Accountability, Not Judging!!!

Accountability, not Judging!

i recently heard someone say that 30 years ago the most quote scripture in the Bible was John 3:16. Today the  most quoted scripture in the Bible is Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged."  Everyone is ready to jump at someone that is judging other people and start screaming at them that they are not suppose to be judging. For that reason almost everyone including those inside the church have the mindset that they can do whatever they want to do and no one will say anything to them because that would be judging and we all know we are not suppose to judge. 

WELLLLLL!! Shame on us for allowing the enemy to deceive us and using us to twist scripture to mean something that God never intented. 

Matthew 7:1 is dealing more with judging someone by something you do not know. Just because they are having a difficult time in their life doesn't mean there is sin in their life. Remember Job? Verse 2 in this chapter speaks really of the motive behind what we are saying. If we are judging someone to point out their faults and make ourselves look better we are in error. If we really care about their soul and are burdened for them then we have a responsibility to warn them through correction. 

i believe much of the foolishness going on in churches today would stop if we as brothers and sisters in Christ would stand up and hold each other accountable. 

We find in 1 Corinthians 5 Paul is addressing immorality going on in the church and how it should be handled. He explains that God removing His protection and allowing satan to work will hopefully bring about a spirit of humility and repentance. The goal in approaching someone in sin is that their soul would be saved. The church for the most part has kept quiet about much of the stuff going on in it and allowed sin to continue often times openingly. 

We have to understand just as God described in Ezekiel in explaining the watchman on the walls responsibility was to sound the alarm. We are not responsible for the persons response. We can not control whether a person will repent or not. We are responsible for presenting truth to them in love in hopes that the would repent. However, if we do not confront those that are in living in sin, their blood will be on our hands.  

Please note: this deals only with those that are in the church claiming to be a child of God. Dealing with the unsaved should be handled differently. 

Paul goes on in verse 6 to explain that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. On the night before Passover, the Hebrews would remove all the leaven from their homes. Leaven has a fermenting action that illustrates the corrupting power of evil. Since Jesus was our Passover Lamb we must keep regular check to make sure their is not leaven in our house that will cause the yeast or in this case sin to spread. When we fail to discipline in the church we are actually denying the purpose of Christ death. 

Paul goes on in verse 9 to challenge the Christian to stay away from people in the church that claim to be Christians, but practices immorality, covetousness, extortion, and idolatry. He says to not even set down and eat with them. I know where your mind is going. Paul is not saying if you approach them and they are repentant to turn away from them. We minister to and love those people. He is speaking here of the one who is sinning and will not repent and continues in the sin. Verses 11 and 12 remind us that God will judge the world. That's not our job, but in fact we are to judge and discipline within the church. 

We cant judge the world by the church's standards because they don't care about our standards. we witness to them and let our light shine so they can see Jesus in us. In the church however, we are suppose to bring corrective discipline to those that are not in line with the Word of God. 

We have to love. 

We have to forgive. 

but the church can not continue to allow those in the church that claim to be Christians yet continue to sin to get away with it. We must begin to stand up in love and bring correction to one another when we are out of line. we must hold each other to biblical standards. The world is watching and if they do not see anything different from the church and themselves they will not want what we have because they will think they already have it. 

We must get back to a place of holding each other accountable according to the Holy Word of God. 

I challenge you to begin to exercise spiritual discipline with those that you love so that you might save their soul from hell. We can not continue to allow each other sin without correction. Lets be the church god has intented for us to be!!