What does the Bible say about faithfulness?

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, pastoral care, or worship planning focused on faithfulness.  

• Exodus 34:5-7, God's faithfulness proclaimed (abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness)
• Deuteronomy 7:9, God's faithful promises (our faithful God maintains covenant loyalty) 
• 1 Samuel 12:24, Samuel calls Israel to faithfulness (serve the Lord faithfully)
• Psalm 25:10, God is faithful (the Lord shows steadfast love and faithfulness to those who keep covenant)
• Psalm 26:3, human faithfulness in response to God's love (I walk in faithfulness to you) 
• Psalm 36:5, God's vast love and faithfulness (the Lord's faithfulness extends to the clouds) 
• Psalm 85:10, God's faithfulness exhibited in the world (love and faithfulness will meet) 
• Psalm 89:1-2, proclaiming God's faithfulness (I will make your faithfulness known to all generations) 
• Psalm 111:7, faithfulness seen in God's acts (God's works are just and faithful) 
• Proverbs 3:3-4, admonition to remain faithful (hold on to loyalty and faithfulness) 
• Lamentations 3:22-23, God's great faithfulness (God's steadfast love never ceases) 
• Hosea 2:19-20, God's promised faithfulness (I will be faithful to you and will be your God) 
• Hosea 4:1, condemnation of unfaithfulness (there is no faithfulness or knowledge of God in the land) 
• Matthew 25:21, recognition of faithfulness (well done, good and trustworthy servant) 
• Luke 16:10, growing in faithfulness (those who are faithful in little are trusted to be faithful in much) 
• Romans 3:3, human vs. godly faithfulness (our unfaithfulness won't nullify God's faithfulness) 
• 1 Corinthians 1:9, God's faithfulness (our God, who called you, is faithful) 
• 1 Corinthians 10:13, God's protective faithfulness (God's faithfulness means we won't be tempted beyond our strength)
• Galatians 5:22-23, faithfulness as a fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control)
• Ephesians 1:1-2, faithfulness rooted in Christ (greetings to those who are faithful in Christ Jesus)
• 2 Thessalonians 3:3, God's sustaining faithfulness (the Lord is faithful and will strengthen and protect us) 
• Hebrews 2:17, faithfulness in service (Jesus is our faithful high priest) 
• John 1:9, faithfulness in forgiveness (if we confess our sins, God will forgive and purify us) 
• 3 John 2-4, joy in others' faithfulness (it gave me great joy to hear about your faithfulness to the truth)

Sermon ideas about faithfulness 

A communicable attribute 

A sermon on faithfulness can teach what theology students learn early on about God's nature — that there are some attributes of God that human beings cannot share. These are incommunicable attributes: God alone is eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. But God also has a set of communicable attributes, characteristics that define God and that human beings can share. These include (among others) love, mercy, and faithfulness. God is the premier promise keeper. God stays true to God's word, no matter what. God can be counted on to come through. Although human beings cannot be perfectly faithful as God is faithful, we can strive to be faithful servants who do what we say we will do, who can be counted on to follow through, to tell the truth, and to be reliable in all things. 

Signature trait 

Biblical authors attribute faithfulness to God very frequently. Often paired with love or righteousness or justice, faithfulness is one of God's signature traits. Whether in works, judgments, plans, or covenant dealings, God is the one we can rely on to maintain a steady course. God's people are often very trying to God and to each other, but God keeps on with them. 

Faithfulness and covenant 

What can a sermon on faithfulness say about the connection between faithfulness and covenant? Especially in the Old Testament — but continuing in the New Testament through the new covenant in Christ — there can be no missing the snug fit between the faithfulness of God and God's covenant. Begun with Abram in Genesis and then extended and renewed through Moses and David, God promised to become the savior of all nations. God would provide a way, through Israel initially, to bring redemption to a world that had run off its original rails. 

Of course, covenants involve two parties, and so Abraham and then later his descendants in what became the nation of Israel promised to hold up their end of the bargain by following God's ways, obeying God's law, and so providing a consistent and transparent witness to the one true God. But Israel repeatedly failed. They did not keep covenant with God, and although God punished the people for their sins, God did not let down his side of the covenant.  

