Fruits of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Today, we come to the seventh fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: faithfulness.

I found it quite interesting that when I looked at the text in Greek, the word that was used for this gift of the Spirit was pistis.  Pistis is normally translated rather simply with the word: “faith.”  Rarely is it ever translated “faithfulness.”  This sent my brain into overdrive because this word–the concept of faith–is extremely important for the church these days.  The concept of faith is also vitally central to our identity as Lutheran Christians.

And as I began to think about its importance, I began to sweat bullets.  I thought, “How in the world will I be able to cover such an important word; an important gift, in the time allotted to me?  How can I squeeze things down so that we can understand its importance?”  The reality is: there is no way I can possibly do this.  There is no way that I can cram all there is to say about faith into a fifteen to twenty minute sermon, so we will have to talk in broad strokes this morning.  I hope to cover these three things: 1) what faith is.  2) What it means to have faith in Jesus.  And 3) How it leads us to have faith in one another.

The first item to tackle is: what faith is.  What is faith?  A definition that you will hear oftentimes is that faith is “believing without seeing.”  This definition is actually partially correct.  The writer of Hebrews essentially defines faith in this fashion in a classic definition given in chapter 11, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Faith is something we can count on to happen in the future–a hope–a hope that is so deeply rooted that we are convicted of it even though we cannot see it. Oftentimes, this sort of understanding gets interpreted toward God–that God is something out there; someone we will meet in the future, and we are convicted of this to the point that we hold onto this without any sort of evidence whatsoever.

As I have studied what faith is, I now realize that this definition is lacking.  It is true that we all believe in God not having seen Him.  We all believe in Jesus not having seen him.  But that does not mean that we don’t have evidence.  We do.  That evidence is actually sitting in the pews in front of you in that red book with the letters B-I-B-L-E on it.  For the Bible is a recorded history of God’s interaction with the Jewish people, and then God’s ultimate revelation to humanity as Himself embodied in the person Jesus of Nazareth.  This evidence has been passed down for 2000 years.  Not only has this evidence been passed down, but we have a great cloud of witnesses who have shared with us their experiences of God–experiences that walk hand in had with God’s revelation in the Bible.  Most of us here this morning have had someone in our lives tell us about God–tell us about Jesus.  Most of us here this morning have had family members and friends who have talked about their answered and unanswered prayers; they have talked about times where they felt the presence of God; they have shared why they believe God is real.  And, here is the kicker, here is the important part of that which fleshes out the definition of faith for us: we trusted them.  You see, faith isn’t just believing without seeing–that is only part of the definition; faith is also trusting that what has been given to us is true.

You see, this understanding is actually rammed home when you understand the ancient world in which the Bible was written.  There were actually very, very few atheists–as we would call them.  Almost everyone believed in God or a god.  Such belief was taken for granted.  The real question was: which God did you believe in?  Or, better put, which God did you trust?  This distinction can be understood in the following story:

An atheist was out one Sunday morning hiking in a state park.  He was walking along a cliff edge when the trail suddenly gave way.  The atheist dropped down and luckily caught a branch that was hanging over the canyon below.  There was no way he could climb up; now way he could climb down; and the drop would certainly kill him.

As he held onto that branch, he desperately cried out for help, but being a Sunday, there was no one around.  In final desperation, he yelled to the sky, “God, I have never believed in you, but if you really exist, I could use a hand.”

Shockingly, a voice from the sky responded, “I do exist, and I have heard your prayer.  I will help you.”

In that moment, the atheist became a believer in God.  Excited by this new belief that he had, he cried out, “What do you need me to do?”

The voice responded, “Let go.”

The new believer looked at the ground and the long drop, looked back at the sky and said, “Is anyone else up there?”

Do you see how faith and trust can be separated?  Can you see the difference that can be made between the two?  The fruit of the Spirit, pistis, does not make such a distinction.  Belief and trust are tightly wound together so that if this fruit is present in your life, not only do you believe in God, but you trust Him for your safety, security, and well being.  You place your life in His hands.

And that brings us to part 2) what does it mean to have faith in God or Jesus?  Again, this is important for us to be able to talk about in this day and age because we’ve got to do a better job in evangelism.  We’ve got to do a better job in helping people understand their need for Jesus.  Why is this the case?

