Paul Tripp: The message of the Bible is that God has moved toward me in love when I really deserved His condemnation, and He has wrapped His arms of love around me, and He's in the process of changing me at the causal core of my humanness, at the level of my heart.

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: I saw her for the first time in the lunch line, my first year of college. Hah! It's sort of embarrassing to admit, but I was smitten from day one. She was uncomfortable as she saw me staring her up and down even though I was having conversation with other people. My eyes were on her. I was absolutely determined to get a date with her. I was absolutely determined that we were going to be together at some point--she was not so determined. It took about a month, but we began to see one another. Every time we'd have a date, she would tell me that she was not ready to have a relationship. But growingly, I fell deeply, madly, hopelessly, desperately, in love with her.

I'll never forget that first summer that we were separated. I just didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't think that I could go day after day, after day, after day without being with her. I thought this was the worst thing in the world. In fact, on the Fourth of July weekend, I hitchhiked back-and-forth 800 miles each way to see her, only to be with her for about a day and a half. I was hopelessly, madly in love, and when I saw her, when I actually walked up to her house, and she came out on the porch, I fell in love all over again. I would ask you today, "Are you madly in love, or do you need to fall in love all over again?"

Music: "When Love Comes To Town" ...Songwriters: Adam Clayton, Dave Evans,

Paul Hewson, Larry Mullen
I was a sailor, I was lost at sea
I was under the waves
Before love rescued me
I was a fighter, I could turn on a thread
Now I stand accused of the things I've said
Love comes to town I'm gonna jump that train
When love comes to town I'm gonna catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town

Kate Crowley: And you're listening to Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp. In just a moment, "Learn to Fall in Love All Over Again." That's from the series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World." Be sure and tell your friends about this new radio program from Paul Tripp Ministries, Monday through Friday at 11 A.M. right here on WFIL. The purpose of this program is to help you find freedom in Jesus Christ, right here, right now.

We invite you to check out our website, paultrippministries.org. And while you're there, you'll find Paul's latest book, Lost In The Middle and other resources on video, audio, and print that will be helpful to you. That's paultrippministries.org. Right Here, Right Now continues with Paul Tripp.

Describe Christianity in One Paragraph

Paul Tripp: Now I want to give you an assignment. I want you to pretend that you have a pencil and a piece of paper in front of you, and your assignment is to write a one-paragraph description of what Christianity is. And in that one paragraph, you want to give an adequate description of the essence of what Christianity is actually about. Now, what would you write? Now you may be thinking, "Wait a minute, what in the world does that question have to do with being madly in love?" Well, just hang on here; we'll put these pieces together.

Would you describe Christianity as being about having your sins forgiven and going to heaven? Well that's very true, but I would propose to you that's not enough of a definition. Or maybe you'd say that Christianity is about being committed to worship and ministry in the body of Christ. Well that, too, is very true, but it isn't enough of a definition. Maybe some of you would say that Christianity is all about theology and the answers that theology gives to the major dynamic questions of life. Well that's true too. Christianity is deeply theological, but that's not a wide enough definition. Or maybe you thought Christianity is all about a moral code for my daily living.

The Bible is filled with commands and principles that are meant to shape the way that I approach everything in my life. And that's true too, but that's not enough of a definition of what Christianity is actually about. Maybe you would say, "No, Christianity is basically a worldview; it's a particular lens through which I look at everything in life," and that's true too, but that's not enough of a definition. Or maybe you would say, "No, no, no, no, no--you've got it all wrong. Christianity is essentially about mission and evangelism; it's about sharing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with this world that's lost and dying." Well, that's true; that's a very important thing, and that surely is something God calls us to. Or maybe you'd say, "Christianity is about family, and friendship, and community, and we've already said that's true," but that's not enough of a definition.

Think about everything we've talked about in the last two minutes. What is missing? What is the essence? What is the core? What is the central driving theme of Christianity? What in the world is Christianity about? What's at the center of this faith that perhaps we've given our lives to? And as you seek to answer that question, I want to ask you the question that I asked earlier. I would ask you this once again, and I am going to ask you to think about it, are you madly, deeply in love? Are you in love? Are you in love? Are you deeply in love? What is Christianity about anyway?

Music: "This Love" ... Songwriters: Warryn Campbell, Trecina Atkins-Campbell,

Erica Monique, Kim Rutherford, Fred Hammond
When you say love
You use it so lightly
But when I think of it
This is what comes to me
Loving me, where I am
How I am
Just for who I am
All my good and bad
Sure you think
It's not a possibility
Something so pure it changes me
When after all these years it's still
The same
Just as strong as it was on the first day
This love this love
The only love
That comes down from the heavens
(Why do you love)
This love this love
Better than mothers, better than
Fathers oh oh oh
This love this love
This love is your love
This love is my love
(Why do you love)
This love this love
From God the Father
God up in heaven you oughta know
Oh, Yeah!

