One of the most significant things about Christianity
and one of the things that sets it
apart from other world religions is that our
religion is very personal in nature.
We serve a God who has allowed us
to call Him our Heavenly Father.
We have a Savior who said we are
His brothers.
We have a Savior who said to His
closest disciples that they were no longer His
servants but that they could call Him friend.
We have a God who is so personal
in terms of our relationship that He described
the church's relationship to Him in terms of
a bridegroom and a bride.
We don't have to have a mediator, the
one who claimed to be our brother and
our friend who died to show His love
for us and who has become our Savior
is also our mediator to God and that
makes Christianity very, very, very unique among world
religions because it's extremely personal.
We could even go so far as to
say that our relationship with our God could
be described as intimate and as we think
through those family relationships that God has allowed
us to compare with His relationship to us,
we find that intimate is not too strong
of a word and it's that very type
of relationship that God desires with us, personal
intimate.
But on the other hand, nowhere in Scripture
is it even implied that our relationship is
to be private.
Personal, yes.
Private, no.
And by private I mean this, that my
spiritual business is your spiritual business and that
your spiritual business is my spiritual business.
And what I want to talk about tonight
is the whole issue of accountability because there's
a tendency on our part to think I
can be accountable in certain public areas of
my life, but when it comes to my
relationship with God, specifically when it comes to
my struggles, when it comes to my failures,
when it comes to my personal temptations, when
it comes to the things I struggle with
intimately and inside, that's just between me and
God.
You know, you've heard it said me and
God are majority, and that sounds good, and
that sounds spiritual, but hopefully tonight I want
to demonstrate to you from Scripture that that
is very, very far from the truth.
Your spiritual business is my spiritual business.
My spiritual business is your spiritual business.
Accountability.
Now, this isn't a new term.
All of us live in situations and circumstances
where we're accountable.
If you don't believe that, just bounce a
few checks.
The bank will send you a few letters
because they will hold you accountable.
At the same time, if the bank messes
up your balance, you give them a call,
and you hold them accountable.
Don't pay your electric bill, and you'll find
that Georgia Power, whoever it is, will send
you a letter and hold you accountable for
the money you owe them.
At the same time, if they turn off
your electricity, you'll give them a call, and
you'll hold them accountable.
If you have a job, if you have
employees, if you're an employer, you understand that
every day in every area of life, people
are holding us accountable.
If you have a roommate, if you're married,
in every area of life, we're held accountable.
I had a roommate before I got married,
and both of us had mothers who loved
us dearly, and therefore, as far as they
got with us is getting dishes in the
sink.
I didn't really know what a dishwasher was
for.
I thought they went in the sink, and
magically, they appeared back in the cabinets.
And we both thought that, so for the
first week, dishes, you can imagine, piled up
forever, and we realized that someone has to
take those dishes and put them in the
dishwasher.
And this is how we held each other
accountable.
My roommate was named Rick, and I'd be
upstairs, and I'd hear Rick say, Andy?
I'd say, yeah, Rick.
He'd say, is your mom coming over this
week?
I said, I don't think so.
He said, oh, and that meant, Andy, your
dishes are still in the sink.
He held me accountable.
My wife holds me accountable.
The way she holds me accountable is, she
sets the trash in front of the door,
so that I have to trip over it
to go downstairs to the car.
And that's her subtle way of saying, Andy,
remember, this is your responsibility, and I'm holding
you accountable.
Pick up the trash and take it downstairs.
In every area of life, you'll think about
it, in every level of relationship, we're held
accountable, and we have no problem with calling
up people who owe us money and holding
them accountable.
But all of a sudden, we get to
our spiritual lives, and there's this tendency on
our part to back off and say, well,
this is different, because that's none of your
business.
Now, the bank, that's the bank and me,
and we have our business, and the power
company, Atlanta Gaslight, and all these areas.
When it comes to my spiritual life, that's
just between me and God, and that's nobody
else's business.
And what I want you to understand tonight,
more than anything else, is that there's no
difference.
That your spiritual business is my spiritual business,
and that my spiritual business is your spiritual
business, and that God has called us.
As you'll see in a minute, God has
commanded us to hold one another accountable in
our spiritual lives, in our conduct, as we
wrestle with sin, and as we wrestle with
just the daily affairs of life.
Now, what do I mean by accountability?
Let me give you a definition.
If you're taking notes, I hope that you'll
write this down, then I want to give
you a few illustrations.
We'll look at a couple of passages of
scripture and wrap this thing up tonight.
But if you're taking notes, let me tell
you exactly what I mean by accountability.
By accountability, I mean this, giving a group
or individual permission, giving a group or individual
permission to question you concerning one or more
areas of your life.
Giving a group or individual permission to question
you concerning one or more areas of your
life.
Giving a group or individual permission to question
you concerning one or more areas of your
life.
And secondly, committing yourself to total honesty with
that group or individual.
Secondly, committing yourself to total absolute honesty with
that group or individual.
