By Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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Broadcast Notes
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LINK to CFRA broadcast of Sunday, May 14th, 2017
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I want to say “Thank you” to an anonymous donor for making today’s
broadcast possible through their generous support!
The Faithfulness of God
LAMENTATIONS 3
22Because
of the Lord’s great love we are not
consumed,
for
his compassions never fail.
23They
are new every morning;
great
is your faithfulness.
Psalm 103
Of David.
1Praise
the Lord, my soul;
all
my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2Praise
the Lord, my soul,
and
forget not all his benefits—
3who
forgives all your sins
and
heals all your diseases,
4who
redeems your life from the pit
and
crowns you with love and compassion,
5who
satisfies your desires with good things
so
that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6The Lord works righteousness
and
justice for all the oppressed.
7He
made known his ways to Moses,
his
deeds to the people of Israel:
8The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow
to anger, abounding in love.
9He
will not always accuse,
nor
will he harbor his anger forever;
10he
does not treat us as our sins deserve
or
repay us according to our iniquities.
11For
as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so
great is his love for those who fear him;
12as
far as the east is from the west,
so
far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13As
a father has compassion on his children,
so
the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14for
he knows how we are formed,
he
remembers that we are dust.
15The
life of mortals is like grass,
they
flourish like a flower of the field;
16the
wind blows over it and it is gone,
and
its place remembers it no more.
17But
from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who
fear him,
and
his righteousness with their children’s children—
18with
those who keep his covenant
and
remember to obey his precepts.
19The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and
his kingdom rules over all.
20Praise
the Lord, you his angels,
you
mighty ones who do his bidding,
who
obey his word.
21Praise
the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you
his servants who do his will.
22Praise
the Lord, all his works
everywhere
in his dominion.
Praise
the Lord, my soul.
OLD FAITHFUL
MOTHER
TERESA: I am not called to be
successful, I am called to be faithful.
THEODORE
ROOSEVELT: It is better to be faithful
than famous. (Quote by -Theodore Roosevelt)
We will look at these
in relation to God’s faithfulness and the definition of faithfulness.
There are of faithfulness
three interesting definitions
WORTHY OF TRUST
Did you know that
faithfulness is defined in many dictionaries as “worthy of trust.” When we think of the word ‘politicians,’ we
don’t really think of the definition of “worthy of trust.”
There’s been an
interesting website developed and published in print, Politifact, that tracks
the promises of politicians and rates them on whether or not they have been
accomplished and, as a result, whether or not they are worthy of trust.
I looked up Obama’s
scorecard because in the 2008 election, he made approximately 500
promises.
Ø Promises kept - 241, or 45%
Ø Promises compromises - 131, or 25%
Ø Promises broken - 117, or 22%
Ø Promises stalled - 5
Ø Promises in the works - 32
Based on these
statistics, Obama is deemed as ‘unworthy of trust,’ according to
Politifact. They do this for all
political parties.
Indeed, it is hard to
find somebody to trust. Harry S. Truman
said, “You want to find a friend in this city (Washington, DC), get a dog.”
We as humans are
fickle, we are frail, we are fallen and we are forgetful. As a result, it is hard to keep our
promises.
·
Proverbs 20 says, “Many
claim to have unfailing love. But, a
faithful person who can find?” A
faithful person is hard to find.
·
Let’s
contrast that with God is Psalms 36, “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens;
Your faithfulness to the skies because His faithfulness is so good.” He is constantly faithful. The reason is that, at the heart of His
promises, is the desire to earn, or receive, your trust.
He made His very
first promise in Genesis 3 when we
humans, fallen and fickle, mess up. Adam
and Eve sinned and along came God. He
promises that a Messiah will come and crush the head of a serpent. This flowed from the heart of His
promise.
·
The
heart of a God, or a father, who wants to make promises to His precious
children, just like your fathers and mothers make promises to you, because He
loves you. He constantly makes promises
because He has a heart that yearns for your trust.
God is fully faithful
and fully worthy of our trust because, unlike humans, He is not fickle, not
fallen, not forgetful, nor fragile.
Instead, His character makes Him faithful.
·
1. First, God is unchanging. Malachi
3:6 says, “I, the Lord, do not
change.” In contrast, we humans
can’t always keep our promises because we constantly change our minds or the
circumstances change.
·
2. God is also truthful, this is why He is
faithful. Numbers 23 says, “God is not
a man that He should lie. Nor a son of
man that He should repent. Has He said
and will He not do it? Has He spoken and
will He not make it good?” God is
not a liar. In contrast to humans, He is
always telling the truth when He makes a promise and He is more than able to
fulfill it.
·
3. He is also omnipotent. 1 Thessalonians says, “The
One who calls you is always faithful and He will do it.”
·
4. He is eternal. Deuteronomy
7 says, “Know, therefore, that God is
faithful, keeping His covenant promises to 1000 generations.”
Therefore, God can be
trusted; He is worthy of our trust. He
is faithful because, at the heart of His promise, is the desire of a father to
receive your trust and He is more than able to fulfill it.
TRUE TO THE ORIGINAL
I want to talk about
how faithfulness is defined as “true to the original.”
Example
Here is a story about
how I have been unfaithful in a promise.
I was a teenager when I made an original promise to my dad and I was not
true to the original promise.
We had spelling
contests and we had friendly bets. I had
a bet with him at the table, that I knew how to spell the word ‘Onamonapia’
correctly. He said, “Ok, let’s have a
friendly bet. I would like to bet you a
breakfast in bed.”
