Developing a culture of faithfulness is one of the greatest ways we can build the best future for ourselves, our families, our church and our nation. Faithfulness has been one of the great foundations of this church and has been celebrated recently with the honouring of 50 years of ministry of Pastor Wes Richards. And it is faithfulness across all generations that will now mark the future. Faithfulness will ensure strong families, strong churches and strong nations. Faithfulness will continue and accelerate a godly legacy.
As Christians we are encouraged to be faithful, just as God is faithful in all His ways. We live in a world of much pain and insecurity because of so much unfaithfulness. People are unfaithful in marriage, in business and in every aspect of life. To be unfaithful is to be unreliable, inconsistent and self-serving. To be faithful however means to keep faith and to be steadfast in your commitments and beliefs no matter what temptations or trials you may face. A faithful person is a person who starts out, keeps going and completes the course. One of the greatest keys to true success in life is learning to become a faithful and completely reliable and loyal person. We learn some important lessons from the teaching of Jesus in Luke 16:1-12.
1. Be faithful in the little before the large (Luke 16:10; Matthew 25:14-30; 1 Timothy 3:4)
2. Be faithful in the handling of money before being entrusted with spiritual ‘riches’ (Luke 16:11; Luke 19:12-26; Malachi 3:8-10)
3. Be faithful in serving another’s ‘ministry’ before you have your own (Luke 16:12)
Apply
1. Be faithful in the little before the large (Luke 16:10). Jesus emphasised how it is so important to use well the little that you may have (Matthew 25:14-30). Learning to be faithful in small matters is the first step to growth in faithfulness. When someone becomes a Christian, they do not automatically become faithful. Sometimes poor training, lazy habits and bad role models can make a person irresponsible, unpredictable, and undependable. So just as children need to be trained up in such little basics as washing or cleaning your teeth, so disciples need to first learn the basics of Christian behaviour of learning: to follow the standards of the Bible not the world; the disciplines of daily prayer and Bible reading; to receive direction and correction without anger or resentment; to listen as well as to talk; and to consider and care for others not just focussing on yourself. Long before the disciples were preaching to multitudes, they had to learn the basics of getting them organised into smaller groups that they could feed. They then had to learn such practical matters as avoiding waste and collecting the leftovers. In the same way good disciples are developed by first helping their families with such details as helping with carrying the shopping, helping with the washing up and setting up a table for a meeting. Applying yourself to help in small practical matters even when no one is watching is all part of developing faithfulness for greater responsibilities (e.g. Daniel Kolenda with Reinhard Bonkke). How can you do whatever you can to help in the ministry of the church? You can get up early and join the set up team, help stack chairs, serve coffee. Take an opportunity to look after a few people in a small life group by calling and visiting them. Grow a bigger group by doing a great job of caring for the one or few that you already have. And if you want to pastor a big spiritual family well, first learn how to develop your own family (1 Timothy 3:4).
2. Be faithful in the handling of money before being entrusted with spiritual ‘riches’ (Luke 16:11). What Jesus is saying is that if you can’t look after money well how can you take care of people’s souls? Or as Luke 19:12-26 says in the parable of ten servants, it was the ones who wisely used the money they were given who were then given the rule over whole cities. The Bible says a lot about money: how we gain money, how money can be our master or servant, how money can seduce us and ruin us, how money can be withheld or given generously, both to God and to people. Early in Bible history and before the Law, tithes (tenths of earnings) were given by Abraham to Melchizedek. As Abraham was faithful with money, God gave him true eternal wealth: The covenant, descendants, and numerous other blessings. We too can be blessed when we are faithful in our giving of tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8-10). Tithes and offerings should be given faithfully so that the work of God can move forward without interruption. The faithful giving of core people here through the years has been a major factor in the continuing ministry of the church. Be committed in your giving first with your entire tithe to your local church - the storehouse - and then through the local church with offerings to others. Faithfulness must also be seen in our wise handling of money. We need to pay attention to the creation and acquisition of money. We need to save, to plan, to budget, to invest and to spend money on what the Scriptures emphasise. The Bible tells us to take care of our own families, to give to those who are in need, and to use our money in such a way that it represents an investment in the kingdom of heaven and matters of eternal value. If you want to assess how you are developing in faithfulness, consider carefully how faithful you are in your handling of finance and temporal matters so that you can be entrusted with matters of eternal importance.
3. Be faithful in serving another’s ‘ministry’ before you have your own (Luke 16:12). In other words, before you launch out in your own ministry, you need to learn from a more experienced person in ministry. This is called apprenticeship or discipleship. As a Christian you are not meant to be proud and ambitious self-made person full of your own ambition, but a God-made person who needs to humbly learn before you can teach. In the Bible Joshua was able to succeed Moses because he had been closely trained by him in proximity over many years. Similarly, Elisha was able to learn from Elijah and Timothy owed his spiritual formation to his spiritual father Paul. The disciples were trained up over three years not just by the teaching of Jesus but by close relationship, constant observation and being willing to be challenged and corrected. The goal of discipleship is never to make a disciple dependent on the mentor but to form them to be able to develop their own ministries with the same faithfulness that they have had to learn. This then is the way we will multiply many faithful leaders in this church. Faithfulness is one of the greatest ways we can develop the best legacy for every generation. So be faithful in the small before the big, be faithful with your money and be faithful in learning to serve as a godly disciple. Great things will happen when we are faithful.
