| Introduction This season of great change in our lives, there has been a great tendency to introspection and reflection. It is not unusual at all to see reports of people re-thinking life's priorities and goals. In this special coronavirus captivity series, we are taking advantage of this propensity to re-think things to re-examine how we think of success. We want to use the right metrics in order to measure whether we are successful in our living. Unbiblical ways of measuring success often creep into our lives, metrics such like the balance in our financial portfolio, the size of our church, the number of followers on social media, academic and athletic achievements, well-behaved children, good health, a fit body, comfort, etc. We look at these categories in order to determine whether we are successful. Yet, are these the same standards that God uses to define success? I want us to see that success has very little to do with these metrics. Success is being loved by God and loving him in return. Jesus's interaction with Peter in John 21 helped us understand that. Success is also believing what we believe. God exists, and he is the Rewarder of those who diligent seek him, Heb. 11:6. Faith in whom God is and what he does is success! Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation is success! Today we want to introduce a third metric as we work at defining success biblically. This third metric is faithfulness to God as he reveals himself in his Word. We all know what our Catechism teaches is the ultimate purpose of life: to enjoy God and glorify him. Thus, ultimate success is to enjoy and glorify God. The next two questions of our Shorter Catechism are not as well known to us. Yet, they are very important because they outline how we can achieve the ultimate success of enjoying and glorifying God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks in question 2, "What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?" To which, it answers, "The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him." So, to enjoy and glorify God, we must know the Scriptures. Question 3 adds a second element. "What do the Scriptures principally teach?" In essence, the Catechism is asking, "what is the main point of the Bible?" Here is the answer: the Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man." That's the purpose of the Scriptures – to teach us what we should believe and what we should do. That being the case, in order to enjoy and glorify God we need to know and obey the Scriptures. These are two elements of faithfulness. Success is not found in seeking to be successful by some worldly metric. Success is achieved by being faithful to God through his Word. I. Moses's Seeming Success A. In our passage this morning, we find Israel nearing the end of the wilderness years. B. They find themselves thirsty and start hurling bitter accusations at Moses, 3-4. C. Moses and Aaron seek the Lord in their discouragement and the Lord heard them, 5-9. D. Moses was tired of all the complaining. 1. Almost 40 years of hearing the people grumbling about the most insignificant things was wearing down on him. 2. Time and again he provided for them and all they give him in return is more complaining. E. He looks over them and his blood boils, 10-12. 1. He hits the rock twice and water gushes out. 2. Enough water to provide for a couple million people and their livestock. 3. Everyone's thirst is quenched, people are happy, and Moses is vindicated. 4. As far as we can tell, that was a highly successful day! F. From heaven's perspective, however, it was a failure of a day, 12. 1. Moses was not faithful to the Word of God – he struck the rock when God told him to speak to it. 2. As a result, Moses was not going to be able to lead the people into the Promise Land. 3. Moses had given to the people exactly what they needed – water – and yet he was not successful. G. We look at this passage and think, "Boy, that seemed like an over-reaction on God's part." 1. After all, Moses did most of what God told him to do. 2. This thought betrays our own lack of understanding of what success is. 3. Success is treasuring what God says and doing exactly what he commands. 4. That's why we try to the best of our ability to let the Bible shape everything we do at our church. H. Success is faithfulness. 1 Cor. 4:1-2 – Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. {TRANSITION: I want to divide the concept of faithfulness into two factors – obedience and hard work.} II. Faithfulness Necessarily Displayed in Obedience A. The Bible consistently links success to obedience. 1. After Moses's death, God reiterated this truth to the man who was going to lead Israel into the Promised Land – Joshua (he did this twice). Josh. 1:7-8 – 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 2. This is the same type of advice that David gave to his son Solomon when Solomon was rising to the throne. 1 Kg. 2:2-3 – I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. 3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn…. B. If obedience to the Word of God is key to faithfulness and success, then knowing the Word of God is key to obedience. 