I'll give you some illustrations.
I've Sandra to ask me several times a
week if I've had my quiet time.
You think, Andy, you're in the ministry.
You should have.
I thought ministers had to have their quiet
time.
I thought it was part of the job
descriptions.
No, it's not.
I need somebody to say to me, Andy,
have you had your quiet time?
To remind me to hold me accountable.
I have a group of 12 high school
students that hold me accountable every week as
to whether or not I've memorized a particular
verse of scripture.
I've said to them on Sunday when we
get together, ask me, Andy, did you memorize
your verse of scripture?
And I know as I go through the
week that coming up Sunday, 12 high school
students are going to say to me, Andy,
did you memorize your verse of scripture?
I have given them permission to hold me
accountable in that area.
But this goes much deeper than simply spiritual
disciplines.
I have another friend, and before I was
married, I used to travel a lot and
have to stay in hotels by myself, which
I hated.
And he's in a business where he has
to travel a lot and stay in hotels
by himself, which he hates.
And we both realized that the worst thing
about it was you had lots of time,
nothing to do, and a big square box
over there saying, turn me on, turn me
on, come on, turn me on.
And on top was this cardboard thing that
told you about all the movies that were
on there that you shouldn't see.
And one day I was talking to my
accountability partner.
I said, you know, I said, I have
a real difficult time with it.
I said, I hate to travel by myself
because of that constant temptation.
So we came up with a deal.
When he gets back from a trip, I
say to him, and I call his name,
I said, did you watch movies you shouldn't
watch?
And he answers me, and then I say,
did you just lie to me?
And when I get back from trips where
I've had to stay by myself in hotels,
he asked me the same thing.
You know why?
Because I need someone to hold me accountable.
It's not that one of you asked me,
it's I've given him permission.
Here's an area of my life that I
have a struggle in, and I want you
to hold me accountable in this area.
That's what I'm talking about when I talk
about accountability.
The idea of asking someone, one or several
people, to say in this particular area of
my life, in this particular relationship, I know
I shouldn't be in this relationship.
Every time I think I'm going to get
out, I change my mind.
I need someone to hold me accountable in
this relationship.
I need someone to hold me accountable in
this specific area of spiritual discipline in my
life to make sure I'm consistent.
That's what I'm talking about, accountability.
Giving someone, an individual or a group of
people, permission.
Permission.
You've given them permission to stick their nose
in your spiritual business.
That's what it really boils down to.
Because my spiritual business is your business, and
your spiritual business is mine.
Now what I want to talk about primarily
tonight, is I want to demonstrate to you
why I know this is true.
We're going to talk about something Jesus said.
We're going to talk just a little bit
about the body of Christ.
And then I'm just going to give you
some common sense reasons why you and I
need to be involved in accountability relationships.
I think this is one of the three
most overlooked principles in all of Scripture.
And the reason is because we live in
a society of self-made people and success
stories.
And I rose from the bottom and this
is what I've done.
And when it comes to our spiritual life,
somehow we want to build a fence around
our lives and say, hey this is between
me and God.
I'm working it out.
I don't need anybody sticking their nose in
my business.
And I want you to know tonight that
if that's your attitude, you're living in disobedience
to God.
And I'm not trying to come on heavy.
You're going to see in just a minute
what Jesus said.
But worse than that, the consequences.
I think what we're seeing in our families
today, and what we're seeing in our society
in terms of family breakup, is a direct
outcome of no accountability in our personal lives.
That we can just kind of, you know,
be, you know, our own little cowboys and
do what we want, live the way we
want.
When we're tired of this, we move on
from one thing to another.
And nobody asks us about anything.
And as I've talked to our high school
students and I've talked to some college students
about this whole idea of accountability, they always
come back with something I know you'll say,
but there's something on the inside of us
that just struggles with, but that's really none
of my business, is it?
Yes, it's your business.
I want you to turn to Luke chapter
17.
We're going to look at a passage here,
and then one in 1st Corinthians, and hopefully
convince you of this.
And then talk about some ways you can
apply this in your own life.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to
Luke chapter 17.
I have a friend who I've asked, given
permission to question me on anything concerning my
finances, because I'm pretty dumb when it comes
to money.
And I need somebody to hold me accountable.
And I don't dare make a major financial
decision without first going to this guy and
saying, hey, what do you think about this?
And I've said to him, when you see
me making a mistake, don't even wait for
me to ask.
Just come knocking on my door and say,
Andy, you're making a mistake.
I've asked him, hold me accountable in that
area.
I have another friend.
I have five accountability partners.
I need lots of accountability.
I have one guy.
I've said, anything you want.
My life's an open book.
When you see me headed off down the
wrong road, don't wait for me to ask
your advice.
Come knocking on my door and say, Andy,
I think you're making a mistake in this
area.
I've given them permission to stick their nose
in my business.
Now, this is an amazing passage.
And I'm not going to preach this passage,
because this is a whole different point.
