Responsibility, The Second Principle of Discipleship

Text: 1 Corinthians 3

Proposition: Responsibility isthe recognition of role, a willingness to accept it being accountable as we work with God in His church.

Introduction: Whenever people talk about responsibility they usually focus on the accountability aspect of it and not so much on the actual ability to respond. Response ability is the second principle of discipleship, it is the putting to work of the capability believers in Christ have. First capability, then responsibility, we know this in any number of scenarios. It’s especially true with emergency services, high capability in training and readiness with the best equipment they can afford and then responsibility. For the fire fighters in Calgary and Toronto the standard is a maximum response time of 90 seconds from when they hear the alarm in the hall to when the vehicle should be pulling out of the station. Capability equips you for responsibility. Last week we talked about what capability looked like, it begins with you choosing to be in second place, to trust in the power of God and His wisdom more than yours, to recognize that that the Holy Spirt uses all things to guide and resource you, Scripture, other people. He uses my skill and gifting and an understanding that God prepares things I have never seen, words I have never heard and ideas that never occurred to me before if I will but love Him with all my heart soul and strength. That was capability, now comes responsibility. Have a look at 1 Corinthians 3.                                                                                                                        

I. If Responsibility Is Impaired Capability Is Wasted.                                                               

That’s a simple truth whether it applies to people who are capable in so many ways but have an impaired belief that holds them back or whether it’s a computer that’s state of the art but impaired with a virus. If responsibility is impaired then capability is wasted. I think that was what Paul was getting at in 1 Cor 3 when he uses the word ‘carnal’ three times in the first four verses. Sarkikos, that’s the original Greek word for ‘carnal’. It can mean being governed by mere human nature, the flesh or sin nature rather than by the Spirit of God. Paul is describing three different kinds of Christians here, the new believer in Christ, the carnal Christian and the Christian who is increasing in response ability, what he refers to as spiritual people. All three types with the Holy Spirit resident, all saved in Christ, all with the capability to grasp God’s word and wisdom yet being carnal has sidelined capability in Christ. He even points out some of the things that characterize the carnality, things like envy, strife and divisions. To be carnal is more than just to experience temptation as a Christian, it is to be immobilized by temptation. In Romans 7 Paul takes the view point a Christian who is carnal, he describes what that looks like… “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice… So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” In other words, there is in a carnal Christian a great sense of being conflicted and as a result of being immobilized. The point remains, if responsibility is impaired through carnality, through letting the wisdom of man rule, through indulging the desires of the flesh to the point that I am immobilized spiritually, then capability in Christ is wasted. The simple cure for carnality is to call it for what it is, flawed wisdom that is flesh driven. Agree with God about that, confess it to Him and then turn from it, repent of it. Check out Romans 8, which follows right after Paul’s description of being enslaved in carnality, it’s the description of a Christian no longer carnal in their pursuit of God.                    

II. Responsibility Recognizes Differences of Role and Engages That.                        

Look at verses 4,5,6, … “For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”So why would it be carnal to choose to follow after Paul verses choosing to follow after Apollos? Apollos was a gifted speaker and a strong believer in Christ, Paul was a consummate theologian, where’s the carnality in picking one or the other? I wonder if the issue here is that the flesh is always seeking to compare, to compare others and then to compare ourselves with others. That comparison is the bait and hidden in the bait is the hook. The hook is the hidden belief that human capability is what everything rises and falls upon, human wisdom to be extolled, human glory to be first place. So what happens if I do the comparisons and I come up on the short side saying, “I could never do that, never remember that, never be that…’. The list of ‘nevers’ is never ending and the effect is to block you from seeing the differences of role that include every single person in Christ. Look at what he says, ‘I planted, Apollos watered…”, that’s it, neither Paul nor Apollos made the actual growth to occur. Look at verse 7, “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” So it’s NOT what I do or can’t do that determines who I am, it’s who I am in Christ that determines what I do. (N. Andersen quote) That recognition of differences in role means every person has a function, a task, in Christ’s body, in the church. Any church will stutter, stumble and struggle if it’s people miss that reality for each are members of one body. The pastor is nothing, the worship leader is nothing, the teacher, the greeter, the sound person the kitchen people… all are planters and waterers, but it’s God who gives the increase.                                                      

III. Responsibility Accepts Accountability, Building the Church On Christ.

One of the largest pieces in the puzzle of what makes a mature believer and a mature church comes down to having a responsibility that accepts accountability. Look at verse 8, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” Clearly that’s about each person being accountable for what they plant or water. That planting or watering is a reference to the way a church family moves together in the direction and supply of the Holy Spirit. So accountability in this context is directly related to the wellbeing of the local church, in this case the church at Corinth. Verse 9 uses the metaphor of the local church being like a field or even like a building. The foundation has been laid carefully, it is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is the forgiveness of sin available in Christ, it is the building blocks of lives saved by the blood of Christ one added to or built upon the other. Each person builds on the foundation of Who Jesus is in every church and each person’s contribution to that will be held accountable, it is what Paul says will be become clear in the Day when Christ judges the church. So he makes a couple of statements that we often take out of context. Here’s the first, it’s in verse 16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” We usually relate that verse to the individual believer and that’s true but the context here is in reference to the church. The ‘you’ he refers to is the church, together the Spirit of God dwells in them as the body of Christ. We are therefore accountable in this body, for this body to Christ. This church is the temple of God, the place where man meets with God. The next verse follows in the same vein, “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” To defile the temple of God would be to offer sacrifices in it to other small g gods. It would be to make less of God than He truly is. The point is not so much how God will destroy those who do so, the point is that we are accountable and that too is part of our response ability. So seek the wisdom of God church in all the ways we build together, accept that sometimes looking foolish is the perfect way to go.                                                                                                                                       

Now comes the great close, look at the last 3 verses: “Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” It’s a simple call to look up. Whenever carnality invites us to boast, look up…all things are yours, you are Christ’s, Christ is God’s.