God’s passion is for our spiritual transformation. But another couple of misconceptions stifle our growth in him. These misconceptions protest: I shouldn’t question God, but merely have the faith to obey. And, God’s will is so hard to figure out. I can never be certain of what God wants.

While these two stifling misconceptions are common, they both have their roots in a false understanding of God. Both misconceptions perceive God as impersonal and uninvolved in our lives. They see him as too busy to be bothered with our puny issues; too exalted to care. Such a view is a dangerous lie from the evil one! [Read more →]

Quest paradigm two: God’s passion is for our spiritual transformation! Another stifling misconception that derails God’s transforming work in us contends that holiness is too much to ask of me. Only God is holy.

A few days ago, I heard the testimony of a man who recently surrendered his life to Christ. He had prayed “the salvation prayer” as a child, but confessed that somewhere along the line he had adopted this misconception. He figured if he couldn’t be holy anyway, he might as well live as he pleased. As a result he had lived a horribly sinful life of self-indulgence and self-centeredness. He’s now greatly ashamed of the forty years he squandered. [Read more →]

Quest’s second paradigm states, God’s passion is for our spiritual transformation!

Tragically, many Christians view coming to Christ more like “fire insurance” than a growing relationship with our Lord in which he transforms us to become more like him. If we call ourselves Christians—followers of Jesus Christ—then spiritual transformation is not optional. Life change in Christ is not the “deluxe tour” as opposed to the “basic tour” of following Jesus.

If we truly know Christ as Savior, then we want to change! We want to be like him! In fact, Paul describes this longing in terms of our “groaning inwardly as we eagerly wait for” God’s transforming work to be complete in us (Romans 8:18-25). [Read more →]

Look again at these two misconceptions: God is honored by what I do for him. I must contribute to his kingdom. This is my duty. And, God is glorified as I am dedicated to him. I must prove myself faithful. Again, these two misconceptions may sound good, but they are both “me-centered.”

After Linda and I were married, for thirteen years I toiled tirelessly pastoring two small churches in the US, going to school full-time, working a second job, preparing to go to Austria as missionaries and eventually helping plant two church in Austria. During those years these two misconceptions described me to a “T”! I was determined to prove myself faithful. I was duty-bound, dedicated, and hard-working. Obviously, these are not bad or wrong things! On the contrary, they are good. The problem is that I was preoccupied with and dependent on my own efforts. [Read more →]

Remember, this first paradigm states that God designed us to enjoy him fully! A third stifling misconception prevents us from enjoying him by thinking, God asks me to give up everything for him. When I was a teenager, I remember being afraid to surrender my life fully to Christ for fear that he would ask me to give up things that I wanted to have and experience in life.

The things I didn’t want to miss in life were for the most part good and worthy desires like getting married and having children. Why in the world would anyone think that God would withhold good things like these from us? And yet many of us falsely picture God as the great cosmic kill-joy! Actually, this false view of God should not surprise us since that was Satan’s lie to Adam and Eve in the Garden. [Read more →]

The second stifling misconception for this first paradigm states, obedience is the key to spiritual transformation. Some Christians find this second stifling misconception troubling. For we can point to many passages in the Old and New Testament in which God tells us to obey him. And I heartily agree that we should and must obey him! So how can this statement be a stifling misconception?

Go back to the older brother in Luke 15 again. Remember what he threw in his father’s face when his dad begged him to come in and celebrate the return of his younger brother? “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” (Luke 15:29 emphasis mine) The older brother took pride in the fact that he had always obeyed his father, yet he rejected his father—and his father’s son—his brother. Even though he had always obeyed his father, he is angry, disrespectful and self-righteous. In his obedience he was alienated from his father. [Read more →]

The Quest for a Joy-Filled Life in Christ, Paradigm 1—God designed us to enjoy him fully! The first stifling misconception is that God wants to be my highest commitment. This stands in contrast to the liberating truth: God wants to be my greatest love. What’s the difference between these two statements and why bother with the distinction?

The parable of the lost son in Luke 15:11-32 graphically displays the difference between making God our highest commitment and making him our greatest love. Before we look at Luke 15 it’s important to note why Jesus told this parable. Luke 15:1-3 (NLT) provides the backdrop, “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story…” And Jesus proceeds to tell the Pharisees and teachers of the law three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. [Read more →]

Quest

Welcome to The Quest blog! Over the summer I will be posting some complementary articles to The Quest book. By posting them on this website, you’ve got the opportunity to comment on the articles and what you’ve read in The Quest.

Following each posting (article on this site) is a link “Comments” to click on. You can post your comments there. It may take a few hours before your comment appears on the site as I must review them for security reasons.

I would also encourage you to subscribe to heapofstones.com by entering your email address and clicking on the “Subscribe me!” button on the upper right-hand corner of this web page. When you subscribe, you will receive an automatic email update every time I post a new article.

Finally, as you read The Quest and the supplemental articles, I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit speak to you. He may challenge some unbiblical paradigms about God that you and I have adopted. Above all, my hope is that each of us is enthralled with God! Grasp how much he loves you and desires deep relationship with you. Love him with all your being! Experience the joy that is only found in relationship with your heavenly Father through Jesus Christ!

Rob Fischer

Conclusion
In recent years many large churches have been challenged with organizational issues of a magnitude smaller churches never grapple with. I believe that many of these large churches have naively turned to a corporate or business model to try to solve their organizational problems. They reasoned, “These strategies have worked well in corporations, so let’s implement them in the church.”

But as I’ve attempted to demonstrate briefly above, corporations and churches do not share the same goals and cannot function successfully within the same model. Imagine a corporation implementing the church model in which their goal becomes building relationships, not making money. No employees are expendable. All leadership is shared and servant-based. There are no metrics, simply values. It might be fun to work in such a corporation—until the money runs out! The church model will not work for the corporation! Why would we think the corporate model would work for the church? [Read more →]

Conflict
In a corporation conflict must be squelched or eliminated because it threatens efficiency and the chain-of-command. The CEO and top-down leadership model minimizes conflict because “one doesn’t contradict the CEO!” The CEO’s word goes. It’s his/her way or the highway! Corporations need not be good at conflict resolution. They simply must eliminate it for efficiency’s sake.

The church on the other hand must embrace conflict and deal with it constantly and continuously. Conflict is a given in relationships. Christlikeness teaches us how to effectively deal with conflict and grow in our relationships with each other. Conflict will be present in teamwork as well. The fact that we are to, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you” implies that conflict is inevitable and we are to become skilled in dealing with it. (Colossians 3:13 NLT)

©2009 Rob Fischer