In fact, if you think what I'm going
to say tonight seems extreme, wait till you
see what Jesus says.
Verse 1.
Now, let's start with verse 3.
Luke 17, verse 3.
Command.
Be on your guard.
If your brother sins, rebuke him.
And if he repents, forgive him.
Now, how many of you have applied the
first part of that very consistently?
If your brother sins, rebuke him.
Do you know what we do in Christianity
when our brother sins?
We talk about him.
And then when he walks in the room,
we act like nothing's wrong.
Then he leaves, and we talk about him.
We say, you know, so-and-so's really
having problems in their marriage.
And we tell prayer requests.
You know, we share prayer requests.
Everybody's praying for this person.
No one's talking to this person.
We're just praying for this person.
And everybody shares about everybody else's problem.
And then somebody says, well, have you talked
to him?
Oh, no, it's none of my business.
Jesus says, yes, it is your business.
Don't pray.
Rebuke him.
Command.
Then he goes on.
And if he sins against you seven times
a day and returns to you seven times
saying, I repent, forgive him.
And then look what the Apostles said.
If you have an NIV, they make this
a new paragraph.
It shouldn't be.
And if you have a New American Standard,
they highlight verse 5 in black.
It's dark black.
That means they start a new paragraph.
This should not be a new paragraph.
New paragraphs don't start with the word and.
Look how the Apostles respond to what Jesus
said.
And the Apostle said to the Lord, Lord,
increase our faith.
Now, the reason that most of the publishers
started this a new paragraph, because what the
Apostles say doesn't seem to relate at all
to what Jesus just said.
So they think, well, I guess we're changing
the subject.
But here's what's happening.
Jesus out of the blue.
Imagine if he came here tonight and said,
from now on, if you see a Christian
sinning, rebuke him.
Now, you don't look at Jesus and say,
no, we're not going to do that one.
What else you have?
I mean, you don't, you don't, you don't
say that to Jesus.
So the Apostles are walking around with this
guy.
They're convinced by this time he's a Messiah.
And he says, when your brother sinned, just
rebuke him.
And this is a strong word.
This is the very same word in Luke.
If you study this word in Luke, when
Jesus rebuked the wind, same word.
When Jesus spoke to demons, he rebuked them.
When Jesus healed somebody, it says he rebuked
their fever.
This is a powerful, powerful word.
It's like confront them, say something, do whatever
it takes to change their behavior.
Get involved in the situation.
And Jesus takes this same word and applies
it to my relationship with you and your
relationship with me.
He says, if you see your brother sin,
rebuke him.
And the Apostles, they didn't know what to
say.
So they said, Oh Lord, increase our faith.
That's why, in other words, they couldn't say,
okay.
They weren't about, I mean, that's big time.
They weren't about to say, no, we don't
want to do that.
So you know what they said?
What we do?
Oh, this is how we say it.
Boy, that was really deep.
That isn't, there's no commitment, is it?
Pastor, that was a, that was a deep
sermon.
That doesn't mean, Pastor, I'm going to do
something about it.
It doesn't mean, Pastor, you were wrong.
It just means I got to say something.
Boy, that was a great sermon.
And you walk out the door and forget
it.
So they said, boy, that was good.
Boy, Lord, increase our faith.
Lord, I hope someday we're at the point
where we can apply something like that.
And then he goes on.
Someday we'll talk about this passage because it's
great.
But here's what I want you to see
from this verse.
The first reason that you need to get
involved in accountability with other brothers and sisters
in Christ is because Jesus commands it.
Now, what I'm asking you to do tonight
isn't this extreme.
Because I don't, I wouldn't dare preach a
sermon like that.
There's too many questions that come up.
Well, how do you rebuke?
And when do you rebuke?
And do you like stand at the door
and say, you, and you, could you come
over here and group rebuke?
Or, you know, I mean, we could spend
the rest of our life walking around trying
to rebuke other Christians in trouble.
I mean, you could stand on the highway,
you know, and point at them and, you
know, write notes and send them.
We saw you speeding.
I mean, there's plenty.
It could go on and on and on,
right?
The day I drove up next to one
of my Christian brothers who I love dearly,
and he was driving slow on the highway,
and I was driving slow, and I just
hate to drive slow.
And he pulled over and waved me up
beside him, rolled down his window.
He said, I hate driving this slow.
I said, I do too.
I just hate it.
It's hard sometimes.
But if you and I got in this
whole thing of just rebuke, I don't, I
don't really know, to be honest, how to
apply that passage.
So, I'm not going to preach on rebuke.
But this is what I want you to
understand.
Jesus, Jesus taught that you and I are
accountable for our behavior to one another.
I would have said to Jesus, but Jesus,
my brother's sin is none of my business.
And Jesus would have said, yes, it is
your business.
If your brother is sinning, talk to him.
So, at least we'll go this far tonight.
