RESPONSIBILITIES

RESPONSIBILITIES

Sunday 27^th October 2013

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2Ti 3:16  We begin our message today in the light of the above scripture. It talks about all scripture not a portion or some. All scripture in its entirety is inspired by God and is  profitable and useful for teaching that which is sound teaching and practice, or conviction, for setting aright and for instruction in righteousness. We at all times in our interaction with scripture need to be ready to embrace all these aspects to avoid undue inclination or to be sided towards one given side.  This therefore means that as a Christian, you need to be ready at all times to be reproved, corrected, instructed in righteousness unlike many quarters where many people may naturally only want to hear the soothing messages even when there is need for correction or rebuke.

Getting back to the subject of our message today, ‘Responsibilities’; this entails performing duties at the work place, at home, community and even at church. At this stage, it’s imperative that we cluster this message into three main segments that is; Youth, Women and Men. This therefore makes this message a trans-generational message that transverses across the entire divide of  age groups.   

1.     YOUTH

a)     Church and the community.

…I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one…. 1 John 2:13. Young people are strong physically. This strength is a very crucial component in life and especially for young people. Sadly though, this strength which is meant to serve God wholly, has been diverted into wrong uses. The enemy looks for young people to hook into and use in many cults and even in devil worship. These are just a few wrong uses to which the strength of the youth is put to. We all have a responsibility as young people to heed this wake up call and rise up and put the God-given strength to its legitimate use and thus overcome the wicked one   as the above scripture notes. However, the youth can also effectively serve the Lord. In Psalms 119:9 the scripture says “How can a young person stay pure?  By obeying your word.”  (NLT) This scripture begins with a question and immediately responds to the same question with an answer. The young people have the great responsibility of hiding or taking heed to the word of God. This way, their energy can be consolidated directed and effectively used for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.  David raises a prayer in verse 10 saying I have tried hard to find you––   don’t let me wander from your commands. This should be the desire and prayer of every young person.  That is, to yearn for and pursue God and Godliness.  The ultimate goal of this is the realization and recognition of the fact that you are created for God and that your life entirely revolves around Him. It is true saying that, any life lived and programmed outside God is doomed.  Don’t be part of this unfortunate state of affairs.

b)    Respect to the elderly and humility

“In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. 7 And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. 8 Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us.”  (Titus 2:6-8 6). In this scripture, Paul is writing to Titus as a young leader in the church. As we were beginning, we looked at a scripture that states that all scripture is from God and is profitable to all. Based on this scripture, Paul is instructing Titus to encourage young people to have self control as this is crucial and will help him to be an example to the other young people. The scripture exhorts young people to also exercise the word of the Lord. 1 Timothy 5:1 states that “Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; 2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. 3 ¶  Honour widows that are widows indeed.”

With all due respect, I wish to submit to you that we are grateful for the advancement in knowledge and technology. There may be people who in our contemporary world are called ‘Analogue’ meaning the old folk and the word ‘Digital’ made to represent the young in the society. I wish to throw some caution to young people. It’s not prudent to despise your parents or older people in the community and family viewing them as yesterday material ‘analogue’ as you may put it. The older people are very important to you so never ever despise them. They may not be doing things your way but they still deserve their respect. The scripture warns young people to honour parents in the Lord. This includes both physical and spiritual parents and all the other authorities regardless of your position. They may not always be right so heed the warning, do not rebuke the elderly or treat them in a manner likely to demean them their societal status. It’s a very unfortunate turn of events that if a young person can lay hands on the parents or the elderly with an intention of beating them up!

