be no passive Christians who just sit in the pews and do nothing
-- in verse 1, we read that we have been entrusted with the secret things of God -- the King James Version says that we are "stewards of the mysteries of God" -- Paul is referring here to the message of the gospel -- the good news that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that He rose on the third day to prove His victory over sin and death and give us the promise of eternal life
-- Paul call this a mystery or a secret thing -- in the Bible, mysteries are things that have been hidden, but that are now being revealed through the power of the Holy Spirit -- the Bible tells us that the natural man cannot understand the things of God unless they are taught by the Spirit -- and that's where we come in
-- Paul is saying that we should be a copy of Christ -- that we should be His hands and His feet and His voice -- and that we should be committed -- faithful -- to the trust that we have been given by spreading the message of the gospel to those around us that can't understand it on their own
-- that's the purpose of the church -- that's why we exist -- to tell others about Jesus and His message of hope -- we are faithful only to the point that we fulfill this trust that we have been given
-- now, this doesn't mean that we have to be successful -- our call is to faithfulness -- not success
-- Senator Mark Hatfield tells the story in his book of touring Calcutta with Mother Teresa and visiting the so-called “House of Dying” -- this was the place where sick children were cared for in their last days -- and this was the clinic where hundreds of poor and lower caste people would line up for medical care
-- Hatfield spent several days watching Mother Teresa minister to these people, feeding and nursing those left by others to die -- he was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the suffering she and her co-workers face daily -- “How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?” he asked -- Mother Teresa replied, “My dear Senator, I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful.”1
-- to be faithful means that you go where you are sent and you do what you are told regardless of the outcome -- to be faithful means that you go out in a pouring rainstorm to give a message to only 12 people like Hudson Taylor because that is what God calls you to do -- to be faithful means that you minister to the sick and dying like Mother Teresa even though in human eyes it makes no difference -- to be faithful means that you serve God and minister to others where He had placed you -- giving of yourself and your time and your resources to fulfill the calling on your life
-- that is why in our membership covenant that we ask people who are coming to join our church if they will commit to supporting God and the church through their prayers, presence, gifts, witness, and service -- to be faithful is to do all of these things
-- verse 3
3. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
5. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
-- real quickly here, let me wrap this up for you -- Paul says, "It doesn't matter what other people think of me -- I don't care how you or any human court view me or judge me -- I don't even care how I view myself or what I think of myself -- the only thing that is important is how God sees me -- how God will judge me
-- "at the appointed time -- when the Lord returns -- He will judge not only my actions and my behavior but also the motives of my heart -- it is Jesus that I am serving -- it is the praise of Jesus that I am seeking -- for, in the end, it is the phrase, 'Well done, good and faithful servant,' that I long to hear"
IV. Closing
-- at 8:46 am on September 11th, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower -- minutes after that, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower
-- New Yorkers were in a panic and fled from the scene of the attack as smoke billowed up from the towers -- but while most of the city was running away, one group of dedicated men and women was running toward the disaster -- members of the New York Fire Department and the New York police department were the first to arrive on scene and began helping the people evacuate and get to safety
-- and, as you know, 411 of these brave men and women died as the two towers of the World Trade Center collapsed
-- what was it that propelled these men and women to run to danger instead of fleeing like the rest of the city? -- you can answer that in one word -- faithfulness
-- these men and women had been given a charge -- they had been given a duty to fulfill -- a trust to accomplish -- and in spite of the overwhelming danger to their personal lives, they ran headlong into the flames to save others
-- the very definition of faithfulness -- faith in action -- acting in accordance with what they believed and were called to do
-- while we may never be called to rush into actual flames to save others, we have been entrusted with a responsibility from God to be faithful to His word and to minister to others the gospel of Christ Jesus -- we have been called to be God's servants -- to reflect His nature and character -- and to stand firm in the face of opposition and danger as we snatch others from the flames of hell
-- that is the essence of what we mean by the term "faithfulness" -- and that is what Christ is calling you to today
-- as I close in prayer, I want to encourage you to respond to God's word by rededicating your life to Him -- none of us are as faithful in our walk with Jesus as we should be -- none of us truly copy Him in all of our behavior or attitudes or motives -- none of us are truly committed in all our ways to Him
-- so, I want to encourage you to take a moment to commit your life to God again -- to promise again that you will fulfill your vows to support God and His church through your prayers, presence, gifts, witness, and service -- to promise again that you will be His faithful servants in all that you do
-- let us pray
References:
1. http://bible.org/seriespage/mark-14-faithfulness -- Mark #14: Faithfulness
By: J. Hampton Keathley, III, Accessed 1 August 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment