Paul Tripp: You see, all of us worship, and we don't just worship on Sunday. We don't just worship when we are with a small group. We don't just worship when we're with our Lord in the morning in a time of quiet personal devotions. No! You worship every day, all day long.

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 want to ask you a question. It's a bit of a trick question, and you'll have to forgive me for that, but here it is: How often do you worship: once a week, three times a week, five times a week, ten times a week, more times a week than you can number?

When you hear the word 'worship', what is it that you think about: a service, a gathering, songs and preaching, a certain building, a certain edifice, a quiet personal time in the morning with you and the Lord, prayers before you go to bed, hymns that you've sung many times? When worship comes into your mind, what is it that you think? What's your definition of worship?

Here's what you need to know--that worship is not first an activity; worship is first an identity. The reason you worship is that you were created by God to be a worshiper. You see, you do not divide people into two groups: those who worship--and those who don't. The issue that separates us is what or whom we worship. Because of this, you are actually worshiping every minute of the day. Maybe you are saying, "Paul, I just don't know what you're talking about."

Hear this. Everything you do in every situation and location where you exist is somehow, some way, an expression of worship. You and I started worshiping the minute we were born, and we haven't stopped worshiping since, and we will continue to incessantly worship until the day we die. Our life is one, big lifestyle of worship. The question is what rules your world of worship; what dominates your worship?

Music: "Troubles" by Alicia Keys

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Dear Lord, can you take it away?
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh,
This pain in my heart just follows me by day
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
And at night it stalks me like the shadows on my wall
Oh my goodness, goodness
Umm, umm, umm, umm, umm
Feel like the world is closing on me
Feel like my dreams will never come to me
I keep on slippin' deeper into myself
And I'm scared, so scared
If you're troubled
You just gotta let it go
Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahh
If you're worried, baby You just gotta let it go

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp, coming up, more thoughts on "Survival Skills for a Fallen World." Thanks for listening. Remember, Paul is here each weekday at 11 A.M. on WFIL. Tell your friends. You can also find resources dealing with subjects like marriage and ministry.

This includes Paul's recent book, Lost In The Middle. Log on to paultrippministries.org. That's one word, paultripp, spelled, T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. More from Paul Tripp right here, right now.

Worship Shows Up Early in Life

Paul Tripp: If you're paying attention, you see the evidence of worship very early in a human being's life. You see it, in fact, in the most mundane of family scenes. You see worship in the most unexpected of human moments. And when you get clued in to what worship looks like, you'll see it everywhere you go. You see it at home. You see it in church. You see it at work. You see it in the market places, in times of leisure. Worship is simply everywhere.

Let me give you an example. You're in the middle of your night, asleep, and you hear your, yet wordless, infant crying in his bed. You're half-asleep, and you stumble down the hallway into his room, and you're going there to feed and to change him. You have him fed; you have him changed; he's whimpering a little bit, and so you begin to sing.

You sing every hymn and worship song ever known to man. And finally, he goes to sleep. You're so excited. And so, you begin to, very carefully, tiptoe your way out of the room, and just about the time you get to the doorway, you hear this bloodcurdling scream in the darkness. You can't believe it, and as you turn to look back at his bed, you see this little, wordless infant with his whole body stiffened in anger.

You see, that's not an encounter just between you and that child. What you're actually seeing is worship. Think about this. This little boy doesn't want a mommy or daddy that will provide for him. This little boy doesn't want a God who will provide for him. No! This boy wants to be that god. He wants to think, and it will happen. He wants to speak, and it will be done. And if you stand in his way, if you don't give him what he wants, there will be hell to pay. That little boy is saying to you, "Mommy, daddy, I love you, and I have a wonderful plan for your life."

You see, here he is. He can't even speak yet, and that little boy wants to live at the center of his universe. There are things that he already craves that tend to rule his heart and control his responses to life. Already, that little boy knows what he wants, and he wants to control his universe in order to get it.

Now hear this--and so do we. You have cravings in your heart; you have things that you desperately love; you have things that you say you need. You have things that you tell yourself you cannot live without. You have things that are such prize possessions to you that they control every word that you say, and every action that you take, and every reaction that you have to what's around you.

You see, all of us worship, and we don't just worship on Sunday; we don't just worship when we are with the small group; we don't just worship when we're with our Lord in the morning in a time of quiet personal devotions. No! You worship every day, all day long; and everything you do, and everything you say is somehow, some way, an expression of the worship of your heart. You are a worshiper.

Music: "When You Gonna Wake Up?" By Bob Dylan

God don't make promises that He don't keep
You got some big dreams, baby
But in order to dream you gotta still be asleep
When you gonna wake up?
When you gonna wake up?
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain?

Romans 1:25 and the Great Exchange

Paul Tripp: The apostle Paul, in Romans 1:25, gives us a diagnosis of our worship problem. Romans 1:25 says that we all tend to exchange worship and service of the Creator for worship and service of the created thing. Now, think about what this means. Think about how comprehensive this statement actually is. Think about how explanatory it can be of the way we live our lives.

