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Week Five - The Responsibility
As you begin the ministry of Jesus Christ in your current assignment, it is vital that you understand your responsibility not only to your call, but to the body of Christ as a whole. Romans 12:4-8 , 1 Corinthians 12:17-20 God created the church, both locally and globally, to function as a single unit with a single purpose. There is no room for competition, jealousy, stubbornness, laziness, or arrogance within the body. Any time a human organ ceases to function in the way that it was designed to function, it affects the rest of the body. It may kill or damage other organs, put added strain on other organs, or kill the body all together. Organ malfunction is serious business within the human body. The malfunctioning of a believer within the body is just as serious. During the course of your life, you will be tempted to malfunction as a member of the body of Christ. You may become competitive, hurting yourself and others out of a desire for recognition that can only be satisfied by God. You may become jealous, slanderous or steal the joy of fellow believers, forgetting that you have everything that you need in Christ and that His grace is sufficient for you. You may become stubborn, paralyzing the rhythm of God within the body and preventing the lost from seeing Jesus accurately, essentially attempting to replace Jesus as the head of the body. You may become lazy, forgetting the cross that is yours to carry; or arrogant, forgetting the grace that saved you when you did not deserve it. Whatever your tendency, you must guard against it, humbly assuming your place within the body, replacing your own desires with God's desires, and finding contentment in your own assignment. Take a few moments and write your thoughts, concerns, and questions in your journal. Allow the following thought suggestions to guide you. Are you a team player? Explain. How do you feel when you consider your role within the larger interdependent body of Christ? Because of our sinful natures, we are all tempted to malfunction. How do you predict that you will be tempted to do so? Explain. How can you guard against malfunction?
What is God saying to you? Review:
Your responsibility to the body of Christ goes beyond your ability to carry out your assignment without malfunction. You are also responsible for serving and lifting up other members of the body, putting them before yourself. Read the following passages, paying special attention to the verbs: You cannot carry out fully your responsibility to the body of Christ if you remove yourself from the church. Your assignment may require you to carry out much of your ministry outside the walls of the church. If so, be careful that you do not allow yourself to drift away from relationships within the church. If you do, you will not only deny others the support that God intends for them to receive from you, but you will also deny yourself the same support, the kind that can only be given by other believers who are simultaneously carrying out their own assignments and earnestly seeking God's direction in their lives. Some might argue that it is more important to build relationships with the lost. Building relationships with the lost is very important, but doing so creates spiritual tension in the life of a believer. We all struggle with our sin nature, doing our best to keep it in check. The spiritual pull toward the desires of our sin nature that comes from contact with the secular world must be counteracted with a "life-line" relationship with other believers much like that described in Ecclesiastes 4:12 if we are to survive and carry out our assignments successfully and without malfunction. If there are seasons that you are not "getting much out of church," remember that often times it is not about what you get out of church, but what you can give to it. Take a few moments and write your thoughts, concerns, and questions in your journal. Allow the following thought suggestions to guide you. Do you ever struggle to maintain relationships within the body? Why or why not? As you read through the scripture passages, what instructions stood out to you as areas that you needed to work on? Have you ever watched a believer distance themselves from the church in the name of ministry? What happened? If not, what dangers do you imagine would be associated with doing so? Are you a life-line to other believers? How can you improve?
What is God teaching you about your responsibility to the body of Christ? Review:
As a member of the body of Christ, you are responsible for carrying out your assignment without malfunction and for supporting and encouraging other members of the body, receiving the same support in return. Even more than support of other believers, however, the accountability found through relationships within the church is vitally important to a believer. Paul thought so. Much of the New Testament is made up of letters written by Paul to young churches, encouraging them, but also correcting them when necessary, reminding them that they must answer to God and to Him, as God's representative, for their actions. 1 Corinthians 1:10-15, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, 1 Corinthians 4:18-21, and 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 If you are accountable to someone, then that person has the right to hold you responsible for your words, actions, and even your thoughts. Accountability is not comfortable, but is extremely beneficial. In theory, none of us should have trouble living as Christ. After all, God Himself knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees all, and it is He who will judge us. Such knowledge should cause us to quake at the thought of the sin that we allow into our lives, but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, God uses our Christian brothers and sisters to confront us about sin in our lives either through their words or in their living a Christ-like example in front of us. For some reason, the thought of answering to a "flesh and bone" representative of God can elicit a greater response from us than the mental and/or emotional awareness of God's constant presence. Mature believers seek accountability. They understand their human limitations and the value of answering to another believer or believers. Because they value God and His purposes above their own, they are willing to sacrifice their pride and ask others to help them improve in various areas of their lives. As you seek to be obedient to God's call on your life, it is important that you have a source of accountability. First, you must be accountable to a local body of believers. If you are not a member of a local church, be about the business of finding the local body of believers that God wants you to join. Second, assume an attitude of submission toward the appointed spiritual leadership within your church. That is not to say that you are to rely on them first and foremost for your spiritual growth, but that you decide right now to receive future direction and/or words of constructive criticism without responding defensively, allowing the Holy Spirit to help you discern whether or not the direction and/or words of constructive criticism that you receive are from God. Third, among your Christian peers, find an accountability partner or group and meet with them on a consistent, regular basis. (See the "Peer Accountability Guide" on this CD for ideas of fining and planning a consistent accountability time.) Never allow an accountability relationship to become a crutch or a replacement for the Holy Spirit in your life. People are not perfect; God is. Always maintain your personal relationship with Him in such a way that the Holy Spirit can speak clearly to you. Take a few moments and write your thoughts, concerns, and questions in your journal. Allow the following thought suggestions to guide you. To whom are you currently accountable? Describe that relationship. Does it need to improve in any way? How do you feel about being confronted by another believer? Why? Are there any changes in attitude that you need to make? What steps do you believe God wants you to take in the area of accountability?
