40 Burst results for "Keller"
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from An Old Womans Laughter
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. Throughout the Bible, there are signs that point us to the gospel. Today, Tim Keller is looking at how we can discover them and what they teach us. The passage on which the teachings base is found in your bulletin. Let me read it to you. Genesis 21, verses one to seven. Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah, as he had said. And the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. At the very time God had promised him, Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has brought me laughter. And everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. And she added, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. This is God's word. Why, in these morning services here in the fall, are we rummaging around in documents that are so ancient that they're called the Old Testament? I mean, how relevant is that? Very relevant. My wife, Kathy, tore out an article for me out of Mademoiselle Magazine, September 97. Very up to date. And surprising article, because it was by Naomi Wolf, who's a very sharp and pretty well known feminist author. And the title of the article is, Coming Out for God, subtitle, OK, I Pray, So Why Do I Feel So Funny Talking About It? And in the article, she basically says that she has come into a spiritual search. She has decided there's got to be more. And she is looking for God, and she's searching for God, and she's searching for spirituality. And at one point, she says, it's really all coming down to this. And she's not saying she arrived, but this is what she says she's coming down to. She says, beyond it all, I have the increasingly pressing question. This is the increasingly pressing question. What the heck does God want me to do, and how do I figure it out? What does God want me to do, and how do I figure it out? And when you ask the question, how do you figure out what God wants of me, that's the question of sources. Where do I go to find out what God's will is? And really, classically, there's really only two basic answers over the years. The one answer is look outside to some authoritative text, to some authoritative resource. Look outside to the objective. And on the other hand, the other kind of answer has been, well, you look inside. You look to the inner light. You look to the subjective. You look to your heart. You look to your experience. Now, the wonderful thing about the Old Testament that really needs to be understood, besides the fact that it's a book that's considered holy by Jews and Christians and Muslims, is with the Old Testament, you don't have to choose. What's great about the Old Testament is you have authoritative theological teaching, but it's always teaching in the form of stories, always teaching in the form of real human experiences. So last week, we looked at the existential despair of the teacher in Ecclesiastes. This week, we look at laughter. We will look at bitterness. You look at real human experiences, and the Old Testament says in those real human experiences, you've got pointers to God. You've got clues to God, but by going to the Old Testament, you not only look at human experience, you also do it in a way that people have been going to for years through the centuries, the Old Testament. Instead of being self -accredited, instead of just saying, well, I've looked at my heart, now I know what God wants, you're looking into the human heart, into human experience, and therefore into your own experience, but in the Old Testament, a place where millions of people over the centuries have found God. And that way, you can trust, so you don't have to choose, and that's why we're going to these great accounts. Now, in this account, we are looking at a particular experience, and that is a woman laughing because her only child has been born, but it's an incredibly old woman we have here. We have a woman who's 90 years old here, and we're told in the Bible that this laughter is a clue to who God is and what He's done, and how do you find Him? The reason that I read this little section, which many of you may not have even ever heard, even though you may have heard the story of Abraham and Sarah, is I think this is the fulcrum. This is actually the midpoint. This is actually the key, because all of Abraham and Sarah's life and all the fascinating incidents can all be understood in terms of the name of their son, because the word Isaac means laughter, means laughter. God has brought me laughter, and all who hear will laugh with me, and you can understand all of their life, and actually I think eventually you'll be able to understand all of your life, through the word yisak, Isaac, laughter, because there's been three kinds of laughter. If you read the story of Abraham and Isaac, there's three kinds of laughter, and only the last one is the best. They had to go through two other kinds to get to the third. What are these three kinds of laughter? First of all, first you see in the history of Abraham and Sarah, you see the laughter of scoffing, the laughter of disbelief, the shallow laughter of disbelief. If you go way back into the passage, go deep, you'll see back in Genesis 12, God comes to Abraham and says, I'm going to give you a son. A son will be born to you through Sarah, and through that son you will have a descent, a group of descendants will become a great nation, and through that nation, all the nations of the world will be blessed.
Afternoon News with Tom Glasgow and Elisa Jaffe
Fresh update on "keller" discussed on Afternoon News with Tom Glasgow and Elisa Jaffe
"News Radio 1000 FM 97 7 your information station sponsored by K2 Vision RLE. Thanks for joining us. I'm Kim Sheppard, Bill O 'Neill the at editor's desk. And here's a look at the headlines. Michael Jordan continues to make history. The Bulls legend has officially joined the Forbes 400, making him the first professional athlete to rank among America's wealthiest individuals. MJ an has estimated net worth of $3 billion. The King County Council releasing a statement condemning hate speech after online public comments disrupted a committee meeting with racist and anti Semitic slurs. The council says it supports the public's First Amendment rights, but does not tolerate hate. At the start of the war in Ukraine, and support from politicians the for public the Ukrainian effort was widespread and bipartisan. Now more than a year and a half after the Russian invasion, support is slipping. Scott Clement is the polling director at the Washington Post. He spoke with Northwest News Radio's Taylor Vansice. The numbers that you're examining they came from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. I wonder as polling a expert, what struck you first when you started to look at the numbers? Well, the Chicago Council has been measuring opinions on these since really the weeks after the invasion started. They have a really nice trend line in what people have thought over the course of the war. One thing that really struck me is how the war has gone on as you described. Opinions on the issue have gotten more partisan and Republicans have generally become less supportive of sending additional arms and military supplies to the Ukrainian government. They've also changed their overall perspective war. on the And the poll comes out at a really consequential time for Ukraine. Military aid for their efforts is at the heart of the some of budget negotiations there in Washington DC. How do these Chicago council members of the public compare to what we're hearing from members of Congress? Sure. So Democrats have generally been heavily supportive and most even Republican lawmakers in Washington have been supportive, continuing to support Ukraine. There have been articles about the amount of funding and where it should go and also what type of scrutiny. But generally the idea of continuing to support Ukraine has a lot of support among leaders. Where there has been though is some of those arguments against helping Ukraine have gained traction on the right and including among independents. And so it's not anywhere near a 50 -50 issue right now in terms of support for providing additional arms. But you see Republicans, for instance, basically 50 -50 on whether the US should provide more military support. Now what struck me most when I looked at this was the question about support for NATO. It's still quite strong but Americans don't seem to be as supportive of all NATO Donations equally. That's right. This is a new question we asked. So overall, you know, the long term question. 77 % of people say the US should maintain or increase its commitment to NATO, very similar to previous years down from a peak in 2022, but asked whether the US should send troops. If Russia invaded Germany, 64 % say that. But if Russia were to invade a NATO ally like Latvia or Lithuania, then 57 % say that. And it's a pretty big partisan difference on that. So clear majority, similar percentages of Democrats say the US should defend allies, Germany as well as the Baltic nations. For Republicans, 64 % say the US should send troops to defend Germany if they're attacked, compared with 48 % for the Baltic nations. Really interesting thing you could maybe tease out with some social science questions there about your feelings about Germany compared to Lithuania, Latvia. read More to online at washingtonpost .com. That's the Post's polling director Scott Clement with us. That's Northwest Radio's News Taylor VanCise. Nobel Week continuing with the Award for Chemistry today. ABC's Ines De La Cattera La has more. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry going to... ...Institute of Technology, MIT, USA, Louise Bruce, Columbia University, USA, and Aleksey Yekimov, Nano Incorporated, Stills Technology USA. That's Hans Ellegren, the Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Those three researchers honored for their work on quantum dots, tiny particles that could be used for things like speed high computers or new types of solar cells. Ines De La Cattera, ABC News. Northwest News Time 650 and your stockcharts .com money update now. From ABC News, Wall Street now stocks rose as oil prices fell. The Dow is up 127 points day a after it wiped out its gains for the year. The Nasdaq jumped 177 and the S &P closed up 84. Oil prices tumbled, which takes some pressure off of inflation and the threat of interest rates staying very high for the foreseeable future. Then again, that may not be the case for long as far as oil is concerned. Saudi Arabia says it will maintain a production cut of a million barrels a day through the end of year. the Daria Olbinger, ABC News. Money news at 20 and 50 passed every hour and coming up, even Travis Kelsey says he's getting a little tired of all the rumors about Taylor Swift. Hey guys, did you know that half men of over age 50 have erectile dysfunction on some level? Whether you have mild, moderate, or severe ED, West Coast men's health can help. We don't prescribe pills and hope they work. Instead, we treat the root cause of the problem with acoustic wave therapy, which breaks down plaque, unclogs arteries, and restores blood flow. We have treated thousands of men across our 11 locations nationwide and have the highest carpal tunnel or Dupuytren's contracture. West Coast men's health can help. No pills, no shots, surgery, no just results. With clinics in Redmond and Tacoma call West Coast Men's Health at 253 553 -3999. That's 253 553 3999 253 553 3999. Online at West Coast men's health .com. Elisa Jaffe here and if you're starting a bathroom or kitchen remodel and you don't know where to begin or maybe you need an expert to help you make all those tough decisions, I gotta tell you about design the consultants at your nearest Keller kitchen and bath showroom because Keller design consultants are to there walk you through the entire design and selection process. They'll take the time to sit down with you, understand the style you're going for, offer functionality advice, and show you all those cool Kohler products that to are hard find anywhere else. We're talking award -winning Kohler tubs, showers, sinks, faucets, vanities, even steam shower therapy that can be integrated into your current shower to deliver all sorts of health benefits. So if you're looking for distinctive products that will make your bath or kitchen pop and the know -how from a design expert, check out your nearest Keller kitchen and Schedule bath showroom. your free design consultation at kellershowcase .com. That's kellershowcase com. I'm Kareem Abdul -Jabbar. I learned about atrial fibrillation the hard way. My symptoms would come and go. Shortness of breath. Fatigue. I kept going. Then I got so lightheaded I couldn't. doctor My said I have AFib, so I'm about five times more likely to
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from The Professors Disillusionment
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. This month we're looking at directional signposts through history that point us to Christ. All through the Old Testament from Genesis to Jonah, you see signs that point us to Jesus. Listen now to today's teaching from Tim Keller on Pointers to Christ. Verses 15 to 26. Then I thought in my heart, The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise? I said in my heart, This too is meaningless. For the wise man, like the fool, will not long be remembered. In days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise must die. So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things that I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days, his work is pain and grief. Even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God. For without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness. But to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after, the win. This is God's word. one Now, of the things that an awful lot of people have said is that Ecclesiastes is a great book. In chapter 97 of Moby Dick, I know it so well, Melville says the truest of all books is Ecclesiastes. Thomas Wolfe in a pretty well -known American novel, You Can't Go Home Again, he says, one of his characters says this, Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, the noblest, the wisest, the most powerful expression of humanity's life on earth, the highest flower of eloquence and truth. There's an awful lot of people who talk like that, say this is the best book in the Bible, this is the truest, this is the greatest. But I can almost guarantee you that none of them felt that way the first time, not the first time they read it. Because what you have when you first read Ecclesiastes, what you're struck with, is a teacher, a professor, as we'll see, in absolute despair. The very first verses, the first few lines of Ecclesiastes go like this, meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless. And of course, the passage I just read is just the same. And so you have someone in utter despair with the bleakest view of life, and the reason people generally get very confused when they read it, people who are believers, people who believe in God, people who have the traditional faith, they say, I'm confused because it seems like he's contradicting everything the rest of the Bible says. And people who don't believe or have trouble believing or who are not as believing, when they read it, I'll tell you what they say. What they say is, who needs this? They say, this guy is a professor, this is the kind of guy who drinks himself into a raise on the left bank talking about the meaninglessness of life, this is the kind of guy who makes these art films that, you know, are so bleak and terrible that play in obscure little corners of Greenwich Village. Of course, the world has people like that, but most of us aren't like that, we don't see life like that. Who needs this rant? Who needs this pessimism? Now, the reason why it's so confusing is because a couple of things are missed. The first thing is because people don't realize the instructional approach. We don't exactly know who wrote Ecclesiastes, I won't get into the debate, it's debatable that Solomon writes, it doesn't matter because in the very first line, he calls himself a teacher, a word that can mean a professor. And if you read Ecclesiastes, you'll realize that this man, and it's the only book like this in the Bible, this man is running a seminar. He's not lecturing, he's not preaching, like a good philosophy professor, he's running a seminar. He is making you think. He is goading you with questions. Ecclesiastes, unlike any other book of the Bible, is not pedagogy, it's andragogy. Pedagogy literally means child instruction, memorizing, wrote, you see, drill, spoon feeding. Andragogy is a word that means adult instruction. Goading, asking questions, getting people to look at their own foundations, discovering truth for themselves. That's one of the reasons why Ecclesiastes seems so odd. But the other reason it seems so odd is because people, I don't think notice, unless you look clearly and I'm going to try to show you this morning, that the teacher is looking at life all the time. He's always saying, I see, I see, I saw this, I looked at life and I saw this, but he looks at life in two different ways and he goes back and forth between them. Let me show you the first way he looks at life and the second way he looks at life. It'll teach us a great deal. The first way he looks at life, in the first view, let's say how he looks and what he sees and why he sees it. Now, the first way he looks at life is he looks at life under the sun. You notice how three times in this passage, verse 17, 20 and 22, he says, I found this meaningless under the sun. I saw all my work under the sun was meaningless. This is a term that's used 30 times in the book. This is a term that is not used anywhere else in the Old Testament, so it's clearly critical to and very important to the whole book. And what he means by this, almost all the commentators I've ever read agree, what he means by under the sun is life here and now considered in isolation from anything else. Life under the sun is, he says, I'm going to look at the world as if this life under the sun is all that there is. I'm not going to look at life above the sun. I'm not going to think about God or eternity or heaven or hell, see. I'm not going to think of anything beyond. I'm going to look at life as if this is the only life we have, at least the only life we know. You know Carl Sagan in the beginning of every one of his Cosmos PBS segments, in the very beginning you'd hear Carl Sagan's voice come on and he would say, the cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Now most people are not atheists in the strict sense like Carl Sagan. What Carl Sagan is saying is, this life, this world, there is no heaven, there is no hell, there is no eternity, okay? There is nothing but this life, life under the sun, there's nothing else. Most people aren't atheists. Most people would say, well, I believe in God, but the modern person says, I believe in God or something, but we can't know. We can't know God's will for sure. We can't know about the after. We can't be sure. And so essentially the modern person says, we have got to live life as if this is the only life we know. And the teacher says, deal. I'm going to look at life as if it's the only life we know. That's how he's looking at it. That's the first way he looks at it. I'm going to look at life under the sun. But what does he see? What he sees is absolute inconsequentiality. Now, he kind of looks at it in several ways. He notices the injustice. If you look down, he says, it's unjust. Some people work very, very hard and never enjoy the fruit of their labor, and