The Fruit Of Faithfulness

by Pastor Mark
October 21, 2021

 

The faithfulness of God

As we learn to cultivate the different fruits  of the Spirit, it has been wonderful to see these different qualities firstly as attributes of God. It begins with who God is. Last Sunday, Pastor Charles spoke about faithfulness as a quality of God. Moses wrote, “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations.” (Deut 7:9) Moses described the Lord as the faithful God. His faithfulness is seen keeping His covenant and mercy for a thousand generations. It is something truly profound when compared with man.

Judah’s faithfulness was described as the morning cloud or the early dew…it disappeared all too quickly (Hos 6:4). Their faithfulness did not last at all. Let us learn to appreciate how God has been faithful to us over the years. Let the Lord inspire us to be faithful.

The requirement of faithfulness in service

The Apostle Paul wrote of the requirement of faithfulness in his service to the Lord. No matter how Paul was serving, faithfulness was vital. There were different ways in which Paul saw his service to the Lord.

  1. “doulos”…slave, bondservant (Phil 1:1). This reflected how Paul felt in his heart and soul. Paul saw himself as a slave at heart. Being a “doulos” should be our most basic way of service.
  2. “diakanos”…minister (Col 1:23). This was Paul’s manner of service in his ministry. A minister offers humble service. Let us seek to serve the Lord in humility as his ministers.
  3. “huperetes”…minister (1 Cor 4:1). This reflected the sense of duty that Paul felt. He saw himself as one who was entrusted with a duty, and he was going to fulfil whatever Christ had given him to do.
  4. “oikonomos”…steward (1 Cor 4:1). This is the most challenging way of service. Paul saw himself as a steward of the “mysteries of God”…one who had mastered the Scriptures. He was given the task to rightly divide the Word of God and to explain it to others. As a steward, Paul’s responsibility was to manage the ministry of the Word.

Let us check which level we are at in our service to the Lord. For most of us, we are probably at the first two levels. For me, it is learning to be a “huperetes” for now. At whatever level we may be at, let us be challenged to be faithful always.

The supply of the Spirit of God to be faithful

As we seek diligently to cultivate the fruit of faithfulness, we need the supply of the Spirit of God in our life and ministry, “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you.” (Gal 3:5) The word “supplies” in Greek is “epichoregeo” which means “add”. Let us look to God to give us an additional supply of His Spirit so that we could be that much more faithful to Him. It goes beyond just having the Holy Spirit indwelling us when we were born again. The Spirit of God is meant to be consistently added into our life and ministry…to help us grow the fruit of faithfulness increasingly. Let us be challenged to be truly faithful to the Lord and His ministry…to diligently serve Him to the end.

Back to Article Listing

More Articles

View more