Oh, that's great singing tonight.
You are really doing well.
I think it would be good for us to acknowledge the presence of a special friend here this
evening, a man that I've heard about for a number of years, but only this morning had
the privilege to meet him, and that's Pastor Bill Stewart, who is the Associate Pastor
for Youth at the First Baptist Church in Modesto.
Pastor, would you stand please, along with your family who's here, Doris Ann's brother-in-law,
and we're just delighted you're here today to share with us.
God bless you and your ministry out there.
First Baptist Church Modesto has a very special, unique ministry in that whole part of California.
How many do you run in a worship service on Sunday morning, Bill?
Forty?
Twenty-two hundred.
And an exciting youth ministry.
This gentleman here, God, is used to train and disciple youth pastors all across the
United States, and we're just so pleased that their family could be here to share this
Lord's Day with us.
And we're glad all of you are here.
I'd like to ask you to remember in prayer Susan John.
Susan and her husband David served the Lord for many years faithfully as missionaries
in South Africa.
They are retired now under Sudan Interior Mission and live in Florida, but Susan had
open heart surgery this last week.
She and David were with us just about a year ago.
I think that she had a quadruple bypass, if I understood it correctly, and perhaps some
valve work in addition.
So we need to remember her in prayer during these very critical days of her recovery.
I know she would appreciate that a whole lot.
She's in the hospital in Lakeland, Florida.
Tonight we're going to talk about God's prerequisite for service.
When we were under construction of this building, I learned some of the lingo of builders, and
I found that there is a little phrase that I shared with some of you this morning that
describes the things you'd like to have in a building as opposed to the things that you
have to have in a building.
The would-likes and the must-haves.
As we talked about the various things we could or might or wished that we could put into
the building, we began to divide the list into those things that we would like to have
and the things that we had to have, the must-haves.
We're going to talk tonight about God's must-have requisite for service.
We find that in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2, not an unfamiliar verse at all, we're
going to talk about faithfulness.
And I'd like to say initially, just starting out, that this message is not intended to
be a brick bat to hit anybody over the head, although some of us, indeed all of us, may
feel a blow here and there, including myself.
But I hope this evening, rather than feeling beaten down by what we're going to say regarding
faithfulness, that we will actually be stimulated and encouraged to good works, to be faithful
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It says in 1 Corinthians 4, 2, in this case, moreover, it is required of stewards, it is
required of stewards that one be found trustworthy, that one be found faithful.
Let's pray.
Father, as we bow together as a church, I do want to lift before you the name of Susan
John.
Again, we pray that your hand would be rest upon her for healing and complete restoration.
We ask that her recovery will be rapid and that she will be out of the hospital soon
and able, along with her husband, to continue their ministry of visitation.
Thank you for the many years of faithful service that they have performed.
Certainly they are among the faithful stewards.
Tonight as we study that theme, we would want to emulate them and others who have served
you faithfully through the centuries.
May we be your faithful stewards today, in this day in which you called us to live, for
Jesus' sake, amen.
I'd like to read to you the parable of the ball team.
Behold, a ball team went forth to play a game of baseball.
Just as the umpire was saying, batter up, the catcher for the home team arrived and
took his place.
The center fielder didn't arrive until the end of the first inning, and the second baseman
did not arrive until the second inning.
The first baseman didn't show up at all, but later sent his regrets and said that he
had to go to a chicken dinner at his Aunt Mary's.
The third baseman likewise failed to come to the game, having been up late the night
before and desired to spend the day in bed.
The left fielder felt a need to visit another ball team across town.
The shortstop was present but left his glove at home.
Two of the substitute fielders were away on a little weekend trip and couldn't make it,
but they were there in spirit.
Verily when the pitcher went into the box, he looked around for his teammates, and lo,
his heart was heavy, for their places were empty.
But the game was announced and the visitors were there in the stands, and there was nothing
to do but to pitch the ball and hope for the best.
So the pitcher tightened his belt and stepped into the box and did his best to put the ball
over the plate.
But he was not at his best, for he had to serve his pitcher, first baseman, and third
baseman.
There were loud boos from the stands while the home team was badly beaten.
It was a disgrace to the noble game of baseball.
When the absent members of the defeated team heard that their team lost, a decision was
made to get a new pitcher.
That parable points to a crisis that is facing altogether too many churches today, and that
is a crisis of faithfulness.
