1450AFC121214 – Fully Aware I Trust Him
Read it online here, please.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 – May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
1 Corinthians 1:9 – God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Deuteronomy 7:9 – Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands. International Standard Version (ISV)
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 – Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
Matthew 25:23 – “His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.'” Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
Psalm 12:1 – Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind. New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
“Let us give glory to God who is steadfast in his love and faithful in his promise.” That statement per se is not in the Bible, but it does echo other passages that attest to God’s faithfulness. The first passage presented, the one from Thessalonians, is part of the second reading for the Third Sunday of Advent also known as Gaudete Sunday, based on the Introit Antiphon “Gaudete in Domino semper” (Rejoice in the Lord always). Indeed, as we go through the Advent Season, we are reminded that we have much for which we can rejoice and the greatest cause of that rejoicing is the coming of our Lord to a stable in Bethlehem as a helpless infant. On that Holy Night, the promise made to Eve after the serpent tricked her in Eden was fulfilled: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15 (AKJV) It took many generations to make that promise a reality, but God did as he had promised. He was faithful to his word.
We hear the word faithful throughout the Bible. In many places, as in these shown here, the text testifies that God is faithful. In other places, we are challenged to be faithful – not just faith-filled, but faithful. What does it mean to be “faithful?” Once again if we look into the original languages, we get a fuller picture of the words we read. In the Old Testament the word translated as faithful is אָמַן ‘aman {aw-man’} and it connotes to support, to confirm, to be faithful, to uphold, to nourish, or to be reliable or trustworthy. In the New Testament the Greek word is πιστός pistos {pis-tos’}, an adjective which connotes unwavering faith, to believe, to be a believer in Christ, one who believes the faith given to us by God. Pistos is derived from the verb πείθω peitho {pi’-tho} which means to persuade, to have confidence, to obey because of trust, to have faith.
When we use the word faithful to describe someone, we mean that person is trustworthy, someone who can be relied on to be honest in word and action. In the parable of the Good Steward, Jesus describes the servants who meet or exceed their master’s will as “good and faithful servants.” We can contrast that with Jesus’ statement in Luke 10:16 – “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” Someone who is faithful is not worthless but rather valued, and a faithful servant will – at the very least – follow all of the master’s orders. A good and faithful servant will endeavor to exceed the master’s expectations. Good stewards do good work and for that they are counted as reliable by their master and by others. Good stewards do the right thing even when the master is not good. But, what if the master is good?
A good master and a good servant are the basis for a good household, a good community, and a good nation. God himself is the epitome of the Good Master. Who is more faithful than God? Who can be trusted more than God? Who is more reliable, more believable, more honest? Who else is the embodiment of Truth? St. Augustine in his sermon on The Creed stated there are three things God cannot do. He cannot die, he cannot lie, and he cannot be deceived. These are not failings that arise out of weakness, but rather a testament to God’s infinite power and dignity. If a good master and good servant make a good combination, how much better is a combination of an infinitely good master and a good and faithful servant? We can only speculate about that because we, too, have at most done only what is expected of us; truth be known, we don’t make it to that level of excellence very often. How, then, can we hope to hear or Lord call us “good and faithful?” We have that hope because HE is faithful! Paul explained that in his second letter to Timothy.
2 Timothy 2:11-13 – Here is a saying that you can rely on: If we have died with him, then we shall live with him. If we persevere, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us. If we are faithless, he is faithful still, for he cannot disown his own self.
He cannot lie, he cannot “go back on” his promise to deny those who deny him, nor will he fail to remember those who honor him. We see the same idea in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Romans 3:3-4 – What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” Being faithful is, or should be, more than just a goal; it should be a lifestyle. In the Gospel of Luke we read, He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. (Luke 16:10, World English Bible WEB)
Stewards must be “found faithful.” The title of this post has the acronym Fully Aware I Trust Him. What God says and does are always, always trustworthy because HE is always, always trustworthy. We know implicitly and explicitly that we can trust God even though we ourselves are unfaithful, not trustworthy; but how do we live in a way that is worthy of being called faithful? I think we have a very good plan laid out for us in the letter to the Thessalonians, quoted above. I’m going to end with a larger quote from that passage – you’ll hear it in many churches this coming Sunday. I trust that if I, if you, if we could make this list our lifestyle, we would be well on our way to being good and faithful servants. If we can make this lifestyle our own, then – perhaps, just perhaps – there will still be some who are godly and the faithful will not disappear from humankind. This is quite a list! Read this a few times, and let me know what you think.
1 Thessalonians 5:15-25 – See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. Beloved, pray for us. New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
- December 12
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
