Grace and Accountability

I've been thinking a lot recently about church life and how difficult it is sometimes to find the balance between extending grace to each other as freely as God extends it to us, and holding each other as accountable as God holds us. I wonder sometimes if that is even possible or appropriate. Would it please God more if we let Him be responsible for all of the juggling between grace and accountability?

Probably not.

When we take on the mind of Christ, we see the need for both grace and accountability attitudes/actions. Ideally we each seek a deep understanding of how this kind of Christ-likeness looks, and we open ourselves for God's bringing it about in ourselves. Then we act on it, one to one, in our church body. We also expect to see it demonstrated in our leaders. We trust God to ultimately settle all the accounts and restore balance where it is lacking.

The least useful approach is to assume that perfect balance can be imposed from the top down--that if something is amiss in the church, the leaders can and should correct it. That is as unrealistic as assuming that if something is right in the church, the leaders should get all the credit. If a church functions well together, it is always because the Lord has built it, and people have cooperated with Him--not because the leaders have been skilled puppeteers.

I treasure the memory of times when grace has been extended to me and those I love. I'm grateful too for times when we've been held accountable. Having experienced both of these in our church life makes me slow to take up the cause of people who trumpet the lack of one or the other as a call for action. I see both as being present.

Any church with diversity among its members is likely to have trumpeters proclaiming opposite messages simultaneously. What are leaders to do in such situations--except listen carefully and go forward in the fear of God?

What of the trumpeters? Should they stow the trumpets away in the closet?

Maybe.

While prophetic voices are needed at times, quiet prayers and loving affirmations and challenges can be effective too. The latter call for more patience and personal investment and risk. I suspect that often they have not been tried and found wanting. Instead they have been unwanted and left untried.*

What is really needed, all-around, is personal commitment to following Christ. That is a full time job--one which is in danger of being neglected if we spend too much time making sure everyone around us is doing as good a job with this as they should. On this point, extending grace toward others and requiring accountability of ourselves is perhaps the best way to find a balance.

*I've heard a similar sentiment expressed elsewhere, perhaps by G. K. Chesterton. If anyone knows the exact quote, I'd be grateful if you'd post it in a comment.