ACCOUNTABILITY
God is working out a beautiful purpose on this earth and He's right on schedule. He's not a minute behind or a minute ahead. God is not sitting up there frantically wondering what He is going to do next! He has a plan. Most of mankind is spiritually blinded, as was ancient Israel, but does that mean God will hold them unaccountable for the decisions they make in this life? God plainly says that He blinded Israel spiritually, so it's God's business whom He blinds and whom He removes the blinders from - whom He calls to be a firstfruit of salvation and whom He doesn't.
The subject of accountability goes back to the beginning of mankind, so as Mr. Armstrong used to say, “let's go back to the beginning - to the two trees.” “Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil” (Gen.3:22). Let's go back to verse 4-5: “And the serpent said to the woman, `You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened.” That's true. Satan, if he ever told the truth, that's it. Because God just said over in verse 22 that their eyes would be open, and they would begin to know good and evil. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise...” (Vs.6). All this didn't happen in a day. It took a little time for Satan to set all this up. Adam and Eve had a chance to think about it. No, this took a while.
At this point, Adam and Eve were pure and un-defiled. Their mental faculty was created to only decide how to respond to good, not evil. They had no evil. They only had to decide their life based on good. It's when we eat of the tree of good and evil, that we understand good and evil. That was a problem - for Adam and Eve and for us! What had happened, in order for Adam and Eve to be able to discern good and evil? What happened? Because as it says in verse 22, “now man will know good and evil.” A new dimension was added at this point - a mental consciousness - when the eyes were opened.
Their lives were all righteousness up to that point. When their eyes were opened, or they were given mental consciousness, their eyes were opened to two thought processes: good and evil. This was new for them. They didn't know they could think these thoughts. When it was just them and God, they just thought the God way, now Adam and Eve were thinking a different way. Why was that? This was a very uncomfortable situation for them. Well, their eyes were opened when they ate of the forbidden tree and they gained a carnal conscience. Now they have a problem. We might imagine that they asked each other, “which one do we listen to: good or evil, God or the Serpent? Which way do we go?” Eve might have said to Adam, “God is pretty upset with us Adam.” As with husbands and wives today, at this point, they probably got into some finger pointing. Adam might have said to Eve, “If you hadn't listened to that serpent, we wouldn't even be in this mess now.” And Eve would have responded, “Look Adam you took the fruit too. I'm not the only one. You could have said no.” I don't know if that happened, but the war began in their minds, at that point. That's when the war of human nature in the mind began for all mankind. They had to begin choosing between what was right or wrong and it continues to this day.
So, how do we make decisions? What sets humans apart from dumb animals? We've got a conscience that's what! God did not leave man out there all by himself without the capacity to choose. Even apart from God's Holy Spirit, man has the capacity to choose right from wrong. Webster's Dictionary calls “conscience,” “the faculty by which one knows right from wrong.” And,“Consciousness”: “governed by one's conscience, mental aptitude, power to act and make decisions and choices.” That's what we've got in our mind - a conscience. We've got a lot of other stuff too, but the mind, has the power and the opportunity to choose, or make decisions, as every one of us do. If you “choose” that means: “to pick out, to select, to take preference of one thing over another.” The mind can decide. “Decide” means: “to determine, the result, the result of this decision, to make up one's mind.” We use these phrases all the time, “Make up your mind!” But what are we talking about? Well, we put all this stuff together that's floating around in our mind and come up with something. In other words, we settle an issue, give a decision, come to a conclusion. We can do that. We've done that our whole life - daily, hourly.
Now with that consciousness and conscience there is a rationale: which means, “to be rational, to be sensible, sane, reasonable, logical, soundness of mind.” A rational decision makes one responsible for one's own conduct. A sound mind makes decisions that must produce responsible conduct or results. The conscious mind is built around intellect, and that is: “the faculty of reasoning and thinking, mental power, understanding.” We have a brain, and it has many functions. The brain is the nerve center of the entire body, but unlike dumb animals, we also have a mind. The mind has intellect, which helps us make a decision. And then there are what we call “intellectuals,” those who have high mental capacity. There's nothing wrong with that. They are just really smart people.
