How To Forget Yourself

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Thanks for joining us. As human beings, we are aware of

ourselves. That's just a principle.

We are aware of ourselves, and there are no indications that

any of the animals that we know about are aware of themselves at

all. Now it may seem far fetched to

you, but check this out. We may be the only creatures in

all of the universe that have self-awareness.

Like as big as the universe is, we may be the only creatures

that are aware that we exist. This is what scientists teach

and this is what scientists believe.

Now because we are self aware, this is one of the things that

happens to us. We run the risk of constantly

being in self-assessment mode, self-assessment mode.

Have you ever wondered what other people are thinking about

you? Have you ever wondered what

other people are thinking about you?

There was two people who said yes.

I just don't. I will stop now.

If it's only two of you. I'll go to lunch with them and

we'll do this sermon. Have you ever wondered what

people are thinking about you? OK, it's good.

All right. We're all now.

This is a sermon you can all use then.

All right. There are no indications that

your dog does that. There is no indications that a

kangaroo does that. They probably don't.

At least there's no evidence to suggest they do.

But we do we we assess ourselves because we're aware of

ourselves. How am I doing?

And we wonder what other people are thinking about us.

And here's the deal. These evaluations, whether

they're our own evaluations or the perceived evaluations of

others, they don't just stay in their in our heads.

Those evaluations shape our ego. Now, what is ego?

This word ego, what does that mean?

Well, ego is simply your sense of worth and value, your ego.

Everybody has an ego. You have an ego.

It's your own sense of worth and value yourself regard how

valuable, how worth, how much you think you're worth.

Our ego. Your ego is always asking for a

verdict, always, all the time. Your ego is asking questions

like this. How am I doing?

Do I like people? Do I matter?

A big one that almost all of your egos and my ego is asking.

And the world's ego is asking. Is this question right here?

You ready? Am IA good person?

Am IA good person. I will have people tell me

sometimes, Stephen, this person made me so mad I could drown

them. I know that doesn't make me a

good person. I'm like, yeah, you're right.

That would not make you a good person, but the fact that you're

asking that question am IA good person, you're wondering if

you're a good person. Again, there's no evidence to

suggest that your dog or a kangaroo are asking those

questions. This is a uniquely human thing.

Now the Apostle Paul, we're going to be in the, the letter

to Corinthians chapter, the 1st letter, so first Corinthians, if

you want to go there. The Apostle Paul in his first

letter to the Corinthians, he shows us a different way to live

with our egos because we all have an ego.

We all have a sense of what we're worth and what we and how

much we, how valuable we are and our be our egos always looking

for a verdict. How's it doing?

How are we doing? And Paul offers us a different

way to live, how we can be aware of ourselves, but not always be

searching for a verdict from others or from ourselves and not

let the verdict of others or ourselves determine our value.

Do you see the problem? Because we're always looking for

a verdict, whether it's from ourselves or from others, We let

their verdict or our own verdict determine our value.

And Paul says there's a different way you can live with

your ego. Your ego can actually be

healthy. It can actually not be looking

for a verdict and not be defined by those verdicts.

So First Corinthians chapter 3 and what's happening in the

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

church there on the occasion of this particular part of the

letter is there's division in a church.

Does anyone find that surprising?

There's division in a church and you will never believe what the

division is over. The conflict is over which

leader is the best. I mean, they're literally having

the same argument. We have Jack or Tiger, Peyton or

Eli. Eli, come on, you can't be

serious. Tom Brady, bro Dayton or Tom,

right? You know, Jack or Tiger, Like

the, the, the church is literally going who's the best

minister and preacher of the gospel?

And one group is saying it's Paul who happens to be writing

this letter. It's Paul, we're team Paul.

And then the other group is like, we're Team Apollos.

Now. They're not just simply arguing

about these leaders. Now, this is important.

These people are getting their sense of ego and their sense of

importance inside the church with who they align with.

They're like, hey, our guy Paulos is better than your guy

Paul. So we're the better Christians.

We're the better team. And no, no, no, our guy Paul's

the better guy. He was blinded on the road to

Damascus. Do you remember?

Our guy Paul's the better guy. So we're the better team.

We're the better group, right? And so it's not just they're

arguing who is the best that we might argue over Jack and Tiger

and throw out stats. They're getting their own sense

of worth and their own sense of value from their alignment.

In other words, the churches in the Christians in Corinth are

building coalitions around different leaders for their own

sense of value, their own sense of importance.

