I’m not going to teach Genesis 44 today. I’ll get to it, Lord willing, the Sunday after Easter—on which I’m planning to preach a resurrection message—and not leave us hanging in the middle of an acute conversation between Judah and Joseph that’s divided between chapters 44 and 45.

I’ve also been hearing some rumbling, maybe even more like grumbling, about being questioned or even confronted, or parents upset that their kids are being questioned or confronted by teachers or by some older people trying to serve them. It seemed like a good time for some reminders.

In the gospel we learn that Christ has done everything for us that we need to be saved. And though the gospel is offered freely and received freely, it costs us everything. Those who believe the gospel are also called to live worthy of it.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27)

Becoming like Christ is not only God’s plan, it is to be our pursuit. Those who are shepherds and those who are sheep are called to walk worthy of the Lord.

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him (Colossians 1:10)

we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:12)

Walking is a figurative expression of a person’s conduct or pattern of life. Every believer is obligated to live and walk worthy of the gospel and worthy of Christ. The word worthy is an adverb which refers to a balanced scale, indicating things that are equal in worth. Therefore, the “worthy” walk is one that matches up, one that is proportionate to the life which the Lord Himself lead while on this earth and the truth of the gospel.

So we are responsible to live worthy of the gospel. We will answer for living worthy of Christ. For these things are are accountable.

Accountability has gotten much bad press. It is almost a dirty word. As I was looking around the internet doing research on accountability I saw one website that didn’t even want to spell the whole thing out, putting a dash after the A- and that was it. The little research I did confirmed that many professing evangelical Christians do not want to be held accountable to anything by anyone. Some are so extreme as to call any kind of accountability unbiblical.

You probably know the passage those people regularly point to: Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” But an actual reading of the passage shows that Jesus is not condemning judging, He’s condemning hypocritical judging. In the process of confronting sin in someone else, the problem is not confronting someone else’s sin, it is confronting someone else’s sin while you keep living in yours.

The conclusion of the paragraph is first deal with your sin and then you will see clearly enough to deal with your brother’s sin (verse 5). Jesus assumes that it is right to hold others accountable. But He also expects us to not be hypocrites in doing so.

It is true that hypocritical, impatient, unkind, judgmental, self-righteous, legalistic, prejudicial, and/or ignorant accountability is no good. Job’s friends were wrong as they held Job accountable, and got meaner as the story went on. But—and this is critical— accountability does not equal judgmentalism and those who hold others accountable are not by definition arrogant, overbearing, big-headed, spiritually abusive jerks .

We don’t like accountability because:

• We are naturally self-centered. Love of ourselves is in our genes (2 Timothy 3:2).
• We are proud. It is not only naturally to think about ourselves, but to think highly about ourselves. Proud people don’t like to be told they are wrong, they know they aren’t.
• We are uncomfortable with authority, especially because it can be and has been abused.
• We are unfamiliar with or uninterested in holiness, both objectively (what it is) and subjectively (how we are to be).

Accountability is “giving account; it means that a man is required or expected to justify his actions or decisions; he is responsible, liable, answerable.”

Spiritual accountability is another way to say that there are certain expectations (namely to walk worthy of the gospel and worthy of the Lord) in the Christian life. Therefore we are required to give an account, to answer for our decisions and our actions.

God has established Three Levels of Accountability to God .

The prepositional phrase at the end is very intentional. There is a sense in which we are accountable to fellow human beings, and we’ll see that in two of the levels. But our ultimate accountability is to God . Answering to one another is part of His plan, but only as we are helping one another to answer to God.

This is information you need to have. There is no one in our culture, no movie, no music, no social media network that is going to promote accountability (though they do often illustrate why we need it). We fancy ourselves as self-contained, independent persons who don’t want, who don’t need, the input or (constructive) criticism of anyone else. But like I said, God has constructed various accountability keepers around us.

1. PERSONAL - We are accountable to God Himself.

This is the ultimate and most direct level of accountability. Every one of us will answer to God. No one—except Jesus for those of us who are believers—stands between us and Him.

In Romans 14 Paul gives instructions on not holding one another accountable for superficial, legalistic things. He is not removing our responsibility to help each other in the pursuit of holiness, but he is reminding us that holiness is the primary issue, not secondary issues like valuing some days being more important than others, etc.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)

And the writer of Hebrews is encouraging his readers toward obedience that comes from grace, because,

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)

The same verse is translated in the KJV as “but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” For true believers, though we can’t lose our salvation, we will receive God’s discipline and chastisement if we fail to pursue holiness. That might be through another person’s rebuke or through some other means, but it is evidence of God’s love (Hebrews 12:6).

It is this accountability to God that provides motivation for accountability to others. It is worse to try and hide your sin from God than from another person. When we ask for prayer, ask for advice, share our burdens and struggles, we are asking others to help us so that in our accountability to God we can give a good answer. Augustine recognized accountability with others as a form of self-watch, so that we’ll be most ready before God.

