Paul Tripp: You were created to find your identity, your meaning and purpose, your motivation for everyday living, your reason for doing all that you ever do; you find all of that in relationship with God. And when desire for any other thing takes control of the worship of your heart, you just simply will not live the way you were meant to live.

Kate Crowley: Welcome to Right Here, Right Now and today's program from Paul Tripp Ministries. Join us as Paul connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Now, here's Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: You have just got to hear this story. It was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. It's happened once-I'm sure it will never happen again. I was picking up my son on one of the platforms of one of the regional rail lines here in Philadelphia. His train had dropped him off a few minutes earlier; and when I arrived in the platform, he was pointing and yelling and in a panic. Now you've got to hear this. I looked down the tracks, and I saw a sight that I know for sure I will never see again.

Careening down the tracks was a bright red, mint-condition 1960's era Ford Mustang. It was moving at a rather high rate of speed, scraping, and bumping, and bouncing, and sparking as it went. All of a sudden, one of the front wheels came flying off the car; it turned a 90° angle and crashed against the platform actually wedging itself beneath the train platform. We were as stunned as two people could be, and we watched two people climb out of the car, and over the hood of the car, and run off into the night.

Now, here's the point of the story in case you didn't get it. Cars weren't made for train tracks. Trains weren't made to travel over water, and boats don't do well on highways. So when you see someone attempting to drive a Mustang down railroad tracks, you know that they've gotten something very wrong. The violence of the bumping of those tracks literally tore that car apart.

Now, hear this. There are ways all of us do that every day. We attempt to live in ways that we were never designed to live and when we do, things fall apart in our lives. Is there somewhere in your life where you are trying to drive a Mustang down railroad tracks?

Music: "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers

I wanna stand up, I wanna let go
You know, you know, no, you don't, you don't
I wanna shine on in the hearts of men
I wanna mean it from the back of my broken hand
Another head aches, another heart breaks
I'm so much older than I can take
And my affection, well, it comes and goes
I need direction to perfection, no no no no
Help me out, yeah
You know you gotta help me out, yeah
Oh, don't you put me on the back burner
You know you gotta help me out, yeah

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now, and how do you get control of your life? Well, you may find some stability from today's edition of Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp.

Now, be sure and tell your friends that they can join Paul here on the radio or via the website, and remember, it's his goal to remind you every day that there really is help in Jesus Christ Right Here, Right Now.

By the way, there are plenty of helpful resources available online at paultrippministries.org, including Paul's book, War Of Words, as well as his daily blog. You don't want to miss that. That's at Paul Tripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. Right now, "Back to the Beginning" with today's important message, "Identity In Three Parts" as Right Here, Right Now continues.

A Mustang on the Railroad Tracks Moment

Paul Tripp: It was one of those cosmic 'Mustang on the railroad tracks' moments. They had been given very specific instructions, but they'd also been given a wonderful life. Everything they needed had been provided; everything they needed had been provided. Their life was completely free of stress; it was completely free of hardship; it was completely free of suffering; it was completely free of human conflict and division.

Yeah, all their relationships were peaceful and unified. They had it all, and all they had to do was continue down the path that God had laid down for them. Or, in our terms, all they had to do was keep the Mustang on the streets.

But they did it; they did what human beings have been trying to do ever since. They did it even though it made no sense; they did it even though it defied the bounds of design; they did it even though they had no business doing it; they decided to try their skill at 'driving the Mustang on the tracks.'

They thought that they were wiser than God; they thought they could live without God; they acted as if they knew better than God. So what did they do? Well, if you think you're wiser than God, and you think you could live without God, and you think you know better than God, then you decide to choose your own way.

And what happened? Not anything that they thought would happen. Remember, when you drive a 'Mustang down the tracks,' parts are going to fall off the car. They faced the horrible consequences of life as they knew it completely fall apart. And human beings have been trying to do it ever since. Human beings try again and again to live in ways that we were never designed to live, and we face the horrible consequence as life as we know it falls apart. We tend to think that we can get away with driving mustangs down railroad tracks, but it never works--it only leads to life falling apart.

Now, you know, you know by now as you've been listening, that I've been talking here about Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve really did have it all. They were perfect people, living in a perfect relationship with God, living in a perfect world, living with all of their needs perfectly provided for; they had it all. And what did they do? They threw it all away by attempting to live in ways that they were never designed to live.

Now you know what? It would be nice to say that Adam and Eve, in all of human history, were absolutely alone in that act. But, they're not. There are ways in which every person who has ever lived, every person listening to this program, has in some way, somehow, at some time, attempted to drive a 'Mustang down the railroad tracks.' We have all attempted to live in ways that we were never designed to live. We all tend to try to do the same thing even though it never ever works as we think it will work, but we try.