The mind is the part of the brain that has understanding, memory, opinion, purpose, and gives us an awareness of our surroundings. So the conscious mind uses intellect to develop reason and gives the mind the capacity for understanding that information which comes through the senses: you know, taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing and hopefully, along the way, we develop some “common” sense. Let's look at the Bible definition of “conscience:” it's #4894 in Strong's, also the root of 4893: “to see completely, to understand, to be aware.” A companion definition to #4894 is 1492, which means, “to know, to perceive right from wrong.” The Apostle Paul gives his student Timothy a lesson in the human conscience: “...nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is, in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk [vain talking], desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (1 Timothy 1:4-7). What Paul is saying here, is when you turn from godly, edifying faith, your natural, human, conscience will lead you to other things. Then you make a decision based on what? Well, on a lot of things. In good conscience can you make that decision? Yes. You see how we use that phrase all the time: “In good conscience.” We say, “Yes: In good conscience I did this or that.” We can, with just our human conscience, make a decision of what is right and what is wrong. People do it every day. In vs. 19 of 1 Timothy 1, Paul continues, “Having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.” At one time they were thinking right and now they are thinking not so right.
Could Israel have kept the Ten Commandments without the Holy Spirit? Can you keep the Ten Commandments of God in a purely physical sense and not have the Holy Spirit in your mind? Can you keep the Ten Commandments based on conscience human effort? “Now the Spirit [or the mind of God] expressly says in the latter times [that's us] some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). Have you ever taken a piece of material, like silk and just seared it with an iron? What are you going to do with it? What can you do with a piece of seared silk? It's useless. That's what Paul is saying here. These formerly converted people seared their conscience. Verse 3-4: “...forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused. [Here comes the problem]. What does that mean - nothing is to be refused - pork, squirrel, shrimp, lobster? “. . . if it is received with thanksgiving.” Well then, I guess all we've got to do is ask a blessing on it and it'll be okay. No, that's the way we would look at it if our consciousness was seared!
Here's a simple example: Years ago, when we used to eat out on the Sabbath all the time, I saw a lady in the Church, stand in front of me in a line at one of these all you can eat buffets. I couldn't help but notice the big hunks of oink floating in the green beans. She pushes the pig aside and gets the green beans. I'm thinking, surely she saw it. Maybe I should say something. So she sits down and she eats it. I guarantee now she could taste it. There was two things that she used: her eyes and her taste, that should have told her conscience: “don't eat!” But evidently, her conscience was seared in that area. Maybe she said a little prayer, and asked of God, “Father, please bless the pork in these beans so it will nourish my body.” I don't know. Look at verse 5, we are to receive with thanksgiving the food we eat - that's obvious, then it says, “For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.” There's nothing wrong with that! If God has sanctified or approved it for human consumption, as noted in Lev.11 and Deut.14, then you can eat it! Thank God for everything He has given us to eat and if it's sanctified and set apart by the Word of God and not just our own carnal conscience, it's OK. The point being, we must let God and His Word be our guide and not allow our conscience to become seared. That is part our decision making process.
The Scriptures have quite a bit to say about our conscious mind: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:14-15). That's basically saying, there was a time in our life when our conscience allowed us to do some pretty bad stuff and we didn't have a problem with it. But, when we received God's Spirit, things began to change - then we began to serve the living God. Now that doesn't mean, for most of us, that we still didn't know right from wrong. We knew, based on upbringing, that there were certain things we wouldn't do even at our worst. Why? Well, our conscience wouldn't let us.
I'm presenting things this way so we can see there's something in our brain that makes us do certain things, based on our seeking a decision on any particular subject. We have to make a decision and draw a conclusion based on that awareness. We have to make a decision between right and wrong. And we do that every minute of every day.
Why as a Christian or just as a person, do we do the things we do? “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name”(Heb. 13:15). That should be something that we are perpetually doing: the fruit of our lips should continually give thanks to God. Verse 16-17: “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account....” And certainly, all of us, including the ministry will have to give an account for how we've done in this regard. In fact, we will all have to give account for how we've done with everyone we've come in contact with in this life! Verse 18: “Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.” Well I trust that as well. I trust that our conscience won't allow us to do some pretty terrible things. Yet, we could, couldn't we? Could anyone reading this not do whatever they wanted to do? What's stopping us from what we want to do? Or, for that matter, thinking and dwelling on any vile thought that comes into our head?
The author of the book of Hebrews, which most presume to be the Apostle Paul, urges us to allow God to work His good will in us: “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight , through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Vs.20-21). I quoted that scripture because I remember what Paul used to do, don't you? And he was good at it! He had more Christians killed than you can count. But something changed him. What was it? Well, most importantly, the Spirit of God, which affected his human conscience. It won't let him do what he used to do!
What about ancient Israel? Moses tells Israel, “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 26:16). Verse 17: “Today you have proclaimed [that's Strong's #559, meaning “vowed or consciously determined” So they consciously determined] ... the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice.” In other words, they made a choice. “Also today the Eternal has proclaimed (same word) you to be His special people, just as He has promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken” (Vs. 18-19).
