C.A.N Community. Accountability. Something New.

Just thinking about the impact of this series and shame, pain, and sin that we have identified as skeleton’s in our closet. Things that we don’t want to deal with an when we don’t they fester and grow and most of the time just spill out unto and hurt the very people that we love the most (and sometimes even people that you don’t love), and ourselves and more specifically the abundant life that Jesus came to give.

So we identify, and give them to Jesus and heard powerful stories and testimonies of those who have done the same in their grief, sexual traumas, sin, and addiction. And then last week Jeremy spoke such a powerful word of the power of forgiveness. Accepting God’s forgiveness, forgiving yourself, and then because of that forgiving others.

And there are so many more topics to discuss and healing often times of these skeletons is a process…

It’s not one and done.

It’s continual. It’s hard work. It’s day after day and year after year. Until your legacy is changed.

Your lineage. Your patterns. Your generations coming behind you.

Community

When we sat around that table on Roselawn and were dreaming of how we would want to do church and what would that look like for us moving from a kid’s church and after school program to “Big People Church” and we knew we wanted to use the word Hope…because you know, Hope Extreme, now Hope Treasures, Hope Kids, Hope Fridge, Hope Shower…’we wanna be a Hope Dealer’

We knew we need the word church, cause we wanted people to know it was a CHURCH…

But the second word we thought over and discussed in detail, if people were gonna know us for hope (and they should) what would be the backbone of how we wanted to do Hope Church together?

And that one word that kept on coming back to us was Community. We have to do this together.

If we are going to get skeletons our of our closest and be free and walk in forgiveness that is going to be done together. With each other. In community. You are not an island unto yourself.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).

Stop. Pause. Let’s think on this. Consider.

If you are struggling with pain. If you are caught in “skeleton” of shame.

If you are being bought down by an addiction or sin. What better place than with the children of God in the house of God. This should be your safe place.

Acts 2:42-47 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[d] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

My goodness yes, I’m going to be in small group. I’m showing up for 9:30 prayer. When does your church start? 9:30 on Sundays for Prayer. Yes I’m gonna commit myself to women’s or men’s small group on Wednesdays with childcare nursery and youth group provided. I can’t make it on Wednesdays but I can show up for Jeremy and Amber Smith’s group the first Friday of every month at 6:30. Why yes I will do Hope Abounds the second Saturday of the month to help me deal with my traumas, or the the 4th Saturday of the month helping me to Parent well. And if you all start packing out these small groups we will start more!

Take a step toward community. I’ll never forget when I was a freshman in college and I knew (really my mom knew) I could know the Lord but if I don’t plug into Christian Community I’m going to stagante and maybe even fall away. And I took a step out of the secular student union with my high school friends and into the Baptist student union and into Christian Communiy.

Ridding yourself of skeletons permanently starts in Community!

Accountable

But then it is also being help accountable. You can be in community but not be held accountable. Accountability is something that is held in high regard by many, but is actually pretty hard to maintain. Yet accountability is something God sees as very important for us to uphold, being that we are made in His likeness and co-heirs of His kingdom with His son Jesus.

As we unpack the role of accountability in our lives and walks of faith, the hope is that we can match our desires for people to be accountable for their actions and words to what we project of ourselves on a regular basis. Don’t take the mindset of “Do as I say, not as I do,” but more “What I say is what I do.” According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary online, accountability is “the quality or state of being accountable; an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.” The definition of accountability as expressed in the Bible is from Romans 14:12: “So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.” When discussing the nature of accountability, the Bible doesn’t hold back in telling us that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is watched and noticed by the Lord. But before this causes you to become increasingly anxious, it is meant that nothing can be hidden from God, including what is in our hearts, our feelings, and our dreams. James 4:17 affirms that if you know what is right to do, especially in God’s eyes, and don’t do it, it is sin. This means that if God were to tell you to forgive someone and you say no, you are not only rejecting the privilege of being seen as an authentic Christian to a hurting, misguided person, but you have also rejected God and what He represents in your life. Proverbs 27:17 describes this belief well with the statement that as iron sharpens iron, we do the same for others’ accountability when we are accountable for our actions and words and strive to do what is right.

Now this get tricky because “not everyone that you are in community with needs to hold you accountable.” I am going to say that again! “not everyone that you are in community with needs to hold you accountable.”

Accountability partners and even mentors (and I believe in this because I have two that are really close to me that are allowed to speak into my life).

I value what they say.

I value and want at times their correction.

And their reproof brings me closer to Christ and keeps me committed and continuing to get rid of my skeletons.

Remember Acts 2 and everyone is fellowshipping and breaking bread and playing bigger or better…it didn’t stay that way. Cause people are people and skeletons are skeletons and the enemy is the enemy!

Galatians 2:11-13 Paul Confronts Peter

11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

And Paul didn’t sugar coat it. I’m not sure if Peter asked for the accountability but Paul sure gave it! This is not right. You can’t do this. You can’t return to what God has set you free from Peter. Later on Paul writes in Galatians 5:1 ‘it’s for freedom you have been set free” basically don’t go back to you skeleton. And good accountability will help you do this.

Something New

So you are in accountability and community, but there is one more essential transformation that needs to happen and that is finding something new. A new pattern to replace the old pattern.

Now this all throughout the bible, Jesus talks about having your house cleaned out but when the spirits came back to occupy it they found nothing in it, so it was seven times worse than before.

That skeleton that God healed you and delivered you from ends up being worse!!

Even if that skeleton wasn’t caused by you. (stats of abuse (sexually) tend to keep on running

But the basic idea is that for that pain, shame, addiction, or sin replace it with something and one of my favorite scriptures for this is Ephesians 4 Paul addresses this.

Ephesians 4:20-32

20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Now her he goes naming skeletons…

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

And we can go on and on through our skeletons…

Abandonment…Be there for people and offer true love.

Addiction…find a healthy one like the word or worship.

Binge watching tv of mindless scrolling…games with the family and healthy outside activity.

Sexual Impurity…grab a hold of biblical marriage or wait for it while serving the Lord.

I’m finding something new. I am grabbing a hold of something that will fill my life.