That is the human ego in action, friend.

Anytime we try to leverage something or someone to make

ourselves feel better about ourselves, we're seeing the

human ego in its natural condition.

Anytime you're trying to feel better about yourself, that's

the ego, the natural ego at work.

So Paul offers a different way to live to these Christians.

So let's pick it up in chapter 3.

We're going to start in verse 21.

We're going to read all the way through chapter 4, verse seven.

OK, this is what it says. So then, no more boasting about

human leaders. All things are yours, whether

Paul or Paulus or Cephas. Cephas is most likely Peter,

another Christian. You know, Peter that wrote some

of the New Testament, or the world, or life or death or

present or future. All are yours and you are of

Christ, and Christ is of God. This then is how you ought to

regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the

mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those

who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

I carry very I care very little if I'm judged by you.

This is important. I carry very little if I am

judged by you or by any human court.

Indeed, I do not even want 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 until the Lord comes.

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will

expose the motives of the heart. And that time each will receive

their praise from God. 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. Then you will not be puffed up

in being a follower of the one 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?

So if you're a note taker this morning, I'm going to give you

the three ideas so you kind of know how we're doing on this

sermon. You ready #1?

We're going to talk about our ego and its natural state.

We all have an ego. It's all in its natural state.

We're going to talk about our ego and its natural state #2

We're going to talk about Paul's surprising freedom.

Paul's surprising freedom. And then #3 we're going to talk

about the final verdict. The final verdict.

You guys got it. So first of all, our ego and its

natural state. Paul uses an interesting word in

verse 6 of chapter 4. He says basically in verse 6, if

you have your Bibles, your phones, look at it again.

He says basically in verse 6, he says, I have shared all of this

stuff I'm sharing with you. I've shared it with you so that

you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us

over another. Now there's the word puffed up.

The word puffed up is translated to mean something like distended

or expanded beyond a healthy condition.

We might use a word called swollen in our in our

vernacular, in our English language, Like if if your knee

gets injured, it is everybody say swollen, swollen.

And So what? Paul is using a word he says,

hey, I I've shared all this with you so you would not be puffed

up. Well, what does he mean to you

would not be puffed up. What it was is the you like he's

not talking about our bodies being puffed up.

So he's talking about something other than our bodies being

puffed up. Well, what is he talking about?

He's talking about our ego. Yeah.

Our ego, our sense of self, our sense of worth.

He's like, hey, I'm telling you all this stuff because I don't

want you guys to be puffed up in your ego.

And I think this word is a perfect way to describe the

human ego in its natural condition because that's our

first point this morning. It's a perfect word because this

word puffed up suggests 4 things about the human ego, about the

natural condition of the human ego.

You ready to hear the four things?

Our ego, your ego in its natural condition is empty, painful,

busy and fragile. It's empty, painful, busy and

fragile. So first of all, our egos are

empty, meaning because we're puffed up.

If you blow up a balloon and it gets really big, what's inside

the balloon air, right? That the balloon is empty, it's

distended. And so our egos, like a balloon

being blown up is has a lot of empty space in it, filled with

nothing. So this is what happens.

We as human beings find ourselves trying to build our

lives onto something. Now think about this again.

This is a uniquely human condition problem.

Kangaroos don't have this problem.

We try to build our lives on a career.

We try to build our lives on money.

We even try to build our lives on things like family.

Like if I have a good family, a healthy family, look at me, I'm

successful. Look at what I have.

We build our lives on anything. What are we trying to do when

we're building our lives on either money or on career or on

family or or whatever it is you're trying to build your life

on? Maybe it's just leisure and

having a good time. Whatever it is you're trying to

build your life on, you're trying to feel that emptiness

that we all sense in ourselves, a sense of emptiness.

And if you build your life on anything other than God, here's

a rule, If you build your life on anything other than God, it's

going to rattle around inside of you because it doesn't fit into

that empty space that is our ego in its natural condition.

It's going to rattle around inside of us.

And so our ego #1 is empty. The natural condition of our

human ego is empty #2 the natural condition of our ego is

it's painful. It's naturally painful.

You know, everyone right now can, can you just take your

right arm and just kind of move it around a little bit, Just

smooth your right arm a little bit.

Just come on, everybody do it. Everybody's shoulders working

pretty good. Some of you didn't do it.

This is an all skate. OK?

Very good. So is anybody.

So everybody's shoulder feeling pretty good.

