“Faithfulness as Fruitfulness”  Psalm 18:25; Rev. 2:10,11

I finally bought a vacuum cleaner after 25 years of an old one that had a broken wheel, a broken hose and ten other things wrong.  I spent an hour putting it together- reading the instructions; Plugged it into the wall and… nothing!  Went back over the directions again.  But the problem was though I plugged it into the wall, I hadn’t plugged the cord into the vacuum cleaner!  Without power even the greatest, newest thing won’t work.  No matter how many gifts we have, we cannot bear fruit for God if we are not plugged into Him- abiding in Him.  Jesus said, “Abide in me and you will bear much fruit. And Apart from me  you can do nothing!” (John 15).  Faithfulness (abiding/plugging in/remaining) brings fruitfulness.

“To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless.”
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.  I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.  Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as our victor’s crown.  Whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Those who are victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.”

                The world is littered with broken promises and people broken by these promises left unfulfilled.  There is a long history of broken promises by American presidents.  Jefferson won his election against Adams in 1800 by promising reduction of federal power, reducing the national debt, and strict interpretation of the constitution.   The opportunity to purchase the Louisiana Territory in 1803 threw all of these Jeffersonian principles into the proverbial cocked hat.  Woodrow Wilson promised to keep us out of WWI in 1912, but took us into it in 1917.  FDR promised to not bring us into WWII.  Lyndon Johnson promised to never send American boys to Vietnam, but broke that promise in 1965.   Of course, circumstances changed these campaign promises.  But if our leaders have made and broken promises, what about us? 
                The Bible says that in the last days people will be faithless.  If we want to look at faithfulness as a fruit of the Spirit, then we must have some idea of what faithless means.  I think a good description is found in II Timothy: But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!  Basically, this is saying people will value themselves above God or anyone else.  The perennial fight of faith is against selfishness.  At the end of history, people will give up on God.  But God doesn’t go away.  In the true end, God will triumph. Today there is a siren call to be faithless.  It is a call to give up, to indulge ourselves, to not give ourselves for anything higher than ourselves.  This call of the world questions sacrifice and continually tempts us to go along with everyone else.  But faithfulness means holding steady against the odds, and against the pull of evil.  It is a picture of a soldier standing at their post despite the terror of the army coming against them—trusting in their cause, their comrades and their leader.  Faithfulness to God is inspired by God, encouraged by God, is a fruit from God, and is rewarded by God.  But there will be a time when we devalue faithfulness and God, and over-value our own importance and pleasure.  Let it not be today.
                Faithfulness means reliability and trustworthiness.  Some translate this fruit of the Spirit as “faith” because there is one Greek word for both faith and faithfulness (pistis).  The word here means trustworthiness, reliability, firm-secure-trust. Faith and faithfulness go hand in hand.  If you are losing faith every minute, you have no faith to lose.  If you do not trust the faithfulness of the bank-taking your money out and hiding it under the mattress- you have lost faith in the bank.  If you do not trust the faithfulness of your spouse, you have lost faith in them. If your faith is steady, constant, reliable, then faithfulness is not different from faith.  As trust goes with trustworthiness, so faith goes with faithfulness. 
                Our faithfulness to God is ultimately dependent on God’s faithfulness to us.  Is it possible to believe in God’s faithfulness to us in tough economic times?  Jeremiah did.  His world was destroyed all around him- the leaders of his people led away to a foreign land, thousands of his people were dead, the palaces destroyed and the walls broken down.  Yet in the aftermath he was able to write, “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning.  Great is your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22,23).  Habakuk could say “though the fig tree does not blossom and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength.”  If God is only Lord of your life in the good times, how fickle is your God!  Faithfulness means loving God no matter what- as when we say we love a spouse- “In sickness and in health , for richer for poorer, for better for worse.”  If we say I’ll marry you only if you remain healthy, rich, and at your best” then we are self-centered indeed.  God is loving, kind, and good to us even if we are not loving, kind, and good to Him.  The great news about this time of year in the church is we remember that Christ died on the cross paying for our sins- not because we deserved it- forcing him on the cross by our goodness.  But a combination of his faithful love for us and our faithless sin against him forced Him to make a way for us.  The cross, then, is the ultimate symbol of God’s faithfulness to us unto death. 
