Summary:

The question we’re going to wrestle with this week is, “why is trust something that needs to be built at all?” Why is trust so hard to gain, and so easy to lose? More importantly, how can we master the art of not just creating the perception of trust, but actually being stable, reliable, trustworthy and likable people ourselves? How can we, as follower of Jesus, become the kind of people that others like to be with, and want to be like?

Audio Transcript:

This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit MosaicBoston.com.

Good morning and welcome again to Mosaic. It's good to see you and if you're new, welcome. So glad you're here. My name is Shane. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic and we'd love to connect you. The way we do that officially is through that little Connection Card in your worship guide. We'd love it if you could fill that out for us and just drop those in the offering baskets later on, or if you turn them in at the Welcome Center out front, we have a little gift we'd love to give to you this morning, as well as some more information about the church.

Just a couple of announcements before we get started. Pastor Jan already mentioned it, but in case you came in late, for the members of Mosaic, there is a members meeting next week and it's a really important one: we're going to be voting on Andy Hoot, our pastoral resident, he's actually completed his residency, but we're going to be voting on him to become a pastor here at Mosaic, and so definitely come and show your support for that. But not only is this a members meeting, it's also a potluck. So make sure you bring something good to eat to share with some people as well.

And then, if you've been coming to Mosaic for a few weeks now and we understand the ebb and flow of the city. A lot of people move here and a lot of people move around, especially throughout the summer and during September, and if you've been coming to Mosaic for a little while and you're looking to get more meaningfully connected, we want to help you with that and the best way to do that is through our community groups. We have a lot of great groups that meet all over the city, throughout the week, in people's homes. We even have a couple groups that meet on Sunday afternoons here at the temple, in case your weekday schedule is just too packed. But it's just a smaller, more intimate environment where you can really begin to build some meaningful relationships with people in the church.

We actually have a bunch of new groups starting up, and so we have groups all over the city and we've got a few new ones starting up. Watertown, Newton, Brighton, here in Brookline, Mission Hill, we've got a group starting even in Medford and Wellesley, so if you're living a little bit farther out from our location here, but definitely check those out and I encourage you to get plugged in.

All right. I'm going to pray for us and then we'll jump into the sermon this morning. God, we need you. Apart from you, we are all treading water in an endless sea. And yet, with you, you give us the only foundation on which we can plant our feet. You are the rock that we stand on. You are the anchor for our soul. We thank you that you are trustworthy and true. You are faithful.

And you've promised to always be with us and for us, to never leave us or forsake us, and Lord, we ask that as your people that you would make us a people like you. That you would make us a people who are trustworthy, true, a people who are reliable and stable.

We pray right now that you come right now and just through your word, speak to us what we need to hear. If we need encouragement, I pray you would give us encouragement. If we need conviction, I pray that you would give us conviction, Lord, and that you would minister to us by the power of your Spirit and shape us, form us more into the image of your son, Jesus Christ.

It's in his name we pray, amen.

So this fall, we are going through a sermon series called Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. And what we're doing is we're taking a look and we're applying this theme that we see throughout scripture to different practical areas of our life, and it's this theme that God is both/and. He is both just and merciful. He is both truth and love, that Jesus is the lion and the lamb; that is he confident and humble, that he is tough and tender.
And when you look at the life of Jesus Christ, you see that he had this amazing stability and resilience that was extremely, profoundly attractive in his time and yet, if we're honest, it's majorly, majorly lacking in ours. That Jesus had a tough mind. He had thick skin and yet, he also had a tender heart.

So we see that he did hard things and he spoke hard truths and he faced hard opposition, and through it all, he also loved hard people. And as we're going through this series, this is what we want to do: is how can we become more like him? How can we become more like that? What would happen in our church, in our city, in our culture, if more people were tough and tender like Jesus Christ?

And so today, we're going to be looking at a certain quality that tough and tender people have, it's a quality that Jesus had and it's the quality of being reliable, of being trustworthy. Are you a trustworthy person?

