On the Other Side of the Border by Paul Tripp

Posted on August 22, 2012 by jim

So there I was in Toronto, rushing through immigration to catch a plane back home. I got to the other side of the border and realized that I’d left my cellphone in the rental car I’d just returned. I started to go back for it and realized that I couldn’t go back across the border. I called the rental car agency and told them what had happened (identifying my account number and rental car). They told me that I was mistaken, that nothing had been left in the car. The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t make calls, the problem was that this piece of technology is my brain!

I immediately bowed my head and thanked the Lord for his sovereignty, this trial, and the sanctification that would result. (If you believed that, I have a heavily populated island in New York that I’d like to sell you!) I was so frustrated. I wanted to blame someone, anyone. “It was the rental car guy’s fault,” I reasoned. “If he hadn’t told me to disconnect the GPS, I wouldn’t have become distracted and I wouldn’t have forgotten my phone!” What was I going to do for the next couple days? How would I keep track of my schedule?

The next day I called the cellphone insurance people only to find out that I needed a Toronto police department report and an officer badge number before they’d process my claim for a new phone. Now I was even more frustrated. How long would this thing go on before I got a usable phone with my needed information on it?

Telling this story really is quite embarrassing. I talk to people all the time about the security and rest that can be found in the sovereignty of God. I tell people all the time that God will take them where they don’t want to go in order to produce in them what they couldn’t achieve on their own. I teach again and again that God is much more committed to our holiness than he is to delivering our personal definition of happiness.

But I’ve had to face the fact once again that I don’t want God to be sovereign, I want to be. And there are moments when I don’t want to be made holy. I would much rather have life be predictable and comfortable, thank you. I don’t want to experience the hardships of uncomfortable grace even though I know I still need to grow and change.

So once again I’ve confessed to the idolatry that’s behind my anger. I’ve confessed how much I worship at the altars of comfort and control. And I’ve prayed that someday, by God’s powerful and patient grace, that I’d be on the other side of the border where I’d treasure God’s work of grace inside of me more than I treasure the ease of the world outside of me. I’m not there yet, but I’m closer than I was last year. How about you?

God bless

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Head Bowed and Hand Open by Paul David Tripp

Posted on August 15, 2012 by jim

I wake up every day with a plan. I know exactly what I want to accomplish, how I want to accomplish it, and when I hope to complete it. I think ahead about the things I need to accomplish and how they need to be approached. I envision the end when I’m in the middle of the process. I naturally think schedules and deadlines and assign myself completion points because it helps me to work more efficiently.

I like being busy and I don’t mind the pressure of being responsible for what seems more than I can do. I go to bed rehearsing what needs to be done and I wake up with the list corrected and in better order. I don’t mind getting up early and staying up late. I wake up every day with an agenda. There’s never a day when I don’t have a plan.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Paul’s poor wife! This man is obsessed!” I am committed to responsible living and I don’t think responsible people have a lot of free time. But there’s a problem with all of this. I do make a really good pseudo-sovereign. You know, I love me and have a wonderful plan for my life. And I can struggle with the sovereign God whom I claim to serve, but who’s not signed on to do everything he can to make my plan work.

Here’s where our agendas tend to conflict. While I’m investing my energies to make sure my work is complete, he’s exercising his grace to make sure I’m complete. While I’m working toward success, he’s working towards my holiness. While I’m committed to a disciplined and orderly day, he’s committed to use whatever’s needed to advance his work in and through me.

But it’s not even that simple or obvious. The reason it’s so easy for me to be snookered by my own self-sovereignty is that the bulk of what I’m doing is work for the kingdom. I tell myself that it’s all about God, his kingdom, and his glory.

You see, the problem with the kingdom of self is that it’s a costume kingdom. It so deftly masquerades as the kingdom of God. So self- aggrandizing plans for success masquerade as godly discipline. Impatience with others masquerades as a leader’s zeal for the kingdom of God. Holding too firmly onto personal plans masquerades as godly focus.

