Better Your Faithfulness, Better Your Life

Today's subject, the subject of my sermon is faithfulness.

The Hebrew word for faithfulness, and I apologize for mispronouncing, I may well be, it's hard to know sometimes from my ear. The word for faithfulness in the Hebrew is imunah, and it is spelled, if you'd like to know, E-M-U-N-A-H. E-M-U-N-A-H, imunah.

And the Hebrew word means trustworthiness. Let me say that right, trustworthiness. And another synonym is integrity, stability, truth.

The idea of truth is truth that does not change. And of course then, faithfulness. Now these qualities are all attributes of God. They are attributes of God. And we don't need to turn there at this point, but in the Song of Moses, for your information, in Deuteronomy 32 verse four, we find the Song of Moses there, and it's in that verse, Deuteronomy 32 verse four, that God is praised for being a God of truth, a God of truth. And there it's that Hebrew word, imunah. The RSV, the Revised Standard Version, reads he is a God of faithfulness. Again, that word imunah can mean either of those words in English. Also in Lamentations chapter three verse 23, Jeremiah praises God for his great faithfulness, imunah again. And Jeremiah does this after considering how it's only because of God's enduring love and mercy, his compassion, it's only because of God that has kept his people from being annihilated, from being totally destroyed. God is faithful to love his people. And faithfulness is also the attribute God wants all people to have, and especially those he is calling.

The words of Habakkuk chapter two verse four are very familiar words to us. The just shall live by faith. God, through Habakkuk, wrote, had Habakkuk write, to the just shall live by faith. And again, the word for faith there is imunah. The same words, the same line, the just shall live by faith is quoted three times in the New Testament. And I'll just list them. Galatians 3.11, Romans 1.17, and also Hebrews 10.28. Galatians 3.11, Romans 1.17, and Hebrews 10.28. Now, of course you'll recognize that we, now some argue who wrote Hebrews, some think it was Paul, but if you look at those three verses, it suggests Paul wrote, used that same quote three different times in the New Testament in his writings. We've heard many times that repetition is a means of emphasis, it's a means of teaching. And so it seems such repetition emphasizes, from God's view, our need as God's people to be exercising this vital attribute of faithfulness. And especially I think we might realize too, we especially need to be practicing faithfulness because of the sort of society we're living in right now. We're living in times when things like trustworthiness, integrity, faithfulness, they just are kind of hard to find now in our society. They're very much wanting. And it's interesting then if you look at that word, imuna, being there and the just shall live by faith, that sentence can also readily be read as, the just shall live by faithfulness, by faithfulness.

And if you think of it that way, that line may begin to give you a little more meaning. The just shall live by faithfulness, and that is what we must all be doing. We're gonna address that a little bit today. Faithfulness is a wonderful attribute of God, one we absolutely count on. And it's also one that God wants us as children to be exercising. And so today we will consider two things we need to do, two things we need to do to improve and strengthen our faithfulness to God. And by the way, as we're strengthening our faithfulness to God, we're also gonna be strengthening our faithfulness to who else? To one another, to one another as a body of Christ. And that also is very important in these days we live in. The title of today's sermon is, Better Your Faithfulness, Better Your Life. Better Your Faithfulness, Better Your Life.

So let's talk about the first thing we should be doing. Now, when I say things, that's a nice ambiguous word, isn't it? In this case, it's gonna be a rather broad thing, but it's a very important thing. The first thing we need to be doing to better our faithfulness and to better our life, we need to keep striving to submit totally to God and his way.

We need to keep striving to submit totally to God and his way.

You see, our faithfulness to God and in hope of salvation, it requires that we keep God's 10 commandments. That's the foundation, founding principle. Of course, 10 commandments, listed two places in the Old Testament, you know Exodus 20 and also Deuteronomy 5. The commandments broadly define God's way of life. God's way of life is love. Agape love, this godly love, this self-sacrifice in its love, this outgoing love, this love, consideration of others, as we often say more than self. Let's look at Matthew 19 as we begin here. Let's turn to Matthew 19. In Matthew 19, verse 16 through 19, we can read, I'm just gonna read bits and pieces here of what Jesus said one must do to have eternal life. As times have gone along through the centuries, especially in our own current century, less attention seems to be given to God's commandments, to God's instruction. So many wanna listen to anybody but God. But we know the importance of listening to God, to hearkening to his words. And so in Matthew 19, verse 16 through 19, we can read what Jesus said one must do to have eternal life. In response to a question he was asked about what to do that this individual, what must I do to have eternal life? Jesus responded, keep the commandments. Verse 17, he said, if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. And then Jesus started the list of what he meant. Then to summarize, Jesus said continuing there in verse 18, he said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. Imagine what a changed world we'd have right now if just these commandments were kept. Wow. And then he summarizes the approach where to have to all people, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So that's what he says there in verses 18 through 19. Now, some act befuddled at times when they read this, well, what is Jesus talking about? Well, we don't need to be confused by what he said. He's talking about the commandments, the 10 commandments. He doesn't list them all. He gives enough that anybody should know who's knowledgeable these things, he's talking about the 10 commandments. Let's also turn over to John 14, verse 15. John 14, verse 15. We find additional instruction from Jesus Christ.