Everybody's got a pretty good shoulder.

All right. No, no.

OK, good. All right, so here's the thing.

All right, hold on. Do you notice how who's had

shoulder pain before? Yeah, Shoulder pain ain't no

joke, right? Like shoulder pain will.

It will make you want to be completely still and don't talk

to anybody. So you notice, though, that if

your shoulder doesn't hurt, like if it just works, you don't

think about it. Like nobody gets up during the

day and like they're doing thing and they're like, oh, check this

out. My shoulders are working good.

Unless they recently overcame a, you know, an, you know, an

injury, you know, you don't walk around during the day going,

Hey, look, my toes are just helping me keep my balance.

They're so perfect. Oh, look at my elbow.

Look at my my elbow's just doing this thing, right?

They're not painful unless they're injured.

You with me, your shoulder, your elbow, your knees and toes,

they're not painful unless they're injured.

And here's the thing about our egos.

In the natural state, our egos are oftentimes painful because

our egos are not healthy. They're not working right.

Your ego, and my ego is easily offended.

Nobody said Amen. Nobody likes to admit we're

easily offended. We're easily.

Our egos are easily offended. They're easily discouraged.

Somebody says something to you and you get easily discouraged.

When someone criticizes us, we immediately feel angry or sad or

vengeful. Why?

Because our egos, in their natural state, are not working

right. And just like when an elbow is

not working right, it's painful, when an ego is not working

right, it's painful. So our egos are empty.

They're painful. And thirdly, our egos are busy

in their natural state. They're busy.

Our egos are busy trying to make up for the emptiness and the

pain that it feels. And what are we busy doing?

You know, the Paul says, I don't want you to be puffed up.

Well, the you is the ego. Well, what is our ego busy

doing? It's so busy doing what?

Comparing ourselves to others, right?

We're so busy because of the pain, because of the emptiness.

We, we, we got to look at others to see how we're doing.

And, and sometimes when we look at others, we think we're doing

better than others. OK, we look at some people and

we go, I'm doing better than that guy.

And then sometimes we look at others and we think, and that

guy's doing better than me. I'm not doing as good.

I feel, I feel worse about myself.

My, my ego's busy either way. Our egos are thinking about

ourselves a lot and comparing ourselves to others a lot.

You see, the believers in Corinth, we're not just puffed

up. They were puffed up about their

favorite church leader. It was comparison that led to

their being puffed up. Our egos in their natural state

are busy comparing something CS Lewis talks about with pride.

He says we don't have pride in being rich.

We have pride in being richer than our neighbor.

So at the basis of pride is comparison.

We don't have pride in our house.

We have pride in that our house is nicer than our neighbors.

And this is what this is the natural condition of the human

ego. It's busy, so it's empty, it's

painful. And because it's empty and

painful is busy, busy comparing. And then lastly, our ego and

their natural condition is fragile.

It's fragile. Anything overinflated like a

balloon. If you blow a balloon up really

big and you tie it off, what might happen to that balloon

with just a little bit of a bump or you drop what it's going to

pop? Our egos are the same way.

They're overinflated, they're distended, and it's at the risk

of being deflated or bursting. When our egos are puffed up and

empty, this is what happens. And this is true for every

single one of us. We swing.

We swing violently between a superiority complex and an

inferiority complex. Is it true?

It's true because our egos are not healthy, because they're in

their natural state. They're empty, painful.

Now they're fragile. And here's how that fragility

shows up. A ditch on the left that feels

like I'm better than others, and a ditch on the right that feels

like I'm worse than others. And we swing between those two

ditches. And those two things sound very

different, but they're actually the result of the same sickness.

The sickness of a natural ego. Most of us live this way,

bouncing from one ditch to the other.

We rarely travel down the center of the road where our ego is

just healthy, where it's just working.

And we don't think about it because like a healthy elbow, it

doesn't demand attention. Here's the thing.

One moment you feel better than others and the next you feel

less than others. And it all depends on the room

you're in and the circumstances that you can't control.

And here's the effect of this puffed up ego.

Here's the effect of of walking around with a natural ego in

your everyday life. Like we all do.

We all. We all walk around with this

empty, painful, busy, fragile ego swinging from superiority to

inferiority, from the ditch of feeling better about ourselves

than others or feeling worse about ourselves than others.

Here's the effect. Here's what happens to you.

You and I are always in court looking for a verdict.

Which ditch do I belong in? Should I feel better than

others, or should I feel worse than others?

