I haven’t posted a blog for sometime. So this one’s making up for “off time”. It’s a bit longer than most so please bear with me.
Why is it in Christian circles, there’s this insatiable urge to plug people into some sort of accountability group? It’s more a guy thing, I’ve yet to meet any women who are in an accountability group. Interesting. I guess the reasoning is that the only sins we’re truly concerned about are the sexual type; impure thoughts, that kind of thing.
“You need to have a group of guys you’re accountable to”, is the male mantra.
If “accountability” is so critical shouldn’t it be established in the lives of women and children as well? How about the elderly, my grandmother or grandfather?
There’s something I’ve learned over the years; people are going to do what people want to do. Period! Nothing, or no one, is going to keep them from seeking that which they believe will satisfy them. I honestly believe that’s why Jesus pushed the sin factor beyond the “acts” of sin to the very thoughts associated with the act, the private unseen aspect.
I like scriptures’ insight into the heart of king David; after doinkin’ his neighbors wife, then setting him up to be murdered, David’s confession is this: “It is against you alone oh God, that I have sinned.” David wasn’t afraid to sin, even in the sight of God, even with an understanding and intimacy with God most men would never know. But that didn’t stop him. Heck, David had a “dead on” prophet in his camp as well.
Trust me, if we’re perfectly honest, a group of guys are not going to hold any man accountable, not me or anybody else.
To be sure, I’ve seen numerous amounts of men and women crash within the church while in the “protective custody” of an accountability group; adultery, fornication and the corporate embezzlement of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and these people were in leadership positions. Again, no man is going to stand in the way of a person reaching for, and laying hold of, what they truly seek in their heart, it’s a fact.
That’s why scripture uses the reference of sins being committed in darkness, away from where others are witness to our sin, or so we think.
I remember my wife and I talking about adultery and being unfaithful, and she asked me if that was something I would ever consider doing. I said no. She asked me if it was because I loved her. I said I truly loved her but that in itself wouldn’t stop me. She had this stunned look on her face. I looked at her and said, I wouldn’t keep from doing it just because I love you, but because I fear God.
Believe it or not, that gave her a great sense of security.
Fearing God.
True accountability always comes down to man and God.
Each man will stand before God to give an account of things done while in the flesh.
Me … and God.
You … and God.
What has happened in the area of accountability, (as with so many other areas of our Christian life), is that we have taken God out of the equation, and replaced him with us. We look away from God and to each other. This allows us to establish levels of accountability based upon a less than Holy standard.
I remember having a conversation with a Christian man who was heading towards a divorce situation. I gave him my input (based upon his solicitation). He then told me a “real good” Christian friend said to him, “Well, so-and-so, just remember, no matter what you do we’ll always love you.”
“Isn’t that great?”, he commented.
Trust me, I said, that man is no friend.”
“Why”, he asked.
“That ‘friend’ of yours has done nothing more than lower a Godly standard so low that no matter what you do he doesn’t have to sacrifice time out of his own life to get involved in yours to help you be successful in your marriage”.
Needless to say he went ahead and got the divorce, well within the “love level” established by his good friend.
I again saw this accountability thing in an newspaper article this last week in our local paper, is was in the religion section; a pastor was addressing a group of youth pastors, emphasizing the need for “watch care groups”. (a term this pastor coined a few years back as part of his “apostolic” ministry, men he has hand selected to keep him accountable, the key words here are “hand selected”).
A watch care group is supposed to be the silver bullet in keeping spiritual leaders from committing sins or at least keeping them from moving along that slippery slope towards potential failure. If something does come up the watchcare group is called in to render a decision on the matter rather than dragging the whole church congregation into a messy situation. It’s intended to help maintain stability. In old testament times it was the prophet who often filled this role, but seeing how no leader really wants to listen to a true prophet, watchcare groups should fit the bill pretty well.
This pastor went on to say how accountability keeps a ministry and its leader safe, secure and effective; he sighted two examples of the good of accountability and the results from the lack of accountability. One was Jim Baker, the other, Billy Graham.
He noted that he would visit Jim Baker’s ministry from time to time through the business he used to be in and saw that the leadership surrounding Jim Baker was constantly changing, new faces almost every time he visited. (Not a good thing he thought).
Billy Graham on the other hand has maintained a leadership team who have been with him for several decades. Jim Baker crashed and burned do to a lack of accountability, Billy Graham on the other hand has sustained a strong, viable, ministry with integrity.
I agree.
But why did Jim Baker have such a constant turn over, while Billy Graham maintained his leadership? Easy, Jim Baker was preaching PTL, a Christian Disneyland, the vision of Jim Baker himself, asking people to come, “relax and seek rest from the world”.
Here it is: Jim Baker was desperate for “validation” in the eyes of men. He wanted to be somebody.
Billy Graham on the other hand was preaching Christ crucified and inviting people to come to Him and find rest. Validation in Christ.
Simple.
Again, with Baker, God had been taken out of the equation; the faithful were called upon to think of themselves first and how much they deserved a little “instant reward” in life, rather than seeking to lay down their lives as living sacrifices for the sake of others that they might enter into God’s rest and reward “on that day”.
I’m sure Baker’s leadership team quickly realized he was going no where fast. He was a comical pitchman of hype, dancing upon an ever increasing fireball of debt with no spiritual return on their investment and nothing to validate his efforts nor his preaching.
What’s interesting, is that the pastor being quoted in this newspaper article is one I have know and actually served under with for seventeen years, and his ministry easily fits into the Jim Baker category. Over the twenty years of being a pastor, his leadership has changed year to year, season to season, not to mention the congregation; of the original three hundred dedicated people who were part of the church when it started, only three of the original remain.
It seems ironic(and a little scary) that this pastor, who speaks to the need of accountability in the lives of leaders would use an example of failure which typifies the history of his very own ministry.
Success through accountability, isn’t so much dependent upon our relation to one another as much as the way we handle the word of God. The moral and spiritual integrity of any people (their walking in righteousness) has always been directly affected by the proper handling of the word of God and their subsequent response to (Him) His word.
If we serve God as faithful servants and stewards of the truth which He has entrusted to us, we are more likely to have right standing and success; if we handle it sloppy and with very little concern, we are more likely to fail.
Baker’s message was God for the sake of Baker. Billy Graham’s message was (and still is) sin, Jesus, repentance, redemption, salvation and healing for the sake of the lost and for the glory of God.
