Real Life Community Church Sermons

Fruit | Part 8 | Faithfulness

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What if your devotion to a sports team could teach you about spiritual commitment? Join us for an enlightening sermon where Pastor Chris makes surprising connections between the loyalty of Kentucky Wildcats fans and the deeper, spiritual faithfulness Christians are called to embody. We start with Peter's denial of Jesus from the gospel of Luke, transitioning into an exploration of the fruit of the Spirit with a spotlight on faithfulness. You'll discover how our allegiance to God transcends any worldly ties and how understanding His unwavering loyalty to us can strengthen our own spiritual journey.

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Speaker 1:

The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.

Speaker 2:

And turn with me to Luke, chapter 22, starting at verse 31. 22, starting at verse 31. Simon, simon, behold, satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter said to him Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

Speaker 3:

Jesus said, I tell you, peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny me three times that you know me. We've been in this series where we're talking about the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians, chapter 5. And today we come to the fruit of faithfulness. I want to begin with a question how many of you are ride-or-die fans for a particular sports team? Seriously, that's all. How many of you are right, or they all right?

Speaker 3:

I am, I am part of the big blue nation and, uh, man, I, for the rest of my life, I am convinced I will bleed blue. So I've been thinking about just sport team loyalty. Like if you're you're loyal to a particular team, like what causes us to be loyal to certain sports team? You know whether it's a football team, basketball team, hockey team, whatever it is what causes loyalty? Because I'm thinking about the Wildcats though they got beat yesterday. You know football team, but I think a lot more about the basketball team. That makes me a lot happier, but it's interesting when you think about Wildcat, you know basketball that I mean there can be a. Okay, let me say this If it rains an inch, if it rains an inch, people are like can't come to church. If it snows a foot Rupp Arena is going to be filled. We might have our priorities kind of you know, out of whack. But what causes that kind of loyalty? Well, there's actually research that shows there's many reasons and I'm just going to list four reasons that contribute to sports team loyalty. Number one is this Like if you the prominent factor, and that is geographical location, like if you grew up in this area of Kentucky, pretty certain you're going to be a Kentucky fan, if you're a sports fan at all. There's also the factor of nostalgia. If you grew up even if you say you didn't grow up here but for whatever reason, wherever you were, your mom and dad were watching UK Wildcat ball games. There's something about watching the games now and supporting the teams that is a bit nostalgic and it feels good. I remember my grandmother, my dad's mom. I mean she was a pretty dignified lady until the cats came on and she's standing in front of that small TV with her pom-poms and going crazy. Then there's the factor of shared values. Now I'll tell you this I really appreciate the Kentucky Wildcat program because they tend not to recruit, let's say, thugs just because they're good basketball players. Like they care about the character of the recruits. So there's that. Then they highly value education, which is important to me. And then you know, don't you love seeing our basketball players out serving in the community? It's pretty amazing. So there's shared values. And then the last contributing factor to sports loyalty that I'll point out is what we might call tribalism, meaning this. This is interesting.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to quote one article. The writer says that the way fans identify with their favorite team players and even fellow fans is similar to the way that they identify with their ethnicity, nationality and even their gender. So many of you know that I lived away. You know I grew up here, but my family and I moved to Tucson for two years and then we lived in Colorado for about five and a half years. But while we were away, you know, I didn't know many Kentucky Wildcat fans.

Speaker 3:

But every once in a while, every once in a while, I'd be in a restaurant or I'd be in the supermarket or walking on the street and somebody, to my my great delight, would be in a UK t-shirt, their Kentucky Wildcat gear. And it's interesting, because this is not my personality, but I would always. I don't care if the family's eating lunch. If they're wearing Wildcat blue and have that little Kentucky Wildcat emblem, I'm going to their table and interrupting their meal and all. I remember this so clearly. Never met the person before, but every time this happened, like there was this connection, because it is great and so many of you are missing out that didn't raise your hands. It is great to be part of the BBN. Come on somebody. If that's not you, we're going to have an altar call at the end.

Speaker 3:

All right, you know, as Christians, our loyalty should extend beyond faithfulness to a sports team. How many know that the Lord has called us to be faithful in every area of our lives, faithful first and foremost to Him, not Sunday only. Christians, we're called to be faithful, faithful at home, faithful at church, faithful at work, faithful friends. We are called to be consistently faithful. Well, why is that? Remember, we've been talking about the fruit of the Spirit and these are nine attributes that describe the character of God. So God is, you know we have the fruit of love and joy and peace, and so on. God is, you know we have the fruit of love and joy and peace, and so on. God is love. Part of God's character is he is a God of joy, he is a God of peace and, by grace, when we're saved. He communicates those attributes to us.

