Tag: accountability

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Christian Living

My Independent, Private, Personal Faith

burst pipeWhen you have a burst pipe under the house… you call in the expert – a plumber.
When your car won’t start… you call in the expert – a mechanic.
When someone sues you… you call in the expert – a lawyer.
When you have a major health concern… you call in the expert – a doctor.

And when you have a theological crisis… you call in the expert…no… wait… nevermind… instead you begin thinking: “I don’t need someone to tell me about belief… I don’t need someone to instruct me about faith… I might not like their take on it… I am more than sufficient to make my own decision… I am the expert.”

It is funny how in so much of life we know that we need help by those who have been trained in areas of specific expertise, but when it comes to the matter of faith, we decide that we are always sufficient and do not need anyone else’s help.

Now don’t get me wrong, you have the same Holy Spirit available to you as Mr. Distinguished Theology Professor at the Super-Duper Preacher School (sidenote – I was unable to get accepted into that school). But while we do have the Holy Spirit available, the truth is that discipleship does not occur in a vacuum. We need others to aid us in spiritual growth. But that ain’t the American way.

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We are so very independent. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do. That is why there is usually a bunch of trash piled up under the signs that say “No Dumping.” We think, “Who are you to tell me I can’t put my trash here? I’ll show you!” (Dump.)

And in the same way, we don’t want anyone telling us how to live out our faith. That is one of the problems with calling it a “Personal relationship with Jesus.” It is personal, in that Jesus saves us individually. But again, discipleship does not occur in a vacuum. The disciples were trained by Jesus. The early church was discipled by the apostles. The people in the churches were to be discipled by the pastors and elders. In the same way that “iron sharpens iron” or a metal file sharpens an axe, we are to sharpen one another. We are told to hold each other accountable for godly behavior.

The phrase “‘Personal relationship with Jesus Christ…’ could give the impression that the Christian faith is private—‘just between you and God.’ For while our faith is indeed very personal, it is definitely not private. Private Christian faith is an oxymoron.” (from ‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)

We each want to create a system of belief and faith that is easy and palatable to us. The problem is… that just isn’t Jesus’ plan. His plan costs your life and is to be lived out in community under accountability to the rest of the faith family.

So when you consider your own personal faith, just make sure your “Personal relationship with Jesus Christ” leads you into the accountability of a Faith Family that holds you accountable to deeper and deeper levels of God-honoring thought, speech, and behavior.

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Relationships

Judging the Wrong Thing

Yesterday I made the crazy argument that we actually should be judging the behavior of a sign that says 'don't even think of parking here' symbolizing our judging of othersChristians (which we often don’t do) and that we shouldn’t be attacking the behavior of unbelievers (which we often find ourselves doing). How can that be right? Well, let’s take a quick look at a few verses at the end of 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul tells us:

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside….

What? That’s in the Bible? Yep, God tells us in several places that we are to hold each other accountable as believers. We often don’t do this. One important point about this – it is to be done in love. And so often, when we actually do decide to hold someone accountable it is not done so in love, rather it is done in condemnation and arrogant pride. How is this possible when we are to be known as people who love each other as family and who should be quick to invite others into the love of our family?

So what we find is that instead of following the words of God, instead of holding each other accountable in love, we are becoming known as those who attack unbelievers. When Christian researchers at the Barna Group asked young adults in America what words best describe Christianity, the #1 response was “anti-homosexual.” And this was true of both non-Christians and church attenders. That blows me away – that if you ask a young adult in America to define Christianity, the definition you will likely get is a negative statement of what we are against, instead of what we are for. We seem to have strayed a long way from our model, Jesus. He wasn’t known as a hater of immoral people. In fact, He was attacked by the religious groups for being a friend of sinners! What happened that we are no longer called that?

Dr. Russell Moore indicates (regarding this one societal issue) – “I think it’s not so much that churches haven’t wanted to talk about it,” he said, “but they haven’t recognized how much the culture has changed around them.” The first step, said Moore, is learning to defend traditional marriage without demonizing homosexuals. “If we can’t empathize with what’s going on in their hearts and minds, we’re not going to be able to love and respect them.”

Dr. Moore’s statement just sheds light on the fact that many Christians do not hold out love to those who do not hold to Christian morality. By taking this stance, we are keeping people from ever coming to Christ and from the possibility of being transformed to have Christian morality.

So yes, we find non-Christians doing whatever they think is right in their own eyes. But instead of us loving them toward Christ. We find that we are doing the same – we have decided to do what is right in our own eyes – judging non-Christians and not reaching out to those without Him in love. At some point, we desperately need to return to letting God be the One that guides us, rather than our culture and our own desires. When we do that, maybe we will find that the words that best describe us are words that tell what we are for – love, unity, compassion – rather than words that tell what we are against.

Why do you think Jesus is known for the love He had (and the things He was for), while we Christians in America today are known for the things we are against? How do we fix this?

— brian rushing

Categories
Relationships

Is Anybody Doing the Right Thing?

We find that we all want to do the right thing. But who gets to define what is right? If my freedom infringes on yours, can I still say that I am “in the right”?

In the OT book of Judges we find this statement:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
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There was no king in Israel – the people didn’t have a human king to give them direction and purpose, but even worse than that… the people had rejected God as the King of their lives, their hearts, & their minds. Today we find we are in a similar situation in America. In these days, though we have a President in the Oval Office as the leader of the nation, we have (as a nation) rejected God as our spiritual King and therefore everyone does what is right in his or her own eyes.

However, our role as believers is not to determine whatever we think is right and follow it. Rather, we are to know God’s Word and accept what He says is right. And then we are to hold each other accountable to solid, faithful obedience. But as soon as we try to do so, we hear from those who call themselves believers and yet who are not following God’s Word that “you can’t judge me…. God says ‘Do not judge so that you will not be judged,’ and ‘don’t try to get the speck out of my eye when you have a log in your eye.’ So you don’t have a right to judge my behavior.”

But that is so very far from the truth. We’ve heard it so often that many of us have also started to believe it to be true. Don’t buy it! The Bible tells us that believers ARE to hold each other accountable. We are to keep each other growing and on the right path. We are to do so with love. Interestingly enough, the Bible also tells us that we aren’t to focus on attacking the ungodly behavior of non-Christians, but just to love them to the Lord.

What? We should judge each other as believers, but not judge the immorality of non-believers? That can’t be right! But that is straight from the Bible.

Here’s the deal – People shouldn’t have to clean up their lives to come to Christ, but too often that is what we want to require. We want a non-Christian to hold to Christian beliefs. But why should they? Why would they? Why are we holding to these unreasonable expectations? Instead of us judging them, we should love them and show them Christ, remembering that once upon a time, we were in the same place they were – without Christ. Once their eyes are opened to see the beauty of Christ and His love, and they begin a relationship with Him, He will begin to convict them and help them to clean up their lives.

Let’s let that soak in and tomorrow we’ll explore it just a bit more…

Why do you think that we are so unwilling to hold each other accountable as believers, yet so quick to condemn people who are not believers?

— brian rushing