How I Got Christianity Mixed Up

Paul Tripp: I have just got to admit something to you that's rather embarrassing, but I think it's important for me to admit I went a long time without knowing what Christianity was really about. I had gotten it all mixed up. I thought I knew, but I didn't know. I can remember two moments in my life where this sort of came to the fore. The first was in college. I remember a moment where, literally at the Christian college I was attending, I had my head down on my desk, and I was actually in tears, and I was actually praying, "God something is missing, something's wrong with my Christianity, something's not right. I don't think what I'm experiencing is what this thing was meant to be."

I was confused, and I was reaching out for God's help. I can remember as I was taking a theology class, I was actually studying the book of Romans, and it was a theological exercise to me, when all of a sudden, it all burst into meaning for me. All of a sudden, I got it; all of a sudden, I had a sense of what this thing was about. It was so exciting! I can remember; I ran up the stairs; I couldn't wait to talk to my wife about it because I had discovered something that I knew would forever change, not only my Christianity, it would forever change my life.

Now, are you sufficiently confused about what this program is about today? Well, here it is. At its essential core, Christianity is not about activity, and it's not about theology, and it's not about evangelism. It's not about all of those things, good and meaningful parts of Christianity they are, but at its essential core, Christianity is a life altering, agenda-setting, love relationship. Christianity is a relationship of amazing, abundant love. The core of the Christian message is the comfort of God's love for me. It's a love that is given to me, although I'm entirely undeserving, and the call of Christianity is that I would love God in return above all else.

You see, the comfort of Christianity is love, and the call of Christianity is love, and the comfort and the call of Christianity is the core that everything else in Christianity is meant to be attached to. You see, evangelism must be an expression of love; giving must be an expression of love; theological pursuit must be an expression of love; attendance of a service of worship must be an expression of love; preaching must be an expression of love; everything we do that's part of our Christianity must be an expression of love for God and an excitement at the love of God for us. This is what is at the core, this deeply comprehensively relational thing called love.

You see, Christianity is at its core a relationship. You see, the story of the Bible is about God placing His amazing love on lost, and selfish, and rebellious people--people who could never do anything to earn God's acceptance, could never earn His affection, could never earn His favor! It's about love that's given in the face of our rejection, and our pride, and rebellion. It's love that rescues me from me, by calling me to replace my love for myself--for my love for Him as the principal motivating thing in my life. You see, when I'm absorbed by God's love, and when I love God above all else, I am free from my imprisoned bondage to me.

The message of the Bible is that God has moved toward me in love when I really deserved His condemnation, and He's wrapped His arms of love around me, and He's in the process of changing me at that causal core of my humanness, at the level of my heart. Now think about this; if you remove this fundamental relationship that's at the core of Christianity, all you're left with is theology and rules. You're left with an ideology, a belief system. You're left with an ethical code, rules to keep, but what you end up with, this is shocking to me, is a Christ-less, loveless Christianity that is more about believing the right things, and doing the right things, than it is about being deeply in love with this one life-shaping treasure--Christ and having a life that is a living application of what it means to treasure nothing more in life than I treasure my relationship with Him.

You know, you could say it this way; the story of the Bible is a story of a great and a gorgeous romance. It's about you and me being reconciled to the One lover we were, from the beginning, designed to love above all else. Who do you love? Who do you love? The story of the Bible is about God's love. It's about this; this God of love sends His Son of love, to rescue people from self-love, so that they would be consumed by love for Him, and because of this, live in a community of love with one another. Let me repeat this.

It's about a God of love who sends His Son of love, to rescue people from self-love, so that they would be consumed by love for Him, and because of that, live in a community of love with Him and with one another. It is about love from beginning to end, love dyes every page of the Word of God. It is a story of magnificent love. The deepest comfort of the Bible is the comfort of God's love, and the most important call of the Bible is the call of the Bible to love God above all else.

Now this sounds crazy to ask, but I am going to ask it today, "Do you, in fact, have a Christ-less and a loveless Christianity? Have you slipped into reducing your faith to theology and rules?" You know, as I was working my way through seminary, thinking that I had it right, that's exactly what I had done. I had reduced my Christianity to a set of beliefs and a bunch of rules, and it was empty, and cold, and lifeless. I was living a loveless and a Christ-less Christianity, and I didn't even know it. I was preparing for ministry, and there was no Christ, and there was no love in my Christianity.

