Remaining Faithful

Galatians 5:22-24; 3 John 2-4

Introduction

One of the things that strikes me about the English language is how one word can be used in different ways. I see this especially with our next fruit of the Spirit that we are looking at, which is faithfulness. What does it mean to be faithful? We use that word in different ways.

To be faithful to your spouse is to not commit adultery. A faithful dog is one who follows you around wherever you go. A faithful fan of a television show never misses an episode. A faithful friend is always there when you need them. The faithful could refer to people who are committed to a particular religion. We even hear this term when it comes to support of political parties.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines faithful as this: “firm and not changing in your friendship with or support for a person or an organization, or in your belief in your principles.” We can see how this overlaps with each of the examples that I have shared.

This fluidity of language is also found in the original Greek. The word literally means faith. This could be and has been interpreted as saying that faith itself is the fruit of the Spirit. This could mean that the saving faith that we offer to God actually comes from God. Or it could mean that God gives us the faith to keep believing when everything looks dark. The second option seems more likely to me. But in the context of everything around it, which seems to be ethical virtues of how we are supposed to live, it is more likely that Paul is speaking about faithfulness. There is much overlap among these virtues and faithfulness just seems to make sense. Having said, I do believe that God helps us with our faith when our faith feels weak. 

With a focus on faithfulness as a fruit of the Spirit, let us take a look at what the Bible says.

Faithfulness in the Bible

I have been enjoying this series on the fruit of the Spirit because I feel like I am learning as much as anyone. One of the things that I am seeing for the first time is that each of the things that are listed here are not just virtues of a good Christian but are actually descriptions of what God is like. That includes the concept of faithfulness.

This might strike us as strange to think of God as faithful as faithfulness seems to be a creaturely virtue. We are to be faithful to God, we can understand that. But who is God going to be faithful to? God is faithful to his people. In a discussion about how God has been working both in Israel and the church, Paul says this: “What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?” (Romans 3:3) We are not going to go into the complexities of Paul’s argument other than to say that we can trust that God will be faithful with us. And trust is actually the heart of the matter. To be faithful is to be trustworthy. The Bible describes a world that is much more than a series of accidents. God interacts with creation and makes certain promises along the way. While some of those promises seem to take a long time, the consistent theme is that God is faithful to fulfil all that has been promised.

I cannot overemphasize how radical this understanding of God is. I have long been interested in ancient myths and religions. I find the stories to be fascinating. But we find there is very different from the God of the Bible. Some have claimed that the main difference is that the other cultures worshiped many gods, whereas the Jews and Christians worshiped one God. That’s important but not really the heart of the matter. The real difference is in faithfulness. The only way that the pagan god could be described as faithful would be that they faithfully made the lives of the people more difficult. Much of the worship offered was not in thanks for blessings but desperate attempts to avoid curses. The God of the Bible, however, desires the best for his people. This God is faithful and can be trusted. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) This is a statement of God’s faithfulness. We can trust God.

Like the rest of the fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness is intended to be an important part of the Christian life. The Spirit plants the seed of faithfulness, and we get to cultivate that fruit, hopefully into an abundant harvest. But the question we need to ask is: faithfulness is who?

To begin, we must seek to be faithful to God. This is both obvious and rather intimidating. No one would argue against being faithful to God but what does that faithfulness look like? When I was in my early twenties and was a spiritual seeker, I had people sharing Jesus with me. It was rather easy believing that Jesus died for me, and even that he rose again. My problem was that I understood that God wanted me to faithful. I was not against that but in my overly literal thinking, I interpreted that has having my mind completely focused on God at all times. I did not doubt my desire to be faithful but rather my ability. Since I considered hell the alternative, it put me in a difficult place. Thankfully, I came to understand the grace of God and the nature of his love for us. Faithfulness is just as important, God does not hover over us with the threat of hell in our struggles. Let’s go back to that definition of faithful: “firm and not changing in your friendship with or support for a person or an organization, or in your belief in your principles.” We can hold onto the concept of Jesus is Lord and at the same time understand that our faithfulness will always be imperfect. We can think of this fruit as a harvest in process.

Faithfulness in the Church

So yes, we must be faithful to God. But much of the fruit that we have been looking at have a strong interpersonal element within our human context. What does it mean for a church to be faithful aside from being faithful to God? One thing I would say is that it is not limited to faithfulness within a local congregation. If we think of faithfulness in terms of being trustworthy, this goes beyond the local church and to the global church. When we look at Paul’s letters, we see him frequently talking about collecting money. This was not to pay for a building or a pastor’s salary but to help support those followers of Jesus that were suffering. While we do things that are local, some of our support goes beyond our congregation. We are part of something larger, larger than even our Baptist tradition, we must be faithful by making sure that we have their backs.

This applies within a local congregation as well. We must be faithful to each other. This means that we must be looking out for each other’s welfare. It does not mean that we have to be best friends with every person in the church. There are people who we are going to be closer to than others. But we should be people that can be trusted. This is why the New Testament says so much about gossip and slander and the damage that words can do. We should be able to trust each other that we will not gossip and slander. These are not harmless sins. These damage the church and create cracks in the faithfulness that is supposed to characterize the church. 

I have heard people described as “a faithful church member.” It usually means they attended frequently and were generous with their offerings and regularly volunteered. I love all of that. But there is another way that we can be faithful church members. We can be faithful to one another. We can be people that everyone here can trust. Our yes will be yes and our no will be no. We can make sure we have each other’s back and we can be trusted to never harm one another in word or deed.

Conclusion

The fruit of faithfulness does not seem to get as much attention as that of love, joy, or peace. We all agree with it but may not pay that much attention to it. Let me ask you this question. Imagine meeting a person who reflected all of the fruit of the Spirit but was not faithful. Not that they lacked belief in God, but they could not be trusted. The only loyalty was to themselves. Everything else would fall apart.

We follow a faithful God. God has been faithful to people throughout history, even when we have been faithless. God calls us to be a faithful people but he does not expect us to do it in our own power. Faithfulness is fruit of the Spirit. But we are not passive. We must cooperate with the Spirit and cultivate this fruit in our life. Let us be faithful to God and faithful to each other.