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Posts from the ‘Tim Keller’ Category

4
Sep

Sinner Saints

Per The Centrality of the Gospel (I highly recommend reading this article) by Tim Keller:

“Without a knowledge of our extreme sin, the payment of the cross seems trivial and does not electrify or transform.  But without a knowledge of Christ’s completely satisfying life and death, the knowledge of sin would crush us or move us to deny and repress it.  Take away either the knowledge of sin or the knowledge of grace and people’s lives are not changed.  They will be crushed by the moral law or run from it angrily.  So the gospel is not that we go from being irreligious to being religious, but that we realize that our reasons for both our religiosity and our irreligiosity were essentially the same and essentially wrong.  We were seeking to be our own saviors and thereby keep control of our own life.  When we trust in Christ as our Redeemer, we turn from trusting either self-determination or self-denial for our salvation – from either moralism or hedonism.”

5
Jun

Taskmaster?

Tim Keller 7 by Sola Lumina Captura.

The following excerpt comes from the June edition of Christianity Today.  Read the whole thing if you have 10 minutes.  It gives a great mini-picture of God’s grace and beauty through Keller and his ministry in NYC.

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White believes Keller’s unique gift is to preach to both Christians and non-Christians in the same terms, without making a choice between evangelism and discipleship: “Tim uses the gospel surgically on the heart. The gospel is what we need to come to faith and also what we need to grow.” A theology of grace uses the same language to challenge both the runaway son and the solid older brother.

“The seminal idea,” says Kathy, “is that the world is full of taskmasters—parents, job, society—and [to most people,] God is the worst of the bunch.” Tim adds, “Performance is such a high standard, the strain is unsupportable.”

Redeemer holds high moral standards, but Keller puts all 10 commandments under the first one—to have no other gods. Preaching about idolatry—the sin of putting something or someone else in the place of God—enables Keller to communicate with relativists, who would respond to Christian moral standards by saying, “That’s just your opinion.”

“When you say the ultimate sin is to put things in the place of God,” Keller says, “you take that argument away. You find that they say, ‘Hmm, I don’t know if there is a God.’ When I describe sin in such a way that people wish there were a God, I’m making progress.”

Redeemer doesn’t participate in culture wars. It aims to focus on Jesus, and on the incredible good news that God is not, in fact, the worst taskmaster in the world but the one who died for us.

9
May

The Bible’s Purpose

baby elephantMy good friend Dan Weber sent me the following quote this morning.  I hope that Dan begins a blog soon as God is revealing his grace to him right now in an intense way.  I get the benefit of hearing from him often, and I’ll be sure to let you know if he gets a blog going.

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“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.” – Timothy Keller

27
Apr

My Righteousness is Jesus Christ Himself

treasure-chestThe following quote comes from John Bunyan (a 17th century, English writer and preacher):

“But one day…  this sentence fell upon my soul, “Thy righteousness is in heaven”; and methought withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, as my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say to me “He wants my righteousness,” for that was just before him.  I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed…  Oh! methought, Christ!  Christ!  there was nothing but Christ that was before my eyes…  Now I could look from myself to him, and would reckon that all those graces of God that now were green on me, were yet but like those cracked groats and four-pence-half-pennies that rich men carry in their purses, when their gold is in their trunks at home: Oh! I saw my gold was in my trunk at home!  In Christ my Lord and Saviour.  Now Christ was all; all my righteousness, all my sanctification, and all my redemption.”

15
Apr

All About Him

isaiah2This post comes from Dashhouse Blog.  Wow.

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“Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:27)

  • Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us (1 Corinthians 15).
  • Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out for our acquittal, not our condemnation (Hebrews 12:24).
  • Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void “not knowing wither he went!” to create a new people of God.
  • Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. While God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love, from me,” now we can say to God, “Now we know that you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from me.”
  • Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
  • Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.
  • Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant (Hebrews 3).
  • Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.
  • Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends (Job 42).
  • Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
  • Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.
  • Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb – innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He is the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the Lamb, the Light, the Bread.

The Bible is not about you — it is about him.

(Tim Keller, Ockenga Preaching Series 2006)

1
Apr

Free Men Living in an Oppresive Land

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones gave an illustration at the climax of his exposition of Rom 6-8 that is very helpful.

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Suppose there was a city that was in captivity for hundreds of years. If one of the nationals told a slave to do something in particular, he’d better do it or else he’d be beaten to death.  Now, a new King conquered the land and set the people free!  They no longer were subject to the powers that once held them.  Yet, something interesting happened once this freedom was declared, the free men often times still lived as slaves!  Due to their extended experience of captivity and a lack of understanding of their new nature, they would often capitulate to the commands of those who no longer had authority over them. If they simply stood when challenged, their oppressors would flee, but instead they bought the lies.

