“Accountability” is one of those popular words that I hear in the church.
People form accountability groups where they answer questions in regards to lust. People tell friends that they “need to be held accountable” for a certain area of sin in their lives.
Accountability is a good, wise, and Biblical practice. James calls us to accountability: confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16).
But accountability is only as good as a person’s willingness to be held accountable. In a moment of struggle, there can be a renewed commitment to changing your life and calling people to hold you accountable. But what about a few days, a few weeks, a few months later when the same old temptations come creeping back? An initial reaction can be to want to hide, to withdraw, to say “I’m fine” when you’re not fine. All of these make accountability worthless.
It’s good when we hold one another accountable. But more important than someone else’s commitment to holding you accountable is your commitment to actually being held accountable, to being willing to be held accountable when the going gets tough, and a willingness to be vulnerable before you’ve fallen back into an area of struggle.
Accountability must be accountability in practice, not in theory. It’s more impo
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
This spring, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Philadelphia. Neither of us had ever been there before. I loved it. Thought it was an amazing city. As someone who loves history, there are some incredible sights to see in Philadelphia. It’s surreal that you’ll be in the middle of a major city and you’ll also be walking between buildings that housed some of the most important events in our nation’s history, and that were here over 200 years ago.
My favorite sight to see was Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted. It was surreal to be in a room, and to think, “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton have all been in this room.” It felt as though I was standing on hallowed ground.
Much gets said about our founding fathers and our history. They were imperfect men. But imperfect as they were, they also did something great.
Revisionist historians like to argue that the only reason the Founding Fathers declared independence from Britain was out of a desire to not pay taxes. This overlooks the fact that the founders committed an act of treason against the Crown when they declared independence. Had the United States lost the war, they would have all been hanged. And it wasn’t a guarantee that the United States would win. The Continental Army had the daunting task of synthesizing an army together from colonies (who had largely been independent of one another) into a cohesive army.
Assembly Room at Independence Hall
The last line of the Declaration of Independence says:
For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Many of our Founding Fathers paid dearly in the cause of liberty and freedom.
Robert Morris of Pennsylvania had amassed great wealth and gave it all away to support the army and navy. He also had loaned money to the Continental Congress in 1776. Morris was never paid back and died in poverty.
Thomas Nelson of Virginia had his home overtaken and used as a headquarters by General Cornwallis. Nelson ordered his own home to be burned down. He spent $2 million of his own money (an incredible sum in the 18th century), to help fund the war. Nelson was also never paid back and died impoverished.
Phillip Livingston of New York was one of the richest men in America but also lost all of his fortune and didn’t survive to see the end of the war, dying less than two years after he signed the Declaration of Independence.
Richard Stockton of New Jersey was arrested by the British in 1776 and spent three years as a prisoner. When he was released, his health was failing, and he died two years later in financial ruin.
When Charleston, South Carolina was overtaken by the British in 1780, three of the four signers of the Declaration of Independence were taken as prisoners of war. When they were released, their property had been pillaged.
And there are many other examples. They cost of starting a nation. A nation that is imperfect, but which has also spread more freedom to the world than any other nation in history.
I think our founding fathers, and the subsequent millions of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have fought to defend that freedom. Most especially, I’m thankful for the freedom of religion that we have in this nation. That we are free to worship as we desire. So many tyrants throughout the world have attacked the freedom of religion at the alter of imposing religions or eliminating religions. But the beauty of America is that we can worship as we choose.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
Bible commentaries are scholarly books which give a verse by verse analysis of a book of the Bible. There are commentaries on every book of the Bible. Over the last 20 years, there have been hundreds of new commentaries that have been released. Commentaries are helpful to me in my studies of the Bible as I prepare sermons, Sunday school lessons, youth group lessons, and small group discussions. They’re a huge blessing to me and my ministry.
If you’re looking to study a book in depth, which commentaries should you read?
I’m starting a new series where I give my opinions on some of the best commentaries I’ve encountered for various books of the Bible.
Today, we start with the Gospel of Matthew. It’s my favorite book of the Bible to study. I’ve also preached more from Matthew than any other book and I’m familiar with all of the major commentaries.
Matthew has many great commentaries. I would put it right up with Romans as being the New Testament books with the best literature.
