Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

To summarize, Paul David Tripp in Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change seeks to encourage all the church to be the church, building one another up as they are transformed by the gospel themselves. He begins by showing his readers that sin is what is wrong with the world, whether improperly handling turmoil or blessing, seeking for things to be better on our own, etc.; and the only answer to the sin problem is Christ the Redeemer. Thus, mankind ultimately needs Jesus, not health, wealth, the American Dream, self-esteem, etc.

Furthermore, Tripp emphasizes that all Christians are part of the same body, gifted to encourage and build one another up with His Word for God's glory alone. Life is not our party, but it is God's party. He is to be the center of all creation's attention and even the center of His own attention. In the Garden, man fell for the same reason men do today, the sinful desire to be autonomous like God. When counseling one another, we must therefore point back to the root of sin to make sure we're not merely treating symptoms instead of the problem. Tripp ends this work by offering practical suggestions to help his readers better counsel one another biblically by answering and dealing with the heart issue.

Personal Application

Unfortunately, I am not perfectly sanctified yet. Tripp's emphasis on the Word therefore was definitely refreshing. When he says in chapter 2 that the church wants the Word preached, but they don't think about the Word of God counseling, it struck a chord with me. Similar to other lessons in this course, my inconsistency has been revealed. Tripp is right, preaching the Word and counseling the Word are the same things, the context and audience merely change. I must trust in the Word of God more than I have in the past. If the Word must be preached, then it must be counseled as well. Whether it's to a crowd or one on one, the Word of God is still powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. So, I must consistently trust the Word to do God's work from the pulpit as well as from the pew.

Furthermore, Tripp's detailing of self-worship that still uses the Scriptures, was spot-on. He is correct in the truth that Christians largely want a quick answer without dealing with the root of the problem. When we have problems, we get a concordance, examine all the verses that deal with the subject, and we apply what we believe to be the most relevant verses. The problem with this emphasis is if we diagnose the problem incorrectly. For example, if our marriage is struggling, because we are sinful, we will largely see everything that is wrong with our spouse, not diagnosing our own sinfulness in the process. Thus, we often find verses that answer the perceived problem, while never really getting at the problem. Often, we are the problem as much as our spouse; for we doubt the gospel, doubt that the abundant life is found in Christ, and we expect our spouse to fulfill all of our needs. Without even realizing it, we are being very selfish. Also, if we are not careful, we will counsel one another, treating only symptoms of the problem instead of the real problem. Tripp has helped me to seek the root of the problem in counseling instead of merely treating symptoms or misdiagnosing the problem altogether.