Cross-cultural missionaries deeply value the prayers of God’s people in intercession on their behalf and on behalf of those whom they serve. Most send out prayer updates regularly to encourage regular intercession from their supporters.
When we send out such updates via email, we often get responses. These responses often come from other missionaries or pastors serving around the world. No doubt they, like us, find great encouragement in reading of others serving Christ faithfully in different contexts around the world.
We have often received emails stating something like this: “Thank you for your faithfulness.” Even in the last week we have been strengthened by such words a couple of times. We all value faithfulness, and our appreciation of It grows over time. We know that it is only by God’s grace that any of us can be faithful.
Focusing on Faithfulness
God’s stated expectation of those who serve Him, and especially those that lead in ministry, is to imitate Him by being faithful:
“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
Faithfulness is not just a synonym for holiness or a description of a consistent walk with Christ. The adjective, “faithful”, seems to allude to something more specific. It is something to maintain over time.
As stewards of God’s message and representatives of His cause, we must remain faithful by consistently living out our faith over time. We must remain faithful in the guardianship of sound doctrine and maintaining blamelessness no matter what our circumstances might be. Paul’s primary ambition was to be counted faithful this way by his Lord.
Paul, in this letter to Corinth, emphasized the need for gospel stewards to be faithful to Christ with good reason. This church he previously planted had become overwhelmed by false teaching, open sin, strife, and abuse of spiritual gifts. He was also being maligned and slandered. The ministry circumstances faced by Paul in Corinth were more than enough to overwhelm any soul.
The apostle remind himself and others that, in the midst of all of this difficulty and failure, he needed to focus his attention on his own need to remain faithful. He was God’s steward. His primary task, above all else, was to remain faithful in God’s sight. He then said,
“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me” (v.3-4).
A Confession
When I was in Bible college, I attended a weekly chapel designed for those training for vocational ministry. We heard regularly from older pastors in those chapels. One theme that was repeated frequently by those older men was the need for faithfulness in gospel ministry: “Be faithful!”
Often the theme of faithfulness was emphasized while explaining hard times in ministry. In my pride and immaturity, I thought to myself at the time, “These men are just excusing their personal failures and weaknesses in ministry. They are hiding behind the idea of being faithful instead of dealing with their problems and failures.” Praise the Lord for His forgiveness!
Now, 25+ years later, if I was asked to speak to a group of young men preparing for ministry, I might very well champion the same theme. We must remain faithful.
As we serve Jesus Christ, we enjoy many incomparable joys and blessings—praise Him! Most of us also experience many frustrations, disappointments, and failures, too. Can we still praise Him then? The spiritual battle raging all around us is real. We must hold our ground and stay fixed upon Jesus Christ in the midst of this apparent chaos of spiritual war. We are not better than Paul. We must remind ourselves continually of the need to remain faithful.
The Danger Zone
God’s stewards bear the weight of being an example for other believers, of fulfilling their ministry of making disciples, continuing in prayer, counseling, and teaching. They watch people they love reject Christ. They watch believers over whom they have labored long stubbornly refuse to obey Jesus and then suffer for it. They fight against worldliness and the influence of godless culture all around as they protect their flock. They struggle against false doctrines and false teachers. They contend with their own sinful tendencies, including pride that tends to perceive success in numbers and seeks the praise of men.
If we do not remain rooted and grounded in Christ, in His Word and prayer, we will not remain faithful. Gospel ministry requires continual dependence upon Jesus. We will be tested often. We will be strongly tempted to turn to sin and entertainment for relief. We will be tempted to compromise with worldliness and false doctrine in order to get ease tension. We will consider quitting—often on Monday.
Recently, I attended a prayer retreat with other missionary men who sensed their need for prayer and fellowship in a special way. It was a huge blessing. Before we left the retreat, we discussed the danger each of us faced if we allowed ourselves to stray from Christ. We reminded ourselves of some ten or more missionary men from our field who have disqualified themselves from ministry through sexual immorality. We reminded ourselves of Christian workers here who turn to alcohol for comfort. This led us to have a greater sense of the fear of God and to desire more accountability with likeminded men lest we fall into sin ourselves.
“It is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). Jesus will enable us if we depend upon Him, for He said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).
