Roles and Responsibilities

As the executive director of a national program one of my regular duties is to develop and review job descriptions. The most important part of any job description is the “roles and responsibilities” section. This is the place of common ground and understanding of what each employee is expected to accomplish. In addition it places limits on power and control, to help prevent employees from over stepping and extending. Job descriptions are good documents to refer to during annual performance reviews. Lately I have been thinking about the roles and responsibilities we have as Christians. I wonder how believers would manage if subject to an annual “Christian performance review.” What would the report say? Are we fulfilling the roles and responsibilities assigned? Where are we over reaching? Is it possible that we have pushed our way into doing things not in the “Christian job description?”

“Pharisaical” is a word that gets thrown around in Christian circles. This is a term used to describe some of Jesus’ greatest opponents. They were religious leaders who added laws to the Old Testament law. In doing this they created a religious system that failed. Their goal was to turn the Jewish people back to God, to start a revival. Their methods failed miserably. In essence they felt that God needed to be clarified.

I wonder if the church today isn’t subject to the same temptation. The primary job of the Christian is to love people – period. The Holy Spirit has been assigned the “convicting” responsibility. The job of judging has been exclusively reserved for God.

Is it possible that the greatest damage Christians do to the Christian faith is over stepping their job description? As believers we have have been called to love and be in relationship with others, unconditionally. It is this unnatural need to judge that has helped to create the evils of racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism.

How would Christianity be different if Christians passionately stuck to their responsibility – loving? As a pastor friend of mine likes to say, “Loving the hell out of people.”