“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
The dictionary defines the word accountable as “the obligation to be responsible”, and “capable of being explained.” The questions I want to answer this morning is, “Why is accountability so important?” and “How do I become accountable?” The first thing I want to share with you is why you need to be accountable for your spiritual health.
Jesus asked a vital question. “Why do you keep calling me your boss when you don’t do what I say?” Everyone has a boss. Everyone has someone they answer to at work. Even the boss has a boss. The folks who can claim that they don’t have a boss are those who own the company, but, even then, owners have to answer for regulations, taxes, and payroll. Everyone has to answer to someone. It’s life. Well, guess what? When it comes to your spiritual health the same thing is true. If you really want to be healthy spiritually you need to be accountable to someone.
Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.”
The spiritual leaders of the Weymouth Church are our elders. These men pray together once a week and they meet once a month with our deacons to provide this church with the tools we need to be spiritually healthy. These men are accountable to God for your soul. This does not make them anymore special or holy than you. They have been set apart by God and this church to do this work. This is simply their work to help you be accountable for your spiritual health.
Ultimately Jesus is our boss. He is the one we all answer to because He is the one with all authority. But as long as you are a carbon based life form breathing oxygen to live on earth, and you claim to be a follower of Jesus attending this church, you are accountable to these men. “Give them a reason to watch over your soul with joy and not with sorrow, because that would certainly not be for your benefit.”
In other words, it’s beneficial for you to allow these men who are your elders to watch over your soul; to provide you with accountability. Allow them to be the obligation that helps you to be a responsible follower of Christ.
I don’t know anyone who wants to live in a wobbly house. One of the first things a buyer of a home wants to know is what does the foundation of the house look like? No one wants to buy a house that will collapse in a storm. Jesus said that those who listen and obey His teaching are building a strong spiritual house. I believe that our elders want each of us to have a strong spiritual foundation so that when the storms of life beat against our spirit we are strong enough to stand in it. I know that I have seen the faith of many folks who claimed to be Christians come crashing down because of tragedy, or the loss of a job, or some other stressful situation. It’s not difficult to lose faith. It’s quite easy actually. It’s a lot easier to give up than it is to remain strong. But those who remain strong do so because they have allowed themselves to be accountable, first to God, and then to their spiritual leaders.
The military knows the value of accountability. Everyone in the military is assigned a superior officer. Why is the respect for superiors so important in the military? Just think for a moment if an officer had to ask for permission from his men on whether or not they should attack. Can you imagine the confusion? What if before any military engagement the senior ranking officer had to wait to make a decision until all the other men in his unit had a chance to vote? This is an absolutely ridiculous hypothetical isn’t it? It’s just as ridiculous to suppose that the spiritual leaders of a church should do the same. Just as a superior officer is responsible for the life of his or her subordinates, your spiritual leaders are responsible for your spiritual health.
You need to be accountable to them. It’s spiritually beneficial for you. Ultimately, this is the best answer to the question, “why is accountability so important?”
“How do I become accountable?” Every leadership team has to define this question for the church they lead. Our elders are not responsible for the spiritual health of other folks who attend other churches. Our elders are responsible for the spiritual health of the church they lead. So this is an important question for them, and for you. For us, our elders have decided that small groups is a great way to provide accountability, especially for these reasons:
Breaking the church up into smaller communities makes it more effective for our leaders to know you better. Smaller groups allow for more open communication. Obviously we don’t want the shallow small group model that the video clip showed earlier, so it’s imperative for our spiritual health that we learn to open up and be obedient to God’s Word together.
When the apostle Paul was on his third and final missionary journey he summoned the elders of the church in Ephesus. He had a special message just for them. You can read all that he talked about with them in Acts 20:18-38 but I’m going to read just one verse; 28 - “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders.”
It’s a serious thing to be a leader of God’s people. How can our elders and our leaders here feed and shepherd God’s flock? I’m not suggesting that there is only one way to do this, or that small groups is the best way or the only way, but, it’s a way they’ve chosen to help them follow through on this expectation of God. They have a serious spiritual role to play in the life of your faith and small groups is one way for you to help them participate in this God ordained role.
The second reason for small groups is that in a closer community it helps us to pray for each other, to help each other with our burdens. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” Where in your life can this happen more effectively and consistently than through your small group.
The third reason and I believe the most important one because it’s the mission of Jesus himself, is that small groups create an opportunity for God’s people to do mission together. Jesus said, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19 I began this talk by introducing the idea of accountability. We all need to be accountable to this mission. David Platt writes in his book, Radical Together, “if the ultimate goal of the church is to take the gospel to all people groups, then everything we do in the church must be aimed toward that end.” I agree with Platt. Jesus gave us His mission. Everything we do in communion with God should be to realize the goal of reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus began his mission by creating a small group and this small group changed the world. The early believers made a huge impact on their communities. In Acts 17 Paul is on his second missionary journey and he’s traveling and preaching around Asia Minor with Silas. In verse 6 this is what some folks in one community said about them and their fellow believers, “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.”
Our small groups are a place for us to disturb our community. Obviously these folks meant it in a negative way. They didn’t want the message of Jesus in their community because the gospel was hurting their small businesses. They were making and selling idols and other pagan trinkets. The worship of Jesus was hurting their bottom line. But, nonetheless the negative press didn’t stop the preaching. We want to be a church that disturbs our community. It’s not enough for us to change personally, or to grow spiritually ourselves, we have a purpose for growing. We have a purpose for learning how to be more effective parents, we have a purpose for learning from 1 Peter, for becoming fearless, and for learning how to have stronger marriages and Godly relationships. We form small groups not so that you will learn these things, but, so that you will have accountability to live in holiness, to be faithful, and to be more equipped to engage in the mission of Jesus Christ.