other people who don't deserve it at all enjoy it. And then he says, and worse than that, it's possible that you could work very hard to accomplish something in life, and then when you die, not only don't you get it anymore, but some fool comes along and takes over, and next thing you know, everything you've worked for is gone. You build an institution. You establish a school of thought. You do some good deeds, and somebody else comes along afterwards and just ruins it. But you see, that all is just, those are all just symptoms. Because up in verse 15 and 16, he really gives you the bottom line. In verse 15 and 16, as I read, he says, the fate of the fool will overtake me also. He says, therefore, this is meaningless, for the wise like the fool will not long be remembered. Now what he's bringing out here is something, again, incredibly modern, but something he's trying to grab you by the scruff of the neck and show you. And we're going to talk about why, but for now, let's say the what. We'll talk about why he's doing this, but right now, let's say what he's looking at. And what he is saying is, a wise life, a wise action, or a foolish life, a foolish action, a compassionate life, a compassionate action, a cruel life, a vicious action. In the end, makes no difference at all. None at all. If it's really true that life under the sun is all there is, if it's really true that when we die, that's it, and eventually the solar system dies, in other words, eventually something will sweep everything away, civilization will all be swept away, it won't make a bit of difference how you've lived at all. And therefore, there is no way, if you realize that life under the sun is all there is, that you can say one action is more significant than another, because it makes no difference in the end at all. Now, that's very bleak, you say. And the question comes up, why, you know, we're all smart people, we walk around, why is it that the average person, and the average person in Western culture who shares the teacher's premise that this life is all we know, but they go on out there and they don't feel that life is meaningless, they don't say one thing is as insignificant as another, that everything is ridiculous, everything is meaningless and vain and futile, no. So why does he, and here's the reason why. He looks at the whole of life, the big picture, and we refuse to. The key is, take a look at this question that he brings out, I have been meditating on this question for some years, and I just saw something this week that I'd never seen before. Here's the question he asks, and he dares you to ask the question. He says, down here in verse 22, what does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? That's the question. Every word is significant. First of all, he says, assuming that this life is all there is, first of all, he says, what is the gain? What do you get? What is the difference? Now, why do you ask that question? Because he's really showing us that you ask that question about any individual piece of your life, do you not? If somebody says to you, I would like you to go to the corner of so -and -so place, and I would like you to stand there for an hour tomorrow, you would say, for what? Well, the person says, I don't want to tell you, I'd just like you to do it. And you say, no, no, no, no. I want to know what difference it'll make, what gain there will be, otherwise it's a waste of time. You would never do anything. If it made absolutely no difference at all, if nothing came of it at all, you'd never do anything. But the thing that, in other words, we look at every part of our life like that. But the reason that the teacher comes to despair, existential despair, is because he uses a little word in that question that is so critical, and that is the word all. What do you get from the whole of your life? And the reason the average person shares the teacher's premise but does not share the teacher's despair in this world, in this Western culture, is because we refuse to use the word all. See, the average person, I mean, there's probably a lot of people right here listening to this, and you're going to sit through the 30 minutes or whatever, but you would never sit through 30 minutes personally with somebody. If somebody sat down and said, well, what do you believe about life? And you said, well, I'm kind of an agnostic, I'm kind of a, I sort of believe in God in general, it might be true, but the one thing is all we know is that we're here, we don't really know for sure why we're here or where we're going or, you know, we can't be sure. Now, the person says, well, in that case, you must, you have to look at life and say that nothing means anything, that there's no right and wrong ultimately, there's no significance between one action over another, that no one action is more meaningful or more significant than the other. And you wouldn't stand for that. You would say, oh, give me this, I took philosophy 101, this meaning in life, so philosophers need this, philosophers ask the big questions. The average person, the average person lives for the daily things. Sure, I don't know, I'm an agnostic, but I'm optimistic about life, why? Because when I take a boat ride in Central Park, I feel good, it's meaningful. When I hug somebody I love, it's meaningful. When accomplish I something at work, it's meaningful. When I do a compassionate deed as opposed to a selfish deed, it's meaningful to me. I'm having a fine life. You can't throw all this on me, you can't put me back into philosophy class. Now, you know what you're doing? You're refusing to ask the word all. There was an old Mutt and Jeff cartoon some years ago. Remember Mutt and Jeff? And at one place, Mutt, Jeff comes up and there's Mutt, and right in the middle of a street, right in the middle of a, you know, a road, a street, he has built a very, very tall pile of stones, and at the top of the pile of stones, there's a lantern, and Jeff says to Mutt, oh, Mutt, why did you build this pile of stones? Oh, he says, that's easy, so I could put the lantern up there. So that it's up high so that it gives a lot of light. Oh, okay. Why did you put the lantern up there? Well, I want the lantern up there so the cars will see the pile of stones and they won't crash into it. Why did you put the pile of stones there for the car to crash into? Well, so that I could put the lantern up there. Now, what is he doing? It's very simple. He's finding meaning of one part in the meaning of another part, but he's refusing to ask the question, does the whole thing have any use, or is it just stupid? Why do you work? Usually, a person says, I'll tell you why I work, so that I can do things that I like to do. I have avocations, I've got hobbies, I've got leisure, I like travel. Why? Well, that really recharges my batteries. Why? So I can work. See, the lantern is for the stones, the stones are for the lantern, and if you refuse to stand back and say, but what is the whole thing for? What is the whole thing for? How do you know your whole life isn't stupid? That your whole life isn't pointless? How do you know your whole life is not just a very, very large stone lantern in the middle of a highway? How do you know this? Now, here's what the teacher is saying. The teacher is saying, grow up. This is not pedagogy, this is andragogy. Don't be an ostrich. Ask yourself the question. If you would never do one thing, if it made no difference at all, okay, it would be meaningless, it would be a waste of time, unless it made a difference. What difference does your whole life make? What are you living for? What difference does it all make? Now, the average person just does not want to hear this. I had a little conversation with somebody, by the way, I know very well, I'll get back to why I think this was a valid conversation, but it's a dangerous one. I had a conversation not too long with somebody I knew very, very well, and this person had just said, what he said was, he says, you know what, the way you know what's right and wrong is, there's no reasons for it, there's no way to know what's right and wrong, you just have to know what's right and wrong in your heart, and if you know in your heart, then it's right, and then you just need to do it, and that's how you live, that's how you find meaning in life. And I said, well then, what do you say to Hitler? He felt it real hard in his life, and he did it, so that was okay. Oh no, my friend said, well you know, he says, the trouble is, most of the people's hearts in the world know that what Hitler was doing was wrong, therefore it was wrong. And I said, well you know, up to 150 years ago, most of the hearts of the world thought slavery was just fine. Do you think slavery was just fine? No. Why not? And he just looked and he shrugged and he says, you know, these things are so complex, if you think about this, you'll just dig a hole. Now this is a person I knew a very long time, and it was very, very cordial. Now here's the question. The teacher is saying, when someone says, I don't need to ask this question, I don't need to ask this question, what you really are saying is, my optimistic agnosticism, and that's the worldview the teacher is trying to absolutely smash, my optimistic agnosticism will fall apart if I ask that question. It can't deal with that question. It is demolished by that question. It is absolutely inadequate to that question. Optimistic agnosticism. Life under the sun is all there is, but there's moral truth. There's human rights. There's human dignity. Listen, if your origin isn't significant, you come from nothing, and if your destiny is insignificant, you're going to nothing, have the guts to admit that your life is insignificant. And stop talking, as if, on the one hand, you feel like you can poke holes in other people's inconsistencies. You'll poke holes in Muslims who say, I believe in God, but then they do something wrong, or