Speaker 3:

So our faithfulness? It is not rooted in simply nostalgia or geographical location. That won't do it. You won't be faithful to God just because you grew up in church. Our faithfulness is grounded in the faithfulness of our great God. He is faithful. Can I get an amen? And he has called us as his image bearers to reflect his faithfulness into this dark world. Let me just read you a few verses as we celebrate God's faithfulness to us.

Speaker 3:

Psalm 36.5. Your steadfast love, o Lord, extends to the heavens. Your faithfulness to the sky. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is is your faithfulness, as we just sang.

Speaker 3:

First john 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Second thessalonians 3,. But the Lord is faithful, he will establish you and guard you from the evil one. Hebrews 10, 23,. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is what Faithful? Can I get a witness this morning? Has the Lord been faithful to anybody? So faithfulness comes to us as a gift of grace. It is God's attribute of faithfulness that the Holy Spirit, by grace, puts in our hearts.

Speaker 3:

Here's the main point I want you to take home today. The Holy Spirit is working in us to produce faithfulness, that we might demonstrate God's faithfulness to the world. You could say it like this what God works in, we work out. What God is doing inside, we are to live this out, to walk it out. So what is faithfulness? Well, the Greek word in Galatians 5 is the word piscis and it's translated. If you have a King James or New King James version, it's probably translated as faith. If you have an ESV, it's translated faithfulness, and that word can mean either faith or faithfulness, which the two are very closely connected. So why does the ESV translate this particular fruit of the Spirit as faithfulness? Well, because the context is about the characteristics, virtues.

Speaker 3:

One commentator said this, said that faith is the root, faithfulness is the fruit. So you can't have faithfulness without faith. If you're going to be faithful to God, you have got to possess faith, and faith will lead to real faith. Genuine faith will lead to faithfulness. So faithfulness is, it's simple. It means to be steadfast, to be trustworthy, to be dependable, to do what you say you're going to do. When you say you're going to do it, people can depend on you. Would people call you faithful? You know faithfulness is hard to come by these days, is it not? And there's not a lot of loyal people. If you're an employer, you know it's hard to find loyal employees.

Speaker 3:

We're studying a text today that's very familiar, out of the book of Luke, chapter 22. And the reason I chose this text to preach from is because it teaches us a lot about this idea of faithfulness Number one. Here's what we see in the text Faithfulness is first and foremost about fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is about having an unwavering commitment to the Lord Jesus. Again, it means that I don't come to church on Sunday, lift my hands and say, oh Lord, I'm going to follow you. Great are you, lord. And then, on Monday, go and do my own thing. That's not what real Christianity looks like.

Speaker 3:

Real Christianity, to be a real follower of Jesus, means to be faithful every day, though we stumble. It is to strive for faithfulness by the power of the Spirit. By the power of the Spirit, the conversation between Jesus and Peter. Here it anticipates Peter's denial of the Lord Jesus. That happens in verse 54 of Luke 22. So faithfulness here is first and foremost about loyalty, fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ, about loyalty, fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been faithful to us and we are to be faithful to him.

Speaker 3:

Second thing I see here is that Satan does everything in his power to cause us to be unfaithful. Oh, he hates God and he hates us, and he wants us to be unfaithful to our great God. Look at verse 31. Jesus says Simon, simon this is Simon Peter Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat. In other words, satan desires to make shipwreck of your faith. You know that's true for every one of us. It's interesting that this same apostle by the name of Peter later on writes a letter to the churches, an epistle, and he says these words that we have an adversary, the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So just as Satan desired to sift Peter as wheat, so he desires to destroy our lives. So, that being the case, we're told in the Bible to be vigilant because of our adversary, which means we need to know his tactics.

Speaker 3:

So how does the enemy try to come against our faithfulness? Well, there are many ways, but let me just point out quickly three Number one or Jesus by doubt, fear, despondency. So here's what happens. Maybe this week, maybe you went through something really, really difficult and you think why. God you know, have you ever found this to be true? That the closer you try to get to God and the more you try to serve him, it's like the more seems to go wrong in your life.

Speaker 3:

And you know what the devil would love for you to do. He would love for you in those moments to say God, I don't know that you are faithful. You will not be faithful to him. You will even begin to doubt his existence if you go on in that kind of mindset long enough. God is faithful. You know the Bible's clear that we go through situations in this world. Sometimes it's just life, sometimes it is the enemy, sometimes it's our own sin or other people's sins that cause hardships in our life. But we have a promise that God is working all things together for our good, and you may not sometimes be able to see at that moment God's faithfulness, but one day you will be able to say without a doubt oh, he's been faithful.

