Paul Tripp: Jesus came not to invite you out of 'reality' into this thing called 'spirituality'. No! That's not what He came to do. He came to radically transform every single piece of your reality by His grace.

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Here, now, is Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: Poor Sally, she was a spiritual schizophrenic, and she didn't even know why. She didn't know what was wrong with her life. Sally lived in two, entirely different worlds. It doesn't seem possible, but that's exactly what Sally tried.

Here's the deal with Sally...her spirituality never seemed to touch her world of reality. No one seemed more committed to faith than Sally. There were few church programs or church activities that didn't have Sally as a primary member. She taught Sunday School; she participated in the worship team; she led a women's small group; she had been on several short-term mission trips; she read Christian books voraciously, and she volunteered all over the place wherever she seemed needed.

From a distance, you would think that Sally was the model Christian. The problem was that Sally's world of spirituality never seemed to touch her world of reality. With all of her church involvements, no one seemed to know Sally very well. Sally was always in some kind of conflict at work and had been in several jobs in many years. Sally was in deep debt, and outside of the church, known more for her criticism than for her encouragement.

Now, think about this. If you viewed Sally outside of her church life, you would probably describe her as a loner who was driven and unfulfilled. Look at these two worlds. On one world is this constant involvement with the things of the church; and this other world is this person who is distant and critical, in debt, a loner, driven, and unfulfilled. What was wrong with Sally's spirituality? Well, here it is. Her spirituality never really touched her reality...very involved, very active, but she lived in two completely different worlds.

Music: "Square One" by Coldplay

From the top of the first page
To the end of the last day
From the start in your own way
You just want somebody listening to what you say
It doesn't matter who you are

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp, and Paul is looking at "Survival Skills for a Fallen World;" there's more to come. Paul can now be heard each weekday at 11 A.M. on WFIL. It's his goal to reveal the hope found in Jesus Christ. And be sure and share this ministry with your friends.

There are many resources available on our website including a stimulating new book by Paul called Lost In The Middle. Just visit paultrippministries.org. That's all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org...more on "Resisting Spirituality" on Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp.

A Question That Reveals How You Actually Live

Paul Tripp: I want to ask you a question; I ask it again and again when I'm out and around speaking. I think it's a question that really gets at how you actually live every day. I found the question personally helpful. Here it is: "If I would sit with you and watch a video of your everyday life, a video that we would say of the last six weeks, would I conclude that your faith shapes everything in your life, or is there, in your life, the same kind of separation that was in Sally's life."

For example, are you okay with singing "Amazing Grace" during a worship service on Sunday and then yelling at your kids on the way home? Or are you comfortable with spending time with the Lord before you head out for work and then letting your anger rip ten minutes later as you're stuck in traffic? Or are you satisfied with celebrating God's gift of unshakable love while living in distant, cold, and broken relationships?

Sit with me right now; pretend that you're watching the video; examine the way you've lived with your family and your friends, at work, in times of leisure and entertainment, the way that you spend money, the way that you just think about everyday life. Is there a separation between your spirituality and your reality? Do you pursue the family of God while there are still issues in your own life that haven't been addressed? Again, does your spirituality touch your reality?

Here's the problem with Sally. There was a complete separation between those two worlds. Outside of the world of church, this didn't seem like a lady who was living a life with meaning and purpose and hope. She didn't look like a person whose faith shaped everything that she did, and everything that she thought, where ever she was, and whomever she was with. You see, true faith shapes everything in my life; it gives me new meaning and new purpose, a new way of approaching everything that makes up what I do and say every day.

Go back to the video. What are you seeing? Are you seeing a person with an integrated whole life, a life that's driven by a deep faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a deep appreciation of what He's done for you, a knowledge of the Word of God that shapes, again, everything you do and everything you say, no matter where you are? Or are you like Sally?

Do you live in two completely separate worlds...the world of your reality where you live every day, where you work every day, those family, and friends, and acquaintances, those situations and locations that make up your everyday schedule, the place where you actually exist, ...and is that place completely separate from this sort of world of faith out there, a world that is a world of spirituality, but is completely divorced from what really makes your life, your life...what really makes you, you?

Here's the question: Does the public persona of your faith really not jive with the private realities of your life? Is it possible that you and Sally, in fact, have more in common than you would like to admit? Could it possibly be that what you call spirituality is not that at all, but rather a subtle and dangerous substitute for the real thing? Do your worlds of spirituality and reality touch?

Music: "Breathe Your Name" writer Matthew Preston Slocum

So many days within this race,
I need the truth, I need some grace.
I need to try to find my place
I need some truth, I need some grace.
The part of You that's part of me
Will never die, will never leave.
And it's nobody else's but mine
But You're in my heart,
I can feel your beat
And you move my mind
From behind the wheel
When I lose control,
I can only breathe Your name.
I can only breathe your name.

