Mars Hill Fellowship

MESSAGE |

Hold One Another Accountable

SERIES |

One Another

SCRIPTURE |

Colossians 3:16

SPEAKER |

Pastor Joseph Ardayfio

KEY THEME |

I. God designed believers to function at their best in a community. Yet, any healthy community requires mutual accountability. In fact, the Word of God teaches that believers are called to be accountable to each other. It is a spiritual principle that “two are better than one.”  (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

II. Colossians 3:16 explains that believers have the responsibility to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, as the Word of Christ dwells within us.”

1. We teach and admonish one another so that we can live the abundant life that God has planned for us in this present age.
    
2. See Titus 2:11-12  “¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…”

III. How do we teach each other?

1. The instruction to teach one another is not the prideful usurping of authority and lording it over others, but it is the humble submission, first to the Word of God, that then allows us to submit one to another.
    
2. The problem is that some people attempt to teach others how to live a Godly life without using the Word of God as their foundation.

IV. Who is to teach?

1. We are to receive teaching and instruction from our leaders and our peers.
    
2. We have to learn how to authenticate someone’s teaching not simply based on their credentials but based upon the instruction’s truthfulness according to the Scriptures.
    
3. We have to ask questions: 1) Does this instruction come from the Scriptures?  2) If not, are there clear scriptural instructions on how to address this matter?  3) If there are no clear scriptural instructions, are there biblical principles that should govern how I respond? If so, is this teaching in agreement with or in contradiction to those principles?

V. The believer’s second responsibility is to admonish one another.

1. Admonish means to correct or warn of impending danger with consideration of the welfare of the person that you are warning.
    
2. In the Scriptures, we see various levels of spiritual admonishment depending on the level of the responsibility accorded to each individual. While everything is not within our jurisdiction to admonish, we should NOT sit idly by when our brother or sister is not living a self-controlled, upright, and Godly life.
    
3. 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 (MSG) “But I am saying that you shouldn’t act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can’t just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I’m not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don’t we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.” See also Galatians 6:1.

Scripture Index:

Colossians 3:16
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Titus 2:11-14
Titus 2:1
Titus 2:2-8
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
Galatians 6:1
James 5:19