It’s quite easy to think you’re serving God when you’re actually serving yourself. It’s quite easy to confuse your plan with God’s plan. It’s quite easy to praise the fact that God‘s in charge while living as if you are. It’s quite possible to think you’re building his kingdom when actually you’re using his building materials to erect your own little kingdom. It’s quite possible to do all of this because the kingdom of self so easily morphs into the shape of the kingdom of God.

This is why we need more than a system of redemption. This is why we need more than theology and rules. This is why we need more than a set of wisdom principles. This is why we need a Redeemer.

What we need to be rescued from the most is us! We need to be freed from our hold on us. We need to be freed from our desire to dominate us. We need to be liberated from imprisonment to our agenda for us. We need a Redeemer because our greatest struggle in life exists inside of us and not outside of us.

So once more today I confess to my allegiance to me. Once more I confess to my desire for self-sovereignty. Once more I pry open my hands and let go of the tight grip I have on my life. Once more I entrust my day, my schedule, my plans, and my life into the hands of the One who’s sovereign. Once more I rest in his power, wisdom, grace, faithfulness, and love. Sure, I keep planning, but with the hope that each day I’ll do it more and more with my head bowed before his glory and my hand open to his will.

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Relationships: Can You Relate? by Paul David Tripp

Posted on July 18, 2012 by jim

Have you ever wondered if the people around you deal with the things you do in your relationships? Have you ever wondered if other marriages deal with petty differences or with the collision of differing agendas? Have you ever wondered if other parents struggle with resistant children and the impatience that greets you when it happens? Have you ever wondered if other people get in trouble with their neighbors or fall out of favor with a friend? Have you ever wondered if other people experience harmless conversations suddenly turning angry, or misunderstanding getting in the way of an otherwise productive friendship? Have you ever wondered if other people get as exhausted as you do with the mess of relationships? Have you ever wondered if other people say to themselves, “Christians; you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them?”

Well, you should find comfort as you read Scripture because the mess of relationships that we deal with every day is on almost every page of the Bible. From Adam blaming Eve for his sin, to Cain murdering his brother out of jealousy. From Abram and Sarai colluding together for Abram to have sexual relations with the servant girl, to Rebekkah plotting with Jacob to deceive his father and get the blessing that his brother rightly deserved. From Saul’s murderous jealousy of David, to David’s murderous adultery with Bathsheba. From Delilah’s seduction of Samson, to Eli’s struggle with his wayward sons. From the inability of Solomon’s sons to get along, to the grief of Hezekiah over his evil son Manasseh. From the competitiveness of the disciples for a place of honor in the kingdom, to tension between Mary and Martha as to how to best serve Jesus. From the rejection of Christ on the cross by his own Father, to the divisions that wracked the New Testament churches. The Bible puts before you account after account of people just like you dealing with the same things you do as you live as a sinner, with sinners, in this fallen world.

Why do we have these gritty stories in the Bible? Because God wants you to know that you’re not alone in what you experience. And not only are you not alone, God wants you to know that you’re not left to your own wisdom and your own strength. The One who’s your wisdom and strength subjected himself to the harsh realities of relationships in a broken world so that he would be a sympathetic and understanding Helper in your time of relational need. But there’s more. He was willing to face the ultimate in relational suffering, the rejection of his Father, so that you would not only have the hope of acceptance with God, but also the hope of real reconciled relationship with your neighbor. He purchased our peace with God and in so doing made peace between us possible as well.

What does all of this mean? It means you don’t have to give way to discouragement, panic or hopelessness. No matter how frequent or complicated the mess is, there’s hope. Not because some day you’ll discover the key to perfect relationships or meet the perfect person. But because Jesus did what we couldn’t do, so that we’d be able to experience what we could never experience if left to our own strength and wisdom.

So don’t passively accept the mess and don’t run away when it comes. Determine to be an agent of hope, change, peace, and reconciliation. There’s probably not a relationship in your life that couldn’t be better in some way. Jesus makes that change and growth possible.