To clarify the importance, the connection between faithfulness and keeping God's law, his commandments, those foundational aspects of God's way of life, of love. John 14, verse 15. Again, Jesus being quoted here, he says, if you love me, keep my commandments, Jesus says. Then jumping down further to verse 23 and 24, Jesus again answering questions. And he says, he answered and said to him, the one talking, he said, if anyone loves me, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. So there's a beginning definition, clarity of definition here. What does love mean? What does it require? He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. And so it's interesting to recall that what we see here is given to Christ from God the Father, with God the Father's authority. That must mean something to us, and it surely should. And scripture is clear about our need to keep God's commandments. Let's also look at the next chapter, John 15, verse nine through 10. John 15, verse nine through 10. Again, this love is connected with commandments, with obedience, it's all interconnected. John 15, verse nine, Jesus again speaking says, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. And if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. And so we might also jot down 1 John 5.33, 1 John 5.33, 1 John 5.33 tells us, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

And by the way, it adds, in his commandments, God's commandments are not burdensome. No, they may be challenging, especially when we wanna do something that goes contrary to God's law, but they're not burdensome. And we learned that rather quickly when we start keeping them and keep keeping them, somehow it doesn't seem as difficult as it did when we first began doing so. So Christ's commandments and the Father's commandments are one and the same. They're the same 10 commandments we're talking about. Now Jesus later on will say, I knew commandment I give you, and that commandment is he tells his disciples, love one another as I've loved you. But even that commandment is about laying down your life for others, it's at sacrificial love, it's all part of what has always been God's, it's always been God, God's way, which is love. And so no matter what others may say, no matter what you may have heard, if we truly love Jesus Christ, and if we truly love our heavenly Father and we're striving to love them more, then we will be faithful. We will be faithful to be keeping God's commandments. All 10 of them, not nine, not 9.5 or 9.76, whatever, no.

All of them. And of course, also in the way and their spiritual significance is Jesus Christ also expanded their meaning. When Jesus Christ expanded the meaning, even to hate people is the same thing as to murder someone. And so again, they're not burdensome, but they must definitely be something we keep working on and God will help us keep them. We cannot keep them by our own strength. We need God's help.

And as I say, we will find keeping the commandments challenging at times, that's because of our human nature. There's always temptations out there. We are sometimes tempted to ignore God's commandments because we want to do something else. Sometimes we may be tempted to treat them lightly as if they're no big deal, as people say nowadays. Sometimes we wanna shrug them off and make compromises, compromises in choosing how we want to keep God's commandments. And God does give us latitude. He doesn't tell us everything we need to know. He gives us the principles. He even gives us some, you know, the idea of, yes, keep the Sabbath, but there may be exceptions. If your ox is in a ditch, you better go get the ox out of the ditch. Don't go pushing the ox in the ditch. But there are times when we do have to work within God's law to do what is merciful and kind. But the point is we are tempted sometimes to ignore the commandments. And those are times when we have to keep guarding ourselves. We have to guard ourselves against those attitudes towards God and his law. And it's because the wrong attitude will lead us to sin. And sin leads to death. And so not taking God and his law seriously, unless repented of, that will lead us to certain, well, certain death and dire consequences, or maybe I should say dire consequences, and then finally death, the second death. But as long as we repent, there is always hope. Though often tempted to disregard God's law, we must keep striving harder with God's help to be faithful in keeping his law. Now we can take an example of what I'm talking about here, an example of God's instruction, for example, from keeping the Sabbath. Let's talk about keeping the Sabbath a little bit, and our challenges, maybe temptations and polls we have about that. Back in Exodus 20, verse eight through 10, you can turn back there with me. I'll prove to you it is there. In Exodus 20, we find one of the list of the 10 commandments. In Exodus 20, verse eight through 10, clearly states God's commandment. And this one has to do, number four has to do with the Sabbath. It reads, remember the Sabbath day. It's always been there since the time of the creation. God tells us to remember it. Don't forget it. Don't neglect it. Don't accidentally say, oh, I didn't know. Once we know, we're to remember it. So God says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work. And so there's the law laid out for us. Let's turn now to Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31, in verses 13 through 15, Exodus 31, verses 15 through, excuse me, Exodus 31, 13 through 15, God especially emphasizes here just how important it is that we keep his Sabbath. Now he's speaking to the children of Israel. If you remember the history, they had a tendency to be rather stubborn. They have a tendency to be rather mule-headed at times.

