Paul Tripp: Your words, as an ambassador, are to be shaped, not by what you want, but by what the King wants. Your words are to be shaped, not by your purpose, but by His purpose. He is King; you are to represent Him.

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: There's not a human being that ever lived who doesn't want to be in control. We all like to be in control. You see it in a young child; you see it in a teenager; you see it in a young adult; you see it in a middle-age person; you see it in the elderly. We like control, and one of the reasons we like control is that we don't like trouble. We want our lives to be predictable, ordered, and comfortable. Most of us tend to have a toxic relationship to difficulty. We tend to think of difficulty as bad, and we struggle to think of it as ever being productive. And the main reason we tend to think of difficulty as bad is because it tends to stand in the way of what we want. We love ourselves, and we have a wonderful plan for our lives; so we want to exercise control over our lives in order to assure that we will get what we've set our hearts on.

The problem is that following God is dangerous. By necessity, it means giving up control to a King who will take us places that we do not want to go so that He can produce in us what we could not achieve on our own, so one of the big battles for the Christian life is the battle of kingship. I tell God, "I want Him to be my King," but then I take back the kingship on a Tuesday night because there is something at stake that I am convinced I cannot live without.

You see, every decision you make, every word you speak, every relationship you have, everything you do, wherever you do it is shaped by whoever is the king of the moment. There is a king who shapes your words everywhere you are, every time you speak. And the question of the moment is this: What king is shaping your words right here, right now?

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now. "Who or Whom Is In Control of Your Talk?" That's today's topic with Paul Tripp. Be sure and tell your friends that they can join Paul here each weekday at 11 A.M. and 11 P.M. this evening on WFIL with the goal to remind you, every day, that there really is help in Jesus Christ right here, right now.

For a complete list of resources, go to paultrippministries.org. That's all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. Right now, more on "What About Your Talk?" as Right Here, Right Now continues.

What Comes Out of Your Mouth in Trouble?

Paul Tripp: Okay, it's time to play the CD again. What comes out of your mouth in times of trouble? What does your heart think and your mouth say when your plan is obstructed or simply falls flat? How do you respond when people fail or simply don't do their part? How do you respond when they personally fail you? What are the kinds of things you say to people in your life in moments of frustration and disappointment? What is in your heart or flies out of your mouth when you face the totally unexpected?

I remember it very well. I'm not a home repairman. In fact, when I go to repair something in our home, my children and my wife pray because they know I have the great gift of taking something that was broken and making it worse. And we had a problem with the closing mechanism of our front door. I figured out how to fix it. I got the parts; I had the tools. I was so proud of myself at the end of that Saturday when I had repaired the door. And Monday morning when I drove up to the house and I saw that door flapping in the breeze, I couldn't believe it. I was filled with anger, and immediately, I began looking for somebody to lace into.

What is in your heart or flies out of your mouth when you face the totally disappointing and the totally unexpected? How do you react toward those people who are smack dab in the way of your schedule or in the way of your plans? What do you say when your brightest ideas and best plans blow up in your face? How do you react when you've had to deal with trials that do not seem at all like they're your fault? When you are dealing with difficulty, do you recognize the King, or do you wish you were king? In some way, you are always dealing with difficulty. In some way, you are always being confronted with the fact that you are not in control. In some way, you are always facing things that you don't really want to have to face. In some way, you and I always face the temptation to look at people as obstacles in the way of our dream. There is a way in which your words are shaped by how you are dealing with trouble, because in some way, you are always dealing with trouble in some form.

Maybe it's the trouble of spilled coffee; maybe it's the trouble of a missed subway; maybe it's the midsize trouble of a weeklong disagreement with your wife, or perhaps it's the big trouble of a life-altering family crisis. You see, we want control because we don't like trouble, but we live in a fallen world of trouble where we are not in control. It's a huge issue for our communication. And in those moments when you recognize that you're not in control, you either speak to take control, or you speak in a way that recognizes the control that God has. And when you speak recognizing the control that God has, you speak in a way that is consistent with what He is seeking to do in that moment. You are always communicating in the middle of trouble, because this side of eternity, there is always some kind of trouble in your life. Are you speaking to get control, or are you speaking because you recognize God's control?

