There are some basic assumptions I follow when it comes to understanding my faith walk with God.  The first is, who we are and what we do in our lives matters to God.  The second assumption is that it matters because God loves each and every one of us and consequently wants what is best for us. In that love, God sent Jesus not only to tell us how loved we are, but also to show us how to experience God’s love in our lives.  Jesus, himself, said, “I came so you may have life and have it more abundantly.”  The writer of the Gospel of John also shares Jesus’ words that, “For God so loved the world that God sent his Son not to condemn the world, but so the world might be saved.”  God seeks and desires to help us know the joy and abundance of life and that is what our walk with Jesus seeks to help us find as we grow in our faith.

Nancy shared last week that she and I are doing a sermon series entitled “H.A.B.I.T.S. of a Growing Christian.”  Each one of the letters in the word “habit” stands for a certain action when practiced will help us to have a richer and fuller and deeper life in God.  We could have called these practices “Means of Grace” which is what the Father of Methodism, John Wesley, called them.  Wesley believed that God would not place this desire and need to know God, to have a relationship with God within us, without providing the means or pathways to helping us have this relationship.  So Wesley believed we can be pro-active in our seeking God’s grace, and challenges us to utilize these means to experience God’s unconditional love in our lives.  But we chose to use the word “habits” as an acronym, for we felt we could look at these means of grace in a way that may help us to remember them a little easier.  Last week Nancy shared that the “H” stands for having a relationship with God.  As we now reflect on the A.B.I.T.S. they will help us to understand how we can have that relationship more fully.  So today I want to look at “A” which stands for “Accountability with another Christian.”

Why is accountability with another Christian important to developing these habits?  Maybe we need to define what a habit is to understand why accountability is so important.  A habit is an ingrained behavior or practice that feels like it is an automatic response in our lives.  It seems to be a part of our very character or nature.  Nancy read that it takes a minimum of 21 days to form a new “habit”. Twenty-one days to replace an old behavior with a new one.  It is easy to slip in three weeks.  We are told when you start to incorporate a new behavior into your life, like a diet or an exercise program, make sure you have someone who is willing to do it with you.  So on those days you do not feel like rolling out of bed to go for a walk, or you are sure you cannot resist one more piece of chocolate cake, there is someone to say, “You can do it.  Come on get up, let’s do something good and healthy for ourselves.”  It is indeed holding each other accountable, but by being encouraging and empowering with another to do what they know will be good and healthy for them.  The same is true in practicing our faith.  I know you’re tired, but the prayer group will truly bless you.  I know you are frightened, but we will be together as we seek to be a source of justice for those who are oppressed.  Our famous Christian words, “I know you have never done it that way before, but it will be great.”  Yes, we need you and your giftedness to do this project.  Or as Nancy shared last week, we all have those times we just simply wrestle with God and our faith.  Sometimes it seems like God has deserted us, or is simply not listening to us, and we need to have someone say, “Hang on like Jacob, for God is indeed there.  And when you hang on, you will find the blessing God wants you to receive.”  We can be and often times need to be a source of strength for each other.  This shows us why Christianity is never a private walk with God, but a journey shared in community.  We need the encouragement and empowerment of each other.

Paul, in his letter to the church in Thessalonica, affirms how important this act of encouragement is in helping us to be faithful and to hold each other accountable as we seek to deepen our relationship with God.  He says, “Encourage one another, and build each other up.”  I love that thought.  To encourage means to give your strength, your courage to another.  That two, or more, together, find a deeper strength and resolve to face issues that may try to take us from our walk with God.  Consequently, to discourage means to take away a person’s strength, courage and resolve.  This is why I believe Jesus warns us about being critical and judgmental in the passage from Matthew.  The passage is one that is rich in meaning, but today I would simply acknowledge his words to show us that even if we mean well, if a person is constantly criticized, they can become discouraged in their lives.  They can believe that they will never measure up, so why try.  So Paul calls us to encourage, to give strength and resolve to each other in our faith walk as we seek to deepen our relationship with God.

I believe there is another aspect to accountability with another Christian that essential to our own growth as a follower of Jesus Christ seeking to deepen our relationship with God.  It is indeed seen in a new standard of relationship shown to us by Jesus.  We have all heard the “Golden Rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Jesus changed that rule somewhat for us as Christians.  When Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you,” the standard he set before us to live by is, “Do unto others as Christ has done unto us.”  That we are to love and care for each other as Christ has loved and cared for us.  I think of it as, “Be accountable to each other as God has been accountable to us in God’s relationship with us.”  I believe that in our encouragement, in our relationship with another that seeks to help them stay the course, we actually become a means of grace for others.

As Christian people, many of us believe there will come a day that we will stand in the presence of God and have to give an accounting of our lives.  For some, it is seen as a day of judgment, which we face in fear in trepidation.  But in I John, we hear “that there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear for fear has to do with punishment.”  So how might we understand this moment of standing before God and seeing our lives through the eyes of God?  Seeing if we indeed did live our lives in a way that encouraged others in their faith walk.

I will always be grateful to a parishioner in my very first appointment for his insight about being accountable to God.  He said, “The hard part for me when I stand in the presence of God and look into the absolute love and compassion of God’s eyes, will be seeing the look in those eyes when I understand and experience those moments when I let God down.  When I see those time I may have disappointed God, who was always there to love me, and who always gave God’s all in God’s relationship with me.  To see those times when I did not return that same love to others.”  Maybe, as I add my words, “When I was not that means of grace for another who needed to know grace.

First and foremost, to be accountable with another Christian means to me, to live to the fullest of my ability to be present with another with all the love, care and compassion I can have to show them how important they are, and to encourage them to develop the habits they need in their lives to fully know God’s loving, grace-filled presence in their lives.  To do unto others as Christ has done for each and every one of us.  That is why it is so important that we be accountable wit another Christian.  Why we be accountable with all who seek to know the depth of God’s unconditional love.

So as we now prepare ourselves for the Sacrament of Holy Communion, may it serve not only as a reminder of the God whose love is fully given to us all, but also may it empower us and encourage us and strengthen us to walk more fully in the path that leads to a deeper and more enriching life in relationship with God.  When you see someone who is down, who seems to be wrestling and struggling with life, give them some encouragement, give them some of your strength as God has dome for us so they may know grace.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on August 7, 2005.