I'm not gonna say anything more about that. So, you know, we are also children of Israel of faith. By faith, we can have that same stubbornness sometimes. But in this case, God is emphasizing the importance of the Sabbath to them because they were having a hard time learning it, it seems. And so here in verse 13, we read, speak also to the children of Israel. God's telling Moses, speak to the children of Israel saying, surely my Sabbaths you shall keep. Sabbaths refers to God's seventh day Sabbath and also his holy days. They are all Sabbaths of God's. Surely my Sabbaths you shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. That you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy to you. And everyone who profanes it, who treats it as common, just another day to do whatever we want, they shall surely be put to death. For ever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath day of rest holy to God. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Now, good God at that time was trying to make a very strong point because they were not, children of Israel were not being easily led at that time. Well, they got a little better for a while and then well, you know the rest of the story. The point is God makes clear to us that his Sabbath day is very important. It's not a day that he wants us to treat lightly. He wants us to enjoy it. He wants us to rest. He wants it to be a day of worshiping him and joining together as he expects us to be doing and to worship him and rejoice and fellowship with one another. It's a very important day. Then and now, we are to treat the seventh day of the week differently than the other six days. I think we know that and we know there could be challenges so that sometimes come up that may make us pause and have to rethink what are we doing? Are we doing the right thing? You see, even when we obey God and choose not to work on the Sabbath, there are other parameters, other things we must be mindful of in order to keep the Sabbath in a way that's holy and God wants us to be doing. Let's look now at Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah chapter 58.

And here in Isaiah chapter 58, God gives us a few more parameters to help us make our decisions because it is a choice.

God does not force us into his way of life. He does not force us to keep his commandments. He much would rather lead us and then let us make those choices and make the wise and right choices. And so here he sets up the parameters, Isaiah 58 verses 13 through 14. And so we find a little more instruction here. Verse 13, God through Isaiah states, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, suggest if you quit just stomping and tromping and treading all over the Sabbath day, kind of a messy, unrespectful way, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, something you cherish and relish, the holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor him not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. And so he's saying the Sabbath is special, but we shouldn't be doing just any old thing, especially those things that we want to do. Our desire should not override God's instruction for keeping the Sabbath. So he said, if you stop seeking and doing your own ways on this Sabbath or finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father and all these blessings in the mouth of the eternal, of the Lord has spoken. So again, these are the words of God, God the Father, the one who, and of Christ, these are the words of God. And so we should not do just whatever pleases us on God's Sabbath, we're to worship and honor God on this day. We can't treat the Sabbath like the rest of society is treating it today. They do not know, they do not understand, and we know what they're doing, because some of us used to do it too, and we didn't know. They're working, they're making money on this day, they're going shopping. It's a very busy shopping season at this time. Maybe they're catching up on household chores, maybe they're doing that yard work, maybe they're just entertaining others and themselves, doing whatever pleases them.

But that's not for us anymore, now that God has taught us and we're listening, we believe what God says and we're doing the best we can to be faithful and trusting Him to tell us the right thing to do. We're commanded to treat the Sabbath day differently. We're to respect and honor God, remember Him as our Creator, that everything we have, every breath we take, every beat of our heart is because of our loving God, and He sustains us. And of course our faithfulness to God's instruction will be tested. We may think, well, we'll never have trouble with the Sabbath, I've been keeping the Sabbath now for umpteen years, okay? Whatever it might be. Yes, any of us could still be tested about how we are gonna keep the Sabbath. Are we still gonna keep it in the way that pleases God?

We might ask ourselves, and I understand some of us are younger than others, it's great being young, isn't it? Yes, it is. But when we're young, we're still learning God's wisdom. We're still learning through knowledge and experience, and we're still having to put together some good judgment. So whether you're a young eighteen or a young one hundred and eighteen, we're still children of God. We're still growing and learning. We're still trying to apply God's wisdom and instruction. And so we may be tested at times because we don't keep the Sabbath.