You see, as human beings made in the image of God, we were all created to get our identity, our hope, our meaning and purpose, our understanding of life, and our everyday motivation from God. And what happens to all of us is rather than seeking these things from the Lord, we seek to get them from something in the creation. Isn't that exactly what happened to Adam and Eve in that terrible moment in the garden?

We seek to get our identity, and meaning, and purpose, our motivation from life, from people. Or, we seek to get our identity from possessions. Or, we seek to get our meaning and purpose from position. Or, we seek to get our meaning, and purpose, and identity from power. Or, we seek to get it from knowledge or achievement, and the list could go on forever and ever. When the Bible says that you are a worshiper, what it's actually saying is that there is always something or someone that's ruling or controlling your heart. Your heart is always after something.

Remember, the Bible divides you into two parts: your outer man, which is your physical self; and your inner man, which is your spiritual self. And that inner man is characterized by all kinds of words, and those words are, all those terms are all collected in one big basket term, the term 'heart'. That term is used in some 960 passages of Scripture; and the heart is the true you.

The heart is the essential you. The heart is this steering wheel of your life, so that your heart is always motivated, always controlled, always ruled, shaped, and structured by a desire for something. And that desire for something will then set the agenda for your life.

As one of my favorite theologians, Bob Dylan, eloquently said, "You gotta serve somebody." You see, truer words have never been written; truer words have never been sung. You and I get up every morning, and that day, we all live in the service of something.

Here's what this means--your behavior, your words and actions, in any situation or relationship, are your attempt to get what your heart craves. Now think of this at the practical level, at the street level. If my heart is ruled by acceptance, and I'm going to a party, how will I behave? Well, the answer is simple. I will tend to do and say things that get me the attention and the acceptance that I'm craving. And if I'm able to be at the center of attention, I will be very excited about that party.

I will say later on that evening or the next day, "It was a great party." But if I don't get that acceptance, I will be devastated, and I'll tell myself that it was the worst party that I've ever been to. And I will be angry or disappointed with the people who are at that party who didn't give me the acceptance I so much craved.

Yes! It is, in fact, true. You are a worshiper. Yes! It is, in fact, true. It is the thing that you do every day. You and I always live our lives in pursuit of something. It is the inescapable fact of the human existence. And what you have to understand, and this is very important to your understanding of life, is that in this fallen world, life is one, great big war of worship.

Life, in this fallen world, is one constant, glory war. You see, the question in life is what glory will attract my attention? What glory will magnetize me? What glory will be the motivation for what I say and what I do? Will it be some kind of created glory, or will it be the glory of the God who made me and who loves me?

You see, you're a human being; you're wired for glory; you're magnetized by glory. And the glories of the created world were meant to be shadow glories or sign glories. They were meant to be glories that point to the One Glory that's truly glorious, the glory of God. They were never meant--those created glories--to be replacement glories for our commitment to the glory of God.

Life in this fallen world is one, big, constant, never-ending, glory war. Do you know where that war is fought? That war is not fought at a certain situation or a certain location; that war is fought on the turf of your heart, and that war is fought for control of your soul.

You see, the deepest issue of the human experience is this: What glory will rule your heart? Will it be the glory of the Creator, or some shadow glory of the created world? The deepest issue of the human experience is not human pain, or human suffering, or human achievement, or human success. The deepest issue of the human experience is this: What worship will rule my heart? Or, maybe better said, "Worship of what will rule my heart?"

The practical question is this: Are you aware of this war? You see, this war is actually what the Bible is talking about when it talks about spiritual warfare. We have reduced spiritual warfare down to weird stories about demons and deliverance. If it was a film, it would have to be written by Stephen King and filmed by Steven Spielberg. And, yes, there is a world of evil, but spiritual warfare is much more common, much more deceptive, much more mundane.

It is that consistent reality of life in a broken world. You see, sin, in its essence, is idolatrous. When I love something else more than God, I will not keep God's rules. That's exactly what happened to Adam and Eve. You see, when any replacement rules my heart, the Bible calls that idolatry.

Now think of your own life right here, right now. Think of your own life. What are the things that you tell yourself you cannot live without? What are the things you tell yourself that you absolutely have to have? What are the desires that, in your estimation, have risen to the level of need? What are the things that you say are essential?

If I would watch the video of your life, what would I say you're craving? What would I say you're running after? What would I say shapes your words and your actions, your reactions and your responses? You and I were made for one thing--to worship God all day, every day. But sin has made our lives a great big, battle zone. And where you live, and where I live, a glory war rages.

The question is, "Are you a good soldier? Are you looking for the God replacements in your life? Are you fighting to keep your heart focused and your worship pure? Does God practically, functionally, consistently rule your heart? And if God does not, what does?" You see, worship is one of the inescapable, spiritual realities of everyday life. I am always in active worship of one of two things: I'm either giving my life to the worship of the creation; or I'm giving my life to worship of the Creator. My heart is a war zone. It's a war zone of worship.

