TEXT: Galatians 5:22-23

SUBJECT: Kids’ Sermon #35: Faithfulness

Kids, I want you to listen carefully today because I prepared the sermon just for you, it’s important that you obey it, and I’m going to ask questions along the way.

For the last six months, we’ve studied "The Fruit of the Spirit". They are the things you must do to be saved. Right? Wrong! You are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. No one ever went to heaven because he had plenty of "love, joy, or peace". "The Fruit of the Spirit", then, is not what saves you, but what God produces in your life when you are saved. Don’t forget that!

If you’re a Christian you and others will be able to see "The fruit of the Spirit" in your life. They won’t be perfect; you won’t have every fruit in the same amount, but they’ll all be there. Because God’s Spirit is in you. That’s what it means to be a Christian. It’s not about going to church or reading the Bible, it’s about having the Holy Spirit inside you.

The first six fruits of the Spirit are…what?

What’s Number Seven?

"The fruit of the Spirit is…faith".

The word, "faith" is found all over the Bible. It’s used in different ways.

• Most of the time, it means belief. To believe in Christ means the same thing as putting your faith in the Lord Jesus. That’s the most important kind of faith you can have, but it’s not what the word means here.

• Here it means faithfulness. A faithful person is dependable or reliable. He’s the kind of person you can count on. You can trust him.

The most reliable person I know is my Dad. If he says he’s going to do something, he does it. If he says he’s going to be somewhere, he’s there. He keeps his promises. No, that’s not quite true. He doesn’t make promises, because he doesn’t have to! His word is good enough.

Let me prove to you how dependable he is. If he’s not at church by 10:00 Sunday morning, we all get worried! "Where’s Dad? Where’s Grandpa? Where’s John?" Why are people alarmed when he’s not here on time? It’s because he’s faithful. You can count on him to be at church every time and always on time. If he’s not here, he must be dead!

Let me ask you three questions. The first I want you to answer out loud, the others, only to yourself.

• What is "faith" (as used here)?

• Are you faithful?

• Do you want to be?

Now that we know what faithfulness is, let’s say something about its importance.

Is being dependable a big thing? Or a little thing? The Bible says it’s a big one. Two Proverbs, I think, are very helpful. The first is 25:13. It tells us how great reliability is. The others is 25:19. It tells how rotten unreliability is.

Have you ever been outside on a super hot day? Maybe you were mowing the lawn or playing ball or hiking or something. As the day goes on, it gets hotter and hotter until you’re about to pass out. Wouldn’t it be great if—right then—it started to snow? Could you imagine anything that would make you happier than that? Well, that’s what the Proverb says about the reliable person. He’s like snow to people working in the hot sun! Refreshing!

Have you ever had a toothache? How does it make you feel? Have you ever hurt your foot? Broken it, maybe? Or stepped on a nail or a tack? Maybe sprained your ankle? Or even worn shoes that were too small for you? How do an aching tooth or sore feet make you feel? Pretty bad. And that’s how an unfaithful person makes those who are counting on him.

Here are the questions:

• Is a toothache a big thing or a little thing?

• Is a broken foot a big thing or a little thing?

• Is snow on a hot summer day a big thing or a little thing?

If these are big things, then being dependable is too. It’s a big thing to other people. It’s a big thing to God.

Let me give you four good reasons to become more faithful than you are.

The first is also the most important: You ought to be faithful because God is faithful (cf. Hebrews 10:23, Revelation 19:11). The Bible tells us to be "Followers of God as dear children". Does God go back on His Word? If He doesn’t, you shouldn’t either. Can the Lord be counted on? If He can, you should be too.

No one can be as faithful as God is. But that’s not the point. The point is: Grow in faithfulness. You’ll never be perfect, but that’s all right. Just get better.

The second reason is also important: Unfaithfulness makes the Lord look bad. Believers witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. What we do doesn’t change Him at all. But it changes the way others think about Him. If the believer is unreliable, he makes the Lord seem unreliable to others. The sins of Israel made the Gentiles, "Blaspheme". Our sins do the same. Do you want people to trust Jesus Christ? Then show them that He can be trusted by being trustworthy yourself.

The third reason to be reliable is: You want others to be. Do you know what the Golden Rule is? It says to treat others the way you want to be treated. Or, to not treat others the way you don’t want to be treated. Here’s the question: Do you want your friends to be dependable? If you do, you be dependable.

The fourth reason is very serious. You may not think so now, but your parents know better. Talk to them about it after church today. Here it is: Unfaithfulness is a habit that is very hard to break.

