ACCOUNTABILITY
INTRODUCTION
accountability is so important in the life of the believer.
We are accountable to God for our freedom but many times we don’t acknowledged this truth.
Paul warns the Christian community against the evil of judging one another concerning certain doubtful or debatable practices where one Christian holds one opinion and another a different opinion.
He concludes the portion of his argument with a reminder of every Christian’s accountability at the judgement Seat of God (Romans 14:10-12)
The stark reality of scripture is that every person, Christian and non-christian, is accountable before a Sovereign God and will one day have to bow before Christ. (Romans 3:9-19; Phil. 2:9-11)
Jesus said much will be required from one given much. (Luke 12:48b) Many reject this declaration by all manert if human nationalization and bias, but the rejection cannot alter the reality of accountability.
Accountability was one of the vital areas Jesus taught in. (Matt. 12:36)
Everyone will be accountable for their actions and words.
Accountability is a language best known to stewards. One has to comprehend and embrace the reality of stewardship and that of being a steward if one wants to be truly accountable. In other words, the proper and perfect understanding and practice of accountability would not be attained if the concept of stewardship is not perfectly understood because accountability is one of the characteristics of a good steward.
If one is devoid of his identity as a steward, then accountability would be Greek to him.
STEWARDSHIP
What is stewardship?
Stewardship is God-given responsibility with accountability.
Stewardship is the commitment of one’s self and possession to God’s service.
Stewardship involves relationship between an owner, a steward, a resource and the purpose for which that resource is to be used.
When we talk about stewardship within the context of the Christian life, we mean God is the owner of all things.
These resources would be anything and everything He has given us.
This would be our salvation, the gospel message, our churches, our education, our time, our energy, our thought life, the words we speak, our talent; everything we have. It all belongs to Him and He has entrusted it to us for a specific purpose.
What’s the purpose?
The purpose for which God had entrusted to us which He owns is so that we can be busy advancing His Kingdom. (Matt. 6:33).
This includes mission and evangelism.
It also includes benevolence.
Stewardship is being entrusted by God with His Resources to accomplish His Desire or Will.
The picture of stewardship in the scripture is one where He gave His all for us and we gave our all for Him.
Who is a steward?
A steward is an administrator, a person who manages.
Specifically, one who has authority over the servants or slaves of a family to assign tasks and portion.
Stewards could be slaves eg- Eliezer (Genesis 15:2) and Joseph (Gen. 39:4) or a free person who simply was employed. (Luke 16)
As Christians, God has called us stewards. We do not choose to become stewards, we are stewards.
What kind of Steward are you? (Matt. 25:14-29) The context of this passage was seen in Matt. 24:3.
To be a good steward is an honorable thing. (1 Tim. 3:13, Prov. 27:18)
Examples of Stewardship on the Bible
INDIVIDUALS ACTING AS STEWARDS
– Adam in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15)
– Joseph in Potiphar’s House (Gen. 39:4-6)
– Daniel an administrator in Babylon. (Daniel 6:1-3)
GROUPS ACTING AS STEWARDS
– The Priests serving in the tabernacle. (Lev. 22:9; 1 Samuel 2:15)
– The Seven chosen by the Jerusalem Church. (Acts 6:1-6)
HOUSEHOLD STEWARD
Genesis 43:16; Genesis 43:1-12; Gen.15:2; 2 Sam.19:17;Esth. 1:8
JESUS TEACHING ON STEWARDSHIP
Using parable to emphasize accountability. (Luke 16:1-12; Matt. 25:14-30;Luke 19:12-27)
Emphasising each individual’s responsibility. (Luke 12:48, Matt.12:36)
THE APOSTLES CONTINUED IN THIS TEACHING
Romans 14:12; 1 Peter 4:4-5
Christians are entrusted with the stewardship of the gospel. (1 Cor. 4’1-2; 1 Cor. 9:17; 2 Cor.5:19-21; Gal. 1:15-16; Gal.2:7; 1 Thess. 2:4, 1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Tim. 4:14; 1 Tim. 6:29; 2 Tim.1:14; Tit.1:3,7
Christians are to be wise stewards of their God-given gifts. 1 Cor. 4:7, use their gifts to benefit other.(1 Pet. 4:10-11) They are to develop the gifts. (1 Tim. 4:14-15) They are to be wise stewards of their material possession. (Deut. 8:17-18)
Living a biblical view of stewardship by itself will not make you a good christian but if you are a good christian, you cannot help but live with a biblical view of stewardship. (Acts 10)
FOUNDATION OF STEWARDSHIP
The concept of Stewardship grow out of the very natural character of God — It is about who God is and what He has done.
God is the owner of everything and has the right to determine what we do. (Gen. 1; Isa. 29:16, Is a 64:8, Rom. 9:21)
In the Parable of the shrewd manager, the rich man owns the very things to which he had entrusted the manager or steward. (Luke 16:1-13)
The owner has the right to set certain expectations of the one to whom he has entrusted the goods.
Jesus is our Living Redeemer, Saviour, King and Lord – It is His expectation that we strive to live and glorify Him.
FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS ABOUT STEWARDSHIP
- God owns it all. (Psalm 24:1-2; 1 Chron. 29:11-14)
If you are a Christian, (not name bearing or nominal Christian) authentic born-again, regenerated person in whom the Spirit of God dwells, then everything you think is yours, is really God’s.
In the system of the world, you may have legal rights to those things which God has entrusted to your care, but you don’t own them. (Luke 12:16-21)
If you have been bought with a price, —His Blood — then you and everything you have belongs to Him.
- God with hold us accountable.
When Jesus taught about stewardship in the Parable of the talents, He placed this parable right in the middle of His teaching on the Second Coming. (Matt. 25:14-25)
We are stewards and when Jesus comes back, He is going to hold us accountable for that which He has entrusted to our care. He will call us to account, to see if we have been faithful or faithless stewards. (Luke 12:42-48)
- How we use His Resources reveals our hearts. (Matt. 6:24:34)
FOUR PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP
- THE PRINCIPLE OF OWNERSHIP. (Psalm.24:1; Deut. 8:17)
This principle states that God owns everything.
Therefore, Stewardship expresses our obedience regarding the administration of everything Gid had placed under our control which is all-encompassing.
- THE PRINCIPLE OF RESPONSIBILITY (Luke 16:1-13,Luke 19:11-27)
This principle states that God has entrusted man with everything he has and he is responsible to increase what God has given him. He may increase it or diminish it.
- THE PRINCIPLE OF ACCOUNTABILITY (Matt. 25:14-30; 2 Cor. 5:10)
This principle states that God can call me into account anytime.
This is the maxim taught by the Parable of the Talents (Matt.25)
Like the servants in the parable, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given.
We will give account to the rightful owner as to how well we manager the things He has entrusted to us.
- THE PRINCIPLE OF REWARD (Col. 3:23-24; Matt. 25:21)
It states that every one will be rewarded according to the will of the Father. There is always a reward for our responsibilities.
The Bible shows in the Parable of the Kingdom that faithful stewards who do the Master’s will with the Master’s resources can expect to be rewarded incompletely in this life but fully in the next.
Having understood the meaning of stewardship. It is obvious that we are all stewards and it is requires of every steward to be accountable –first to God and to those God places over us.
ACCOUNTABILITY.
Accountability is a compound word that comprises of two other words — account and ability. Accountability therefore, is the ability of one to render or give an account of himself or whatever his master or employer has entrusted it to his care.
Christian accountability is accounting for what we are up to. It is the realization that we are liable, responsible and answerable for our actions in life to God as well as to those he has placed above us. (Romans 2:16; 14:2, 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; John 13:34; Phil. 2:4)
Accountability is not a new concept. Each of us is accountable in many ways to different organization and people. But when it comes to our character and spiritual development, we are prone to resist accountability because we think between God and each one of us, there is no body else and it is nobody else’s business.
Accountability is a relation between believers wherein one has invited the other to monitor the development of character in one or more areas.
Accountability is a check and balance system to protect us from harm from ourselves and others.
Accountability is one of the ways God uses to bring about solid growth and maturity with the freedom to be what God created us for. There won’t be a good making of disciples ad mature Christians without accountability.
Accountability is a mandate for those in leadership and ministry.
Accountability is one of the crucial problems the Body of Christ suffer in the recent times. Everyone has become individualistic. The Bible doesn’t deny our individualism. It promotes it, but in a way that holds us each accountable to Him first an then to others He will place us under.
Since the fall of man (Genesis 3), man has been a rebel who wants to do his own thing without any or very little accountability for his actions.
MEANING OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The word accountability means to be held accountable , liable, answerable or be held responsible for what a person has been given.
Accountability is not the use of coercive tactics, the invasion of privacy, bringing others under the weight of someone’s taboos, legalism, manipulative or dominating tactics.
By accountability we mean , developing relationship first with God and then to other christians as He directs one to help promote spiritual reality , honesty, obedience to God and genuine evaluations of one’s walk and relationship with God and with others.
What are we accountable for? every word, gift, sin of omission and action in this life. (Matt. 13:36, Romans 14:11-12 l; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; Luke 16:10-12; Matt. 25:14-30; Eccl. 12:14; James 4:17)
Biblical examples of accountability.
Moses and Aaron (Exodus), David and Jonathan (1Sam. 18-20), Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Lukas, Titus and Timothy. (Acts11-14; 2 Cor 2:12). Our Lord Jesus with the twelve ad the inner three.
JUSTIFICATION FOR ACCOUNTABILITY.
It is biblical.
Apart from seeing it in The Trinity, there are numerous New Testament passages which teach the concept of accountability of the flocks to the leaders. (1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim 3:1-5; Heb. 13:7,17; 1 Pet. 5:2-3)
True accountability is of two kinds viz: to God and to men He places over us. (Ezek.34:2-4; Matt. 12:36-37, 2 Pet. 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 12 )
- Accountability to God
Without a sense of accountability to a sovereign God, the world can quickly gravitate in the direction of the ruthless acts and tyranny of people.
In order to be accountable to God, the first prerequisite is to accept the Lordship of Jesus in our life.
Since we are accountable to God, we need to strive to please Him by obeying His commandments.
