And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? – Luke 16:12
Proverbs 20:6 reads, “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?” This is a pretty sobering scripture because it implies that there is not much faithfulness in this world. Most of us like to think of ourselves as faithful, and are quick to tout it. However, as the scripture above reveals, not many of us are faithful. Much of this unfaithfulness is simply ignorance though. What is faithfulness?
Dictionary.com defines faithful as:
Strict or thorough in the performance of duty
True to one’s word, or promises
Reliable, trusted, or believed
Adhering or true to a fact, a standard, or an original; accurate
It’s this last definition that I want to stress today; faithfulness meaning adhering to a standard or an original. That is a major issue with our culture today. We don’t want to stay true to the original of anything. We like to adapt it. We like to modify it. We like to tweak it to suit our tastes or agendas. This is perfectly fine when dealing with what belongs to us, but when dealing with another’s, we need to stifle the urge to do it “our way.”
This is especially true in church service and ministry. We all have dreams and goals for our ministries. We all want to make an impact for God’s kingdom and bring our vision to life. However, we generally don’t start out as the master of our own destiny. This may frustrate some people, but it is this way by God’s design. God often places us under different spiritual leadership and under someone else’s ministry. How faithful we are in helping someone else complete their vision will often dictate the timetable of receiving our own ministry. Today’s key scripture highlights the importance Jesus put in this concept. In His sermon in Luke 16, Jesus is talking about stewardship and being able to be faithful to someone else’s vision when dealing with their things. He says very clearly that if we can’t be faithful with another man’s, we won’t get our own.
Just to be clear: we will be tested in this. I know that in several of the ministries in which I serve, I have ideas that seem better than what we’re currently doing. There is nothing wrong with making suggestions, but we need to be at peace with the possibility of those suggestions being shot down. I don’t care how much better my plan sounds than plan of the heads of the ministry, I am not in charge. I don’t have the liberty to change things without being directed to do so. This is faithfulness! Staying true to the original and being accurate to the vision of the person in charge. Our pride doesn’t like this. The enemy will have us fully convinced that no one respects our opinions and will try his best to get us out of the place in which God has placed us. Don’t listen! Don’t give him place! Let’s be faithful!
The rewards that come with this type of faithfulness are stressed by Jesus in another parable in Luke 19. This parable told of a nobleman who went into a far country and left his servants in charge of differing amounts of money to manage. Upon returning he called his servants to him and checked on their progress. Luke 19:16-17 reads, “Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’” Ten cities! That’s the kind of exponential growth we can expect when we show God that we can be faithful!
Let’s not waver on this. Let’s cultivate this and get it planted deep in our spirit. We are going to be trustworthy. We are going to steward wisely. We are going to be faithful!