We're not gonna be making, excuse me, because we do keep the Sabbath, we don't work on the Sabbath. Sometimes we may be tempted to, well, maybe I can do just a little bit of something, a little odd job, maybe I can do some desk work. That's really not work, is it? Working for my computer, does that work? Maybe we can make a little money that way. That might be a temptation at times, it pops up. Are we willing to change careers or jobs? In order to keep the Sabbath. Some of us have had to do that. Some of us have recognized maybe we wanted a career in, I don't know, medicine or something as a medical doctor, or maybe wherever it is we live, it's too challenging to avoid working the Sabbath. So we have to make adjustments. People have done that. I know I'm looking at the audience. Some of you have done that. You had to make some career choices, and you had to deny some job opportunities. Some of you got fired from your jobs because you were faithful to God and refused to work on the Sabbath. It still comes up for some of us.

We have to make decisions like that. There will be times when God will prove our faithfulness and whether our faithfulness will be strong enough to be loyal to him. And perhaps we have friends and family. Not all of us have everybody we know in our family in the church, in the body of Christ. Perhaps we have times when friends and family or neighbors, even strangers may think us a little bit odd.

We're probably a little odd in our street. We're one of those houses. You have lights, lights, lights. No lights, lights, lights, lights. We don't even have a fat inflatable reindeer in our front yard. We just don't do that. I don't ridicule people that do that. It's not me. We don't do that. But we do live differently because we understand things differently.

And so we may get teased and joked at because we do things differently Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Or maybe because we keep God's holy days but not what many others keep as holidays. I'm sure any of us with children, any of us that grew up in the church knows the feeling of being mocked at a little bit and peer pressure, being the odd kid in the room that has come you're never there at certain parties during the school year. How's come you're always out early those days? And that can be hard for us to handle. Those can be temptations on us, even as children as to how well we're gonna keep the Sabbath or how well we think, how highly we think of the Sabbath. And of course, we always wanna make the Sabbath a joy. We don't wanna make our inadvertently allow our children to think the Sabbath is a terrible bad thing. It's a joyful thing when we approach it the way God wants us to. And so that we must choose to believe and trust God in how we keep the Sabbath, one of his 10 commandments. To be faithful means we must do what he says. And then we will find our faithfulness to God is improved, it's becoming better. It'll help us to persevere through those temptations. Let's talk about another commandment that we may think we don't have a problem with, but again, I can't get the commandments. Certain things can pop up when we find ourselves challenged to be faithful to God. How about the commandment not to steal? It's Exodus 20 verse 15, thou shalt not steal. Is our faithfulness to God strong enough to obey him and not to steal? Now, we may think that, oh, we could never break that commandment, I've never stolen a thing in my life.

Maybe you've worked in an office and you wouldn't even take home a paperclip because that was company property. That's good, that's a very good thing. That's a good way to think. And I'm sure God is pleased with that. But again, we may think that we could never steal anything that doesn't belong to us. But you know, let's turn back to Malachi, the book of Malachi. There are a group of people during the lifetime of Malachi the prophet that seem to have thought the very same thing, that they would never steal, especially as they're gonna be told by God himself that they're stealing from God.

God through Malachi, Malachi chapter three, verse eight through 10, God through Malachi told Israel that they were stealing from him. They're stealing from him because they were not being faithful to pay their tithes and offerings as God commanded. And so we hear God addressing the children of Israel through Malachi the prophet. We begin reading in verse eight. And this is God through Malachi speaking, will a man rob God? And you can pause right there and think about that. And the answer better be, I hope not. We should not. We must never do that. Will a man rob God? And the rhetorical answer here, the children of Israel probably saying, well, no. And then God continues, well, yet you have robbed me. But you say, children of Israel say, well, in what way have we robbed you? And God responds in tithes and offerings. You, God says, you are cursed with the curse for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. This whole nation was not being faithful to God to pay their tithes and offerings. Tithes and offerings were required. That is what their tithes and offerings is what supported the temple complex. It also supported the Levites in their families. And so what's interesting here is the people thought they firmly believed that they were being faithful to God. They certainly didn't think they were robbing God. They had never seen it that way. They thought they were being faithful, even though they weren't giving tithes and offerings. And God called them out on it, we'd say in vernacular. He called them out. You're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. And he revealed it as a reason why they were not being blessed, being blessed with good weather, being blessed with good crops and abundance of olive trees and grapes and for off the vine. And so God told them to try him. So he sets up kind of back when I was a kid, you ever used to dare your buddies to do things? God essentially telling the children of Israel, I dare you, you know, start paying your tithes and I'll show you what happens. I dare you pay your tithes and I'll show what happens. Prove, try me and let me prove to you just how faithful I am when you, when you especially are trying so hard, much better to be faithful to me. And so in verse 10, God says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. And of course they were tithing, not just in coin, but also in the increase of the goods they grew in their harvest. So that there may be food in my house. And try me now in this, prove me, test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Have you ever done this? Have you ever tried this in your own lives? Yeah, some of you are going, uh-huh. When I was first coming in the church, I was a poor college student back in state college and I made very little money. And the first time I read this, I kind of, you know, oh, that's gonna be rough. But the other hand, I was kind of excited. I was kind of excited because I read what it said and the ministry, the minister told me about this. And he said, well, we'll start tithing and see if God won't bless you.