                FAITHFULNESS DEPENDS ON OUR VALUING SOMETHING AS IMPORTANT- Seek ye first the kingdom of God- is the first step toward faithfulness.  We get up and go to work because we value it as important- so we are faithful in our work.  We are there faithfully and regularly because it is important.  Kids get up and go to school because they see that as important- so we get our diplomas and degrees because we see these things as important.   We may not feel like getting out of bed.  We may want to just play hooky or go hunting, but because we see the importance of work or school we go anyway.  If we value God as important we get up and worship Him.   If God is more important than anything else (and He should be), then we don’t let anything get in our way of worshipping Him.  Our work, our education, our faith are important for what they can do for us, but also when we are faithful in them, it does something else.  As we are faithful in our work, our school, our relationships, and our faith it makes the world a better place.  One by one it enhances the world around us. 
                FAITHFULNESS DEPENDS ON COMMITING OUTSELVES TO WHAT IS IMPORTANT- Remember the parable of the pearl of great price.  When you find something that is of great importance, don’t lose it.  Don’t let other things distract you from it.  Up until twenty years ago it wasn’t too uncommon for people to remain steady at their post through thick and thin.  Silver and golden anniversaries are the thing of a previous generation.  Working for the same company, in the same region making lasting relationships was a deep value.  Today many companies would love to send you everywhere learning everything, and then they let you go.  In a highly mobile society it is hard to be faithful.  In a society that values change for the sake of change, it is hard to be faithful in a secular sense.  But the important things are still important wherever you go.  God is God of Chapin but He is also God of Timbuktu.  You cannot escape God’s eye or God’s care wherever you go.  Commit yourself to what the world cannot take away.  Commit yourself to what cannot fade with time. 
                FAITHFULNESS EVIDENCES ITSELF IN THE LITTLE THINGS- Faithfulness and humility go hand in hand here.  Because if you can’t humble yourself to do the little, trivial things faithfully, how can you be faithful in the big things. Matthew 25:21 says, “Well done good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.” How do you treat the little people?  Do you treat people remembering that they have the image of God in them, and that Christ died for them?  Or do you only value the rich and those who may be able to do something for you?  No one- rich or poor- is valueless.  Do you only do the showy things well but not the small things well?  Faithfulness implies steadfastness, consistency, and the humility to do just that.   If I was not faithful in the little things like brushing my teeth, a tooth infection could affect my whole body.  In keyboarding class I learned to type doing some of the silliest exercises.  AQ, AW, AE, AR, AT.  Typing these nonsense exercises didn’t make any sense until the teacher said, “Now type a sentence.”  I could type a sentence easily and quickly because I had done the exercises.  The little simple things, prepare us for the bigger things.  Doing the little things- like giving an extra $10 to missions, or helping a needy neighbor is important.  If everyone does them, they become big things that change the world.
                Betsy Chalmers met her husband at 19, married him at 20, and then when she turned 22 he was arrested for a violent crime.  For twenty-eight years she has been visiting him four hours a week, and calling him twenty hours a week.  She stayed through the trials, the prisons.   She says he needed her and she returned her love.  She stayed by him not because she was desperate or uneducated- she has a good job.  At 50, I have come to the conclusion it is not the life I have that defines me, it is the way I choose to live that life. I choose to live it being faithful. This brings me peace, this allows me to have joy, this keeps me aware of my husband. My spiritual faith has given me the foundation to live this life, not just survive it. Faith in a God who has not abandoned me; faith in a man who loves me; faith in myself. I believe in faithfulness.