Speaker 3:

Another tactic that the enemy uses is persecution, and we've talked a lot about this. He uses people who are antagonistic towards Christians to threaten us so that we might be discouraged and doubt the faithfulness of God and thus be unfaithful ourselves. The third and most prominent way that the enemy tries to get us to not be faithful to the Lord would be this it's what we call temptation. Now, we can't blame every temptation on the devil, because sometimes it's just our own flesh, but you know the devil.

Speaker 3:

You go back to the very beginning of your Bible. Adam and Eve are in the garden walking with God. It's all good, but God had told them remember? He gave them that command do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So they're good with that for a while, until Satan comes along and go oh, look at this fruit, it'll satisfy you, and I don't think God really meant this. You're not going to die if you eat of this fruit. It'll satisfy you, and I don't think God really meant this. You're not going to die if you eat of this fruit. They were tempted and what did they do? They ate. They were unfaithful and it ruined them and it brought a curse upon the world.

Speaker 3:

You know, you'd think we would learn this the longer that we're Christians, that you know. Sometimes we think, well, I know what God's Word said, but this seems to me like it'd be the best thing for me and you kind of go against the Word and then like it ruins our lives. It ruins days, weeks, years, sometimes those decisions, and it doesn't just impact us but the people around us. See, giving into temptation is a form of unfaithfulness, because to be faithful to god includes walking according to his word, walking in righteousness. But I've got great news for you today, because first corinth 10, 13 says this Paul writes so listen to me, church, this will rock your world, your ability, but with temptation he'll provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. So listen to me, church, this will rock your world. You can't say, when you quote unquote, fall into sin. Well, I just couldn't help it. Yes, you can, because he'll never let you be tempted more than you can handle. Now, if you don't know the Lord, you haven't been born again. You can't help it. That's very true. But if you're a Christian, he's empowered you by the Spirit to walk according to his word. So here's what we know about faith from this text that Satan wants us to fall. He wants us to be unfaithful.

Speaker 3:

But the next point is really good. Jesus is a faithful advocate in those moments Luke 22, 32,. But I have prayed. Jesus says Satan wants to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed, peter, for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, a good word there for turned again is repent. When you have repented, strengthen your brothers. So here it is. Satan demands to make shipwreck of your faith. Jesus says I'm praying for you. Which do you think is going to win? Greater is he that's in us than he that is in the world? Hallelujah, yes, you have an adversary who is against you and wants you to fall and wants to make shipwreck of your faith. But you also have an advocate, and that advocate happens to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Not all of the time, but Jesus is always advocating for you.

Speaker 3:

You know Jesus is confident here about his prayer because he says this he says Peter. He says when you've turned again we know that Peter denies Jesus three times but he says oh, peter, I'm praying for you, you're going to turn back. You're not going to utterly be destroyed, you're going to turn back. You're not going to utterly be destroyed. You're going to repent, because I would think Jesus' prayers are effective Amen, 1 John 2.1,. My little children, I'm writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ Romans 8, 34,. Who is to condemn Christ? Jesus is the one who died More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who, indeed, is interceding for you, jesus. Think about this. Jesus is always interceding for you.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I have a message for somebody this morning who's struggling and going. Man, I just have this temptation. I just feel like I can't get rid of it. You can't on your own, but, hallelujah, you've got the spirit of God in you and you've got a savior who is praying for you this morning. Have faith that you might remain faithful.

Speaker 3:

Number four fourth thing we learn from this text is faithfulness to Jesus leads to faithfulness to his people. Faithfulness to others Verse 22, 32, or chapter 22, 32. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And Peter, when you have turned again here's what he says strengthen your brothers, in other words, the other disciples. Now get this. You cannot call yourself faithful to Christ and be unfaithful to the church, to His people. I've heard people say well, you know, I love the Lord and I'm faithful to Him, but I'm just not a fan of people. I would doubt the genuineness of your faith. If that's you. He tells Peter. He says when you turn again, your brothers are going to be struggling as well. Be faithful to them and help them, as I've helped you. And you know, our faithfulness to other people is not dependent upon how they treat us.

Speaker 3:

2 Timothy 2.13,. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. So how can we, when somebody hurts our feelings or does something to upset us, how can we say well, I'm just, I'm going to toss them by the wayside, I'm just going to walk away? Is that how Christ treated you? Let me ask has anybody stumbled and disappointed and been unfaithful to the Lord in your Christian life? Has anybody? Like you know, we call the hour before church unholy hour because everybody's trying to get out of the house. You're trying to be Christian, but nobody's going to let you. Anybody just stumbled this morning or yesterday or this week and you say Lord, I wasn't faithful. Aren't you glad that when we're not faithful, he is faithful to us and that's the way he wants us to treat other people.

