Holiness and Accountability
First Step of the Christian Walk:
Repentance - Recognizing that you have been ignoring God and selfishly following evil
Second Step of the Christian Walk;
Returning to God - Choosing to Follow Christ - Recognizing a better way
Third Step of the Christian Walk
Developing Holiness - Separating all you are and have to love God
You have a choice of trying to develop Holiness alone or with the help of other companions.
Holiness - separate - if only = legalism
Holiness - submitted if only = licenciousness
Both = power to be the channel of God's love.
Solomon has some thoughts on this...
Two are better than one. Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has not one to help him up...and though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Some of the costs of doing it alone...
- it can cause us to reap less profit from the work we perform.
- we fail to have the support we need to get up and move on after a failure.
- we must confront potentially threatening situations with nothing but our own inadequate resources. - isolationism make it almost impossible to overcome danger.
Imagine...you are a fighter pilot.
-I don't think I want to have a partner- I have to spend time with them and let them get to know me. I have to learn their strengths & weaknesses. I have to be concerned if I can trust them.
- If I don't have a partner in battle, who will watch my back/ my blind spots? Who will help me to remember the battle plan and remind me what we are here for? Who will encourage me when I am exhausted, when I have been hurt. Who will keep me from deserting?
What would Jesus Do? Mark 6:7 Jesus sent his disciples out in two's when they went out to villages to minister. This protected them from many things, from harassment, heresy, discouragement, evil, and impurity. When you are on your own, what do you succumb to...fear, lust, anger, mean speech, greed, addictions?
Every day we live with accountability. At the bank we agree to financial accountability when we get a loan. At work we agree to occupational accountability. When we go to school we commit to academic accountability. Your complacency today to not be accountable, can mean your destruction tomorrow.
What is friendship accountability?
- Being willing to share your personal goals and priorities, and the barriers that can keep you from them. - Being willing to explain your actions in a non-defensive way.
- Being teachable and humbly open to advice.
- Being available to listen and meet on a regular basis and when needed.
Romans 12:15-18 Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
James 5:6 Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.
To think that you alone, can be what God wants you to be, is to be wise in your own eyes, and not in God's eyes. Don't risk losing all because you are complacent or fear the risk of investing in a relationship today.