Accountability and the High Priest

I love the Old Testament. I think it is the kid in me who likes action movies and super heroes. The vivid scenes recorded there, like the first Passover and the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, seem to lodge in my brain and remain long after. The description of the High Priest is one such scene. On the tenth day of the seventh month (the Day of Atonement) Aaron was to bathe and put on his priestly garb. His robe was blue. Upon its hem were pomegranates of blue and purple and bells of gold between them. He wore a sash embroidered with needlework, a coat of fine linen, and a turban upon which hung a golden plate declaring to the world “Holy to the LORD”. Aaron must have been a stunning sight to the people of Israel. My favorite part, however, is the breastpiece of judgment. It was made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarns and bore upon it twelve stones. A name of one of the tribes of Israel was engraved on each stone. Likewise, upon the shoulder straps were two stones, one on each side. Six tribes were engraved on one and six on the other. Every time Aaron entered God’s presence on behalf of the nation of Israel he bore the names of the tribes upon his chest and shoulders.

I realize our topic to kick off this ‘blog-arama’ is accountability and what Proverbs 27:17 contributes to that idea. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” As luck would have it, we were working our way through 1 John 5 in class last week. As we sauntered along we suddenly ran smack into verse 16. “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life…” Now if you are like me, you will read that, completely ignore the point of the passage, and immediately go straight to the phrase “a sin that does not lead to death”. My professor, however, wise beyond his years, simply asked us to ignore the phrase for a minute. “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin… he should pray and God will give him life…” Wow! What an incredible statement. There are several questions pertaining to the sin that leads to death. However, don’t allow those questions to take away from the force of John’s statement. John’s point is crystal clear. If we see a brother sin we are to bring our concerns to God. In response to our prayers God will give life to our struggling brother.

One essential element of accountability is immediately apparent in verse 16. John assumes we are aware of the sin our brother is falling into. In our present culture, and especially among men, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I had been praying for an accountability partner for over 3 years without any results. Then one Sunday morning last year, we ended our bible study time by pairing up and sharing prayer concerns. To be honest, it is normally a huge waste of time. People get together and share only those concerns they deem socially acceptable. This Sunday, however, my partner was a good friend of mine. He opened up and shared some serious issues he was wrestling with. I simply sat there and wept. They were the very things that I had been dealing with. I had found my accountability partner.

If we are not willing to risk being transparent with another believer, we will never know the joy of Christian fellowship. We are not a social club. We are a fellowship of the diseased. There is not one among us untouched by the plague of sin. There is, therefore, no need for pretension.

A second element of accountability we see in verse 16 is more obvious. We must take our brotherly concerns to God in prayer. It was Catherine Marshall who said, “One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying.” I think she had me in mind. I do not doubt that God answers prayers. I simply struggle with the idea that he will answer mine. If we take verse 16 seriously, however, we must recognize that it contains both a promise and a responsibility. God is promising to give life to struggling Christians in response to prayer. At the same time, he is laying on us the responsibility to offer up those prayers.

Speaking of prayer…

I am reminded of a wonderful scene in the Old Testament. It is the Day of Atonement and the High Priest, in his priestly garb, is entering the presence of God with twelve names on his chest and twelve on his shoulders. In like manner, let us “approach the throne of grace with confidence” bearing the names of our brothers.