2. PASTORAL - We are accountable to spiritual leaders.

There is parental accountability as well, that is every child is answerable to his parents. We are also accountable to government, both national and local. But we’re working to make a case for the importance of accountability in local body relationships. As God has given parents authority over their children, likewise, God has put spiritual authorities in the lives of His children.

These passages address the sheep and their accountability to their shepherds.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. (1Thessalonians 5:12-13)

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

The sheep are to listen, heed, and follow the shepherd. They are to respect and obey and submit to their pastors. God gives overseers to His church to feed and protect the sheep and they are accountable.

Jesus explained the system of spiritual accountability that extends to the church and her leaders in Matthew 18:15-17. The discipline process is a process of accountability that begins on a private, interpersonal level, that progresses to the leadership level. When one of the sheep is out of line, another sheep is to do what they can, then the shepherd gets involved, then the whole flock.

Part of the reason we are accountable to our pastors is because our pastors are accountable to God for us (Hebrews 13:17). And there is much at stake, as we pastors are stewards of a very precious people.

Richard Baxter’s book, The Reformed Pastor is basically an extended meditation with application on the following one verse:

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with His own blood. (Acts 20:28)

There is great responsibility here, to care for the health and holiness of those purchased by Christ on the cross. This this is no new accountability that sheep have to shepherds, or that shepherds have to God. Consider the prophets in the Old Testament. Even though the situation was different for a prophet to the nation of Israel, it functions as an illustration of the kind of work God expects His shepherds to do:

16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” (Ezekiel 3:16-21)

See also Ezekiel 33:1-9, 34:1-6, 16.

We in spiritual leadership as pastors, and even by extension as leaders or our Life to Life groups, will give an account to God. And though we can’t make anyone do anything, we are responsible to urge the sheep to live worthy of the gospel and worthy of Christ and you are accountable to listen and obey.

The New Testament is full of actions for pastors to hold sheep accountable to God’s desire for holiness. We are to admonish, appeal, argue, ask, assert, beseech, call, commend, console, declare, demonstrate, discern, edify, equip, feed, implore, inquire, lead, model, pray, proclaim, reason, upbuild, labor and work. Furthermore, God’s Word is full of actions for sheep to follow their pastors in the pursuit of holiness. Sheep are to listen, follow, repent, do, love, remember, seek, consider, respect, honor. We are accountable to our shepherds.

3. MUTUAL - We are accountable to one another.

We are accountable to spiritual leaders and we have accountability to, and from, spiritual friends. We have responsibilities to our authorities and to one another.

Scripture is filled with obligations we have toward one another. For example, as Paul transitions from our personal responsibility to walk in the Spirit and not in the desires of the flesh at the end of Galatians chapter 5, what if we see a fellow brother or sister not walking in the Spirit?

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

There is no room for arrogant, unkind, impatient accountability. But there is also no room for silence, indifference, or inaction when it is appropriate. Sin is serious. Sin reflects on Christ, it steals personal joy, and if a person persists in a pattern of sin, then we are unable to affirm their spiritual destiny. If there is not a pattern of holiness, then they won’t see the Lord.

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

Admonish. Encourage. Help. These are all very messy things. They are viewed by some as meddling. But we are to rebuke the lazy and slothful. We are to stir up the timid and nervous. We are to aid the feeble and tired, but this is all toward the goal of being complete in Christ.

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)

22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 22-23)

It is not loving to leave someone in their sin. Unconditional love is proven when you confront and get rejected and mocked. Not confronting when it is necessary is conditional love, on the presumed condition of their negative response and is really love of self.

And for those of us on the receiving side, hating correction is stupid.

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates reproof is stupid.
(Proverbs 12:1)

Mutual accountability helps us when we give account to God. It helps us not be so stupid. This doesn’t require pastoral approval. The pastors approve obedience to the one-anothers.

Conclusion

Still there are those who want nothing to do with accountability. I guess they don’t want the protection. But I’ve never heard anyone complain about guardrails as they navigate narrow, windy mountain roads that keep cars from slipping over the steep cliffs. So what if the car gets banged up, at least they have their life. God-given accountability is like protective guardrails.

Even more than protection, accountability helps us glorify God more. A lot of people seek out financial input/counsel (accountability) in their investments. They do research to find the best of the best, counselors that can help them get the most out of their money. They listen to their advisor, buying some stocks and selling others to get maximum gain. They are willing to put up with a lot in hopes of getting a lot. We aren’t willing to put up with much spiritual input because we don’t care about much holiness.

Parents are often the worst at keeping their kids stupid. They don’t want their kids talked to.

Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
(Proverbs 27:5–6)

We really ought to ask: Is this person confronting me for sake of breaking or increasing fellowship? Most of the time, love like this shows that you belong, not that we have voted you off the island.

Remember:

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.
(Proverbs 27:17)

This is a different sort of friendly fire, fire that comes from sharpening. You could avoid the fire, just love being dull.