I was very confident
in my spelling prowess, and so I took him up on his bet. I spelled the word, and lo and behold, I was
wrong. What’s interesting is that he
said “Next Sunday, I would like my breakfast in bed at 6 a.m.” Ouch!
Suddenly, I was
unfaithful to the original promise. Six
a.m. and teenagers don’t mix well together.
I did not deliver on my promise.
Two years later, I
wanted to earn his trust. I said, “Dad,
bet me a breakfast in bed.”
We had a bet about
the capital city of a country in Europe.
Again, I was wrong. But, I was
happy because I could then earn my dad’s trust.
I could deliver on the promise of breakfast in bed.
He asked for kippered
herring, which is his favorite breakfast in bed. I was grossed out and said, “I don’t do
kippered herring.” To this day, my dad
has not received his breakfast in bed.
Wouldn’t it be great if, this Christmas, I showed up a 6 a.m. with
kippered herring?
I was not true to the original promise.
·
God
is faithful because He is true to the original promise.
·
The
reason is that Jesus Christ is true to the original. 2 CORINTHIANS 1:20New Living Translation “For all of God's promises have
been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ,
our "Amen" (which means "Yes") ascends to God for his
glory.”
·
Jesus
is God Himself. Jesus is divine; He is
omnipotent, He is eternal, He is truthful, He is unchanging. He reflects all the same properties of God
the Father. He is true to the
original.
At this beautiful
Advent season, we are anticipating the arrival of Christ. The Old Testament makes over 350 prophecies
related to Jesus. Scholars have pointed
out all 300 prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. God is so faithful because, when He made
those prophecies, Israel was unfaithful and had abandoned God. But, God came to them, around 650 BC, and
said, ‘I am sending a promise to be born in Bethlehem. I am sending a promised one who is to become
a shepherd of the flock. He is
unchanging and is ancient of all days. I
am sending one who is born of a virgin’.
The Habit of a Promise
This is faithfulness
defined as consistency.
How did Old Faithful
get that name? Old Faithful is in
Yellowstone National Park. In my
research, I’ve discovered that every 91 minutes, Old Faithful spouts and
erupts. Therefore, Old Faithful is
predictable and consistent. Likewise,
God is consistent every time.
HE IS CONSISTENTLY FAITHFUL, EVEN IF WE ARE NOT!
If we are faithless, he
remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
No temptation has
overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he
will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,
he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Life Application
We are to emulate and
imitate God our Father. He calls us to
be faithful.
How do we, as frail,
fickle, fallen humans, be consistent and predictable in our daily living? The Word of God is helpful.
A Few Principle I Have Learned
·
First, the Bible tells us, in Matthew 5, not to make promises with people. Instead,
“Let your yes be yes and your no be no.”
This is the first way to cultivate consistency.
I had to learn this
the hard way at university. I was late
for a few dates with my girlfriends and even for an exam. My friend, who led me to Christ, said,
“Juliet, you need to let you yes be yes and your no be no.”
We do this frequently
in society. We set something up and, if
something else more interesting comes along, we cancel it or if we are even
slightly inconvenienced, we postpone.
·
Second, Galatians 5
says that I, in my own flesh, cannot muster up faithfulness. It’s not like I can wake up and say, “Today
I’m going to be faithful. I, Juliet, am
a good person and I’m going to knock the socks off everyone. I’m going to show up for every
appointment. I’m going to answer every
question. I’m going to solve every
problem.”
No. What I’ve learned from Galatians 5 is that faithfulness is the fruit of the Holy
Spirit. Galatians 5 says, very clearly, that the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.
This actually means
that I need to start my day by filling up on the Holy Spirit. If I want to be faithful, I need to fill up
on the Spirit, which is like a balloon.
I fill up a little bit each day and the Spirit in me gets bigger and
bigger, such that I can’t help but be faithful because God is faithful and His
Spirit is filling up in me. Some of my
faithfulness will leak out to others.
It’s called Contagious Christianity.
If you see me as consistent, predictable and faithful, you’re going to
want to be that way too.
·
Third, Matthew 25
says that, “If you are faithful with a
few things and small things, God will then give you bigger things, grander
things to be faithful in.”
I try to practice faithfulness
in the small things and when no one is watching, this is hard.
For example, I come
from a big city where, when you go grocery shopping and you take your cart to
the car, you leave your cart, get in your car and drive away. I come to Perth, a polite and dignified town,
and I notice that everyone returns their cart.
I’ve been tempted to leave my cart at the car door. But then I remember faithfulness in the small
things and that people are watching. I
hope no one has heard, “Pastor Juliet doesn’t take her cart back to the
store.” If you see me at metro, remind
me to take my cart back to the store.
If we’re faithful in
the small things, He will then promote us to bigger things.
Be faithful in the
thing when no one is watching and in the very small things, and He will promote
you.
It is hard to
cultivate a habit of faithfulness. We
sometimes fall off the horse. If that is
you, remain hopeful because if we are unfaithful, says the Word of God, Christ
will remain faithful to us.
If you have fallen
off this week and sinned, come to the Communion Table ready to repent because
the Word says that if you repent, God will be faithful to forgive you.
If you’re in the
midst of temptation, God will be faithful if you turn to Him to provide a way
out.
It doesn’t all depend
on us. If you’re unfaithful like me,
come to Communion relaxed and at peace because Christ is coming, Advent is
here. Every promise in God is Yes and
Amen! God is faithful even when we’re
not. His forgiveness is ready; let us
partake of the Lord’s Supper this day.
Amen
“Let love and faithfulness
never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your
heart.”
Rev.
Juliet Schimpf
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listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
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