Church Structure and Accountability

I’ve been reading the book of Job lately in my devotions. Remember the Lord’s question to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job?” For the purposes of this month’s article, let me change that question. “Have you considered the issue of accountability?” Our present culture rebels against the very concept of it because it reeks of higher authority and submission to it. We relish in our own independence and the ability to make our own decisions without regard to anyone or anything else taking issue with them. Indeed, if someone or something does, we take offence and state that it is a violation of the precepts of a “politically correct” society. No one has the authority to counterman what each of us has determined to do with our life.

Sound familiar? It should, because the very same attitude has infiltrated Christ’s Church. At every turn, we eschew the idea of accountability. Like the outside world, we want to be the ones who control our own destinies, answering to no one for our actions. Yet, at the same time, we want all of the benefits that God has to offer those who sincerely are called by His Name. We desire the best of both worlds, independence to do what we want, connection to get the best of what God has to offer. We are guilty as charged.

Yet, God’s economy does not work that way at all. His Word does not teach such a cavalier independent spirit for His people. It is a rather different picture that God paints in reference to His kingdom and His Church.

First of all, His people are accountable to Him in reality and ultimately. If we are “in Christ”, if we truly have a personal relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, we lost our identity as independent entities the moment we entered into that relationship. As Paul clearly states in I Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23, “you were (have been) bought with a price...”; therefore, we became His slaves, His servants, no longer belonging to ourselves, but to Him, for His use and disposal as He desires. Jesus also stated that this relationship is a dependent one. He is the sustainer upon whom we must rely on for support. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (rf. John 15:5). He makes it clear that without Him, we are unable to do anything spiritually worthwhile, anything pleasing to God, anything having eternal value. Thus, our connection to Him and our dependence upon Him precludes any independence from Him.

Secondly, His people are accountable to Him through each other by means of ordained church structure. The Lord went to great lengths to establish the organization of His Church as a way to keep us accountable to each other and to prevent false doctrine and practices from corrupting the Bride of Christ. Jesus Himself is the Chief cornerstone with His teachings and Gospel as the basis of all that should be taught and believed (rf. Ephesians 2:20). Next is the work and ministry of the Apostles who have given us the text of the New Testament and, thus, the completion of the written revelation of God’s Word . Following them are the prophets who were instrumental in conveying God’s Word during the first few centuries before the canon of Scripture was completed. Then, there were the evangelists who shared the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John from memory to the early church to remind them of what authentic Christianity in the example of Christ was all about (rf. Ephesians 4:11). Finally, there were the pastors and teachers whose responsibility was to “feed the flock” , providing the spiritual nourishment to the disciples of Christ while protecting them from dangers without (attacks from their society) and from within (doctrinal error and heresies). This spiritual leadership was augmented by the service of the diaconate, the deacon body, whose sole purpose would be to serve the needs of the individual church fellowship (rf. Acts 6:1-7), thus leaving the spiritual needs to be addressed by the elders/bishops/pastors.

I share this with you, the reader, because at every juncture in His organization of the Church, God established accountability. He did so to protect the integrity of the structure as well as the content of belief. He knew us well enough that, without accountability, we would quickly fall away from Him. We need strong ties to bind us to each other and to our Lord.

Independence is and will be our downfall as the modern-day Church. Lacking structure and accountability, we are easy pickings for the Enemy. Our contemporary music is already sadly lost the theological moorings it possessed in its beginnings, now attributing Jesus’ death more to our self-esteem than to our sin. Presently we have some megachurch ministers who brazenly ignore the Great Commission commands to “make disciples of all the nations”, choosing to befriend some groups (Muslim, in particular) rather than to share with them the truth of Christ for fear of offending. On and on the list of transgressions go and yet, because of our independence from one another, there is no accountability, no recognition of higher authority, thus no ability to stem the tide. Where does it stop?

In order for the Church to be His Church, we need, desperately need, to return to our moorings as prescribed by Scripture. Our lifeline is both our accountability to the Lord and to each other within the guidelines as He has provided in His Word. This accountability gives us authenticity and provides us the protection mechanisms against the workings of the Enemy as he desires to destroy Christ’s Church from without and within. We need to get back to the place of dependency upon the Lord and each other, seeing it not as weakness but as our greatest strength. Only when we fulfill God’s mandate of a unified, consecrated devoted body of servants submitted to His will and purpose will we be in the position of accomplishing His fullest use and greatest impact in the present world and society.

Being God's "Peculiar People"

Probably the hardest challenge in all of Scripture comes from the mouth of God to His people, Israel, (rf. Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7), echoed and applied to all believers in Christ (rf. I Peter 1:15-16): “‘Be holy for/as I am holy’ says the Lord.” In this grammatical format, God intended for this statement to be taken as a command with obedience as its explicit, expected result. There was not so much an outlook for sinless perfection as there was the prospect of separation or uniqueness from the rest of the world or world system in this idea of being “holy”. This concept is reflected in the Apostle John’s admonition of I John 2:15: “Do not love the world nor the things of the world...” It is also found in the Apostle Paul’s statement of encouragement in Romans 12:2: “...and do not be conformed to this world...” God’s intent in telling His people to “be holy” is to be purposefully different by following His Word, His precepts, His commands. When we obey these teachings, we truly exhibit the qualities of being His “peculiar people” (rf. I Peter 2:9 KJV).

But, that’s the “rub”, isn’t it? Do we really want to be “peculiar”, unique, different? Or is there a driving force within us to “fit in” with the culture that surrounds us? We really want to be liked and loved by the unbelieving world. The pressures to conform to the culture are astounding. The media, video and audio, bombards us with messages that we should “follow the pack”. As adults, at work or in classes, the mentality presented is one that uniqueness is only valuable if it meshes with the acceptable perspective of the prevailing culture. God forbid (so to speak) that one should introduce Christian morals into an adult setting and expect them to be willingly integrated. How much less is such a prospect for those less in age and maturity where the introduction of Christianity is perceived as a threat to self-expression and creativity and, thus, by political decisions the young are systematically being separated from its positive influences. To the outside world, taking such stands of difference as commanded by God are seen as eccentric, crazy, even dangerous because serious believers do not conform to societal “norms”. However, in God’s economy, to be “salt...and light” (rf. Matthew 5) requires greater bravery than most Christians are ready and willing to practice today. There is an amazing amount of sacrifice that comes with fulfilling God’s command to “be holy”.

Does it mean a complete break with the outside world as some groups, like the Amish, have taken? It is hard to fulfill the part of being the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” concept of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount if we virtually withdraw ourselves from the surrounding humanity. Nor does God give us liberty to surrender ourselves and our children to the pagans and their unbelieving culture for the ungodly to oversee, influence and educate the generations of believers in the cultural perspective and worldview. The responsibility of generational instruction is to stay solely and securely within the context of our own faith (rf. Deuteronomy 6:1-15). What He does command is that we keep ourselves “unstained from the world” (rf. James 1:27), meaning that we must stay engaged within the culture without becoming part of it, remaining distinct from it by the way that we live and the things that we believe and affirm.

The Jewish people for centuries practiced their faith in this very way, living differently from the peoples that surrounded them, educating their children in their own schools, and, yet, engaging the outside culture as needed. In this way they were endeavoring to uphold God’s commandment as stated in Leviticus. As a result, they endured much persecution because they were misunderstood for their distinctions.

The same will hold true for us if we choose to obey God’s Word as well. Our unbelieving friends will not grasp our actions and decisions. But, remember, to “be holy” is to seek to please God not men. It is to possess a heart that desires to obey God above all else. We leave the ramifications of our following after Him...to Him.