Speaker 3:

Faith breeds of dogs, but I'm particularly fond of German Shepherds. Any other German Shepherd fans in here, john, I know you are, but I'll tell you what I love about German Shepherds is they are hyper loyal. I have one right now. I love him to death. My wife does not, but he's wonderful. He sits when I leave, he sits by the window or he demands to stay in the garage and he looks for my car coming down the street and he just he's so loyal Every day when I walk in the house, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3:

I have bad days. Sometimes I have good days. Sometimes I walk in and I'm in a bad mood, sometimes a good mood. Sometimes I ignore him because I'm just tired and he's all hyper and trying to love on me. Sometimes I've been a bit harsh with him. Don't tell PETA, but listen. Here's what I love. Here's what I love about my dog. I know every day he's going to treat me the same. From the time I get home he is annoyingly beside me, next to me, protecting me, loving me. He's faithful, beloved. We are called to be faithful, no matter how people treat us. We're to be loyal. Let people have bad days, let them be grumpy and forgive them and be reconciled. Be faithful. Number five, fifth truth we see here is that faithfulness only happens by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. This is really important. Just think with me for a minute.

Speaker 3:

So this is Luke 22, luke, chapter 22. And in verse 54, so Jesus has been arrested. At this point, and Peter sees what's happening and Peter's kind of watching from a distance and watch this like a 14-year-old girl comes up to Peter and recognizes him and says oh listen, this is one of this man's disciples, this man knows Jesus, he's a follower of Jesus. And Peter loses all courage, he becomes weak and frail and he says three times I don't know the dude, I don't know him. So that's Simon Peter, luke, chapter 22. Well, so that's Simon Peter, luke, chapter 22. Well, luke the physician actually wrote the book of Acts as well. It's kind of Luke part two, if you know that. But so this is Luke 22.

Speaker 3:

And then you go to Acts, chapter two, and something happens. Peter preaches in the midst of people who had rejected Jesus. He preaches a dynamite message, he preaches the gospel. And you know what happens 3,000 people get saved. They're cut to the heart and they become followers of Jesus. You go to the next page of your Bible, in the next page, and on and on, and what you're going to see is that, like I think it's in chapter three, chapter four, peter is addressed. He's taken into custody by the Sanhedrin with this religious group that you know wanted Jesus dead. And they warned Peter if you don't want to end up like Jesus, if you don't want to be hung on a cross, then you better quit preaching in the name of Jesus.

Speaker 3:

But you know what Peter did, the same Peter who ran from a 14-year-old girl. You know what he did in the book of Acts. He stood in front of this group who threatened him and he said I can't help but preach the thing that I know, the one whom I know. And he went and he gathered and they prayed with other disciples and the Bible says he continued to preach the word of God boldly. As a matter of fact, history tells us that he was martyred for his faith, hung upside down on a cross Wait a minute, it's this. And never denied Jesus. And it's like wait a minute. Is this the same Peter who ran from a 14-year-old girl and denied Jesus? It is Well. What's the difference? Did he go through a 12-step program? Did he watch a lot of episodes of Dr Phil or Oprah? No, I'll tell you what the difference is.

Speaker 3:

It's Acts, chapter two. When the church was together and they were all in one accord and they were praying, and something mighty happened the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, came down, indwelt all the believers, clothed them with power so that the church would never be the same. Show them with power so that the church would never be the same. What's the difference in Peter's life? The Holy Spirit which reminds us here if we're going to walk in faithfulness, here's what you've got to know. You've got to recognize that in your own strength you will not be faithful. And we know that from the text. Because in verses 33 and 34, peter says Lord, I'm ready to go to prison with you, I'll, even I'll die with you. That's verse 34. In verse 54, he denies the Lord three times.

Speaker 3:

The Bible says that if any of us think we're above falling, take heed lest we fall. You know, if you're going to be faithful to the Lord and faithful to others, you've got to recognize your own propensity to go your own way in the flesh. And if you don't recognize, that's what will happen you'll fail to pray, you'll fail to read the Bible. Because you think I can do this? I've been a Christian long enough. If you want to be faithful, we've got to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. Faithfulness is a gift of grace. Let me just make one more point here. I really feel impressed to say this. Your faithfulness can never be based on the faithfulness of other Christians. Other Christians will disappoint you.