God bless

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Relationships: Something Bigger by Paul David Tripp

Posted on July 11, 2012 by jim

We were surprised. We simply didn’t see it coming. We thought things were going well. We thought we’d built a good relationship. We thought that we’d been good neighbors. We lived in a twin house, with our landlady living in the attached home with her adult daughter. For reasons we couldn’t understand, the daughter began to get mad at us. She would yell and curse at our children. She would play her stereo very loudly late at night, waking our children. She did everything she could to make our lives miserable. We didn’t understand what was happening and everything we tried to do to make things better only made things worse.

Things came to a head on the Fourth of July. Months earlier she’d let us use a refrigerator that she wasn’t using. Luella’s parents were up for a visit and we’d gone out and bought more food than we’d normally have in the house. On a hot Friday afternoon we got a call from the landlady’s daughter saying that she wanted her refrigerator back. We asked her why she needed it so suddenly and she told us that it was hers and she wanted it back in the garage by five o’clock. I couldn’t believe it! What were we going to do with all the extra food that we’d bought? Why would she do this to us?

I was quietly angry all afternoon. I was tired of the tension. I was incensed at her meanness. And I rehearsed to myself over and over again what I’d like to say to her. Luella was making cinnamon rolls and as I walked into the kitchen to check on her progress, she suggested that we send a plate of fresh, hot rolls over to our landlady’s daughter. I thought, “Yea, right, that’s exactly what I was thinking!” But Luella wasn’t finished. She then suggested that I write a note telling our landlady’s daughter how much we cared for her and how much we were committed to having a good relationship with her. I think it was the hardest letter I ever had to write.

In about forty-five minutes I found myself at our landlady’s front door, praying for a dog (some of you will get that later). I knocked and our landlady came to the door. I gave her the cinnamon rolls and she told me that after the way her daughter had treated us I must be some kind of nut doing such a thing. That afternoon we began to look for ways to do good anyway we could in the face of the evil way we were being treated.

For months we stayed committed to our love offensive, but with all of our noble efforts, nothing seemed to be changing. Then one spring afternoon, there was a knock at our door. The moment I saw our landlady’s daughter, I thought to myself, “What now?!” When I got nearer to the door and could see that she was upset, I was even more concerned about what may be coming next. She asked if she could come in and talk to us. Luella and I sat down with her at our dining room table and listened as she said these amazing words to us. “You both know that for months I’ve been a very angry person. It hasn’t been directed just at you. I’ve been angry with everyone in my life. I’ve destroyed all of my relationships. I’ve alienated everyone in my life. The only two people in the world who I am sure love me are you and Luella. I’m here to ask for your forgiveness and to ask for your help. I want what’s enabled you to respond to me as you have.”

What is the point of the story? It surely isn’t meant to highlight my character! I struggled to do what was right every day of those seemingly unending months. No, what the story points out is that in the messiness of our relationships, there’s always something bigger going on. Our relationships are never just about us. They’re never just about our plans, our purposes, and our happiness. They’re never just about who we want to be around and what we’d like to offer or receive from those relationships. There’s always something bigger going on because there’s a God who is sovereign. He puts us right where he wants us and he never gets a wrong address! In our relationships he takes us where we don’t want to go in order to produce in us and others what we couldn’t achieve on our own.

In those difficult months with our landlady’s daughter, God wasn’t only working to rescue her; he was working to rearrange me. The tough relationship wasn’t the result of God’s forgetfulness. It was a clear sign of his love, for us and for our landlady’s daughter. So as you live and relate to the people in your life, there’s one thing that you need to remember. You’ll never fully understand what’s happening and you’ll never do and say the right thing until you begin to recognize and accept that in every relationship in your life there’s always something bigger going on.

God bless

 
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There’s no such thing!

Posted on July 4, 2012 by jim

When you grow up you’ll get it figured out. There isn’t a tooth fairy. There isn’t an Easter Bunny. And, painful as it may have been to find out, no Santa Claus either. Some folks have used that same kind of reasoning to say that there is no God. They’re wrong, but they say it anyway. One other thing that you can add to the “nonexistent” class is…..the atheist. There is no such thing as an atheist.

