Does Accountability Belong In The Church Anymore?

Accountability is always a tough issue. It seems to always cause tension. And rightfully so. Accountability is a process to hold individuals to a term of agreement. Or if someone says they will do something you can hold them to that agreement. Accountability is accepted in every facet of our secular lives. When you finally gain the courage to purchase a home, you begin a process of being accountable to the lender and home owner. Part of the hesitation is knowing you will be held accountable to the contract you sign. As a potential buyer you sign a purchase agreement, this assures that you will not back out and be accountable for your purchase. Most times we never think twice about it. We accept it and sign the contracts. We also live with accountability in the work force. When we "sign on" to a new job or "signed on" at your current job, you did so for accountability reason. You agreed to only use your cell phones at certain times during the day. You agreed to the job description for the work you hired for. You agreed to a credit or background check, all for accountability reasons. So, if you where caught using your cell phone you would have to be held accountable for knowing not too. If you are not accomplishing your job description, the employer will be able to hold you accountable for this lack. And again if your credit check or background check are not up to standard, they hold you accountable by not hiring you. Again, we accept these as methods of operation and in most cases we need a home or job and will do whatever we have to get it. Ironically, this is not as accepted in the church anymore. I say anymore because in the early church we read in the BIBLE that accountability was a big operational factor. Let's look at some of these areas: Acts 4:32, "Now the large group of these who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common." The early, model, believers put themselves accountable to each other. They volunteered to be held to a higher standard for the glory of God and the good of others. In Chapter 5 we read of Ananias and Sapphira. Accountability was the center theme of this account. Both were held accountable by God AND His people. They then paid the price for rejecting that accountability. Then did not have to die, but they rejected accountability for their actions. I want you to notice the end result of this accountability, "Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things." That is a big deal. Not only were those inside overcome with the reality of accountability and its connection between God and His church, but those outside noticed that same accountability and knew the importance of it in the church. Paul later uses many letters to emphasize accountability. He does not hold his tongue on this. To the Corinthians, he called into account their former agreement with Christ. With the Galatians, He called them "foolish." Jesus Himself was the advocate for accountability. He held the religious leaders to this accountability and checked them for there failure to uphold what had been entrusted to them. Jesus, called the disciples on the issue of accountability in the garden when they could not stay awake. Then again in Revelation, He starts by dictating letters of accountability to the seven church. In them, He directly calls them on failures to uphold their agreements. Finally, we see that we all will be held accountable before the throne of God. So obviously the issue is not whether there is to be accountability in church. The real question now becomes, why is there no longer accountability in the church. Why are we not following the model of the early church that Jesus established Himself? Why are we not representing God in our accountability of each other? I have heard people say, "I am accountable to God alone!" In that I hear two things; It is easy to say that when we can't see God and they do not have a firm grasp on what the church is. I am more comfortable with you if I can just text you. I don't have to see your approval or disapproval. I can hide my emotions and actions from you. When we will say we are accountable to God and NOT His "BODY" we are saying that we believe we are able to hide something from God because He is not "here." Therefore, indicating that we do not have a firm grasp on who God is. Our relationship with Him is a text style relationship. "He is there and I am here." On an even closer level, it indicates a lack of intimacy with God. The more intimate we are with God the more we understand what the Psalmist said in Psalms 11:4, "The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven. His eyes watch; He examines everyone." It is also the indication that we don't know the purpose of the church. The BIBLE tells us that the church is the "BODY OF JESUS CHRIST." What that means to us is that the body of Christ is the operational extension of Jesus Christ Himself. So, if He came to seek and to save the lost, the church is to seek and save the lost. If Jesus held His disciples accountable, the church is to hold each of His disciples accountable. It is just that simple! The church is to continue to do everything that Jesus did, not pick and choose. The reason churches have a covenant is because of this very fact. The church at some point identified the truth of this and agreed to its operation. What has happened is compromise. This is interesting because we live in a society that is increasingly asking for more accountability in the areas we live, but the church is increasingly backing away from the whole issue of accountability. This does not make sense. What does that mean? It means that we have issues in the church and we do not want to deal with them. It means we are not trying to be holy as He is holy and we are accepting something less than His command. When we refuse to be accountable to the body of Jesus Christ we are indicating we have an intimacy problem with God and would rather not be intimate with His people. It also exposes the reality that I have something in my life that I would rather not deal with. You could call it "hiding something." Again, we feel like we can hide it from God but we know we can not hide it from other around us. "I like what every it is, but I know it is wrong." Normally in those cases, we stay out of the main stream and away from any exposure and say, "I am accountable to God alone." Not realizing we have just exposed ourselves to those watching our lives. So why is accountability so important in the church? 1. Biblical mandate. If the church is concerned about biblical correctness/alignment it must uphold accountability toward each other. 2. It is one of the main purposes of the church. The church is establish to spread the gospel; to support and strengthen those who accept the gospel. The purpose of the church does not end at our salvation. It only begins. I associate with the church to increase my ability to reach a world that needs Jesus and to hold me accountable to my confession of Jesus Christ. If those two are not true, what other purpose is there? Without that it becomes a self gratifying social club. 3. To know who is standing with me. Our discipleship with Jesus Christ moves us into a cosmic spiritual battle that is violent and on-going. We need to know who is standing with us if we are going to fight with confidence. If you will do a timeline of the church history during the last century, you will find that the church has been a force to be reckoned with when it held its members to public accountable. The church was stronger and therefore the moral climate was stronger. Those who have problems with accountability and refuse accountability will find themselves weak and less confident when the spiritual battle hits home. Our bothers and sisters in Christ hold our feet to the fire, they keep us focused, and refuse to let us run away when the going gets tough. That is accountability. It is not control, just biblical assurance set in place by God Himself to assure His people run the race with endurance. You CAN NOT be accountable to God and not His church/body. That is a logical impossibility. So does accountability belong in the church anymore? It has never stopped being apart of it. We just compromised its benefit for our concealment. God uses accountability in the church to conform us to His Son Jesus Christ. We can refuse church accountability, but in the same breath we refuse accountability to God "alone." Psalms 139:23, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns."