Today’s message is brought you by the word ‘ACCOUNTABILITY.’
How do you take that word, it’s a big word, an interesting word, different ways we might hear it and understand in different contexts… what does it mean, what are we talking about here?
Responsibility, ownership, accepting and taking responsibility for our words and actions. Who we report to, who we’re accountable to, who we’re working or serving under. How we relate to other people around us > are we accountable for our own words and actions in our own church community for example…
We might think of accountability in terms of making sure we’re doing the right thing, we’re saying the right thing, we’re being seen to do the right thing in line with who we say we are and what we say we believe.
We might have a bit of a negative take on this word, where accountability means we HAVE to report to someone above us or we HAVE to make sure we’re doing the right thing, or else we’ll be in trouble!
But a really important note on this word today, accountability in terms of our faith and community life together is much more than something we HAVE to do, not just something we’re told we must do to keep someone else happy.
It’s actually very positive, very helpful, very useful and very important for us, for us as part of this ‘web of stubbornly loyal relationships in a complex and challenging situation’ > we’re continuing to hold that definition of Christian community in our minds through this series.
Let’s see how that works, what God has for us in his word that tells us how vital accountability is as we do Christian life together >
We can jump straight to the end so to speak with Romans 14:12, where Paul says –
‘Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.’
This is an image of the end isn’t it, the end of our earthly lives where we’re standing in front of God and we’ve got to give an account of ourselves > What we’ve done, what we haven’t done, where we’ve gone wrong etc etc.
If we literally had to do that we would struggle! There are too many things to list across a lifetime, too many things that we can’t even remember all of them. Mistakes, bad moments, sins, times when we saw what God was calling us to do but we didn’t answer, the list goes on…
We might think of this as the ‘final judgment,’ when God decides who’s going to heaven and who’s going to hell… But there’s so much more to this, so much more to how God sees us!
And it’s clear straight away in this chapter or Romans if we read around this one verse > what does Paul say?
Does he say ‘God’s going to judge you, so you should go and judge others’ – no! It’s the direct opposite of that actually.
If we read on in this chapter Paul says God will judge you, so that means DO NOT judge others! That’s in God’s hands, not ours. We are called to LOVE, not to judge. Very important point there.
So we are not judges but we do have callings, we have VOCATIONS don’t we! We know this word, our vocations, our callings as God’s people, simply put to love God and to love others, as he has first loved us. We have a responsibility to our vocation, we’re accountable to our God-given vocations.
In our second reading today we hear what accountability, what a solid network of support, is useful for > it’s helpful for handling the world out there, the fiery ordeal / strange things out there Peter mentions.
It’s a fiery ordeal out there for sure, but we shouldn’t be surprised Peter says > we should rejoice he says, as we participate in the sufferings of Christ. Not rejoicing because we like suffering, but rejoicing through suffering ‘so that we may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed’ (1 Peter 4:13)
And we do this together > if you’ve ever tried to handle a ‘fiery ordeal’ in your life on your own, you will know it’s very difficult to do. And yes it can still be very difficult when we share the fiery ordeal with others, even when we have others with us on the hard road, but what’s still missing there?
We also have Jesus with us, walking alongside us through every single ‘ordeal,’ fiery or not, that comes our way.
Accountability helps us to remember that, to rest in that, to trust in the presence of God alongside us in all we do.
With accountability, with a network of meaningful support around us where we can share how we’re really going, we can share what we’re struggling with and we can share our mistakes and our sins and our wins and anything else in between, God reveals himself to us >
This is an extension of the fellowship and breaking bread parts of Acts 2:42, really apostles teaching and prayer too, where we’re stronger together, we’re supported together as we support each other. The team approach, we’re on the same team, we’re on Jesus’ team and he’s on ours!
What happens in a team environment?
I know a little bit about this having been on many different teams in my time, sporting teams / work teams / volunteer teams >
Yes there is encouragement and support and connection and belonging as well in the best teams, but along with that comes the challenge to improve, to get better, to learn and to grow, and to share that learning and that growing with others. Going somewhere together, a sense of intentional movement.
Teams ‘collaborate together to achieve a shared goal or purpose’ (google definition) > the best teams are marked by a culture of accountability, where mistakes can be admitted and also forgiven (much easier said than done!), where mutual encouragement and care is provided, where people are empowered to bring their best and help each other do the same. The best teams are characterized by hard work > it doesn’t happen by accident!
Back to our setting as church, who’s done the hard work for us? Who’s done the hard work for us so we can be on his team?
We didn’t earn a spot on ‘team Jesus,’ he won it for us.
He won it for us and he also calls us to be part of it, to live as a ‘team player,’ to share in his good gifts together and to share them with others, that’s the shared goal or purpose we have there.
So some good things about being ‘part of this team,’ being accountable to our God and to each other, having a responsibility to live out of the good gifts he has given us.
But the hard truth here, the other side of this is:
If we’re not operating as a team, we’re going to struggle.
If we don’t have networks of support or a culture of accountability, we’re going to struggle.
If we put ourselves and our own comfort levels ahead of the shared purpose we have of being and doing church together, we’re going to struggle.
Serious challenges for us there, important realities of our context to be aware of if we’re going to know how to live out of God’s gifts for us in our specific contexts.
I can tell you it’s a challenge for me in my role, to advocate for a culture of accountability – this is a challenging space, not only for how we do church together but in terms of being a pastor in our district, in our nation – how do you ensure there are supportive networks, channels for finding and giving support, healthy boundaries, good communication – especially when in most cases the only person on staff, certainly full-time staff, at any given church is the pastor! It can feel like a ‘team of one’ at times!
But that’s where the accountability of the ‘web of stubbornly loyal relationships’ comes in, SO important to have ongoing relationships of support for me as a pastor and just as a person, and I’m extremely grateful to have a few of those in my corner!
And of course there’s the MOST LOYAL relationship we can have, Jesus alongside us knowing exactly what we’re facing and walking through it with us > this is where our prayer life is so important too, we’ll touch on that to close out this series next week.
So for us, here in our church, how does a culture of accountability play out in our ministries, our relationships, our church council and volunteer teams, in all the ways we be and do church together?
God’s grace is the starting point, the point we keep coming back to, the point that goes with us.
The call our God has placed on each of our hearts, that thing we love to do, that thing we’re good at, that gift we can use to show love and care for others – spend some time with God this week to remember that or even discover what that is if you don’t know!
Our community being a safe place, where people can find support when they’re doing it tough, they can connect and belong and be part of the same team.
And we can also acknowledge when something has gone wrong, when something could be better, working through challenges together rather than letting them slide or avoiding the issue! That’s taking the hard option over the easy one there! Hard option but it is what God calls us to, and he goes with us, leading the way through hard roads.
I’ll finish with some words from 1 Timothy 6:12, a powerful word on how God calls us to receive his call and live out of his grace:
Here we are called to ‘take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.’
Not sit back but TAKE HOLD, our God who has taken hold of us calls us to take hold of him as we do life together in this ‘web of stubbornly loyal relationships, in a complex and challenging situation, who are committed to practicing the way of Jesus together, for the renewal of the world.’
Lord we need your help on that journey! Amen.
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Tom Kitson 