Before you get all excited to show me an example, let me explain.  All people are born with an inherent knowledge that God exists and a desire to worship….something. We know by nature that this universe did not happen by chance. It couldn’t have, regardless of what the evolutionist tries to point to as evidence to the contrary.  Reasonable people understand that, something does not create itself from nothing.  Anyway, back to the “nonexistent” atheist.

The atheist says there is no God, but he worships one. Every time he looks in the mirror he says “praise the lord”.  There are far more hypocrites who profess atheism than you will ever find in a church. While declaring that there is no God, the atheist worships himself!  He takes many of the attributes of the Almighty and applies them to himself. The atheist is “all mighty”, “all knowing”, and in some senses, omnipresent. He believes in god, he just refuses to acknowledge the God of the Bible.

You see, if the atheist admits that the Almighty exists, he finds himself in a quandry. He must submit to Him or face the consequences. The truth is, it’s not so much that the atheist doesn’t believe in God, it’s that he hates Him! He wants to live as he pleases without the fear of judgment.  Sadly, there is no escaping. The Scripture tells us that “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment”  Hebrews 9:27. The only way to stand at that judgment with any degree of confidence, is to have the Judge as your defense attorney. Believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ, having His righteousness imputed to your account, is your only hope of eternal salvation.

Only a fool would reject such a gift. Can you afford to be wrong?

 

 

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Relationships: Mercy in the Mess by Paul David Tripp

Posted on June 27, 2012 by jim

We all dream of the perfect relationship. You know, the one that is free of disagreement, conflict, communication difficulties, power battles, anger and control. We can envision what it would be like. The problem is, none of us ever get what we were once able to imagine. When we wake up from our dreams, we all are greeted by the reality that all of our relationships live in the same location – the fallen world, and all of our relationships are with the same kind of person – an imperfect human being. (I will remind you again, you’re one of those too!)

Now you just have to ask why God would choose to subject us to such difficulty and disappointment. Is there meaning in the mess? Is there mercy in the mess? Maybe right now you are facing things in one of your relationships you never imagined you would face. Maybe right now you are dealing with such deep hurt and disappointment that you simply don’t know what to do. Have you wondered what in the world God is doing? Have you been tempted to doubt his goodness and question his love?

Here are some things to remember:

1. God never gets a wrong address. Acts 17 tells us that God determines the exact place where we will live and the exact length of our lives. Your life is not out of control. What you are facing is not the result of God forgetting you. No, God hasn’t turned his back on the promises he made to you. I know it’s hard to grasp, but what you’re facing is the result of God being faithful to his promises to you.

2. God is in the middle of the mess with you. Psalm 46 tells us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” If you are God’s child, you have never been in a location all by yourself. If you are God’s child, you have never been in a relationship all by yourself. You have never endured difficulty in isolation. Why? Because God is always with you and he is there so that you would have a place to run (“refuge”) and help in your moments of greatest discouragement and weakness (“strength”).

3. God is up to something good in the mess. Here’s the mistake we make in the way we attempt to make sense out of lives. We think that the mess is a sure sign that God is not working in our lives, because if he were at work, we wouldn’t be in such a mess. The Bible tells us something completely different. It tells us that because God loves us so, he is not satisfied with us as we are. He looks down at us and sees many areas where change and growth are needed. He couldn’t love us and be willing to leave us in our immaturity and weakness. So, God takes us where we do not want to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own – character. And how does he do this? He uses the difficult experiences of life to expose and change our hearts. One of his main tools is our relationships. These messy relationships expose our hearts, bring us to the end of ourselves and cause us to reach out for the help that only Jesus can give us.

I know it is hard to face the hurt and disappointment of a relationship gone bad. But there is hope. You are never alone. The One who is with you is up to something very good and because he is, there really is mercy to be found right smack dab in the middle of the mess!