The reason your spiritual business is my business
and mine is yours, and the reason you
and I need to get involved in some
relationships where we say to people, hey, my
life's an open book, and I have some
things I need you to hold me accountable
about, and I'm asking you to stick your
nose in my spiritual business, the reason is
because Jesus believed and Jesus taught that you
and I are accountable to each other, even
for things as bad as our specific sins.
Your sin is my business, and my sin
is your business.
And Jesus said, you need to be accountable
for one another, even in terms of your
sin.
So, that's one reason that you need to
develop these kind of accountability relationships.
There's a second reason.
I want you to turn over to 1
Corinthians.
We're going to hit these quick.
1 Corinthians 12.
The second reason is this.
Our relationship to the body of Christ necessitates
accountability.
Our relationship to the body of Christ necessitates
accountability.
1 Corinthians chapter 12.
In fact, we'll begin with verse 12.
1 Corinthians chapter 12.
The second reason.
Number one, Jesus commanded it.
Number two, that our relationship to the body
of Christ necessitates accountability.
Look at verse 12 of chapter 12.
For even as the body is one, and
yet has many members, and all the members
of the body, though they are many, are
one body, so also is Christ.
Now, you know, you read sentences like that,
and you think, you know, the Bible has
to be inspired, because if they were trying
to make up something to sound plausible, they
would have fixed that sentence, wouldn't they?
I mean, this kind of goes round and
round.
We'll explain it.
Verse 13.
For by one spirit, we were all baptized
into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free, and we were all made
to drink of one spirit.
For the body, that's us, is not one
member, but many.
Now, look at this.
He gives an illustration.
If the foot should say.
Now, if your foot said anything, it'd be
pretty amazing, wouldn't it?
Paul gives us an illustration that's a little
bit silly.
This is a little bit silly.
Look what he says.
If the foot should say, because I'm not
a hand, I'm not a part of the
body, it is not for this reason any
the less a part of the body.
Now, look up here.
Let me explain what all this means to
the best of my ability.
The point is this.
The one other reason that we have to
be accountable to one another is because the
relationship of the body of Christ necessitates it.
This is what Paul says.
That all of us, and you've heard this
before, all of us are parts of one
body.
And just as the physical body has many
members, so the spiritual body has many members.
And then he gives this kind of silly
illustration.
He said, what if one day your foot
said, hey, I'm not a part of this
body anymore.
Would your foot be any less a part
of the body?
The answer is no.
So when you say to me, or if
I say to you, hey, you mind your
own spiritual business, because this is between me
and God, am I any less accountable to
you?
Are you any less accountable to me?
If I'm walking along somewhere, and I step
on a nail, and a nail goes through
my foot, my foot doesn't say, hey body,
you just go about your own thing, and
I'll take care of the nail.
And I'm dragging my foot around going, okay,
foot, you take care of the nail.
It's none of my business.
I don't want to get involved.
That's between you and the nail.
That's not how we act at all.
But that's just as silly, that is just
as silly, as to see your brother or
your sister in Christ go off the deep
end and stand back and say, well, they'll
just have to deal.
That's between them and God.
No, what happens?
I step on a nail.
As soon as I step on a nail,
left leg picks up foot.
Hand reaches out to steady myself.
Right, head, neck begins to turn head.
Mouth begins calling for help.
Right leg takes all the weight and says,
I got it from here, and begins to
carry my body over.
What happens?
When something happens to my foot, listen, every
single part of me, all of me goes
into action to take care of this foot.
Why?
Because the rest of me is responsible for
the foot.
And in a very simple way, and in
almost a silly way, Paul says this, hey,
there are no spiritual lone rangers.
That all of us, by the very fact
that we're related to each other in Christ,
we are by definition accountable to one another.
And if my foot says I'm not a
part of the body, it can say that
all at once, but what the scripture says
is it's still part of the body.
And I can be, you know, the spiritual
lone ranger all I want, thinking, you know,
me and God are a majority, and I
don't need anybody else.
And you know, you know, I've been to
seminary, you know, I'm deep, and you know,
don't get involved in my spiritual life.
And God just shakes his head and said,
you are no less accountable to that group
of people than your foot is to your
body, if your foot says I'm not a
part of the body.
It's the same thing.
And if you're here tonight, see this, for
men, you know what this does, men, and
we'll talk about this in a minute, kind
of strikes at our pride.
You know, I, you know, I just, I
don't want anybody prying into my life.
Well, I've got some bad news.
If you're here tonight, and you're a Christian,
I'm already a part of your life.
And the brothers and sisters in Christ around
you tonight, we are already, by definition, a
part of your life.
You are in God's eyes accountable to me,
and I am in God's eyes accountable to
you.
And what I am trying to encourage us
to do tonight, instead of, I mean, it
gets messy if you try to be accountable
to a whole bunch of people, but to
take these illustrations, and to take this simple
principle, and to begin to say, God, please
bring into my life that group of people,
or that individual, to whom I can choose
to be accountable, because Jesus commanded it, and
the very fact that I'm related to the
body of Christ necessitates it anyway.