And so, you ever hear that taking that step out in faith? I did. And just like a lot of you, number of you are nodding your heads. You do that. And it's hard to explain, but of course now I've kind of gotten faded. I don't know what happens in the memory as years go by. But things kept getting better for me. I started very low income and I can promise you that. I've never dropped below that since then. Anything I've needed, I've always have had. I've never gone without. And those are also part of the blessing God promises us. Now you can describe that, well, you know, you just got better jobs and you just happened to be at the right place in the right time. And you know, you just happened to get this bundle of money from a total stranger so you could keep the feast that year. All coincidence. I choose to describe that to God answering and responding, I should say, responding my faithfulness. And I'm not bragging about myself. I shouldn't, you know, I don't hear like talking like that. I was just doing what God said to do. I, in my own way, I was trying him out. And it was sufficient for me to believe that he is true to what he says.

And so I bring this up because I don't want any of us to miss out on this. This is very important for us to be doing.

Now some people may think, well, tithing's not all that important. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is in the Old Testament. That's the Old Testament. We don't need to listen to the Old Testament anymore. There are actually churches out there call themselves Christian that they don't pay much attention to the Old Testament. Well, they read the Psalms and Proverbs, but they don't read much else from that. I'm not ridiculing them. I better change my tone a little bit. But I am stating what many of them do now. And again, I feel sorry for them because they're missing out so much more that God offers us in the entire Bible. But again, some people may think that tithing's not all that important, especially for Christians. But I would point out to them something Jesus talks about. Let's look at Matthew 23, 23. Matthew 23, 23. Is tithing and offerings, is that still or is that something Christians should be doing? Followers of Christ, those who are really, truly trying to be faithful in it and to better their faithfulness, to better their lives. Is this something we need to be doing? Well, in those chapter, Matthew 23, 23 through 24, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. He had some rather severe things to say about the Pharisees. He didn't hate them, but he did not, he hated how they practiced his law. He hated their behavior, he hated their sin. And so he has to correct them from time to time. And so Jesus is, and these lines are not, he's not condemning the practice of tithing. But the Pharisees' hypocrisy in not applying what he called the way to your matters, the way to your spiritual matters of God's law. It's something we heard mentioned in the special music today. Matthew 23, 23, Jesus said, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and common and have neglected the way to your matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. Now I'm gonna pause here because some of us may not be, what do we call this? Herbologists, we're not into spices and things. How tiny is mint? How big is mint? How big is anise?

How big is cumin? These are spices, right? They're very, very tiny. And yet the Pharisees were being very good at tithing on the increase of their crops of mint and anise and cumin. Very, very tiny things. Jesus does not condemn them for tithing on that, as we're gonna say. He condemns them for being so focused on the letter of the law, matters like that, which they should be doing, he seems to say, but they're neglecting the spiritual things that they were more important, you might say, than that. And so he said, you pay the tithe on those things, but you've neglected the way to your matters of the law, practicing justice, mercy, and faith. These are matters of all faithfulness, of being obedient to God. He says, these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. In other words, you need to be doing all the above. You need to be doing all the above. And then he adds, verse 24, he says, your blind guides, blind guides, you strain out a gnat and yet you swallow the camel. They got it a little bit backwards.

But again, he's not condemning their practice of tithing.

Now, this may seem like a little thing. Some people may think, well, tithing is a little thing. But so-called little things, and I think we have to be careful in talking about little things when it comes to things of God, so-called little things are very important, aren't they? You know, how we treat so-called little things reveals our attitude towards God and the quality of our faithfulness. And so, we need to ask ourselves, is our faithfulness strong enough for us to pay our tithes and offerings to God? Or are we neglectful? Do we forget at times? Now, whatever we give to God, that's between you and God. I have no clue, I don't wanna know. It's none of my business. But it is important between you and God. Now, some would say, well, God doesn't need anything from us. God doesn't need our money. Well, of course not. He owns everything. But what he does need to know, he wants to know what is our attitude gonna be? Are we gonna be faithful in the few coins, the few dollars that we would offer to him and give its tithe? This tithing is one of the things he says we should be doing.