Music: "Everytime We Say Goodbye" by Songwriter: Cole Porter

We love each other so deeply
That I ask you this, sweetheart
Why should we quarrel ever?
Why can't we be enough clever
Never to part?
Everytime we say goodbye, I die a little
Everytime we say goodbye, I wonder why a little
Why the gods above me who must be in the know
Think so little of me, they allow you to go
When you're near, there's such an air of spring about it
I can hear a lark somewhere, begin to sing about it
There's no love song finer but how strange the change
From major to minor
Everytime we say goodbye

The Bottom Line on Our World of Talk

Paul Tripp: Well, today, we want to get down to the bottom line. Today is the last of literally ten programs on our world of talk. And so, I want to say to you, "You know, you are not alone in your struggle. Your struggle is, in fact, the struggle of every human being."

The New Testament writers tell us that we should not be surprised when we face trouble, trial, and suffering. We should not be surprised that we face those things in this broken world. The New Testament writers tell us that we should never conclude from our trouble that God has forgotten us. They say that for God's children, the opposite is true. Trials are the result of His covenant love. We experience difficulty, not because He doesn't love us, but because He loves us. God will not neglect us so that we can experience the ease that we want. No, He rather will take us where we do not want to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own. The Bible records God's people struggling again, and again, and again with this. This is a truth that it is hard for us to accept.

For example, look how the Israelites responded when they were trapped in front of the Red Sea with the Egyptians closing in from behind. Exodus 13 tells us that their situation was not an accident or the result of poor planning. This situation was the plan and provision of God. God knew that His people were heading on a short route to the Promised Land, but they had recently been slaves; they were not ready for the battles that they were facing with the nations that inhabited Palestine. They run a short route, but their loving Heavenly Father knew they were not ready. So, God planted them in front of the Red Sea so that they would have their faith and hope stimulated by seeing God demonstrate His glory by defeating the Egyptian army. This tough situation was planned by God for a good and loving purpose, but how did Israel respond? They didn't respond very well. They forgot God and began to take things in their own hands, and their words showed it.

First, they attacked Moses and his leadership, and they expressed a desire to go back to Egypt, an amazing thing. How could they ever want to go back to that place of slavery? When you don't trust the King, you see, you set yourself up as king, and you say things that you should never say. The reaction of Israel is written down for us for our instruction and our example so that we would not make the same mistakes as the people of Israel made. You see, the reaction of Israel is something you should be able to relate to. It is so typical of how we react to such situations. When we are in difficulty, we tend to doubt God, and when you doubt Him, you aren't going to speak for Him at that moment.

So, we've got to get down to this final question. It is the ultimate question in this area of our talk. Here it is: What is God calling each of us to in the area of our talk? We said that the message of the Gospel, the message of new life in Christ, is a comfort and a call. In the comfort, God tells us how He meets us in our struggle, and He gives us the wisdom and the strength to do what we could not do without Him. In the call, God tells us the life that He's called us to.

Let me read for you from II Corinthians 5; I'll begin to read with verse 14:

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone; the new has come. And all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I don't know if you noticed it. I don't know if you caught it. I don't know if you paid attention to it, but Paul uses a brilliant word in this passage in II Corinthians 5 to capture what God wants us to do in this area of our talk. The word is 'ambassador.' Think about this. What is the only thing an ambassador ever does? There's only one thing that an ambassador is called to do. He represents. An ambassador is commissioned to represent the will, desire, and plan of a leader. All the words that he speaks are for that purpose. But it is very hard to represent a King when you're doubting the choices that that King is making in your life.

On the other hand, you will only ever escape trouble in your world of words when you have quit speaking for yourself, and you start speaking for the King. When you're trying to build your own kingdom and trying to control your own world as if you were king, wrong words spoken in the wrong way will stain every situation and every relationship you are in. No, you haven't been chosen to be king. You have been chosen to be the King's ambassador. And that means in every situation you're in, the call is to speak for Him. Your words as an ambassador are to be shaped, not by what you want, but by what The King wants. Your words are to be shaped, not by your purpose, but by His purpose. He is King; you are to represent Him. And you cannot speak as an ambassador of the King if you are trying to be the king yourself.

