3 posts tagged “tim keller”
In one of his excellent sermon series on marriage, Tim Keller reviews three qualities of a Spirit-filled person who has accepted the gospel. I don’t want to forget them:
- able to receive criticism without being crushed
- able to give criticism without being crushing
- able to forgive without residual anger
What is forgiveness? When someone has wronged you, it means they owe you; they have a debt with you. Forgiveness is to absorb the cost of the debt yourself. You pay the price yourself, and you refuse to exact the price out of the person in any way. Forgiveness means you free the person from penalty for a sin by paying the price yourself.
Forgiveness is a promise to not "bring the matter up" to the person, others, or even ourselves. At each point when we are tempted to exact payment, we refuse, and though it hurts, that is a payment.
- Tim Keller
Let me just say it: Tim Keller is my hero. My admiration for this man is probably the closest thing in my life I've got to idolatry, if not already fully so. He receives my utmost respect and commendation. [See my earlier post: Tim Keller - a refreshing voice in the city; check out some free sample Tim Keller sermons] Visiting his church (Redeemer Presbyterian) in New York City and hearing him speak live, is my personal Christian version of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Despite all of his teaching against idolatry, I struggle. He is the most inspiring, challenging and motivating Christian preacher I know of - deeply theological and thoughtful; relevant to both the faithful and the skeptic; extremely well-read and informed across a broad spectrum of disciplines and world-views; and disarmingly low-key and respectful, without a hint of being condescending to those with different convictions. He unfailingly and compellingly preaches the gospel in every sermon, and at the same time manages to attract those normally hostile to the Christian faith. His church now counts among its members the largest number of Jewish and homosexual converts than any other protestant church. He has planted an amazingly successful church in arguably the most influential city in the world. As noted in New York magazine’s Influentials 2006 List, “Keller has become the most successful Christian evangelist in the city… Church leaders see him as a model of how to evangelize urban centers across the country, and Keller has helped plant 50 gospel-based Christian churches around New York plus another 50 from San Francisco to London.” Because of Keller, literally thousands of people who would never have been caught dead in a church, have come, listened, and been transformed. Yet there is nothing slick or flashy about his preaching or style of service. He doesn't rely on emotion or strategic humor to manipulate his audience. Nor does he yell, shout down or demean opposing positions. Keller tells it like it is - plainly, reasonably, and without any arm-twisting threats of hellfire. He is the real deal - our generation's no-nonsense voice of reason - the voice of one calling out the gospel in the desert - making straight the way for the Lord.
And yet, despite all my praise and admiration for this man, I have this one criticism: Tim Keller has not chosen a successor. A day will come when he will not be around anymore. Anyone who knows even a little bit about Redeemer knows that to lose Tim Keller would be to lose the church. It is why church attendance plummets and why most people freeze their mp3 sermon subscriptions in the summer months when he goes on sabbatical. Even though he has built up a team of associate pastors around him, their cumulative abilities do not hold a candle to him. They will not be able to sustain the church, much less cause it to grow if Keller is gone. Our generation is incredibly fickle and transitory. We will not stomach a long search process for a qualified pastor to carry on this movement. Like rats, we will jettison a sinking ship quickly.
Redeemer needs a successor to Tim Keller - not the day after he is gone, but now, yesterday already. Someone who, in the post-Keller months, can serve as a transitory bridge, a recognizable face and voice, somebody already rooted deep in the soil of Redeemer. Somebody who can now, at the very least, preach full-time in the summer months during Keller’s annual sabbatical. Somebody who will serve side-by-side with him, whose influence and stature among evangelical circles, and whose ability to transfix minds and illuminate truth, would be comparable to if not eventually superceding his. And because gifted pastors like this do not grow on trees, I deeply believe that he needs to start seeking out someone to groom right now. Not that we'll need another Keller to idolize when he is gone, but that he set an example of passing onto the next generation, of not merely good preaching, but the practice of loving and guiding another towards fullness in Christ. Keller himself has admitted that discipleship is one of his ministry’s weaknesses. But now having realized this and the mounting dependency of the church on himself, it is high-time that he take this one aspect of the Great Commission seriously – go and make disciples.
