Tuesday, April 1, 2014

BIBLE STUDY WEEK # 7 (4/1/14)

 

Bible Study "The Fruit of the Spirit"

[By Glenn Pease]

Week # 7 (Fruit of Faith)

Date (4/1/14)

 

7.  THE FRUIT OF FAITH

 

Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. His life

illustrated both the positive and negative sides of the fruit of faithfulness. You would think that

faithfulness would always be positive, but the fact is, every virtue can be a vice if it is linked to the

wrong value system. Even love can be a vice, for as Paul says, the love of money is the root of all

evil. Carnegie had a love for money that made him faithful to his goal of becoming rich. He

ruthlessly underpaid his steel workers, and made them work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. His

labor practices led to one of the bloodiest strikes in labor history. In the town of Homestead, Pa. 14

people were killed and 163 were seriously injured in that strike. Carnegie made 40 million dollars in profit in the year 1900, because he was faithful to his commitment to become rich. But once he became the richest man in the world, he changed his whole perspective and decided it would be a disgrace to die rich. He decided to give his fortune back to society. He found he could not give it away fast enough, for it was growing so rapidly, so he formed the Carnegie Corporation Foundation. 90% of his fortune was given away, and 3,000

libraries were endowed. 350 million dollars were given away, and when he died in 1919 he had

just 30 million left, and 20 million of that went to the Carnegie Foundation for educational

purposes. The other 10 million went to family and relatives. Here was a man faithful in making a fortune, and faithful in giving it away. His faithfulness was a burden to some and a blessing to others. Thus, we see the duel nature of this virtue which can also be a vice. The Pharisees were faithful to the law, and refused to forsake their legalism, even in the face of the miracles of Jesus. People can be faithful to cults, cruel leaders, and every form of evil you can imagine. I read of how even animal faithfulness can be a problem. Jonathan Daniels was a newspaper man who covered the races. The one that stands out in his mind is a race between 5

camels. It was at a Carolina carnival. It was an unusual race and people all over the state were

betting on the outcome. But bookies noticed that Arabs were putting all their money on the camel

named Ben Ali. They watched the race with eagle eyes for any sign of dirty work.

The race seemed to be fairly run, and all jockies pressed their mounts with equal fervor and

determination. Yet Ben Ali was the easy winner. Daniels interviewed some Arabs and asked why

they put all their money on Ben Ali, and one of them explained with a grin. "Ben Ali is what is

known in our country as a bell camel. From the day of their birth all other camels are taught to

follow the bell camel." These Arabs were not gambling at all. It was a sure thing, for they knew the

other camels would be faithful to their training, and never pass up the bell camel.

What you don't know can hurt you. That is why it is important to recognize the paradox that

virtues can be vices if they are focused on the wrong values. Faithfulness is not a fruit of the Spirit

if it is not directed toward the revealed will of God. There are people who are faithful to their

commitment to get drunk every weekend, or faithful to their commitment to play poker every

Saturday night. You and I can be faithful to buy our gas at the same station every week, or where

only brand of shoes for life, or a thousand and one other things. This is not necessarily either good

or bad, but it is not the fruit of the Spirit.

 

The fruit of the Spirit, which is faithfulness, is an absolute loyalty to Jesus Christ regardless of

the cost. Jesus put it plainly to the Christians in Smyrna in Rev.2:10, "Do not be afraid of what you

about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer

persecution for 10 days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of

life." Faithfulness means a lot to Jesus, and He will greatly reward it. This is the fruit that took Him

all the way to the cross. He could have been the world's greatest teacher, healer, and miracle

worker, and still have failed to be our Savior had He not been faithful even to the point of death.

When John saw into the future, this was one of his visions in Rev.19:11, "I saw heaven standing

open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider was called Faithful and True." This is a

name Jesus will wear forever. He never forsook the plan of God even though the cost was beyond

calculation. You can count on Jesus when He says I will never leave you or forsake you, for He is

absolutely faithful. And this is what He expects from His disciples. Christians are to be people you

can count on because they are faithful to their commitments.

 

I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins...." What does

this mean? It means you can count on Christ to be consistent. He will not be moody, one day

forgiving you, and the next day saying tough luck. The book of Hebrews calls Jesus a faithful high

priest. He would not let you down by inconsistencies. He is dependable. And He is greatly pleased

when His disciples are also dependable. In the great and final war against evil, we read this

description of those on the winning side in Rev.17:14, "They will make war against the Lamb, but

the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings-and with him will be

his called, chosen and faithful followers." The highest compliment the New Testament can give to a

Christian is that they are faithful. It will be the greatest reward to hear Jesus say in the day of judgement,

"well done thou good and faithful servant." Paul could give no higher recommendation than to say one

was faithful. He writes in I Cor.4:17, "I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful

in the Lord." In Eph.6:21 he writes, "Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord will tell you

everything...." Paul could not have accomplished what he did without the help of faithful servants.