We live in a culture where trust is hard to come by and it's actually on the decline. On a broad level, the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer reported sharp declines in trust toward major institutions. That right now, only about one third of Americans trust their government to do what is right. Only about 42% trust what they hear from the media. And now, on a more personal level, we don't need some massive report and statistics to tell us that people are hard to trust.

Trust is not our default, when we begin a relationship. Trust is not our baseline. It's something that needs to be earned; it needs to be kept. It's hard to get and it's easy to lose. And Scripture actually talks about this from the beginning. That in the beginning, trust was the baseline. You read the description of Adam and Eve in the Garden and what it tells us about them is that they were naked but not ashamed.

Now, naked, obviously it's talking about something deeper than just physically, that they were emotionally, factually ... spiritually, they were completely open and vulnerable with one another and yet not afraid. They had no reason to be afraid. Apart from sin, and in the presence of God, they were free. They were free to just fully trust and fully love without fear and then Genesis 3 happens and all of that is lost.

Genesis 3, sin enters the Garden and trust leaves the Garden. All of a sudden, there is reason to fear, and the first thing we see Adam and Eve do is what? They begin sewing leaves together to create garments to cover their nakedness. I'm afraid to let you see me for who I really am, because I don't like who I really am and if you find out who I really am, you're not going to like me, either. They covered themselves.

The next thing they do is they not only do that, but then they run and hide from God. They feel the guilt before this holy God and they're afraid and they know what their sin deserves, so they run and they had and then ultimately, they begin to turn against one another. They begin to blame one another, and in order to build themselves up, they start tearing one another down. They've lost the freedom that came with their innocence. And in its place is this guilt, is this shame that their trust was replaced with suspicious and with contention and they begin competing with one another for justification.

So this is where we are, this is the world that we live in. We're not able to trust without taking risks. Right? In order to trust someone, you're taking the risk that they might hurt you; that they might let you down. In order to trust someone, you're taking the risk that they might find out who you really are, find you out and reject you.

And we all want to be close to people. We want people in our lives who are stable, who are reliable, who are trustworthy, but who can we trust? That's one question to ask. But I think a more important question to ask is this: how can we become the kind of people who can be trusted? How can we become the kind of people that other people actually just like to be with and want to be like because they see that we're reliable, steadfast, trustworthy people? And just imagine what could happen. Imagine if a church full of trustworthy, reliable, likable people, just saturated the city like Boston. That's kind of what we're going to be talking about today.

So, as we do, we're going to be looking at Paul's second letter to his disciple Timothy. 2 Timothy 3, if you want to follow along in your Bibles. And as we do, we've got three points framing up our time. Point number one: afraid to trust. Two: a friend to trust. And then three: a formative trust.

And we're going to start by looking at 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and then also verses 10 and 11. So Paul writing to Timothy, he says this. He says: "But understand this: that in the last days, there will comes times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people."

And going on to verse 10, he says: "But you, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. My persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all, the Lord rescued me."

This is God's holy word for us this morning. Point number one: afraid to trust. When you look at the first four verses of this chapter, you see this long list of just unstable, unlikable, untrustworthy people. That these are the kind of people that you don't like to be with and you don't want to be like. And in the context of 1 and 2 Timothy, what's going on is Paul is giving this young man Timothy instructions for how to be a good pastor.

And as a pastor of his church, Timothy's job is not to do all the work of the ministry on behalf of the church. He's not a hired gun, which is a common misconception in a lot of churches today, but Timothy's job was instead to equip the church for the work of the ministry, to equip the saints.
In other words, Timothy, as the pastor, he needed to recruit and assess and train and develop people in the church in order to entrust them with the responsibility for the ministry. So his job was to equip and to entrust the church but he was also called to shepherd the church.

And what this means is that Timothy also had the responsibility to guard and to protect the church. And specifically, he needed to guard and protect from false teachers and from false teachings and so as Paul is telling Timothy, "Listen, you need to raise people up and entrust them with ministry, but you need to do so carefully. You need to do so cautiously. You need to use wisdom and discernment, because not everyone is going to be deserving of that trust."