Music: "I Will Glory In My Redeemer" by Sovereign Grace

I will glory in my Redeemer
Whose priceless blood has ransomed me
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails
And hung Him on that judgment tree
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who crushed the power of sin and death
My only Savior before the holy Judge
The Lamb who is my righteousness
The Lamb who is my righteousness

What Really Rules Your Heart?

Paul Tripp: I don't know about you, but I find it very humbling to talk about what we've been talking about today. I find it very humbling to think about what it is that rules my heart. I find it humbling to think about the things that really control me, where I get angry, where I get afraid, what are the things that I actually crave?

But as I'm thinking about that as I'm receiving the insight that God would give me about this war of worship, it's important that I remember this, let me say it this way: "Do you know that in this fallen world, it is only when God is in His rightful place that everything else gets in the right place as well?"

We often make the mistake to think that our problems are basically horizontal problems. They have to do with people and circumstances. And if we can strategize to alter our relationship with people and to solve our problems with circumstances, we'll be okay.

You see, we think that the origin of the difficulty is in the situation or in the relationship; but the fact is the origin of most of my difficulty is actually vertical. It is a problem between me and God that results in a problem between me and others. You see, when God is not in His right place, then, everything else gets out of its assigned place.

One of the most important commitments of life, in this fallen world, is the commitment to do everything that I possibly can to worship what I was meant to worship when I was created. And so, each of us needs to examine where that worship war is in our lives? You see, all of the good things that God has called us to do, have their roots in worship of Him.

Real love of other people is rooted in worship of God. Real peace and rest of heart is rooted in worship of God. Real respect and esteem for others is rooted in worship of God. Hope, in the middle of difficulty, is rooted in worship of God. Mercy and compassion for the suffering is rooted in worship of God. The willingness to persevere and not quit is rooted in the worship of God. The desire to exercise kingdom influence, in this broken world, is rooted in worship of God.

A life of giving, a life of serving, a life of compassion, a life of mercy is rooted in worship of God. It's only when God is in His right place in my heart that everything else gets in its right place, as well.

There are two great commands. The first is that I would love God above all else. The second is that I would love my neighbor as myself. Think about this. I will only ever keep the second great command when I've kept the first great command first. Every single, good thing that God has chosen to be in your life will only be in your life the way he meant it to be in your life when you have started by worshiping Him.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: Okay! So how are you going to win this war of worship? My experience is I get defeated by this war again and again. I tell myself, "I want to worship God above all else." I tell myself that I want God, in His love, and His grace, and His purpose, and His plan to be the thing that will give me identity, the thing that will give me meaning and purpose, the thing that will get me up in the morning. But you know what? There is a whole catalog of God replacements that magnetize and attract me.

How are you going to win this war of worship? How are you going to make sure that God is the unchallenged object of the deepest love and craving of your heart? How are you going to make sure that you don't waste your life in the pursuit of a whole catalog of God replacements and not even know it? How are you going to keep your heart focused and your worship pure?

Hear this, and hear it clearly. You can't win this war of worship. You do not have the power all by yourself to win this glory war. You do not have the ability to free yourself from the myriad of idols that seek to lay claim on your heart. But you and I are not without help. There is hope for us. II Corinthians 5:15 says that Jesus came so that those who live, would no longer live unto ourselves. Jesus came to break the back of your idolatry. Jesus came to free you from your addiction to the shadow glories of the created world. Jesus came so that you would worship Him and Him alone.

So start right here; start right now by crying out for His help. Start by admitting your need. Start by admitting that you are magnetized by a whole catalog of God replacements, and determine that, in this fallen world, you are going to worship God and God alone right here, right now.

Kate Crowley: Paul Tripp and "The True Heart of Worship" on today's program, this series, "Survival Skills for a Fallen World," Right Here, Right Now. Speaking of survival, maybe you are looking for some answers or, at least, a kindred spirit. Well, you'll find both in Paul's most recent book, Lost In The Middle.

In it, Paul Tripp shares how your struggles don't have to suffocate the true purpose of your life. That's Lost In The Middle. And you can request a copy when you visit paultrippministries.org. That's Paul Tripp, T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

Remember, you can also listen to these programs again online or sign up for the daily podcast. CD copies of today's program are available for just five dollars. These and other resources are available at paultrippministries.org or when you call us at 1-800-551-6595. That's toll-free 800-551-6595.

If you would like to help spread the news of hope in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Right Here, Right Now, you can give online at paultrippministries.org, and just click on 'Ministry Support', or write to us at 7214 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19135.

Next time, Paul continues to look for hope in Jesus Christ. That's coming up Monday. I'm Kate Crowley. Have a worshipful weekend. And for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, remember, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now.