- Accountability to men.
This is one of the systems God uses to check us on the area of accountability. God is a Spirit. Man being a spirit also but enclosed or housed in a body and lives in a natural world I’d limited in his interaction with his maker. God in his infinite mercies uses and works in men to ensure accountability.
When God wants to change a person l. He places him in a relationship where he must give account of his action before other people.
The effectiveness of our spiritual authority depends in the level of our accountability to God and to people He has placed as authority above us.
Here, accountability is the ability and willingness to be under God’s delegated authority. (Matt. 8:5-10)
It is to be under authority that has been set by God for our good and protection.
If you really want to grow in faith and be effective in ministry, you must be held accountable otherwise you will fall back, backslide or be ineffective because of imbued pride.
DOCTRINE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
(Parable of the Talents –Matthew 25)
This parable is one that depicts the Kingdom of Heaven. It involves a master giving three of his servants talents.
A talent was a measurement of money. To open further the parable, the talent can be likened to a spiritual ability.
Every person is given different spiritual abilities and the Master had a purpose with the spiritual abilities he gives.
At the end we all will be accountable for those abilities.
Only faithful people are rewarded.
Whether ignorant of the talents or not, God shall hold us accountable.
Whether the talents are discovered or not, that is not an issue. You are just as accountable to them.
Some may think God requires so much from them and ad such He is unfair. If you noted in the parable, the talents were given out based in the secret will of the master. God is accountable to Himself. (Romans 9:20)
God is not interested in what we would do for Him, if we had more. What He is interested in is your faithfulness in that little. Use faithfully what you have.
The Parable of talents is not about salvation or righteousness but about how we use our work and our gifts to fulfill our earthly calling.
it is about whole-life stewardship.
The unfaithful steward did not waste the Master’s money but an opportunity.
We are responsible for what we do for God with what we have been given and one day we will be held responsible and accountable.
NECCESSITY OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability is key in the disciple-making process.
To believe you can make disciples or develop true maturity in others without some form of accountability is like believing you can raise children without discipline or run a company without rules.
Accountability is to the Great Commission what tracks are to a train.
- Accountability is of God.
Though the members of the Trinity –The Father, Son and Holy Spirit – are co-eternal and co-equal, scriptures give evidence of accountability that exists within the Godhead.
The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father , through the Son to believers. (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7) The Spirit accepts His role as the Enabler or Comforter to come and indwell believers of the charge age. He will unite the people and present the church unto Jesus, perfect and unified. (Lev. 23:16-17)
The Son accepts His role as the suffering saviour. (Phil. 2:5; Heb. 10:5-10; Rom. 8:34) but this accountability of the Son is seen in (1 Cor. 3:23; 11:3 and 15:24-28) When we look at the life of Christ, we see that He did not live independently of His Father in everything – words and deeds. He was always accountable to His Father, even to his earthly parents for 30 years(John 8:28; Luke 2:51)
- Accountability helps to promote biblical controls or check and balances. It provides the necessary discipline and support needed to see people reach godly goals while we are all ultimately accountable to God. (Romans 14:7-12)
God had established other levels of accountability to aid us in the matter of control, support and growth.
- Accountability is necessary because like sheep, we tend to wander and go our own way. We are self wikk and we want to protect our comfort zones and avoid having to deal with certain issues that are important to becoming obedient Christians which is the goal of the Great Commission. (Matt. 28:19-20)
- Accountability promotes servant-kike leadership in keeping with the pastors mandate to watch over the flock. (Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:1-4)
One of the key requirements of a servant leader is faithfulness to the things entrusted to him. (1 Cor. 4:1-2; 1 Tim 2:2)
- It is God’s instrument that helps people enter God’s fullness and His calling. (Matt. 25:29;)
- God makes us accountable to transform us. Accountability helps us stay in the right spiritual condition and stick to a particular spiritual and moral standard.
- Since we do not only give account to God, but also to people that love us, care for us and keep us from falling, It helps us grow spiritually and move forward in our lives.
- Accountability enables us to share our lives with one another in a deeo , introspective way. (Rom. 12:5; 14:13-23; Eph. 5:21)
- Accountability is essential for every Christian to help reach his or her full potential.
Accountability is not just for the weak and needy. It is for the strong who want ti be stronger and the unconnected who desires to be connected. (James 4:7-12; 1 Lev. 5:1-11)
Accountability to God and to man according to the directives of the scripture is the foundation for freedom and liberty.
Note: Freedom is not the right to do as one pleases but it means the capacity to exercise choice, but never so that it is devoid of responsibility or accountability.
Man who desires to be faithful will be accountable to other faithful men and real godly women will be connected to other godly women if they want to be fruitful in character and godliness.
Leaders and Pastors who are not accountable will eventually fall.
Accountability was insisted and practiced by Christ Himself.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN ACCOUNTABILITY
There are two essential elements to accountability: TRUST and the ability to Relate.
If one must develop in his/her Christian accountability, then he/she must develop in these areas.
Developement of Christian accountability starts with the development of trust.
Developing trust is a slow process and it takes time to develop and grow. Patience is required in the school of trust.