FAITHFULNESS – COMMITMENT TO WHAT IS RIGHT
(Solomon’s dedication of the Temple)
“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.” (Kings 8:56-61)
Solomon began by thanking God for His faithfulnessBy giving rest to his people. War was over, Peace had come.
- That He kept His word and never fell short
- That He would not leave him and had not from Abraham to this present time. Solomon also thanked God for the future. He entreated God to remain faithful
- He prayed that the heart of the new nation would turn to God
- He prayed that all would keep His commandments and live in purity
- And finally he prayed that God would use Israel’s (America) future
- Faithfulness to prove to all the world that Israel’s (America’s) God was the one and only God
We need this kind of thinking in the United States today.
Faithfulness – Commitment to What is Right as it relates to The Purpose of God in My Life
“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; See now and know; And seek in her open places If you can find a man, If there is anyone who executes judgment, Who seeks the truth, And I will pardon her. Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ Surely they swear falsely.” (Jeremiah 5:1-2)
Jeremiah could not find anyone who was Just and sought Truth.
In the past decade we in the US have seen the demise of political character. Elected official have faced impeachment, candidates are forced to resign because of their immoral behavior. One president was impeached, not because of his immoral character but because of perjury.
Consider this today.
Picture Jeremiah (or a current day prophet) running up and down the streets of Washington, DC, looking around and searching through the town squares saying: “If I can find anyone who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” What will he find? No one. God wants America to be a faithful nation. In the founding of this Nation we dedicated it to God. Faithful to God was our foundation. This included faithfulness to other nations, faithful to her own people and faithful to the purposes of God. It begins with us, we Christians, the same thing.
“Be what and who God created you for. We have no obligation to anyone or anything that God has not called us to. Mario Murillo
“For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.” (Philippians 1:20)
“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)
We must be bold with Word of God; bold with the gifts God has given us, whether it be by preaching, prophecy, writing or any other, God given, creative gift. We are called to be Witnesses. This is how we can be bold in our witness. Never be ashamed of who you are, or afraid of what you do for Christ’s sake.
Is God faithful in our Salvation? Of Course! Are you feeling the gentile nudge of faith? This “gentile nudge” will become a crises of faith if we continue to disregard it. When we faithfully fulfill God’s purpose for our life we plant seeds. These seeds will take root.
JESUS IS THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
Jesus Himself will “Run you Down, Seek you out, and will never give up on you. Do not interfere with what He is doing in your life. Never feel obligated to do anything that God has not called you to do. Do not let anything come between you and God. He has the knowing we have the going. God has woven us into His tapestry. He became a son of man so that we can become Sons of God
Faithfulness – Commitment to What is Right as it relates to My Relationship with Christ
“So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (John 9:24-33)
The blind man was prejudged and the judges did not want the truth. Are we coerced by others to compromise just to get them off our backs? Or, do we remain faithful to the truth regardless of the world and its consequences?
Faithfulness – Commitment to What is Right as it relates to My Service to Others
“And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?” Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.” (Nehemiah 5: 6-11)
How do the redeemed treat the redeemed? Do we redeem the redeemed? Faithfulness is a commitment to what is right in the way we treat our brothers and sisters. I think it was Gandhi who said: “I would become one of you (a follower if Jesus) if it weren’t for the Christians.” It has been said that we Christians have been known to shoot our wounded. Do we really do that?
Here is a interesting story
This story circulated in South Africa during the days of Apartheid. This was a time very much like our civil war. Blacks not permitted to worship in White churches. A white woman went in to pray and saw a black lady on her knees, The lady said she was just hired to clean the floors. The white lady then said, “Oh, alright.” The white lady, under her breath said “God help you if I catch you praying.”
What should we do to believers who hold to hate, profit, or prejudice while they pretend devotion?
Faithfulness – Commitment to What is Right as it relates to My Personal Worship
“If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)
God can deliver us from every trial, yet He doesn’t. Daniel realized that few Israelite survived the Babylonian siege and subsequent horrors of Persian captivity. He knew many who had died. He had herd the older ones tell of the 3 year siege where the starving Jews resorted to cannibalism. Why then would he think that God would be more prone to rescue him and not the others. He did not know, yet he was faithful.
Daniel was determined to worship only the true God, even in this pagan culture.
We need to look at Daniel and do what is right in spite of our feelings and what we see. God knows our plight. He knows our sacrifice. He keeps account of our actions. He alone will reward us accordingly. Whether-or-not it be in the moment or in the future should not be our concern. Only through obedience to His Word can we be redeemed.
Faithfulness – Commitment to What is Right A Character Study on Caleb
Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 13:26-14:9)
They had spied out the land and even brought back some fruit. It was everything they thought it would be but, the sons of Anak were there. Caleb was ready to go but fear overcame the others and they refused. All complained against Moses and Aaron and wished they had been left in Egypt.Joshua and Caleb begged they to take the land for “the Lord is with us. Do not fear them”.
I go back to everything I said earlier: Do not be afraid or ashamed to witness, speak a word of edification, Prophecy, or do whatever God tells you to do.Do not be ashamed, be faithful, let your light shine. Never say, “…if only we had died in this wilderness!”, and go back to where you were before your Salvation.
Enough Said
Now go on to Part 5 of 6, FAITHFULNESS – NO COMPROMISE
Thy Words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)