Music: "In My Place" by Coldplay

In my place, in my place
Were lines that I couldn't change
I was lost, oh yeah
I was lost, I was lost
Crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed
I was lost, oh yeah
(Yeah)
How long must you wait for it?
(Yeah)
How long must you pay for it?
(Yeah)
How long must you wait for it?
Oh for it

Three Facets of Human Identity

Paul Tripp: Now as you've heard me say many times, "It's only by going back to the beginning that we really begin to understand how we were designed to live." And as you look at the beginning, there are three aspects of our identity, three facets of our daily function that jump off the page of Genesis 1.

Here's the first one: We were designed to be revelation receivers. Human beings were never designed to figure life out on their own. All of those communicative abilities that you have been given, your ability to hear and to think, to process language, to speak language, all of that communicative ability was not first given so that you can have fun relationships with your friends. No, those things were first given so that you can hear God's revelation, make sense out of it, and apply it to your everyday life.

Now think about the scene in Genesis 1. Even though Adam and Eve are perfect people, living in a perfect world, living in a perfect relationship with God, God didn't think that they were going to figure life out on their own. No, immediately upon creating them, God comes to them, and He begins to talk to them.

Why? Because even though they're perfect, they're utterly dependent on the revelation of God in order to make sense out of life for them. God created adult human beings who couldn't figure it out on their own. And human beings weren't made to figure life out on their own. We were made to receive God's revelation for us in His Word and then apply that to our everyday living. We're meant to find our meaning in His Words. We're never meant to figure it all out by ourselves. We're revelation receivers.

We're also designed, secondly, to be interpreters. I think I've mentioned this fact, I mention it almost wherever I speak, because I think it is a fundamental truth that's all over Scripture, although not stated in this many words. Here it is: Human beings do not live life based on the facts of their experience. Rather we live life based on our interpretation of the facts. Human beings do not live life based on the facts of their experience but based on their interpretation of the facts, and all of us are interpreters; all of us think; you don't divide human beings into those who think and those who don't--we all think. Some of us think better than others; but we all think.

Now, if you pay attention, you know that this is true. For example, my wife and I will go for an evening to the movies, one of her movies, and we will be sitting in the dark, and I'll hear her doing this, "Sniff, sniff, sniff...sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff." Now, she hasn't gotten influenza in the middle of the movie; she's having an emotional reaction to the film. About that time, I'm thinking that these are perhaps the best chocolate covered peanuts I've ever had. I can't wait until the movie is over to find the owner of this theater and get his source for these peanuts.

Now, if Luella and I were to look back on that evening, she would talk about how great the movie was, and I would talk about how wonderful the peanuts were--two people in the exact same situation with significantly different interpretations.

You're always interpreting life, and what you say and do flows out of the interpretations that you've made--that's just what it means to be a human being. We're always interpreting; we're always trying to make sense out of life.

Now that's why the Bible has so much to say about thoughts. That's why, in human conversation, there is such a mix of ideas, that ideas are always being shared; that's why there's such a thing as talk television and talk radio. That's why we read magazines, and that's why we read books; we're always interpreting; we're always making sense out of life. When your local weather guy says, "Wicked winter storm buffets the East Coast," he's not giving you facts. That very statement is an interpretation, and it's an interpretation that's made to hook you to keep listening because that's exactly what he wants you to do.

We're revelation receivers; we're interpreters, but there's a third fact: We were designed to be worshipers. Now, it's a tricky word, and I think often misunderstood by Christians. You've got to understand what the Bible means when it says we're worshipers. You see, when you hear the word, it, in modern culture conjures up a gathering in a designated building with singing, and an offertory, and some kind of teaching or preaching. And although that is a service of worship or a gathering of worship, the Bible uses worship in a much more fundamental wide-ranging sense.

Here's what the Bible says. The Bible says that worship is first an identity before it's ever an activity. You see, you and I are worshipers. That's why we worship. As I said with interpretation, you don't divide human beings into those who worship and those who don't. What's the issue? It's what or who commands your worship. That great theologian, Bob Dylan said this, "You have got to serve somebody. It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you have got to serve somebody." Truer lyrics were never ever written.

Now, if I'm a worshiper, it means that everything in my life is somehow, someway, an expression of worship. What is worship at its most fundamental sense? It is that there's something that lays claim to the thoughts and motives of my heart. There's something that's centrally important to me. It is my prime motivation for life.

You see, we're revelation receivers--we weren't designed to figure it out on our own. We're interpreters, not just responding by instinct, but carefully seeking to figure out life, and out of that, forming our behavior. And we're designed to be worshipers. Our life was meant to be controlled by the worship of God.

You see, life will only work as it was meant to work when we affirm who we are designed to be. When we deny who we are and what we have been designed to be, we won't live the way we were designed to live. How about you? In these three areas, are you staying on God's highway, or are you attempting to drive a 'Mustang down the railroad tracks?'