c)     Flee youthful lusts

22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. There has cropped in our society a very warped morality situation where irresponsible sexual behavior amongst the youth is a welcome practice. This has lead many young people to backslide. It has its genesis in irresponsibility and lack of discipline in schools and other learning institutions. This unfortunate behavior has even infiltrated into the body of believers. Illicit sexual activity is a very tragic activity that leads to the defilement of young people. The Bible regards your body as a temple of the Lord.   Its crucial to every young person to take a categorical and clear position in this matter not to defile themselves. This does not therefore mean that you don’t have friends of the opposite sex but rather you are expected to stay within the confines of morality in all your relationships. It’s even sadder to note that this behavior has its genesis in some families. Those parents who notice wrong association of their children especially with opposite sex yet don’t seem to see something is wrong either with their son or daughter are courting disaster. Sexual relationship outside marriage is Sin and an abomination before God. If you are or have been involved, turn to the Lord in repentance. Some even go as far as cohabiting in colleges as husband and wife yet they are not legally married. The worst of the abomination is taking place where we find gayism practiced! God have mercy on young people. They are a target and sadly enough some have already been entangled and ensnared by the devil into this unethical and warped immoral activities. That is why I implore you to do what David says in Psalms, hide the word of the Lord in your heart to keep you pure and away from sin. Take responsibility and lead a responsible life. Immorality will deprive you of your destiny in God. Many have already been entangled and ended up in very unfortunate circumstances like the so called unwanted pregnancies, contracting deadly diseases like HIV which leads to AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, dropping out of school while others have ended up in jail.  

2.     Women

“3  the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things––4  that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5  to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” Titus 2:3-5. Older women have a responsibility of guiding, training and instructing younger women and girls in the way they should go according to the word of the Lord. There are certain dress codes that breach the confines of moral dress code and even go against the word of God. These should be shunned. It is a responsibility  of the older women to instruct the younger women to dress in a manner that is not provocative to others. Dress in a descent manner, in a way that neither you nor others around you are made to feel uncomfortable. There is need to display Godliness in the way you do things and how you live. Its not expressly the role of the Pastor to do all these. Older women should also be able to teach the younger women to live Godly lives and not become slanderous or wrong instructors. It is therefore crucial that they be sound in the word of the Lord in order to be able to have the right influence on the younger women.

Women also have the responsibility of knowing whereabouts of their own husband and also take care of them.  

3.     Men

Helping the Pastor in Ministry

What is the role of men in the church and in the society? In Exodus 18:13-26, we find an account of Moses doing the priestly work with the Israelites. His father-in-law visited and found him doing very tedious work of judging the Israelites from dawn to dusk. He (father-in-law) therefore advised him to delegate most of that responsibility and only handle the major ones. What do we learn from this? The men have a responsibility of assisting the Pastor in the ministry. As the Pastors help the other Pastor in the Ministry, the elders too have a responsibility of doing conflict resolution in the church. Only difficult matters or issues that the men or elders can’t handle should be handed on to the pastor. This will help bring order and also bring about a fair sharing of responsibility in the church. Its time everyone takes their position and relieve the servants of God of the heavy work of doing just about everything. When this is done, there will be greater breakthroughs and much  ease leaving the pastor with more time to seek the Lord and disseminate his biblical duties “of devotion to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”  (Acts 6:4)

Men should therefore be very wise according to the wisdom based on the word of God and not according to the tribal traditions, ethnic, customs or worldly cultures. That will go a long way into making the word of the Lord in the body of Christ to prevail. Men should also serve as mediators.  

At Home

The man is the head of the family. Thus the man has a priestly role of praying for the family and leading worship at the family altar. The man should love his wife and support her at home too. Do not love your children to an extend that you ignore and abandon your wife. Remember before the children, your wife was, and after the children have gone, you will remain alone with your wife. A man should encourage and support his wife. In 1 Timothy 5: 6  But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. 7  And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.

8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (unbeliever). From the above scriptures, it’s very important that every man takes care of and provides for his family lest he be regarded by the scripture as worse than an infidel (a non-believer).

In conclusion, everyone should rise up to his or her position and take responsibility thus subsequently execute their mandate. The young people should take their rightful responsibility, the Women too and men should attend to their responsibilities in the church as well. They are meant to help the Pastor perform his duties. A state in the church where everything is left to the Pastor is a very unfortunate state of affairs that needs to be addressed urgently and proper direction taken in accordance with the word of God.   This when done, our families, community and the church will be a better place to live and work.