The writer in Proverbs said, many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man,
who can find?
How might we define faithfulness?
Well, it means in the negative sense not to fail, to come through.
It means to do what is right despite whatever the cost may be.
I think that that definition is reflected in what Jesus said about Antipas.
Do you remember Antipas?
You would be a rare person to remember him, for as far as I know, he's only mentioned
in one place in all the Bible and then only in a phrase very quickly in Revelation chapter
2 verse 13, where Jesus speaks about Antipas, my faithful martyr.
Antipas was willing to do what was right even though it cost him his life, but Jesus commended
him because he was a faithful martyr.
Faithfulness means to keep on doing what is expected of me even when I don't feel like
it.
Perhaps the greatest, the hardest, and yet most noble faithfulness of all is faithfulness
to one's local church, the work of God in this world.
I believe that there are at least three reasons why we should be faithful to the work of Jesus
Christ.
I believe it's an imperative that we be faithful.
The first reason I'd like to suggest is the propriety of faithfulness.
After all, it's only fitting, it's only proper, that we should be faithful.
It's only proper in the first place because of what Christ has faithfully done for us.
In Hebrews 3, 2, the Holy Spirit says through the writer regarding the Lord Jesus, he was
faithful to him that appointed him.
He was faithful to him who appointed him over his house, which house we are.
In the previous verses in chapter 2, he expresses the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus in his
present ministry in heaven as our High Priest.
For he is a merciful and faithful High Priest.
He does not fail.
He is always there, dependably interceding on our behalf.
Because of what the Lord Jesus has done for us and because of what he is doing for us,
I believe it's only fitting that we too should be proper, should be faithful.
Remember the chorus that we used to sing?
After all, he's done for me.
How can I do less than give him my best?
After all, he's done for me.
I know it wasn't written by Michael W. Smith, but it still is a good chorus.
The younger people will catch that one.
Some of the golden oldies say something.
After all, he's done for me.
How can I do less than give him my very, very best?
It's only fitting that you and I should be proper, should be faithful when we remember
that the Lord Jesus was faithful in going to the cross for our sakes, and he is faithful
in his present intercession for us in heaven.
He sets for us an example of faithfulness.
Therefore, it's proper that we should be faithful.
But I believe it's only fitting we should be faithful secondly because of what others
have done before us, because of what others have done before we lived.
Think of the line in which we follow.
It's sacred.
There's Noah, a man who was righteous in his generation, a man who walked with God in an
age that was ungodly, an age not unlike ours today, an age that is similar to the days
of Noah as we believe Jesus said it would be.
Think too of Abraham, faithful Abraham, not perfect, a man known to sin, but a man that
God calls faithful because he believed God.
Then there was Moses.
Moses trained in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians, a man who had all of the power
of the Egyptian leadership coming to him eventually, by faith forsook all of that and was willing
to accept suffering with the people of God, with the Christ, in order that he might serve
the Lord.
Moses is a faithful example.
We follow in his train.
Then there's Daniel.
Daniel, the gifted advisor of kings, a man who was willing to stand before the most powerful
Gentile rulers of his day and to give them counsel even if it was counsel they did not
want to hear.
We follow in the train of Daniel.
Then there's Peter.
Yes, I know Peter denied his Lord.
I know that Peter made his mistakes.
Peter is the one who faithfully went to his own execution according to tradition and being
unwilling to be crucified like Jesus, demanded to be crucified upside down.
It was carried out.
We follow in the line of Peter and of Paul, who having served the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully,
said, I have finished my course.
I've run my race.
There's laid up for me a crown.
And then he was willing to go out and lay his head down on a block and allow the executioner
to chop it off.
We follow in the train of Paul and then of John.
John, who did not die by execution but who died apparently of old age.
John, who those long decades after other apostles were gone from the scene, represented the
Lord Jesus Christ as the last one of his twelve alive on the earth, a faithful man, who at
the end of his life or near the end of his life received the great book of the revelation
of Jesus Christ and penned it for us.
You and I follow in the line of John.
But then we follow in the line of the Christians who've lived since then.
Even down until the day in which we live, think back of those faithful men and women
of God who have been used of the Lord in your life.
Some of them, perhaps many of them, now gone on to glory, now with Christ.
Think of the investment of their lives in yours.
