The story is often told about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
Whose job is it anyway?
One of the many blessings of the Christian faith is the community it offers. We are saved into a community of believers, almost like a band of rowers in the same boat paddling along in the same direction. It is through this community of brothers and sisters that God’s blessings are mediated to us, and so the body of Christ is one of the places we turn to in search of godly counsel. Of course I am not unaware of the possibility of the same body turning in on itself in animosity – an undeniable effect of sin. Yet God’s mercy abounds as we graciously bear and forbear with one another.
In as much as there are people called to formally pastor local churches, bearing the responsibility of preaching weekly sermons to their congregations, there’s a sense in which we’re all expected to be looking out for one another, speaking the truth of God’s Word as occasion demands.
How then do we fulfil this calling?
Loving well
As previously noted, if we’re not spending time in The Word, we’re less likely to give godly counsel. Hence, one of the ways we can love those around us well is by getting into the Word.
Tevye, a poor milkman in the film Fiddler on the roof, would often pepper his conversations with sayings ‘from the good book’.On one occasion, he merrily blurted “as the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick”, to which a bystander firmly responded with a quizzing “where does the book say that?” Tevye, with a dismissive wave of hand replied “alright, alright it doesn’t exactly say that, but someplace it has something about a chicken…!”
Funny as that exchange sounds, it is not unlikely that what may be branded on the surface as godly counsel is really worldly wisdom with a veneer of godliness. At the heart of true godly wisdom is a desire to make much of Christ, and so it is important that we are probing beneath the surface, weighing if what we’re offering or receiving is ultimately making much of self or Christ, rarely does it do both.
No wonder John the Baptist insisted “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30
God’s will for us is to grow in discernment, and as we do, help our blood-bought community do the same. It’s ‘Everybody’s’ job after all.
Thanks for reading!
Sike Osinuga.