Welcome, dear readers at this wonderful day! God creates new things every day and His grace for us renews every morning! We continue talking about accountability. We depicted accountability in the life of Jesus and tomorrow we started to discuss how this principle worked in the life of apostle Paul. Paul was an accountable man. He used to give an account to the church at Antioch that had sent him as a missionary abroad. Paul was doing it on a regular basis before those in the church God put as an authority above him.There is an example:
«From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. They stayed there with the disciples for a long time.» (Acts 14:26-28).
Here we can see Paul returns to Antioch from where he «had been committed to the grace of God» for his mission. The expression «had been committed to the grace of God» tells us that in this particular church people laid his hands on and prayed for Paul then sent him to the mission.Leaving for his mission Paul didn´t make himself unaccountable just because he had already been anointed and free. At that moment Paul had become a mature minister established many churches. Nevertheless, he was still an accountable person. He returned to the church at Antioch, to the place he had been sent from, to meet those whom God had been made an authority over Paul. Moreover, Paul also held an account before the apostles in Jerusalem regarding the way his ministry was going. «Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain». (Galatians 2:1-2).
As we can observe above, even 14 years later Paul returned to Jerusalem to give an account. All those years he had been under the authority set by God (see Acts 15:1-29). Paul´s calling as an apostle was ministering to Gentiles. That´s what he basically did, while holding himself accountable to the Apostles, those who were with Jesus from the very beginning. Even though, Paul received his revelations directly from the Lord Himself he was still giving an account to Apostles of what he was teaching and preaching. «But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ». (Galatians 1:11-12).
Why did Paul behave this way? He wanted those, who had an authority over him, to evaluate his life and his deeds. It was important to Paul to know whether things he was doing were right and came from God or there were any deviations from God´s standards. It was Paul who wrote these words to the church in Corinth: «Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others discern». (1st Corinthians 14:29).
What did he mean by saying that? Even prophets who affirm they hear the word from God, should let the other brethren, mature in Christ, reason about their prophecies. Also this is accountability in a certain way. Paul accepted corrections in case he was wrong, since he was under spiritual authority. That´s why God could powerfully manifest and act in Paul´s life. We can learn all these things from Paul, then God will be powerfully glorified in our lives.Let´s continue tomorrow!God bless you abundantly!Rufus Adjiboje, pastor
