Have you ever gone to see a movie, and it was nothing like you possibly could have expected? Almost like you spend all this time building up to the movie, and then all of the possible storylines that you conceived in your head and were excited about never actually happen. And it’s even worse when there are scenes in the trailers that never appear in the movie itself, so frustrating. Well, recently I was able to see a movie that I had been anticipating for a while, and it was not at all what I expected.

The movie was “The Circle,” and who wouldn’t want to watch a movie with The Harry Potter girl, whose name escapes me (Emma Watson), taking down a top secret organization. That would have been so cool, only that is not really what happens… Instead, she makes this organization more inherently invasive. But, like I do with all movies that are simply meant for entertainment, I started to think of all of the ways that Christians could apply some underlying principles to our lives in some way, even though they inherently had nothing to do with the movie. At any rate, let’s begin. 

To start, the movie defined accountability as the surrendering of privacy. As if one could not exist while the other was somehow, or sometimes present. As if without 100% observation, you could not have 100% accountability. Is that true? To a degree. So what does that mean for believers? I mean, we are supposed to hold each other accountable, aren’t we? The answer is yes, absolutely we should strive to keep each other accountable as we all strive to be more like Christ. 

But whose responsibility is it to initiate that accountability? The individual needing the accountability, or the individual providing accountability?

Let’s all take a second and add another term into our already high verbiage situation. I am going to make my own definition of accountability based on the premise of absolutes, and make it more accurately relatable to the Christian life. Without 100% transparency, you cannot have 100% accountability. Now, for the sake of explanation you may be wondering what I mean by that, well don’t you worry, I am going to tell you exactly what I mean by that. 

What is transparency? Transparency is the ability for one person or party to be completely open with an alternative person or party. No secrets, no lies. What is accountability? Accountability is the direct act of one person or party, to help promote high moral ethicacy in the actions and thoughts of the original person or party. 

So let’s translate those definitions into English: Transparency is the willingness of someone to truly open up about their difficulties and challenges instead of keeping it hidden, and opening up yourself to be vulnerable. It is taking down our emotional walls and letting someone else know our weaknesses. Accountability is encouraging someone else in doing what is right, ethical or biblical. It is the intentional act of lifting someone towards a goal. In the case of the Christian life, the goal is being more like Jesus.  

So let’s go back to the original question, whose responsibility is it to initiate accountability? Wel, according to James 5:16, and our definition of transparency, it is the responsibility of the person who is struggling with whatever it may be. It is that person’s job to find someone whom they trust and to be transparent with them. James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Instantly, James puts the responsibility for the warfare against sin on the person that is struggling, the person who is in need of accountability. 

Here is the problem, we have created a culture in which we spend more time judging someone who is struggling, and less time praying for someone who is struggling, that we have developed a church that doesn’t confess it’s sins to one another. We are so worried about what others may think that we leave our skeletons in the closet. Unfortunately, if we leave them in the closet, then they are still present. We need to be able to confess those sins to others, and we on the reverse, need to be less judgemental when someone is transparent with us. We are called to pray for that person, not fix that person. It is God who changes the heart, but He uses His people and prayer to be an important piece of that process. 

We say we want to help people find accountability partners, and that we want to make accountability a major part of what the church does, but we do nothing to change the pharisitical culture of gossip and judgmentalism within the church. If you have ever thought someone was in sin because of what they wore to church, or because of what they chose to drink, or because of the style of music that they like to listen to; then you have contributed to this problem in the American Church. We have developed a culture where people who are struggling feel as though they are unable to be transparent because of the way that we treat them once they are. 

Friends, I want to let you all know, we are all sinners. Someone may struggle with something different than you, and you may not understand their temptations, but if we start judging them for a sin that we do not struggle with, then they are not getting the help that they need. We focus so much on judging, that we don’t focus on supporting. This leaves people isolated, and right back where they were before the transparency. If there is a brother or sister in Christ who has confessed their sins to you, your first response should be joy that God is working in their heart, not judgement for what they have done. 

James is very clear with what we are supposed to do for those who are struggling with sin. He says to pray for them. Not once do I hear him say “tighten security, and watch every move that your friend makes to ensure that they do not sin again.” No, he simply says to pray for them. Now that does not mean that we should not promote holiness. Holiness should be the goal of what we are all striving for. That means our priority should be asking God to help them in the fight that they are fighting, not trying to fix somebody who is hurting. 

Remember, just because our culture has not been great in this area, does not mean that we should not be transparent with each other. We should still seek to be 100% transparent when it comes to confessing our sins to someone who we would consider to give us our accountability. I am not saying that we have to tell everyone everything that we have ever done, but we should have someone in our Christian life who we trust enough to be 100% transparent with. That is your responsibility to find when it comes to accountability, not someone else’s. 

Now for the one keeping accountability, you also have responsibility in the situation. I already spoke on not being judgmental, but there is more to it than that. Even though it is the person needing accountability that should initiate that process, it is now the person giving accountability who must maintain intentionality. Accountability is more than just sometimes asking someone how they are doing with any given sin issue. It is praying for them regularly. 

The second piece that James mentions after transparency, “Confess your sins to one another,” is intentionality “. . . and pray for one another.” The biggest most important step in the accountability process is prayer. And that should be done by anyone who is part of the family of God. The final piece of that verse is “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Well, because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, all who believe have been made righteous in the eyes of God. That means He listens to our prayers, and works for us. So anyone who claims to be in Christ should pray for those who have been transparent with them. 

However, there is more to accountability than just praying for them, but it does require more intentionality. Yes, it can be so helpful to regularly ask how someone is doing in an area of a sin struggle in their life, but beyond that, help them fight it. If you know someone who is prone to getting drunk on the weekends, then plan something on the weekend to help keep them out of the bars. Do a movie night, or game night to give them something to do with others. If you know someone who struggles with lust, then you can help intercede for them when crude jokes are being made that can make the mind wander. 

Lastly, another way that we can hold someone accountable is to also be transparent. We all stumble in many ways. We all have a sin nature, struggle, and fight the fight. Oftentimes while we are fighting that fight, the enemy makes us feel like we are fighting it alone. When someone is transparent with us about their challenges, it can help us to remember that we are not fighting alone. We may not struggle with the same thing, but we are fighting the same fight. And God never intended for us to fight it alone. 

God through His Word has called for us to be transparent with one another. As brothers and sisters in Christ we are all striving together towards a common goal, and when we leave skeletons in the closet, we are isolating ourselves from our fellow warriors. We are not fighting in a UFC fight. We are fighting in a war, and to win a war we have to do it together. We have to confess to each other our challenges, and we need to pray for each other through this journey. We must depend on each other!