Good and Faithful Servant

Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25) calls someone who enters into heaven, “good and faithful servant.” It is the good and faithful servant who “enters into the joy of thy lord.” This is not speaking of some kind of super Christian, but a rank and file Christian. Every Christian is “good and faithful.”

Obviously, “goodness” is not self-righteousness. It comes from God, because only God is good. Saving goodness is imputed to someone upon His reception of Jesus Christ. Then he is also faithful. Faithfulness is a quality of God, who is called “the faithful God” in Deuteronomy 7:9. Why? God “keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” God keeps His agreement, His word. He follows through with what He says He’s going to do, His promises.

Being faithful may not seem extraordinary. It isn’t. It is normal. It is usual. This defines a Christian. The foremost lexicon of the New Testament, BDAG, says that the Greek adjective, pistos, means, “pertaining to being worthy of belief or trust, trust-worthy, faithful, dependable, inspiring trust/faith.”

Paul describes a true Christian as a steward in 1 Corinthians 4:2. God gives a Christian everything good and he is a steward, a manager, of what God gives him. Paul says “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” A true Christian has been a good and faithful servant. He is dependable. He is committed. You can count on him. That doesn’t mean he will be sinlessly perfect, but he will characteristically do what God wants him to do.

Faithfulness to Jesus Christ means faithfulness to the church of which He is head. Are you faithful to church? This includes all the elements of the worship of God.