Grace Liberates Your Identity | Paul Tripp

well there is a plague that has infected the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ it's a sad disease it's left us weakened and broken and discouraged and afraid it's almost no sooner than you come to faith in Jesus Christ than you get infected and it robs you of your spiritual vitality it robs you of your joy it robs you of the rest that Jesus died that you would have it reduces you to timidity and doubt and worry and dark addictions of all kinds it somehow someway gets us all it's a communicable disease that is ravaging the Church of Jesus Christ the problem is most people that have it don't know they have it they actually live with the delusion that they're healthy and they're okay when everything in their life points of the fact that they're sick the terrible disease it's one that needs to be eradicated what is it you ask its identity amnesia we have forgotten who we are and in forgetting who we are we frantically look for identity in thousands of places where it will never be found places where you are never meant to look for identity you probably do it so instinctively you probably do it so frequently you probably do it so naturally you don't actually know that you're doing it you're so used to carrying the burden you don't know that you're carrying the burden anymore your spiritual back has hurt you for so long you've forgotten that you're in pain how can make the confession half the time I don't have a clue who I am yeah I do know my name I'm the Paul behind the mustache talk about identity my mustache now officially has its own Twitter site pray for that person they're in deep need of this thing called life I was at a big Campus Crusade of n they said Paul we want to interview you on video but and then they said well actually we don't want to interview you we want to interview your mustache I thought well how does that work it's hooked to me now I say this all the time and I'm going to continue to say it because I think it's important to say I probably said it here but you are in a constant conversation with yourself I say it this way no one's more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do and a principal part of that conversation is this conversation of identity you're always saying things to you about you you are always assigning to yourself some kind of identity and connected to identity you're assigning to yourself some kind of potential I am therefore I can it's instinctively human to do and and the identity that you assign to yourself will somehow someway set the course for how you deal with literally everything in your life you never escape the identity that you assigned to yourself ever it's always there it's always forming the way you're interacting even with the most mundane in your existence who do you think you are where will you look today for identity what gives you the information that defines who you are where do you look and what does that do for the way that you live your everyday life want you to take your Bibles or your iPhones or your iPads or whatever other weird off-brand electronic thing you're sadly carrying sorry I couldn't resist it and turn to Psalm 27 as I thought about this conference this is a psalm that I just love love love I couldn't get away from this cut from this Psalm and what this Psalm says about the only place where lasting sturdy restful identity can be found now the thing that I love about this Psalm is that it's a psalm of trouble and perhaps it's in moments of trouble where your true sense of identity gets most exposed what you're really looking to to give you rest and peace and security and that inner sense of meaning will always be exposed in those moments of trouble in fact maybe what makes trouble so troublesome is it challenges the places where we've sought to get identity I mean it isn't it true that you don't just suffer the thing that you're suffering but you suffer the way that you suffer the thing that you're suffering is that make sense to you because you always bring something to your suffering and maybe part of what makes suffering so terrible is not just the physical part of suffering the locational situational relational part of suffering but that it rocks the places that I was looking to to find my rest and security those get rocked and I'm left not only with this situation but I'm left not knowing what I have and who I am I'm not just suffering my suffering I'm suffering what I brought to my suffering in that moment now that the scholars say I love saying that phrase whoever they are that this Psalm was probably pinned by David in one of two circumstances in his life the first one would have been when David is hiding out from Saul Saul's the King David's the anointed king knowing of God rest on David and Saul is in a state of vengeful Envy against David David has done nothing to Saul he's been a loyal servant of Saul but Saul hates this man and is out after his life it's it's it's a moment of tragic personal injustice as heartbreaking as you could ever imagine or perhaps it was written when David is fleeing from his own son Absalom who is conspiring to take David's throne and if it's a monarchy and you're going to take the king's throne the Kings going to die that's how it works imagine being a father in that situation imagine how heartbreaking that would be let yourself feel the pay thoughts of this moment and there's this moment