INTRODUCTION

Author: Peter Fernie

In our school’s curriculum there are several threads that run through the subjects that we teach. You could say that they are foundational truths that don’t fit under just a single subject heading, but are very important to the development of a strong walk with God.  One of these is the subject of faithfulness – you will find it being referred to over and over again as we proceed through the year.

Overview

This initial lesson will lay a foundation so that you will be able to relate to it when it is reinforced in discussions of other topics.

The word “faithfulness” itself occurs relatively few times in the Bible.  In the King James Version it is found only nineteen times, and then only in the old testament — mostly in the Psalms.  The New King James translation uses it more often, including a couple of places in the new testament.  But the concept is a very important one and is a strong theme throughout Scripture.  Other words like “steadfast” and “faithful” help us to understand the subject.

The dictionary gives the following definitions for several of the words that describe faithfulness: “Faithful, Loyal, Constant, Staunch, Steadfast, Resolute.”

Learning Objectives

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

DEFINITIONS

Terms	Definitions
Faithful	Firm in adherence to whatever one owes allegiance.
Faithful	Unswerving adherence to a person or thing or to the oath or promise by which a tie was contracted.
Loyal	A firm resistance to any temptation to desert or betray.
Constant	Continuing firmness of emotional attachment without necessarily implying strict obedience to promises or vows.
Staunch	Fortitude and resolution in adherence and imperviousness to influences that would weaken it.
Steadfastness	A steady and unwavering course in love, allegiance and conviction.
Resolute	Firm determination to adhere to a cause or purpose.

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

Before we do anything else, we need to state that faithfulness is one of the attributes of God Himself.  In fact, the majority of the uses of this word in the Psalms relate to God’s faithfulness, and they are very often used in relation to the covenant(s) that God has with His people.  We will be studying covenant later in the year, so this theme will come up again at that time.  As an example, consider the following passage:

Psalm 89:19-37 NKJV
Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, and said: "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.  I have found My servant David; with My holy oil I have anointed him, with whom My hand shall be established; also My arm shall strengthen him.  The enemy shall not outwit him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.  I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him.  But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, and in My name his horn shall be exalted.  Also I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand over the rivers.  He shall cry to Me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.'  Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.  My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him.  His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.  If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgements, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.  Nevertheless My loving kindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail.  My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.  Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:  His see shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky."   

Psalm 92 is a song of praise based on God's faithfulness. 

God’s faithfulness is demonstrated in the fact that His Word is faithful (or, He is faithful to His Word).  Psalm 119 includes this statement:

Psalm 119:89-96 NKJV
Forever, O LORD, You Word is settled in heaven.  Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.  They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.  Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.  I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life.  I am Yours, save me; for I have sought Your precepts.  The wicked wait for me to destroy me, but I will consider Your testimonies.  I have seen the consummation of all perfection, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad.  

According to Psalm 143:1 God is faithful to hear and answer prayer.  We will study this more fully in our sessions on prayer principles.

The prophet Isaiah made this strong statement:

Isaiah 25:1 NKJV
O LORD, You are my God.  I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.  

What would it be like to try and live as a child of God if He wasn’t faithful to His Word and couldn’t be relied upon from day to day?  It is utterly unthinkable.  There would simply be no reason to go on.  But, praise God, He IS faithful and every one of His children can attest to this fact!

Some additional Scripture references: 
 
I Corinthians 19:9 NKJV
God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.   

Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.  
  
I Thessalonians 5:24 NKJV 
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.  
 
II Thessalonians 3:3 NKJV
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.  And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.  

JESUS’ FAITHFULNESS

Jesus, because He is the image of His Father (Col. 1:15) exhibited faithfulness throughout His life on earth.  In Revelation He is referred to as the “faithful witness”:

Revelation 1:5 NKJV
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Ruler over the kings of the earth.  
 
He is also referred to as the "faithful High Priest": 

Hebrews 2:13-18 NKJV
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of the flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.  For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.  Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. 
 

 
Hebrews 3:1-2 NKJV
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house.  

And we cannot overlook the verse that has such significance for us believers who have to deal with the reality that we do still fall into temptation and sin from time to time:

I John 1:8-9 NKJV
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  

OUR FAITHFULNESS

Just as Jesus was the image of His Father, we have to acknowledge the fact that, as born-again believers, members of the family of God, we also should look like our Father.

