Stay Faithful

Jesus gave his final sermon in Luke 21. It is also recorded in Matthew and Mark. Jesus’ talk covers many things, but his main point is —stay faithful! In the previous few days, Jesus had triumphantly entered Jerusalem and received the worship of those who recognized him as king. The next day, he cleansed the temple. He had given his last message in the temple, knowing the end was near. Jesus knew what lay ahead—the cross and his humiliating death, yet he walked in steadfast faithfulness to his Father’s will. 

Leaving the temple, Jesus and his disciples climbed Mt. of Olives. The context of this talk was his disciple’s admiration for the temple. The disciples were so impressed with the beauty of the temple, but Jesus told them not to be. He predicted the temple would be destroyed and every stone torn down. It was by the Romans in 70 AD.

Jesus told his disciples that there would be natural disasters, wars, and cosmic signs and people claiming to be the Messiah, but don’t believe them. The end is not yet. “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:27-28). Jesus predicted his Second Coming, as did Daniel and many of the other prophets. Jesus came the first time as a babe born in a stable. He entered Jerusalem as a king riding a humble donkey. But when he comes the second time, he will come in the clouds with his holy angels and all his saints.

My prayer is that we can keep our priorities straight: First God, then our families, and then our ministry and careers. If those priorities get out of alignment, we are in the enemy’s sights. A good analogy is the difference between thermometers and thermostats. Thermometer people react to mounting fear and uncertainty with a sudden surge in their emotional temperature. Their inner thoughts shout, “Danger, everything is going to be bad; there is no hope.” Fear drives the thoughts and words. Thermometers reflect their environment. Thermostats, on the other hand, control their environment. Thermostat people respond to the same signals with calm and trust in the Lord. They do not have knee-jerk reactions. Even in uncertainty, they know who is in charge and can remain faithful to God.

When we were living in Corrientes, Argentina, we purchased a property for planting our first church there. It was a property with just a roof and metal legs. We made a large payment in two installments. The second payment was due in 30 days, and a specific date was specified in the contract. However, as the day approached, the government announced that banks would be closed for several days. I contacted the owners and let them know payment on that day would not be possible because the banks were closed. I could have done it on the first day they opened. The sellers told me that I would forfeit the property and lose my first payment. I reviewed the contract, and it did indeed state that. I tried talking to them, telling them that it seemed unreasonable. They said they didn’t care what it appeared to me. Be there on that day with the money or lose the property and the first payment.

I contacted the only person who might have the money. He did, but no bank transfers were possible. I would have to go in person to get the money to a city 12 hours away. I couldn’t get a plane or a bus and be back in time. I would have to drive 12 hours there, stay for no more than an hour, and then drive back. I completed the task and arrived at the owner’s house before the deadline. I knocked on his door, and when he opened it, I was standing there with two briefcases full of money. I said, “Do you want to count it before you sign?” That is an example of an unfaithful and dishonest man. As I drove away from the man’s house, I knew that God had been faithful to me. I had every reason to stay faithful to God.

Experiences like this, which are not uncommon for us, make us yearn for a world without dishonesty and deception. That will never happen here, but it will one day be in God’s heaven. There will be no sin there because there will be no sinners. Our natures will be changed, and even our bodies will be transformed for heaven.

In the meantime, we are to stay Faithful! We are called to remain faithful, even though we will encounter unfaithfulness from this world and the people around us. None of that is a reason for us to be unfaithful. God calls us to be faithful in an unfaithful world.

Living Out of the World’s Suitcase

In the 1980s, my father accompanied me on a trip to speak at a youth camp in Salta, one of the northern provinces of Argentina. We rode a bus to get there with all the luggage stacked on top of the bus. When we arrived in Salta several hours later, my dad's suitcase was not there. He had to live out of my suitcase for the entire camp. It was uncomfortable because he had to wear clothes that didn't fit him. Everyone has their own things they feel most comfortable with, so it was an inconvenience.  In a few days, we returned home, and an interesting thing happened later that week in the city of Tucuman, where we lived. Our neighbor, Mussy, after hearing of our plight with the missing suitcase, noticed in the newspaper that the police had published a notice of a suitcase belonging to Mr. Brooks. We immediately went to the police and surprisingly were able to reclaim the lost suitcase. Even though it had fallen off the bus over 200 miles away, someone had dropped it off in our city.