Why do you and I need to be
accountable?
Jesus said to be accountable.
Number two, that to the body of Christ
necessitates it.
And then there's a third reason, and I
don't have any scriptures for this, but I
just want you to think about it.
Common sense argues for accountability.
Let's face it, we do better when somebody's
checking up on us, don't we?
We just do better.
Imagine a coach who sat in his office
and said, team, today I want you to
go out on the field, and I made
a list of the drills I want you
to do, and I'll be in my office
if you need anything.
And the team would walk out of the
field and look at each other like, he's
kidding.
If the coach isn't out there watching, the
team just doesn't practice very hard.
When I was in Dallas, I used to
run around a lake called White Rock Lake,
and there was a great trail through all
these woods, and went all the way around
the lake.
It was nine miles around.
I never made it around, but there was
nine miles of track around, and most of
this track was kind of off to itself
down in some woods around the lake.
But every once in a while, the track
would empty out onto a parking lot, and
there would be about 80 yards of parking
lot, and then at the other end of
the parking lot, you pick up the trail
again and go back in the woods.
And I noticed something about the way I
ran.
When my friend Larry and I ran, and
we were in the woods, we just kind
of, you know, did the running thing, you
know, just kind of normal.
But when we got to the parking lot,
where there were all these cars parked, and
all these guys out laying out in the
sun, all these girls laying out in the
sun, you know, it looked like Rocky on
the beach, you know.
It's, you know, all of a sudden, man,
you know, we were running like no problem,
you know.
We're eighth or ninth mile.
I mean, no big deal.
As soon as we got in the woods,
we slowed back down.
It wasn't even conscious.
We just kind of, why?
Because you and I, it's human nature, we
do better when somebody's watching.
And I want you to know something.
You'll do better in your spiritual life when
somebody's checking up on you.
And you rob yourself of one of the
greatest spiritual helps if you have this attitude
that, you know, it's none of my business,
it's me and God, and I don't need
anybody.
I can pray my way out of this.
No, you can't.
And the thing is, you weren't even meant
to.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, theoretically, I work out.
I say theoretically, because although most Monday, Wednesdays,
and Fridays, I meet my partner early in
the morning before the day begins, I've noticed
another trend in my life.
That is this.
If Matt calls me and says, Andy, I
can't be there Monday, guess who else doesn't
show up on Monday?
Me.
But if I know he's going to be
there, then I show up.
I hate, I hate to get up early,
and I hate to work out.
But if Matt's going to be there, I
show up.
And if I'm going to be there, he
shows up.
But both of us laugh, because if we
know the other one's not going to be
there, we don't go.
You know why?
Because we do better when somebody's holding us
accountable in every area of life.
And I want you to know something.
As much as I hate working out, and
as much as I hate getting up, you
know something?
It still does me good.
I hate every minute of it, and it
still does me good.
And I want you to know something.
If in your spiritual life, you read your
Bible just because somebody's going to ask you,
did you read your Bible?
It'll still do you some good.
And if the only reason you pray is
because somebody's asking you, did you pray?
It'll still do you some good.
And if you begin to allow somebody to
hold you accountable in your spiritual disciplines, and
the only reason you do it is because
somebody's going to ask you, did you memorize
your verse, or whatever?
I want you to know something.
It will still do you good, just like
working out does me good, even though I
hate every minute of it.
You need to be accountable, because we just
do better when somebody's watching, when somebody's checking
on us.
Another reason it makes sense to be accountable,
common sense, is this.
That we all have blind spots we'll never
know about, unless somebody has permission to tell
us.
Now, I want you to know something.
Some of you out, let me confess first,
I can be so incredibly insensitive.
I mean, I can say things that I
think are funny, and everybody else is looking
behind my back like, I can't believe you
said that.
And I mean, for years of my life,
I just shredded people's feelings and never had
any idea.
And finally, it came out in a conversation,
and this guy was laughing about it.
I said, I'm that way?
He said, yeah, but everybody just knows you're
that way.
Nobody told me.
Everybody just laughed behind my back.
Because, you know why?
I'd never gone to anybody and said, hey,
you know, if you see me hurt somebody's
feelings, would you tell me?
I have two people now.
Sandra's one, and there's another person in our
youth ministry.
And I told them, look, when you see
me say something to somebody, and I turn
around and walk off, and they look like
they're hurt, or they turn to somebody else,
and they look like I've hurt their feelings,
don't you wait five minutes.
Find me, interrupt me, and say, Andy, you
just hurt someone's feelings.
And I want you to know, I'm not
going to be mad at you.
I'm not going to hold it against you.
I need you to hold me accountable, because
I am so blind to that sometimes.
And I want you to know something.
All of us in this room have blind
spots.
And some of us are so intimidating.
And some of us are so, you know,
egotistical.
And some of us, our personalities are such.