Music: "God and God Alone" by Songwriter: Phillip McHugh

God and God alone created all these things we call our own
From the mighty to the small the glory in them all is God's and God's alone
God and God alone reveals the truth of all we call unknown
And all the best and worst of man won't change the Master's plan it's God's and God's alone
God and God alone is fit to take the universe's throne
Let everything that lives preserve its truest praise for God and God alone

Speaking for the King at Street Level

Paul Tripp: Maybe you're thinking, "Okay, Paul, I get it. I get the concept, but I'm having trouble getting at what it looks like to speak this way at the street level in my daily life. I mean, how do I speak this way with my husband, or my wife, or my friends, or the guys at work, or the girls in the club, or my extended family, or my neighbors, or people at church? What does it look like to speak as an ambassador at my job, or in my family, or with my friends?"

Well, let's look at this. Speaking as an ambassador means that my words are no longer primarily motivated by self-interest. You have to recognize the fact that, in your life, there is almost always some kind of struggle between your interest and the Lord's. Very often, what you want is different from what God wants in a given situation. There are certain things that we want at certain times and in certain ways, so it is very easy for my motivations to morph from God's interest to mine. I am called to speak for another; my words are to be spoken with the hope that they will result, not primarily in what I want, but in what God wants.

So here's the first point: To be an ambassador means that your words are no longer primarily motivated by self-interest.

Second: If I'm going to speak for the King, I need to understand His mission. What is that mission? Well, His mission is not to do anything He can to keep a great big smile on our faces. His mission is not to submit the exercise of His power to your agenda for what you would like your life to be like. What God is after is to give us back our humanity. What does this mean? Well, we weren't designed to live for ourselves; we were designed to live for Him. That is the mission that He is working on all the time.

Oh, II Corinthians 5:15 says it so well. It says that, "He came that those who live should no longer live for themselves." Jesus came to break my addiction to me; Jesus came to rescue me from me. And, if I'm going to speak for the King, I need to understand that mission.

Third: The words of an ambassador are shaped by an understanding of the methods of the King. What are His methods? Well, not angry diatribes, not prideful debate, not hurtful putdowns, not ugly name-calling, not inflammatory accusations, not manipulative strategy. No, His methods are love, and kindness, and self-sacrifice, and forgiveness, and reconciliation.

When I speak words of love, when I speak words of kindness, when I speak words of self-sacrifice, when I speak words of forgiveness, when I speak words of reconciliation, then I am on the King's mission; then I'm speaking as His ambassador. To be an ambassador means I no longer speak out of self-interest, but out of God's interest. To be an ambassador means I understand the King's mission, and I speak with regard to that mission. To be an ambassador means my words are shaped by understanding His methods, and I use words His way. I've been sent on a mission. I'm to speak as an ambassador.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: So we've spent a lot of time looking at a simple, mundane, everyday area of human life, an area that often doesn't get much attention because it's so normal, so mundane, but is an area of great importance and great power. God has given you an awesome gift. It's the gift of talk. Words give life; words bring death; you choose.

So, I would ask you at the end of our study, how are you doing with your world of talk? You have been given an amazing gift. All the words you speak do either give life to bring death. They move in direction of what is good, or they move in the direction of destruction and division. In your life, you are either serving the King with your talk, or you're trying to be king. In your life, you are taking control by words, or you're submitting to His control with your words.

So with your words, you are trying to establish your kingship, or you are speaking for the King where you live every day. Which king owns your words right here, right now? Your world of words is a war zone. No, I don't mean a war between you and others. I mean the war that's fought in your heart. There is a war between two kingdoms that is constantly being fought in your heart. Whatever kingdom is winning the war will control your words. Isn't it sweet to know that you are not called to win that war on your own? Isn't it comforting to know that God battles on your behalf? Isn't it nice to know that God will keep fighting for your heart until the battle is finally won? The God who created you owns your words. He called you to speak for Him, and He invites you to experience the grace that makes it possible.

Kate Crowley: "Becoming an Ambassador for the King," Paul Tripp from the series, "What About Your Talk?" here on Right Here, Right Now. Now, if you could use some added insight into the power of words, go online and take a look at War of Words. In this book, Paul Tripp examines four fundamental, life-altering principles to help you on your journey. That's War of Words.

Go to paultrippministries.org, all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. And you can also listen to these programs again or sign up for the daily podcast and have the programs delivered to you so you can listen anytime. 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 at the website, paultrippministries.org. Or, call us at 1-800-551-6595. That's toll free 800-551-6595.

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Paul takes another look at the Word of God on Monday. I'm Kate Crowley. Be sure to join us then for more hope and encouragement from Paul Tripp Ministries here on Right Here, Right Now. Have a great weekend.