It's ironic how many people have misplaced or lost their God-given suitcases. They are living life out of someone else's suitcase. They are impressed with someone else's talent, skill, or beauty and try to be somebody else. How much better to find your own bag of skills, talents, and personality and use what God has given you for his glory. Only when we are who we were meant to be will we be content. Worse than that is trying to wear the world's clothes when we follow Christ. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about putting off the clothes that belong to this world and putting on the clothes that the Spirit gives us.

The greatest work of the Spirit is to produce the fruits in our lives. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit is involved in our progress by allowing him to grow those fruits. The Holy Spirit rejoices or grieves over us (Ephesians 4:30). Paul encourages the Ephesians to stop lying, control their anger, don’t steal, but work instead and stop speaking unwholesome talk (Eph 4:24-30). This is the world suitcase. It is easy to lie, get angry, steal, and talk with profane words. Paul encourages us to throw these clothes away and "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Eph 4:32).

When my first granddaughter was very small, we used to go to Jeff City occasionally to take care of her for a few hours. We were doing that one day, but she never wanted anything to do with me, just her grandma. Of course, that was challenging to take, but I was determined to win her over. On this occasion, Marilyn was in the bathroom, blow-drying her hair. Adela was outside the door crying for her, but Grandma couldn't hear her. Finally, Adela got tired and approached me with her arms wide open as if to say, " OK, I don't have any other options. I took her in my arms; that is where she has been ever since. Forgiveness can feel like that sometimes. We resist and resist until we finally give in, and then we realize that is what we needed all the time.

The Pain of Infidelity

 

Today emotional affairs are rampant. The marriage hits a rough spot, so one of the spouses begins to share through social media or at work with a very understanding co-worker. It feels so good to have someone listen to your story. The emotional affair is justified with irrational thinking, “This person really gets me; they understand what I am going through.” All the while, these conversations are kept secret.

Solomon said, “But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself” (Prov 6:32). He asked why a man would become obsessed with another’s man’s wife when “your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths (Prov 5:22).

What starts out feeling so good turns sour when all is exposed, and the emotional pain is excruciating. Couples get bogged down with conflict, and they stop talking to each other; they ignore one another and they stop caring. That’s when they look for someone else—just to talk, someone who will listen. “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” (Prov 9:17).

Infidelity is the betrayal of trust and the breaking of the marriage vows. Trust is the bedrock of the relationship. Everything is built on it. Infidelity erodes trust in the way salt eats concrete. Infidelity breaks the promises made—promises meant to last a lifetime. confidence lost is not easy to regain. Just ask the couples who recover from infidelity and the those who did recover but how much they still struggle with lack of trust.

Infidelity is the sharing of intimate conversations with an outsider. Marriage is a committed relationship where intimacy can be achieved. It is what couples long for and enjoy. Infidelity takes that intimacy and throws it to the wind. Later there will be much regret and heartache.

The pain I have seen from infidelity is challenging to describe. The lie that this will be so wonderful is turned on its head. It is an utter pain for both—even the one who ate the stolen fruit in secret. Marriages are destroyed, and kids’ lives are messed up big time.

Protect your marriage by staying away from anyone who could compromise your most precious possession. I tell couples never to engage with anyone in an intimate conversation except their wife or husband. Never say anything negative about your spouse to anyone, especially your kids.

Staying Faithful

 

Self-control is about staying focused on your goal, and no objective is as important as interpersonal relationships. If you want to be a good husband, wife, or great parent, you have to learn to exercise self-discipline. Self-control is challenging to master because we have to deal with ourselves—our anger, our frustration, and our rejection. Control in one area of your life does not guarantee control in another area. A superstar athlete may be fantastic on the field but a complete disaster at home. No challenge in human existence can be more complicated than exercising control over our emotions, which translates into words and actions, especially when confronted with opposing emotions.

In the book of Genesis, Joseph is a living example of self-control because he remained faithful to God in a culture obsessed with self-gratification.  Even when his brothers betrayed him, selling him to slave traders where he was taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, one of the Pharaoh’s officials, Joseph remained faithful. Joseph’s willingness to forgive people who hurt him is astounding. Had he not been a young man of godly character, willing to forgive others, there would be no story. But, because Joseph chose to stay faithful, he remains a model of self-control. The account is not about the tragedy done against Joseph as much as it is about the marvelous way God takes whatever happens to him and weaves it into what he intended all along. 