God wants us to obey him in what to us would seem to be a little thing to God, such as our little tithes and offerings. And if we think little things don't matter to God, let's look at Luke 16, verse 10 through 12. Luke 16, verse 10 through 12. Luke 16, verse 10 through 12.

Jesus is speaking here and it reads, he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. And he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, of course that would refer to a little bit of our wealth, a little bit of our increase. We could apply it to that meaning. If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? Well, what are the true riches Jesus is talking about here? Yeah, eternal life, eternal life, salvation. And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, in this case, we could say if we have not been faithful in what belongs to God, well then who will give you what is your own? What should we expect?

And so the point here is, begin to wrap up this first thing we need to be doing. To better our faithfulness and better our life, we must guard our attitudes about keeping God's law in both big ways and the so-called big ways and little ways. Our grateful and willing submission to God is vital. It is a matter of our salvation, you see. And whenever we find ourselves slack and sinning, knowing that we could do better, well then we need to repent. Stop going the wrong way, turn yourself around, and do the right thing, repent, and seek God's forgiveness. And He will bless us, He will help us. God expects us to keep trusting Him.

And because God is faithful, God is faithful, He is absolutely faithful to help us improve our faithfulness to Him in how we keep His commandments and how we follow His way and instruction. God wants us to be like Him and He will help us. Now let's talk about the second thing. The second thing to do to better our faithfulness. Second, beware of false ideas about faithfulness.

Beware of false ideas about faithfulness.

When God our Father calls us to know Him, and we have Him, He calls us, He calls us because He wants us to have an everlasting relationship with Him. One that begins in this life and extends on into eternity. When God our Father calls us to have this relationship with Him, and we have it through living faith in Jesus Christ, God may call us in our, what we've often heard as our, just as I am state. Have you ever heard that? Just as I am state. He may call us in that state. But Scripture's very clear, no way does God want us to stay just as we, how do you say it? Just as we am. I'm gonna break grammar rules, you know what I mean. I know the rules, I know I can break them at times. Well that sounds rebellious, doesn't it? I'm sorry. God calls us just as we are, but He doesn't want us to stay as we are or were. He wants us to move forward. That's the whole point of being faithful. It's about moving forward with God. He has called us to repentance and to change. We don't often hear about repentance and change outside the realms of the church. And when we repent from sin, commit our life to God, we do that through baptism. Baptism we know represents the death of our old man, that old way of life. And then we receive God's gift the begettle of His Holy Spirit in us through the laying on of hands. At that point, God says we become a new creation. We become something different, something we weren't before.

And then we further undertake this process of becoming a new man, of becoming like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we begin or should begin to live a new life. We don't live life the way we used to. Now Paul describes this process in Romans six, verse three through four. Romans six, three through four, he speaks about baptism and what it represents. And he says, or do you not know that as many of us were, as we're baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into His death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We've heard it, we rise up in the watery grave of baptism to a new existence, a new way of life. Let's also look at second Corinthians 5.17. Second Corinthians 5.17. And here Paul states, referring back to this newness of life, he says, second Corinthians 5.17, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. We have a new hope, we have a new expectation, we have expectation of that new eternal life. Now in several of his epistles, Paul goes to great lengths to set up the contrast between the old way of life and the new way of life where to be living.

Let's look at Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4.21 through 32. Ephesians chapter 4.21-32. And here Paul helps us to understand this new life that we're to be living. It's a new life that requires faithfulness to God's commandments and his way of life. It's a new life we're to be living, growing ever more faithful to God and rejecting our old ways. And as we read here, let's notice the contrast very clearly stated between the old carnal life and the new life we commit to living at baptism. And so Paul writes, kind of jump into the middle thought here. Well, let's just go ahead verse 20. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus.

So what is the truth that's in Jesus? Well, here he begins to list. That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt and vile and all that terrible stuff according to the deceitful lust. That's where we used to live. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. And so then as Paul continues to read, he says, God is the one who is the one who is the one and so then as Paul continues on verse 25, 32, we could say that he instructs us in the matters of true faithfulness to God.

He begins to explain more what that new man should mean, that new man, which is Christ in which we model our lives on. And so he describes here the attitudes and ways of that new man, new faithful man, woman in Christ. This is what we'll be working on. Verse 25, he says, therefore put away lying. Let each one of you speak truth to his neighbor.

