Christian Accountability

 Christian Accountability

“You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  
In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” 
Matthew 23:24-28
Another admonition of Jesus to the religious leaders of his day. He’s accusing them of looking good on the outside while inwardly they are a rotting mess.
Here is a good example of why we need to get to know our Christian leadership well.
I think anyone who has been a Christian in North America for any length of time knows at least one evangelist who has fallen from grace.
A so called man of God who on the outside looks good but on the inside was far from God.
We need to check out those we support carefully.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking the ministers we support be they our church leaders or evangelist in the media, what they are doing with the money we donate to them.
I think every Christian institution should publicly give a detailed list of how they spend the money donated.
The men and women who lead our churches or are representing God in the media need also to prove they are as clean on the inside as they are on the outside. The need to live exceptionally moral lives.
It’s a hard thing to do but I firmly believe that if there is even the hint of something wrong within a ministry those who head the ministry from the pastor, board members on down need to come clean about what they are doing publicly.
If it comes down to a matter of morals especially with regards to anyone in authority within a ministry it first needs to be dealt with in accordance to instructions give to us by Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17 which states,
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.  
But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” 
I think it should go with the territory. If a religious leader such as an evangelist wishes to live in the media, in the public eye. Then they should be willing to be accountable in the public eye for things both financial and moral.
At our church we have a yearly meeting in which every penny is accounted for.
I have also been a part of another church a much larger one in which a pastor was dismissed because of a moral problem in his life.
To this day that church still holds its pastoral staff and board members to the highest possible moral standard.
It is only right that the Christian leadership be held to a high standard of accountability then they must be removed from their position of authority and if necessary cast out of the church.
Think about it.