Accountability & The Body Of Christ
As I stated previously, we are entering the end times where, surrounded by the omnipresence of sexual sin, we are being tested as never before. We need the power of accountability in community now more than ever! You and I were made to be interdependent. It’s built into our spiritual DNA—the success of our Christian walk depends in large part on the level of connection with the brothers and sisters around us. Jesus not only modeled this dependence; He literally built it into His Body. That’s you and me, the Body of Christ: Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body”… The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you”… Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12).
Have you noticed the body parts graphically sprinkled throughout this article? Can these pictures get any more ridiculous? And yet, how many Christians today live like this? If your Body experience is primarily listening for 45 minutes a week to one Body part with the gift of preaching, then you’re doomed from the get-go. You’ll never hear the 6 most important words ever! God intentionally created us with certain innate weaknesses. These divine structural failures as it were are designed to implode when you attempt to live out Christianity as a Lone Ranger. When combined, however, with the spiritual steel of other brothers and sisters, they suddenly turn into amazing divine strengths.
Indeed, you and I as addicts and former addicts—and thus as weaker Body parts—have the potential for the greatest honor because when we turn our lives around and get it right, such astounding transformations bring even greater glory to God. I imagine Jesus taunting the devil with the latest Saul-to-Paul conversion: See this one, accuser; I gave you permission to destroy this, abuse that, kill this; you completely stacked the odds against My child. And yet look at him now. Wow! Makes Me want to dance for joy! I envision Jesus dancing, laughing, and praising the Father as myriad angels and millions of saints join in, the devil slinking away after yet another humiliating defeat…
Want to become one of these amazing transformation testimonies? Commit yourself to the community of a small group. I’ve been part of various types of small groups practically my entire Christian life. Indeed, I’ll always remember my first Pureheart group (we didn’t call it that way back in 1992)—the first time I started a group specifically for guys struggling with sexual sin. We were young, so we also had a lot of fun and bonded at a deep level. As the fearless group leader, however, I knew we needed to confess our sins, and since we all relapsed frequently, we spent a lot of time confessing!
For the first time in my life, I was brutally honest with a bunch of brothers on a regular basis. Beyond this, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Even though I could offer little help at the time, God honored my obedience. I can think of at least 2, maybe 3 marriages that were saved thanks to this group. This group was Pureheart’s conception; I was faithful in the very little I had at the time, and now Pureheart ministers to people around the world!
Do you get what I’m talking about? God took by far my weakest area, connected me with other brothers to practice community and accountability, and used the Body to lay the foundation for a ministry that will one day, Lord willing, impact more than a million people. Do not despise the day of small beginnings, nor the power of real accountability in a small group community!
Your Brother in the Battle,
Timothy
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Excerpt taken from Pureheart Ministry’s Basic Training! Stage 1: Operation Purity
Copyright ©2023 Timothy Davis