Now, he even says that some are going to have the appearance of godliness but deny its power. There's going to be imposters. There's going to be hypocrites who pose a danger to the church and so even if things look good on the outside, that's not always a good indication of what's going on inside. It's not always a good indication of what is going on behind closed doors, so you need to be cautious. You need to be careful.

He begins by using this phrase 'in the last days.' When we think about that, it might be tempting to be like, "Okay, well, he's talking about something later on in the future and so this doesn't really apply to us right now." But that's now how Scripture uses that phrase. Actually, when Scripture uses this phrase, it's describing the entire period of time between Jesus's resurrection and his return.

And so, in some ways, it does refer to future events, but it does so in a way that also refers to present reality. And it does it with the implications of the way things are right now, things are going to ebb and flow throughout human history, but right before Jesus returns, there's going to be this intensification. Things are going to become a little more extreme, and so yeah, Paul's talking about something in the future, but he's also talking about something that was practically relevant to Timothy at the time.

And if we're honest with ourselves, right? If we read this description carefully, thoughtfully, he's talking about us, as well. Every single one of us finds ourself on this list somewhere. No, we're not going those qualities up on our LinkedIn, but let's be honest, like ... Okay, let's see how far we get.

Number one, lovers of self. I failed already. Why'd you have to start there, Paul? Couldn't you start with murderer or something, like? Lovers of money. This is not looking good. Proud. Arrogant. Abusive. It goes on and on.

And I said earlier, this is a list of people that we don't like to be with and that we don't want to be like. It's too late; we are like this. We're with people like this every day. And so here's the point.

It's not enough to say that other people are hard to trust. I can't even trust myself. I don't even fully know or understand myself. I question my motives. I'm suspicious of my own desires; I can't trust my own heart because I know that it's broken and sick with sin.

Jeremiah 17:9 says that, "The heart is deceitful is above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?" Next time someone says just follow your heart, you just quote that verse back to them. Not a good idea.

Paul wrestles with this himself in Romans 7:18 when he says this, he says, "I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And he says in verse 25, "But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord."

If we can't trust others and we can't even trust ourselves, well then who's left to trust? Who can we trust? Who can deliver us from this body of death, there is only one. There's only one person to have ever lived who did not make this list of vices that Paul gives us at the beginning of Chapter 3.

And actually, if you look at his life, his life was the antithesis of this list. You take this list, you flip it upside down, you read it through the opposite lens and what you begin to see is Jesus Christ. Jesus was not a lover of self, a lover of money. He perfectly loved others. He was generous. He was humble. He was meek. He was compassionate. He honored his earthly parents and his heavenly Father. He was always grateful, holy, tenderhearted, content with what he had. He spoke the truth and he spoke it with love. He practiced self-control. He was gentle. He loved what is good. He was trustworthy, responsible, eager to serve others, he loved God more than worldly comforts or pleasures and had a deep, abiding godliness that he attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit.

And this brings us to point two, that Jesus Christ is the friend that we can trust and he's the friend that we need. Paul begins his list in verse two saying that people will be lovers of self, but then he ends in verse four by saying, "And they will not be lovers of God," and this is the root of the problem. Our biggest problem is not a behavior problem; our biggest problem is a heart problem.

It is a problem of disordered loves and idolatry. That everything listed between the start of verse two and the end of verse four is merely symptomatic of this problem that we don't love others because we don't love God and we don't love God because we're scared.

We're running from fear because we know that we stand guilty before a holy God. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, "This is the judgment." Verse 19: "That the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed."

This part's not nearly as famous as John 3:16, that Jesus said a little bit earlier, but it's true. Adam and Eve ran and hid from God in the Garden and we're still running and hiding from him today.

And this is the question that we need to ask is, well then how and why should we trust and love a God whose justice and law has rightly judged us guilty and deserving of death?

Now, this is where it is helpful to back up to John 3:16, because just a few verses earlier, Jesus also said this. He said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him."

The reason that we should love God is because he first loved us. The reason that we should trust God is Jesus Christ. And so, how can we trust a God whose justice rightly demands that we die? It is only by understanding that his love desires that we live, that his love desires that he somehow show us mercy and that even while we were dead in our sins and enemies of God and running and hiding from him, his love compelled him to send his Son, to seek and to save the lost, to mercifully lay down everything in order to give us life.

