Young Adults' Group

Be Faithful Until Death

by Pastor Mark
October 12, 2017

Celebrating the anniversaries of our Indian churches

It has been a week of celebration for our Indian churches. We celebrated Kirubai’s 14th Anniversary on Monday and IPC India’s 28th Anniversary on Wednesday. We thank God for blessing all our churches all these years through His grace and mercy. One of the Anniversary messages that Pastor gave was on the concept of faithfulness. How should we understand faithfulness? He taught the concept of faithfulness from the Lord Jesus’ special word of commendation to the church in Smyrna.

The concept of faithfulness

How should we understand this concept of faithfulness?

1. Commencement with faith

“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev 2:10)

The word “faithful” in Greek is “pistos” which is derived from the word “pistis” which means “faith”. In order to for us be faithful, we must have faith first. Let us ensure that we have commenced with a genuine faith.

2. Command

The word “be” was written in the imperative. This is a command that the Lord Jesus gave to the brethren in Smyrna. There was no choice given. Let us seek to be obedient to the Lord’s command to be faithful.

3. Characteristic

Faithfulness should be understood as a character trait of our life. “pistos” with the “os” ending is an adjective which describes a characteristic. Let us make faithfulness a real part of our character.

4. Circumstances

The brethren of Smyrna went through much suffering. The Lord knew of their tribulation and many have suffered impoverishment. (Rev 2:9) He warned them further of more suffering, testing and tribulation ahead. (Rev 2:10) Despite their circumstances, the church fulfilled the Lord’s command to be faithful. Let us seek to be faithful despite the adverse circumstances of life.

5. Continuing

“Be faithful until death”…Faithfulness is not about how we begin. It is about how we end. It is continuing to the very end…to the point of death. Faithfulness cannot be understood as something that we do only halfway. It is to stay the course to the very end of our life…when death comes. Let us learn to continue to be faithful until death.

6. Cultivate

Faithfulness is something to be cultivated. Our faithfulness stems from our faith. As we cultivate our faith, we would also learn to cultivate faithfulness. Let us seek to cultivate faith and faithfulness in our life.

7. Challenge

As the Lord Jesus gave this challenge to the brethren in Smyrna, let us also be challenged to be faithful. Let us seek to be faithful to the end…until death.

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