The essential thing that Joseph comprehended was that God is in charge, and no one can change that. This is a principle that will change your life if you embrace it. You may not be where you want to be nor doing what you want to do, but it doesn’t matter if you are fully committed to God. God can weave the divine pattern he has chosen for your life with whatever color string he chooses, but in the end, he will reveal a beautiful tapestry of everything that comes to us.  Joseph was prepared to face these extraordinary challenges. There are parents today that are not preparing their children for adulthood.

Many parents are obsessed with making their children happy; its what they live for every day. They make sure their children are never bored and always get what they want. Parents are consumed with putting their children in sports---after all; this makes them happy. Parents are fixated on their children’s popularity, so no expense is spared at any social event. In their obsession to pursue happiness for their children, they forget the importance of character and, most of all, a relationship with God. Unfortunately, such parents fail to prepare their children for the future.

Joseph had been prepared with character—the kind of integrity that helped him stay faithful even when facing a temptation of unfaithfulness. Mrs. Potiphar set her eyes on Joseph and tried to seduce him. Joseph, however, did not go for it. Mrs. Potiphar’s proposition, “Come to bed with me!” was answered with Joseph’s refusal. Joseph refused to betray Potiphar’s trust in him, but most of all, he refused to be unfaithful to God.

Joseph’s most significant deterrent to falling into sexual sin was his awareness that God was with him. Joseph knew that God sees all and that a sin that no one knows about is always known to God. This truth is the strongest deterrent to sin there is. Joseph did not think about the outcome and then decided his course of action based on how he could make things turn out better. He stood firm on his convictions and stayed faithful regardless of the consequences. The best gift you can gift your husband or wife is your faithfulness. Its what every marriage longs for and must have to survive.

A Monotonous Wind

Redemption is the act of redeeming something that has been lost. The redeemer reclaims the object for its original purpose. There is no more significant example of redemption than that of Noah and his family being saved from destruction through the means of the ark. The flood in Genesis was an act of God, and it destroyed everything that was not in the ark. The waters were a raging chaos, and yet the ark survived the 40-day-storm. Though the ark was hurled to and fro by the gigantic waves, it miraculously preserved the lives of everyone inside. The story of Noah and the flood is an incredible story of redemption. Noah was saved by faith in a redeemer God. We need redemption! We need the same kind of redemption that Noah experienced, redemption from judgment. Then we need redemption of our faculties and bodies that belong to God. God created us to serve him.

The narrative says, “God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded” (Gen 8:1). When God remembered Noah, the earth had already been flooded for 150 days or five months. Five months in that ark with Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives and all the animals had finally ended. The seasickness, the darkness that hid the sun, the constant care of the animals including the cleaning of the stables was at last over. That could not have been a pleasant journey, and Noah and his family were at last ready to get out of the ark. However, there was still more waiting ahead for them.

Noah waited for God in anticipation for the moment to leave the ark. After forty days of waiting where the ark had come to rest, Noah sent out a raven that did not return. Then he sent out a dove two different times and received it back twice. He waited a week between each release of the dove. Finally, after the third week of waiting, the dove was released again but this time did not return. Noah and his family had been waiting over two months after the ark had come to rest. They listened each day and night to the howling wind that seemed incessant, and still, they remained.

Most of faith is merely plodding forward every day with our responsibilities. Often it can be monotonous, but still, we refuse to give up. Marriage can be tough; parenting difficult, work demanding, and even going to church can be challenging. Faith means we keep doing what we know is right even when it seems like nothing is happening. That is what Noah did during the long and grueling ride in the ark. Five months with his family and the animals in the ark tried his patience. Two of those months after the ark had come to rest, were spent listening to the wind and waiting. Faith says, even though I can’t see anything happening, I know you are working things out according to your will and I want to be part of that will. Even in the wind, God was preparing a new world for Noah. Never give up! Never stop believing that God is at work!

