Page 22 - Demo

Most Christians are very afraid of mutual accountability. Very seldom do you see any admonishment going on between members. I think it's because of the fallacy of the most prevalent concept of what church is all about. That concept is: You assemble as a church, sit down, listen, and leave. I'm in charge of my life. You're in charge of yours. I don't mess with you, and you don't mess with me. That's not what membership in the Body of Christ means. Is that the way your hand relates to your arm? I don't have anything to do with you. You don't bother me. We just do our own thing. We are responsible for one another. The church is Christian people, an organism, not an organization.C. What does it take to be an admonisher? If it's going to be a ministry that we do%u2014how do we do it? a) Be full of goodness. \goodness.\says, you've got Christian character and you've got a level of maturity. Thus, you have the credibility when it comes time to admonish.I don't know about you, but I don't respond very well when somebody storms in and attempts to set me straight. How about you? But, I listen and respond when someone in humility comes with their eyes filled with tears to talk to me about a misunderstanding,or maybe just an area where I'm wrong.In his first letter to Corinth, Paul had some hard things to say to that church: \this to shame you, brothers, but to warn you, as my dear children.\you want people to listen to you when you admonish, you'd better walk with integrity and interact with humility. Judgers tend to be full of themselves while admonishers tend to be full of goodness. There's a big, big difference.b) Be filled with knowledge.Again, in Romans 15:14, after he says be full of goodness, he says, \ complete or be filled with knowledge.\knowledge, just having a lot of facts; he's talking about Christian knowledge. He's talking about knowing Scripture, but he means actually growing in Scripture. Paul compliments the Christians in Rome because they're not just going through Scripture, Scripture is going through them. When that happens, you have the ability to adequately and effectively admonish somebody.\ Scripture is God-breathed...\about what Scripture is all about. What does the rest of the verse say? \teaching,\those who walk with Christ, who are filled with goodness, and the knowledge of Scripture. Admonishment, just like encouragement, forgiveness, acceptance, and just like every one of these \lives of others. Our Lord did every one of these things at the right time, to the right people and with the right attitude.Now not everybody in the church can be an admonisher. There are some folks in every church who don't walk with enough credibility to admonish somebody else. I'm not talking