We're looking for a verdict and we don't realize it, but we live

our lives in a courtroom and every day feels like a trial.

And we're constantly asking these questions.

How did I do? How do they see me?

Am I enough? And in that courtroom, there's

always a prosecution. You know, that prosecution's

always reminding you of your failures.

So we're always reminding of your personality flaws.

It's always reminding you of what's wrong with you.

And there's always a defense in that courtroom.

And what does the defense do inside of a courtroom?

It always points to your accomplishments.

Well, yeah. Yeah.

You, you're not so great in that area, and you're kind of bad

over there. But you know what?

You're really good in this area, and you're really awesome in

this area. And you're living in this

constant trial looking for a verdict.

And this is how we live our lives every single day.

And we wonder why we're so tired.

It's because we're always on trial in our own heads.

We're always on trial. Now listen to what Paul says.

And this is shocking. What Paul gives us is shocking

it because we don't have a category for this.

We don't understand what Paul says because it's it shocks us

because we don't have a category for these words.

Paul has surprising freedom. That's our second point this

morning. We're going to look verses 3 and

4 of chapter 4. Paul's surprising freedom.

Listen to what he says 3 and 4 Now this is this is Paul's free

from the natural ego. He's not like us.

He says 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.

You see it all right Now Paul is offering an alternative way to

live than our natural ego works. So Paul is saying, I'm not in

the courtroom anymore. All of you are still in the

courtroom. You're looking you're you're

being puffed up over which leader you're aligned with.

Paul says, I don't do that anymore.

I'm not looking for a verdict anymore.

He says. I don't listen.

I don't look for your verdict. I don't look for society's

verdict. And this is the surprising part,

he says. In fact, I don't even look for a

verdict from myself. So I don't look for society's

verdict any court. I don't look for your verdict,

and I don't even look for a verdict from myself.

Yeah. So most of us, when we think a

sermon like this, the advice that we would give young people

and the advice we kind of give ourselves standing in the mirror

is something like this. You know what?

I don't care what other people think about me.

Anybody ever said that to themselves, right.

Sounds just like you, right. I don't care what I I'm going to

do me. I don't care what other people

think about me. And So what we assume the

solution is, we assume the solution is to only care what we

think about ourselves. That's what we think the

solution is. But that's a trap.

It's a trap. It's a trap to go.

I'm the only judge that matters. That's not what Paul is saying,

by the way. I'm the only judge that matters.

That's a trap. Do you know why?

Because most of us cannot live up to our own standards.

Walk around with a recorder hanging around your neck for

just a week and record every word of judgement to a friend or

a neighbor or a Co worker and then listen back to it.

And what you will realize is about 1/3 of the things that you

condemn in others, you are guilty of yourself.

Have you ever yelled at anybody in traffic and then a week later

did the exact same thing? So to say, well, I only care.

I only care about my judgement. Well, it doesn't work.

It's a trap because we can't even live up to our own

standards. We know that now we can lower

our standards and be like, well I'm doing pretty good now

because I lowered my standards so low that I feel, but then you

know, you're the kind of person just lowered standards to feel

good about yourself. Do you see how it's a trap?

It's a trap to say, well, I only care about judging myself either

way, whether you worry about the judgement of others or you just

say I'm going to worry about my judgement of myself only, either

way, the courtroom stays open and your life is tired.

So what's different about Paul is this.

This is strange. This is going to be hard for you

because our brains don't think this way.

Paul does not get his sense of worth from meeting anyone's

standards. He does not look and say I've

met these standards. Now I feel valuable, neither his

own nor someone else's. Paul is free from the courtroom

of comparison. He's not swinging from

inferiority to superiority. He's not going from this ditch

to that ditch. He's staying in the center of

the road and his ego is just healthy.

Now, is Paul claiming to be some kind of moral superior person?

He's just really good and This is why he can live this way.

Well, that would not make any sense because it is the apostle

Paul who wrote these words in a letter to a protege.

First Timothy chapter one, verse 15.

Paul said this, so he's not claiming that moral High Road.

Listen to this. He says, here's a trustworthy

saying that deserves fooled acceptance.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom what I

am the worst. So this is not Paul saying,

well, I've just become so morally better than everyone

that I can feel good about myself because I'm better than

you. Now.

This is how our brains work. If we just become better than

other people, then we can feel good about ourselves.

But Paul does not live in that courtroom.

