2 Thessalonians 3:8-11 (NKJV) 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies..
We have been studying Hebrews 3 and 4 for some time. In Hebrews 4, we found that God desires a rest for his people. This is not inactivity but a rest born of balance. We will be at rest when all parts of our lives are functioning as God intended. This rest is described as the rest of faith. We cease from “our own works” and begin to do what God wants us to do in order to enter the balance that will allow faith to work in our lives.
We have found from Hebrews 4:13 that this rest requires accountability. Accountability is simply the willingness to take responsibility for our own actions and to submit those actions to an authority that has the right to challenge us. Ultimately that authority is God and his Word however, if we are not accountable to someone here on earth, our accountability to God is suspect.
Yesterday we found that the prodigal son rejected accountability when he demanded his inheritance from his father. This resulted in the loss of all he had received and he found himself working for a pig farmer and starving. The bible says he came to himself or came to his senses. What he realized was that those who submitted to the accountability of his father’s house had what they needed to live. He decided to return to his father and accept that he was wrong. He did not come with any expectation of restoration but was willing to accept the consequences of his actions and be a servant in his father’s house.
We know that the father received him back as a son not a servant. We know that the father celebrated his return. We know that the father must have been watching for him because it says that the father saw his son before he got close to the house. The fact that the son chose to accept his responsibility caused the father to be able to help him. The father was not going to go to the pigpen and get him. If he wanted to stay there, he could but he would probably starve to death. Accountability was the thing that produced change in his life.
I must note that there were some things that the father could not change. The son had spent his inheritance. He was received by the father and given tokens of his sonship. The ring the father gave him was a seal of the father’s authority. He had access to the family wealth. He did not have his own inheritance. I am not sure what that would have meant to him but I do know this. When we chose to reject accountability the Father will always receive us back into right standing with him when we repent. However, we may do damage that cannot be easily fixed and we may lose things, such as the years spent in rebellion, that we cannot get back.
I believe that this idea of accountability is of paramount importance if we are going to walk as people of God. God wants to pour out his spirit on the earth and he wants to do it through us. We are the gates to his supernatural power. If we will not develop accountability, I do not believe God is going to be able to use us as he would like to. That is why I believe the devil has attacked the idea of accountability in our culture.
If we watch the news at all, we are going to see a culture out of control. Children are rebellious against parents. Government has lost the respect of the governed. Police are attacked openly and the respect that they once enjoyed seems to be diminishing daily. The result is an increase in violence and distrust among people.
Conversely, government is not being held accountable for their actions. Police sometimes do overstep their authority. Parents do not take the responsibility to be good parents. They are not accountable to their elders, their spouses or their children. Few want to accept that their actions are the cause of their situation. We do not want to accept the responsibility of life. We want someone to be responsible for us.
In many ways, the opposite of accountability is entitlement. There is a misguided social awareness that says all people should be taken care of regardless of their ability or willingness to be accountable for their own lives. The bible is clear that we should take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. However, today’s scripture also makes it clear that if a person is unwilling to work they should not eat.
I think we need to differentiate between those who cannot work and those who will not work. We should help those who are unable. If they are physically unable, we must take care of them until they are able to work again. If their condition is such that they will never be able to work, so be it. We should help them.
If they cannot work because they lack training or opportunity, we should do our best to provide those things for them. I believe this is the responsibility of the society but also the church. If they simply do not want to work, they should not eat. It is just that simple!
That may sound harsh but it is not. When we provide the means for someone who should work and can work to live off the labor of, we do them a disservice and condemn them to a life poverty and of uselessness. That is not how God created man.
Did you know that God gave man work before the fall? Look at Genesis 2:15
Genesis 2:15 (NKJV) 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
The first thing God did after the creation of Adam was give him a job. Man was created for responsibility and productivity. When we reject accountability for our responsibilities, we become unproductive. When we are unproductive, we lose our self-worth and fall into sin. That is the nature of man and giving him everything he needs without personal responsibility goes against that nature.
In the United States, we condemned many low-income families to generational poverty by our misguided welfare system. We made it more profitable not to work than to work. Fathers became increasingly absent and families degraded. Sons followed their fathers into fruitless, sinful lives and daughters followed their mothers into despair and often prostitution. Self medication through drugs, alcohol and sex were rampant.
We began to correct that error in the 1990’s by limiting the time a person could receive welfare and tying benefits to education and work. We began to see some real change in those who have the least in our society. Recently that has been reversed and replaced by a stronger sense of entitlement than ever before.
The media tells us that those who have worked and been successful are somehow evil and must give what they have to those who will not work. This has started the cycle of poverty all over again and the tensions between those who have and those who do not is worse than ever.
As I have said, those who have should give to those who do not. (1 Timothy 6:17-19) Nevertheless, it is just as important to help them become productive in their personal lives. This will cause them to fulfill what God created them to be. As they grow in accountability, they will grow in productivity. As they grow in productivity, they will grow in personal worth. This will lead to people who can be strong members of society and the church. They will be the kind of people who can become gates of the supernatural power of God to those around them.
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