Nobody is dare going to come up to
you and share your blind spots with you
for fear of being put down.
They're just not going to do it.
They'll talk about you behind your back.
They'll kid about you.
They'll kind of chalk you off as, you
know, whatever they think you are.
But they are not going to come to
you, and you are the loser.
Unless you choose a handful of people and
say, hey, I know I have a tendency
to be this way.
I want you, I want to work on
it, and I'm giving you permission.
I will not hold it against you.
I'm giving you permission to confront me.
And pick out the ways they want, you
want them to confront you and say, hey,
I want to know.
It just makes sense that we allow ourselves
to be accountable to other people.
Jesus commanded it.
Body of Christ insensitates it.
It just makes common sense.
Now I want to share with you how
this really came to be a part of
my life.
And I started an accountability relationship with a
guy in Dallas, but it was until I
got to Atlanta that the, I guess, the
weight of this principle really hit me.
I was driving back from a trip.
I was coming up 75.
I remember exactly where I was.
I was in 75, and the farmers market
was just a little bit ahead of me,
up on my right.
And I was listening to the sermon, Jimmy
Swaggart's Confession Sermon, which I'm sure some of
you heard.
And he said something I will never forget
as long as I live.
He said this.
He talked about his problem and his struggle
in that area since he was 10 years
old.
And then he said this, I fasted and
I prayed and I begged God day after
day, year after year, to deliver me from
this.
He said, and now I realize if I
turned to my brothers and sisters in Christ
for help, I would have been delivered.
That same night, I couldn't get away from
that.
That same night, 11 o'clock, I called
one of my accountability partners, woke him up.
I said, look, we got to get together.
He said, now?
I said, right now.
I said, this is serious.
I said, I want to tell you, I
want to tell you that, I said, I
want to tell you something nobody else knows
about me.
He got up, we met at the O
.K. Cafe, and I looked at him across
the table.
I said, I want to tell you my
greatest temptation, because I realize today, not directly
related to anything he said, but the principle,
I realize today that there's something in my
life that's so small and seems so insignificant,
and it doesn't even have victory in my
life.
The Lord gives me victory, but I realize
there's something in my life nobody knows about.
And listen, and I said, I would rather
you who loves me know, even though it's
embarrassing, I would rather you who loves me
know and hold me accountable, than run the
risk of someday this little thing becoming a
big thing and embarrassing me in front of
a whole lot of people who don't know
me, and a whole lot of people who
don't love me, and a whole lot of
people who would love to see me go
down.
And I shared with him my dark side,
and everybody has a dark side, and he
said, you know what, I have the same
problem.
And there began another great and wonderful accountability
relationship.
I want you to know something, everybody in
this room, there's something that if it grows,
if it goes unchecked, unbridled, it can destroy
your marriage.
It can destroy your most valuable relationships.
It can destroy your business.
And if you for a second believe that
somehow you've got it under control, I want
you to know something tonight, God does not
expect you to handle it alone.
God never anywhere said it's just me and
you buddy.
He said, I want you to be accountable
to the body of Christ, that your problem,
and your struggle, and your temptation, and your
difficulty, and the thing that just wears at
you is not just your problem, it's the
entire body's problem.
Find some people you can trust, and share
with them that one thing, and allow it
to stay small.
You know how this works out in your
life?
And allow me just to be extremely personal
for a minute.
There's men in this room, and there's a
woman who's not physically a part of your
life yet, but is emotionally a part of
your life, who's not your wife.
And nobody knows but you.
And you desperately, men, need to find a
man you can trust, and tell him exactly
what you're going through, and tell him her
name.
And say to him, if you even see
me looking like I'm thinking about, thinking about,
thinking about making a move toward in this
relationship, you have my permission to do whatever
it takes to stop me.
Men, you need a friend that at lunchtime,
when you want to ask that girl to
lunch so bad, and you've got a thousand
reasons why you owe her all this stuff,
and she's been a great secretary, she's a
great help, and it doesn't matter, nobody cares,
nobody'll know, and all that stuff's running through
your mind, and in your heart, you know
you have no business going out to lunch
with her alone.
You need to have a friend you can
call and say, it's happening, pick me up.
And he'll say, I'll be there, pick you
up, take you to lunch, and get you
out of that.
You need that.
And if somehow you think, no, you know,
me and God, you know, I'll quote a
few verses, and just one.
Listen, that is not how God expects you
to handle temptation.
You're not the Lone Ranger.
None of it.
We are part of a body, and we
desperately need each other.
As I talk to students, and I listen
to, I mean, the stories are the same,
the characters just change about divorce, and family
splitting up, and parents running off.
It's the same thing, and I believe with
all my heart, men, if you and I
would get over our big fat pride, and
that's basically what it is, and get involved
with some men that we could trust, that
we could pour out our heart, there would
be far fewer families splitting up.
But we live in a society where, men,
we don't want to be accountable to anybody,
for anything, other than things we just have
to be.