in Scripture which one of the saddest moments in the Old Testament when the report comes that Absalom has been killed and David doesn't celebrate he crumbles like a father with the grief of a father and says Absalom my son my son Absalom there's no there's not going to be any good into this story that's the moment in which this psalm is written let me read just the first five verses for you the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is a stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid when evildoers assail me to eat at my flesh my adversaries and foes it is they who stumble and fall though an army encamp against me my heart shall not fear the war rise against me yet I will be confident one thing I have asked the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord to enquire in his temple for he will hide me in a shelter in the day of trouble he will conceal me under the cover of his tent he will lift me up on a high rock well it's very interesting that this the sum of trouble some written in one of two very dark situations there's no one in this room who would ever want to be in either the situation so David could have been in when he wrote this Psalm the Psalm of trouble doesn't begin with trouble it begins with theology and maybe what where we need to begin is that true rest in these moments is rooted in sound scriptural theology it's it's these truths that begin to tell me who in the world I am in this world that is way bigger than me that I can't control that I don't actually know what in the world is going to happen next you don't know what tomorrow will bring the Lord is light the Lord is salvation the Lord is stronghold think about what those those metaphors point to the Lord is light in this broadest sense what is the metaphor of light in Scripture it's that which is pure and holy and just and true in this universe there exists one of complete holiness of complete righteousness of complete truth of faithful justice in this world that's so broken that seems like there's no justice exist for me anywhere there's one that exists there's an ultimate of what is true and pure and holy the Lord is salvation what the ultimate why this definition of that he is the one who delivers me from evil evil internal the darkness that lives inside of me that I cannot escape because I can run from situations I can run from locations I can run from circumstances but I cannot run from myself evil external there will be a day when we will all be invited to the one funeral we actually want to attend will be able be invited to the funeral of sin and death sin and death will die the Lord is stronghold the picture of a fortified city a place of retreat a place of rest a place of safety yes there is one who provides safety Lord is light the Lord is salvation the Lord is stronghold now I'm about to confuse you but it's my job what I've just given you is nasty dangerous bad theology but it's the theology I'm convinced that is infected the Church of Jesus Christ because what I have done is I've done violence to the gorgeous identity comfort of this psalm I've done purposeful violence to it and maybe many of you didn't even pick it up because sir you're so used to theology being handled this way you are quite comfortable with it being handled this way David doesn't say the Lord is light he doesn't say the Lord is salvation he doesn't say the Lord his stronghold does he what does he say you say it say it again say it again I feel like Jesse Jackson here repeat after me you see that changes the whole thing I want to say it enough of abstract and personal distant isolated informational theology it's not the theology of the Word of God that doesn't help us it hurts us I don't need more ideas rattling around in my brain I got way more than I can think about already at the time I'm confused you see the theology of the Word of God properly understood never just defines who God is it redefines who you are as his children that's what it does and that two letter word makes all the difference in the world the Lord is my light this this righteousness that exists by grace has been unleashed on me it's my righteousness now by grace I could have never earned it I could have never achieved it I could have never deserved it I will never lap up enough obedience ever to deserve this thing that's been given to me by grace righteousness has been poured down on me praise him praise Him praise Him that's who I am just since my passion it's a poor zealous seminary student I was exiting my way through Romans Romans Romans gotten a big bound legal pad and in half by 14 and I'd cut the corners off of every other page and I actually taken the page out of my Greek New Testament and I'd glued it there so you could see the Greek from both sides and I was writing copious theological notes I got to about Romans seven or eight and it hit me that I had spent what seemed like endless hours studying Paul's letter to the Romans and I had not been touched by it at all it had been solely an idea exercise I was a feel geek I prided myself in understanding all of the labyrinths in theology in that passage but it did nothing for me and I began to weep I think if it wasn't for my dear wife Louella who in those moments was always able to speak sanity into the mind of this insane man I would quit seminary the Lord is my salvation I'm saved I'm saved me this dark man with all those selfish evil thoughts with all of