This paints a beautiful picture of our situation in light of Christ’s victory!  We are free people, there is no condemnation, Christ finished the work…  yet we often forget this. We are accused daily of our sin, of our inability, seduced continually into trying harder and to be our own saviors and lords.  These lies of satan continually come at us and we forget that we are Sons of the Most High! We need to remember who we are, remind one another and pray for God’s grace to continually open our eyes and ears and we will be able to stand in our freedom!

28
Mar

Idolatry, Slavery and Freedom

Keller says something along these lines:

  1. Everybody lives for something (acceptance, success, work, morality, family, etc.).  A couple questions to help people identify what they live for are: 1. If you lost this one thing, it wouldn’t just hurt you, but rather it would crush you.  2. If you are about to die, what is your greatest fear?
  2. Whatever you live for, you are a slave to that thing.  An example would be, if you live for your work, your identity is inextricably tied to how work is going.  Even if it’s going very well, because your identity is synonymous with your career, you will see your family life deteriorate because work is significantly elevated over one’s loved ones.  On the flip side, if your family is your everything then when one of them dies or a relationship doesn’t go as planned, life is screwed.
  3. Being a slave to Jesus is the only thing that truly brings freedom.  He is the only master who will forgive you when you fail Him.  He will bring perfect order to the chaos in our lives.  Work, family, and everything else will be aligned correctly when God is made number 1 as He should be.
27
Mar

Book Recommendations

I highly recommend the following three books for their clear and beautiful articulations of the gospel:

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the-prodigal-godThe Prodigal God by Tim Keller

(short – can read in 2-3 hours. unbelievably clear. helpful for self-righteous people like myself )

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the-furious-longingThe Furious Love of God by Brennan Manning

(also short – can read in 2-3 hours.  Manning’s life is a beautiful picture of sinner/saint. Moving stories of God’s ridiculous grace to sinners like you and me.)

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cross-of-christ-by-stottThe Cross of Christ by John Stott

(about 250 pgs. Discusses the theological implications/realities of the cross.  My favorite book on the cross.  See excerpt on this blog – go to search box and type ‘cross of Christ.’)

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If you have other helpful recommendations that paint pictures of God’s grace to us in Jesus, please comment.

23
Mar

Soren Kierkegard’s Definition of Sin

buildings1Per Tim Keller’s interview with the Washington Post (2008)

“Sin is building your identity on anything besides God.”

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What are you relying on to feel okay?  Is it being a good husband, wife,  father, mother, son or daughter?  Or are you relying on  academic achievements, financial success, athletic ability, or even the amount of impact you are having on other people?  The evil one is subtle and persistent in his efforts to sell us on relying on anything besides (or in addition to Jesus).

We need to rely exclusively on what Jesus did for us @ Calvary, period.  We need to be found in Him alone.  We bring nothing to the table; rather, He has accomplished all things and our life is found in Him and Him alone.

16
Mar

It’s Better Than We Think!

flowerJonathan Edwards quote from Josh Moody’s The God-Centered Life:

Also, this can be found in Edwards’ book Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival (part1, section 5).

This quote is in reference to his wife and beautifully depicts the power and joy of the gospel.  There are moments in our lives where we get a taste of the infinite beauty of Jesus and we are blown away.  These experiences sing of something beyond and are appetizers of the heavenly feast that we can scarcely comprehend.  I encourage you (as I was encouraged by T. Keller in a sermon) to ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the beauty and glory of Jesus and His finished work!

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“More than once continuing for five or six hours together, without any interruption, in that clear and lively view or sense of the infinite beauty and amiableness of Christ’s person, and the heavenly sweetness of his excellent and transcendent love; so that (to use the person’s own expressions) the soul remained in a kind of heavenly Elysium, and did as it were swim in the rays of Christ’s love, like a little mote swimming in the beams of the sun, or streams of his light that came in at his window…  extraordinary views of divine things, and religious affections, being frequently attended with very great effects on the body, nature often sinking under the weight of divine discoveries, the strength of the body was taken away, so as to deprive of all ability to stand or speak; sometimes the hands clinched, and the flesh cold, but senses still remaining; animal nature often in a great emotion and agitation, and the soul very often, of late, so overcome with great admiration, and a kind of omnipotent joy, as to cause the person (wholly unavoidably) to leap with all the might, with joy and mighty exultation of soul…”

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