And as a result, we begin drifting, listen,
long before anybody ever knows, because nobody's close.
And then all of a sudden, we do
something, and it's like, what happened to him?
I don't know, he's the finest guy, he's
at church every Sunday, and all of a
sudden, something happened.
No, all of a sudden, nothing happened.
It began, but it was so personal, and
you chose to keep it private, and it
was a mistake.
It's God's will for you to be accountable
to your brothers and sisters in Christ, those
personal areas.
Ladies, some of you need accountability in terms
of your gossip.
You've tried, and you laugh, and you kind
of poke, and gossip, and gossip, but it's
a sin.
It's on the list with the worst stuff
in the Bible.
You know what some of you ladies need?
You need a partner to say, hey, look,
I have a terrible time with gossip.
When we're in a conversation, and I start
to gossip, just hang up on me, or
just, you know, go, ah, or just let
me know.
There I go again, because it's a blind
spot.
I mean, as soon as we start to,
I love to talk about other people, and
this is a sin, and it's a habit.
Will you help me get over this habit
I have of gossiping?
If you see me in a conversation talking
about somebody, as soon as that conversation's over,
you have my permission to come to me
and say, hey, Betty, you did it again.
Did you see what you're doing?
You have my permission to stick your nose
in my spiritual business to help me deal
with this situation.
There's basically three reasons why you and I
won't get in these kind of relationships.
Number one, you've been burned.
You've already tried this.
You said, well, I had a friend once,
and I opened my life to them, and
I told them my most, my biggest secrets,
and they went and told a bunch of
people, and then I was embarrassed, and so
I just gave up on it.
Well, I want you to know something.
One time I went to a lady, she
cut my hair, and she did a terrible
job, but I didn't quit getting haircuts.
I just found somebody else to cut my
hair, and some of you had people mess
up your taxes, but you didn't quit doing
your taxes.
You found somebody else to do your taxes,
and if you've had a bad experience, and
if you've been in a relationship where somebody
betrayed your trust, don't let that cause you
to abandon this principle.
You desperately need to be in that kind
of accountability relationship.
There's another reason you wouldn't do this.
Number, you're just not convinced it's necessary.
You just think, well, you know, that's neat,
Andy, and I guess you're, you know, have
problems, and that's good you have people to
help you with your problems, but, you know,
I don't have any problems in my life.
I don't see any sin encroaching, and, you
know, my spiritual life is fine, and I
don't need anybody sticking their nose in it.
Well, I want you to know tonight that
obviously this sermon didn't do you any good,
and one day, listen, one day, what you
think is a secret now, which isn't, because
the people that are closest to you already
know the things that you would probably share
with them anyway, you'll sit down with them
and say, let me share something about you,
about myself, that no one else knows, and
you'll tell them, they'll go, oh, we already
knew that.
Everybody knows that about you.
It's true, because what we think is so
secret, listen, sin is rarely private.
Oh, we think it is, but it shows,
and if it shows a little bit now,
it'll show a great deal later on, and
you've got to decide, is it worth, is
it worth risking this, this private part of
me for the sake of something greater down
the road?
Is it worth sharing with people who love
me now in order to keep myself and
my family from being embarrassed in front of
people who don't love me later on?
Then the other reason, and we've already said
this, the main reason that we don't get
involved in these kind of relationships is just
pride.
You know, we, you would say, I'm just
not an open person.
That may be true, but that's still not
reason enough to apply this principle.
Well, I just, I just, you know, I
just don't like to talk about those kind
of things.
That may be true, but that's still not
good enough reason.
Those are good observations, but they're not good
enough reasons to ignore this incredibly, incredibly important
principle.
God does not expect us to struggle alone.
There is no temptation taken anybody in this
room, except it is common to man.
That means there's nobody in here who could
stand up tonight and say, and I got
one I bet you guys end up with,
and we all go, whoo, hadn't heard that
one.
That's a new one.
There's no new ones.
It's all the same thing.
We're all struggling with the same thing, and
just because the foot says I'm not a
part of the foot is irrelevant, and just
because you say I'm not accountable is irrelevant.
You are accountable, and if you could only
understand and take the risk and take the
step of faith to begin praying a simple
prayer, Lord Jesus, please begin bringing into my
life people to whom I can be accountable.
I want you to know it will change
your whole Christian life.
You're not the Lone Ranger.
You're not even Superman.
Jesus was the only Superman, and the rest
of us are just kind of struggling doing
the best we can, and we desperately need
each other, and that's not a sign of
weakness.
That's just how it is.
I can't walk on water.
You can't walk on water.
That's no fault.
That's just, we just can't do that, and
in the same way, we were not expected
to survive single-handedly through all the stuff
in this world, and Jesus said, I want
you to hold each other accountable.
Paul said that's the way the whole body
is set up, and common sense just tells
us, hey, you do better when somebody's watching
and somebody's checking up on you.
