Two Reasons It's OK for Christians to "call each other out" for Sin

Have you ever had a person notice that you were sinning and “call you out” on it? How did you feel? Did it change your perspective? Did you get upset?

Confession time: I was saved at age 13 and lived a faithful Christian life; however, somewhere along the way, I began to think that I was better than other Christians because “my sin wasn’t as bad as their sin.” This is a prideful and self-deceiving attitude, but I acquired it nonetheless.

Then, my senior year of college, I had an experience that forever changed me. I was in the car with a guy friend and saw a girl that I absolutely could not stand. I looked at him and said, “Do you see that girl right there? She is terrible…” and went on to list every negative thing I knew about her.

Feeling good about my “superiority”, he looked at me and said, “Sarah, why do you think you’re better than her? You don’t know what she’s been through in her life that makes her the way she is. We are ALL sinners and Jesus died for her too. You are not perfect. You sin too, and Jesus loves that girl just as much as he loves you.”

I wanted to come back with some witty retort, but I couldn’t. He was right. I was just as guilty. Just as sinful. Just as in need of a Savior.

My stomach still churns when I think about this moment.

Accountability in modern Christian culture

Even in our Christian culture, accountability has somehow become taboo. When I talk about this topic, I am usually met with the following verses from Matthew 7:1-5,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

People usually stop at “Do not judge” and do not even consider all that comes after. If they do make it past this part, people use the “plank” defense as if to say we are all walking around with proverbial planks in our eyes and will never be able to help one another.

This just isn’t true. If you read the last verse it clearly indicates that after we have our plank removed, just like I did in college, that then we can effectively remove the speck from our brother. My guy friend was able to successfully remove the plank from my eye that I didn’t even know was there. Because of that, it now helps me help others effectively. I am eternally grateful he took Biblical accountability seriously.

Despite what our culture thinks, there are two reasons we need to keep each other accountable.

Accountability is a must for Christians. Click to see two reasons why. Click To Tweet

Accountability helps us avoid sin

The first reason is because sin is serious! It separates us from God and if we do not remove it from our lives, we cannot enjoy the fullness that a relationship with God has to offer.

In Matthew 5:29-30, Jesus states, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

In other words, if anything is causing you to sin, Jesus says to get it out immediately, even if you have to take off a body part; better that than spend eternity in hell. There is no room for misinterpretation here, sin is SERIOUS.

Accountability helps you grow

A second reason for accountability is to grow in knowledge and strengthen each other’s walk with the Lord. God gave Christian’s each other to help us in our walk, just as my guy friend helped me in college.

Ephesians 4:14-16 sums this up when it states, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

When we call each other out in love, and we accept it willingly, it helps us grow in our maturity in Christ.

In Closing

Keeping one another accountable is healthy and not a battle for spiritual superiority. Despite our current culture, “calling each other out” from time to time is absolutely necessary. I am passionate about this topic because my college experience was a life changer for me and I hate to think how much worse it would have gotten before I realized it.

Also, I want to relay that there is a correct and Biblical way to keep each other accountable which I breakdown in this next post in this series. Click here or below to read!

How to keep other Christians accountable for sin

Also, I cover the topics of sin, salvation, the Christian mission, and more the book God’s Not Gray: Biblical Truth in a Society of Blurred Lines. Click below to find out more!