If you are a Paul Tripp reader/listener/student. My guess is that you are growing in the gospel.
Thank you Paul Tripp for so enjoyably and refreshingly engaging my worldview with the same worldview I think I know from the WORD, only it sounds better, bigger, and truer. We believe that God is renovating the broken world around us and in us… that is all we talk about inside and outside of our church. It is the confidence with which we preach, do discipleship, small groups, etc. And we see SOOO much of it – brokenness in believers and unbelievers. Paul Tripp’s picture of that same worldview where Christ is coming to set up his kingdom of RESTORATION to this BROKEN WORLD is helpful and keen. Our days under the sun – well, they feel like vanity of vanities, because it is like living in a home that is broken down and amidst renovation. Is there anything worse than living in a transitioning home? Dust. Danger. Annoyance. Everything is different in remodel-land.
O God make us productive in this world – partners in your remodel and restoration of Creation – and not just passive survivors. Read below (in this case he is talking about WEAKNESS) and grow in the gospel…
You cannot release yourself or your surroundings from the affects of the Fall. You cannot assure that your body will be free of disease and sickness. You cannot independently free yourself or another from sin. You cannot reach in and alter the content of your own heart, let alone the heart of another. You cannot plant faith, courage, and hope into the soul of another person. You cannot assure that your government will have integrity and that your community will be safe. You cannot make your acquaintances respect you, and you cannot assure that your family members will treat you with love. You cannot keep yourself free from natural and environmental disaster. You cannot control the economic environment… Ou cannot lay out a personal life plan and know it will unfold without interruption. You cannot assure that your life will be easy and satisfying.
When you stop and look, you are faced with your smallness, your weakness, and your limits. But don’t get discouraged and don’t panic; reality is a healthy place to be. Think about it. Only when I humbly embrace my weakness, humbly admit my limits, and humbly recognize how small I actually am, can I begin to reach out for the help of a loving, powerful, and gracious Redeemer who is the true source of my strength, wisdom, and hope. Only then can I begin to function as an instrument in his powerful hands, rather than being in his way, because in forgetting who I am and who he is, I have been trying to do his job. (Paul David Tripp, Broken-Down House – Living Productively in a World Gone Bad, Shepherd Press, 2009)
Yep. God can do his RENOVATING job in/through/with me and you. But it will never be our job. Just CANNOT be.
Thanks Paul Tripp. Glad to be close to Philly. Gospel for weak and renovated people by osmosis. You’re welcome to come and visit our broken-down house of a Gospel-Growing church plant any day you’d like!
weak Christian 