my self aggrandizing behavior of all of my want to be sovereign of my own life salvation has burst into my life i'm saved i'm saved i'm saved he's my salvation listen you don't hope in justification you hope and a savior who justifies you jesus didn't purchase save ability he took names to the cross you don't find life in the abstract concept of salvation but a god who willingly sacrificed himself to save you his rest rest from all the burdens of self salvation rest from all the burdens of others expectations rest from all of that achievement and and I gotta I gotta I gotta what will happen if I don't stuff I got rest I have refuge the Lord is my refuge there's identity magnificent unchangeable eternal things have happened to me because grace has connected me to this one who is salvation grace has connected me to this one who is light grace has connected me to this one whose stronghold I'm okay grace has changed me I don't need you to like me I don't need to lap up all those successes and achievements I mean think think about where we look for identity it really is pretty sad I mean let's let's start with what I'm doing right now identity in ministry well here's the truth your success in ministry is never an endorsement of your character it's a revelation of gods that's what it is and and you have to remember that if God can give ministry success to rocks taking credit for your ministry success means you've risen to the level of inanimate objects aren't you special it's craziness it's just it's craziest how about how about relationships how many of us put burdens on relationships that they can't bear because we were getting our identity out of how that relationship is working it just never ever works I don't mean this in a way to pick on the women in the room but I've had many wives say to me these words that just seem to them so normal that just freak me out say all I ever wanted was a husband who would make me happy I'm thinking are you crazy you actually think that this man has the ability to be the source the lasting sturdy continual source of your happiness who in the world do you think you've married the fourth member of the Trinity of course that's not going to happen and so you you make you make unbelievable big deals other things that aren't big deals I got to talk about this I'm going to in June be doing a marriage weekend here but marriage is such a good example of that you walk into the bathroom and there's a wet towel on the floor and you say I can't believe it I can't believe they would just drop a towel on the floor it just drops it if he loved me yeah I would never see a towel on the floor my dad was a dropper I told myself I'd never marry a dropper but I have read my lips you're nuts you're crazy now it is there some meaning to that yes but but you've invested way too much of your sense of personal security and life in that moment your marriage can't bear that or let's say you're in the car and you say why do you have to drive so jerky you always Drive jerky everybody else look at the cars they go hmm we never go home I would take Dramamine just to ride with you now you get you get temporary buzz of identity by being the best driver in the car even though you're not driving at that moment or you have to be the grammar police don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about that's wasn't a complete sentence that's not the way that word is used you always mispronounce that word it drives me so crazy or you have to be the history police you never let that other person tell a story without interrupting them and let them know that you have dramatically better recall than they will ever have I am my recall thank you you probably wouldn't be able to repeat what I just said because you don't have the recall I have don't have it your head I mean home really wants to be around such a person and you bear the burden of having to do all that stuff all that creepy tense weird relational stuff because all of that is propping up for you a sense of self you're not just having relational problems your problem is you're an identity amnesiac you've forgotten who you are my doesn't live in your life in the way it should my light my salvation my stronghold those two words have changed those two letters have changed life for us forever or your you find your identity in your possessions let's say you're the wife in the marriage and you know who you are and in ways you don't realize you've attached your identity and meaning purpose to the order beauty and cleanliness of your home and what is that going to create well you're going to be just an incessantly uptight person you'll be able to notice a dent in a pillow at 50 paces that wasn't there that dent will be on a personal affront to you you will notice crumbs on the kitchen counter that weren't there before and it will break your heart and you wonder why do they do this to me I do and I do and I do and they crumb me why would they crumb me I wouldn't think of crumbing them but they crummy crumb crumb crumb crumb crumb every day I live in a world of crumbs or you'll follow people in rooms making sure they don't make that room look like somebody actually lives there now now here's your mentality though because you are and identity amnesiac your mentality is that you've been singled out for the particular suffering of living with a community of slobs you act you think that you have a slob problem you don't have a