Once it was clear that God would have to keep both ends of the covenant if the covenant was ever going to achieve its purpose, God sent his only Son to this world to take Israel's place as the faithful human covenant keeper the people could never be. Through Christ's faithfulness, which led him all the way to death on a cross, the covenant was fulfilled and salvation was achieved. God is the ultimate covenant keeper — not only from God's side of things, but, vicariously through Christ, also from our side! 

 Gift and model for humans 

Sermons on faithfulness can also point out God's faithfulness as a gift and model for human beings — who are then duty-bound to show it back to God and outward to others. Human beings' faithfulness is spotty, to say the least, whether in obedience to God, in justice toward each other, or in self-giving love. People become idolatrous, uninterested, double-minded, ungrateful. They turn their back on God. They cheat each other. 

 Yet God keeps turning toward them. The texts from Hosea, above, mark the contrast. In fact, a big piece of the Bible's metanarrative is God's faithfulness to faithless sinners. 

Faithfulness and truth? 

When we think of faithfulness, we tend to think of relationships and promise keeping. But for God, faithfulness is also connected to truth. God is reliable because God will always know the truth, tell the truth, and embody the truth. God's ways are never false, God's decisions never wrong, God's declarations never in error. God and the true nature of the universe line up in a perfect 1:1 correspondence such that it is not the slightest exaggeration to say, "God is truth."  

For human beings, this implies that faithfulness to God means not just following God's commands but also speaking the truth and embodying the truth. The people of God live, speak, and act in accordance with the nature of God and with the way in which God set up the universe. Christian living is supposed to provide a faithful witness to God's truth through speaking about God's nature, God's salvation, and God's plans in ways that are transparent to and in alignment with how things look from God's vantage point.  

In part, this involves faithfulness to the Bible as the revealed Word of God in which the truths about God, creation, and their relationship are set forth. Christians should never pretend they know the whole truth about God, but insofar as God's character, ways, and plans are revealed in the Bible, Christians should faithfully walk according to the light the Bible provides. 

Jesus' faithfulness 

Jesus plays his own special role in the narrative — and this is a central theme of many sermons on faithfulness. The scene on Golgotha tells us how fearful a thing atonement is, even for the Son of God. All his securities had been stripped away, including his clothing. The gospels tell us that priests plotted against him, that Judas betrayed him, that three disciples fell asleep on him, that witnesses lied about him, and that Peter denied him. Each was like a stake in Jesus' heart, long before the Romans drove them through his hands and feet. And yet he went through with it to the end, all for the sake of sinners. Not even centuries of retelling this story diminish its magnificence. 

Faithfulness is not an exotic or dramatic virtue. Nobody advertises it. Storytellers avoid it. And yet: no marriage, family, family business, church, or nation can endure without it. Every day the heroes of faithfulness keep plugging away with little notice and little applause. They do their job even when they don't want to. They stick with the spouse they're stuck with. They obey God even when they can't make any sense of the evils God sees fit to permit in the world. They stand by a shamed son or daughter. They defend unfairly attacked preachers. They write to missionaries. They vote. They give. They give back. They put up with relatives who make them crazy. They pray. They sing. They sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness."  

And when their longing for God loses steam, they long to long again. 

Excerpts about faithfulness 

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org sermon resources about faithfulness: 

• "It is inspirational in its witness to God's faithfulness in hearing our cries of distress from places of disorientation and even death." Sermon Commentary by Scott Hoezee from the Center for Excellence in Preaching  

• "First, faithfulness is holding fast to the promises of God. God had promised Sarah and Abraham countless descendants and a land that God would reveal to them. But both promises were "things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1)." Sermon Preparation by Bryan J. Whitfield from Working Preacher  

• "The prophet could be faithful to his unwanted call because God had promised to be faithful to him. He served with God's promise in his pocket: 'They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you' (Jer. 1:17-19)."  Article about Scripture by Alice Mathews from Theology of Work