Traveling Together

Traveling Together - Accountability

1) Why do they need to know it? – INFORMATION – If they do not know it they will not see the need.

ME (orientation) Like many my people in their freshmen year of college I was exposed to a whole new world. I moved to a city that was roughly 95% smaller then my hometown. There were no natural growing trees and we had these things called dust storms that would exfoliate your skin as you walked to class. Even though it was the same state I grew up in it was a completely different world. It was also a different world for me spiritually. It was the first time I was really around a large amount of people who took their faith in Jesus seriously. This new world eventually forced me to have a new perspective on the Christian life. It took some time though and for the first few years of college I did not want to fully follow God, I learned to play the game many of us play called, “I love God but…” This is where our default is to say no to God when He asks us to trust Him with things that might be uncomfortable or might hurt. I thought I was good at this game but as I came to realize that I was actually causing a great deal of damage both to my self and those around me. Essentially I refused to live by faith. In the end after being humbled by God, I realized that I spent years of being a lukewarm Christian who wasn’t bringing much to the Kingdom of God. To get me to this point God used some key things to help me to learn to trust and follow Him. The first was I joined a fraternity that at its roots wanted to help people grow in their relationships with Jesus. It was/is not a perfect organization but it had great intentions to help men begin to grow through accountability and fellowship. Even one of the verses we would all have to memorize was , “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” During the “game” time I treated accountability as a confession session that helped me get things off of my chest but lead to little life change. As I matured in Christ though I started to see God work through these dudes and my life slowly started to be more Christ centered. These guys were tough, they would challenge me and help me see where I wasn’t submitting things to the Lord. They got me involved in a local church that had other people who would truly help me grow. Through that church I learned to share my faith and was consistently encouraged to live a life that honored Christ. The first person that took time to intentionally disciple me also challenged me to be purposeful. He walked with me through some ugly stuff and through some awesome stuff, like getting to know Kim. He traveled with me and challenged me to look outside of my own little world and look to serve the Lord by serving others. As I look back at that time I have realized there are some common threads that God has used to help me walk with Him. One was people teaching me to get into the Word in different ways, another was people praying for me and actually following up in that promise and the one we are going to talk about today was and is strong, loving, gracious and purposeful accountability.

WE (identification): Last week Jake talked about how David missed out on some key things in his life because he did not listen to those who at one time were very close to him. I do not know about you but that is not what I want in life. The temptation is there and it is challenging at times but I want God’s best for my life and for those I love. So as we venture into this please take pray that we can see the need for this in our lives and that we would not only seek to give accountability but also to receive it. Jake did a great job of hitting the big picture last week. He focused in on how God desires to remove the junk in our lives that we might walk faithfully with Him. This week we are going to zero in on one aspect of what Jake brought up, this idea of accountability.

This is a scary word. Others of us wrestle with being legalistic and feel like accountability creates a structure in which the idol of legalism thrives. There is some truth to that, but at its heart true accountability, while challenging and scary at times is built on the love and grace of Jesus. It is soul shaping. It helps us see where we are growing and where we might need some help. It is humbling, but at the same time joyful. But how can it be this way? What do we need to live in a way that is not only challenging but also encouraging? There area many passages that emphasis accountability but today we are going to hone in on one, . In this passage Paul brings up some pretty rough stuff, and one of the reasons I picked it is because He talks about something specific that many of us are often afraid to talk about in church, SEX even more crazy he is talking about really bad sex. I picked this passage because in it Paul addresses a hard subject with firmness and love. He handles this issue biblically, obviously because it is in the bible, and it is clear his goal is to help the Corinthians grow in their faith. This passage emphasizes some specific necessities

2) What do they need to know? – MOTIVATION

a) GOD (Illumination)

b) What is the main point?

3) What do they need to do? – APPLICATION

a) YOU (Application)

4) Why do the need to do it? – INSPIRATION

a) WE (inspiration)

5) How can I help them remember - REITERATION

Jim Downing, one of the original Navigators, used to rename things about the Christian faith that he felt needed some freshening. For example he would say he needs some soul freshening instead of quiet times. To reiterate what we are talking about I want to try my hand at this. What Paul exemplifies here is care for people he has done life with. People he has figuratively and literally traveled with. He is being their traveling buddy. Doing life with them and helping them grow. He is not just a

Now who are we going to travel with? Are we going to open our lives and allow people to travel with us in a way that shows we desperately need help from others to grow past specific behaviors, beliefs and lifestyles so that we may know Christ more fully and invest in others more effectively? To help each other we have to travel together. If you do not have people you can share life with your next step might be to talk with me or one of the elders to help you plug into a D-group or Comm. group when they start back up. If you do you might need to pull some people together and let them know you need help (this is everyone) but in some situations we need more help then others.