So the secret to loving God is to acknowledge that you can't love God, that you don't love God and you won't love God until you accept that he first loved you. This is what John tells us in 1 John, Chapter Four, he says, "And this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. By this is love perfected in us, so that we may have confidence, no longer fear, but confidence for the day of judgment because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us."

Jesus Christ, through his atonement on the cross became the propitiation for our sins, and what that means is that he appeased God's righteous anger toward our sin so that we no longer need to run from him in fear but can run to him for mercy. That Jesus Christ took our sentence, he took our penalty, our punishment, upon himself. He paid the debt and he settled our account. He takes our guilt, he exchanges it for his righteousness.

And this is amazing. What this means is that God in his infinite, eternal wisdom has made a way to show guilty people mercy, without compromising his own holiness or justice. That he remains just and yet, becomes the justifier of all who repent and put their faith in Christ. And this is what Paul tells us in Romans, Chapter 3.

Verse 21: "That now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believed. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who God put forward as propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins, he was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

This changes everything. When you understand that you are so bad that the only possible solution to your badness is that Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God would come and die for you? That leaves you incredibly contrite, repentant, and humble. It kills your pride and it makes you tender. But when you also understand that you are so loved by God and that he, in his divine character is so merciful that he willingly did that for you? That gives you an unshakeable boldness and confidence and courage as a child of God. That his perfect loves drives out fear and it leaves with you with this lion-like toughness, this confidence.

This is what makes Jesus the friend that we can trust. It's not just that he loves us. It's that he fully knows us and he still chooses to love us. We didn't earn it; we can't lose it, and therefore, we should never doubt it. We should never doubt his faithfulness or love. Jesus is the sure, solid, unshakeable foundation. And when we build our lives on him, his stability begins to add stability to every other aspect of our lives.

Romans 8, one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. Like, this is one of those passages every Christian should just memorize. But in it, Paul writes this. He says that: "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Those whom he predestined, he also called and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then, shall we say to these things? For if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love Christ?"

"Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it's written, for your sake, we're being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our lord."

Proverbs 18:24 says that, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." In our world of many companions, Jesus is the true friend. He is the true big brother that our hearts long for and need. He knows us completely. Yet, he loves us sacrificially and the good work that he began in us at the moment of our justification, he is guaranteed to continue on to completion until the moment of our glorification.

And this brings us to point three, that when we put our faith and trust, that when we build our life on him, that trust is a formative trust. It begins to add stability to the rest of our lives as well.

Psalm 25:9 says, "He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humbles his ways. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose."

The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant, that the faithfulness and the friendship of Jesus Christ, this should have a formative effect in our lives that makes us faithful, steadfast, trustworthy people as well.

So Paul begins 2 Timothy 3, and he's got this list of like, really vicious people to avoid, but then in verse 10 and 11, he shows us another way. He shows us how we as followers of Jesus can live instead.

And so, 2 Timothy 3:1, he starts out, he says, "Understand this. In the last days, there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive," he goes on and on, but then he gets down to verse 10. And he says, "But you, Timothy, you however, you followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. My persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, which persecutions I endured yet from them all, the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from who you learned it and how from childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able make to wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

How do you live in a world full of faithless people? How do you live in a world where there's just people you can't trust? Well, Paul's advice to Timothy is not so much about them, it's about him. It's about you, Timothy. You, Timothy, embody the change that you want to see in others and then continue in that no matter what it may cost.

And so, you Timothy, and to us, as disciples of Jesus, what this means is that we need to become the kind of people that are worthy of others' trust. We need to become the kind of people that other people just like to be with and they want to be like because we're reliable, we're stable, we're steadfast. Become the humble, confident, lion/lamb, tough/tender people that we've been called to be in Christ.

And here in this last section, I just want to break down verses 10 through 13 and as I do, I borrowed some wisdom from Pastor Jan. I'm gong to give you 10 marks of a trustworthy person. I don't know if this is going to be a common theme throughout this season, but point three has 10 sub points, some of those points have dove points and so, we're going to rapid, rapid fire. Really quick through this.