If you can’t be counted on right now—well, that’s bad. You aggravate your parents and make your friends mad, and so on.

But if you don’t repent of it, it’s going to make your life very bad when you grow up. Let me give you three examples:

• Most of you will get married some day. When you do, you’re going to make promises to your husband or wife. If you’re both faithful to those promises, your marriage will be happy. If you’re not—if you go back on your word, it’ll be terrible. Do you want a good marriage? If you do, get into good habits right now.

• Most of you will have kids one day. You’ll promise to do all sorts of things with them—teach them to cook, maybe, or play ball with them, or take them to the snow, or something. If you keep backing out, you’ll break their hearts and lose their respect. Do you want happy, trusting kids? If you do, get into good habits now.

And so, if you want to please God, make the Lord look good, obey the Law, and live a good, happy life, you must become faithful. You’ve got to become the kind of person we can count on.

If you want to become more reliable, let me tell you some things that will help you.

In the first place, Think before you speak. Many people break their promises—not because they’re liars—but because they made the promises without thinking. To help you do that, read James 1:19.

In the second place, Keep your word even if it’s hard to do. Let me tell you a story about myself. One day I told my wife I’d mow the lawn. Well, I got busy, and before I knew it, I was in bed, about 11:00. Right then, I remembered my promise, and—even though it was dark and cold, and embarrassing to be mowing the lawn in the middle of the night—I did it. Since that time, I’ve been a lot more careful about making that promise—and keeping it.

Here, we parents can be a great help to our kids. If they say they’re going to do something, we ought to hold them to it, whenever possible. Letting them go back on their word or quit things they’ve started, is bad for them now. And even worse for them in the future.

In the third place, you can make friends with trustworthy kids and stay away from those who aren’t, (cf. Proverbs 13:20).

Fourthly, pray for God to help you become more faithful. The Lord wants you to grow in grace. If you ask Him to help you, He will. You have His Word on it, I John 5:14.

Let me close with a quick word to the parents. If your kids are anything like mine, they're always after you to take them somewhere or buy them something for them, and so on. It is easy to say, Yes. It gets them out of your hair and lets you get back to what you’re doing. But remember, saying yes means yes. If you’ve given them your word, you need to keep it. If you’re not willing to do what you say, don’t say it at all.

In this way, you teach your kids what it faithfulness is. You teach it to them in the most persuasive way: By example.

• Most of you will work for a living before long. Do you want a good job? If you do, you’ve got to be dependable. My Dad hired and fired hundreds of men over the years. Nearly every one who lost his job lost it for one of two reasons: He wouldn’t show up or he was late. Some of these men were excellent carpenters and hard workers. But if Dad couldn’t depend on them, they were gone!

Do you know some kids who are reliable? If they say they’re going to do something—they do it. If they say they’re going to be somewhere—they’re there. They keep their promises. In fact, they don’t have to make promises—they just keep their word.

Do you know kids who are not that way?

"The fruit of the Spirit is…faith". If the Holy Spirit is in you, He’ll make you reliable. You’ll become the kind of person others can trust.

Let me tell you about two pastors I know. They’re both good men, but only one of them is faithful. Over the years I’ve asked him to preach for me a few times. If he agrees to, I take the day off or leave town without worry. Do you know why? Because I can count on him. He’ll fill in for me—even if he’s not feeling very well or didn’t sleep the night before.

The other man is a fine preacher, but not so reliable. He forgot one time; he got lost another time; he came late two or three times; and once, well, let me tell you the story…

A pastor invited me to speak at a conference in Northern California. I told him I would if I could get someone to fill in for me. I called my friend, gave him the date and time, and asked if he would do it. "I’d love to", he said. I called the pastor back and told him I’d be at the conference.

Well, just to be sure, I reminded my friend a couple of times, and he said he’d be there. The Saturday night before my trip, I called him one last time and said, "You’ll be there tomorrow at two in the afternoon, right"? I’ll never forget what he said,

Let me tell you about two pastors I know. They’re both good men, but only one of them is faithful. He’s preached for me a few times over the years—and always done a good job. When he agreed to fill in for me, I could take the day off or go out of town without worry. Why? Because he is reliable. Talking to him later, though, I found out he wasn’t always feeling well

Let me tell you about two good friends of mine. They’re both good men, but only one of them is faithful. He’s preached for me several times in the last twenty years—and always done a good job. Talking to him later, though, I found out that he’d often preached when he didn’t feel well; once he preached when he was terribly sick; and once when he’d had no sleep the night before. It was hard for him to preach those days, of course, but he’s the kind of man who sticks to his word. You can count on him.

My other friend is not so reliable. I use