Many forsook Paul and did not have the fruit of faithfulness, but the few who were faithful help him

change all of history. One of the things that Paul was most grateful for was that Jesus considered

him to be faithful. He writes in I Tim.1:12, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me

strength, that he considered me faithful appointing me to His service."

This brings us back to the paradox of faithfulness and to another aspect of it-the good side of bad

faithfulness. Paul had bad faithfulness before he was converted. He was a faithful fanatical

Pharisee who would persecute fellow Jews who became Christians. He was not about to forsake his

faithful commitment to salvation by works of the law. His faithfulness to Judaism made him a very

cruel and dangerous man, thus, illustrating again, just how bad a thing faithfulness can be. It is a

force behind all hatred, bigotry, and prejudice. But here is the good side of bad faithfulness. If a

person is faithful to their values, even if they are wrong and perverted values, they have the

potential, as Paul did, of becoming faithful to right and true values. The point is, if Paul had been a

rotten Pharisee, who was breaking his own laws and being unfaithful to his commitments as a

legalist, he would not have been a good candidate for an Apostle of Christ. It was his faithfulness to

his wrong convictions that made him a good candidate for one who would be faithful to right

convictions.

 

We need to see with the eyes of Christ as we look at the lost. We tend to say a certain person is

so committed to his materialism that he would never be interested in the things of the Spirit. She is

so loyal to her social organization she would never be interested in church things. We forget the

good side of bad faithfulness, which is, it can become good faithfulness if it is converted and directed

toward the service of Christ. The best servants of the Lord are often those who were the best

servants of the devil. People who are faithful to folly can become people who are faithful to

wisdom. That is why we need to see the faithfulness of sinners to their value system as potential

values for the kingdom of God. Jesus saw this potential in Paul, and that is why a man so faithful to

the law became the Apostle so faithful to love.

 

Unfortunately not all faithfulness gets a lot of attention or reward in this life. Some of the people

Paul commends as faithful are obscure persons. The world is full of Christians who are faithful, and

by their attendance, giving, and service keep the church alive and well. They are often taken for

granted because they are faithful. You don't have to worry or wonder about them. They just

faithfully do their thing as members of the body, and like the glands of the physical body they are

crucial for health, but they are seldom given a lot of thought. But the very nature of faithfulness is

that it does the job needed regardless of the recognition. If you only serve the Lord to be seen of

men, Jesus says you are like the Pharisees. You may get your reward, which is recognition from

men, but you will receive none from God.

The true test of faithfulness is, will you do what you are gifted to do for the body of Christ even if

you are seldom to never thanked for it. It is not much of a virtue to keep doing what you are

rewarded for doing. Even animals learn a lot of tricks because they are rewarded for their acts. This

natural faithfulness is not bad at all. It gives us a lot of pleasure, and it is a part of good education.

Rewarding is a good thing, but faithfulness is that virtue that says reward or not, recognition or not, I

am going to do what pleases my Lord. I will be faithful.

This is a virtue that rises above the natural response of faithfulness to what gives you pleasure

and reward. It is when you suffer calamity and great loss that this kind of faithfulness shows.

Habakkuk reveals his faithfulness in Hab.3:17-18, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are

no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are

no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God

my Savior." That is not natural-that is fruit of the Spirit faithfulness. A Christian who is only

faithful when it pays off in some sort of reward is operating it the flesh. a non-Christian or even an

animal can live on this level. But cut off the reward and seals will stop bouncing balls on their nose,

whales will stop leaping over nets, lions will stop leaping through hoops, and the natural faithfulness

of men will lead them to forsake the cause, whatever it is. Even the cause of Christ will be

abandoned by Christians who operate in the flesh. Only those with the fruit of the Spirit faithfulness

will continue to serve the Lord when the benefits cease, and there are only burdens to be carried.

The whole idea of taking up the cross and following Jesus is based on faithfulness. Cross-bearing

is not for the unfaithful. They will abandoned Christ at the point at which the burden is greater than

the benefit. "Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world, "said Paul of one of his

unfaithful Christian servants. When the burdens of serving with Paul became greater than the

benefits, he took off and went his own way. He was faithful only when it paid to be. This kind of

natural faithfulness is not enough in any relationship of life. All relationships are tested, and the test

is that they sometimes cost more than they pay. There is more pain than pleasure, and more burden

than benefit.