God bless

 

 

 
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Relationships: Gaining Ground by Paul David Tripp

Posted on June 20, 2012 by jim

Be honest with yourself. You’ve been disappointed in some way with every relationship you’ve ever had. It’s the universal experience of everyone this side of destiny. No, it’s not that you’ve met the wrong people or that you lack relational skills. It’s that every relationship you’ve had, you’ve had in a fallen world. You never get to hang out with perfect people. You never get to have those perfect relationships in a perfect location and with perfect circumstances surrounding you. No, all of your relationships are with flawed people in a flawed world. And don’t forget, you’re one of those flawed people as well! So how can you gain ground? How can your relationships become better than they are right now? Let me suggest four ways:

1. Determine to be realistic. I love how shockingly honest the Bible is. It’s a book that really doesn’t pull any punches. You see, what damages our relationships is not having a realistic acceptance of our own weaknesses and struggles. What damages our relationships is our delusions of perfection and strength! The first step in any kind of change is admitting that change is needed in the first place.

2. Determine to be honest. One of the things that gets in the way of healthy relationships is silence. Maybe our problem is that we simply don’t love one another enough to have the hard conversations that are what good relationships are all about. If you are in a relationship with a flawed person, you will be touched by those flaws. Maybe it will come as an unkind word, an act of selfishness, or an outburst of irritation. Quick and loving honesty in those moments can keep a relationship from being distorted by bad habits and subverted by bitterness.

3. Determine to focus on yourself. No, I am not counseling you to be selfish, I am encouraging you to be humble. Good relationships are the result of both people being committed to personal change and growth. Self-examination is a key way you demonstrate love for the other person. It is very easy to be all-too-satisfied with yourself, while being irritated and impatient with the weaknesses of another. When you have two people who are committed to heart change, the relationship will change and grow as well.

4. Determine to live and give hope. There is a reason you don’t have to settle for the relational status quo. There is a reason you don’t have to panic. There is a reason you don’t have to pack your bags and give up. The cross of Jesus Christ is the epicenter of hope of every relationship. Jesus was willing to face the ultimate in suffering, the rejection of his Father, so that we could experience reconciliation with him and with one another. No, you don’t have what it takes to make you and the other person do the right thing, but he does! He is the Prince of Peace and he is able to bring lasting peace to where conflict once reigned. How does he do this? By doing the one thing we can’t do for ourselves! He changes our hearts, and the result is radical change in our words and our actions. Look for ways to point the other person to this hope as well.

So be determined. Don’t settle for way less than what Jesus suffered and died to give you. Be honest about your relationships and be hopeful about change. You can do both, because in Jesus Christ you really do have everything you need to live in peace with God and the people he has placed in your life.

God bless

 
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Peace After a Storm by William Cowper

Posted on June 6, 2012 by jim

1 When darkness long has veil’d my mind, And smiling day once more appears; Then, my Redeemer, then I find The folly of my doubts and fears.

2 Straight I upbraid my wand’ring heart, And blush that I should ever be
Thus prone to act so base a part, Or harbour one hard thought of thee!

3 Oh ! let me then at length be taught What I am still so slow to learn;
That God is love, and changes not, Nor knows the shadow of a turn.

4 Sweet truth, and easy to repeat! But when my faith is sharply try’d,
I find myself a learner yet, Unskilful, weak, and apt to slide.

5 But, O my Lord, one look from thee Subdues the disobedient will;
Drives doubt and discontent away, And thy rebellious worm is still.

6 Thou art as ready to forgive, As I am ready to repine; Thou, therefore, all the praise receive; Be shame and self-abhorrence mine.

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Something You Can’t Destroy by Paul David Tripp

Posted on May 30, 2012 by jim

We all have the ability. We mess up our houses, leaving dirt, scratches, cracks and gouges in our path. We mess up our cars, staining the carpet, tearing the seats, and denting the fenders. We mess up our relationships, leaving a trail of hurt and conflict behind us. We mess up our churches, finding our will and way more attractive than the glories of God’s kingdom and leaving a trail of division in our path. We mess up our bodies, eating more than we should, more often than we should, while exercising less than we should.

I don’t know if you have realized this or not, but the Bible is a story of people who messed up again and again. The Bible is not the record of noble people who always made the right choice. The people of the Bible look familiar and human because they have the same attitudes that we do and take the same actions that we tend to take. But, here is the thing that is different about the biblical story. The biblical story is God’s story. It is a story of a loving God, who is intent on rescuing us from ourselves and his loving work of redemption is something we simply cannot destroy. It is not based on our faithfulness, rather, it is rooted in his!

