CHRISTIANS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Responsibility as a word or concept is a little bit difficult to define. Synonyms for the word, “Responsible” are “Answerable” and “Accountable.”

Responsibility is the coinage of two words, “Response” and “Ability.” We can understand this concept better when we ask ourselves individually, “What is my Response-Ability?” In other words, “How long does it take for me to respond to expectations?”

Responsibility is being responsible. No one can be “responsible” without “responsibility.”

Responsibility is doing what you are expected to do and taking blame when you do not. Someone once remarked that, “Ability plus Opportunity equals Responsibility and Accountability” (cf. Galatians 6:9-10).

§  Sins are classified into two main categories: Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission. Sin of Commission is a direct violation of a given commandment of God (I John 3:4) while Sin of Omission is failure to do what you are expected to do (James 4:17).

§  Succinctly stated, “Responsibility is doing what you are expected of without necessarily being commanded.”  In other words, if you wait to be told to do something, you are no longer “responsible.”

Responsibility is a privilege. At Luke 17:10, Jesus said, “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”          

1. A Christian’s first responsibility is to him/herself (Acts 2:40).

§  Before he preaches to another, he must first preach to himself (Romans 2:21f).

§  Before he saves another he has to first save himself. Save myself from myself or destroy myself by myself (II Chronicles 26:16).

§  Before he encourages another, he has to first encourage himself (I Samuel 30:6; II Corinthians 1:3-5).

§  Before he guides another he must first guide himself.

No one can give what he does not have. The value a Christian places in himself is the value he/she will transmit to another (Matthew 22:36-39).

A number of Scripture passages point to the fact than individual Christians’ activities are the pivot upon which the whole gamut of Christianity rest:   

1.     He must take out the beam in his own eye before he would have the authority to remove the speck in another’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5).

2.     He must first be strong before he can restore the weak (Galatians 6:1-2).

3.     He must always evaluate his work in context of others (Galatians 6:3-5).

4.     An individual Christian must live an unsupervised life (Philippians 2:12) by making his/her calling and election sure (II Peter 1:10).

2. His Responsibility is to the Brotherhood (I Peter 2:17)

The Brotherhood refers to the Body of Christ all over the world. The Body of Christ begins with the local congregation. You must not do anything to bring disrepute to your local congregation (II Corinthians 6:3).

Sometimes we do not realize that what we do and how we live impact negatively on the Brotherhood (Romans 2:24; I Corinthians 8:9-13; I Corinthians 9:12). King David was guilty of not protecting the corporate image of Israel, a symbol of the Brotherhood and it came with its own consequences (II Samuel 12:14).

Whatever you do must be to positively impact your local congregation and the Brotherhood at large.

As a rule, in my family we do not speak ill of the Church, any brother, sister or minister of the Gospel. Everything we say about the Church, local or global must be positive.   

3. A Christian’s Responsibility Is To Defend The Faith (Jude 3)

a.     Two things make one a Christian: the doctrine you subscribe to and the life you live (I Timothy 4:16).

b.     What makes the difference between one Christian religious organization and another is the doctrine preached and subscribed to.

c.      While writing to early Christians, Apostle Jude enjoined them to “Contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered unto Saints” (Jude 3).

d.     Why is “Doctrine” so important to God? It is so because it is the body of beliefs handed down from Him to His Worshippers, which must continually be handed down to successive generations of those who worship Him (II Timothy 2:2).

e.      The doctrine one subscribes to determines to a large extent whether he/she is worshipping rightly or wrongly (Exodus 8:27. There are:  

a.     Doctrines of men (Matthew 15:8-9).

b.     Doctrines of demons (I Timothy 4:1-3), and

c.      Doctrines of Christ (II John 9-11).

        What you subscribe to is who you worship.

f.       Why should we defend the Faith? Any compromise of the vital elements of the Faith leads to its adulteration. This is what Apostle Paul warned against at II Corinthians 11:2-4. The reference to “Eve” and what happened at Garden of Eden is instructive. What led to Adam and Eve’s disobedience was the adulteration of God’s original instruction by the devil. While God, “Thou Shall Surely Die,” Satan said, “Thou Shall Not Surely Die.” All that it took for Adam and Eve to lose the beautiful Paradise of Eden was their acceptance of that adulterated message.

g.     Today, many are peddling erroneous messages about God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Bible, The Church, etcetera. These are clever people who chose what to preach and leave out others. T. M. Clement (Grace and Truth Inc., June, 1991, page 16) was right when he remarked:

“Those who set a truth apart have Truth in part and from the Truth depart.”

One of the greatest enemies of modern Christianity is the bastardization of the Truth.

h.     Early Christians defended the Faith (Galatians 2:4-5).       

4. A Christian’s Responsibility is to Share the Gospel (Romans

    1:14-16).

a.     Sharing the Gospel should not be a rocket science. It thrives on the principle of hungry people telling other hungry people where to find food (II Kings 7:3-10).

b.     It thrives on the principle of “Each one reach one.”

c.      It thrives on the principle of “Saved to save.”

d.     Many people get discouraged because they do not “Know how to Preach.” If you think that this is your situation, then I encourage you to adopt “Operation Andrew and Philip” (John 1: 40 – 46).

e.      Preaching the Gospel is like a traveler who sees the danger ahead of other travelers and warning them against such dangers. By that he/she saves those who believe from destruction.

f.       “He who wins soul is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).

CONCLUSION

As Christians, we have numerous responsibilities, which we cannot exhaust in one-hour discourse.    

When we are alive to our responsibilities we become alive to the Will of God. Do not wait to be told to do what you should ordinarily know you should.

God bless us all in Jesus’ Name!