Faith = Faithfulness

I heard this great sermon this morning and thought that I should write down some of the precious things I learned. The sermon was on faithfulness - one of the items of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). I had always considered myself as a faithful person. What I meant was that I valued being faithful to my promises as an important virtue for my identity. I even considered being faithful as a true mark of a Christian. My family just celebrated my 64th birthday yesterday and I felt good about myself having been faithful to my wife and my three children all these years. I hoped that they too felt that I had been a faithful husband and father.

The first thing I learned was that the words faith and faithfulness were the same word in the original language: aman in Hebrew and pistis in Greek. Using the Mounce interlinear translation I began to discover that these familiar passages all showed the various English translations of the same Greek word!
Galatians 5:22

Ephesians 2:8

James 2:18

The best definition of faithfulness is this:  "Faithfulness is the repeated choice to continue in the direction of faith." "The word “faith,” as used in Scripture, is used both as a noun (pistis) and as a verb (pisteo).  What is of interest here is that mere belief as denoted by the noun is not sufficient to tap into God’s grace, as the devil also believes in God.  What is imperative is that our faith-action follows our belief in God!  This action requires courage and tenacity, particularly when times get tough." (taken from Radical Christianity - page 52) So there will be days when I have doubts about my Christian faith. So I choose to continue to walk in faith - i.e. believing that Jesus was a historical figure and that He really died on the cross for my sins,  and that The Holy Spirit is active in my inner life.

The second thing I learned (I knew this before but there was a fresh understanding): "God is faithful, so I can trust him". God is God and He could very well do anything He chooses. But He has demonstrated through history that He had chosen to first make promises and then He would fulfill them - to show human that we can trust Him. This is huge! That means whenever I have doubts I can look back to how God fulfilled all His promises - the promised Jesus the Savior and the promised coming of the Holy Spirit. Now I can look forward to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth and Jesus second coming! He has promised to be with me along this journey on earth, no matter what challenges that will face me. God's faithfulness is described by the Hebrew word "HESED" which can mean all these things: "love as loyalty, faithfulness, stick-to-it-iveness; the love of promises kept; the love of covenant; love that won't let go". (see also Discover the Word: The Old Testament word “hesed,” and the profound meaning it has for us today)
"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love [AHAVA] mercy [HESED]
    and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:7-8)

With HESED these verses take on fresh meaning:
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it." (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

So whatever I am proud of myself as being faithful, I am able to do it because God is the faithful One who is enabling me to do it. PRAISE GOD!