Remembering Tim Keller

His voice was a lifeline.

On May 19, 2023, the Reverend Timothy J. Keller of New York City died. May he rest in peace.

Around 2011, a friend and former co-worker of mine named Mike Hibit shared a talk by Dr. Keller on Exodus 14, in which he told the story of God’s deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea. I believe it was this talk. Listening to this talk, sitting at my desk in my home office in De Soto, Kansas changed my life.

I did not stop with this talk. I searched the web for other sermons by Dr. Keller, trusting the resources were out there, somewhere. I was right.

Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s website, at that time, displayed between 100 and 150 sermons available for download, filed under three or four categories. This was not a complete archive, but instead a set of orientation talks, introducing the listener to key teachings of the congregation. These were topical sermons stemming from a diverse range of biblical texts, answering basic, simple questions about the Christian faith. There were also a few public forums, apologetic presentations given in response to the roadblocks to belief Dr. Keller commonly encountered in New York City. These presentations were also more broadly applicable to American culture.

The sermons would begin with a reading from Scripture. They were exegetical, walking through a passage verse by verse. The focus was always Jesus Christ and the good news of and about him. I downloaded every one of these sermons to my computer, and, using iTunes, loaded every one of these sermons to my 32 GB iPod Video. Are you old enough to remember that device?

After discovering more of Dr. Keller’s sermons, I listened. The iPod made hours of preaching portable. I took these sermons with me to work. I drove a school bus at the time. I rose early, and on the way to work, I listened. I conducted pre-trip safety checks on the bus, and I listened. When it was time to execute my route, I put the iPod away. You want to eliminate distractions while driving. I made an elementary school run, and then a middle school run, with a break in between. After delivering the elementary children to school, I listened more while on break. After the morning runs were over, I went home and kept listening. In the afternoons, I followed a similar pattern. Over the next three to four weeks I listened to hours and hours of preaching by Tim Keller. Every spare moment, I was listening to a sermon. My mind was at work. My heart was ablaze.

I kept listening, not only while at work, but over the weekends. Molly would come into my home office and ask, “Are you listening to another one?” I said, “Yes. This is good.”

Dr. Keller simply and persuasively announced and explained the good news that is at the heart of the Christian message, which is the availability of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus of Nazareth. Even more simply put, Dr. Keller preached Jesus. His preaching more fully opened my imagination to the possibilities of living life with God, the depth and profundity of experiencing each day in relationship with a God whom I can come to know as a savior, teacher, companion, counselor, and friend, a God I could know as the lover of my soul.

Years passed by and I continued to listen. I signed up for an email newsletter that included free sermon downloads from Redeemer; I kept building my file. When podcasts became easy to download with a smartphone app, I listened when I could. Dr. Keller would often be with me on drives, walks, runs, or while mowing the yard or doing chores around the house. I have also read most, if not all, of his books.

Theologically, I have differences with Tim Keller, some of them significant, but I found there is much more that we held in common as followers of Christ. As a communicator, he was brilliant, and a model to follow. As an evangelist, he was winsome and humorous and persuasive and compelling and very, very human. As a pastor, he invited me to draw nearer to Jesus, our True, Ultimate Good Shepherd. Above all, that might be the most important quality to look for in a pastor, and it was a quality that I found present in Tim Keller’s pulpit ministry.

You can find many of Keller’s sermons here, for free. His preaching invited me to consider the Bible more carefully, to think more deeply about the Christian life, and to love God more fully. I am thankful for the life and witness of Dr. Timothy J. Keller, not only because he was a wonderful homiletician, but because Dr. Keller helped me look beyond his words to Christ and his cross, and, beholding him, I found myself changed. I was at a very low place when Tim Keller’s sermons found me, through the wonder of the internet.

I needed Keller’s voice at that time. How does a Presbyterian preacher in New York City reach a Texan, who is also a Baptist, residing in Kansas, who then attended a United Methodist Church? I cannot help but consider that there is something incredible about this happenstance, a strange, modern expression of the circuitous, at times corkscrew nature of God’s grace. Or, this is another evidence that God does, indeed, have a sense of humor. I am convinced that is the case. I am a Christian, after all.

Tim Keller helped me set my sights on Jesus. When you see God, in the person of Jesus, laying down his life for us and making atonement for our sin, how could you not be moved? Me, a person of low stature. Receiving redemption through Jesus, a person of unsurpassed stature. Me, possessing nothing. Jesus, possessing everything. Me, so powerless. Jesus, so powerful. And Jesus, giving up everything so that I, the lowly, might be raised with him. The greatness of God’s love is unsurpassed, a love that made possible a witness, a preacher, and a saint like Tim Keller. Praise be to God.

Book Notes

Continuing with Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father, James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky’s Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Nature of Morality, and Stanley Hauerwas’s Fully Alive: The Apocalyptic Humanism of Karl Barth.

I finally finished Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life. Washington did not have any biological offspring, though he welcomed several children from his extended family into his home. Washington’s lack of biological offspring was considered politically advantageous during his time in the presidency, lessening fears the American government, established to be led by democratically elected officials, would be hijacked by advocates of monarchism. Chernow’s biography helped me understand just how fragile the American Republic was at its founding, and left me even more amazed that it still stands, after much tumult, 246 years later. It also helped me better understand Washington as more human being than legend. He was a man, not a god.

I also finished reading Henry Cloud’s Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken and Judson Brewer’s Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind.

Cloud’s Trust argues understanding, motivation, ability, character, and track record all factor in our capacity to receive trust, and our choices to give it. I’ve been thinking a lot about trust lately, not only practically, but theologically, not only with respect to our relationships with other human beings, but in our relationship with God.

Sights and Sounds

Tunes for June are up.

A friend of mine wanted my take on Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008). A persistent person, this friend provided a Blu-Ray player and the complete series for me. I’m up for the challenge. The summer is a good time to make a run at it; my son has been a very willing viewing companion. We’re fifteen episodes in. There are sixty two episodes total. Yip yip.

In the movie department, I’ve watched Commando (1985), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), 65 (2023), and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023).

Commando is blurbed this way on Amazon: “Snappy punch lines and explosive action highlight the tale of a retired special ops military man forced back into the violent world of political intrigue when his daughter is kidnapped.” Schwarzenegger’s character, John Matrix, kills over eighty people on screen. As for snappy punch lines? “Let off some steam, Bennett.”

The weirdest part: Matrix is helped by a flight attendant who gets entangled in the whole mess. Another element: Matrix has to prevent a henchman from reaching a pay phone and calling the kidnappers to alert them that danger is headed their way. If the movie were set today, this could not happen due to the ubiquity of cell phones.

Last Words

On the blog: the importance of reminders and thoughts on free expression and the reformation of morals.

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Be well this week. Bless others.

Best,

BAS

P.S. - The view this Friday afternoon from my office window. I can see the spires of Old Main and Burleson Hall, the very top of the Tidwell Bible Building, and the golden dome atop Pat Neff. I pray for the campus, and for all who live and move and have their being upon it. Lord, have mercy on us.