Tim Keller is the Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Anyone who spends more than ten minutes in a “spiritual” discussion with me will inevitably hear his name. I can’t help it. I could take all of the credit for his thoughts as if they were my own but in order to do that I would not be able to steer people in his direction (not to mention that it would just be wrong.) Here are just a few things that the Lord has used Tim Keller to help me understand.
1. The gospel is not just an evangelism tool. It definately is that, but it is more than that. It changes us from one degree of glory to another.
2. Pride and self-centeredness have made me honest. I will expound on that a little more in the next post to explain what that means.
3. Everyone contextualizes.
4. If you are justified by Christ, you can read literature from others of different theological convictions and benefit.
5. All of us have functional saviors that we look at to justify us when we think that something is more important than Christ.
6. Christians really struggle with idolatry, especially those who think they don’t.
7. No one can exhaust the implications of the gospel.
I could go on and on but listing these things won’t bring understanding. All I can do is tell you to find anything you can that he has written or spoke and take advantage of it. It is not Tim Keller that changes lives, it is the truth that will change our lives. I am thankful that God has saw fit to use Tim Keller in this way. I have never heard anyone speak of the Gospel in such a way as this. For those of you who are serious about engaging this post-modern culture, the ministry of Tim Keller is indispensible.
2.
I have been greatly blessed by Tim Keller too. I am fascinated with his preaching/teaching style.
What do you think about his style? Is the old “I am a dynamic preacher trying to hype you up” style finally dead? Is this the future of preaching?
He fascinates me because he cuts straight to the chase–no tricks, no gimmicks. It’s just him “explaining” to you what the Bible teaches. He sounds like he is sitting in his armchair just talking with you. No hype…just the truth of the word.
I really think that Tim Keller’s “style” of preaching brings a renewed sense of authority. When I think of authoritative preaching, I think of guys like Piper and MacArthur but hearing Keller reminds us that the authority is in the biblical truth and not the presentation. But Keller is preaching to fast-paced New Yorkers and at redeemer they must be finding something that shakes up their worldview. I think there will always be a need for Piper’s style of preaching just like there will be for Keller’s. It takes Paul, Apollos, and Cephas. It takes Calvin and Wesley. But more than that it takes biblical teaching.
It takes Martin and McGrath! Just teasing. What’s up with Redeemer charging $2.50 for an MP3 download? Where’s the kingdom mindset in charging people to hear the Word preached?
Since last July I have been studying Tim Keller and his Gospel-centered preaching… I’ve found his instruction on preaching very helpful and wrote about it here:
http://www.xanga.com/I12Know/587548219/how-the-last-few-sermons-came-about.html
I know that Tim Keller has acknowledged that he has been greatly influenced by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I can see that a bit in some of his teachings.
I’ve taken a renewed interest in reading and listening to Lloyd-Jones. I had forgotten just how good he was in communicating the Bible.
Hey buddy!!!!!!
Sorry I haven’t returned your phone call. I will Monday.
Great post by the way!!!!
Andrew, the kingdom mindset can be approached in a variety of ways. Some churches will find a group of generous donors to support the finances and operations for distribution of content via the web and other technologies. Other churches will provide their content and resources for a nominal cost in order to cover operational costs and to raise funds for other needy kingdom purposes.
As a webmaster for my church, I know that it’s a fairly affordable process to host MP3s for download. For about $100 per year, we have enough space on our server to host about 4 years of sermons. If Redeemer is using the money to fund other ministries, that’s great, but it’d be nice to know about why they charge so much. Nowhere on their Sermon Store can you find that information.
Andrew, thanks for your comments. I don’t know how much a church has to disclose on a website in terms of “why” or “how much” they charge for resources they produce and make available.
What is shared very clearly at the beginning of every Redeemer sermon is: “The net proceeds from the sale of Redeemer recordings are used to support ministries of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.” I suppose you could ask for an annual financial report from the church to see in more detail on how these proceeds are used.