1. If we are ever to know true success, we must steep ourselves in what the Scriptures say and call us to do. Steep: soak (food or tea) in water or other liquid so as to extract its flavor or to soften it… 2. The question, then, that those of us who desire to succeed in God's service must answer is this: Do we know God's Word, and are we growing in our knowledge of it? a. Knowledge of the Bible begins with and is fed by reading it and hearing it preached. 1) Every follower of Jesus Christ must be endeavoring to read the Bible daily. a) Have you ever read the Bible through? b) If you haven't, would you commit to do that? c) The Scriptures are to our spiritual life as air is to our physical life. 2) Every follower of Jesus Christ must endeavor to hear the Bible preached, especially on the Lord's Day. b. Many of God's most-used servants have made reading and meditating on what the Bible says an everyday part of their lives. 1) It is said that George Mueller read his Bible through 200 times in his lifetime. 2) David Livingstone read it four times in a row while he was detained in a jungle town in Africa. 3) These men believed in what Spurgeon later said, "A Bible which is falling apart usually belongs to someone who is not." 3. Believer in Jesus Christ, the call from both the Scriptures and the lives of the faithful is for us to be people of the Book. a. The call in our lives is to know it and interpret it correctly. b. If you are not currently engaged in the systematic studying of the Bible, commit to it today. 1) Don't wait till tomorrow. 2) If God is really your God and Jesus really your Savior and Lord, commit to getting to know him better today by reading the very Book that teaches you all that you are to believe concerning him and all that he requires of you. c. You do that and you will be on the path to success. C. Knowing the Scriptures must always lead to doing the Scriptures. 1. We learn what we are to believe and do in the Bible and then we do it. a. Just knowing a lot of the Bible is not the same as being obedient. b. Satan seems to be fluent in the Scriptures – he quoted it to Jesus several times. 2. So, we must ask ourselves: are we living lives that are obedient to what we know the Bible teaches? a. This is something all of us must ask ourselves because we possess inherently an amazing capacity to do otherwise. b. Honesty in this area is of utmost importance. 1) We compartmentalize our lives – we see our obedience in one area as obedience in all areas. 2) We rationalize why we don't need to be obeying this or that thing. 3) We hide behind the "it's complicated" excuse – the fact is that God's Word is generally and painfully clear. "It's not what I don't understand about the Bible that bothers me; it's what I do understand." Mark Twain 3. Success comes when we faithfully study God's Word and faithfully obey it by applying what we understand to all areas of our lives under the direction of the Holy Spirit. D. Obedience is what we designed to do. 1. I have taken Running Bear (Isaac's dog) to the dog park at Point Defiance a couple of times. a. At the park, he gets to be off leash and run free. b. He plays with other dogs. e. He seems to be in dog heaven at the park because he is doing what he was designed to do. 2. Never are we greater, never do we know greater joy, never are we more successful than when we are obedient to God's Word because that's what we were designed to do. a. And the exciting thing is that such glory, such joy, such success is not just within the grasp of a selected few. b. It is in the reach of all of us regardless of our situation. III. Faithfulness Necessarily Displayed in Hard Work A. The Bible teaches that there is no such thing as a lazy faithful servant – the Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25:14-20) helps us see that. 1. The servant who is given five talents multiplied them, as did the one who received two talents. 2. To each one of those two servants, the Lord said, "Well, done good and faithful servant. 3. To the servant who did nothing with his talent, the Lord has nothing good to say other than calling him a wicked and lazy servant. B. Jesus himself modeled the energy that he expects from his faithful servants. 1. One day, while weary from his ministry and travel, Jesus stopped by a well in Samaria for some much needed rest. 2. As he is sitting there, he heard the footsteps of a woman coming toward him. a. He could have not lifted his eyes and kept to himself. b. But in his weariness, he engaged her and in one of the most beautiful displays of gracious aggression in the Bible, he went for her soul. C. The Bible doesn't call us to an obsessive-compulsive workaholism, but it does call us to work hard. 1. The Bible recognizes our limitations and needs. 2. But the fact remains that a faithful servant will be hardworking and when necessary, will labor to exhaustion. 2 Cor. 11:27-29 – … in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? 3. This very much in opposition to the current belief that blessings + success = comfort.
Faithfulness is one of the essential metrics used to measure success. The beauty of it is that when defined this way, success is equally possible for Christians in all situations. So, delve deep into God's Word. Read it and reread it. Meditate on it. Let it "dwell richly within you." Then, as it speaks to you, faithfully obey it with all your might, and keep on working hard for God. That's true success.
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