An Accountable Community

Values Statement

In all we do we seek to be; An accountable community where every member is known for their honesty, integrity and generosity

Accountability in general use speaks of truth, of being honest, having integrity.

These things are seen as virtues, good or positive attributes of an individual.

They are accompanied by generousity.

The Australian Colloquial term is “Does it pass the Pub Test”

It is a well used phrase in Australia.

Basically if a politician, business leader, public figure, celebrity says something and it is discussed in the bar of the local pub.

You will very quickly get a response that tells you wether the patrons of the establishment believe that person is telling the truth or acting with integrity or not!

I believe that the local church should be a topic of conversation in the local pub.

For all the right reasons.

The local church should be known in the local community for their honesty, integrity and generosity.

In speaking of being an accountable community, we are addressing the character of the community and the character of a community is built upon the character of its members.

We can look at it like this.

While we can acknowledge that a message may be true whilst not having trust in the reliability of an individual messenger, it is difficult to have to go through the process of testing every statement to see if it is reliable. 

In reality if we trust the messenger then we tend to trust the message, likewise if we have found the messenger unreliable we tend to not trust the message.

The Scriptures speak of truth / truthfulness in a number of ways;

Firstly as the nature of God;

Secondly as a characteristic of an individual,

Thirdly as an objective reality

and fourthly as the person and message of Jesus. 

To examine all the times that the Scriptures use these terms in different ways would take considerable time; suffice to say that trustworthiness of the message is often linked to the character of the messenger.

We find in the statements of John the Baptist, Jesus and the Apostles a rather blunt approach to those whose speech and actions didn’t line up. 

Truthfulness of message and actions is regarded as a key witness to the transformative presence of Christ in the life of an individual and a congregation. 

Honesty, Integrity and Generosity are evidence of this reality.

Let’s look at some examples where Jesus calls people out for their lack of integrity

Look at Matthew 6:1-6 and Matthew 23:13-28. 

Matthew 6:1–6 NLT

1 “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. 2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matthew 23:13–28 NLT

13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! 16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. 23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! 25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus points out a lack of integrity, the message and the actions of the messengers do not line up. 

They show off their spiritual actions but lack genuine compassion for others, they are only interested in looking good.

They are very careful to follow religious rules, but use those same rules to avoid their genuine oblications to others.

Their lack of integrity is evident.

Jesus calls them hypocrites.

This is the very accusation made against the church and Christians in general today.

And I think the evidence is so often overwhelmingly true.

Obviously these and many other verses make it clear that Jesus saw such actions as completely unacceptable.

The church is rightly held to a higher standard by the community.

After all society is only expecting that the church live up to the standard it preaches.

So how should we deal with accountability, maintaining honesty, integrity and generousity in the church?

Accountability and its application in the church has a definite path where the approach and outcome step up according to the situation.

Firstly in Galatians 6:1-10 where we find the starting point.

Galatians 6:1–10 NLT

1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. 4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct. 6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. 7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

We don’t ignore sin in our own life or the life of another believer, in loving humility we address the issue with them.

Seeking to bring them back tot he right path.

We don’t look down on them as lessor than us, for that would be to ignore the sin in our own life!

Then in 2 Thessalonians 3:14-16 and Romans 16:17-18 step things up a level?

2 Thessalonians 3:14–16 NLT

14 Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. 15 Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister. 16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.

Now we struggle with this idea in our individualised western society.

Community and belonging is incredibly important to us, but sadly it is a case of being important because of what I can get out of it.

In ancient cultures and in more community focussed cultures today the very idea of being rejected by the community brings shame.

People need to belong and if it is made clear in a humble and gentle way that they have crossed a line, then their is genuine shame and a need to make things right.

I saw this in the Solomon Islands on the Island of Giru.

A young man had not been behaving properly and he was publically disciplined by the church and required to undergo a time of restoration before being given full acceptance in the community again.

Incredibly effective.

But sadly here, people would just leave and go to another church.

But in that town, if someone was under discipline in one church then they were known as under discipline in all the churches.

I think we should adopt this practice in the western world a lot more.

Romans 16:17–18 NLT

17 And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. 18 Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

False teachers, those of smooth talk and glowing words.

Those who teach things that are not true.

Have no place in the church, in every case I have ever seen there is always a lack of accountability.

Honesty for such people is relative.

The churhces response should be simple.

Stay away.

But instead what do we see, huge crowds flocking to see them.

Biblical and theological illiteracy destroys lives.

In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 we read of a very serious issue which the church was not dealing with.

Immorality that even the pagans were shocked by.

The Apostle Paul condemns the church and commands that they act.

Yet how often are such things overlooked today.

Society judges the church by the standard it preaches.

Ultimately Matthew 18:15-17 provides a clear method of holding someone accountable and what the outcome of their refusal to change should be. 

Matthew 18:15–17 NLT

15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

Now there are certain limitations and safeguards that must be put in place to protect the vulnerable.

Certain sins must be reported straight to the authorities, it is their rightful role to hold to account those who harm others.

But for everything else the Scriptures set out a clear proceedure.

Address the sin, help the person to see where they need to change.

If they will not then take it further.

Do not gossip, do not make it a prayer point for your friends.

Step through the process properly.

If it is a major issue that disqualifies a person from their role within the church then take it straight to the leadership.

The key in all of this is humility.

We all have areas where we need to grow.

We all have issues that we need to address.

Are we prepared to walk with one another, helping each other by encouragement and accountability to keep on growing to be more like Christ.

I have a long way to go.

I can confidently say that we all have a long way to go.

Only when we walk together, being genuinely accountable to one another in love are we capable of beign the church that people talk about at the local pub for all the right reasons.

In all we do we seek to be; An accountable community where every member is known for their honesty, integrity and generosity

It is my hope that one day I will walk into a cafe, a pub, for a meal of course, or the local sporting club or RSL and someone will come up to me and say.

I know some of your people, they are people of integrity, honesty and generousity.

They showed me what Christ is really like and I want to become a Christian because of their witness.