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What the Bible says about Trustworthiness
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Exodus 20:16

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" has very far-reaching spiritual applications. Bear means "to spread, carry, render, or give." At first glance, the commandment appears to involve only lying in a court of law, and this might be true if the words in the commandment were to be taken only at face value. Jesus clearly shows that there is a "spirit," an intent, to God's laws in addition to the letter that carries their application far beyond mere face-value judgments.

Many scriptures show that the commandment covers lying under any circumstance, including hypocrisy and self-deception. That is, it covers any wrongful word or example that would tend to injure. The ninth commandment is in a similar position in man's relationship to other men as the third commandment is in man's relationship to God. This commandment directly involves faithfulness and loyalty in our speech and in our witness for God before men.

Proverbs 22:1 says, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold." The Soncino Commentary remarks that a person's good reputation, his name, is his most valuable asset. Indeed, the Bible shows that God guards and protects His name very jealously. This is because His name represents what He is.

So it is with us. But why do so many lie, sowing the seeds for the destruction of their reputation? It is the desire for the approval of others that leads them to twist a story or to deliberately exaggerate or diminish their parts in it in the retelling.

When we hear a name, images of that person and what he or she is immediately spring to mind. What we are and how others perceive us has everything to do with what we believe and practice. So, is what we believe and practice true? If we want to have a good name (reputation) in the eyes of both God and man, we, too, have to recognize truth—wherever and whenever it arises in daily life—understand it, and submit to it. This process produces faithfulness.

This is where truth in a person's witness begins. If truth does not form the foundation of a person's life, he is already behind the eight-ball to some extent. The urge to lie must be met and overcome. At the base of this problem is a deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9) that continually lays traps to make lying an appealing course to follow. Besides lying before men, some of us keep lying to ourselves, and thus our name before God is not good. Faithlessness is the result. In order to have a good name, we, as God's children, must face up to our vanities and quit deceiving ourselves that God will just have to take us as we are.

We need to stop blaming our failures, problems, and shortcomings on others, which tendency provides us with justifications for what we are and what we do. Within the family, Mom and Dad are frequent targets of this. They are usually guilty to some extent, but God puts the pressure on us to change. Change will not occur in this way of life until we face up to the truth that we are responsible for what we are. We also bear much of the responsibility of becoming what we hope to be. Nobody can do this for us.

This is the day-to-day "stuff" on which trustworthiness and righteous reputations are formed. They are built on the witness of what we do before others. God wants our reputation before men to be built, first, on His truth and then on truth in general. Are we honestly doing this as well as we could be?

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Ninth Commandment

Deuteronomy 32:5-6

Here, God's people have rejected following His example in order to practice and live by lies that bring only destruction and death.

Notice the contrast to us as shown by Jesus in the New Testament. Revelation 19:11 testifies of Him, "Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war." Jesus says of Himself in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." This statement confirms the faithfulness of His nature: He is reliable, trustworthy, and of unwavering integrity.

What does being trustworthy mean in practical application? Who does God show are the most important persons to the overall welfare of the community, state, or nation? It is not the doctors, lawyers, politicians, or businessmen but the preacher and the king because they should teach, administer, exemplify, and provide the values upon which the community will function. God expects those values to be His.

What does God consistently show in His Word? Notice the context in which these verses appear. In both Deuteronomy and Revelation, a new culture, a new nation, is either being established or about to be established. God is indicating that the preacher has a slight edge in importance.

When God established Israel as a nation, He first appointed and sent the preacher—the prophet Moses. In the New Testament, Christ came first as a rabbi, a preacher to teach the way of God. Upon His resurrection, He became our High Priest, a post that has both religious and administrative functions, and He will return as King to administer God's Kingdom. This is why God's Word places so much importance on these two community positions. The preacher should exemplify God's values and deliver instruction containing them, and the king should live them and administer them to the nation.