Now my question is: is God being fair here - was God pulling a fast one on Israel? Would God say, “Oh boy, now I've got them! I'm going to make them keep My statutes and My commandments and My judgments and make them harken to every word of My voice and, and . . . they're not going to be able to do it! They can't do it without my Spirit - I've got them now!” Was that God's intention? God goes on to tell Israel, “if you do this, I'll make your name above all nations and you may be a holy people to the Eternal your God.” Did God ask Israel something that was impossible to do? The point I'm trying to make is, that any human, given the right information, using his mind and conscience and his senses can say to himself, “this I will do and this I won't do.” There are many people in the world who would do that. There are people all over the world who have that kind of resolve. It's just the resolve to make a decision and stick to it.
In Deuteronomy 30, God gives the conditions of the deal that He made with Israel that we just looked at in Deuteronomy 26. Israel sealed it by making a considered, determined, conscience decision - telling God that He would be their God and they would do all these things. Here are the conditions that God begins to lay down: “If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul...” (Deut. 30:10). So they could turn. He wasn't asking them to do the impossible. He continues with verse 11: “For this commandment which I command you today, it is not hidden from you. . .”, or it's not too hard for you. “. . . nor is it far off.” It's not way off somewhere, it's not up in heaven. “It is not in heaven, that you should say, `Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, `Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'” (Vs. 12-13). God tells them it's not hidden from them, nor is it too hard for them. “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” (Vs. 14). It's simple. It's not that difficult. It's not way off somewhere where We can't reach it. It's right there in our grasp - in our mouth and in our inner being - our brain. It's in our mind. We just have to resolve to do it! “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns [or you reason away] so that you do not hear, and are drawn away [because you have free will], and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; and shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you [He gave them a choice] life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deut. 30:14-19). God is telling them, it's a choice that is simple, that's right in your mouth and your heart and you can do it unless you don't want to.
God says, “I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life.” They could choose death, but God is encouraging them to choose life. He wants to know which way they are going to go. How are we going to choose to live our life? “That you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them” (Vs. 20). So Israel made a deal, a covenant with God.
Back in Genesis 3, God gave mankind a conscience - a way of making a rational choice. So God knew Israel could do it, if they truly wanted to and would only commit to Him. Israel as a whole though made bad choices. Moses, Caleb, Joshua and a few others made good choices. Israel was blinded spiritually, but that didn't prevent them from making right choices. They had the option to choose good or evil; life or death. They chose poorly. All these people died, but they will come up in a resurrection. They will have another chance.
The Apostle Paul encourages us toward a god conscience: “But sanctify [or honor] the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear [or respect] having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Pet. 3:15-17). The lesson in that, is that we must keep thinking good and making right decisions even though some may ridicule us. In fact, you can probably count on getting ridiculed for making right decisions based on right principles. And very often, it's the ones closest to us that ridicule us the most. They show disrespect for the things we believe - not us personally, but the things we believe and practice in our lives. Our conscience effort, as Peter was saying there, should be to keep on doing what we know is right, regardless of what other people say. It doesn't matter. Keep thinking good and making right decisions just like God tells us to. At baptism we promised God that, didn't we? At baptism He made a contract with us, and we with Him. Nobody forced us; we said, “Yes Lord, I will do it.”
God isn't asking the impossible of us either. In Philip. 4:13, He tells us we can keep that covenant - that we can “do all things through Christ Who strengthens us.” So we can do it, just like God knew Israel could keep the physical laws, otherwise, it was very unfair of Him to hold the death penalty over them if they couldn't! God promised Israel physical blessings - not eternal, spiritual ones as He has promised us. We have much more on the line! Yet God is fair and He has never required me or you, to do more than we're capable of - as long as our thinking is straight. As long as we have a sound mind - and He even gives us that through His Holy Spirit! Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Yet Israel, or mankind in general for that matter, really has no excuse at all. On a strictly human level, if they made a conscious choice to do so, they could keep the 10 Commandments. It may not be on the spiritual level as taught by Jesus Christ, but they certainly could decide not to murder, steal, or lust for their neighbor's wife. The Pharisees could keep the Sabbath in the strictest sense of the Law, as they did the other commandments, but did that make them righteous? No, there is more to it than that.
Prior to God calling us, we knew nothing of the true God and His plan. We freely served the god of this world, Satan. If we did something pleasing to God - it was probably an accident! We had some human good works there somewhere, but without Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, our “goodness” was as filthy rags to God. After God called us to the truth, we began to understand spiritual things and re-evaluate our life and the direction we were going - by God's Word. In other words, we “repented” and went another direction. So now, not only do we make decisions based on the five senses - now we've got another ingredient, because we have the Holy Spirit. We've gone to another level. We are trying to think like God. He has to put His mind in my mind and in your mind, or we cannot think like God. We can do good things, but we're not going to think like God. That is impossible without His Holy Spirit!
