Paul Tripp: Everybody lives for some kind of treasure. If you're a human being, you get up in the morning, and you live in pursuit of something; you're after something, and you judge your life by how close you are to getting that thing that you're after. What is that valuable thing that you're living for every day?
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: John woke up to a sudden and shocking realization. He couldn't believe it. He lay in bed and thought about it. He was lost in the middle of his own story, lost in the middle of his own life.
John had always had a dream. He had arrived at his dream earlier than most people. John loved buildings. He loved reading about buildings; he loved thinking about buildings; he loved seeing buildings, and he dreamed that someday he would be an architect.
He loved going with his family to those trips in the big city to see the big skyscrapers and always thought that maybe someday, somehow, some way, he'd be a builder of one of those buildings. John went off to university to study architecture, did very well, got lots of praise and approval from his professors, got a good job at a local architect firm. He wasn't very excited about working there. He thought that was a place he'd probably have to start. He'd work his way up; he'd pay his dues.
But year upon year went by, and John began to feel stuck, began to feel trapped, spent his architectural career building strip malls and gas stations. He couldn't believe what was happening to him. More and more, he had trouble getting himself up the morning. More and more, he had trouble going to work. John was lost, and he didn't know why.
Music: "White Shadows" by Coldplay
When I was a young boy I tried to listen
And I want to feel like that
Little white shadows blink and I missed em
Part of a system I am
Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp. Paul will be back in just a moment to talk about how you can know who you are from the book of 2 Peter. This brand new program from Paul Tripp Ministries is heard every day here on WFIL, at 11:00 A.M., Monday through Friday. This program is designed to remind you every day that there really is help in Jesus Christ, 'Right Here, Right Now.'
Later on in this program, we'll give you more details about an exciting new book that Paul has written titled, Lost in the Middle. But you don't have to wait. You can go to the website right now - paultrippministries.org - and find out about this book and many other resources that will be helpful to you. That's paultrippministries.org. "It's All About Knowing Who You Are," Right Here, Right Now continues with Paul Tripp.
Everybody Lives for Some Kind of Treasure
Paul Tripp: You know, you're just like John. There is something that gets you up in the morning; there is something in your life that gives you a sense of purpose, of motivation, of well-being. There is something that you organize your life around. There is something that keeps you going even when times are tough. Who do you tell yourself that you are? How do you deal with what you deal with every day?
The Bible uses this interesting word for that thing in life that I organize my life around, that thing in life that gives me meaning and purpose and identity. Jesus uses the word 'treasure'. Treasure is an interesting word. A treasure is something that gives me value or purpose. A treasure is something that's important to me.
And in Matthew 6, Jesus lays out three, what I would call "treasure principles." The first one is this: Everybody lives for some kind of treasure. If you're a human being, you get up in the morning, and you live in pursuit of something; you're after something. And you judge your life by how close you are to getting that thing that you're after. Everyone lives for some kind of treasure.
The second principle is this: The thing that is your treasure will control your heart. Jesus said it this way, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Your treasure gives you motivation and gives you purpose. It controls your emotions; it controls your desires. All of us live that way. What is that valuable thing that you're living for every day?
The third thing Jesus says is: What controls your heart will control your behavior. You do what you do because you think it will get you what you want. Let me say that again: You do what you do because you think it will get you what you want.
You see, where ever you are right now, whatever you're doing, whatever the web of relationships you're in, there is something right now that you're looking to, to give you meaning, and purpose, and identity. There's something that you're holding on to that you think will fill that void, that desire, that craving in your heart. And that thing that you're after determines how you respond to the people that are in your life, how you respond to the situations that are in your life.
Everybody lives in pursuit of something. And I'm deeply persuaded that there are thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of Johns out there. They've lived in pursuit of something, and that something has failed them, and they don't know what to think, and they don't know what do because it hasn't given them meaning and purpose, and it hasn't given them identity, and they're lost in the middle of their search for this treasure.
Music: "White Shadows" by Coldplay
Maybe you'll get what you wanted
Maybe you'll stumble upon it
Everything you ever wanted
In a permanent state
Maybe you'll know when you see it
Maybe if you say it, you'll mean it
And when you find it you'll keep it
In a permanent state
A permanent state
Identity: What Are You Living Out Of?