Without true values, civilization will soon descend into revolution and anarchy. God's doctrine is true and faithful. It will produce gently and without corruption, or as Moses puts it in Deuteronomy 32:2, it will "drop as the rain" and "distill as the dew," whereas a hard-driving rain destroys. Any society or family built on God's doctrines will prosper and become great.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Ninth Commandment

Psalm 15:1-5

It was surprising to discover two new things in this passage. The first is that while Christians usually choose Psalm 23 as their favorite psalm, Jews often choose Psalm 15. The second is that the Hebrew of the phrase "who shall dwell" does not suggest "living in," but rather "visiting with"—that is, being acceptable to come into God's presence. In other words, the psalm has at least an equally strong present tense application as it does a future one.

It is essential, therefore, for us to consider whether God allows us to visit Him, and thus whether He hears our prayers. The person who has these qualifications most certainly will be heard. In him is no false way at all, no pretense, no deceit, no gossip, no guile, and no hypocrisy. He has no hollow friendships, nor does He give vain compliments. His heart, hand, and tongue are in unison in believing and doing truth. This is a model for all of us to strive to reach.

Proverbs 25:19 instructs us, "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint." Faithfulness always indicates a person who deals truthfully; he can be trusted. Yet, dealing with unfaithful people is usually painful because one never knows whether they will come through. Thus, our evaluation of ourselves comes down to this question: How can God trust us if we are not striving to be honest now?

II Corinthians 4:1-2 sets a standard:

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Paul's proclamation fits right into the description of the acceptable person in Psalm 15. Our responsibility is to manifest truth. We must make honest and diligent use of God's gracious gifts without craftiness. Is our way Christ's way and therefore acceptable to God? Can we say that we have nothing to do with hidden and shameful methods?

Paul is not saying that we act with unscrupulous cleverness, but that we do not adulterate truth in any form at all. By making truth clear, whether in word or deed, we commend ourselves both to human conscience in the sight of God and please Him at the same time. We should be childlike and open, leaving as little room as possible for people to misinterpret our motives, misunderstand our actions, or twist our words out of their real meaning.

Does it make any difference what people think of us? Some take the approach that "I'm going to do what I want to do, and what others think doesn't matter." However, it matters very much to God. If it did not, He would not show such concern in His Word regarding being a good witness for Him. Nor would He warn us about protecting our reputation—or His—because much of our effectiveness in witnessing depends on our being trustworthy.

Keeping the ninth commandment begins with not letting our deceitful heart trick us into doing anything less than what is honest and true in God's sight, regardless of what we think men might discern from what we say or do. To do this, we may have to override strong internal drives to make ourselves look good, but doing what is right is something that must be done to remain pure and glorify God.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Ninth Commandment

Luke 19:13

Traditionally, rich noblemen had a retinue of servants or bond-slaves, among whom were those who, because of their integrity and resourcefulness, could be trusted to care for their master's interests while he was away. Upon his return, the parable's nobleman commanded his servants to account for their business done on his behalf in his absence. The ten servants (verse 13) represent not only the disciples of Jesus' time, who served during His earthly ministry and in the early church, but all the saints, whom He expects to serve Him faithfully until He returns.

The first servant's mina gained him ten minas for which he humbly took no credit. He had faithfully fulfilled his responsibility in trading with the mina. Taking advantage of every opportunity, he increased his master's investment tenfold, and he was rewarded with rule over ten cities.

The second servant had not been as diligent and ambitious, his mina increasing fivefold. Nevertheless, he still received increased responsibility in proportion to his trustworthiness and capability. The God we serve notices both the quality and quantity of what we do for Him (Luke 19:15; I Corinthians 3:13).

The third servant was not diligent enough to increase his mina at all. His excuse revealed his twisted opinion of his master and his expectations of his servants.

Martin G. Collins
Parable of the Minas

Hebrews 10:23

Holding fast is the first indication of faithfulness, but our understanding increases when we know the word translated "faithful" is the same word translated "faithfulness" in Galatians 5:22. It is understood as "reliable" or "trustworthy" rather than "fidelity" because it is being fully convicted of the truth of God that engenders loyalty and dependability. Faith in God corresponds to God's faithfulness. As with two tuning forks of the same pitch, when one is struck, the other responds by vibrating also. God's faithfulness should awaken faith in us, so we can respond in submissive obedience. If He is worth trusting, we should trust Him.