Because everyone believes in a god.  That might sound strange, and an atheist would certainly disagree.  However, it depends on how you define God.  An atheist can certainly reject the definition of an old, powerful guy sitting on a throne somewhere up in the sky zapping people at His will.  But if you define God like Martin Luther defined God, then there is another story.  You see, the founder of the Lutheran Church defined God as this in the Large Catechism: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart.  So, if we accept this definition of a god: something that we expect that will bring us all good; something that we expect will bring us all security; and something that we trust with our whole heart–it is safe to say that there is no such thing as an atheist.

Everyone has a god.  It just depends on what you put your ultimate trust in.  Do you think government will solve all the world’s problems and bring about lasting peace?  If you do, that’s your god.  If you believe that if you just had enough money, then all your worries would cease, then your god is money.  If you long for possessions: one more car; one more piece of land; one more electronic gadget, and you believe that these things will satisfy you, your god is possessions.  If you believe that if people just had the right kind of knowledge; if they just learned the appropriate things, then the world would be perfect; your god is knowledge and education.  If you believe that science holds the key to making the world a better place and ushering in safety and security for all, then your god is science.  I could go on and on and on because the possibilities of what can be a god are almost infinite.

So what makes our God different?  What makes Jesus different?  If I had more time, I would try to show how each and every false god makes extreme demands on us to the point that it will make us sacrifice ourselves to it.  In other words, we will never, ever satisfy our false gods.  For instance, if your god is knowledge and you believe that if we all just had enough knowledge, the world would be great.  Well, can we ever get enough knowledge?  Will we ever obtain enough education?  Can we force others to learn so that they will arrive at the place we are?  Already you can see that the answers to these questions is no.  We can never fulfill it, but knowledge drives us on. It demands that we learn more.  It demands that we teach more–even though others may not accept it.  Soon, we find ourselves down and defeated knowing that we have failed, but knowledge will not relent.  It will be ever more demanding.  If you look at every other false god, you will see this happening.

And so, now, let’s take a look at what happens when faith/trust is placed in Jesus.  And, I am using Jesus and God interchangeably here.  For the Christian, God is Jesus and Jesus is God.  Yes, Jesus demanding.  He lays this out unequivocally in His teaching.  He demands nothing less than our entire being.  He demands that we follow Him above all else and implement His teachings in perfection.  But what happens when we fail to do this?  What happens when we find ourselves crushed by His demands?  What happens when we find ourselves failing in front of our God?

Does our God demand more?  Does our God demand our death?  Does God demand that we use all of our might to right the ship or we will perish?  No.  Instead of these things, our God lays down His life for us.  Our God sacrifices Himself for us.  Our God loves us with an unimaginable love.  This is what Jesus does for us on the cross.  No other god will sacrifice itself for us; no other god will pay for our failure; only Jesus will do that.  This sets Jesus apart from every other god; every other religion.  This is why He and He alone is deserving of our faith; deserving of our trust.

Think of it this way; if someone is willing to give everything for you; if someone is willing to love you when you are unlovable; if someone has stuck with you through not only the best but also the absolute worst of what has happened, would you trust them?  Would you have faith in them?  Would you come to love them?  Of course you would.  So why put your trust in any other god?  Why look to all of those other things to put your faith in when they will not do the same for you?  Jesus has already done this.  It only makes sense to put our faith in him.

Which now brings us to point 3) Faith in Jesus leads to faith in one another.  A pastor was speaking to his parishioners on the relationship between fact and faith.  He said, “That you are sitting before me in this church is a fact.  That I’m standing here, speaking from this pulpit is a fact.  But to believe anyone is listening to me is pure faith!”

All jokes aside, this world really does a good job of getting us to doubt one another.  This world does a good job of sowing seeds of distrust among one another.  I mean, we do a good job of sowing seeds of distrust among each other.

A church choir director was going crazy at the rehearsals for a Christmas choral concert.  It seemed at least two or more members of the choir were absent from every rehearsal.  Finally, at the last rehearsal, she said, “I want to personally thank the pianist for being the only person in this entire church choir to attend each and every rehearsal during the past two months.”  Then the pianist stood up, bowed, and said, “It was the least I could do, considering I won’t be able to be at the concert tonight.”

It’s funny, but there is no denying the fact that we let one another down.  There is no denying that we fail to be the people we should be in relationships.  None of us are perfect, and we have a nasty habit of magnifying our imperfections.  We have a nasty habit of focusing on our shortcomings.  We are almost programmed to focus on the negative.

But faith helps offer a corrective–particularly the fruit of the Spirit.  Our faith, our trust, is in the one who laid down His life to forgive us.  Our faith, our trust is in the one who died for us even though we were and are imperfect.  Our faith, our trust is in the one who gave Himself up for us and sacrificed Himself for us.  And when we have experienced this kind of grace; when we have experienced this kind of love; when we know that someone died for us with all of our imperfections; we are slow to condemn others for their imperfections.  We are slow to condemn others for their shortcomings.  We are slow to condemn others for when they fall short of what we would like them to be.  In short, we are forgiving.

When the world seeks to sow the seeds of distrust and animosity; the church sets a different tone.  When the world excludes you because of a mistake or a slip of the tongue, the church accepts you.  When the world is harsh because of a mistake you make, the church is comforting.  When the world seeks to hone in on your weakness and bring you down, the church seeks to strengthen you and build you up.  This is only possible when we trust one another in our weakness.  This is only possible when we acknowledge our shortcomings; our failings; our frailty.  This is only possible when we in the church see perfection not as a requirement for membership but as an admirable goal we strive imperfectly toward.  In the church, we allow others to see our pain, our suffering, our vulnerability because we have faith that fellow church members will show us compassion, care, concern, and help us heal.

A father was about to cross the street with his son, and said to his son, “Son, hold my hand while we are crossing the street.”  His son replied, “No, dad, you hold my hand because I know if you hold my hand and something happens, you won’t let go.”

That is the type of faith and trust we have in each other.  We hold one another’s hand knowing that if something happens, we won’t let go.  We hold onto our brothers and our sisters because God held onto us.  I trust and have faith in you.  You trust and have faith in me.  The Spirit gives us that gift.  May we have it in abundance.  Amen.

God's Faithfulness: Romans 9:6-13

I wonder sometimes about those people who buy into what those televangelists say about God.  Maybe you’ve been exposed to some of their garbage before.  You know, the ones who say, “God wants to bless you financially.  God wants to pour down his blessings upon you, but you have to show God something first.  You have to commit to God to prove that you are sincere.  You’ve got to take the first step, a step of faith.  God wants to bless you, but in order for him to do so, you’ve got to plant the seed first.  And that seed is $1,000.  All you need to do is send in $1,000 and God will bless you and pour his blessings upon you.”

Now, these televangelists wouldn’t be on saying such things if people weren’t actually sending in money.  There have been documentaries showing how wealthy some of these so-called preachers have become.  Someone somewhere is sending in such donations, but we rarely get to see the fallout in those peoples’ lives.  We rarely get to hear a word from them about what happened after they sent in their “seed.”  And I wonder what became of their faith if and when the blessings of God didn’t fall into their lap.  I wonder what became of their faith when their $1,000 gift didn’t all of a sudden become $10,000.  What did they think of God then?  Did they question God’s faithfulness?  Did they say, “God, I’ve done my part.  How come you didn’t do yours?”

And it’s not just folks who have sent money to televangelists who ask such questions.  I mean, I’ve heard all sorts of other comments that are very much related.  “Doc, I’ve never drank or smoked.  I’ve tried to eat healthy and live an active life.  Why do I have cancer?”  “I’ve tried to live my life as a good person.  I help people wherever I can.  I treat people with respect and dignity.  Why did I lose my job?”  “I’ve worked hard to provide for my children.  I’ve given them love and affection; clothes and food; toys, a phone, and computers, why do they treat me with contempt?”  Sometimes, these questions are directed at God, and the unspoken part of each of those questions is: God, I’ve done my part.  I’ve done what I’m supposed to do.  Why aren’t you doing your part?  Why aren’t you holding up your end of the bargain?  Why aren’t you being faithful?

Oh, and there is a rebuttal.  There are those who have worked to squash this kind of questioning.  Maybe you’ve heard it.  Maybe it is ingrained deep within you.  I’ve heard it numerous times as well.  “I know we’re not supposed to question why...”  Ever hear that one?  And so you work to bury the questions.  You work to cover them up deeply, but the problem is, they never quite go away.  They are always there nagging.  Is God faithful?  Does God keep His promises?  Can I really count on Him to come through?