Christians who say, I believe in God, do something wrong. You'll poke holes in everybody else's inconsistency, but you won't look at your own. You know, Jean -Paul Sartre made a very interesting statement. His most famous essay was right after the war, 1946. He wrote his essay called Existentialism and Humanism, and this is what he said. He says, God does not exist, and we have to face all the consequences of this. The existentialist is strongly opposed to a certain kind of secular ethics which wants to abolish God with the least possible expense. The existentialist, indeed, thinks it is very distressing that God does not exist, because all possibility of finding any values disappears with God. There can be no a priori good, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it. So nowhere is it written that we must be honest. Nowhere is it written that we must not lie, because the fact is we're on a plane where there's only us, human beings. Dostoevsky said, if God didn't exist, everything would be permissible. That is the very starting point of existentialism. If God does not exist, there is nothing within or without that can legitimize any conduct. Now, you know what is very interesting to me? Sartre took this idea, life under the sun is all there is, and you know what he says? He says, don't talk to me in any way that says that you believe that one kind of conduct is more legitimate than any other kind. One of the things that's come out recently, he died in 1980, one of the things that's come out over the last few years is what a misogynist he was. Jean -Paul Sartre was very bad to women, the women he knew, and he was very misogynist, but you know what? Whenever I read the people who accept his premise about life, and then get very upset about it, if he was alive, he would rise up, and he was only 5 '2", so that's, he would rise up, and he would say, please. He would say, you want to be free. You want to say, I am free to do what I want to do. You want to be free. As far as I know, this life is all there is. I'm not controlled by eternity, by moral absence, by God. I want to be free. Then you have got to have the guts to accept the utter meaninglessness of all distinctions. You want to be free, fine, but you have to accept it. Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless. Come on. You know, Christians look like real hard -nosed skeptics compared to a view that says, life under the sun is all there is, but I'm optimistic. I have meaning in life. I can enjoy things. I know some things are right, some things are wrong. I know it's better to be compassionate than to be violent. I know these things. Talk about blind faith. Talk about naive religiosity. why Now, is he doing this? Because he also tends to see life, the preacher, the teacher, the professor sees life in a different way. One of the biggest obstacles for people to believe in Christianity is that they think they already know all about it. But if we look at Jesus' encounters with various people during His life, we'll find some of our assumptions challenged. We see Him meeting people at the point of their big, unspoken questions. The Gospels are full of encounters that made a profound impact on those who spoke with Jesus. And in His book, Encounters with Jesus, Tim Keller explores how these encounters can still address our questions and doubts today. Encounters with Jesus is our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life reach more people with the amazing love of Christ. Request your copy of Encounters with Jesus today when you give at GospelInLife .com slash give. That's GospelInLife .com slash give. Now, here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.
The Eric Metaxas Show
Fresh update on "keller" discussed on The Eric Metaxas Show
"So he had a way of doing this. Did he say that? I mean, did he prophesy that somehow? Yeah, he did. So this is not the first time that he would have used a sporting event as something that was a signpost. Well, people have done that with horse races, right? They've done that talking about American Pharaoh is going to win the Triple Crown and stuff. And things happen in the natural, which can be markers for God. It doesn't mean that God particularly cares about the horse race. He's just commenting on the fact that when this happens, pay attention. So by the way, where would people go to find out more about Bob Jones and these prophecies? Has Mike Bickle documented this stuff? As you know, I always want to be able to see this stuff or to point people to it. That's right. Actually, there is a component of the IHOPKC.org website, International House of Prayer, Kansas City. There's a section of the website that deals with Bob Jones and his prophecies. Morningstar Ministries actually has a building that they built called the Bob Jones Vision Center, and they are the repositories of some of Bob's materials and teachings and prophecies as well. I think it's really important for those who aren't used to thinking about things like this at all, just to recognize that the Lord does things like this. He sent Jeremiah down to the potter's house, and when he gets to the potter's house, he's just looking at the potter throwing clay on a wheel, and the Lord says to him, What do you see, Jeremiah? And he goes, Well, I see a pot. And the potter is making the pot, and then he doesn't like what he sees, so he squishes it down into a lump of clay and makes it into a new shape. And the Lord says, Do I not have the right to make of a person what I want to? And who are you to talk back to God about these things? So the Lord spoke through a natural phenomenon. Similarly, before that event, when Jeremiah was just emerging as a prophet, and this is the biblical prophet Jeremiah I'm speaking of, the Lord asked him, What do you see? And he said, I see the branch of an almond tree. Well, there's a wordplay in Hebrew that doesn't work at all in English, but the word almond and to watch over sound very similar in Hebrew. And the Lord says, You've seen correctly, Jeremiah, because I am watching over my word to fulfill it. So there was a pun or a riddle between the seeing of an almond branch and the understanding that God was faithful to his word and would bring it to pass. So when we see these things going on in these prophecies of Bob Jones, on the one hand, it might not be our own personal 21st century experience, but that doesn't mean it's not biblical. It just means we're kind of rusty and we've fallen out of shape in tracking with God the way God sometimes speaks. Well, that kind of quirkiness, as you just said, is biblical, folks. And if you've switched the dial from biblical to, well, if Tim Keller or John Piper or John MacArthur don't preach that way, it's not biblical. I'm sorry. They have to worry about what's biblical. We don't just say that. Well, we don't do that weird stuff anymore because God is in the business of communicating through puns and word plays and strange things. And I think we have to recalibrate our thinking to what is genuinely biblical. Ken, we've just got 60 seconds and then we've got a short segment. What else did you want to share? Well, so all of this stuff in February really helped me understand that now is the time for the Fusion Conference, because we need a release of God's power in order to bring in the harvest, and it's already going on. One friend of mine in Sydney, in the couple of weeks after February, led several hundred people to the Lord individually and baptized them herself. So for those who are engaged in the work of the Lord, in the harvest, in those activities, the time is now and it's happening in front of our eyes. Fusion is designed to equip you for that harvest. Okay, final segment coming up. KingdomFusion.org. This is in Nashville, October 18th through 21st. It kills me. I cannot be there. KingdomFusion.org. Jack Deer will be there. Bob Haslett, of course. Ken Fish and Craig Keener, who's written a definitive two-volume work on miracles and academic work on miracles. If you can believe it, talk about Fusion. We'll be right back with Ken Fish.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Theology of Singleness
"I have the least appetizing title. I want to talk to you about a theology of singleness. You say, theology of singleness? Sometimes it sounds sort of like, I don't know, I don't know, it sounds like popular mechanics. How do you build a single? But no, I'd like to share with you what the basic theological principle in the New Testament about singleness. There is a Christian theology, a biblical theology of being a single adult, which means to be an adult without a spouse or children of your own, you're single. There's a theology, I'd like to talk to you about first of all that, and then secondly, the uniqueness of this theology when you look at all the other religions and cultures of the world. Number three, I'd like to say, what does that mean then when Paul says singleness is a gift? And then lastly, I'd like to just draw out some practical implications. So the theology of singleness, the uniqueness of the theology of singleness, what does it mean to say singleness is a gift? And then lastly, just some practical implications. So I don't think there's a better place to go for the New Testament theology of singleness than 1 Corinthians 7. And when I read you these two verses, you'll see right away why these are enigmatic verses to the average reader. He says, Paul says, are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life and I want to spare you this. What I mean is that the time is short. Now it sure seems enigmatic when you read that. It sure seems like Paul's had a bad day. Because in Ephesians 5, he has this exalted view of marriage where he talks about marriage is a symbol and a sign of the union of Christ and His people. It's this high exalted view of marriage. And here he says, are you unmarried? Don't look for a wife. I