The Fruit of the Holy Spirit - Chapter 11
Faithfulness
In the previous study we were thinking about faith or faithfulness. We said that the word could mean either faith or faithfulness, which is the same as loyalty.
We thought of the fruit of true faith in God as the source of faithfulness. We finished by seeing how the word was used of God as the faithful, utterly reliable One.
Before we move on to think about faithfulness in ourselves as believers, I want us to look at one part of the New Testament where the word ‘‘faithful’’ is used of God’s word and God’s promises. You will find it in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. Five times the word is used of what God says or promises.
In 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 he says it is a true saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners. In 1 Timothy 3 verse 1 he says that to desire the office of a bishop or elder is to desire something good. In the same letter and chapter 4 verse 9 he says that serving God will surely bring suffering.
In Titus chapter 3 verse 8 he says that true believers must do good works. And in Titus chapter 1 verse 9, that all these words of God are words on which we can rely, and to which we must hold fast.
Read these letters through for yourself, and see just what Paul is saying. All are faithful sayings of God, and we can utterly depend on them. He introduces each with the phrase: ‘‘This is a TRUSTWORTHY saying’’.
Now we must turn to the thought of faithfulness or loyalty in us as believers.
The idea behind this is that we must remain faithful and loyal to our Heavenly Father, however hard and painful the circumstances may be through which we are passing.
Let us think of just two kinds of circumstances through which we may be called to pass.
First, there is suffering. Few of us get through life without suffering of some sort. Suffering can be very painful, and it can often be made worse by seeming to be so useless. We cry out from the depths of our heart, ‘‘Why, Oh why?’’
How can believers, those who love God, manage to endure suffering without becoming sour and bitter, and without denying their Lord and Saviour? They do it by believing the word of Scripture which says that ‘‘All things work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to His purpose’’ (Romans chapter 8 v. 28).
You see, nothing comes to us as believers without God allowing it, and nothing God allows is altogether without purpose and without good however little we understand it. Job thought like this. You remember he said, in the midst of his suffering, ‘‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord’’.
We can think, too, of the Lord Himself when He said, ‘‘The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?’’ He took the cup of suffering from His Father, and what a fearful cup it was! How useless and pointless it must have seemed to those looking on.
We know, of course, that none of his suffering on the cross was useless and pointless. He died for us all to bring us back to God. But at the time men thought that it was a waste; that He had failed; that evil had triumphed.
All this teaches us that the only way to be faithful and to keep trusting in God, is to realise that God is in our suffering; that He has a purpose in it all. He is doing something, not only for us, but for others through us. He has a great purpose, and in the end His way is best for He can see the end from the beginning.
I once read of a dear saint of God who, when life was hard and she did not understand what was happening, would just keep on saying to the Lord, ‘‘Have it your own way Father’’. That is the secret. Just let your heavenly Father have it His own way. It is always the best way in the end.
Another kind of circumstance through which we sometimes have to pass is when we are blamed for things we have not said or done, or when our motives or actions are completely misunderstood.
Sometimes it is that people say unkind and evil things about us. Again, perhaps it is that all we have worked for and planned goes wrong and collapses, and all our hopes are dashed to the ground. Circumstances like this are not easy to bear, and again it is our faith in our Heavenly Father which alone can keep us loving, kind and without bitterness in the midst of it all.
Joseph went through times like this. You can read his story in the last chapters of the book of Genesis. He felt that God had spoken to him, and told him how He was going to prosper him. Then everything went wrong and his brothers envied him and sold him as a slave into Egypt.
He did prosper there and was given a responsible position in his master’s household. Then everything went wrong again! His master’s wife wrongly accused him of trying to make love to her, and he was thrown into prison.
Again, things began to go well for him, and he was given a position of leadership in the prison. He helped one of his fellow-prisoners by telling him that his dream meant that he was going to be set free. He asked this man to speak up for him when he was free, but he forgot him.
At last freedom did come to him when Pharaoh of Egypt had a dream he did not understand. It was then that Joseph’s prison companion did remember him, and he was brought before Pharaoh. With god’s help Joseph was able to tell the king what his dream meant. There was going to be a great famine in the land, but before it came there would be a time of plenty.
Because of this, Joseph was put in charge of the affairs of Egypt, and was responsible for all the arrangements as to how the corn would be stored in the years of plenty, and how it would be distributed in the years of famine.
So at last, after many years, what God had promised Joseph came to pass. It was a very long and hard test for Joseph, but through it all he did not become bitter, but he kept his faith in the Lord who had promised. Through all this time his faith in God became stronger and stronger and at the end he was able to say to his brothers, ‘‘God meant it all for good’’.
So you see that the secret of keeping faithful to God is in this wonderful fruit of faith. We need continually to live with simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has everything under His control. He died for us and so surely we can always trust Him!