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, there are times when we wonder about you.  There are times when we wonder if you really do care.  There are times when we wonder if you really will take care of us like you said you would.  During those times, reveal yourself to us.  Help us see just how you work.  Help us to see that indeed you are faithful and that we can put our full trust in you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

The issue of God’s faithfulness is an old one.  It can be found deeply embedded within the Bible in both the Old and New Testament.  And what is most interesting about our text from the book of Romans today is that God’s action in Jesus Christ has presented a problem of God’s faithfulness to the early church.  The problem comes in the Old Testament promises that God made to Israel.  Paul summed up the blessings that God had bestowed upon Israel at the beginning of Romans chapter 9, “4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

The problem was, that the vast majority of Israel was rejecting Jesus.  The vast majority of the people did not see Jesus as the Son of God or the Messiah. The religious leaders had rejected Jesus and were persecuting the church.  The political leaders were simply puppets of Rome and could care less.  Even the Jews who did not live in Israel proper and who lived throughout the Roman empire were not flocking to Christianity.  This caused no small amount of consternation in the early church because God’s consistency was on the line.  God had made these promises to the Israelites.  They were considered unbreakable.  Were they now null and void?  Would God keep these promises?

Paul knows he has to answer this question because it cuts to the heart of the character of God.  If God can revoke a promise, then how do we know He will keep the promises given though Jesus?  If God can take away this promise, then He can certainly take away another promise.  Then, all our hope will be in vain.  Paul now will take great pains to show that God is faithful and that He has and will keep His promises.

He begins with these words, “6 It is not as though the word of God had failed.”  Paul begins by turning our attention to the Word of God.  Paul knows the Old Testament backward and forward, and he is going to begin with God’s promise to Abraham.  That covenant is front and center now for Paul.  If you remember the promise God made to Abraham, it went like this: I will be your God, and you will be my people.  From you will make a great nation.  Your descendants will be more numerous than the stars of the sky and the grains of sand in the sea.  I will bless you so that through you all the world may be blessed.  It is this covenant that Paul is now defending.

And what does Paul say about how this covenant was passed down throughout the generations?  For not all Israelites truly belong to Israel, 7and not all of Abraham’s children are his true descendants; but ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. 9For this is what the promise said, ‘About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.’  Paul digs into the story of Abraham to show that the covenant is not passed down to someone simply because of genetics.  Abraham has two children that the scriptures focus on: Isaac and Ishmael.  Both are genetically his children.  One is born through a slave, the other is born through Abraham’s wife Sarah.  The covenant promise, as every good Jew knew, went to Isaac.

But it is also important to notice what Paul says about children of the flesh and children of the promise.  He references the promise made to Abraham when God visited and said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.”  Now, remember, Sarah was well past the age of child bearing.  Abraham was an old man himself.  There was no way they should naturally have been able to conceive and bear a child...but they did.  There is a strong element here of God’s work in the passing down of the covenant.  Paul is pointing out that God is ultimately responsible for how the covenant is passed down because something supernatural had to take place for the promise to move on.  Please keep that in mind as we move on.

For Paul now knows the next objection that will come his way.  As I said before, every good Jew knew that the promise should go to Isaac instead of Ishmael because Sarah was Abraham’s wife.  Hagar was a slave.  It’s only natural to believe that the covenant would go to the son of Abraham’s wife.  One could come to the conclusion that there is nothing mysterious or God driven about this despite God’s supernatural intervention.

Therefore, Paul goes to the next generation to show how God operates in the passing on of the covenant.  10Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac. 11Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, 12not by works but by his call) she was told, ‘The elder shall serve the younger.’ 13As it is written, ‘I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.’

Now, we have to remember the story of Jacob and Esau.  These two were twins, so they both have the same mother and the same father.  Genetically, they are the same, however, the covenant promise was not given to both of them.  It was given to Jacob, and this was decided before these two were even born.  God had declared that the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob).  God had declared that the younger of the two would receive the covenant promise even before it was shown what kind of character or moral standing each boy would have.