mean, you know, he didn't say that's okay. You can live with that. It's a form of suffering that if you, you know, I'll use it for a while to make you a better person. But then, of course, you need to get on with your life. He doesn't say that. He says, are you unmarried? Don't look for a wife. If you do marry, you haven't sinned? But those who marry, who face many troubles in this life, I want to spare you. What I mean is the time is short. First of all, it looks like he seems to have fallen off from the exalted view of marriage he has in Ephesians. And then it seems like he's basing it on the idea that Jesus is coming back anytime because it says the time is short. And of course, Jesus didn't come back, you know, right away. And so maybe that was a mistake. Now here's the right answer. When he says the time is short, he doesn't just mean Jesus is coming back any day because he goes on immediately and says this, and he applies this principle to all of life, including eventually singleness in marriage. He says, from now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none. Those who mourn as if they did not. Those who are happy as if they were not. Those who buy as if it was not theirs to possess. Those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them for this world and its present form is passing away. Now what we have here is actually what a lot of theologians would call a sophisticated kingdom theology. What Paul taught and actually what Jesus taught and what the Bible teaches is that though many people thought that when the Messiah showed up, that he would bring in the kingdom of God. And in other words, you have the old age in which there's suffering and there's death and there's brokenness and there's pain. And then the Messiah comes, it was thought, and he would bring in the kingdom, the new world. And the new world, there would be no sighing, no suffering, no death. Everything would be perfect. Instead what happens is the Messiah doesn't come back once. It's like the old world, then Messiah, and then the new world. He comes back twice. The first time in weakness, the second time in power, the first time to begin the kingdom, but then the second time to bring it in fullness. And what that means is right now we live in what's called the overlap of the ages. The old world is still going on. The new world has actually begun. The Spirit of God is in the world to renew people's lives in many ways, but the fact is it's still a place in which we still have the suffering and the brokenness and all that. And so we live between the times, between the first and the second coming of the Messiah. And what Christians are supposed to do in that time, Paul actually lays out in the most practical terms. What this means is we do marry. We do buy and sell. We do have jobs. We do grieve and mourn. We do rejoice, but we always do it right now in light of the future. And see, in light of the future, God is going to give you the ultimate wealth. So right now, whether you have money or not isn't the biggest deal. If you have it, great, but don't get too attached to it. If you don't have it, don't be too upset. It's not real wealth. You see what he's doing? What he's actually, when he, see, it sounds strange at first. He says, those who mourn as if they didn't mourn, okay? You can weep, but at the same time, don't overdo it because everything is going to be made right. And you can rejoice, but at the same time, don't overdo it because this isn't real joy. This is nothing like what you're going to get. This will never satisfy your heart. And then he applies it to marriage and singleness. And that's the reason he's saying basically this. The ultimate family is in the future. The ultimate wedding is in the future. The wedding supper of the lamb, all of the deepest desires you have for love, for closure, for acceptance, for unity, for security, all of that will be satisfied on that day. And no earthly family and no earthly marriage can do anything more than be penultimate. It can be a forte, it can be a sign, it can be great. But if you don't have a family, don't get too upset. And if you do have a family, don't be too elated. And don't put too much of your hopes in it.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
Fresh update on "keller" discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"One of the biggest obstacles for people to believe in Christianity is that they think they already know all about it, but if we look at Jesus' encounters with various people during his life, we'll find some of our assumptions challenged. We see him meeting people at the point of their big unspoken questions. The Gospels are full of encounters that made a profound impact on those who spoke with Jesus and in his book Encounters with Jesus, Tim Keller explores how these encounters can still address our questions and doubts today. Encounters with Jesus is our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life reach more people with the amazing love of Christ. Request your copy of Encounters with Jesus today when you give at gospelinlife.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. But then there's a second kind of laughter that comes up in their lives. You see, we have to jump over chapter 21. Back before Isaac is born, they were laughing, but it was a shallow laughing of scoffing. It was the laughing of self-defense trying to keep themselves from the hope of the Gospel, which was so incredible that they were afraid to believe it. There's another kind of laughing, and the other kind of laughing is the wild laughter of addiction and of fixation. Now if you go to the other side of this incident, you'll see something very, very strange and very weird, and that is chapter 21 verse 8, and in other words, if I had kept on going, which we didn't, and printed more of this here, in chapter 21 verse 8, we're told that when Isaac was weaned, you know, when he went off breast milk, Abraham had a huge party, a great feast. And you just imagine the laughing and the, and the, and the, and this food and the drink and the celebration. Can you imagine Abraham and Sarah laughing and doting? However, in verse 9 we're told that Ishmael, who was Abraham's child through the maidservant Hagar, was making fun of Isaac, and Sarah turned, her laughter turned to fury, and she comes to Abraham and says, throw the maidservant and her son out. Because you see, what's going on here is Sarah is doting on, she's laughing in Isaac, but she's laughing in a way that that laughter turns to rage immediately. If anybody touches the apple of her eye, the light of her life, see, immediately, there's something wrong with her laughter, and there's also something wrong with Abraham's laughter because in chapter 22, God comes to Abraham and says, verse 1 says, God tested Abraham. And then it says, he came to Abraham and said, Abraham, take your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the mountains of Moriah and go up into a mountain that I show you and sacrifice him there to me. Why would God, knowing how crushingly difficult this request is, why would God not just say, take your son, but your only son whom you love? Why would he say that? You know, twisting the knife, no, because that's the issue. What Abraham and Sarah had done is they had taken Isaac and made him now the center of their lives. There was a laughter in Isaac, but it was a laughter of addiction, it was a laughter of fixation. He was now the light of their lives, he now, and there's a, now, here's something we've This laughter, just like the first kind of laughter, isn't really laughter. The first kind of laughter is really filled with fear, and filled with a kind of adolescent fear of loss of control and a loss of vulnerability, I mean, and a vulnerability, a loss of independence. This is a different kind of laughter. It turns to rage very quickly, it turns to terror very quickly if anything goes wrong with the thing that you've put your hope in. You see, the first kind of laughter comes when you're afraid to put your hope in anything. The second kind of laughter comes when you take something or someone or something and put all your hopes in it. And this kind of laughter is also wrong, it's also bad, it's not real laughter, there's no real joy under it as you can see. Now for a minute we have to stop and say, the word addiction is pretty strong and I'm afraid that some of you are going to miss the point. First of all, let's take a look at the case, but then I'll show you the principle. The case of building your life on your children. You know what happens if your children become the light of your eyes? If the children become the savior of your souls, do you know what happens? Several things can happen. First of all, because your child is the very first thing in your life, you may be so afraid of displeasing your child, you may be so absolutely afraid of the child's anger that that leads to underdiscipline. You're afraid to ever get the child angry and therefore, underdiscipline, the child grows up spoiled, self-indulgent, undisciplined. Or it's also possible that because you build your whole life around the child, that what happens then is that you do overdiscipline because when your child is displeased with you, it's like a death, it's like a spiritual death, it's like an emotional death and you just snap. But worst of all, the child will grow up knowing that you are living your life out through that child and that you are not really loving that child, but you're loving yourself through the child. And the child will sense that unless they succeed or are beautiful or successful or athletic or whatever, that you don't love them, that you're let down, they can't take the pressure, they won't be able to take the pressure, there's nothing more destructive than that. Now, some of you, your whole life just flashed before your eyes, I know, I know, but we've got to get