Paul Tripp: You are always living out of some kind of identity. It's what human beings do. That's why the Bible has so much to say about who we are.
Whenever I think of identity, I think of something that happened in our family with my son, Darnay, who was very young; he was about three-years old, and he was living as three-year olds do, by the Columbus Method - land and discover. And he was wandering around our backyard, just out there playing, and he wandered in front of my older son, Ethan, who had a broken rake handle and was hitting stones over the fence into the neighbor's yard. And Ethan took a great big, mighty swing, and hit his brother, Darnay, flat in the forehead.
Now, here's what you need to know about Darnay. Darnay knew that his daddy had a doctorate in front of his name, and he knew that I saw people for appointments, and all he thought was that I must be a medical doctor, although I'm not one of those.
Well, I knew something had happened in the yard because I heard screaming out there. That was my daughter, Nicole, who was sort of responding as the familial siren. And I ran to the back door; Ethan was carrying his bleeding brother in the doorway. I asked him to put him on the kitchen floor, and Ethan was pleading his legal case, "Daddy, am I in trouble? How much trouble am I in?" (Doing a little bit of plea-bargaining!) "I won't go in the backyard again; I won't pick up a rake handle again. Please daddy, how much trouble am I in?"
Nicole is screaming. I'm pretty nervous at that point because it's a bloody scene. I'm not a real squeamish person, but I thought perhaps this could be a serious injury. And I was calling for some paper towels, and I was trying to form in my mind that emergency number 911, and I couldn't form it in my mind. I had 111-999-919-119; I couldn't get the right combination; Nicole is screaming; Ethan is pleading his legal case. I looked down at little Darnay, and he's utterly at peace, placid! And I notice that his little lips are moving as he's lying there on the floor, and I put my ear to his little mouth, and I hear him repeating over and over again. "I'm just so thankful my daddy is a doctor." Poor, deluded boy!
Although I have a 'Doctor' in front of my name, I'm not a medical doctor. He's putting himself in the hands of a man who can't even think of a three-digit number at that point. Now, see what Darnay is doing there? He's not responding to the situation just based on all the facts that are going on around him, he's responding to the situation based on who he thinks he is. And because he thinks he's the son of a father who is a doctor, he thinks he's okay.
Now, think about it. We all do that every day. We're always assigning to ourselves some kind of identity. Hear this principle: Life is all about knowing who you are. And if you don't know who you are, you will never be who you're supposed to be and do what you've been called to do.
I want to read for you from 2 Peter, chapter 1. It is a passage about identity, beginning with verse three.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Now, this is a passage with inverted logic in it. That doesn't mean that the passage doesn't make sense; it means that you have to start at the bottom of the passage to understand the top of the passage.
And if you look at verse eight, what Peter proposes is that there are people who really do know the Lord, but whose lives are ineffective and unproductive. Their lives are not producing the full range of the expected harvest of the fruit of faith.
Maybe there's anger where there shouldn't be. Maybe the person is in deep debt. Maybe there's a tremendous amount of conflict that surrounds them. Maybe there are personal struggles of sin that they've never been able to defeat. In some way, their lives are not producing what you would expect to be in the life of a believer.
Now, when you read that, you ought to ask the question, "Why? Why is that going on? Why would a person be ineffective and unproductive where they live every day?" Well, Peter tells us, "Why?" He says, "They're ineffective and unproductive because they're missing qualities of character."
He tells you what those are: faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. You see, when those qualities rule my heart in the situations of life, I will be effective and productive.
Now, if these people are really Christians, and if the Lord is really in their lives, then why don't they have those character qualities in their lives? Well, Peter tells us that in verse nine. Listen to these words: "But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."
You see, the issue is identity. Here's the principle: When I forget who I am in Christ, I quit pursuing what belongs to me in Christ.
Now, here's what I think Peter is saying, "There is an endemic identity amnesia in the body of Christ." We forget who we are. We forget what we have been given in Christ. And here's what happens... identity amnesia always leads to identity replacement. If I am not getting my identity vertically, then, I'm going to get it horizontally.
