"The Responsibility Of The Redeemed"

The Responsibility of the Redeemed: Why We Do What We Do

There is a story about a young girl who noticed that her mother always cut the ends off the ham before placing it in the oven. Curious, she asked why. Her mother said it was because her own mother had done it that way. So the girl went to her grandmother, who gave the same answer — she had simply followed her mother's example. Finally, the girl tracked down her great-grandmother and asked the same question. The great-grandmother laughed and said the answer was simple: the pan was too small. That was it. No deeper meaning. No secret culinary wisdom. Just a practical solution to a practical problem that had been passed down through generations as though it were sacred tradition.

That story is funny until you realize how many Christians are living the same way.

Many people who call themselves followers of Christ are going through the motions of faith without any clear understanding of why. They serve because their parents served. They attend because attendance is what their family has always done. They give, they volunteer, they show up — and none of it is wrong — but somewhere along the way, the purpose behind the participation got lost. And a faith without purpose is just religion. It is just cutting the ends off the ham.

So what is the actual purpose? What is the standard by which a Christian measures his or her life? Acts 2:42-47 gives us a remarkable picture of the early church — a community born out of the fire of Pentecost, where roughly three thousand people came to faith in a single day. And in the days that followed, the Lord continued adding to their number. What were they doing? What was driving all of it? Three things stand out clearly, and they form what might be called the core responsibilities of every redeemed person.

Build Up the Saved — Starting With Yourself

The first responsibility is to build up the saved, and it begins with an honest look inward. Acts 2:42 describes a community devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer. They were not just gathering socially. They were intentionally pouring into one another and into themselves through the word.

Research from the Center for Bible Engagement, drawing from a survey of 40,000 people between the ages of 8 and 80, found that engaging with Scripture four or more times per week produces dramatic life change. Feelings of loneliness drop by 30 percent. Anger issues drop by 32 percent. Bitterness in relationships falls by 40 percent. Struggles with addiction, sexual sin, and spiritual stagnation all see significant decline. Meanwhile, the likelihood of sharing faith jumps by 200 percent, and discipling others increases by 230 percent.

Four times a week. That is the threshold. And for anyone attending a Sunday morning service and a midweek gathering, they are already halfway there.

The reason this matters so deeply is simple: you cannot pour out what you have not poured in. A water bottle that is empty has nothing to offer. Before a person can build up someone else, before they can disciple, encourage, or lead, they must first be filling themselves with the word. The flight attendant's instruction applies here — secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others. This is not selfishness. It is stewardship. A spiritually depleted person has very little to give.

Praise and Worship God With Intentional Focus

The second responsibility is to praise and worship God, and Acts 2:46-47 paints a beautiful picture of what that looked like in the early church. Day by day, they gathered with glad and generous hearts, receiving what God had given them with gratitude rather than complaint. They were praising God and, as a result, they had favor with all the people around them.

Three things are required to truly praise and worship God: a willing heart, an intentional focus, and a forward-facing outlook. A willing heart means releasing control and allowing God to move. An intentional focus means cutting through the noise of daily life and fixing attention on the one thing that matters most. A forward-facing outlook means choosing to see the goodness of God even when circumstances are difficult, because a negative spirit does not just affect mood — it affects health, relationships, and spiritual vitality.

Here is the connection that is easy to miss: when a heart is genuinely full of worship, two things happen simultaneously. Others see the joy and want what you have. And you begin to see others who do not have it yet. A life of genuine praise makes a person both visible to the lost and sensitive to them. The early church was not growing because of clever programming. It was growing because the people in it were so clearly, visibly full of something the world around them desperately needed.

Win the Lost

The third responsibility is the grandest of all. Acts 2:47 closes with a stunning declaration — the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. This was not an accident. It was the natural result of a community that was building itself up and worshiping God with full hearts.

Romans 10:14 raises a question that demands an honest answer. It describes how people cannot call on someone they have not believed in, cannot believe in someone they have not heard of, and cannot hear without someone telling them. The implication is clear: the telling is not optional. It is the mission.

Yet statistics reveal a sobering reality. Ninety-five percent of Christians have never led a single person to faith in Christ. Eighty percent do not consistently share their faith at all. Less than two percent are actively involved in any form of evangelism. These numbers are not meant to condemn — they are meant to awaken.

The responsibility of winning the lost does not fall exclusively on pastors and ministry leaders. The early church was not 3,000 pastors. It was 3,000 ordinary people who had been changed, who opened their homes, broke bread together, and carried the message outward into the world around them.

That is the call. Build up the saved. Worship God with everything you have. And go after the lost with urgency and love.

Not because it is tradition. Not because it is what someone else always did. But because you know exactly why the ham gets cut.