Faithfulness and Goodness: Fruits of the Spirit
Gal 5:13-26 November 14, 2004
Intro:
We are not always aware that we live in a Spiritual world as well as a physical one. Sometimes we all get immersed in life, in the groceries and laundry and meals, the soccer games and piano lessons and doctors appointments, the commitments and demands and goals, and it is easy for us to miss the reality that, though unseen, we live also in a world where God is real and active and around us, where there is a spiritual conflict, and where the Holy Spirit is active and powerful and desiring to bring about the will of God in our lives. But that is the truth, we know it deep down, we know it powerfully and tangibly at certain moments of our lives, and we recognize it even in the daily ups and downs of life.
Gal 5:
And so the Apostle Paul says to us, in Gal 5:16-26, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
The Spirit within:
“The fruit of the Spirit” – what Paul means by that is that as God’s Spirit lives within us, and as we choose to allow God to work in us, God produces character qualities like the ones I just read. We have been looking at each of these in turn over the last little while, and continue today focusing on two of those fruits. Let me emphasize again: these are God’s works in us. They are what God does, what God creates, what God produces – they are not characteristics that we work on, that we create, that we somehow produce within ourselves. These are the work of God, the grace of God, the creation of God within us as we “live by the Spirit”, to borrow Paul’s phrase. Today let’s consider the fruit of faithfulness.
Faithfulness:
Faithfulness seems to me another quality not highly regarded by our culture today – that seems to be a theme as we’ve walked through Paul’s list! Today, if something isn’t working you don’t stick it out, you dump it and move on to the next thing. If one job isn’t the greatest, quit and find something else. If a relationship, even a marriage, isn’t meeting all your dreams and desires, get out and find something that “makes you happy”. If something breaks, most of the time it isn’t worth it to fix, we just chuck it and buy a new one. Commitment seems temporary, seems to last only as long as “it’s working for me.” When things get difficult, our world tells us to cut and run.
It is different when we live by the Spirit. When we live by the Spirit, one of the things He produces within us is the fruit of faithfulness.
Faithfulness means keeping our word, doing what we said we would do.
Faithfulness means sticking with someone or something through the difficulties.
Faithfulness means remaining in a relationship through the seasons where you give more than you get, where you sacrifice, where you set aside your needs for the needs of others.
Faithfulness means staying with your church through challenging times, keeping encouraging your team even when they are losing, sticking by a friend when they make yet another poor decision.
Our world needs more of that kind of faithfulness, don’t you agree? In a world where every thing seems tentative, uncertain, temporary, I think we each need people around us who exhibit the fruit of faithfulness. People we can trust, we are safe with, and we know will stand by us through all the seasons of life.
Apples
When I think of faithfulness, I think of the humble apple. Apples are always around – all the other fruits may be out of season, but the grocery store always seems to have apples around, and almost always at a good price. They are just always there. Sometimes, they are there and we don’t even really notice: here is a strawberry fruit leather – first ingredient, apples. Here is raspberry juice – first ingredient, apples. Here is…
There are several of you here who have been incredibly faithful to this church and its ministry, and I want to affirm you and thank you. I know I won’t cover you all, so this is representative… (name, hand out apples…)
How Does The Spirit Produce Faithfulness?
As I said earlier, the Holy Spirit produces faithfulness within us as we “live by the Spirit.” How does that happen?
I believe that as we walk with the Spirit, God enables us to see the best and believe the best about one another. We choose to believe that others did not intend to hurt us, we respond to their sin with compassion and tenderness rather than judgment, and so we stick with relationships. We are faithful to one another. God leads us to see one another the way God sees us, with love and acceptance, and we do not run away from each other during difficult times, we run towards one another and grow deeper together. That is faithfulness in our relationships.
Similarly, in our tasks and callings, the Holy Spirit produces faithfulness in us. I believe this happens as God helps us stay focused on the big picture, as the Spirit continues to remind us why we got involved in the first place, why we made the commitment we now remain faithful to. God brings us back to the goal, to the vision, and so we are faithful in teaching kids because we remember that in spite of last week’s difficulty, we are helping love kids so that they can know the love of God for them. We are faithful in prayer because God keeps us reminded of His listening ear, reminds us of how He has answered, and gives us the ability to remain faithful. We remain faithful in giving financially because God keeps us focused on what happens for His Kingdom through our gifts, and keeps reminding us that lives are changed because of our gifts. In the difficult times, the conflict comes when we desire to simply give up but the Spirit nudges us to remain faithful, to hang on, to see it through. We stick with what we are called to and agreed to, and remain faithful.
As many of you know, I have a been a part of this church for more than 14 years. Let me say from my own experience, when you stick with where God has called you and God produces faithfulness in you, you get to see some pretty incredible things. Like kids you remember being born hitting youth group and using their gifts in ministry to others. Like the depth of trust that exists as families you have known for years face a challenge and reach out for encouragement and support. Like watching kids that used to be really annoying grow into adulthood and turn around and start to contribute and use their gifts for the Kingdom of God. That example of faithfulness is as much an example of this church being faithful as it is about me – you as a church have remained faithful and supportive and encouraging to me and my family as I have learned and experimented and grown. The point of that whole example: it really is worth it.
Conclusion:
Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of faithfulness. "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking $l,000 bill and laying it on the table-- ’Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ’Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul." But that is what it means to be faithful.
As we close, I want to encourage you with the reminder that God has been faithful to us, and will continue to be. Some of you are struggling this morning, some of you want to quit, want to throw in the towel and give up, cut your losses and run. I know that looks attractive in the midst of the difficult times, I’ve felt that at times also. So let me remind you of this: God is faithful, and God will be faithful to you. You are not alone – not only is the Spirit of God with you to empower and strengthen and support you, but you are sitting right now in the midst of a church full of people who would love to do the same, if you will let them know you need help and then will let them help. They will be faithful to you, and will stand by you and support you. We are all afraid that if others knew what was really going on, they would reject us and judge us and ostracize us. Of course we need to be wise in who we reach out to, but I’m confident you will not experience rejection but rather faithfulness. If that describes you this morning, let me encourage you to reach out for help, let God and others show you faithfulness.