on, we've got to get on very quickly because that's just the psychological manifestation of the real problem which is a theological distortion. The theological distortion is the first kind of laughter, I'm afraid to even, I'm afraid to hope in anything, but in the second kind, you zip over the giver and you put all of your heart in the gift. And both kinds of laughter are just ways of avoiding resting and rejoicing in the giver himself. They're both ways of, in a sense, of staying in charge. In fact, what's really interesting is how Sarah, originally, three or four chapters ago, like chapter 16 and so on, Sarah came to Abraham and said, Abraham, you know what, I don't think that God's ever going to give you a son through me. The promise is too great, why don't you sleep with Hagar? And very interesting, he sleeps with Hagar and they try to fulfill the promise, not in God's way. Here's what's interesting, they say, we're going to get a son, but we're going to get a son not through God's work, but through our work, not through God's grace, but through our human effort, not in God's time, but in our time. They're trying to save themselves. What's interesting is even though they seem to understand grace in chapter 21, when Sarah says God has brought me laughter, yet in practice they're doing with Isaac what they did with Ishmael in principle, and just like most of us who are Christians remember before we understood the gospel, that we were trying to save ourselves through our own effort, after we become Christians, in principle we seem to understand that we're saved by grace, not by works, but in practice we continue on the same way. I mean, that's the reason why God tested Abraham and said, take your son, your only son whom you love, and go up the mountain and sacrifice. Why is it a test? When I was a teacher, I would give my lectures, and then I would test them, and the reason I was testing was not because I didn't think they heard anything I said, I figured they heard it, I was testing them because I wanted them through the test to work it in, to think it out, to get it down, see? And God had to come to Abraham and Sarah, and he had to say, Isaac was a gift, but Isaac's not the giver, I'm the giver, and as a result there was this wild laughter of addiction in their life, there was this wild laughter of fixation, but it still wasn't the laughter of grace, it still wasn't the laughter of joy. See, thirdly, the laughter of grace is what? God has made me to laugh. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a child, yet I have? Now it's all there, and if you want to understand what this means, you've got to go back to that beautiful little place where God is talking outside the tent, and he says, I'm going to come back and Sarah's going to get a child, and Sarah hears through the tent and says she laughed to herself, she says cut it out, come on, to herself, and the Lord turns to her and says, why did you laugh? And Sarah got scared and said, I did not laugh, and God says, no, but you did. Why does he do that? Because he wants it on the record. Why did he do that? What was Sarah's sin? If you want to know what Sarah's sin is, you have to see there's a little phrase in the where he says, why did Sarah laugh when I said this? Is anything too hard for the Lord? And every commentator I know says the original Hebrew word, but it's never translated that way is, is anything too wonderful for the Lord? Sarah's mistake, Sarah's sin, Sarah's sin is that she wouldn't wonder. Now you know, little children wonder. Their eyes get big like saucers, take them to a zoo, take them to an amusement park, take them to any Steven Spielberg movie, wonder. But when they get to be 13, like Naomi Wolf said, you know, you can take them to the, you take them to the greatest movie, the most incredible sports event, and they come back, what was it like? It wasn't terrible, why? Because we are afraid to wonder, no, because we can't. G.K. Chesterton wrote an interesting essay some years ago on why fairy tales give us such wonder. It's called The Ethics of Elfland, and he says there's always three things in every one of those stories. Number one, there's an acknowledgement of hopelessness, there's a doom where an impossible situation, you know, everybody's been turned to stone, you know, something's wrong, doom. And the second thing is, there's also an acknowledgement that there is a world out there though, of stupendous powers and deep mysteries, you know. But then number three, there's a heroic key, some way in which, unlooked for, the door is open between that power, and it comes into relation with the impossible situation, and there's resolution. So beauty and the beast, impossible situation, what's the heroic key? She sacrifices herself, she loves the unlovely, she gives herself to what looks like to be a nightmare, and ah, you see, there's these great powers in the world, and they come in and we didn't realize it, and now everything is redeemed. Don't you see, the gospel story is the story of wonder, from which all other fairy tales and stories of wonder take their cues. You can see it in the structure of this very passage, chapter 21, over and over again, it says over and over again, there is a God who will definitely do what he said, as he said it, when he said it, there's a God, high acknowledgement of the high realities and powers in the universe. Secondly, there's an impossible situation, they're old, they're a hundred years old, they're worn out, they're barren. But then there's a heroic key, and that is the son of the promise. You see, C.S. Lewis in his famous article on hope, he says, there's three kinds of people, he says there's the cynic, and they laugh, what? They laugh at the idea that there's powers out there, that's the reason they have no wonder. And then there's the fool, and the fool thinks, I can save myself, I can put my life right if I just, my career gets like this, if I get into this school, if I have this child, if I have a wonderful little family, if I have children that love me, if I have this great sexual partner, it's the fool. You see, the cynic has no wonder in life, because one admit the powers that are out there in the universe. And the fool has no wonder in life, because, won't admit that you're lost. Your situation is impossible, that you will screw up your children, you will screw up your career, that you are weak, that you can't get there, and as a result, both those people have no wonder. But in the gospel, we're told, there is a great God, and there is an impossible situation, your sin, but there's a heroic key, the son of the promise. Who is the son of the promise? He's the one to whom Isaac points. He is the true Isaac, because you see, if this Isaac could be born and triumphed through God's grace, all the impossibilities of a situation of a wife who's 90 years old, giving her husband a child, the greater Isaac, you see, was born the way he was. He was born without any husband at all involved. And the angel came to his mother and said, nothing is too hard or wonderful for God. And this is the son of the promise, and he has come. How is it possible, though? How is it possible? You see, we're like Sarah. If you get over your laughter of disbelief, and if you get over your laughter of addiction, and say, God has made me to laugh. He has brought me laughter. If that happens, then what happens is this power from on high, this Jesus Christ himself is born in you, is born through you. You have to believe the objective. You have to believe that there is a power out there. You have to believe in God. You have to believe the truth, but it's not enough. You have to rejoice in it. You have to rest in it. You have to take your hearts off the other Isaac's in your life, and you have to rest in it. You have to give yourself to it. But when that happens, Christ is born in you. Well, how could that be? How could it be that Jesus Christ could come into your life after all the wrong kinds of laughter? You know, a lot of us have done it both. A lot of us have been skeptical, laughed at Christianity, and we've also said, but if all, if everything, if I just got this, if I just got that, then everything would go right. You know, there's no wonder in our life. We've been laughing in all the wrong ways. How could he come in? I'll tell you how. Because you see, the true father took the true Isaac up a mountain, raised the dagger over his head, and there was nobody there to say don't, brought it down. In Proverbs chapter 8 verse 30, it talks about when God was creating the world, that he was creating the world with wisdom at his feet, and wisdom says, I danced and rejoiced before God as we created the world together. And the Hebrew word there is the word shakak, it's the word for Isaac. I danced before the Lord. I danced before God. I delighted in him and in the world that we were creating. Jesus Christ says, I am the wisdom. You will know her by her fruit. John chapter 1 says, in the beginning was the word, the wisdom, and the word was with God and the word was God. Here's what happened. Jesus Christ, throughout all eternity, was laughing with God. He was laughing and rejoicing with God, but he lost it. He lost the smile of God. He utterly lost it so that we could have it. That's the reason why George Herbert has that wonderful poem where Jesus is looking down from the cross. Remember how that line goes? Now physician heal thyself, now come down, alas I did so when I left my crown and father's smile for you to feel his frown. He felt the father's frown so you could have the laughter, so you could laugh. And how do you know you're a Christian? Here's how you know you're a Christian. If you're a religious person and someone comes up to you and says, are you a Christian? What you're going to say is, what do you mean am I a Christian? Something wrong with me? How dare you ask such a thing? There's no sense of humor