The Principle of Faithfulness

Julius Caesar was at his prime; he had just won a civil war and had been made the perpetual dictator of Rome.  He was, however, caught off guard as a group of senators made a pretense of petitioning him, only to hem him in. Then, one of the men flashed the blade of his dagger and plunged it into the Caesar. The others followed suit stabbing the dictator twenty-three times. Brutus, who was a close family friend, delivered one of the blows. Shakespeare wrote that Julius cried, “Is that you, Brutus?” What betrayal must he have felt? How common betrayal is for all of us. George Washington had his Benedict Arnold, and so do we.

Who hasn’t seen someone give up when things didn’t go well? We have all heard the well-rehearsed reasons why someone won’t go to church anymore. We are familiar with the causes of why someone gave up on his or her marriage. How admirable it is when you meet someone who after many years and many battles remains faithful. They were hurt and betrayed just like everyone else but never gave up. They faced hopelessness, confusion, and even despair but didn’t throw in the towel. Instead, they stayed at the task.

Betrayal is so hard to take because it diminishes us so. It may be the strongest and most painful human emotion. The prophet Jeremiah knew betrayal of the worst kind when he learned that his friends and even relatives were planning his assassination (Jer 11:18-19). Jeremiah struggled to recover from his hurt, and he complained to God. His questions were similar to ours:  How can you let evil people prosper? How is it that you allow them to have it so good? Why are crooks allowed to rip people off and get away with it? Why would you let hypocrites get by with wrong? You know what they are like (Jer 12:1-2).

God listened and answered Jeremiah, but the answer is not what Jeremiah expected. We, like Jeremiah, want God to reveal to us what we cannot understand. We feel that if we knew the why of things we would be so much stronger. God hardly ever does that, instead, he reveals himself to us, which is what we need more than anything else. He tells Jeremiah, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (Jer 12:5).

God was saying to the prophet, “If you can’t handle this, Jeremiah, how do you expect me to entrust you the great things I have planned for you?” For Jeremiah to remain faithful to God in tough times, he would have to turn to God and trust him completely. Learning this is what helped Jeremiah to remain faithful through his long and difficult ministry. It will be no different for us today. When we are discouraged in our marriages, our churches, or our ministries, we must turn to the Lord.  Isaiah saw the weariness in people, and he asked them this question: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). When God strengthens us in our weariness, we feel purpose and significance. Viktor Frankl said, “Despair is suffering without meaning.” Let us turn to the One who is the creator of the ends of the earth and trust him, and he will make us faithful.

Your Investment Portfolio

Most people are concerned that they have something for their retirement years. It is only prudent that we set resources aside for our latter years. Solomon described life in stages of the sowing years, harvesting years, and storing years (Prov 6:8). If we follow his advice, there will be something available to us that we have produced from an earlier time of our life. However, this is all about our earthly portfolio. What about our eternal portfolio? Jesus told a parable in Luke 19 that addresses our eternal investments. He told this parable because it is clear that the people were expecting him to set up his kingdom immediately. They believed his kingdom on earth was about to begin. Why wouldn’t they? He did miracles, and he called himself “The Son of Man.”

In the parable the king is going away to receive the title of king, but before he goes he delegates responsibilities to his servants. He gives them each a mina, which is about three months’ salary. With the money he told them to “Put this money to work, until I come back” (Luke 19:13). The story represents the deposit of the Gospel that Christ has put in our lives.

When the king returned, he called the servants and asked for an accounting of the money. The first servant responded with “Sir, your mina has earned ten more.” The second was the same with five more. Both servants were incredibly rewarded by the king for their faithfulness (Luke 19: 16-19).

The third servant appeared before the king with nothing but the original investment given by the king. He had buried it. The king called him a wicked servant, and he took the mina away and gave it to the first servant. Then he said, “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away” (Luke 19:26).

The parable has a central message and that is that Jesus our King has given us the glorious Gospel and he expects us to invest it in the lives of others. When he returns he will ask each us for an accounting. Paul describes this moment as the Judgment of Believers: “If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Cor 3:15).

Faithfulness means that a believer keeps doing what they are supposed to do. That they keep their promises and constantly support those around them. That they share the gospel that has been entrusted to them with others. Jesus made it clear in this parable that faithfulness will be richly rewarded, but unfaithfulness will be judged.