May 25, 2008
Spiritual Fruit - Faithfulness
Semper Fi.

FIRST SERVICE INTRO:
A man was leaving church one Sunday. He stopped in front of the preacher to shake hands. The preacher grabbed the man’s hands and pulled him aside. The pastor told him, “You need to join the army of the Lord.” The man replied, “I’m already in the army of the Lord, Pastor.” The minister then questioned, “Then why don’t I see you here more often?” The man whispered back, “I’m in the secret service.”

Serving the Lord was never meant to be a secret. Spiritual fruit are supposed to be apparent. The fruit must be visible in what we say and do. They are signs that we are in the army of the Lord. Today, we arrive at the spiritual fruit of faithfulness.

SECOND SERVICE INTRO:
A rather harried preacher, speaking to his congregation on a Sunday morning, said, “The philosophy of ministry that worked in the 60s didn’t work in the 70s. What worked in the 70s didn’t work in the 80s. And what worked in the 80s didn’t work in the 90s. We are now in a new decade and a new millennium. Let’s hope what worked in our first service will still work in the second service. Things change pretty fast, but not that fast, right? And, believe it or not, some things never change - like the timeless truths of the Bible. We are studying the spiritual fruit. Today we are on 7 of 9 – the fruit of faithfulness.

Many of you remember the terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut during the Regain presidency. A few days after the bombing, Marine Corps Commandant Paul Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors at the Army Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.

As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words -- "Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning "forever faithful." With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their country -- those who have remained faithful. (J. Dobson & Gary Bauer, Children at Risk, Word, 1990, pp. 187-188.)

On this Memorial Day Sunday, we honor our veterans and remember the supreme sacrifice made by many precious soles. Let’s take a moment of silence. We will never forget!

I wonder if God finds us “Semper Fi”? The fruit of the spirit is…faithfulness… This spiritual fruit is about being “tried and true.” Can God count on us? Are we tried and true? Do we do what we say we are going to do? Are we reliable? To God? To people?

The author of Ecclesiastes wrote: “It is better not to make a vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it” (5:5). Jesus echoed this when he said, “(Mat 5:33 NIV) "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord...simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No';” (Mat 5:37, 39 NIV). And something must have rubbed off on James, Jesus’ brother, because he wrote in the book that bears his name, (James 5:12 NIV) “Above all, my brothers, do not swear--not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.”

Our words will make us or break us. What we say and the result of what we say will form our judgment. Good intentions won’t hold up under scrutiny. The great deciding factor will be this: did our actions mach our words? Were we a “follow through” people?

As I was setting at the car shop Friday having Betsy’s brakes worked on, I shared the waiting room with a lady who was on her cell phone. She was a nice lady; she spoke with enough volume that it was impossible not to overhear the conversation. She commented to someone that she did not like a particular co-worker because she was two-faced. I took that to mean that the co-worker acted nice to your face, but behind your back, look out for the knife. That person was unreliable. The comment made me think - what do others see in us? Are we reliable? Are we steady – the same to someone’s face as much as to their backs? And does that behavior reflect God in some way?

Verizon has some interesting commercials. The person who has Verizon is traveling with the Verizon network. The idea is that there are a team of professionals and techs always standing by to support us and assure that our network is functioning and reliable. If you have Verizon, you are never left alone; you have everything you need so that you can do what you need to do. Some Verizon customers that I have talked to say that this works better in theory than practice. On the other hand, if we have Jesus, we always have support. We are never, ever left alone, but we have all that we need to be able to do what we should be doing.

What should we be doing? When we commit to something, we should do it. If we are on a committee or team, we should follow through with attendance and homework assignments. If we are in a helping ministry, we should be a team player and share the load. If we say we are a Christian, the fruit must show. What should we be doing? We should be loving, patient, kind, faithful. There are probably few who exhibit every spiritual fruit all the time. But as a Christian, we should be progressing toward that goal. Just like Clarence Jordan.

Clarence Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and one in Greek and Hebrew. So gifted was he, he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor. In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor blacks. As you might guess, such an idea did not go over well in the Deep South of the '40s. Ironically, much of the resistance came from good church people who followed the laws of segregation as much as the other folk in town. The town people tried everything to stop Clarence. They tried boycotting him, and slashing workers' tires when they came to town. Over and over, for fourteen years, they tried to stop him.

Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan had enough of Clarence Jordan, so they decided to get rid of him once and for all. They came one night with guns and torches and set fire to every building on Koinonia Farm but Clarence's home, which they riddled with bullets. And they chased off all the families except one black family which refused to leave. Clarence recognized the voices of many of the Klansmen, and, as you might guess, some of them were church people. Another was the local newspaper's reporter. The next day, the reporter came out to see what remained of the farm. The rubble still smoldered and the land was scorched, but he found Clarence in the field, hoeing and planting. "I heard the awful news," he called to Clarence, "and I came out to do a story on the tragedy of your farm closing." Clarence just kept on hoeing and planting. The reporter kept prodding, kept poking, trying to get a rise from this quietly determined man who seemed to be planting instead of packing his bags. So, finally, the reporter said in a haughty voice, "Well, Dr. Jordan, you got two of them Ph.D.s and you've put fourteen years into this farm, and there's nothing left of it at all. Just how successful do you think you've been?"

Clarence stopped hoeing, turned toward the reporter with his penetrating blue eyes, and said quietly but firmly, "About as successful as the cross. Sir, I don't think you understand us. What we are about is not success but faithfulness. We're staying. Good day." Beginning that day, Clarence and his companions rebuilt Koinonia and the farm is going strong today. (Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat, Word Books Publisher, 1987, pp. 188-189.

Clarence was faithful to God first – whether in big things or in small things. All the rest took care of itself.

Fred Craddock is one of my favorite preachers. He is now retired, but for quite some time he taught preaching at Candler Theological Seminary. We used his books at Ashland Theological Seminary, and I met him in person and had him sign one of my books. Speaking of small things, In an address to ministers, he said, "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking $l,000 bill and laying it on the table-- 'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.' But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, 'Get lost.' Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul." (Darryl Bell.)

“Dont' waste your time waiting and longing for large opportunitis which may never come. But faithfully handle the little things that are always claiming your attention.” (F.B. Meyer.)

May we be found Semper Fi.