Grant Osborne – Zondervan Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament (2010). Osborne was a professor at my seminary but I never actually had him for a class (so many great professors, it was difficult to get ’em all). I love his writing. Commentaries can be very dense and intellectual but Osborne’s commentaries (and he’s written one on every book of the New Testament) are written in an approachable manner, while still being academically rigorous.
R.T. France – New International Commentary of the New Testament (2007). The late R.T. France actually wrote two commentaries on Matthew. He wrote one the New International Commentary of the New Testament (NICNT) and the Tyndale New Testament Commentary on Matthew. The NICNT commentaries can at times get highly academic, but, like Osborne, France writes with great clarity. Every time I read France’s observations of Matthew’s gospel, I feel that there is something fresh and interesting he has gleaned from the text. The Tyndale commentary is still very solid, more condensed than the NICNT, and a bit more approachable for the lay person, but still very solid.
Leon Morris – Pillar New Testament Commentary (1992). Unlike any other commentator I’ve read, Morris could write with brevity while feeling like he fully captured the idea of a verse. Truly a gift. A solid Evangelical scholar.
D.A. Carson – The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (1984). This is my favorite commentary in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary series. Carson is my favorite New Testament scholar. As with anything Carson does, excellent exegesis and explanations of the text. One of the things I most appreciate about Carson is his ability to explain a passage while seamlessly connecting it to the rest of the context of the passage and within the overarching book.
Craig Blomberg – North American Commentary (1992). As a critique (and not so much a direct criticism of Blomberg because there are often restrictions from publishers on how long a book can be), but at times, I feel like his exposition can be too brief, and leaves me wanting more. But what he gives you in his commentary of Matthew is first rate. Blomberg approaches challenging subjects in a gentle manner.
What’s your favorite commentary on Matthew?
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
Many people in our society don’t understand the gospel because they don’t understand the cost of sin. We can do nothing to earn forgiveness because of our sin. The only hope humanity has is the grace of God, freely given to anyone who trusts in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Many don’t understand that, don’t appreciate that, think that they’re basically good enough on their own.
On the other side of the coin, a person can come to faith and have an appreciation for the magnitude of their own sin.
One of the great struggles that Christians can face is making life about performance, even after you acknowledge that the grace is freely given by Jesus.
But we’ll never be good enough on our own. That’s why we needed a savior!
It’s a difficult balance to strike. Because I’m certainly not suggesting that we should just live however we want. We should live for God. But that must be done while also understanding that his love is not based on our goodness or obedience.
When a person places faith in Jesus, you are saved from the sins you have committed and the ones you will commit. Jesus doesn’t just save you from the sins of your past and leave it up to you to figure it out in the future. Jesus saves you entirely, when you place your faith in him.
We can know the forgiveness that we have though the gospel but still fall into the trap of making our relationship with God about our performance. Or acting like God has forgiven you, but like you have to earn his love. That’s not the gospel.
That’s a good way to set a person up for a life that lacks joy and leads to an exhausting (and impossible) cycle of legalism and works based righteousness.
For a Christian, you are adopted as God’s child. You’re his. God loves with an everlasting love. No matter how good you are, you can never make God love you more. Nor can any sin make him love you less.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
We live in a soulmate focused society. We love the idea of finding the one.
As a millennial, perhaps it’s because our generation grew up with VHS and we were able to watch and rewatch and rewatch the same Disney movies over and over again, seeing the happily ever after. But in fairytales, we never actually see the day to day of what the “ever after” ends up looking like.
You don’t have a perfect person because YOU’RE not a perfect person. And a relationship takes two people. And since a relationship includes you, it’ll have problems. Now multiply that by two as you find someone who is also imperfect.
The problem with trying to find the right person is that it’s inherently self-centered. It implies you can find one person who completes you, who builds you up, who makes you whole.
That’s not how God designed us.
It is God who makes us whole. It is in God that we find purpose and life.
If we have the mentality that another person will be what completes us, we’re viewing the relationship as a taker. Thinking that a significant other or spouse’s sole job in life is to support you and build you up will lead to an unbalanced and unhealthy relationship. Too many relationships are made up of two takers.
But that’s what we want. Instead of looking for that person, you need to be that person. You need to be a giver, you need to want to support and honor another person.
“The doesn’t seem fair!”
But it seems fair to look for someone who’s going to do that for you?
Both people need to be focused on giving, being selfless, and serving the other. We’re imperfect and so we’ll do that imperfectly, but when people work to build that relationship, it’s a beautiful thing.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
Like many pastors, I’m a commentary nerd.
