Trent Renner

INTRO:

It has hit the Christendom fan. World Vision, a self declared Christian Ministry, publicly came out with a position saying that as a Christian Organization they have decided to leave the “theology” up to the Church and they are going to hire people who are openly living outside the guidelines of the Bible. They have specifically created a policy saying that it is okay for their Christian Organization to hire people in a Same Sex marriage to be on their leadership team of their Christian organization. Let’s dialogue about all this…

I first want to say… I hope that these posts will be studied and accepted by all people living in any situation or circumstance as posts of love, directness, and based from a Bible perspective. I personally have friends from most walks of life and life-styles and I believe they know me to be a person who is not judgmental, but as very direct and truthful.

We have to have this discussion without someone throwing the stupid “judgmental christian” card…these issues are of utmost importance that have eternal consequences. Let’s be direct with each other, but loving and seeking truth. We have to have these discussions. We have to seek the Truth.

I want to address the issues that World Vision’s decision has uncovered and stirred up. There are many. This blog will be split up into many separate blogs. I know this material will be long…but I am confident that it will be content that is worth your time. I also want to say that I am doing everything I can to type this in an attitude of love, directness, and minus my personal opinion as much as possible. I want the Bible to be my foundation for this whole series of blog posts.

LET’S GET STARTED…

The arguments that have been stirred by World Vision should not be just about homosexuality and/or same sex marriage. Some want to make World Vision’s decision to be about that…but I want to be clear…

This post is about sin of any kind and it’s mixing with Spiritual Leadership of any kind.

FIRST…World Vision said that they want to leave Theology up to the local Church. Here in lies the problem with World Vision…they have been led to believe that the local Church is a Top Down power structure that has a piece of property and a building, usually with a steeple, that people gather in, typically on Sundays, and that is called…The Church.

This idea is a worldly-developed idea from the Corporate world that has crept into the Church. This mentality has caused even Pastors and others to believe and teach that there are Para Church Organizations and Missions Organizations and then there is the Church….They teach, “The Church” is the one that you drive to on Sundays to sing, take an offering, listen to a message, go home and do it again next Sunday.

Q: Where in the Bible do we have this kind of teaching and segregation? A: It’s not in the Bible.

There are no “Para Church” Organizations in the Bible. Shame on us for separating/creating them. There are no 501 c 3 organizations in the Bible. There are no missions organizations in the Bible. Not for Profits…etc.

The Bible says, that those who are followers of Jesus Christ as Lord, are the Body of our God. Period. The Body of Jesus IS THE CHURCH and again…He is the head! (READ 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 for details on this)

Jesus is the head and everyone of us make up the other “body” parts of the Church. We all have different gifts and changing gifts and strengths. It is shameful that we as the Church have divided our Church body into Church / Para Church / Missions Orgs / Not for Profits / etc. It has gotten so out of hand that different parts of Jesus’ Body get different accountability standards. ie…this wrong system has created double standards where Church boards hold mission organizations to standards that they don’t even follow themselves. They created organizations that measure how these”mission orgs” spend their money. Charity Navigator is one example that has been created. This system sticks it to the “missions orgs” and what is commonly called “The Church” get’s a free pass. The Corporate Church board says that “missions orgs” really shouldn’t be spending more than 5% of their budget on Administrative/management costs while they themselves spend upwards to 50% to 60% or more on their administrative costs in what they call their local churches. (I have been a Sr. Pastor in what is commonly called the Church, and I am now as they call it, a missions leader…I know first hand what the standards are from both perspectives.) WE as the Church today, have taken on a Corporate structure and called it church, and we believe that the para-church organization…doesn’t even have to live according to Jesus’s standards, because it’s Para Church…or Missions…or Not for profit. Thus…Richard Stearns says, “We are going to leave the theology up to the Church.” Is he thinking he has a free pass on honoring the Bible, because somewhere along the way, he believes he and World Vision are not the Church?

We are ALL…THE Church! The Biblical Standards are the same all across the board. The Church is anybody CONNECTED to the Head…Jesus The Christ…The King. The Church is anybody declaring Jesus as Lord of their life and live as the King has commanded.

Richard Stearns’s declaration that World Vision is leaving the theology stuff up to the Church…is crazy wrong. Since when did “The Church” get to say or designate what the standards of Jesus are? SINCE NEVER! Jesus sets the standards and had them recorded in the Bible. The Bible says what the standards of Jesus are and the Church is either in sin or not in sin as they obey/disobey the standards of Jesus recorded in God’s Word…The Holy Bible! The Church, the public, popular vote, governments, individuals can’t change Jesus’s standards…ever.

