On Christ The Solid Rock
Posted November 10th, 2009 by Tullian TchividjianMy forthcoming book, Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels, is finished–at least my work is done. It comes out in May but I should have my first copies by April (oh the painful wait!). And while I’m excited about the fact that it’s done, there’s always a sense of angst knowing that I cannot add to, or subtract anything from, the book. I’ll read something and think to myself, “I wish I could add that quote” or “I wish I would have said it more like this.”
This happened to me last night.
As a writer, reading Paul Tripp is always frustrating because he always says what I want to say but he says it so much better! Essentially, Surprised by Grace is a book on the gospel (taken from the book of Jonah) and few people understand the gospel better than Paul Tripp (if you’re not familiar with Paul, click here). He is a bona fide Christian realist. He refuses to underestimate either the seriousness of our remaining sin or the sweetness of God’s restoring salvation.
These breathtaking lines from his recent book, A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble, were used by God to re-orient me in a profound way.
Based on Psalm 27:5–”He will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock”–he writes:
We all look for it. We all refuse to live without it. We all think we’ve found it, but it can only really be found in one place. What is it that I’m talking about? Well, here it is: all human beings are on a search somehow someway to find that solid rock on which to stand. That one thing that they can bank on. That one thing that will keep them upright when the storms of life are raging. That one thing that will remain firm for the duration. That one thing that will give them security when nothing else does.
No human being enjoys feeling that he is living in the sinking sand of unpredictability, disappointment, and danger with no rock to reach for and stand on…We long for our lives to make sense. We long to have meaning and purpose, and we long to have lasting stability.
The problem is that the longer we live, the more we know that there is little around us in this fallen world that’s truly stable. I have a wonderful marriage to a lady who in many ways is my hero, but our marriage is still marred by our sin, and this reality still introduces pain and unpredictability into a relationship we have been working on for thirty-seven years! You may think your job is a source of stability, but a bit of a turn in the global economy could have you out on the street in a relatively short period of time. It may seem that your material possessions are permanent, but every physical thing that exists is in a state of decay, and even in its greatest longevity it doesn’t have the ability to quiet your heart.
So here is the dilemma of your humanity: you are clearly not in control of the details or destiny of your life, yet as a rational, purposeful, emotional being, you cry for a deep and abiding sense of well-being. In your quest, what you are actually discovering is that you were hardwired to be connected to Another. You weren’t hardwired to walk the pathway of life all by yourself. You weren’t hardwired to be independently okay. You weren’t hardwired to produce in yourself a system of experiences, relationships, and conclusions that would give you rest. You were designed to find your “solid rock” only in a dependent, loving, worshipful relationship with Another. In this way, every human being is on a quest for God; the problem is we don’t know that, and in our quest for stability, we attempt to stand on an endless catalog of God-replacements that end up sinking with us.
In fact, our inability to find security for ourselves is so profound that we’d never find on our own the One who is to be our rock; no, he must find us. The language of Psalm 27 is quite precise here: “He will lift me high upon a rock.” It doesn’t say, “I will find the rock and I will climb up on it.”
Here is the hope for every weary traveler whose feet are tired of the slippery instability of mud of a fallen world. Your weariness is a signpost. It’s meant to cause you to cry out for help. It’s meant to cause you to quit looking for your stability horizontally and begin to cry out for it vertically. It’s meant to put an end to your belief that situations, people, locations, possessions, positions, or answers will satisfy the longing of your heart. Your weariness is meant to drive you to God. He is the Rock for which you are longing. He is the one who alone is able to give to you the sense that all is well. And as you abandon your hope in the mirage rocks of this fallen world and begin to hunger for the true Rock, he will reach out and place you on solid ground.
There is a Rock to be found. There is an inner rest to be experienced that’s deeper than conceptual understanding, human love, personal success, and the accumulation of possessions. There is a rock that will give you rest even when all of those things have been taken away. That rock is Christ, and you were hardwired to find what you are seeking in him. In his grace, he won’t play hide-and-seek with you. In your weakness and weariness, cry out to him. He will find you, and he will be your Rock.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I’m looking forward with great anticipation to the release of your next book, Pastor T. i loved Unfashionable…
November 11th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
For me, it seems that the battle is to keep standing on that solid Rock. Because the trials and temptations of life sometimes challenge my hope and trust in that Rock, but, thanks to God, He is always faithful even when I am unfaithful. Strange way indeed, but another facet of grace, that though I feel like giving up and giving in at times, He keeps pushing me to push on and lifts me up and places me on that solid Rock when I stumble and fall. Talk about perseverance of the saints, because God perseveres with me.
Wow! looks like I just threw in a jumble of words.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Tullian,
Just wanted to remind you that God speaks the gospel through you profoundly. We may look at the Tripps or the Spurgeons or the Grahams, but it is the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, which pricks the heart and cuts to the quick, which edifies and causes growth in grace, yet through broken, marred and deceitfully wicked vessels. Their only claim to fame is that they are His! That gives us all hope.
Christ in us is truly “the hope of glory”. Let us press in to Him.
November 12th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Pastor Tullian
you are correct Paul Tripp does say it better, just joking, I agree with David Schwartz, you re a great expositor.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I agree with David and Paul. It is inspiring to consider how God uses ordinary men to accomplish extraordinary things.
