Perhaps one of the most easily misunderstood characteristics of Christian discipleship, and so in some circles one of the least appreciated, is faithfulness. It is the seventh of the nine graces that make up the fruit of the Spirit in the Christian life (Gal 5:22-23), sandwiched between goodness and gentleness in the list led by love. 

Faithfulness is one of the proofs of the Spirit-directed life. As F.F. Bruce put it, “Because God is faithful, because he can be relied upon, his people are to be faithful too, and the Spirit enables them to be so”. It is a massively encouraging truth to know that God is faithful. He will not let us down. He can be relied upon. When all else and everyone else fails, he will not. “If we are faithless,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim 2:13). 

In another context Paul would write, “the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar” (Rom 3:2-4). God’s character is both consistent and constant. He is worthy of our trust. Even when we are not, he is. That’s the testimony of the New Testament again and again: God is faithful (1 Cor 1:9; 10:13; 2 Cor 1:18; 1 Thess 5:24; 2 Thess 3:3).

That faithfulness is, of course, concentrated in Jesus. He is himself the manifestation of God’s faithfulness since he is the fulfilment of God’s ancient promises:

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor 1:20).

Throughout his earthly life he was faithful, both to his Father’s will and mission, and to those he came to save. Despite the opposition, betrayal and unfaithfulness that surrounded him, he stayed the course and laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:11). 

He is, as Hebrews puts it, “a merciful and faithful high priest” (2:17). His great prayer of John 17, prayed on the very night he was betrayed, is the perfect example. He prayed for “those whom you gave me out of the world” (v6), with reference to the first disciples, but also for “those who will believe in me through their message” (v20). Later, he promised to be with those he had commissioned “always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). Hebrews again: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8).

Meditate on God’s faithfulness 

Too often we assume the faithfulness of God but do not meditate upon it. God always acts in conformity to his own character. He is not pushed around or reconfigured by factors outside of his own nature. He is never knocked off course by world events or by the details of an individual’s life. No force comes close to shifting him, even a millimetre, from the throne. 

We don’t have to wonder if, when we wake up in the morning, he will be the same. We don’t have to fear that he has moved on from wanting the very best for us. That is one of the reasons why we can pray to him.

In the flux of human life – the uncertainties, shocks and surprises – he always remains faithful.

It is God’s wonderfully encouraging faithfulness that grounds and energises the faithfulness of the Christian. We can only be faithful because he remains faithful to himself and so to us. He has united us to Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom 6:5). He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3). 

The work of his Spirit in us is a further way God is faithful to us. His Spirit applies the truths of the gospel to our hearts and completes in us his eternal purpose for us. His Spirit brings us from death to life (Rom 6:13), writes his law in our hearts (Jer 31:33), enables us to call him Father (Rom 8:15), and conforms us to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29), from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18).

What should our faithfulness look like?

So, if faithfulness is a critical and indelible aspect of God’s character, what does it look like in us? How do we reflect this aspect of the character of God? Put simply, as God is consistent and constant in seeking our welfare, we are called to be consistent and constant in pursuing his glory in his Son, being enabled to do so by his Spirit. It is a reliability in focus that refers everything to God’s purpose in Christ. 

What will bring him the most glory in my response to this situation or opportunity? How do I point back to the glory of Christ in the face of this setback or disappointment?

Faithfulness is first and foremost about character. But it has a particular application to Christian ministry. At this point, we need to remember that faithfulness isn’t measured in numbers. The number of people in my church – large or small, since it is possible to take pride in either – is no reliable gauge of our faithfulness or the faithfulness of our leaders. We need to put a large question mark alongside our recent fascination with numbers.

As the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) makes clear, faithfulness comes in all sizes. The first two servants in the parable are praised as having been faithful with little; but there was a substantial difference between each “little”. One servant had doubled five talents, and one had doubled two. Yet both were “good and faithful” servants. 

In that sense, faithfulness is not tied to numbers and results but to pursuing the interest of the master with whatever has been measured out to us. Some will have plenty of resources at their disposal and a range of opportunities. Others will have fewer resources, and opportunities might not present themselves as readily. But the question is whether both are diligent in pursuing the interests of their master with what they have been given. 

As Paul said about himself to the Corinthians, “it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Cor 4:2).

In the parable, it is only the one who did nothing at all who is addressed by his master as “You wicked, lazy servant”. He is the one who is unfaithful because he did not pursue his master’s interests. Instead, he took an easier road. It wasn’t so much that he did not have the creativity of the other two, or that he lacked an energetic, entrepreneurial spirit. His own excuse was that he knew what the master wanted and was doing exactly that: the master just wanted to receive back what was his at the end of the day. It was a matter of maintaining the status quo. When the master returns, he will be happy that things are just as they were. 

But that was not what the master wanted. The servant, it seems, had made no attempt to align his decisions and actions with those of the master. Perhaps the master had an inkling that was how it would be before the event, even though he had still given him the opportunity. After all, he only entrusted one talent into his hand.

Being faithful in this setting should have meant being attuned to why the master had given this opportunity to him in the first place and pursuing that with an eye on the master’s return. Even if he, too, had doubled what he was given, it still would not have been as much as the other two. But he would have been faithful. In the end, though, as the parable shows, he could not be trusted even with that, and it was taken from him.

Faithfulness in Christian discipleship and faithfulness in Christian ministry has its focus on the one who has been faithful to us: it is a consistent and constant pursuit of the interests of our master. We can see why faithfulness is well positioned alongside the other “graces” such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. All nine are inseparable as the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us. Each needs the other and the role faithfulness plays is to emphasise constancy, consistency, reliability and trustworthiness. 

So, we need to value faithfulness and not disparage it. We ought never to consider it an alternative to fruitfulness (as if “you might be fruitful, but I am faithful”), nor as simply equated to fruitfulness (when we believe that our fruitfulness, however we might measure it, is our faithfulness). Instead, let’s celebrate both. But don’t forget the priority of faithfulness.

The Rev Canon Dr Mark Thompson is the principal of Moore College.