slob problem you have an identity problem you're an amnesiac and so you've actually you actually look at the surrounding possessions as a viable means of giving that inward peace and life that only the Savior can give how insane is that listen own it that insanity exists in this room I'll make the confession I've been married for 42 years August 22nd of last year we celebrated 12 good years of marriage we tried to try to calculate all the good times the bad times it was really depressing but I want to I'm going to say this because I think if if I make this confession it may relieve some of you and igniting you the ability to make the same confession yourself I am still a bit of an Ephesians 5 mess I'm an Ephesians 5 failure I can be so easily irritated I want to be agreed with I don't ask much of Louella just always say you're absolutely right it doesn't seem that hard I want her to have the intelligence to operate by my schedule and and I can't go to that relationship without seeing every day that I lay down empirical evidence of what a mess I am and appearance that I need light and I need salvation and I need stronghold it's laid down every day how could I ever look at that brokenness as a place to find my identity it'll never work or you you try to get your identity in your achievements this is one of the places where Twitter just freaks me out I tweet every morning I determine I'm not going to tweet anything but the gospel I don't think you need for me to tweet once again today I changed my socks and underwear I don't think that really is going to be helpful to you but I'll read tweets like somebody will tweet this it was pouring down rain this morning but I did my 9 mile run anything anyway the you tweeted that I woke up this morning there was no Captain Crunch but I decided I'd live anyway just weird it's it's self-aggrandizing how many times do you do things for something for somebody that they didn't notice and you have to find a way of letting them know that you did it for them by the way I took care of your mail while you're gone or maybe you're more spiritual maybe you've determined that you're going to be the smartest person theologically in the room at all times you're weird you have committed yourself to theologically theological always right ISM because that's where you get your sense of identity that's where you're looking for life now you don't realize it we can't talk to you nor do we want to because it doesn't matter how what we say you are able to critique it to unpack it to say it better to tell us that we are just a step away from downright atheism it doesn't work the first verse of Psalm 27 is the only place where identity will ever be found the Lord is my light the Lord is my salvation the Lord is my stronghold again it's not enough to handle those truths and abstraction David does not say the Lord is light the Lord is salvation the Lord has stronghold that's a disc that's a destructive mishandling of the theology of Scripture I'm going to say this those will probably get me in trouble if you're a seminary professor and you handles theology in that totally abstract and personal way stop it you're hurting your students if you're a pastor and your your you're preaching sermons that are boring theological lectures that do not connect those truths in the radical nature to the freedom for the people that the Savior died for you must not preach any more that way stop it if you're a Sunday school teacher and you have an informational approach to the Word of God you must stop it you are harming your students the theology of the word of God is never impersonal it's deeply personal it radically rearranges everything in my existence because my life has been invaded by this awesome grace a savior has come to me and I'm okay praise him now if that's not radical enough maybe the Sun gets more radical let's continue when evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh my adversaries and foes it is they who stumble and fall though an army encamp against me my heart shall not fear the war rise against me yet I will be confident one thing I have asked the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord what now think with me put yourself in this existential situation if you actually had an army encamping against you to eat up your flesh to destroy you what would the one thing be that you would ask of the Lord think about that how about weapons that makes sense to me just give me a bigger gun than my enemy and I'll worship you how about just incinerate them your God you can do it you created heat you melt stuff or how about just suck me out of this and drop me someplace else we pray an awful lot of prayers look what look what look what David says and in in the middle of this dark situation the one thing I ask is I could dwell in the house the Lord to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord now either David is so super spiritual that none of us can relate to him or he's on to something wonderful here now here's the first thing I want to say to you about this one thing I like is the honesty of this Psalm one thing I like is the honesty of the Psalms one thing I like is the honesty of scripture there are stories so tawdry and dark in Scripture that if they were in a paperback book at your local bookstore you wouldn't buy them and what we need to say is that biblical faith here I'm about to say will never require that you deny reality if