There's some of you in relationships tonight, single
or college students, some of our high school
students, and you know you need to get
out of the relationship, and you've broken up,
and you keep getting back together, and you've
broken up, and you keep getting back together,
and you think, I'll never get out of
this relationship.
Let me tell you how you do it.
Some of our students have done this in
the youth department.
They call a best friend.
They say, hey, this relationship is not of
the Lord, and I do not have enough
self-control.
You have my permission to call me every
weekend and ask me what I'm doing for
the weekend, and I want you, if I'm
going down under the pressure, please come over
and pick me up and take me somewhere
so that I don't have to deal with
this anymore.
That's the kind of accountability you and I
need in terms of our relationships and in
terms of the things that you're struggling with.
Now, let me ask you, and we're finished.
Do you have that type of relationship with
anybody?
You say, well, my wife, and I don't
know.
Husbands and wives are accountable to each other
in some areas, but you need someone, and
please understand, you need someone outside your marriage.
Men, men, you need men.
Women, you need women that you can pour
out your heart to, that you, people you
can trust, people that you respect their opinions
spiritually, but most importantly of all, people who
you open your life as a book and
say, in this particular area, or in these
particular areas, or maybe you trust them so
much you want to say, hey, in any
area, you have my permission to stick your
nose in my business, because I have weaknesses.
I have things I struggle with, things that
nobody knows about.
If you could sit in on what our
counselors listen to every week, every one of
them would say, if they're here tonight, that
majority of the time, or at least a
lot of time, the people they talk to
say, I want to tell you something that
nobody knows about.
I hope there's nothing in your life that
nobody knows about.
God does not expect you to carry the
weight of that burden.
God does not expect you to carry the
weight of that temptation alone, and I want
to challenge you tonight as we close to
begin praying a simple prayer.
Lord Jesus, I understand that I am accountable
to the body of Christ, and Lord Jesus,
will you begin bringing people into my life
that I can allow to hold me accountable,
and these few areas are generally.
And if you'll do that, number one, you'll
be obedient, and number two, you'll be blessed,
and number three, you'll feel like a load
is just lifted off your shoulders as you
begin to function the way you were intended
to function in the body of Christ.
Who are you accountable to?
And are you willing, if not accountable to
anyone, are you willing to begin moving into
those relationships?
Would you bow your head quietly, nobody looking
around?
I'm gonna do something a little bit different
tonight.
You just bow your head and close your
eyes.
I'm not trying to manipulate anybody.
We don't do that here, but we're gonna
begin our accountability right now.
And in just a minute, don't do this
yet, in just a minute, I'm gonna ask
those of you that are saying to this
body, hey, I believe I need to be
accountable, and number two, I'm gonna begin praying
that God will move me in to some
accountability relationships.
If you're willing to say that and believe
that, in a minute I'm gonna ask you
to stand.
And the reason I'm asking you to stand
is because this is what accountability is.
It's raising your hand publicly and saying, I'm
in.
Count me in.
I'm weak and I need it.
And I feel led tonight to ask some
of you to begin your first step of
accountability by demonstrating it by publicly standing.
Lord Jesus, thank you for this principle.
And Lord, I just thank you personally that
you didn't expect Andy Stanley to carry around
his dark side by himself without sharing it
with anybody.
Thank you that I don't have to keep
that a secret.
Thank you for the people you've brought into
my life.
And Lord, thank you for not waiting till
I was 40 or 50 to teach me
this principle, because I don't think I would
have made it that long.
And Lord, I know there's many women here
tonight who are struggling and they think, well,
that sounds good and that sounds right, but
I just don't know.
Would you give them the courage to see
that this isn't something you're lording over them.
This is because you love them.
This is one of the positive things about
being in the body of Christ.
This is the one of the positive things
about being a Christian.
And Lord Jesus, I pray that as a
result of tonight, not what I've said, but
what these people are about to commit themselves
to, that you would begin developing in our
whole congregation a brand new sense of accountability
to one another.
That Father, when homes split up, that those
of us on staff would have the courage
to rebuke and to approach people.
That Father, no one in this congregation would
have to live with the burden of a
past or of sin or of temptations by
themselves, but that we would minister to each
other.
And Lord, I know that's your will.
We all believe that's your will.
Please take tonight and begin moving us in
that direction.
If you're here tonight and you're willing to
say, I need accountability.
I believe that's what God wants me to
do.
And I'm willing to begin praying tonight that
God would move me in to those kinds
of relationships.
With your heads bowed and your eyes closed,
would you just stand where you are?
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray right now for
these groups specifically and for myself and for
those others, that Lord Jesus, you will honor
their faithfulness to you tonight.
And that in the next week or the
next month that you will bring into their
life the man or the woman or the
small group that they are asking you for
tonight to hold them accountable.
Father, we're saying tonight that we're willing.
And Father, we're asking that you would be
faithful to this request and move us into
relationships with those significant key people.
And we're trusting you to do this.
In Jesus' name.