When Sunday Never Reaches Monday

Paul Tripp: I've got to tell you this. I'm sitting here being convicted by what I'm talking about. I'm sitting here realizing how separate the parts of my life can be. I can sing about God's love and then get irritated with my wife on the way home from church. I can talk about God's claim on my life and waste hours in front of the television. I can talk about how precious my relationship with God is to me and be more excited about a great steak than I am about reading the Word of God. I mean, I can make the same mistake that Sally made.

Now, let's talk about that mistake because I think it is really important to understand. It's important to understand how a person gets to the point of this fundamental, practical, spiritual schizophrenia. It's important to think about that. You see, what Sally thought was true spirituality was really not spirituality at all. It was something very different. You see, when your spirituality is genuine and biblical, there's no separation between spirituality and reality in your life. God hasn't called you to exit reality to get involved in this other weird thing called spirituality with all of its locations and activities. You see, God is not asking you to get involved with something different than your life. Now, true spirituality means that everything in my life has, now, new meaning, new purpose, new focus, new direction, and new motivation. That means my life is shaped, and colored, and structured by my relationship to God and by the purposes He has for this earth, so my relationship to work in the world of entertainment changes, so my relationship to finance and schedule changes. So it structures the way I invest my time, and my energy, and my money. You see, it really does influence everything that I do.

You see, if you're a parent, your walk with God should shape every time you talk with anyone of your children, every time you deal with their misbehavior, every time you help them to make a decision, literally every conversation you have over a meal at the table. If you're married, it should shape all the things that you do and say as a husband and wife as you deal with your marriage.

You see, it should shape it all. It should shape the way you spend money, the way you approach leisure, the way you think about politics, the way you deal with your own personal history as an individual, the way you think about family, and friends, and extended family, and your career, and your property that you own, and everything literally.

You see, it's meant to influence my every decision and my every relationship. My relationship with God is meant to define my very meaning and purpose, my identity and hope, my view of the past, my view of the present, and my view of the future. And if it does not, it is something other than true biblical spirituality. It is the primary lens that I am meant to use to interpret and understand everything in my life; my relationship with God is meant to alter everything in my life.

Let me say it this way, "Jesus is inviting you to a new kingdom, His kingdom, but it is a kingdom that lives where you live every day." It is much, much more than a set of spiritualistic activities that you add to an already structured, and probably an already too busy schedule.

This is exactly what Christ meant when he called for His disciples to forsake all to follow Him. Think about that. He was calling them to a rich life, a rich life of difference, but a rich life of difference that would live where they live every day because the Savior that brought them to that new life is the sovereign God who placed them right where they are every day.

You see, my new life in Christ is this intersection of His sovereignty and His salvation. This is exactly what Christ meant again when He called for His disciples to forsake it all to follow Him. I am deeply persuaded that in this fallen world with all of its interesting activities, all of its seductive temptations, Christian activity often gets substituted for true Christian living, true Christianity without us ever knowing it.

Let me say that again. "I'm convinced that Christian activity can be a subtle and dangerous replacement for true Christianity, and we may never know it." There is a term for this that theologians use; the term is 'externalism'.

You see, when we miss the core of our faith that is the zeal of the indwelling Lord Jesus Christ to radically and progressively transform us and everything in our lives, the hole in our spirituality will be filled with the Christian lifestyle that focuses more on externals than on the heart. You see, when there is something less than true biblical faith, the hole in our faith will be filled with something else, and that something else will be Christian activity.

In many ways, it will look and feel like the real thing, but it won't be the real thing because the real thing is about Jesus's constant work to change me at the core of who I am. And when He changes me at the core of who I am, when that is really happening, it is simply impossible to live in two separate worlds of reality and spirituality.

Let me tell you my own story. I was a very angry man, but I didn't know I was an angry man. I was, at that time, a young pastor. I was known for being a good marriage counselor. I was known for dealing well with angry men, but I was one of those guys, and I didn't see it. There was this huge division between my spirituality and my reality, and my dear wife lived in the pole of those two separate worlds.

She would see this leader up front who was talking about things of God, talking about the love of God, talking about the patience and faithfulness of grace, and the grace of God...who was the same man who was at home, who was ungracious and impatient, irritable and angry, condemning and accusatory. I lived in two completely separate worlds. By God's grace, those worlds came together into one world, one world of real faith as God began to expose to me the duplicity of my life, the separation of my life, the inconsistency between my anger and my love of the message of His patient love.

You see, Jesus came not to invite you out of reality into this thing called spirituality. No! That's not what He came to do. He came to radically transform every single piece of your reality by His grace. He came to radically transform every piece of your reality by His grace.

Now I would ask you again. Is there evidence that you may be living in two worlds? Is there a big gap in your life between your spirituality and your real everyday life? What drives the decisions that you make? What drives the friendships that you have? What drives the everyday responses you have to the situations and locations of everyday life? What drives you in your career? What drives you in the way that you spend your money? What drives you in the things that you think and the things that you say?