you're playing monkey games with reality you may have achieved temporary peace but what you're exercising is not biblical faith I love how how honest Scripture is how it is able to look at the darkness of life in a fallen world with such honesty I love little references that are so completely honest like in Romans for word Bible says that Abraham considered the deadness of Sarah's womb how's that for specific but get this contrast if you make the darkness inside of you and the darkness outside of you your meditation you are going down look what he says one thing I have asked the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house or all of the days of my life to do what to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord here's what David knows that there's one that exists of such awesome gorgeous glorious beauty that he is way more beautiful than any ugly thing you will ever face in your life and grace has connected you to this beauty listen none of those things that get you down our ultimate his beauty is ultimate and here's the truth it's only as you look at the darkness inside of you and the darkness outside of you in light of the stunning beauty of your Savior that you ever see those things accurately and appropriately you must look through at life you must look at yourself to the lens of the gorgeous glorious beauty of the grace of the one who is light and life and salvation and refuge because only then that your heart will find rest David understands the danger of identity amnesia he understands when my future is at stake because this king wants to kill me or my family is at stake because my son wants to kill me I need to run but I need to run to the temple and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and remember they can take my kingdom they can destroy my family but they can't take my identity because it was never in their hands in the first place because the Lord is my light the Lord is my salvation the Lord is my stronghold I'm going to run and gaze upon his beauty because it's only then that I understand myself and my life the way it was meant to be understand and I would say to you run to his beauty run to his beauty run to his beauty enough of the meditation on all of your sin weakness and failure enough of your meditation on all the brokenness of the people around you enough of your meditation on the fallen sir world it's killing you it's destroying you it's an affection that deepens your amnesia gaze upon the beauty of the Lord let the glory of His grace watch over you again and rise up I will confess this is hard for me I'm a thinker guy I'm analytical I think too much and in the midst of all of that figuring things out I become part of the infection I breathe in the toxins of the plague and they become an identity amnesiac again and I'm filled with worry and burden and concern and disappointment that grace is meant to free me from so I want to give you homework get out your pencils and piece of paper don't look at me like you don't know what I meant there will be a quiz I want to encourage you to do something I'm going to just give you four words you really do fit with what we looked at the first is the word gaze I would deeply encourage you want to pass to you for a moment start everyday not with making sure that you complete your daily Bible reading so at the end of the year you can say you finished the Bible once again for the tenth year and the Royal House spiritual are you but sit with your Bible and do nothing but gaze upon the beauty of the Lord just stop stop the study stop the analysis stop all that stuff just gaze upon the beauty of the Lord so Paul I know how to do that go to Isaiah 40 probably 40 through 42 and let your heart explode with his beauty read the last several chapters of Jo with the grandeur of the Lord read Ephesians one there's a glory of his sovereign grace gaze upon the beauty of the Lord start every day that way second word remember remember this truth that has been so important to what I've said to you today that theology properly understood never just defines who God is but it redefines you as his children and remember that he is beautiful for you this beauty has been unleashed for you by His grace third word rest rest not because the people around you like you not because you figured life out not because you have things under control not for any of those reasons rest because grace has connected you to the one this one of such beauty and that frees you from ever again having to look for your identity anywhere else your identity is settled it's over it's done this is who you are in him rest I'm afraid that in our amnesia the one thing the Church of Jesus Christ is not good at at all is rest I am weary of talking to Christians who have no rest none it's such a massive contradiction and then fourth word now go out and act act go out and live bass now not on your rightness not on your control not on your cheat sheet that's not in your possessions not on your successes not on all of that stuff but based on who you have become by means of one thing gorgeous grace the Lord is my light the Lord is my salvation the Lord is my stronghold now hear the rhetorical question of whom then should I be afraid what's the answer say it no one nothing you

Channel: Paul David Tripp

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Length: 52min 14sec (3134 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 06 2014