So…THERE IS ONLY BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY…aka..The Church!

There should not be any segregation of the Church into para church, missions orgs, Not for Profit orgs, Religious Orgs, Denominations, etc…NO…WE ARE ALL THE CHURCH, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE. Please do not let the world’s corporate structure, that has been forced on Christianity, deceive you into thinking they are all different. It’s all the Church. It is all Christianity.

The Point?

WE ARE ALL THE CHURCH! When we all…individually…stand before Jesus someday for Judgment…Mr. Richard Stearns of World Vision…you will not be able to say to Jesus…“Um, Jesus…I left the theology up to the Church…Um, Jesus…some in the “Church” said that it is okay to ignore that commandment of Yours. Um, Jesus, that Church group over there didn’t follow that command of yours, so I assumed it was okay for me too…”

Do you get my point? One on One with Jesus is where you and I will be someday. You and I cannot blame anyone for our decisions. It will be You and Jesus at that point…and like it or not…if you say you are a follower of Jesus…YOU ARE THE CHURCH! The above paragraph is not just written to Richard Stearns…it is the same truth for me and you. You will be held accountable for the Truths and the Standards that are written in God’s Word…The Bible. It doesn’t matter what anyone else does or tells you to do…only you will be accountable for the truth and standards that Jesus gave us in The Holy Bible.

Before this first part of this blog post finishes…I do want to add this. There are LEVELS OF JUDGEMENT coming when Jesus returns.

There will be those who are not teachers and leaders of Christianity who get one level of Judgment from Jesus. And then…

There will be those who are judged with even more strictness….these are the Teachers and Leaders of Christianity.

James 3:1 in The Holy Bible says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

It’s a very dangerous thing to lead, teach, or be on staff in Christianity…whether that Church be called World Vision, The Salvation Army, The YMCA, ReturnHope International, or your local congregation on the street corner with a steeple. We will all be held accountable for our spiritual leadership in Christianity…THE CHURCH….Individually.

World Vision is pretty much saying anybody can lead and teach in Christianity and leadership within a Christian organization…no matter their life choices…but have they considered the warnings of James 3:1?

Thus…part 2 post…coming soon…

“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? 4 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? 5 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.”
Matthew 7:3-5:

In my previous post, Hydrate 33, I wrote about how God has commanded us as the church to judge one another. If that sounds surprising to you, then I encourage you to read that entire post #33. Its long, but hopefully very educational for you, thus worth it.

This post is simply a part two of the last one. Please notice in this passage from Jesus that He does not tell us that we should not judge. He simply says that if we are going to judge others, then we must make sure we aren’t being hypocritical.

The Bible tells us, as Christians that we are to be the Light of the world and the Salt of the earth. That means we are to be purifiers. In order to purify we must first be pure. In order to be light we must first rid ourselves of darkness.

That is all Jesus is saying.
Are you in the habit of telling others where their faults are, but you are totally lacking self-awareness of your own faults?
If this is the case for you, you will be fruitless when it comes to influencing other people for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I am listing some Biblically mentioned sins below. Use the list to do a sin check in your life. If you are actively continuing in any of the sins below then please keep your mouth shut to others about how they should live their lives. You’ll only cause more damage to the Cause of Christ than good. First conquer the sins in your life, and then be a purifier for Jesus. Here’s the list.

1 Corinthians 5:11, “I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer* yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-20, “9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”* 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

If you would like to see what other sins the Bible lists, then the list below is the listing of every Bible verse in the New Testament that lists specific sins that we are to conquer as Christians. (When you see the letters “ff” in the passage reference it simply means, “and following verses.”

2 Corinthians 12:20-21
Romans 1:29ff, 13:9-13
Galatians 5:16-25
1 Peter 4:3
James 3:14
Ephesians 5:3ff
Colossians 3:5ff
2 Peter 2:3-14ff

The BIble is not for the faint of heart! God desires a high standard of living and He asks us as Christians to hold each other accountable and judge one-another in love about how we live our lives. (He never asks us to judge people who are not Christians.)

Make sure you are holy, before you call other people “unholiness” out. And when you are living righteous and you begin to challenge others, please do it with love.

I’ll close this post with 1 Peter 3:15-16, “15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way.* Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. 17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!”

When it comes to helping others conquer their sin, as you conquer your own, use gentleness and respect.
Christianity has lost its sense of judgment. It is killing the Church.
Learn to judge the way Jesus teaches us to.
Its a tough thing to do.
It won’t make your popular, but it will make you like Jesus.

Trent Renner

(Part 1of 3) “World Vision Controversy”

Hydrate — Winning from the inside 34 (Matthew 7:3-5) Judging Part 2