Music: "Communion" by Third Day

This is the body
This is the blood
Broken and poured out
For all of us
And in this communion
We share in His love
This is the body
This is the blood
Well I will remember, everything Lord, that you've done for me
I won't take for granted, the sacrifice, that set me free
Well I hunger and thirst for your love
Come fill me today
This is the body
This is the blood
Broken and poured out
For all of us
And in this communion
We share in His love
This is the body
This is the blood

What Sin Is Really About

Paul Tripp: If you had to define sin, how would you define it? What would you write down in your twenty-five words or less definition? Do you know what sin is really about? It's not just some abstract breaking of technical rules. Sin is actually about wanting your own way. Sin is all about thinking that you know better; sin is about relying on your wisdom while you question God's. That's exactly what Adam and Eve did.

Sin is about being seduced into thinking that you can be successful at being something other than what you have been made to be. Oh, I've got to say that again to you, "Sin is being seduced into thinking that you can be successful at being something other than what you have been made to be."

Now, I don't know if you've ever noticed it or not, but you can't raise a poodle in an aquarium. That poodle was not designed to live underwater--don't try it; bad things will happen. In the same way, you and I cannot deny who we have been formed to be and how we have been designed to function and think that life will work well.

You see, it's not a bunch of options. There is only one way to live the right way. You need truth from outside of yourselves in order to make sense out of life. You were never designed to figure it all out on your own.

You are an incessant interpreter, and you had better confess that your life is more shaped by how you interpret what happens than it is by what actually happened. Wow! Is that ever true! And you need to admit that the only valid basis of accurate human interpretations is the written Word of God.

And, you need to face the fact that you were created to worship God; you were created to find your identity, your meaning and purpose, your motivation for everyday living, your reason for doing all that you ever do; you find all of that in relationship with God. You need to face the fact that you were actually made for Him, and when desire for any other thing takes control of the worship of your heart, guess what will happen? You just simply will not live the way you were meant to live. And since you're not living as you were meant to live, your life won't work as it was designed to work.

You were made to gladly receive God's revelation because you can't figure life out on your own. You were given the capacity to interpret so that you can generate valid God-centered interpretations that would shape the direction of your life. And you were made with the capacity to worship, not so you could pursue the shadow glories of the created world, but you can know the real glory of worshipping the one thing that is truly worth worshiping--God. You were designed to live this way; and when you don't live this way, bad things really do happen.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: So what does the beginning tell us about who we need to be right here, right now? Well, it tells us at least three things. First, it tells us that we need to be people who are dependent on God's revelation. Second, it tells us that we need to be people who are conscious of the shaping power of our thoughts. And third, it tells us that we need to be people who understand the war of worship that takes place in our hearts and determine to worship God and God alone.

So, examine yourself. How are you doing? Is your life headed down God's clear and open highways, or are you trying to drive your 'Mustang where it was never designed to drive?' You see, you are either being, in the way that you approach life, who you are, or you are denying who you are and living your own way--there's no in between.

Do these three facts of your personhood shape the way you look at yourself as a person? Do they construct the way you think, act, and speak in your marriage? Do they shape the way you conduct yourself at work? Do they shape the way you think about time and money--such practical things. There is no safer place on earth, no safer place on earth than when you live the way you were designed to live. God's grace of forgiveness is there for when we don't live that way, and His grace of enablement is there to help us so that we can live as we were meant to live. His grace is what we need.

Kate Crowley: Discovering God's grace, Paul Tripp from the series, "Back to the Beginning" and today's lesson, "Identity In Three Parts," here on Right Here, Right Now.

You can find hope and help by going online and picking up a copy of War Of Words by Paul Tripp. In this book, Paul digs into the trenches and helps you discover the secret to communicating with words of grace. This will impact both your relationship with others and with God. That's War Of Words. Just go to paultrippministries.org, all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

And if you'd like to listen to these programs again or sign up for the daily podcast, that's all available from our website. CD copies of today's broadcast are also available for just five dollars. You can order today's CD and other materials dealing with subjects like marriage and parenting on video, audio, and print all from the website at paultrippministries.org. Or, call us at 1-800-551-6595. That's toll-free 800-551-6595.

We are excited to be able to bring these radio programs to you each day, and we'd like for you to partner with us in helping to spread the good news of God's grace. Would you consider helping us do that with a financial gift? If so, you can go online at paultrippministries.org, and just click on "Ministry Support." Or, you can write to us at 7214 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19135.

If you'd like Paul to visit your church or special event as a guest speaker, just visit our website and click on "Events" for more information. Again, that's paultrippministries.org. Tomorrow, Paul takes another look at the series, "Back to the Beginning." That's Thursday.

I'm Kate Crowley, and be sure to join us for more hope and encouragement from Paul Tripp Ministries tomorrow, here on Right Here, Right Now.