Is it true biblical faith, or are you living with that gap? Are you a spiritual schizophrenic? Is there evidence that everything that makes up your life is being progressively transformed by the amazing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's God's plan. He's brought you into His kingdom. It's a kingdom of glory and of grace; it's a kingdom of radical transformation. It's a kingdom that's not like anything else you will ever find in this world, but you have got to get this. That kingdom is meant to live where you live every day.

And if it doesn't, if it doesn't live there, it's not true biblical spirituality. It's something else. It's some kind of counterfeit, and there is a subtle danger that real, true, biblical Christianity will be replaced by Christian activity, Christian locations, Christian duty, and Christian meetings, and the transforming power of Jesus Christ will not be the thing that drives my life every day.

Music: "When Peace Like a River"...words by Horatio G. Spafford; music by Ville Du Havre/Philip P. Bliss

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

God Cares About Your Real Everyday Life

Paul Tripp: Think with me for a moment. Isn't it nice to know that God really does care about your real everyday life? He cares about the places where you live every day. He cares about the people that you live with every day. He cares about what happens at your work. He cares about what happens when you drive to and from work. He cares about how you spend your money. He cares about your leisure time. God cares about the mundane issues of your everyday life.

Think about this. That's very important; you and I don't make very many big decisions. We won't be written up in history books. Several decades after we die, the people we leave behind will struggle to remember the events of our lives. We live in the utterly mundane, and if God doesn't care about our mundane, there's no hope for us, because, frankly, that's where we live every day. We live in little moments, and the character of a life is not shaped in ten or twelve big moments of life. The character of life is really shaped in thousands and thousands of little moments.

Isn't it comforting to know that Jesus came into your life, not primarily to give you a whole new set of things to do and a whole new set of things to believe, but rather to wrap His arms of love around you and radically transform your reality? That's what He came to do, to radically transform you at the core of who you are as a human being. Isn't it comforting to know that God has made you, the place where He lives; you, the place where He dwells; you, the place where He lives in His grace and His glory? Isn't it comforting to know that?

Well, as you've listened today, what has been your personal assessment? As you've listened, what have you thought about your life? Is there a gap between your spirituality and your reality? You see if there is, that gap will be filled with things that masquerade as true faith, but are really something very different. The thing that fills that gap is called 'externalism'. Externalism is when Christian activity actually replaces a humble, vibrant, life-transforming relationship with the Lord. These things trick us because they are rooted in things that are good, but they cannot be allowed to replace the one thing that is meant to be at the core of all true spirituality...relationship with Christ.

It's wonderful to be faithful in attending the services of worship, but that activity cannot replace relationship with Christ. It's wonderful to live your life by the laws of the Word of God, but that lifestyle can't replace true relationship with Christ. It is wonderful to be active in Christian causes, but that can't replace relationship with Christ. It's wonderful to know theology, but that can't replace relationship with Christ. If my spirituality is separate from God gripping my heart and transforming everything about me and then everything in my life, then there is this separation between my reality and my spirituality that says what I'm following is not true biblical faith.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: So, maybe you're asking now, "Paul, what will my life look like if my spirituality begins to transform my reality?" Let me give you five signs here. First, there will be a humble awareness of the extent and the gravity of your sin. You won't become complacent about your sin; you will see the fact that your words and your actions depict a constant need for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, you will be aware of that constant battle for control of your heart. Your heart is a worship center, and if it doesn't worship the Creator, it will worship the creation. And there's always a war for your heart, and you'll be aware of that battle all the time.

Third, there will be, for you, a clear holding on to the present benefits of Christ's grace right here and right now. You will be so thankful that there's not just grace for the past and grace for the future, but there is grace for the things that you face right now, in your family, in work, in your neighborhood, and all of your activities.

Fourth, there will be a daily pursuit of God's call to personal growth and change. You will not be satisfied with who you are. You will not be satisfied with the way you are speaking, and the way you're acting, and the way you responding. You'll want to grow; you'll want to change, and you'll see that over your life.

And fifth, there will be an everyday lifestyle of repentance and faith. There will be this constant turning and this constant depending on the Lord. You'll say, "Lord, I can't do it, but You can."

I would ask you again. "Is there somehow, some way in your life, right here, right now, a separation between your reality and your spirituality? Pray that God would close that gap in your life.

Kate Crowley: Finding hope in truth...Paul Tripp with "Survival Skills for a Fallen World," on today's edition of Right Here, Right Now. In his book, Lost In The Middle, Paul Tripp talks about the importance of looking at how your pain can open up the door to God's grace. That's Lost In The Middle, available at our website, paultrippministries.org. That's all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. And while you're there, you can hear today's program again or sign up for the daily podcast.

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If you'd like Paul to speak at your church or event, go to the 'Events' link at paultrippministries.org. And, be here tomorrow when Paul helps us "Eavesdrop on Eternity" as he continues the series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World." This is Kate Crowley, and for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, we want to remind you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now.