about it. But if you want to know, why? Because you're relying completely on your subscription to the doctrine to so on. But if you want to know what a Christian sounds like in your heart all the time, look at Sarah. Ask a real Christian, are you a Christian and what will the real Christian say? Who would have thought that I would be a Christian, yet I am. This is the reason why God could actually name her child Isaac, which laughter, which was the sign of her greatest failure. She laughed at God. How is she redeeming that terrible memory? Not the way we do it in the world today, which is try your best to forget it. No. If you know you're saved by grace and not by works, not by your effort, not by your achievement only because of Jesus Christ losing the laughter of God, taking the eternal justice, the frown of God, that means that memories of your past failures are redeemed. God turns them to gold through the gospel. They become humility in you. They become compassion in you. They become wisdom in you. They become skill in you. That's how you face your past, with the laughter of God. Nothing can wipe this smile off your face, nothing, not a thing, not a thing. And as you look at the future, nothing can either because whenever you start to really weep, Jesus wept. That's okay. But when you find yourself in despair, you have to say, what am I delighting in more than the one who lost the laughter of the Father so that I could have it? What is my Isaac? What do I have to demote? What do I have to demote and revel more in Jesus than this so that my laughter will come back? Do you understand that? Do you see that? There's a place in Isaiah 51 where it says, look to the rock, to Abraham and look to the rock from which you were hewn to Sarah your mother. Have you seen all the pointers, how you can meet him, how you can know him, how you can find him, they're all there. Let us love and sing and wonder. Let us praise the Savior's name. He has hushed the law's loud thunder. He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask that as we give ourselves to you, you would give yourself to us by opening our hearts to how we can hear the laughter of grace in Jesus Christ, the true Isaac. That's what we need more than anything else. Give it to us. Show us the way. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel on Life podcast. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel on Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the transformative power of Christ's love through this ministry. Just visit GospelonLife.com slash partner to learn more. This month's sermons were recorded in 1997 and 2017. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel on Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Singleness and the Rest of the World
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. The power of marriage is that it is a reflection of the gospel. Today Tim Keller explores how marriage can help us more deeply understand Christ's love for us and how Christ's love for us can completely transform our marriages. You heard Jordan say before lunch that there's a wide spectrum of how individuals experience singleness. Some of you no doubt would describe it as suffering. Others might just call it sadness. And still others say it's a sense, well you saw the video, a sense of freedom. I can do whatever I want. I can turn on a dime. I can go on a missions trip, you know, anytime I want to. I can serve God without the burden of a family. A single is sort of like a little zippy sports car you can zip around and a family is like one of those 18 wheelers that takes three blocks to make a turn. And you're carrying diaper bags. It's important to recognize though that the experience of suffering and unhappiness is a part of life for everyone no matter what you are, whether you are a single Christian, a happily or unhappily married person, whether you're ill or whether you're financially secure or insecure. Our challenge is to live a godly and a holy life in whatever condition that we're in. That's the core challenge. Every situation in life will have its own particularities but the similarities are more than the differences. I'm pretty much sure I can prove that. Tim's going to talk about a theology of singleness after me but before I do that, before we get to that, before we talk about singleness in particular, I want to talk about how to live godly lives in Christ under any circumstances. Here at Jessica Hong also talk about having a plan in our head about how our lives are supposed to go. I think that's a brilliant insight that she had. We grow up starting in our childhood and just pulling from all sorts of sources, TV and read and who knows where and we get this sort of wibbly -wobbly, timey -wimey, messy kind of idea of how we think our life is going to go or if you don't speak Dr. Who. Just seeing if any of you are out there. Good. An inchoate mass of expectations of how things are going to go and as long as our experience doesn't diverge too far or too painfully from what we're expecting, we're all right. But once there is a divergence, a why in the road, a fork in the road, that's when our lives have to, that's when we are given a choice that we have to face. You're not all drivers here in New York so maybe you don't know what a fork in the road is. It's not somebody's takeout utensils that they left lying in the street. It's where one branch of the road goes this way and the other branch of the road goes that way. I mean, I'm not making any assumptions here. Not everybody's had the pleasure of meeting the people at the DMV. Divergence can take many forms, illness, the death of loved ones, romantic relationships that either go sour or they just don't bloom, career opportunities that don't materialize. Even the health that you expected to have might turn out to be out of reach. And in your 20s, these divergences don't seem too important because you have this sense that there's still plenty of time for God to get it right. But as time passes and the sense that our hopes and our dreams are slipping away starts to become more acute, that's when this fork in the road presents itself as a choice we have to make. Shall I continue to trust God and do as He commands with my life or should I strike out on my own and attempt to grasp those things that will make my dreams come true? As a young Christian, I tag this in my head with the term, I'm just helping God get the things that I know He wants me to have.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
Fresh update on "keller" discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"And of course when Abraham first gets that promise, it's a wonderful promise, he's excited because Sarah cannot conceive. And because Sarah cannot conceive, in those days and in that culture, a woman's ability to bear children was her worth, it was her honor, it was her dignity. And for a woman to be barren and not be able to produce children, it meant it was at the very best a tragedy and at the very worst a disgrace. And so when Abraham hears God come and say, I'm going to give your wife a child, he's excited, of course he's excited. And if God had given the child to Abraham and Sarah, back when Sarah was of childbearing years and Abraham, you know, back during the normal sort of age frame, they would have just rejoiced with amazement, but the world wouldn't have because they would have said, well, it's about time. So God comes and gives the promise, but as time goes on, God keeps giving the promise and they get older and older and God keeps giving the promise and the promise keeps not coming true, which is one way to look at it. And finally, in Genesis 17, when Abraham is 100 years old nearly and Sarah is 90 years old nearly, God shows up at Abraham's door and says, Abraham, I will come and I will give you a son. And what does Abraham, the man of faith, do? In Genesis 17, 17, it says, when Abraham heard the promise, he fell face down, why? To worship, to praise, to prostrate himself before, to base himself before the majesty of God? No, it says Abraham, the man of faith, fell face down and laughed. He was doubled over with laughter. He couldn't, he laughed. And then not long after that, God shows up in the form of a human being and two companions, there's three people, it's God and a couple of angels, we guess, shows up at the tent of Abraham. And Sarah stands behind, as the customs of modesty at the time prescribed, she stood behind the tent flap and listened to Abraham speak with these men. And at one point, the Lord says, the one who was the Lord says, Abraham, next year I will return and Sarah will have a son. And in Genesis 18, down in verse 12, it says, so Sarah laughed to herself and said, after I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure? She laughed to herself. And she laughed too. Now, what had happened? Here's what had happened. What had happened was Abraham and Sarah had lost their belief in the supernatural power of God. They'd become, they'd become skeptical of the transcendent power of God. They could accept the idea of a promise in which God came and opened Sarah's womb when she was in her 30s or even her 40s or even her 50s. They could accept that. That would have been a miracle. But the idea that he could send a child in their old, old age, they couldn't accept that. So what they had done is they had become intellectually skeptical about the supernatural power of God. They believed maybe God could work through natural processes but not supernatural processes and they're very, very, and they pull back, you see. Now why? Why they pulled back? Because they were afraid of the vulnerability of hope. They were afraid to hope, see.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage Supper of the Lamb