A family trip to the “Billy Graham Training Center” a few years back caused us to contemplate just such a prospect. We took note that although Billy Graham and his grandson Tullian Tchividjian were on two uniquely distinctive paths, great similarities in their call not trust in their own abilities, but pursue and lead others to the one Solid Rock was what set them apart.
As we made my way down the halls filled with photographs of world-wide evangelistic outreaches, we were drawn to the narratives on Billy Graham’s early years. It seems when Billy was just a lad his mother being at her wits end with concern for his energy level brought the boy to the family physician for counsel. Assuring the young mother that all was well, he told her “It’s just the way Billy’s wired”.
Tullian’s parents had similar concerns for their child too. In fact theirs was so energetically wired that trouble and rebellion soon ensued upon his young teenage years. At the young age of twenty-one God rescued Tullian and set his heart on a new direction. Similar to his grandfather, God had other plans for all that vigor and drive - in Tullian’s complete surrender to God’s calling his energy became a divine enablement - a Spiritual fire to set seeking hearts ablaze.
As we walked a little further down the corridor we couldn’t help but notice Billy Graham’s ease of communications in the photos that were taken of him in meetings with everyone from concession stand workers, to dignitaries, and movie stars. What gives a person who is simple in heart the ability to converse with what might seem to the average person an intimidating audience?
In Tullian’s life it is a confessed love and eager anticipation to genuinely know people. From the pulpit he expresses what he calls his “people cravings” a true and sincere desire to know and nurture the soul of an individual. You’ll be sure to find Tullian after service right down with the people where you’ll often hear his laughter reverberating through the crowd. One rarely leaves his presence without truly feeling cared for.
Continuing on in our tour of the “Training Center” we were moved by the later years of Billy Graham’s photos. The commitment to humble means when wealth and prosperity were at his finger tips has become a testimony and witness to the watching world. One of the photos on the wall was of Muhammad Ali visiting his home in the mountains. Of Mr. Graham he says: “When I arrived at the airport, Mr. Graham himself was waiting for me. I expected to be chauffeured in a Rolls Royce or at least a Mercedes, but we got in his Oldsmobile and he drove it himself. I couldn’t believe he came to the airport driving his own car. When we approached his home I thought he would live on a thousand-acre farm and we drove up to this house made of logs. No mansion with crystal chandeliers and gold carpets, it was the kind of house a man of God would live in. I look up to him.”
Tullian’s choices have exhibited similar values in this “more is greater” driven world. Successfully pastoring in a large and thriving church in the Tennessee area, Tullian heeded the call to give up all the comforts and built-in safeties that accompany such a grand ministry for the “less is more” perspective in starting a church from scratch in Florida. Not many men have the ability to do what most people consider as going backwards instead of forward. His decision to come to Coral Ridge was no different. He flatly declined the invitation to be considered until it was more than evident that God was calling him to step up to the plate.
The differences between grandfather and grandson are intriguing; one a country boy who loves the outside the other a city boy who likes air-conditioning and sushi; one a dynamic evangelist delivering the Gospel in simplicity and power, the other a studied and gifted teacher delivering the Gospel in great depth and insight; one a Baptist, and the other a Presbyterian.
However, it is not these interesting facts of individualism that set these two men apart, but the great similarity in fire and fervor - the love of both God and people. Neither one of these men see themselves exceptional men of God but rather As Billy Graham himself has said “I am only one in a glorious chain of men and women God has raised up through the centuries to build Christ’s church and to take the gospel everywhere.”
November 14th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Well spoken words by Dr. Paul Tripp. Just recently my wife and I have moved from Philadelphia area to here in south Florida. I was going to pharmacy school there. As we attended Tenth Presbyterian we had the privilege of listening to Dr. Tripp many times. I very much miss the ministries of Tenth and everyone there. The Word was preached with such power and depth and the ministries were life changing for me. Coral Ridge seems to be an answer to prayers. I look forward to more involvement and seeing what God has in store for us as we look to Him.
November 15th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Tullian,
I thank God for using you mightily in delivering today’s sermon. I didn’t have time to let you know what a blessing it was this morning, but it was just what I needed to hear today. When you talked about self-reliance, I lost it and started crying. You see, at work last night I had been thinking about how self-reliant I am and how I want to handle everything myself. I was despairing because I realized that I can’t do it all. Today, I was overcome by joy when you reminded me that I don’t have to do it all–Jesus has already done it all for me.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:13 am
I needed to hear that Candace! Amen!
November 17th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Dear Pastor Tullian
We love reading your blogs and listening to your sermons via the audio on this website. We Thank the Lord for giving Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church such a wonderful “Pastor/Teacher” of the Word of God!!! We are still praying for your Dad and trust the Lord he is doing better.
My wife’s father is in a nursing home as a result of a sevre auto accident a little over a year ago now. She told him about your book “Unfashionable” and he said he wanted to read it. So she is getting it for him as a Christmas gift!!! We have already pre-ordered your new book and look forward to reading it. God richly bless you in your labors for HIM!
January 21st, 2010 at 1:59 pm
[…] Tullian’s Blog Post on: On Christ The Solid Rock : http://www.crpc.org/blog/?p=752 (Thank you Pastor Tullian, and thank you Paul Tripp!) Categories: Counseling Comments […]