Paul describes this well in his letter to the church at Colosse:

Colossians 3:1-17 NKJV
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 
 
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 
 
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in you hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  

We have not just been given a long list of things to “put off and put on”, but we have been given the essential ingredients to be able to achieve this.  When we were born again, we were given the Holy Spirit as a seal of our redemption (Eph. 4:30) and with Him came the fruit of the Spirit.  One of the items listed in Galatians 5:22 is faithfulness!  We will be studying the fruit of the Spirit in more detail later on.  At this point let us just state that the fruit needs to be nurtured and developed: it is not given to us in mature and ripe form.

This means that we have work to do!

To get some idea of what this involves, we should take a look at the early church and how they developed.  We find the record of their experiences and the elements of their development in Acts 2:4147.  This passage records the events immediately following the baptism in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, after which Peter preached the very first sermon of the new church.  Three thousand people responded to the message and accepted Jesus as their savior.

Acts 2:41 NKJV
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.  

They were baptized, not because they needed to be baptized in order to be saved, but to show to everyone their new commitment to Christ.  With the exception of the thief on the cross, all the disciples and all of Jesus’ followers were baptized.  When we give our heart to the Lord, we need to be baptized as a public testimony of our new-found life.  Jesus Himself was baptized.

The reference to “were added to them” is important.  To whom were they added?  They were added to the one hundred and twenty who had been in the upper room and actually formed the nucleus of the early church.  The three thousand didn’t just get saved and then go their own way.  They joined themselves to the body of believers.  Everyone who commits their life to the Lord must join themselves to a church, and we will discuss this further under the topics of “The Local Church”, “Helps Ministries” and “Fivefold Ministry Gifts”.  You cannot grow and serve God as a “Lone Ranger”.

The importance of faithfulness in your church involvement cannot be emphasized strongly enough.  It is not to boost the pastor’s morale or elevate any human institution: this is God’s ordained manner of nurturing His children and accomplishing His purposes on the earth.  If you do not commit to being faithful in church attendance and involvement, to prayer, and to studying the Bible, you will struggle throughout your lifetime.  You cannot afford to start building the foundations of your house when the storm is already upon you, and we all have to face storms!  Faithfulness in this area will save your life!

Some additional Scriptures: 
 
I Corinthians 15:58 NKJV
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.  
 
Galatians 5:1 NKJV
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.  
 

I Corinthians 4:1-2 NKJV
Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.  

Acts 2:42 NKJV
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  

Here we find the word “steadfastly” being used to express faithfulness.  Faithfulness is a key to Christian growth.  Those who are inconsistent and unstable in their commitment to the things of God will find their Christian walk full of troubles and heartache.

The first thing we see here is they were steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine.  What does this mean?  The apostles’ doctrine was the teaching from God’s Word.  We must be faithful in the Word.

Paul commended the believers at Berea:

Acts 17:11-12 NKJV
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.  Therefore many of them believed...  

The Bereans did two things:

1. They listened to the teaching of the apostles.
2. They searched the Scriptures to find out if the apostles were teaching the truth.

Just listening to good teaching is not enough.  We must be faithful in our study of the Word.  We must always be judging what pastors and teachers are saying by what the Bible teaches.  The only way we can learn God’s Word is to be faithful in our reading and study of the Bible.

We must be faithful in prayer.  We see the early church doing this.  Time spent alone with God is essential to our spiritual growth.  There is power in prayer.  James tells us:

James 5:16 NKJV
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  

We need to pray for our own needs, and for the needs of others.  We will discuss this topic in detail in our series on “Productive Prayer Principles”.

We must be faithful in fellowship.  We see the early church was steadfast in fellowship.  By associating with other believers, we receive encouragement from each other.  There are times we will need help and strength from others, and there will be times when we can offer comfort and support.  We can share our prayer concerns with each other, and we can find help when we are troubled or confused.  We can get answers to our questions, and we can use our gifts and talents to bless others.

Faithfulness in fellowship is a cornerstone of our growth in the Lord.

The reason why it’s important for new believers to be around other Christians is that Jesus is giving you a new value system. Your old way of doing things no longer applies.  There will be many things from your former lifestyle that you will have to struggle with.  You need the love and support of those who have learned how to be obedient to God’s Word.  If you stay with your old circle of friends and their sinful ways of doing things, you will be constantly pulled by the old temptations.  By associating with other believers, you will see first-hand how they are overcoming the struggles that you are facing.

Acts 2:43 NKJV
Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.  

This is not talking about terror, but about a healthy reverence and respect.  As believers, we need to have a deep sense of awe towards God, an awe that reflects our gratitude for His mercy.  A light attitude on our part toward God or His Word will lead us to not take His commandments seriously enough.

