It occurs to me this evening that within the Body of Christ, there is less accountability than there ought to be. Everyday I see instances where unbelievers are angry, cynical, and bitter toward Christians because of the general behavior of many they have seen and experienced. It pains me to know that Christians are perceived in such a negative light, but I also realize that those stereotypes and categorizations are justly deserved. Many Christians are sadly some of the more judgmental and hypocritical people I know.
But it also occurs to me that the Body should hold itself accountable. We should be policing ourselves, practicing the Biblical guidelines for loving, compassionate confrontation for the sake of the good of the whole. Anyone who claims to be a disciple of Christ is subject to this accountability, and any brother or sister in Christ should be able to approach any other brother or sister and confront them about sin, hypocrisy, heresy, etc. When notable Christians are in the news and/or are publicly behaving in a way that reflects badly on the Body, other Christians should be making phone calls, writing letters, making personal visits to that individual, expressing their concerns, citing biblical references for why the individual’s actions were wrong, and endeavoring to rectify the situation so as to repair the testimony of the Body as a whole. Yet we shy away from this duty because we are afraid of the confrontation, afraid of being rebuffed and scorned and ridiculed by those same individuals and possibly by others in the Body. But we should do it anyway because it is the right thing to do and because it so damages our testimony and hinders our work and the work of the Holy Spirit.
So, this is my challenge to all of you and to myself — stand up for what is right, seek to reprove, rebuke, and exhort according to the Word of God, and strive for greaty unity, harmony, and communion among the Body. In the long run, we will be stronger, happier, and
healthier for it, and we can really get about doing the work of the Lord.
AMEN BROTHA! Yes, I fully agree…and I even get cynical about Christians too b/c of their attitude that makes it SO much harder for me to witness to my friends.  But this is why I want to get into the secular music scene…behind the scenes. Gotta tackle them first… and it’s worse in Nashville dude. You got TONS of “Christians”. I call them “sunday christians” or “holiday christians”. It’s popular to go to church… yeah. Just imagine that. So I, as a TRUE Christian…I’ve got to be EXTRA careful with how I act. People are watching me…even the other “Christians”. Gets hard… ya know?
And especially in a Post-Modern world…it’s hard to know when to speak up and when to not. I have just gotten to the point where if they ask me about a “offensive” type thing…then I’ll say it. Straight up. If not, I’ll be careful. (Example: Christ is the ONLY way to heaven…period.)Â
It’d be interesting to hear your view on that…
Hope all is well…been praying for you and liz.
later
I agree in part with what you say. I know that there are times when I do not act Christian in my behavior, and I hold myself accountable, finding it necessary to apologize and make ammends.
Regarding accountability, so often it is much easier to look out and spot the errors others are doing, but totally ignore the same or different behavior in ourselves. We tend to make excuses for our behavior, and hold others accountable. I think that equation should be reversed, we should love and make excuses for others, and hold ourselves to a higher degree of accountability.
I cannot pretend to know all that a person has faced, or how far they have grown in their Christian walk, so to judge another is a scary thing for me. That does not mean blatent sin such as adultry or something like that. But I think accountability and calling people on the carpet for behavior could be abused.
Just a thought.
Heather
I’m not suggesting that we ‘judge’ others. I’m simply suggesting that we need to keep one another accountable. You do have a point that we can’t always see what a person has been through, and that is why I mentioned using the biblical model for confrontation, the first step of that being that one or two speak with the individual who is in sin. That confrontation should be to further clarify the circumstances around the sin and seek restitution, as a result. If it is not clear whether the individual’s actions are truly wrong, lots of questions should be asked to determine that. But often it is also pretty clear that the individual is in error and sometimes it takes the catalyst of a loving friend, rather than a judgmental acquaintance, to bring about repentance and healing.
… Yeah, good entry, good stuff. I think this is one of the big problems my own church has…
I didn’t read your post (no offense) i just wanted to thank you for your post on my site. I appreciate your comments. Please continue to pray for me cause this is the biggest challenge i think i’ve ever had.