Boy, there have been some people who have been precious to me, people who have had a
major impact on my life, who are now in heaven.
And I look forward to seeing them someday.
I think of one preacher who was on our staff, like a grandfather figure to our staff, and
a man who had been in the ministry some forty years and then came on our staff as an associate
pastor and taught us young bucks an awful lot.
I think of that dear saintly woman of God who never stood in a pulpit in her life, who
I think I've shared the story with you before, prayed for her husband to be saved for fifty-six
years before one day he trusted the Lord Jesus Christ while plowing out in the field.
God gave them about ten more years or about eight more years together, and then she had
several years alone without George.
Boy, I think of the prayer support she was to me and the encouragement of hearing words
of counsel from that woman whose face looked like a road map because of the years' wear
upon her.
She's been in heaven now since the late sixties.
The last thing she said to me was, I'm going to stand up there beside the golden stairs
and wait for you to come.
Well, I don't know if there are golden stairs there or not, frankly, but I know this.
She's there and someday I'm going to see Mrs. Wills again.
When I think of the people who've gone before me, it causes me to say within my heart I
want to be faithful to Jesus Christ.
Because of what they were, what they stood for, because of this sacred line in which
I am privileged to follow, because of what some people have done in my life and they're
now in glory, I say to the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to be a faithful steward.
I want to serve you whatever the cost may be.
Even when it's tough, even when I don't feel like it, I want to do the right thing, Lord,
because of those who've gone before me.
One writer put it this way, am I a soldier of the cross, follower of the lamb, and shall
I fear to own his cause or blush to speak his name?
Isaac Watts went on to say, must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while
others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?
Good questions.
It is only fitting that you and I should be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ because
of those who have served him and gone on before us.
But I want to say one more thing about the propriety of faithfulness.
It's proper, it's fitting that we should be faithful to the Lord Jesus because of what
the future generation deserves.
I'm thinking of the boys and girls and the young people who are here tonight.
They deserve, frankly folks, something better from us than a half-hearted, lukewarm example
of Christianity.
The future generation deserves to see what it is to be all and all out for Jesus Christ
from us who are older.
They deserve that from us.
I think we need to ask the question, what legacy will we leave by our example to those
who are coming after us?
As our little boys and little girls look at us, as moms and dads, as they look up to you
who are teaching Sunday school and leading junior church and working in the nursery,
what are they seeing?
Are we showing them by our consistency, by our faithfulness that serving the Lord Jesus
Christ is a priority in our lives, that we're faithful to him, and whatever price, whatever
inconvenience it may be, that it's worth it to fulfill our service for him?
Are we leaving that kind of an example for them?
I hope so.
I believe that faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ is required.
The propriety of it would say so.
But secondly, the practicality of faithfulness tells me that we should be faithful to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithfulness is pragmatic.
It's a practical thing.
And to get to the root of what I'm saying, I'd like to ask three questions.
Question number one, if we aren't faithful, what will happen to God's work?
That's a practical question.
If you and I who are responsible for the work of God today are not faithful to do it, if
we take it carelessly, casually, half-heartedly, what then will happen to the work of God if
God in this world?
You say, well, it's God's work.
It's going to go on.
I recognize that at the end of his great revelation of God, Job said, who can thwart your purposes,
Lord?
You are God.
And you know that's true.
There is not a purpose of God that will fail to be achieved.
But that's not exactly what I'm pointing at.
I'm pointing to the work of God that we're involved in.
God's purpose will not fail.
My friend, all of us have been exposed to churches which have failed.
Why?
Well, in some cases it may be because there was a similar experience to the ball team
parable that we began with.
Because you see, if we are not faithful to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, what will
naturally happen is that it will slowly but surely die.
It will cool.
It will become lethargic.
And then eventually it will die.
Well, you say, well, listen, here, I'm an older Christian and I've served the Lord for
decades and I'm in my retirement years.
You know, I appreciate that.
And I know as one gets older that one cannot do what he or she used to even though the
desire may be there.
One cannot be as actively involved.
I visited one of our shut-ins yesterday and she hasn't been able to be out at church since
we became Grace Church and was asking some questions about what's happening in the church.
She cannot be here like she'd like to be.
But listen, let's get rid of the idea that as Christians there's a point we come to in
our service for the Lord where we just put it on the shelf.
And we say, well, I've done my thing.
