John 10:1-18
Are we faithful to the promises we made to God when we joined His family? When we buy a home or car we promise to pay a certain amount each month or year. If we do not keep our promises to pay then the lender will come and take the car or home. What happens to our lives if we do not keep our promises we make to God?
When we look at the word faithfulness, we think about someone or something that we know we can count on. Even in the hard times we know that we can count on that which has been proven faithful. Snoopy likes to be a World War I pilot and his arch enemy is the Red Baron. In this comic strip, Charlie Brown is in his bed and it is dark and he is thinking, “I suppose I could lie here in the dark for the rest of my life. It’s kind of nice to be able to withdraw from all your problems. It’s nice to be able to forget your responsibilities.” Then Charlie thinks about his responsibilities. He says, “Good grief, I forgot to feed my dog.” Snoopy is in his pilot outfit. He is waiting for dinner and when Charlie shows up Snoopy says, “Very peculiar looking waiter, probably some poor waiter just out of the trenches.” In his fantasy world Snoopy is a fighter pilot but in the real world he is waiting for dinner and knows that Charlie Brown will bring his dinner because Charlie is his faithful owner.
How many people do you have in your life that you know you can count on to be faithful to do what they said they would do in their relationships? Are you living your life in such a way people know that you are faithful to the promises you make in your relationships?
I was talking with some friends the other day and they told me about their daughter’s roommate in college. After college the girl got a job and found her dream man. They got married. A couple of year late a doctor told the girl that she had MS. The dream man walked away from the marriage. She worked as long as she could and then became homebound and died at a young age. The test of our faithfulness to our words comes when we face the hard dark hours of life. Her dream man had promised her ‘For better or worse” but did not live up to his promise.
In today’s scripture Jesus tells the story of the Good Shepherd to show us God’s faithfulness to us. God comes to us through the gates of life and we know it is God, because we have experienced the dependability in his word to us. In his covenant we know that we have experienced his love and faithfulness. Jesus tells us that sheep run away from strangers because they do not know the voice. The stranger does not know them by name. My dad named all his animals and they knew him. Our name is important. A name tells us who we are. God is the gate of life and whoever enters through God’s gate will be saved. Do you believe in heaven? Do you believe in hell? We have people that follow gods that are not a life-giving god. These phony gods will steal, kill and destroy life.
The real test of faithfulness is tested by the storms that break upon our lives. When storms come into our lives even good friends or family will turn away some times. The scriptures tell us “Fear not”. God is with us. “Fear not,” God said that to Moses and David. He said it to his disciples. He says this to us. Jesus tells us, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” In times of danger the phony gods run away to save themselves. Jesus tells his followers he will lay down his life on the cross to save us from our sin and evil. Jesus is faithful in that promise because he died on the cross. We can have eternal life. The cross of Jesus is life giving for us that have faith in God’s plan to give us life. Now we, the people of faith, do not face eternal death. The question we must answer is this: Are there consequences in life when we are unfaithful to God, individuals or nations?
Jesus tells us that he can go to the cross of death because, “My Father loves me and I lay down my life. I will take up life again because the Father loves me.”
Jesus said that in his father’s plan and love, “I lay my life down for all of you. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” We all will face death in this life. But the faithful promise of Jesus from the cross for all of us is if you live and serve a risen Christ you will have the gift of a new eternal life, because you can believe in the faithfulness of the God we meet in Jesus Christ. Let’s go now and live out our lives in faithfulness to Jesus Christ.
