Sunday, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness and the Natural Condition of the Ego

PASTOR TIM KELLER OF REDEEMER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN MANHATTAN has just published a splendid little book-ette called the Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, The Path to True Christian Joy. This tiny little jewel is only 46 pages long but power-packed and concentrated with Gospel wisdom and interpretation for believers who are willing to look more closely at themselves. The book centers around a section of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians---1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7-21

So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[a] or the world or life or death or the present or the future —all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

The Nature of True Apostleship

4 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7 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?

Will be quoting from this little book for the next few weeks and hope you find it edifying as I do. The quote below is from the book's preface asking the question what is the root cause of human evil and dis-ease in the world?

Keller writes:

Up until the twentieth century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world today) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the world.....this was called hubris---the Greek word meaning pride or too high a view of yourself. Traditionally that was given for why people misbehave.

But, in our modern western culture, we have developed an utterly opposite cultural consensus. The basis of contemporary education, the way we treat incarcerated prisoners, the foundation of most modern legislation and the starting point for modern counselling is exactly the opposite of the traditional consensus.

Our belief today---and it is deeply rooted in everything---is that people misbehave for lack of self-esteem and because they have too low a view of themselves.

A few years ago, there was an article in the NYT by psychologist Lauren Slater called 'The Trouble with Self-Esteem.' It wasn't a ground-breaking article or a bolt out of the blue. She was simply beginning to report what experts have known for years. The significant thing she says is that there is no evidence that low self-esteem is a big problem in society....She quotes three current studies into the subject of self-esteem, all of which reach this conclusion and she states that 'people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the source of our biggest, most expensive social problems.

Today it is so deeply rooted in our psyche that lack of self-esteem is the reason why there is drug addiction, the reason why there is crime, wife beating and so forth. Slater says it is going to take forever for this view to change.

You see, the thing about the 'low self-esteem theory of misbehaviour' is that it is very attractive. You do not have to make any moral judgments (of right and wrong) in order to deal with society's problems. All you have to do is support people and build them up. In traditional cultures,, the way you dealt with these problems was that you clamped down on people and convicted them. You called them bad!

What is intriguing about this passage in 1 Corinthians is that it gives us an approach to self-regard, an approach to the self and way of seeing ourselves that is absolutely different from both traditional and modern contemporary cultures.

Utterly different. The three things Paul shows us in this passage are: 1)The natural condition of the human ego. 2) The transformed sense of self, brought about through the Gospel. 3) How to get that transformed sense of self.

So which is it that causes all the misery of mankind---too high or too low self-esteem? Stay tuned in coming weeks or buy this wonderful little primer in transformation.

Thanks for coming by.