I'm going to turn my job into a means of identity. I'm going to turn my marriage into a means of identity. I'm going to turn parenting into a means of identity. I'm going to turn my possessions into a means of identity.
The problem is those things were never meant to give me identity. And when I look to them for my basic sense of identity, for my meaning and purpose, they will always fail me. You can't turn your marriage into your own personal messiah. You can't turn your job into your own personal messiah. You can't turn your children, your parenting into your own personal messiah. You can't turn your possessions into your own personal messiah. Those things are experiences; they are gifts from God, but they're never meant to be my identity. And when they become my identity, they always leave me empty; they always catch me up short.
What does it mean to be getting your identity from Christ? Well, listen to what the Bible says about what Christ has given you, again from 2 Peter. He says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness."
Think of the words here. "God has already given me everything I need," (Now, notice these two words.) "for life and godliness." Why does Peter use two words? Well, I think he uses two words because he knows his audience.
If he said, "God has given me everything I need for life," we would tend to add in the word 'eternal', and we would say, "Oh sure, I know this, God has given me everything I need so that someday I'll have eternal life." But that's not what Peter is talking about. Peter is talking about the 'here and now'. That's why he uses the term 'godliness'. What is godliness? It's a God-honoring life between the time I come to Christ and the time I go home to be with Him.
That's what Peter is talking about. He's talking about 'here and now', the present benefits of my relationship with Christ as I face, as a sinner, the harsh realities of life in a fallen world. I've been given everything that I need to be what I'm supposed to be and to do what I'm supposed to do.
And if you remember that in your marriage, if you remember that in your job, if you remember that as you face the situations and relationships of life, it will make a tremendous difference in the way that you live.
Listen! It's not enough for us to believe in life after death. We had better start believing in life before death, a quality of existence of hope of courage that would not be possible without understanding the identity that we have been given in Christ. Christ has not just forgiven you. He has completely and fundamentally changed who you are, and because of that, you can live in a very new and different way.
Music: "Jesus, Friend of Sinners" by James G. Small; Pat Sczebel
Jesus, friend of sinners
A crown of thorns You wore for me
Bruised for my transgressions
Pierced for my iniquities
The wrath of God that I deserved
Was poured out on the Innocent
He took my place, my soul to save
Now I am His forever
Jesus, friend of sinners
I love to tell the story
Redeeming love has been my theme
And will be when in glory
Not death nor life nor anything
Can ever separate me
O love that will not let me go
Yes, I am His forever
No death, no life, nor anything
Can ever separate me
The love that will not let me go
Because I am His forever
Yes, I am His forever
Yes, I am His forever
How You Measure Your Potential Every Day
Paul Tripp: I don't know whether you've ever thought about this or not, but every day you measure your potential. It's a human thing to do. That toddler who is holding on to his mommy's knee and is, with his legs wiggling, is looking at his daddy across the room, and he's measuring his potential to take the five steps to his daddy.
Or that teenager who is driving to work with clammy, nervous hands is measuring his potential to work his first job without getting fired. Or that bride, who has vomited two hours before her wedding, is measuring her potential to live in this comprehensive, lifelong relationship.
How do you measure your potential? Do you measure your potential by your track record? Do you measure your potential by how big your problems are? If those two things are the way you measure your potential, then you are an identity amnesiac because you're missing the most important and powerful identity that a human being could ever have. You see, I wasn't meant to get my identity horizontally.
Kate Crowley: Thanks, Paul, for that great reminder that we already have everything we need in Christ Jesus. Paul will continue his series, "It's All About Knowing Who You Are," tomorrow on our program.
Perhaps as you've listened today, you find yourself right in the middle of the struggle of finding your identity. We don't have to be paralyzed by regret, defeated by aging, or discouraged by the passing of our dreams.
In his book, Lost in the Middle, Paul Tripp tells us 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: Paul Tripp is spelled T-R I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.
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If you would like to hear Paul in person, he will be speaking at the Hope for Broken Relationships Convention on Friday, November 10 through Sunday, November 12, at the Valley Forge Convention Center. For more information, contact 215-884-7676, that's 215-884-7676.
Tomorrow, Paul continues the teaching, "It's All About Knowing Who You Are." Now, 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.
