Concepts

Faithfulness in Service

Faithfulness in Service

The Importance of Faithfulness

God asks us to be faithful in service because He entrusted us with a particular stewardship: the care of His children and youth. He said concerning this, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” (Luke 12:42). He gives them their food — that is, spiritual food — in its season, meaning at each stage of age according to its need.

And of the servants who enter the kingdom, the Lord said to each of them: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matt. 25:21, 23).

He said this to the one with five talents and to the one with two talents — to each who traded and gained. The phrase “a few things” signifies our responsibilities in this short life. The “many things” for which the Lord will set us over is eternal life. The Lord said this to the good and faithful servant — that is, the one who lived righteously in his life and faithfully in his service.

Perhaps we ask: to what extent must our faithfulness in service reach?

The Lord Jesus answers in Revelation with an immortal phrase: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10).

The phrase “faithful unto death” means that the servant be faithful to the extent of laying down his life for the service — to the point of longing to complete his ministry. As Saint Paul said to the Corinthians: “Therefore death works in us, but life in you. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake…” (2 Cor. 4:12, 11).

Examples of Faithfulness

The Holy Scriptures have explained to us the faithful ministry performed by our Fathers the Apostles: those whom the Lord entrusted with preaching and the ministry of the Word. They carried the message to every place, to the ends of the earth their words reached. In about thirty years they preached in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). They preached in the Eastern lands, in Asia Minor to the north, in Greece and Italy and even Spain to the west, and in Egypt to the south…

They were faithful in service to the degree that they endured every persecution and hardship for its sake. They stood before kings and governors and judges, they were tried, imprisoned and scourged. It is said of them that they came out of prison rejoicing, because they considered themselves worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). What the Lord said to them came true: “The time will come that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). In their faithfulness they endured many journeys, dangers by sea, weariness and toil, sleeplessness and fasting… (2 Cor. 11:26, 27).

Their faithfulness is seen also in their care for everyone — whether in serving the multitudes or in individual work. Saint Paul testifies to that after recounting kinds of his labors in ministry: “…besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” (2 Cor. 11:28–29).

Among the faithful in service were also the champions of the faith — for example Saint Athanasius the Apostle (Athanasius the Great), who for his faithfulness in defending the faith was much persecuted by the Arians and was exiled from his see four times. Even in his places of exile he went about teaching the true faith, strengthening the people in it, and dispelling the doubts stirred up by the heretics. Thus he established a strong school of saints who defended the faith and passed it to us intact through the generations.

David the prophet is another example of faithfulness in service. It suffices to quote his words: “I will not enter into my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, nor rest to my temples, till I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the God of Jacob.” (Ps. 132:3–5). And when God did not permit him to build the house but allowed his son to build it, it was David’s faithfulness that prepared everything necessary for the building so that his son would not find difficulty in building (1 Chron. 29).

Would that you say likewise: I will not enter into my house, nor give sleep to my eyes, until I prepare a place for the Lord in the heart of every disciple the Lord places in my way…

Elements of Faithfulness

What ought you to do to be faithful in your service? There are many elements of this faithfulness, namely:

1. Faithfulness in knowing those served: Know all the children in the church’s area. This can be by means of class pupils who know their classmates, neighbors and relatives, or via church membership rolls, or through teachers in the schools. The important thing is to seek every soul to bring them into the church and then into the heart of God.
2. Faithfulness in visitation (outreach): Let your heart not rest if one of your children is absent from class. Seek him, and identify his absence first through one of his companions who knows him, or someone who has relation or friendship with him. When the Lord Jesus found one of His sheep missing, He left the ninety-nine and went out to seek the one until He found and carried him home on His shoulders rejoicing (Luke 15).
3. Faithfulness in preparing the lesson: One who neglects preparing his lessons may not give the children anything profitable or may present confused and disorganized information. The faithful servant’s lesson is engaging, rich in content, appropriate to the pupils’ mentality, supplied with stories and illustrative means.
4. Faithfulness in teaching and memorization: The faithful teacher tries by every means to convey the lesson to the understanding of his pupils. He reviews it with them, asks them and dialogues, and ensures they have fully absorbed and retained it in memory. He makes them memorize a verse or more, or a hymn, and questions them to ensure their memorization.
5. Faithfulness in keeping appointments: Do not be absent from teaching, nor be late for appointments, nor disrupt the ministry and the faithful servant by your absence or lateness. Rather, the faithful servant, who has a deep heart-relationship with his children, feels longing to meet them and therefore does not neglect them.
6. Faithfulness in prayer for those served: Many of the served need prayer for them, whether they asked for it or not. Likewise naughty children, the sick, those frequently absent, and those with special circumstances — all need prayer so that God may intervene in their lives. The servant must be faithful in his prayers for them. Here we recall Samuel the prophet’s words to the people: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1 Sam. 12:23). Note here the phrase “sin against the Lord” in the wisdom about negligence in prayer for them.
7. Faithfulness in his spiritual life: The servant’s spiritual life undoubtedly affects those he serves; if he sins, they either imitate him or criticize him. In either case the served suffer loss. Positively, he must be a role model for them. Therefore his faithfulness in his spiritual life — along with diligence for his own eternity — is also necessary for the ministry.

Why Faithfulness?

1. Because it is his responsibility: God will ask us for the soul entrusted to us. He will say to each: “Give an account of thy stewardship.” (Luke 16:2) or ask “Where is Abel thy brother?” (Gen. 4:9). How shall we answer the Lord when He asks us about our ministry? Would that we could tell Him, as the Lord Jesus told the Father: “The work which You gave Me to do, I have finished it… I have declared Your name to the men whom You gave Me, and I will declare it, that the love wherewith You loved Me may be in them.” (John 17:4, 26).
2. Because of the importance of the soul: God gave you these. You may be the only one who knows them at this stage of life with all its characteristics. If you neglect them, who knows what becomes of each soul entrusted to you. Each of these souls Christ died for and purchased with His blood; you must care for each with faithfulness to draw them to God, to make them know the truth, to save them from doubts, and to answer their questions — just as John the Baptist prepared a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17), making ready his way in the hearts of those disciples (Mark 1:2–3).
3. Because the ministry is service to the Lord Himself: It is the Lord’s work, preparation for His kingdom. Saint Paul said to the Corinthians: “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:9). Those you teach are not merely your pupils but the children of God. You are merely a steward on His behalf in their upbringing. You are not the owner of the vineyard; you are only the steward who prepares the vineyard for its owner (Matt. 21). Beware lest you become like the wicked husbandmen to whom the kingdom of God is taken away and given to a nation that brings forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43).
4. Because you have the duty of godparenting (sponsorship): The mother receives her child at baptism to be his godparent (sponsor). In most cases she does not fully perform the godparenting, and she comforts her conscience by saying she handed him to Sunday School so that the Sunday School teacher would perform the godparenting. In reality the task has been entrusted to you by the child’s family and by the church. Study the task of godparenting and be faithful in performing it.

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