When we came into the truth, we learned about God and His ways and what is right and not right, what is proper and not proper, what to eat and what not to eat, how to dress and how not to dress, how to think and how not to think, and to apply that right knowledge to our neighbor - our fellow man. The difference is, the mind of Christ. Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind (the mind of God) be in you, which was also in Jesus Christ.” Prior to our conversion, we just had physical, natural instinct based on intellect - we add knowledge to this intellect, we decipher it, we kick out what we don't want, bring in what we do want and then we make a decision. After conversion, we try to use the principle of choosing what is good for us and good for everybody around us - based on God's principles of right and wrong - guided by God's Holy Spirit - then a conscious decision is made. The mind of Christ should be guiding us and that steps us up just a little bit from the carnal mind that we were born with! It's all in the head - the mind. God deals with the mind. If God's Spirit is in our mind, we will be able to receive knowledge from God. If we don't have the Spirit of God, we are not His - as it says in Romans 8:9, 14. We must be led by the Spirit of God, not our own carnal conscience. Again, it's all based on the mind - how we make decisions, regarding right or wrong. What input do we put in? Is it godly, wholesome, pure? “Finally, brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things” (Philip. 4:8). That means let them soak into your mind! These are things pleasing to God!
Our actions or deeds reflect what is going on in our mind. God is going to render to every man according to his deeds. You do a little, you get a little. You do a lot, you get a lot. You do nothing, you get nothing. That lesson is made plain in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30)!
Let's conclude this article on accountability by going through what the Apostle Paul has to say in the first part of Romans 8. I'm going to quote these verses from the NIV, as it is rendered in much easier to understand language: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man...” (Rom. 8:1-3).
However, Christ didn't sacrifice Himself to give us a “pass,” so we can continue living a life of sin. No, we've got to do it right. We're not going to get another chance. God is going to hold us accountable for what we do right now - with this life! Let's continue with verse 4: “... in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” Do you realize brethren, that in the entirety of the universe, only God's people can fulfill that? We are what the world should look at as an example of godly living. Just as Israel was supposed to have set the physical example to the world and thus receive God's material blessings - but they chose not to. They rejected God and chose to get involved in the ways of the nations around them. For those of us called to be first fruits of salvation and as the “spiritual Israel” of God, it is a thousand times more serious for us, to not be involved in the nonsense of this world. The Gentiles should have looked at Israel and saw how they lived and said, “Oh, that's the way you're suppose to do it!” Why? Because Israel made a covenant with God, that's why. They made a deal with God that they wouldn't do those things that the other nations around them practiced. They were supposed to be God's example nation. Verse 5: “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” That's the way it should be. Our minds should be on the things that are pure and lovely and of a good report, as we read in Philip. 4:8. That's what ought to be in the mind of every Christian or anyone who has the mind of Christ! Verse 6-8: “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;” Why? Verse 7, because “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” So apart from the righteousness of Christ, mankind simply cannot please God.
Romans 3:23, tells us that all who have ever lived have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and, as the scriptures show in other places; as a result, are found guilty under the Law and are condemned to death. But God also tells us that He is not willing to see any of mankind perish... and as a result of that love for His creation, has provided a way of escape or redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ - each in his own time though, as we know. Under God's plan of salvation, all humanity will eventually be given the opportunity to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on their behalf, again, each in their own time.
Let's continue in verse 9-10 of Romans 8, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Yes, we promised when we were baptized, that we would kill the old man - bury him under the baptismal waters. Have we? Verse 11-13: “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
We can no longer live the way we used to. Hebrews 2:1-3 tells us, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”
Paul concludes the thought in verse 14-16 of Romans 8, “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, `Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.” Fact is, that regardless of whether we are called now and have God's Holy Spirit or not, we are responsible for our own actions and decisions made in this life. Look at Romans 14:10, (last part of the verse): “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” And, verse 12, “So then, each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Some will just do it sooner than others!
So, to answer the question I posed at the beginning: yes, God does hold mankind accountable for the decisions they make in this life. And yes, we can, through our own human efforts resolve to keep God's 10 Commandments - at least in a purely physical sense. But God's Law is spiritual and thus has deeper implication for us than just a rote, physical obedience. God requires us to keep the spiritual intent of that law... and that is impossible. That's why we're told in Romans 3:25, that God gave His Son to be a perfect atoning sacrifice or propitiation for sin - for us. Through Him we do have reconciliation to God and forgiveness of our sins.
Hopefully brethren, we are continually led by the Spirit of God our Father and we profusely thank Him daily for the salvation and opportunity we have to be firstfruits, through His Son, Jesus Christ.
To whom much is given, much is required!
Pete Fleming