You see, Paul knows that he's a Sinner and he knows at the same

time he's a Sinner. He's also done some amazing

things for God. That those two things are true

at the same time. Isn't that mind boggling to us?

We have a hard time wrapping our head around that because we're

like, well, if you've done bad things, then it washes

everything else out good that you've done and now you should

feel terrible about yourself. And Paul says, no, no, I'm not

living in that world. He doesn't let his failures or

his accomplishments determine his worth.

He can listen to criticism without being devastated or

being defensive. That lot of lot of y'all didn't

get that. He can listen to criticism

without being devastated or defensive.

I don't have enough time. I don't have enough time.

I'm so guilty of this. Somebody will criticize me.

You don't criticize A sermon Sunday after I preach.

Call me on Tuesday. Nobody likes.

No, no mother likes to be told 5 minutes after their baby's born,

their baby's ugly. Tell them.

Tell them a few weeks later, hey, your baby's kind of ugly.

I mean, figured you knew it by now.

I thought I'd tell you. Nobody likes to.

You don't. But I've had people come to me

right after the service and criticize something I said in

the sermon. And I like want to take the

stool here and like slap them across the face with it.

And I, you know, I'm confessing that I'm, I'm giving Paul a run

for his money on being the worst Sinner.

My point is this is that I'm guilty of this.

And the Paul's like, hey, I can take criticism and not be

devastated and not be defensive. Now, this is also true of Paul.

Paul says I can receive praise without being inflated.

Oh man, how badly I want that to be true of me.

To be able to receive your praise and say thank you and not

let it inflate my ego. What a gift he has.

So Paul is free. He doesn't live in either ditch.

How is Paul free? If the verdict doesn't come from

others according to Paul, and the verdict doesn't come from

himself according to Paul, then where does it come from?

Where does he get this verdict to walk with a healthy ego?

How does he live this way? And this is the Third Point.

So we have #1 our natural ego #2 Paul's surprising freedom, and

then #3 the final verdict. Well, Paul answers the question

in verse 4. Listen to what Paul says in

verse four. He says, my conscience is clear,

but that does not make me innocent.

It is the Lord who judges me. There's your answer.

It is the Lord who judges me. Paul is not saying there's no

such thing as judgement. He's like, he's not saying

there's not going to be any judgement.

Like, you know, just be, live your life and whatever happens,

happens. He's not saying that at all.

He's saying there is going to come judgement.

There is judgement. He's saying that ultimately the

only judgement that matters to him is not his own judgement or

your judgement. The only judgement that matters

to him is whose judgement? God's judgement, the Lord's

judgement. Remember, you and I are living

in a courtroom. We're always asking for a

verdict. Am I successful?

Am I, do I matter? Am I good?

And that constant search is why your ego and my ego is so

anxious. We need to know that our lives

count. So how does Paul say that God

alone judges him and yet find freedom instead of fear?

Because most of us, if I say God's going to judge you, what

do we immediately feel? Fear, fear, guilt, shame, like,

Oh my gosh, God's like Stephen's going to preach on judgement

like this is terrible and scary. But Paul says he finds freedom

in knowing that only God is his judge.

How does he find freedom in knowing that only God is his

judge? He's liberated.

How is this possible? He says I'm not worried about my

judgement of me. I'm not worried about your

judgement of me. I only, I'm only worried about I

only think about God's judgement of me.

Doesn't even say he's worried about it, just says the Lord is

my judge. That's all he says.

That's all he's concerned about. The Lord is my judge.

How does that give him freedom? How does that release him?

You ready? Because he actually believes the

gospel. He actually believes the gospel.

Romans chapter 8, verses 1 and 2.

Romans 8:1

The apostle Paul wrote these words, these beautiful words,

the foundation of much of what we believe about the gospel.

This is what Paul said. Therefore there is now no what

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through

Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set

you free from the law of sin and death.

It doesn't say in cry for the for go back to verse one.

Go back to verse one. It doesn't say.

Therefore there is a little condemnation.

It doesn't say. Therefore there might be some

condemnation for some if maybe possibly doesn't say that, does

it? What is this?

This is the foundation of the gospel.

Paul says, therefore there is now what?

No condemnation. So Paul actually believes the

believes the gospel. Paul can say I'm not worried

about your judgement of me. I'm not worried about my

judgement of me because God is the only judge that matters and

he has already rendered a judgement.

In other words, court is adjourned, it's over, judgement

is done. God has already rendered A

verdict. Paul's not claiming innocence.

