Before coming back to this opening scripture, let’s begin with a word or two about cousins. It has been said that we can choose our friends, but we can’t choose our relatives. Perhaps you were born into a family with a couple siblings and another brother or two eventually followed you. As a child, you got along really well with some of your brothers and sisters, but not with others. And some of those relationships have continued to this day. Of course, you didn’t get to choose your parents and despite some stupid laws which try to say otherwise, you can’t really divorce yourself from them. Your DNA says so. And more importantly, you are a child of your very first grandparents, Adam and Eve, making you a member of the human race and a sinner before God. You need to be born again, because you were born dead in God’s sight – corrupted by the sin of Adam. But that is material for other sermons.
Going back to friends and relatives, I know people whose best friends come from among their relatives. Sometimes sisters are closer than near neighbors and classmates. I suppose it is less frequent, but sometimes that is true of brothers. And I know some people whose best friends come from among their cousins. Sometimes they are so close it is hard to think of one without thinking of the other. Sometimes, to mention one cousin brings up the name of another.
In my survey of those 105 scriptures I have referred to in this series, I found relationships which tie the word “faithful” to other subjects. I could call them “friends” of each other, and no doubt they are. But for the sake of this lesson, I’ll call them “cousins,” because they are related as well as being friends.
In our earlier lessons we’ve seen some of those cousins.
For example the Bible ties together faithfulness and TRUSTWORTHINESS. In several scriptures, we read of different political and religious leaders, giving money or supplies to trusted superintendents at construction sites. “They reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt FAITHFULLY” – II Kings 12:15. Nehemiah tells us, “I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah… and… Hanan … for they were counted FAITHFUL, and their office was to distribute unto their brethren” – Nehemiah 13:13. “It is required in stewards, that a man be found FAITHFUL” – I Corinthians 4:2.
During one chapter in his life, Joseph was as a servant in the house of the Egyptian, Potiphar. But “Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand” because he proved himself to be faithful to his responsibilities – Genesis 39:4. This should be the testimony of all the saints of God – faithful – in the sense of trustworthy.
And one commodity with which we should be absolutely faithful is TRUTH. Proverbs 14:5 – “A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.”
James exhorts us in chapter 5 – “Above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”
Not all of you have heard me tell this story, so I’ll repeat it, because it applies to this point. Years ago, I was asked to appear in court as a character witness. When told to put my hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, I chose to be a bit rebellious. I turned to the judge and respectfully said something like: “Sir, I am a Christian, and I try my best before God never to lie or deceive people. I will honestly answer all of this courts questions to the best of my ability.” I don’t know that I’d do that again, and I don’t think James is forbidding Christians to take that kind of oath. But underlaying the apostle’s principle is that we should always be faithful to the truth. And that means we need to be careful about our teasing and exaggerating, making sure that people know that it is what we are doing when we are trying to do it. “Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”
You may not have caught it thus far, but I was surprised in my studies that Chronicles uses the word “faithful” as much, or more, than any other book. In II Chronicles 34:12 the word “faithful” is tied to carrying out the WORK of the Lord. For example, as you know, under Josiah’s leadership there was a spiritual revival in Judah. The people of God faithfully gave of their substance for the refurbishing of the Temple. “And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house: Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. And the men did the work FAITHFULLY.” As I said in an earlier lesson, the Lord is not pleased with intermittent, hit and miss service. He wants us to be more regular than clock-work.
And as I said, we’ve already looked at these three cousins, but the Bible gives us a few more.
Two cousins are not the same person, but they are closely related to one another. Another cousin to “faithfulness” is “the FEAR of the LORD.” In our last lesson, while in another context, I referred to Nehemiah’s brother. Nehemiah said, “I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and FEARED GOD above many” – Nehemiah 7:2. I also referred to Jehoshaphat’s exhortation to his new judges – “He charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the FEAR of the LORD, FAITHFULLY, and with a perfect heart.” – II Chronicles 19:9.
Are you familiar with the old saying, “There is no honor among thieves?” Should a man, who is a thief, think that his property is safe, because his neighbor is a thief like himself? Have thieves ever stolen stolen property from other thieves? I watched a British crime show just a couple days ago where that was the theme.
The only true and consistently honest man is he who holds himself to the highest of all standards – the Lord. Even professing Christians can be unfaithful to the truth, or to money, or to morality, if they do not truly “fear the Lord,” in all that the phrase contains. Those who love the Lord, holding Him in their hearts in absolute awe, would not think about doing things which would offend Him. Those who fear the Lord’s judgment would not consider putting themselves under that judgment. And those who know what price was paid to free us from the fear of God’s wrath, shouldn’t think about offending God’s grace toward us. Faithfulness in our lives and the fear of the Lord are certainly cousins.
Hezekiah began to reign as king over Judah when he was five and twenty years old – II Chronicles 29:1. “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” He opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He ordered the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves and prepare to help Israel to worship. Then he proclaimed a celebration of the long forgotten Passover. “Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities” – II Chronicles 31:1. Verse 11 – “Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them, and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things FAITHFULLY.”
The point I’d like you to notice is that the giving, the offerings, the tithes and the sacrifices were given faithfully. The giving of the priests and the people were regular and faithful, not erratic and intermittent. In the New Testament we are instructed: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” – I Corinthians 16:2. Our giving and sacrifices should be faithfully given to the Lord.
Proverbs 11:13 links faithfulness to another cousin – DISCRETION. “A talebearer revealeth secrets; but he that is of a FAITHFUL spirit concealeth the matter.” Husbands and their wives have many things between them which they should never talk about with others. But that is not the only relationship which might have secrets. Pastors sometimes hear confessions, which no official, priestly oath demands that they be kept secret. But if that pastor can’t keep his mouth shut, then he shouldn’t be trusted with peoples lives, or perhaps trusted with anything. But it is not just spiritual leaders who need faithful discretion, it is spiritual people – all of us. Certainly, there are things about people which sometimes demand open publication, but they are not nearly as many as some talebearers might think.
With that I will return to our opening scripture. Our Bibles tell us that another cousin to faithfulness in our Christian lives, is faithfulness in regard to the Lord’s return. Luke 12:42 – “And the Lord said, Who then is that FAITHFUL and WISE steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.” And a part of that faithfulness is living in the anticipation of the return of the Master.
Both in the theological letters of Paul and the parables of the Lord Jesus, Christians are taught to expect the Lord at any moment. And if any of His servants “say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming,” leaving the door open to abuse of His authority, “the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” Those are not my words; they come from Luke 12:45-46. I will not be among those who tell Christians not to expect the return of the Saviour during their lives. Even if my Eschatology is slightly incorrect (but I don’t think that it is), I want to be on the more positive side – the side which I think more glorifies Christ.
I believe that one of the cousins of faithfulness is WATCHFULNESS. The Lord may call for us this evening – or tonight just after midnight. Even if it is tomorrow, don’t become so busy with your secular life that you neglect that serious possibility. And it goes without say, don’t even think about sinning against the Lord, just because He might not come for a while. One of the close and dear cousins to faithfulness is the fear of the Lord, and another is watchfulness for His return.