But 10 marks of a trustworthy person, as we go through these, this is what we need to ask ourselves. Number one, do I have these qualities in myself and if so, do I have a lion-like toughness to stand firm in them and not waver, no matter what circumstances I might go through in life?

And then, number two: am I also growing in these qualities? Do I have a lamb-like tenderness and teachability in order to continue developing in these areas, because we're never going to be perfect in any of them, at least not in this lifetime.

So those are the questions to ask we go. 10 marks of a trustworthy person. The first one is so intuitive, so you know, obvious that it might seem cliché, but a trustworthy person has integrity. And Paul begins verse 10, he says to his disciple Timothy that, "You have followed my example," in what? "In teaching and in conduct." That Paul talked the talk but he also walked the walk and the things that he taught were integrated, with his lifestyle. He was a man of integrity. And trustworthy people, they need to strive to be people of integrity.

Number two is intention. He says, "You followed me in my aim in life," that Paul was upfront about his motives. His aim was clear. He didn't have a hidden agenda, right? He had a clear mission, a clear purpose and he wore it on his sleeve. People knew what he was about and they knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. And trustworthy people, they make their intentions, their motives clear and they stick to them.

And number three is faith. Paul says, "You followed my example in faith," and Paul's faith was exemplary, actually in a few different ways. First of all, Paul's faith meant that he was a man who was securely anchored. Right? Paul was not a loose cannon. He was not a ship being tossed about in the waves of doubt. He wasn't double-minded. He wasn't one person one day and another person the next. He had this strong faith that kept him anchored. He was unwavering in his convictions and he wasn't swayed by the opinions of others. He wasn't swayed by his own emotions or even by his circumstance.

And so, he was securely anchored. Secondly though, he was also boldly optimistic. Paul was not a cynical or pessimistic person, although we might look at his life and say that he had reason to be. But he boldly trusted God's goodness and sovereignty, even through the suffering and persecution that he faced. He still had hope; he had peace and he had joy because he trusted that God was working it all together for his good. He was boldly optimistic.

And thirdly, he was also courageously ambitious. He set great goals and he attempted great things for God, even when it came at great cost to himself. And Pastor Jan preached an entire sermon last week you can go back and listen to about setting godly goals, but Paul was a man who had a godly ambition.

He wasn't fearful. He wasn't timid. He didn't procrastinate. He had confidence. He set those goals and he worked hard toward them.

Number four is patience. Paul said, "You followed my example in patience." Trustworthy people don't freak out and fly off the handle as soon as things don't go according to plan. Right? Instead, they give stability to everyone else who's freaking out as things don't go according to plan. Patient people are slow to be anxious.

Patient people are not quick to take offense; they don't take things personally. They're not quick to judge; they give people the benefit of the doubt. They don't lose their temper. They're quick to forgive. Things can roll off their back. They keep their emotions in check. They set reasonable expectations for others. They don't honk as soon as the light turns green, they wait a few seconds and then, you tap it. Politely. That's how you do it. Life skills, Boston.

But they live by the Golden Rule. They treat people the way they would want to be treated. Patiently.

Number five is love. You followed my example in love, and trustworthy people don't love, they love and there's a difference and Paul's using a specific word for love here that I think our culture really needs. It's the word 'agape,' it's not a love that's marked by feelings and sentiment. It's a mark, it's a love that's marked by commitment and sacrifice.

Our world loves love but the love that they love, it's a phony love. It's a shallow love. Our love expects us to muster up these sentimental feelings about things and then act on them before those feelings run out but agape love says, "I'm going to take action. I'm going to do the right thing, regardless of how I feel."

Agape love says that I'm not going to do things just because they feel good but because they actually do good. And this is where you begin to see that agape love doesn't always feel like love on the surface. We talked a few weeks ago on the importance of speaking the truth in love. That if you really care about things, sometimes you have to speak truths, things that are hard for people to hear, but you do so motivated by love. And this is the mark of a trustworthy person, because nobody trusts a yes man. Nobody trusts the person who always is ready to tell you what you want to hear.

Now at the same time, nobody likes a critic, but when you have someone who can come to you and offer you constructive, heartfelt criticism, not gossiping behind your back, but actually one-on-one to your face because they genuinely care about you? That's a true friend; that's a person that you can trust. Trustworthy people love.

Number six is steadfastness. You followed my example in being steadfast. Trustworthy people, they're people that you can rely on. If they say they're going to do something; they do it. If they make a promise, they keep it. Their word is their bond. Right? If they make an appointment, they show up ready and on time. This is a life hack, but in Boston, what that means, is that you always leave five minutes earlier than you think you have. Because the T's always going to be late; traffic's always going to be bad. There's always going to be a million excuses, but when that happens, it communicates something to that other person. If you're the person who's always late, who's never prepared.

It's non-verbally telling other people, "My time is more valuable than yours." But when you're consistent, when you show up when you say you're going to show up and you show up ready to go, it communicates like, "I care about you and I value your time." And that creates trust in people.

Steadfast people, they're not afraid of commitment and they're also not fools with commitment, and so what that means is that they count the cost before starting something and then, once they do start something, they carry it on to completion, that they're faithful. They follow through.

And in order to do this, we need to be a people who use our yes and our and meaningfully and thoughtfully and intentionally. Jesus told his disciples that you should let your yes be yes and your no be no and that anything beyond this comes from the evil one, but steadfast people, when they say yes to something, they mean it. And they also have the courage and the wisdom and the humility to know when they need to say no.

And listen, every time you say yes to something, you are automatically saying no to something else. So, are you doing that intentionally? Are you doing that with wisdom? If you're going to say yes to great things in life, you're going to be required to say no to a whole lot of, a 100 million little good things that want to take you and pull you away from that.

But if we're going to be the people that make commitments and follow through on them, that's what we need to do. And so this is a discipline that steadfast people learn.

Number seven is persecution. This one might seem strange to be on the list, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Paul says, "You followed my example in persecution."

If a person actually has integrity and convictions, a clear purpose, if they hold fast to what they believe, in general, that's going to make them more trustworthy and likable. But it's also going to mean there's always going to be a certain group of people that hate them for it.

This is Jesus. Jesus is the most trustworthy, likable person to have ever lived, but much of what made him so also got him crucified because people who are trustworthy, they're often marked by persecution because these are the people who are willing to do the right thing even when it's no longer the popular thing.

These are the ones who stand up to the bullies on the playground. These are the ones who refuse to compromise their integrity under the pressure of their peers. And people aren't always going to like that. Paul actually tells Timothy, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted."

And number eight is similar, but a little bit different. He says, "You followed my example in suffering," as well. It's hard to trust a person who's lived a really cushy life. It's hard to trust a person who's never suffered, because you really don't know the true content of a person's character until you see it tested by the fires of hardship and pain.

Now on the flip side, there are a few things more admirable than watching a person walk through difficulty, walk through suffering, but do so with hope, do so with joy, do so with grace, and this is what Paul did. Paul, you read his life. He lived a life of tremendous suffering for the Gospel. And yet, he was never grumbling, he was never complaining, he wasn't lashing out at people.

What was he doing? He was always rejoicing. He was always trusting that God was in control, that he was sovereignly working all things together for his good, and so he walked faithfully through suffering.

Number nine is endurance. Trustworthy people don't just have bursts of stability in life, they have enduring stability over the long haul, over time and over space. Right? There's a proven track record that they're not just faithful in certain areas of life for certain periods of time. They're faithful across multiple areas of life for long periods of time.

And then number 10, most importantly, is humility. Trustworthy people are humble. And it might not seem so at the surface, when Paul is like, "You have followed my example," and that you should follow my example. It might not sound like an incredibly humble thing to do, that you should imitate me.

But Paul does so and then in the end, he gives all the glory to Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the one who rescued me, that Jesus is the one who's saved me, and 1 Corinthians 11:1 he says, "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ." It's all about Jesus. And he makes this even more clear a few chapters later in Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. He says, "It's only by the grace of God that I am what I am. And his grace for me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."