What is God teaching you? Review:
Although Paul felt confident enough in his assignment to oversee and equip the churches that God had put in his charge, Paul was careful not to become arrogant. Although he had attained a higher level of spiritual maturity than many, he was careful not to become satisfied and complacent. Though he had lived a Christ-like example, he did not consider himself ever to have reached perfection. Paul was always striving to improve, grow, learn, and master his sinful nature. As you discover your assignment and begin to carry it out, you will experience a fulfillment like you've never experienced before, a fulfillment that will feed your passion for God and cause you to crave Him all the more. As you look around at other believers who have not yet discovered this kind of fulfillment and passion, you may be tempted to become judgmental, not understanding why they don't seem to understand or share your enthusiasm. While it may be that God has allowed you to mature, be careful not to become arrogant, satisfied, or complacent. Instead, like Paul, continue to compare yourself to Christ, striving to reach the standard that He set, and you will be made painfully aware each day of how far you still have to go. Apollos was an impressive man in his day, a believer with enthusiasm and the gift of preaching. He carried out his assignment with boldness and skill. However, he still had more to learn. He was approached by two believers with the knowledge that he needed to become an even more effective ambassador for Christ. When approached, he could have bristled, taking their instruction as an insult, hardening his heart against the information that they gave him, but he didn't. He listened, received the instruction, and became "a great help" to other believers. As you follow the path God has laid out for you and you alone, look for those whom God may use to help you grow and mature spiritually. Their input is a gift, not an insult. God is glorified by the careful giving and humble receiving of sound spiritual doctrine, correction, and encouragement. Because it defies human nature and kills the spirit of competition that we all struggle with, such a relationship is a triumph of God because it only happens when two believers share a genuine desire to please Him. Paul had such a relationship with Timothy, calling him a "son" in the faith (1 Timothy 1:2). Every believer needs a Paul/Timothy relationship. Read 2 Timothy 1:3-14 to get a taste of how Paul mentored Timothy. If you do not have a mentor, you should begin looking for a spiritual mentor, a "mother" or "father" in the faith, someone who has walked with God longer and more intimately than you. Make sure to select someone of the same gender. Spend time with them, learn from them, and open yourself up to their correction and encouragement. If you have not already established a mentoring relationship with someone, see the "Mentoring Guide" on this CD for ideas and help establishing a mentoring relationship. Take a few moments and write your thoughts, concerns, and questions in your journal. Allow the following thought suggestions to guide you. Have you ever found yourself judging those around you because they didn't seem to be experiencing God the way that you do? What's wrong with that kind of attitude? What can you learn from Paul's attitude and approach to spiritual maturity? When other believers give you advice, how do you respond to them? How does your heart respond? Is there anything there that you need to work on? Do you have a Paul in your life? A Timothy? If so, are those relationships functioning the way God intended, pushing you both toward Christ?
What is God teaching you about your responsibility as a believer? Review:
This event was early in Jesus' time of public ministry. What had Jesus been doing just a few years earlier? Carpentry. Jesus had been a carpenter. We can read about Jesus birth, the events that immediately followed His birth and about an incident in the temple when Jesus was a pre-teen. But we can discover relatively little about the events of His life between his birth and the time of Jesus' formal public ministry. We know only that "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52)." Most of us ignore this period of Jesus' life altogether, assuming that it is unimportant simply because we know nothing about it. However, Jesus' years as a carpenter were just as important as any others that Jesus spent on earth. Carpentry isn't as awe-inspiring as the performance of miracles or the raising of the dead, but it was just as much a God-given assignment as His formal ministry, and Jesus remained obedient and faithful throughout, taking advantage of the opportunity to mature and grow. Had Jesus not carried out His assignment as a carpenter, but instead tried to rush God's plan, allowing Himself to become jealous of those who held important positions in the synagogue, He would probably have disqualified Himself for the assignment that makes our salvation possible. Each day Jesus was responsible to follow the Father's leadership and to fulfill the calling of that day. Some days were private preparation and some days public proclamation, but each day was important to God. No matter what your current assignment, it is just as important that you remain faithful, obedient, and enthusiastic in your spiritual growth now as it will be during any future assignment that God gives you. You must remain open to God's guidance, even when you perceive His direction to be a detour from where you think you are going. Remember, you are called to Jesus, not a position, responsibility, or a title, and the rhythm of God is different in the life of each believer. Be content and flexible enough to follow wherever He leads, taking advantage of every opportunity to grow, learn, and build relationships, trusting Him enough not to depend on what you know, but on who He is. Being faithful to study and prepare now will be very important in the years to come. Take a few moments and write your thoughts, concerns, and questions in your journal. Allow the following thought suggestions to guide you. How easy is it for you to trust God? Give examples from your life. Think of where you are right now. What is your current assignment? Where might that lead in the future? Can you approach your current assignment with the same enthusiasm as you would the assignment that seems more "public?" |
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