This defied the cultural wisdom of the time!!  In that culture, the oldest son always inherited the most!!  Hands down!!!  But here is God defying cultural wisdom.  And God is also defying what most would expect out of a just and moral God.  We would expect God to choose the person who was the most upright; the most moral; the one of the highest character.  If you know the story of Jacob and Esau, you will remember that Jacob was an absolute jerk.  That’s not actually the term I would prefer to use, but I am in church.  Jacob was a conniving, sniveling, scoundrel.  And yet, God’s covenant promise rested on him.  “That the election might continue not by works but by his call.”  That statement is of utmost importance in the big scheme of things.  We will come back to it shortly.

But first I must deal with that last sentence of God loving Jacob and hating Esau.  This statement has caused no small amount of controversy.  How could a loving God hate someone even before they are born?  How could a loving God be so callous in this manner?  Take a deep breath.  What is being said here has nothing to do with the emotions of love and hate as we know them.  The story itself bears this out because God actually blesses Esau.  What is being used here is a quotation found in the book of Malachi.  It is a Hebrew idiom that would be better translated, “I chose Jacob and not Esau.”
Now, let’s start tying all of this together to understand what Paul is saying about God.  Paul is delving deep into scripture to show that who you were born to doesn’t give you any privilege when it comes to receiving the promises of God.  At the very beginning of the transfer of the covenant promises, God would choose one child over another.  The second thing Paul is showing us about God is that He will willingly defy cultural norms in accomplishing His work.  God operates by a different standard–a different set of rules than we tend to, so just because the culture around might accept something, it does not mean God will operate in the same manner.   Finally, Paul shows us that our performance doesn’t affect whether or not the promise is handed down.  God passes down the promise by grace not by works.

What do all of these things say when put together? I think it says this: when we question God’s faithfulness, we are often doing so because we misunderstand how God works and are often putting our own expectations on God instead of understanding who He is.  Let’s go all the way back to those televangelists that I started with.  They make the claim that God will bless you if you take the first step.  If you plant the seed of giving, then God will give you more.  This train of thought leads you to believe that you can actually make some sort of claim on God.  This leads you to say, “God, I’ve taken the steps, now you are supposed to follow through.  You owe me something because I have done the right things.”

A similar thing happens when we say things like, “God, I’ve worked really hard to be a good person.  Sure, I’ve made some mistakes, but I generally try to be nice.  I generally try to do the right thing.  I don’t intentionally hurt others.  Why are bad things happening to me?”  At the heart of this question is the idea that I’ve done my part; I’ve done what I’m supposed to do, now, God you are supposed to follow through.  You are supposed to bless me.

And that train of thought would be appropriate if God actually worked on the basis of performance and status.  I mean, if God rained down blessing upon you because you were born a Christian–and not just any Christian but a Lutheran Christian for good measure, then you could claim your birth status as a right.  But God doesn’t operate that way.

If God rained down blessings upon you because your cultural norms demanded it, then you could claim your culture as a right.  But God doesn’t operate that way.

If God rained down blessings upon you because you were morally superior to everyone else,
then you could claim your performance as a right.  But God doesn’t operate that way.

God operates by grace.  God operates by blessing you first.  In the covenant laid out to Abraham, God says, “I will bless you that you may be a blessing.” God’s blessing came first, and then Abraham’s obedience followed.  And God then kept His promises to Abraham–and will continue to do so.  But He will do so by grace.

And, of course, that grace is made purely evident through the actions of Jesus.  For Jesus became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by dying on behalf of sinners–by dying on behalf of us.  There was nothing that we ever did that warranted the Son of God dying for us.  Not our status.  Not our ability.  Not our performance.  In fact, our status, our ability, and our performance would actually lead to our condemnation.  But instead of condemning us, God saved us by sheer grace as a gift.  God has already blessed us.  God has already been faithful to us because He loves us–so much so that He was willing to die for us.

And so when things start falling apart; when we feel like we aren’t receiving the blessings that we think are due; we need to be reminded, that it this isn’t a failure of God.  We need to be reminded that God has already blessed us, and that in the future, God will make all things right.  We need to be reminded of what God has already done on our behalf and trust that He will act again in the future.  The real question then is not a matter of God’s faithfulness, it is a matter of ours.

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, thank you for your faithfulness.  Thank you that you remain steadfast in your promises.  Thank you that you will never revoke them or take them away.  When things happen that might lead us to question those promises, lead us to the cross.  Lead us to Jesus so that we may see how much you love us and the length that you have gone to make sure that your promises will remain true.  Lead us to your love that we may have faith; that we may trust in you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.