Since God is faithful, it has become our responsibility to imitate Him in being faithful by committing our lives to well doing.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

Hebrews 11:7

In the Western world, we have unique and sometimes bizarre ways of measuring things. Because capitalism is such a dominant feature of our culture, from birth we are barraged by the belief that "bigger" and "more" are always better. Thus, the American healthcare industry is measured in billions of dollars rather than the number of people helped, let alone the number of people made well. The money involved and the size of any given industry or endeavor is what captures our attention. The West's measure of success is in numeric growth and profitability—and the impressive numbers to back it up—rather than in quality and a job well done.

The story of Noah, however, illustrates that God's servants are not always successful by human standards, even when they are highly praised by God. In II Peter 2:5, Noah is called a "preacher of righteousness." He preached righteousness—God's standard of conduct (Psalm 119:172)—but Hebrews 11:7 tells us that the results of his preaching were humanly negligible in that only his family was saved.

God's measure of success for Noah was not how many people he turned around or how many sinners he saved from the Flood. If that were the measure of success, by all accounting Noah would be an absolute failure. Yet, he is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11 because of his faithfulness, not because of the numeric results of his efforts.

After all of his toil and preaching, only seven others lived through God's judgment. In fact, it would appear that from the very outset God knew that not a single other person would pay Noah any heed! Considering the instructions given for the Ark in Genesis 6, God was intent on saving only Noah and his family, along with the animals. God did not instruct Noah to build an ocean liner to carry hundreds or thousands of people who might repent as a result of his preaching. Noah built an ark for the saving of his household, and by preparing only for the salvation of his household, he in fact condemned the rest of the world. We must remember that God Himself gave Noah the specifications, thus it was God who excluded the rest of the world, for the time being, from the salvation represented by the Ark.

Noah is identified as a preacher, even though in human eyes his preaching was a flop. He was a preacher in the sense of a herald or someone who makes a proclamation. He proclaimed that God's judgment was imminent, as well as the righteousness of God, which requires the death penalty for the universal unrighteousness of the world. Despite Noah's preaching having no apparent effect whatsoever on the choices of those around him, he is commended for his faith and obedience—his faithfulness—rather than the number of people who flocked to his side.

God could have chosen to soften the hearts of those to whom Noah preached. He could have poured out His Spirit upon them, as He will in the second resurrection. He could have ordained that Noah's preaching be tremendously successful, pricking the consciences of sinners everywhere. Therein resides another principle: No matter what the circumstances, it is God who determines the results.

This is why His measure of success for His servants is their faithfulness in their witness of Him, not what results are produced. God can bring about any result He desires. What He wants to see is what His servants will do with what He has given them. He is looking for faithfulness that demonstrates His servants truly believe what He says, regardless of whether the world sees dramatic results.

What does it mean to be faithful? The Greek word translated "faithfulness," "fidelity," or "good faith" has the basic meaning of trustworthiness—the characteristic of someone who is reliable. Part of our calling, then, is to be trustworthy—literally, worthy of God's trust. That implies having a track record of faithful service so that God knows He can depend on us to faithfully discharge the responsibilities He gives us.

However, faithfulness also includes the senses of loyalty and constancy. We cannot merely be faithful within ourselves; we must be faithful to something or someone. The relevant question, then, is to whom or what are we faithful? Who or what receives our fidelity, our allegiance, our loyalty, and our constancy? While many objects of faithfulness are possible, it should be a certainty that our faithfulness is to God—not to a human leader, past or present, and not to an idea. God leads and the church follows—not the other way around.

As the records of Abel, Enoch, and Noah show, trying to witness to the world without the proper preparation will not bear the fruit God desires. Trying to represent God before fully grasping our standing before Him and before greatly resembling Him may even make a witness against God. The lessons of these three men are sequential and compounding. If we get them out of order, or skip the spiritual preparation to get to the more earth-shaking matters, we risk being unusable by God and unfit for His Kingdom.

David C. Grabbe
First Things First (Part Four): Faithfully Witnessing


 




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