Remember truth's part of being faithful. Let each one speak truth to his neighbor for we are members of one body. Be angry and do not sin. Do not blow up like an anger bomb causing emotional devastation everywhere. That's not the right way of anger. It's not what to do. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.

You need to deal with it the right way, nor give place to the devil. And let him who stole steal no more, but rather let him labor. This is a great way to solve stealing. Let him labor, let him work for his money, working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give to him who has need.

Is that a beautiful way to solve stealing? Make them work and give to people in need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification. That it may import grace to the hearers. Make edify, build up people. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by which he was sealed for the day of redemption.

It means yield to God, do what he tells us to do through his word. And in those nudges we get in our conscience to do good, give into it, do the right thing. In verse 31, again, we're talking about being that new creation, walking with greater faithfulness. He says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you. And with all malice, that profound hatred and bitterness. And in contrast, be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

And of course, we recall, Jesus said, if we do not forgive those who sin against us, God will not forgive us our sins.

And so with God's help, all this is with God's help, we can do it. With God's help, we need to keep making choices that will help rid us of our old pride and self-centeredness. Our lives need to reflect our true, good faith efforts in repenting from sin.

We need not ever forget that true faithfulness to God means that we cannot allow ourselves to cheat or make compromises in keeping God's law. We can't allow ourselves to make excuses for sin or to tolerate sin in our own lives. We can't be doing that. Now I'm emphasizing the idea of true faithfulness to God because as this second point referenced, there are some false ideas out there about faithfulness. There are some blatantly false and wrong ideas about what it means to be faithful to God out there.

Over the past century and as our Western culture has in general has been tossing aside much of its biblically based principles, its ethics.

The traditional Christianity that has been well known for centuries is steadily eroding.

Traditional Christianity used to teach about things like sin and about repentance and about that may be the way you are, but you cannot stay that way, you have to change. That's biblical Christianity. But there are many churches, there are many people, good meaning people I'm sure, but that's not the message they're teaching anymore. They've given it up. It's steadily been replaced by a false faithfulness that puts greater emphasis on being a nice person, on being nice and likable rather than on being godly in the biblical sense as Paul has been describing to us in the Bible about being a new man, that new creation of God.

Now please listen, I'm not saying don't be nice, okay? I like it when people are nice. It is so pleasant. We live in a community full of nice and kind and generous people, okay? It's nice to have it, it's not like that everywhere. But it's okay to be nice. But the problem with nice is if that becomes your goal in life just to be nice and you're saying that's God's goal for us just to be nice, we're missing the mark. We're falling short because that is not what the Bible is telling us. We've been looking at what the Bible says, faithfulness is. Being nice alone is not enough to be faithful to God. It's not enough to be godly as God wants us to be. I wanna read to you some excerpts from an article I came across some time ago. It's an article entitled Courage is the Only Path Out of the Fake Winsome Gospel. Winsome might be a word we're not familiar with. It's spelled, well, win and some. You put it together, W-I-N-S-O-M-E, winsome. Courage is the only path out of the fake winsome gospel. This is an article from thefederalists.com from June 20th, 2023. Kaylee Griswold is the author and she describes what she sees and I think she's rather correct about some obvious flaws in what she calls a fake gospel, a winsome gospel. Now I wanna read a few excerpts from her article because in it she definitely identifies the dangers of this false idea of faithfulness. There's a false idea of faithfulness out there. And so let me just share a little bit from here. And she writes, first of all, she does this a favor. She kinda like, some of us here, we do this, we define our words, right? You have to define words. So she defines what winsome means. Winsome means to be charming and attractive and appealing with one's demeanor or character. That's a lot about being nice. And she says that's an admirable goal to be sure for one that, and it's one that should apply to Christians. So it's okay to be winsome. But the gist she says of the winsome ethos or principle is that for Christians to be faithful, this is his false gospel, she calls it, for Christians to be faithful, they must be perceived as kind and likable by the unbelieving world they hope to evangelize, they hope to teach God's word to. And she says the symptoms are easy to identify. This false gospel is all about appeasement to the radicals. It's about tossing other faithful Christians, biblically faithful Christians under the bus.

