Message topic: How do we show our faithfulness to God?
Text: Matthew 25: 14-23
When we first committed our lives to God through believing in Christ Jesus, we were told that the most important thing that is required of us, is to be faithful to God in all that we do: but what does it means to be faithful, and how does one show their faithfulness?
Faithfulness is a quality or attribute applied in the Scripture to both God and man: faithfulness is one of the characteristics of God’s ethical nature. It denotes the firmness or constancy of God in His relations with men, especially with His people. It is, accordingly, one aspect of God’s truth and of His unchangeableness.
God is true not only because He is really God in contrast to all that is not God, and because He realizes the idea of Godhead, but also because He is constant or faithful in keeping His promises, and therefore is worthy of trust. God likewise, is unchangeable in his ethical nature. This unchangeableness the scripture often connects with God’s goodness and mercy, and also with His constancy in reference to his covenant promises, and this is what the O/T means by the faithfulness of God.
Listen to this promise which God made to all mankind which is recorded for us in Deuteronomy seven in verses eight and nine: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. This same attribute is also implied where God reveals Himself to Moses and to Israel as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their fathers’ God in Exodus 3; 6, 15,16.
How wonderful it is to know that the same God who did all the wonderful acts in the old Testament days, is the same God we today have working miracles as He did in the days of old to show us that He is still able to do as He promises to be there to defend all who trust Him.
There are ways to show our faithfulness: since we are called to be faithful, to walk with Jesus or follow him throughout our life, there are some common ways to show our faithfulness. Since we are trusting Jesus, the first way to show our faithfulness is to trust in his words, (his commandments) and how do we know his commandments? The primary way is through reading His words-study the Gospels will give us insight as well as the specific teachings that are found in them.
As we study the New Testament learning more of Jesus we often find areas where we may lack understanding, this is where prayer is most important in the Christian life. Just as communications is important in a marriage, prayer is important in our walk of faith, and we all probably know that prayer is more than just talking, it is also taking the time to listen as we pray.
As we pray and ask, we need to learn to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we become Christians, God does nor leave us without help. The Holy Spirit presence is a promise fulfilled given to every believer. Now at first this may seem to be a mystery but it does take time to develop the ability to listen to the Spirits leading. We are like newborn babies in the beginning not understanding all that their parents are trying to teach them, but in time we grow in understanding.
As we study God’s word, pray and seek guidance we begin to show our faithfulness to God through modeling our life after His words. How you live your life every day counts. How you interact with family friends and even strangers is dependent on how well you apply God word to everyday life. We should show our faithfulness to God Every Day.
Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, is often referred to as the hall of Faith: there we find the names of Able, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel. Able was the first man who ever lived and died in the world.
By faith Able offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts: and through it, he being dead, still speaks.
Able was the second son of Adam and Eve and the first martyr in the Bible. He was a righteous person who offered a more acceptable sacrifice to God than his brother Cain and was killed by him out of jealousy.
Abraham is the famous biblical figures among the heroes of faith in the bible who demonstrated his faithfulness in obedience to God. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he was looking for the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.
Abraham displayed his faithfulness to God to the point that he was willing to sacrifice his son as an offering to the God in whom he believed and trust for all things.
Abraham walked so close to God that in James 2: 23, 2 Chronicles 20:7, and in Isaiah 41:8 he is called God’s friend. Can you and I have such a relationship with God through our faithfulness to him?
How did you answer the question, how do you show faithfulness to God? God is very faithful to all of us, and it is by His faithfulness that we can continue living as His sons and daughters in this world. For our part, we should strive to be faithful as we can be to Him who loves us, and although it is admittedly hard to do, given weaknesses and limitations, not to mention our hard-headedness and stubbornness at times, we can still be faithful to Him in our own little ways.
Are you hoping to be a better child to our heavenly Father? Hear are some ways you can show your faithfulness to the Lord. (be unwavering in your belief in Him,) Separate yourself from the world’s thought patterns and practices, and choose to do what is right at all times.
Even if it hurts, choose to do what is right and God-pleasing all the time, when we are faced with making decisions, choose the one that’s not sinful and is pleasing to God, even if it means being ridiculed and made fun of, remember, the Lord Jesus Himself was persecuted, and this means that we should be prepared and willing to face some too, as in Matthew 10: 22-33.