The reason why Christians are into more divorces than ever before is because they are operating

on the level of natural faithfulness. "As long as it pays off and their is more pleasure than pain, I will

stick with the relationship. But when it costs emotional burdens to stick with it, I will be gone." It is

natural to have these feelings, but the Christian is to operate on a higher level than the natural and

overcome these feelings. When they do not do so by the fruit of the Spirit, they do the same things

the non-Christian does. No relationship will escape the testing, and if Christians are not examples of

faithfulness in all relationships, they will not be a very attractive witness to the power of the Gospel

to change life. Faithfulness has no valid existence until it has to stick to a commitment when their is

no pleasure in doing so. When their is only pleasure it is just self-satisfaction to be faithful. But

when their is a burden to bear, and you are still faithful, that is fruit of the Spirit faithfulness. This is

what we see in Jesus as He went to the cross for us, and what we see in all relationships that survive

the valleys of life. Our salvation and our security depend upon the faithfulness of Christ. Nothing

could be secure if He was not faithful. And nothing in the Christians life can be secure if they are

not faithful. All security is based on faithfulness.

 

Dr. Charles E. Fuller had one of the most fruitful radio ministries in history. It was called, The

Old-Fashioned Revival Hour, and it covered 90% of the inhabited world. Without faithfulness it

never would have gotten to this level. He and his wife lost their first child. Then her health failed

and they were separated. Then a serious financial crunch involved them in a hard five year battle to

recover. 12 years after their first child died they had another child that almost died. Added to all

this trial, they were deserted by some of their closest friends in the church. How do you get through

all that, and touch the world for God? The only way is by the fruit of faithfulness. He could have

let any one of his trials stop him, but he didn't. He was faithful when there was only pain, and God

rewarded him beyond what he could have ever dreamed.

 

Jesus will be ever faithful to us, but the question always is, will we be faithful to Him. Peter

Ainslie writes,

 

I shall never forget the time I saw Poynter's great picture

"Faithful Unto Death." in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

There stood the Roman guard on duty while the palace was

falling into ruins during the destruction of Herculaneum. The

dead were lying in the background; others were falling to the

pavement amid the red-hot eruptions of Vesuvius; everyone

who could was fleeing for his life. The Roman guard might

have made his escape, but there he stood like a marble statue,

preferring to remain at his post faithful unto death. The picture

clung to me like an individual--not simply the man standing at

his post of duty but the expression of faithfulness that showed

in his countenance. I have thought of it a hundred times since,

and have felt its influence as I have felt that of a living person.

 

Even natural faithfulness can reach great heights, and be a powerful example, but to be faithful to

our Lord in day to day living we need more than natural faithfulness. That too is a valuable asset,

but to be all that God wants us to be we need the fruit of the Spirit faithfulness.

 

Extra: Faithfulness

I choose faithulness. . .Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word.  My companion will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

 

Read: Galatians 5:22-25

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. (NET)

 

Reading Scriptures:

1 Corinthians 4:17

Ephesians 6:21

1Timothy 1:12

Revelation 17:14

Revelation 19:11

 

Reflection Questions: Faithfulness

1.  Have you been making an active effort to strive to keep your promises?

2.  Are you known for being a promise-keeper, or is flakiness a trademark of yours with your friends and family?

3.  Do you carefully consider the commitments you make before you embark on them, or are you careless with them?

4.  Do you find yourself more willing to elevate your priorities above others', or do you find yourself making sacrifices to be faithful to others?

 

Personal Prayer:

Lord, thank You for loving me.  Thank You for giving me Your Living Word as a blueprint on how to live my life.  Help me to walk in faith.  Help me to exercise my faith and believe the unseen.  Help me to develop the fruit of faith, so that I may be a living witness to everyone I influence and come into contact with.  I want them to KNOW and understand Your ways through the life of faith I live before them.  Give me the strength and courage to do so.  You are a Mighty God.  You are a Loving God. You are Worthy of ALL the glory, honor, and praise.  You are the First and the Last. You are the Beginning and the End. You are the Great I Am.  You are Merciful and Kind. I am honored and humbled by Your love for me.  Thank You, my precious Daddy for loving and caring for me.  Thank You. Bless the Name of my God. Who Reigns FOREVER! Holy is the Lord God Almighty.  Praise You!  In Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen.

 

Ending Scripture: Isaiah 55:11

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

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