It's the humility to say yeah, I have grown in my walk with Jesus Christ. There are things about me that are worth imitating and yet, at the end of the day, it's all Jesus. It's him working in me.

I look at this list of characteristics and in the flesh, I am overwhelmed. In the flesh, being a person marked by these qualities, I'm already exhausted. I'm already tired. Like, just thinking about it. In the spirit, though, this is exhilarating.

Because like, imagine what could happen if just one person started living this way perfectly. Well, it did happen. That was Jesus Christ. We've already begun to see and to experience what could happen; it changes the whole world. Now, just imagine if we all started to live this world. Imagine if we had a community of reliable, tough, tender, humble, confident, likable, trustworthy people saturating our city.

Imagine if the streets of Boston were filled with people of integrity, purpose, faith, patience, humility and an enduring love that was steadfast, even in the face of suffering, even in the face of persecution. Now, this is who Christ is and this is who he's called us to be and this is who, by the power of his Spirit, we are to become and when that happens, when that becomes evident in your life, people are going to ask question. People are going to want to know, like, they're going to see the patience. They're going to see the peace. They're going to see the joy and wonder, "Where does that come from?"

Like sooner or later, they're going to come and then they'll say, why don't you join us in the break room when we're all gossiping behind other people's backs? Why aren't you always trash-talking the boss with the rest of us when he's not in the room? Why does there seem to be so little drama in your personal relationships? Why don't you freak out with the rest of us when the rest of us are freaking out? Where do you get this stability in your life to stay so level-headed? And this is something we need to be prepared to give an answer for.

And this is exactly what Peter, he tells us this in 1 Peter, Chapter 3. In verse eight he says, "All of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness's sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them or be troubled, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you, for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet, do it with gentleness and respect, having good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

God has gathered us here in this place at this time in this city to be faithful, trustworthy witnesses to his Gospel and the thing that we need to be asking ourselves is when the storms of life hits, when things get crazy, when people's stability is shattered, are they going to come to us? And if they do, are we going to have enough lion-like stability in our lives to help them?

Are we going to have enough lamb-like humility to show them that any stability that they might see in us, it all comes from Jesus Christ, that he is the rock, he is the anchor for our souls? If you're lacking that stability, just look to the cross. Look to the one who knows you completely and yet loves you sacrificially. He chooses to love you with an unfailing love.

If you're not a Christian, like we would love for you to change that today. We would love for you to become a follower of Jesus today and you do that simply by repenting and putting your faith in him. Repenting is turning from away from sin. Stop trying to build life on your own foundations and instead, trust in Jesus. Build your life on the foundation of who he is.

And if you are a Christian, for those of us who are Christians, we need to ask ourselves a couple of questions. First of all, how is your stability? Like, are you a stable, trustworthy person? Are you feeling like a leaf blowing around in the wind?

This is important, because the second question is has God put people in your life who perhaps could benefit from that stability, if you have it? People that you can love, people that you can serve and people that you can point to the source of your stability so that they can find it themselves.

I'm going to close by reading from Hebrews 13:7-8 and then we'll pray together before we continue in worship. "Remember your leaders. Those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Praise God."

Let's pray. Jesus, you have sent us on a mission to proclaim your good news to the ends of the earth and you've also promised to be with us and for us until the end of the age. And we thank you that there is no shadow of turning in you but that you are trustworthy, reliable, steadfast. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God, give us faith to never doubt your power, your goodness, your love, your grace. But grow us to be a people with a magnetic stability, a trustworthy people, a people of intriguing likability, not because of us but because people see you in us. They see the confidence and humility of Christ reflected through our conduct and faith.

Jesus, we praise you. We thank you for being the propitiation for our sins, being the reason that we can have confidence to draw near the throne of God, no longer running in fear of the punishment we deserve but receiving the unfathomable mercy that you have attained for us by your blood shed on the cross.

Father, we thank you for sending your son so that you could be just and the justifier of those who have faith in him, who trust in his name, and to you be all glory and power and honor forever and ever, we pray.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.