Sermon Tone Analysis

By Fr Christopher Nerreau

Date Preached: December 19, 2021

Fourth Sunday Of Advent

Main Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 4:1–2 “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

Introduction

I want to talk to you this morning about faithfulness.

What is faith in Christ if it does not include faithfulness?

Our Epistle reading - 1 Cor 4:1-5 These are wonderful verses, and they are directed to us this morning.

“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful”

Lets begin with this word faithfulness.

What is faithfulness?

It is the quality of possessing:

· Integrity

· Loyalty

· Dependability

· Fidelity

“Faithfulness is doing your duty ’til your duty is done” - unknown author.

Today, we live in a day of unfaithfulness—a day when man’s word means so very little, whether he puts it on a marriage certificate and contract, or whether it’s a business contract, or whether it is a treaty between nations, or whether it’s the word of a politician.

Faithfulness seems to be a commodity in short supply.

Frankly, its so short in supply that we don’t even expect it any longer.

Gallop Poll - 46% of the American public admits to—now, these are those who admit—

· calling in sick when they’re not sick.

· shortchanging a customer.

· cheating on exams.

· Lying on resume

We are called to be faithful to God

· Am I faithful in prayer?

· Am I faithful in charitable giving?

· Am I faithful in attending Liturgical services?

· Am I faithful in showing mercy, forgiveness?

We are called to be faithful to our spouses

· The starting place after fidelity to God is the Home

· Never has it been so easy to destroy the home and family

· Free and open access to disgusting pornography

· Apps designed to help people commit adultery and get away with it (as if that were possible)

If our family cannot depend on us who can?

We are called to be faithful to our Church

When you don’t attend it hurts everyone

When you don’t give it hurts everyone

When you don’t invite it hurts everyone

We are called to be faithful to our employers

Do you know what the number one reason businesses have for losing money?

Wasted time -

When we stand at the water bubbler talking for 45 minutes we are stealing real money from our employer

When we surf the web during work, we steal from our employer

When we give less than our best, run personal errands, mix business and pleasure, we are unfaithful to our empolyers.

These are just some examples but ultimately we are called to be faithful in all parts of life.

Illustration

Yellowstone National Park.

Old Faithful – There are more than 200 guisers at yellowstone park.

Do you know which one people visit most?

Old Faithful, it’s not the biggest guiser, its not the hottest, but it is predictable, if you time it right you will see the guiser go off.

It erupts every 65 minutes, you could count on it.

Every 65 minutes it’d spew water—boiling water—up into the air, about 170 feet into the air.

I wonder how many of us are faithful like that -

Now notice with me in verse 2 - “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).

You see, God not only desires faithfulness—God requires faithfulness.

One of these days, Chris is going to stand before the Lord.

And, do you know what I want Him to say to me?

The same thing you want Him to say to you - “[The] Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

Transition

Are you a faithful person?

Now don’t answer that, let others answer it for you:

· Does your wife think of you as a faithful person?

· Do your children think of you as faithful?

· Does your employer think of you as a faithful person?

· Do your grandkids think of you as a faithful person?

As I prepared this message I had to do some deep soul searching—ask myself this question: “Chris, do you just talk about faithfulness?

Are you truly a faithful person?”

The answer I came up with is that I need a lot of work and this sermon will be a difficult one to preach.

But those are the sermons we need to hear the most.

Sermon Preview

TodayI think most of us desire to be faithful people.

Christ has put this desire in our hearts and ultimately it is He who will bring it to fuition.

But we are called to cooperate with His Grace.

God does not force himself upon us.

In the Orthodox Church we call this Theosis, participating in the divine nature by grace and invitation.

So let’s discuss this further.

Today I will show you three ways to become a faithful person.

And please know, I will be listening to this sermon too.

So let’s begin… The first thing we need to do in order to become a faithful person is...

1. Be Faithful in the Small Things

LUKE 16:10 - “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10).

Faithfulness requires discipline, doing what we dont “feel” like doing.

It means we make decisions with our heads not our emotions.

Discipline requires planning, premeditation and sobriety

One spiritual truth you need to remember is that the big things are made up of little things.

Discipline begins in the little things.

Illustration

· Your body, has various members.

It’s made up of components.

—hands and feet, eyes and ears

—and they’re made up of smaller pieces of muscle and tissue.

--

—And, that is made up of cells,

—and those cells are made up of atoms and a molecular structure.

It keeps getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

Everything big is made up of something small.

· The ocean is made up of droplets