Now it's up to the young people in the church.
Now what we do may have to change because of the years, but our service for Jesus Christ
does not need to stop.
Indeed, it must not stop.
We must keep on keeping on being faithful to serve the Lord as best we can in the circumstances
that He permits in our lives.
I want to talk to you younger people for a moment.
Some of you say, well, it's up to those who are older to do it.
I'm just a new Christian or I'm a young person.
Listen, God wants you right now where you are to prepare yourself to assume the leadership
of the church because you are the future of the church humanly speaking.
God wants you to be faithful in that youth group where you are and that campus where
you are and that office where you work as a career young person.
He wants you to learn faithfulness in that home of yours, those young children, so that
you can be prepared to assume leadership in His church.
It's important you be faithful.
It's practical, you see, to ask this question.
If we aren't faithful, what is going to happen to God's work?
There's a second question.
If we aren't faithful, what's going to happen to us at the judgment seat of Jesus
Christ?
I don't know of a more practical question than that.
And the awful, sad, terrifying answer is that it's possible that at the judgment seat of
Jesus Christ we'll have to be ashamed.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that we may receive according
to the things done in our bodies, whether it be good or worthless, says Paul.
And so, greater one, as he said, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
I believe we ought to look forward to the coming of Christ, and I trust we do, and we
want to see Him.
But there is that aspect of it that absolutely terrifies me, and I think it does you, and
that is that we're going to stand before Him in judgment for rewards, not to determine
whether we be saved or lost, because at that point it's already determined.
We won't stand at the judgment seat of Christ if we're lost.
That's only for Christians.
It's not for heaven or hell.
It's for the degree of reward we have in the future.
The question is, if we aren't faithful now, what's going to happen to us then at the judgment
seat of Jesus Christ?
I need to think about that.
I need to keep that before me as a motive for serving.
A third question, if we aren't faithful, what is going to happen to the lost?
You say, oh, well, I believe in election, and those who are going to be saved are going
to be saved, and those who are going to be lost are going to be lost, and it's all cut
and dried, and that's it.
My friend, I believe in election too, and I believe that those who are going to be saved
are going to be saved, and those who are going to be lost are going to be lost, but I'll
tell you what, God has also given us a responsibility.
We have an obligation to take the message to all men everywhere and to share the truth
with them.
We have an obligation to be involved in the work of God in a local church, which is preaching
the word and supporting missionaries around the world so that the lost can hear and have
the opportunity to be saved, because you see, they have a responsibility to respond to the
opportunity.
This isn't the time or place to get into how those two balance out.
They do balance out in God's mind.
He is all wise.
But don't forget that they have the opportunity to believe or to reject.
You and I must take the message to them so they have that opportunity.
I don't know that this will be the case, but it would be an awful thing to come to the
great white-throne judgment of God, which we may view.
I don't know of any reference in Scripture that makes that clear.
It's not a judgment for us.
It's a judgment for the lost.
I would hate to think that there would be anybody who would come to that great white-throne
judgment seat of Christ and would dare say, but no one told me.
And then who would look over into the crowd around the judgment seat and say, there's
Galen Call.
I live next to him.
He didn't even tell me, Lord.
I worked with that Christian.
Or there's one over there who is my family member.
You're going to judge me, but I was never told.
Now we know that that will not be a legitimate excuse, for all will be convicted out of the
books of the works of their own lives and dealt with justly.
But I think you see the point.
I would not want someone to go to hell slipping into the fires and say, but that Christian
back there in life, why didn't he tell me?
You see, God has put each one of us in touch with a certain group of people.
Nobody here has quite the same bridge into lives, certain lives, that you have.
We're unique in that way.
And God has given us a commission to go and to share the truth with them.
Folks, if we're not faithful, what's going to happen to the lost?
What's going to happen to them?
We must be faithful to Jesus Christ.
The practicality of faithfulness demands it.
But there's a third reason I believe that we must be faithful, and that is because the
preeminence of faithfulness.
That is, its importance, its importance.
We see this illustrated for us in a parable that Jesus told back in Matthew chapter 25.
We'll just look at this quickly and then quickly be on our way.
It's called the parable of the talents.
I recognize that it's in a certain context, but I believe what we're going to say is the
legitimate interpretation and application of it.
Matthew 25, 14, for it is just like a man, says Jesus, it's just like a man about to
go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
To the one who gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his
own ability, they went on his journey.