The winsome ethos, she states, ultimately measures a Christian's loyalty or faithfulness to the gospel based on how he is perceived by God's enemies. So pleasing the enemy becomes part of this false gospel about faithfulness. And so it's based on how he is perceived by God's enemies. And in the process, this false gospel implies that Christians who aren't adored by their unregenerate neighbors, those are her words, who aren't adored by their unregenerate neighbors are unloving. And I think we've heard that in the last few years, right? If you don't support certain political statements or social agenda or sexual issues, preferences, and you stand on the Bible, such as how we stand on the Bible with regard to marriage, what are we called? What are people called that believe what God says? Bigots, we're called haters, and that's not the truth.

Unless we appeal and go with what they say according to their new gospel of being faithful, making people happy, we're not good Christians.

And so she says, and so what does that mean? That means for many people, many Christians, they'll put out the obvious pronouns in their email signature. I don't do that, but I guess sometimes you sign your email and then you have like, whether your cisgender or his, her, they, them, and other configurations of letters, and that's what it means. And so if you don't want to be called a bigot, you do that according to this gospel. Or another example, she says, that means you may party at your gay friend's wedding, because even though you know that union, that gay union defies God's design for marriage, you don't want to have an awkward conversation, and you don't want to risk jeopardizing your relationship. And so what's she talking about? She's talking about people that are following a false faithfulness, they're actually compromising God's commandments, actually compromising what God is very clear in telling us. You know, we're not to hate people, but we're to hate the sin.

You know, we're not to hate people who have homosexual tendencies or are gay, but we're not supposed to love their sin. We're supposed to love the sinner, but hate the sin. That can be challenging, but that's our goal. Griswold concludes with this stark assessment. Here's her conclusion. She says this winsome version of Christianity doesn't work, and we're seeing churches, the Methodist Church, Lutheran Church, losing their churches splitting because of that, a number of progressive issues have caused division. It doesn't work. This version of Christianity doesn't work. What you end up with, she says, on the one hand, are cowardly Christians who pat themselves on the back for their likability. While being largely separated from all principles saved the approval of man. And so they're sacrificing pleasing God in order to please man, and that is a false gospel. Truly faithful Christians are those who willingly submit to God and yield to his Holy Spirit within them. We understand from Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. There is sin, but the gift of God is eternal life.

And so the so-called gospel of niceness or likability may sound and look good according to principles and values of this society. But as Paul also explains in Colossians 2.23, let's notice what Paul says there, Colossians 2.23. Paul here is talking about religiosity and appearance of religion, and appearance of righteousness. And we know there are a lot of things that are false or counterfeit, they look good. They look like the real thing, but they're not the real thing. They're often a dangerous counterfeit. And so Paul's talking about religiosity in Colossians 2.23, and I'm just gonna break it in, and part of what he's saying here seems to fit with some of the things we see going on in the world today. He says these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion. They're not getting the religion from God, they're making it up as they go. They have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but they are of no value against the indulgences of the flesh. Instead of saying don't do these sins of the flesh, a false gospel be saying it's okay to do it. It's not a sin. We must hold fast and persevere in our calling and commitment to God to be that new man. Continue reading here in Colossians 3 verse one. Here's what Paul says to those that would be distracted and be tempted by a false gospel such as is around us today. He says if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, for Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. The things of the earth have an earthly wisdom. We wanna follow the heavenly wisdom that's also talked about in scripture. Verse three, why do we do that? For you died, you died to that old way, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. A false gospel about being likable.

About being nice and getting along, compromising God's law. That is not a gospel, that is not a sort of faithfulness that would allow us to receive God's gift of salvation in the kingdom of God. It will only lead to death. As well-intended, all intention is it may be by some people. It's not the right way to go. True faithfulness is about being a new creation in God and not a creation defined by the world. We have to stick with scripture.

And so as I conclude, I encourage us that we need to be better at our faithfulness so that we can be better in our life. We must keep God's commandments and matters big and small. And again, I cringe when I say that because when it comes to believing and obeying God, is there anything that's really a small matter? Not really in that regard. In faithfulness, God requires dedication and courage. In faithfulness, especially requires that we not compromise in obeying God or to become content with simply being a nice person. We must hold fast and firm and be faithful in God's way. And this one last fact to conclude with, we gotta remember this fact.

The strength of our own faithfulness will never be sufficient for overcoming our own weaknesses and sin. Our faithfulness alone will never get us through an overcoming sin. Instead, we must continually be going to God for his help and strength. You see, our true strength of faithfulness is in recognizing our constant need for God's help and strength. And because God is faithful, we can count on our loving Father and Christ his Son to help us be faithful now and forever. God is faithful, he wants us to be faithful.

Ask God, tonight, today, sometime, every day, ask God to help you better your faithfulness and better your life, and he will help you.