Blessed self-forgetfulness

This post is based on one of Tim Keller's sermons, Blessed Self-forgetfulness - one of his best, in my opinion. I really recommend that you listen to all of it. I will re-cap a little and talk about how it relates to me and my life.

It's based on 1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7. Here are some of the highlights:

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of people's hearts. At that time each will receive their praise from God. (verses 3-5)

...then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (verses 6-7)

TK (Tim Keller) started off the sermon by talking about self-esteem and how this idea manifests differently in different cultures. While traditional cultures believe that people misbehave and there are problems because of high self-esteem, western (and more modern) cultures believe that societal problems stem from low self-esteem.

He goes on to talk about the natural state of the human self/ego, which is one of pride, which is defined as over-inflation. The natural state of the human ego is empty, painful, busy, and fragile. Pride is always competitive, as we are constantly comparing ourselves and building a resume for ourself to prove ourself in some way.

Then he continues with a discussion about how we (western, modern cultures) remedy our low self-esteem with high self-esteem, and are told to evaluate ourselves in some way. In this passage in Corinthians, Paul does not fall into this trap of attaining higher self-esteem. A lot of us might think that we have it right, because we don't worry about living up to other people's standards and instead live up to our own standards. But Paul says here that this is wrong -- we should not judge ourselves.

TK then talks about true humility. It does not mean that you have to think less of yourself, but think about yourself less. Catch the difference there? Blessed self-forgetfulness allows us to truly step outside of ourselves and really care about and love other people. Being self-forgetful does not mean that we hate OR love ourselves. True humility means that we are never devastated by criticism, and instead learn from it.

So how do we get this blessed self-forgetfulness that sounds so awesome? I mean I know that I for sure don't want to judge other people or myself, and I don't want to be affected by other people's judgments or my judgments about myself. The problem with self-esteem is that it puts us on trial everyday -- figuring out our self-worth and connecting our character with our actions. The solution that Paul offers is: GET OUT OF THE COURT ROOM! The Lord is the ultimate judge, and that's it. With the gospel, the verdict comes out before the performance. The verdict that we are loved, free, and forgiven then dictates our performance, and it's not the other way around.

We don't have to be on trial every day because Jesus went to trial for us as our substitute. How awesome is that? He took the condemnation that we deserve, and therefore, we don't have to take that condemnation! We don't have to go to trial and connect our sins to our self-worth.

We can re-live the gospel and walk out of the court room every day as we pray to truly take hold of our identity in our blessed self-forgetfulness. We should only care about what the Lord thinks of us, and He says that I am His child and He is well-pleased. AMEN!

The hardest part about this whole passage and sermon is the judging yourself part. Not only are we called not to judge others, but we are called to not judge ourselves. Yo, that's crazy. I am always evaluating my emotions, actions, self-esteem, identity, etc. and instead of actually doing much good, this forces me to be inwardly focused almost all of the time. True humility is not possible if we are constantly putting ourselves on trial, even if we have the best of intentions. So for real, let's all get out of the court room and live a life free from judgment and worries about self-esteem and self-worth.