He's not saying I'm not done anything wrong or I'm a good

guy. He's not doing any of that.

On fact, it's the opposite. Paul says point blank, I'm not

innocent, but Paul's essentially saying is I am guilty, but I am

not condemned. And friend, we don't have a

category for that. We're all trying to deny our

guilt all the time or somehow compensate for it and pay for

it. And Paul says no, no, no, I'm

guilty. I'm just not condemned.

I'm just not condemned. There's no condemnation.

We don't have a category for that.

You see, Christianity teaches that Jesus took just and

condemnation for our guilt so that you could stand fully

accepted and never condemned by God.

That's what Christianity teaches.

And that is how Paul is free from the judgement of others and

from the judgement of himself. Because Paul knows that the

courtroom is closed, the verdict is in.

Jesus Christ has taken my condemnation for me, and I can

now be free from that condemnation.

You see, only this is important. Only in Christianity do you

receive the verdict before you perform.

You see, the way we think is you perform and then you get a

verdict. If you perform well, then you

get a good verdict. Every other worldview gets this

differently. See, in Christianity we perform

from our verdict, not for our verdict.

Can I say it again? We perform from our verdict, not

for our verdict. In every other worldview,

including atheistic humanism, that order is reversed.

If you perform good enough and well enough and long enough,

then maybe you'll secure some worth and identity and value.

And the gospel of Jesus Christ is the polar opposite.

You get the verdict before the performance.

We perform from our verdict. And every time I preach this and

every time I teach this, I can feel the resistance in the room

because it's scandalous. We don't have a category for I

am guilty but not condemned. It seems unbelievable.

Jesus went into the courtroom on your behalf and from his

punishment you receive forgiveness of sin and right

standing before God who grew up singing the old hymn Rock of

Ages. What does it say Be for sin?

A What kind of cure? A double cure.

Go home and read that hymn Be for Sin, a double cure.

How is the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ a double cure for our

sin? Because He cures us of our guilt

and it gives us the righteousness that we need to be

with God. It's a double cure.

And this is how I can have 0 condemnation.

This is why Paul says that having God as his only judge

brings him freedom instead of fear.

He's free from the judgment of others.

He's free from the judgment of himself because the judgment of

God is already done. Christ took his just punishment

and he now is declared righteous with God.

That's finished. The work was finished on the

cross. And this is the freedom that the

gospel offers you. You do not have to think poorly

of yourself. You do not have to think highly

of yourself. The gospel allows you to live in

the middle of the ditches. You ready to forget yourself.

That's what the gospel allows us to do.

And what a gift that is. What a gift that is.

Now you can listen without defending.

You can serve without needing appreciation.

You can love others without trying to use them to prop up

your ego. The gospel makes this kind of

life possible. It's the alternative that Paul

offers. But how can you live this way?

Because here's the fact of the matter.

The courtroom opens every single day.

When you get up in the morning, the courtroom is going to open

every single day. You're not as pretty as them.

You're not as athletic as them. You're not as nice as them.

You're better than they are. You're smarter than they are.

What is the ego doing? Well, that's empty.

It's painful, it's busy. It's fragile.

It needs to feel better about itself.

So every day the courtroom is going to open.

And since the courtroom opens every day, do you know what you

need to do every day and I need to do every day, Every single

day. I need to read the verdict over

my life every single day. There is therefore now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

I have to read the verdict over every single day.

We have to read the verdict about ourselves.

Hey, I don't have to prove anything today.

I'm free to love with grace and truth.

I am loved. I am forgiven.

I am righteous in God's view. And if we do this every day,

slowly, we train our ego to be healthy, to work just like our

shoulder when it's healthy or our elbow when it's healthy.

And slowly, just like our elbow that works and our shoulder that

works, we won't notice our ego and we will find that we forget

ourselves. That's the life that's possible.

That's the freedom through the gospel that's available to you.

Will you stand with me? I'm going to say a benediction

over us and then we'll be dismissed.

My brothers and sisters, receive these words as you go.

May the truth of the gospel settle your heart.

May the voice that tells you to strive, prove, and compare grow

quiet. May you rest in the verdict

already spoken over you in Christ, loved, forgiven, and

fully accepted. And as you walk into this week,

may you be free to listen with humility, serve with joy, and

love others without fear. In the name of the Father, the

Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Go on, peace friends, love you.

I know I would get that they say that no face.

That's hard. What again?