Take Abraham, for example. In Genesis 15 God comes to Abraham and makes his covenant with him. He tells Abraham that he is going to have descendants that number like the stars of the sky and that through his descendants every nation on earth will be blessed. What does Abraham do? He goes right out and messes things up. He is tired of waiting for an heir, so he has sex with his servant girl, Hagar, who has a son. Sarah, Abraham’s wife (who was part of the plot) gets jealous, starts mistreating the servant girl, and Hagar flees into the wilderness.

What a mess! You would think that God would say to Abraham, “Now, there you’ve done it. You have destroyed everything I was willing to give you. You have messed up my covenant. It’s all over.” But that is not what God says. In Genesis 17, God comes to Abraham again and repeats his covenant promises, this time adding that this covenant is an eternal covenant. Why? Because God wants Abraham to know that the covenant is not based on Abraham’s faithfulness, but on His. Abraham has finally met something in his life that he cannot destroy. Abraham has been invited into something that he does not deserve and cannot earn. Abraham has been invited to experience grace.

What does this mean? It means security! It means hope! It means a future! No, it doesn’t mean that you can live anyway you want to live, because that is a horrible violation of the grace that you have been given. What is does mean is that, if you are one of God’s children you have been welcomed into something you cannot destroy. The foundation of your covenant hope is not your faithfulness. The foundation of your eternal hope is God’s faithfulness. And since it is impossible for God to be unfaithful, everything that he has promised us is guaranteed and sure. Let that hope get you out of bed in the morning!

And don’t forget to celebrate the one thing in life you did not earn and cannot destroy.

God bless.

 

 
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He Sat Down by Paul David Tripp

Posted on May 23, 2012 by jim

There is not a day when by thought, word, desires or action we fail to demonstrate that we are needy people. Maybe it is a thoughtless word of gossip. Maybe it’s a flash of lust or envy. Maybe it’s an ugly moment of irritation or anger. Perhaps it’s a selfish choice that no one would notice. Maybe it’s bending the truth to your own advantage. Maybe it’s an attitude of self-righteousness or pride. Maybe it’s giving way to bitterness and subtle thoughts of vengeance. Somehow, someway, we all demonstrate that we are still in need of God’s daily grace.

Now, this need makes you spiritually vulnerable. First, it makes you vulnerable to self-atonement. That’s when you make yourself feel okay about your sin. How do you do that? By telling yourself that what you did wasn’t actually sin. It wasn’t gossip, it was a prayer request. It wasn’t anger, it was a clear exhortation. It wasn’t selfishness, just clear leadership. When you justify yourself, you don’t seek God’s forgiveness.

Your need also makes you vulnerable to the lies of the enemy. He will come to you in those needy moments and tell you that you do not have enough. He will try to rob you of the faith, courage, and hope that propels you to admit who you are, to seek Christ’s forgiveness, and to step forward in courage and hope. He works so that you will doubt God’s provision for you.

Now to fight these two areas of vulnerability, all you need to remember is these three words, “He sat down.” These words are in the first chapter of Hebrews and are found in a phrase that says of Jesus, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” He sat down! What amazing words! They can only mean one thing. That the work that he did for us was totally and absolutely complete.

You see, the Old Testament priests never sat down. Hour after hour, day after day they would offer sacrifices. They would be knee deep in blood, but they would make yet another sacrifice. The stench of burning flesh never abated. Why? Because those sacrifices could never do the job. They were never able to fully pay the penalty. They looked forward to the coming of the Perfect Lamb who would pay the entire price in one final sacrifice.

After he had made sacrifice (of himself), Jesus sat down! What does that mean? It means his provision for you is full and complete. It means he has given you all you need to be right with him, to be what you are supposed to be and to do what you are called to do.

So when you begin to doubt his grace or when you’re tempted to justify yourself, just say these three words to yourself, “HE SAT DOWN.” And celebrate the amazing grace that is yours right here, right now.

You can rest in his grace because, “HE SAT DOWN”

God bless.
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