Speaker 3:

In the news about every single week we see another pastor who has fallen Right and people that we really respect. This happened to Hunter and I, a man that we really, really love and have read his material and listened to countless sermons. We were shocked to hear that something major had happened in his life and he was removed from his church, and it's heartbreaking. But I'll tell you this, it didn't shatter my faith, because here's what the Bible says in Hebrews 12. It says that we're to look not to a preacher, not to a really good Christian who looks like they have it together.

Speaker 3:

Look to Jesus, who is the founder or some translations say, the author and the finisher or perfecter of your faith. Beloved, keep your eyes on Jesus, don't keep your eyes on me, look beyond me to the Lord Jesus Christ. My aim is to point you to him, so let me ask you, as we come to a close here, let's let's just apply this are you faithful in all the areas of your life, so spiritually? Are you steadfast in the faith when people make fun of you for being a Christian, or they make fun of the truth of God's word even though it's counter-cultural? Do you stand steadfast in the Lord? Are you committed to the truth of the word or do you change what you say based on culture? Are you committed to the gospel? Are you faithful to the gospel? The Galatians you know. They knew they were saved by grace through faith, but they started trying to live their faith out on their own. They weren't faithful to the gospel. Are you faithful to do what God has called you to do? Are you faithful to church attendance? Are you faithful to use your gifts and talents to serve God's people? Are you faithful to give with your finances? Are you faithful? Are you faithful at home?

Speaker 3:

The book of Ephesians, chapter 5, says something really profound. Do you know what the ultimate meaning of marriage is? The ultimate aim of marriage, according to Ephesians 5, is this, that we, through our marriages, christian marriages, that we show others Christ's love for His church. Love my wife and sacrifice for her is supposed to be a picture of how Christ loves his bride, his church. How are we doing? Are we faithful in our marriages? Are we faithful what our kids say? My dad's faithful, my mom's faithful? They show up when they say they're going to show up. They help me when they say they're going to help me. Are we faithful at home? Are we faithful at work? You know, one of the greatest ways you can witness to your coworkers is just be faithful at work, because there's not a lot of faithful people. Some of you know this, like you were faithful at work and you worked hard and you just saw other people standing around. Be faithful, even if you don't like your boss. Be faithful, go the extra mile. So I want to close with this story.

Speaker 3:

There's a story about a man by the name true story. The man's name is George C Bolt and there's, just to be honest, there's a couple different minor differences in the telling of the story. You find different accounts online, but the gist of it is this so this man named George C Bolt. He managed a hotel in Philadelphia Bolt. He managed a hotel in Philadelphia and one day, as he was managing, this elderly couple walked in the hotel to get out of a storm that was happening. It was a really bad storm. And they came in they said sorry, we do not have reservations, but we'd really like to have a room. And so Mr Bolt said listen, I've checked, you know the rooms and actually they're all booked.

Speaker 3:

And the couple you could tell that their hearts just sank. They didn't want to go back out into the storm and the storm was supposed to continue for the night. So the manager took it upon himself and he said listen, he said I can't send you back out into the storm. So he said I want to do something for you. He said I actually have a room here where I can go and sleep periodically. And he said I'm going to give me a few minutes, I'm going to go clean up my room and I want you to stay in it for the night, up my room, and I want you to stay in it for the night. And the elderly couple they were quite hesitant and didn't want to take advantage of the man in this way, but he insisted, he absolutely insisted. So finally, the elderly couple. They were checked. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3:

Well, the next morning the elderly couple they were checking out and the man looked at Mr Bolt and he said you know what, it's hard to find employees like you. He said I don't know if I've ever met a manager as committed as you and self-sacrificing. He said you ought to manage the largest hotel in the United States and he said man, I'd one day love to build that hotel for you. Well, story goes that a couple years later the manager had forgotten totally about the conversation until he received an envelope in the mail and in it was a ticket to New York City with a note that said please come as quickly as you can, signed by this elderly man. So the manager of the hotel said yeah, I'll go to New York.

Speaker 3:

And the elderly man met him and he took him to Park Avenue and he pointed to this towering building and said there's the hotel I'd like you to manage building. And said there's the hotel I'd like you to manage. The elderly man's name happened to be William Waldorf Astor and the building he pointed to was the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. You know, that's a reminder to be faithful in the small things the Lord is calling us to be faithful in every area of our life and when we're faithful in the small things. The Lord is calling us to be faithful in every area of our life and when we're faithful in the small things, he'll entrust us with much Great is His faithfulness and he has called us, church, to be faithful.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening. If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, Kentucky. We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 1045 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.