Is your faith, in fact, more about an organization, about scheduled meetings, about a set of activities, than it is about a deep appreciation for and a deep affection for Christ? At the Street level, where the rubber-meets-the-road, in the real sense of the word, do you really love the Lord? Do you love His presence; do you love His words; do you want to please Him; do you take up your call; are you engaged in a deep life-altering romance with your Lord; are you madly in love with your Lord? And does the comfort of His love give you hope, and does the call of His love give you direction?

Music: "In Christ Alone" ...Songwriters: Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

Christianity Is a Love Relationship

Paul Tripp: You know that relationship with that girl that I saw as a 17-year-old boy as I was beginning college has really shaped my life. Being madly, deeply in love with Luella has, in ways, shaped everything I've thought, and everything I've said, and every decision I've made. It's been a profoundly important thing in my life because it was love.

Do you understand? Your life is always motivated by love. It's impossible for it not to be because you're a lover; you have that capacity to love; you're always setting your love on something. Your life is never just about activities. Your life is never just about places, and locations, and possessions, and things. Your life is about love; the story of your life is a story of love.

Here's the big deal--the issue is what do you love? The issue is, what love is central to everything you think, and everything you say, and everything you do--Love of what? Love of whom? What love shapes your life? You're a lover, and so Christianity is about love. It's about this love of God that shapes everything I would ever think or do. What has Jesus called you to as you bump your way through life in this fallen world? Well, you can answer it in two simple words; here they are. He's called you to, "love Him." He's called you to, "love Him."

Think about how important this is. Why would I care to give to another person or serve him in some way? Because I love Christ! Why would I refuse to hold a grudge and be bitter against you? Because I love Christ! Why would I ever defend the defenseless, or love my enemies, or reach out in compassion to someone I don't even know? Why would I give my time, and my effort, and my energy? Why would I make personal sacrifices? Why would I struggle to know the Word of God and to understand theology? Why would I go to church every Sunday? Why would I give in the offering plate? Why would I participate in missions and evangelism? Why would I make all these choices?

Only for one reason--because I love Christ! And if I don't love Christ, if that love isn't the love that has gripped and controlled my heart, I lose my motivation. Why would I ever live in my marriage, family or friendships, with patience and grace? Because, I love Christ! Why would I be forgiving, compassionate, gentle, kind, loving, faithful, patient? Why? Why? Why? This one reason--I love Christ!

You see, I am moved and thankful for the comfort of His love for me. And I follow the call of love that He makes to me. You see, it is only if I, by grace, begin to love Christ more than I love anything else that I will begin to experience the core, the essence, the best of what Christianity has to offer. And it is only because Christ, in love, rescues me by His love and produces in me love for Him that I will ever be able to have the power to love those who are in my life as well.

(Music Interlude)

So who do you love? Don't be too quick with your answer. It's very easy to answer quickly. Think about it for a moment. Is there a way that perhaps your life is a story of being hopelessly, madly in love with yourself? And you love you so much that you're constantly disappointed and angry; you're constantly frustrated and discouraged? Could it possibly be time for you to say, "Lord, I simply have missed what Christianity is really about; I simply am not madly in love with You?

I spend so much of my time thinking about me and loving me that I really have very little time and energy left to love You. Lord, won't You please come near me in love, and give me a heart of love for You? Lord, won't You please be so kind as to free me from my addiction to me, and begin to produce in me such a deep love for You that it changes everything I say and everything I do." I would ask you one more time, could it be possible that you've reduced your faith to a system of theology and rules?

Could it be possible that you are attempting to live smack dab in the middle of a Christ-less and loveless Christianity? Do you really know what it means to have the single motivating force of your life, to be in love with Christ right here, right now? Are you madly, and deeply, and motivationally in love with Christ, right here, right now?

Kate Crowley: Paul Tripp and "The Heart of Faith," and there will be more "Survival Skills for a Fallen World" on Monday's program.

Now, if you or someone you know could use a bit of encouragement, then pick up a copy of Lost In The Middle. This new book by Paul Tripp explains how moments of pain can also be moments of 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.

Remember, you can also sign up for the daily podcast so that you can listen to these encouraging lessons on demand anytime. CD copies of today's broadcast are also available for just five dollars. You can order from the website or call us at 800-551-6595. That's toll-free 800-551-6595.

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Next time, Paul talks about "Learning to Wait" as he continues the series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World." For Paul Tripp and all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, I'm Kate Crowley, reminding you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now. See you Monday.