Faithfulness (Matthew 25:21)
Are you faithful? Can you be counted on (Proverbs 25:19; 1 Corinthians 4:2; Psalm 31:23)? Faithfulness is God’s requirement for your stewardship. Faithfulness is God’s measurement for your blessing. One day, we’ll before God, and the reward is going to be according to our faithfulness.
I. What Are Some Areas of Faithfulness?
a. Family (Ephesians 5:25): When you marry, you make a solemn vow to keep yourself for your spouse alone. Kids need parents who will be faithful.
b. Finances (Luke 16:10-13): How you handle your money is an indication of how you would handle spiritual treasure (Deuteronomy 8:18; I Corinthians 16:2).
c. Friends (Proverbs 17:17; Proverbs 18:24): If you have a friend, thank the Lord, and be a great friend to your friend. Be a faithful friend that loves at all times.
d. Fellowship (Romans 12:5): We are members one to another, and we owe to one another a fierce loyalty. We are not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.” When you come to church, you say two things: First, that, “God is important to me.” Second, you say, “You are important to me.”
e. Faith (2 Timothy 1:13-14): Do you stand for the faith (Jude 1:3)? We must instill that faith into the next generation to be faithful to the Word, and teach them what the Word of God says.
II. Why Should We Be Faithful?
a. We’re to be faithful because Christ is faithful! He’s faithful when we fail: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
b. He’s faithful when we’re tempted: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may able to bear it.”
c. He is faithful to preserve us: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”
d. He is faithful to His promises: “And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of out Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calleth you, who also will do it.”
e. His is our example of faithfulness: John said, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True…”
III. How Should We Be Faithful?
a. In the small things: (Luke 16:10) Big things are made of small things. Be faithful in the small things and the big things will take care of themselves.
b. In life: The big things in life are made out of small acts, kind words, simple gestures. Have integrity in the small things in this life, they multiply over time.
c. In the secret things: What you are in secret is what you are. Be faithful in the secret things, “And thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thee openly.”
d. In the sacred things: Life, marriage, the body are all sacred. Be faithful to meet with God. Prayer time is sacred time. Worship time is sacred time. Bible study time is sacred time. Church time is sacred time. Be faithful in the sacred things.
Do you know how you have faithfulness? Galatians 5:22 says, “The fruit of the Spirit”—your Bible may say—“is … faith”—but that could be translated, “The fruit of the Spirit is “faithfulness.” Abide in Christ. Come to Him. Be committed to Him. Surrender to Him. Yield to Him. Trust in Him. And God, the Holy Spirit, will produce in you the fruit of faithfulness!