See the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five
more talents.
In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more.
That he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground and hid his master's
money.
Now, after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying,
Master, you entrusted five talents to me.
See, I have gained five more.
His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.
You were faithful with a few things and I will put you in charge of many things.
Enter into the joy of your master.
The one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted to me two
talents.
See, I have gained two more talents.
His master said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful slave.
You were faithful with a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things.
Enter into the joy of your master.
And the one who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be
a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you gathered no seed.
I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground.
See, you have what is yours.
But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave.
You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
Then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have received
my money back with interest.
Therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
For to every one who has more shall more be given, and he shall have in abundance.
From the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away.
And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness.
In that place there should be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Well, we're not going to have time to fully exposit this whole parable, but I would like
simply to point out to you three lessons for us regarding what we're talking about, the
preeminence of faithfulness.
The first lesson is this.
Jesus seems to tell us here that we, like these slaves, these stewards, are given opportunities
according to God's will for us and our abilities.
The master knew his slaves.
Why did he give to the one five and to another two and to another one?
Because he knew their abilities.
According to what he knew about them, he gave them opportunities in a few things, not many,
just a few.
Likewise, God gives opportunities to you and me in our service for him.
He knows us.
He knows which of us need five opportunities to be challenged, which of us are challenged
with two or just one.
He knows us, and he's counting on us to be faithful, just as this master was counting
on his slaves to be faithful to him.
Secondly, I see that we, too, are to expect an accounting.
These slaves knew their master was coming back, including the one who was lazy and worthless.
They knew that they were to expect a day when they would stand before their master and show
him what they had done with the opportunities that they were given.
I believe that Jesus is saying to us that we, too, have such a day coming.
We've already talked about that briefly.
Then there's a third lesson that I see here, and it is this.
If we are faithful over a few things, God will make us a ruler over many things.
In other words, if we are faithful in those few opportunities that we have in this life,
if we make the most of them, if we are faithful here, then one day when we are with Christ
and we reign with him in his eternal kingdom, there is some way he is going to reward us
and we will have many opportunities.
Our sphere of responsibility will be enlarged in that day according to our faithfulness
here.
Notice that the master did not say to his servants, well done, thou good, and occasional
servant.
He said, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
My friend, God blesses faithfulness.
God does not necessarily bless success as we are so prone to count success, but he does
bless faithfulness.
It may be that in the opportunities that you have, you have not seen a whole lot happen.
I hope I encourage you tonight by saying to you that from one perspective at least, that's
not really too important.
All of us want to see more happen.
But the degree to which you are able to see the fruit now is not so important as is it
important that you are faithful in that place where God puts you.
Because if this parable teaches anything, it teaches that that is the important thing.
One man was able to bring back five additional talents, another only two, but they both received
the same reward from their master.
They were doubled because they were faithful.
That is the preeminent thing.
That is what God blesses.
I believe it could be said that when faithfulness is most difficult, it is most necessary.
It may be that you are finding it more difficult to faithfully serve the Lord Jesus Christ
right now than ever before in all of your life, then faithfulness is more necessary
right now than ever before.
The must-have requisite of God's servants is faithfulness.
I think we have pointed out tonight three legitimate biblical reasons as to why it is
important that you and I be faithful to the work of God that He's called us to do.
May we share the spirit of the poet who said, I cannot do great things for Him who did so
much for me, but I should like to show my love, dear Jesus, unto thee.
Faithful, even in little things, O Savior, may I be.
Let's pray.
Lord, if we are members of a ball team, I guess some of us would have to say that the
ball team hasn't done very well, maybe.
We know that the work that we are involved in is so much more important than an earthly
sport.
The consequences, Lord, of our service are eternal.
Their life and death, how we serve you in this world, is important.
Write that upon my heart, upon the hearts of our elders, our staff, our small church
leaders, our teachers, our workers, our singers, our ushers, those who work in the parking
lot, the bookstore, who help out in any ministry, those who are involved in sharing their faith,
those who are involved in serving you in little out-of-the-way, almost forgotten places that
you still see.
Lord, write upon our hearts tonight that what we are doing is important.
Thank you for this reminder, one that I trust we receive from you, to be faithful in using
the opportunities you have given to us to serve.
In Jesus' name, amen.