The Arithmetic Of Responsibility

A. 1 Pet. 4:10-11. Concerning those in Thessalonica who had become Christians, Paul wrote that they
had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” 1 Thess. 1:9. Some Christians have
only a vague idea of what is involved in “serving” God. Someone has aptly said, “Most people wish to
serve God — but in an advisory capacity only!” We will never be able to serve God acceptably until we
learn what is involved in the concept of “responsibility.” We are going to examine our responsibilities
as individuals to the local congregation. Do so by taking a look at what responsibility consists of, how
one can know what his duties to the local congregation are and the need for personal discipline in
accepting the responsibility God has placed on each of us.
1. Begin by looking at the “The Arithmetic of Responsibility.” Many will be lost because of sins of “omission.” When someone prays, “Forgive our sins of commission and our sins of omission.” Do you know what “sins of omission” means? That means they they failed to do what they could. Jesus gives us the answer and definition in two scriptures: Matt. 25:31?46. Lk. 10:30?37. You do what you can, with what you have, and you do it every time you have the opportunity to do it.
a. Responsibility is in proportion to: Ability - 2 Cor. 8:12, “For if the willingness is there, the gift is
acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.” Some people
excuse their selves from giving because they can’t give a lot like someone else. That is a carnal
copout that will cost you your soul. You do what you can with what you’ve got and not according to
what you don’t have. That was also true under the law of Moses, Deut. 16:17. As a Jew, when you
gave a tithe (A tithe is 10% of your gross income) It was 10% of what you had, not 10% of what
you did not have. 1 Cor. 16:2. The Christians at Corinth wanted to help the poor Christians at
Jerusalem and Paul gave this command: “On the first day of every week, each one of you should
set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections
will have to be made.” Our giving and our doing is not according to specific, predetermined amounts. It is determined by the amount of devotion and gratitude you have for God. The Old Testament, Mosaic tithe was a part of the Law that died on the cross. You and I are not bound by that law. Tithing is not a New Testament command. Christians are not bound by a percentage of our income and then after that we do not give. You do not say, “I gave my required percentage and so I don’t have to give anymore.” We are not excused from giving again because, “We already gave at the office or we have already met the required percentage.”
(A) Responsibility is in proportion to: Opportunity - Gal. 6:10. That says that we respond to a need every time the opportunity presents itself. That boils down to the arithmetic of responsibility. Therefore, we may say: ABILITY + OPPORTUNITY = RESPONSIBILITY. And we depend on God for both the ability and the opportunity.
(1) Ability - Is what God gives you to carry out His purposes in your life. 2 Cor. 3:5-6. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” Our confidence, competence and sufficiency comes only from God. He provides us with the opportunity and the ability to accomplish His will in our lives. 1 Pet. 4:10-11, tells us, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” What ever God places in your hands is how God gives you the ability and resource to do great things use for His glory.
(2) Opportunity - When Paul wrote the congregation at Colossae he requested their prayers that God in His providence would open doors of opportunity for spreading the kingdom, “...pray for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ,” Col. 4:3. In 2 Cor 2:12, Paul relates how those prayers were answered by God working providentially to provide opportunities for teaching lost souls at Troas: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me.”

(B) God has promised to provide us with the ability and the opportunity to reach out and touch the lives of everyone around us. Providing for them, through us, the opportunity to find the same salvation given to us. Having been provided ability and opportunity, we have the duty to do what we can. That is the command Paul gave another Christian in Col. 4:17, “And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it." And Paul places the same responsibility on the young preacher named
Timothy, 2 Tim. 4:5, “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of
an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
(1) Each of us has the responsibility to take an inventory of our abilities and
opportunities. Question? How can we know what abilities and opportunities we
have individually? Think about what you are good at doing. What are your
interests that could be channeled in ways to serve God. Ask your friends, family
what they think you would be good at doing. Pray, seriously think and meditate
about it. Get together with other members and talk about it. Use your abilities and
God will turn them into opportunities.
(2) What do you already have in your possession that can be used to help you and other members grow closer to God? Get together with other members and have study/planning sessions. Take the first step. Find out where you can render a service, then render it. The rest is up to the Lord. There are so many things that you can do---Visits, cards, phone calls, welcoming visitors, giving an encouraging word to someone, helping the sick/needy/bereaved, inviting neighbors to services.
The list of possibilities is almost endless.
(C) We may not accomplish things that are considered great by the world’s standards. But we can do small things in a great way, that are considered by God to have lasting and eternal effect on the lives of others. Mk. 12:43-44, Jesus made this comment about a poor widow who gave the most she had to God, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything?all she had to live on." Of the woman who anointed Jesus feet He said, in Mk. 14:8?9, “She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
(1) Just take what ever ability God has given you and use it at every opportunity, He provides to you, and He will bless you and make sure your place in eternity. The greatest blessings come when we soberly assess our own abilities/opportunities — and act!
(2) Acts 20:32

Spur - 08/24/03, pm