The apostles performed many miracles.  As we reverence God, we gain a sense of His majesty, and we can more easily place our trust in Him.  If we need a miracle of healing, of deliverance, of comfort, we can have faith that God will meet our need.  Jesus promised us:

Matthew 7:11 NKJV
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?  

The early church was not only faithful, but they were full of faith…

Acts 2:44 NKJV
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common.  

The early church was united.  This verse says “all who believed were together.”  They shared a unity that was quite unique, to the extent, in fact, that they had all things in common.  This does not insist that we should revert to church communes, but the modern church would do well to foster that early unity.  Today, there is little unity.  Few people feel any allegiance to any church body.  Some switch churches as often as they change fashions or trade in their cars.  Loyalty to one church seems like a thing of the past.  The early church was together.  They cared for each other and were united in purpose.

But it is very evident today that many Christians have allowed selfishness and self-centeredness to take hold, and so their greater loyalty is to themselves.  They go where they can benefit the most, or receive the most.  They are influenced by factors like the church with the best music programs, or the most dynamic children’s programs, or the most charismatic pastor.

If we are to grow as Christians, we need to learn stability.  We must become planted in a good local church, and stay there (a “good” local church is one where the Word of God is faithfully taught and lived out).  We will never grow by hopping from one church to the next.  We must stay in one place long enough to be watered and nurtured and flourish (remember what we said earlier about the fruit of the Spirit?).  This all takes time.  There is no perfect church.  In fact the early church only a short while later had a conflict which is recorded in Acts 6:1-7.  We must be faithful to one local church.

Acts 2:45 NKJV
And sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.  

We must be faithful in our giving.  Our money, our talent and our time do not belong to us.  It is the Lord’s.  We must allow Him to use it for His glory.

Acts 2:46 NKJV
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.  

We must be faithful in our church attendance.  The early church met daily in the temple.

There are many reasons to attend church:

We are commanded to do it.

Hebrews 10:25 NKJV
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more are you see the day approaching.  

Jesus emphasized the importance of meeting together when He said:

Matthew 18:20 NKJV
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.   

We need the pastoral teaching.

Although we can learn a lot from God’s Word from our personal study at home, it is essential that we gain the benefit of someone else’s experience and spiritual understanding.  If our only knowledge of the Bible comes from what we have learned on our own, we will miss some very important knowledge.

There is a real blessing from singing, worshipping and praying with other believers.

We may have had a very difficult week, or we may be going through some emotional or spiritual storm.  But as we hear others singing and focusing in on God, we feel our own spirit joining with them, and soon our troubles fade into the background as we once again feel the love of God sweeping over us.

By attending church we have the opportunity to minister to others.

• To be a friend to the hopeless
• a comfort to the lonely
• an encouragement to the troubled and
• a blessing to the downcast.

We must be faithful in our home group or mid-week study.

Notice this verse tells us the early church was in the habit of going house to house.  Times of weekly Bible study with a group of believers can really aid in our spiritual growth.  The advantage of small groups is that you have more time to relate one-on-one with each other.  You can spend more time sharing prayer requests and taking each other’s needs before the throne of grace.  You can ask questions and exchange insights.  As you study together as a group, you learn from each other.

Acts 2:47 NKJV
Praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.  

We must be faithful in our worship.

It is easy to overlook the importance of worship.  In this verse we see that they spent time praising God.  Do we?  Time spent worshipping together as a church or alone at home with God is time spent feeding our spirit.  When we are praising God, we are not thinking of our problems.  Our focus is entirely on Him, and it will cause peace, joy and comfort to minister deep in our soul.

We must be faithful in our witnessing.

This verse tells us the early believers had favor with the people, and the Lord added more to the church daily.  I believe this means they were out telling others about God’s goodness and this message was received favorably.  If we want others to be saved, we must be telling them about Jesus.  We cannot be afraid of how they will take it, but we must be willing to boldly speak in love.

IN SUMMARY

We have seen from the early church that faithfulness is needed in:

• Bible study
• Fellowship
• Our prayer times
• Attending church
• Attending Bible studies
• Telling others about God
• Our giving
• Our worship
• Our quiet time alone with the Lord

A faithful Christian is a growing Christian, but an inconsistent believer is a struggling believer.  Learn to be faithful as a new believer because the Lord is faithful to you.

Hebrews 10:23-25 NKJV
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more are you see the day approaching.  

Faithfulness is an important element of success. Make a note to yourself to check up on your progress in each area on at least a monthly basis!