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. When it comes to marriage, we often use words like soulmate or the one. These words can reveal an underlying belief that to have a good marriage, you just have to find the perfect person. But the biblical vision for marriage is starkly different. It's a way for two imperfect people to help each other become who God intended them to be. Listen as Tim Keller explores the meaning of marriage. This passage in Ephesians 5 on marriage, for the last time, is a slight mistake. This is not the tenth sermon on marriage. This is the ninth sermon on marriage. And this is the last one. And I want to start off right now by saying, unfortunately, there's a lot of people that I've talked to over these nine weeks who said, Are you going to say this? Are you going to say this? Are you going to get to this? And I said, Yes, yes, yes. I don't know if I'm going to do it. I've got to be done tonight. We're done. I'm tired. You're tired of marriage. And I've just got to finish tonight. From here, I've said, Well, I'll say this or I'll address this person. I'm not sure I'm going to get to it all tonight. And I want to apologize ahead of time. Don't be too mad if I was somebody, if you're somebody that I talked to, you know, somewhere in the last few days or a few weeks and said, Yes, I will definitely address that. I'm just not going to get to it all. Tonight, I would just like to talk about the, in some ways, the peak verse of this entire passage. I won't even read the whole thing again. But it's Ephesians five. And I just want to read chapter five of Ephesians, verse 32. We've been going in these evening services through the Book of Ephesians. We've come to this passage on marriage. And we're going to look for the 21 to verse 33. But I would like to just read you one verse and expound it and try to pull the meaning out of it. And it's verse 32, where Paul says, This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. He's able to say all this stuff I've been to. It's all been about Christ and the church as well. If I was going to name this sermon, I would call it, and maybe I should someday name this sermon something besides marriage number nine, I'd call it the marriage supper of the Lamb. What Paul is saying is everything I've said in these verses, you can say about the marriage state and about the gospel state, about relationship your between you and Christ. Put it this way. This verse is teaching us that there are some things we would never know about marriage if we don't know about how you relate to Christ by faith. And conversely, there are things we would never know about our relationship with Christ if we didn't know about marriage. When you look at marriage, you see things you would never know about our relationship with Christ otherwise. And when you look at Christ and our relationship with him, we learn things about marriage you wouldn't know otherwise. Did you catch that? That's two sides. And in some ways, what Paul is saying is if you don't know both marriage and a relationship with Christ, you don't really know either. In a sense, one teaches you about the other and you can't completely understand one without understanding the other. And all I would like to do is lay out, though you could go on infinitely thinking and reflecting about this, I would like to take those two headings and I would just like to say there are two things I'd like to mention under each heading. Two things that we learn. First of all, what does marriage tell us about our relationship with Jesus? What do we learn from marriage? What do we learn from being married? What do we learn from what the Bible teaches about marriage that teaches us what it means to be a Christian? And here are the two headings that I would just like to say. Two things and let's look at them. First of all, I believe marriage teaches you about repentance and grace in a way nothing else on earth can. It teaches you why your relationship with Christ has to be based on repentance and grace, not on works, not on good deeds, not on performance, because your marriage relationship could never be based on your good deeds and your performance. So first of all, what marriage tells us about our relationship with Christ, it teaches us about grace. And secondly, marriage teaches us about the relationship of intimacy to fruitfulness. I'll go back over both of these. Secondly, marriage teaches us about the relationship of intimacy to fruitfulness. I'll try to be loud. I know I've been in the balcony. I know it's hard to hear me from back there. First of all, marriage teaches us about grace and repentance. A lot of us think we know about it. We think we know what it means to repent and believe until you get married and you realize you don't know much about it. It was pretty interesting, for example, yesterday for me, just to hear briefly a place where R .N. Hatch at the hearing said, sexual harassment is unforgivable.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
Fresh update on "keller" discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. Throughout the Bible, there are signs that point us to the gospel. Today, Tim Keller is looking at how we can discover them and what they teach us. The passage on which the teachings base is found in your bulletin. Let me read it to you. Genesis 21, verses one to seven. Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah, as he had said. And the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. At the very time God had promised him, Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has brought me laughter. And everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. And she added, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. This is God's word. Why, in these morning services here in the fall, are we rummaging around in documents that are so ancient that they're called the Old Testament? I mean, how relevant is that? Very relevant. My wife, Kathy, tore out an article for me out of Mademoiselle Magazine, September 97. Very up to date. And surprising article, because it was by Naomi Wolf, who's a very sharp and pretty well known feminist author. And the title of the article is, Coming Out for God, subtitle, OK, I Pray, So Why Do I Feel So Funny Talking About It? And in the article, she basically says that she has come into a spiritual search. She has decided there's got to be more. And she is looking for God, and she's searching for God, and she's searching for spirituality. And at one point, she says, it's really all coming down to this. And she's not saying she arrived, but this is what she says she's coming down to. She says, beyond it all, I have the increasingly pressing question. This is the increasingly pressing question. What the heck does God want me to do, and how do I figure it out? What does God want me to do, and how do I figure it out? And when you ask the question, how do you figure out what God wants of me, that's the question of sources. Where do I go to find out what God's will is? And really, classically, there's really only two basic answers over the years. The one answer is look outside to some authoritative text, to some authoritative resource. Look outside to the objective. And on the other hand, the other kind of answer has been, well, you look inside. You look to the inner light. You look to the subjective. You look to your heart. You look to your experience. Now, the wonderful thing about the Old Testament that really needs to be understood, besides the fact that it's a book that's considered holy by Jews and Christians and Muslims, is with the Old Testament, you don't have to choose. What's great about the Old Testament is you have authoritative theological teaching, but it's always teaching in the form of stories, always teaching in the form of real human experiences. So last week, we looked at the existential despair of the teacher in Ecclesiastes. This week, we look at laughter. We will look at bitterness. You look at real human experiences, and the Old Testament says in those real human experiences, you've got pointers to God. You've got clues to God, but by going to the Old Testament, you not only look at human experience, you also do it in a way that people have been going to for years through the centuries, the Old Testament. Instead of being self-accredited, instead of just saying, well, I've looked at my heart, now I know what God wants, you're looking into the human heart, into human experience, and therefore into your own experience, but in the Old Testament, a place where millions of people over the centuries have found God. And that way, you can trust, so you don't have to choose, and that's why we're going to these great accounts. Now, in this account, we are looking at a particular experience, and that is a woman laughing because her only child has been born, but it's an incredibly old woman we have here. We have a woman who's 90 years old here, and we're told in the Bible that this laughter is a clue to who God is and what He's done, and how do you find Him? The reason that I read this little section, which many of you may not have even ever heard, even though you may have heard the story of Abraham and Sarah, is I think this is the fulcrum. This is actually the midpoint. This is actually the key, because all of Abraham and Sarah's life and all the fascinating incidents can all be understood in terms of the name of their son, because the word Isaac means laughter, means laughter. God has brought me laughter, and all who hear will laugh with me, and you can understand all of their life, and actually I think eventually you'll be able to understand all of your life, through the word yisak, Isaac, laughter, because there's been three kinds of laughter. If you read the story of Abraham and Isaac, there's three kinds of laughter, and only the last one is the best. They had to go through two other kinds to get to the third. What are these three kinds of laughter? First of all, first you see in the history of Abraham and Sarah, you see the laughter of scoffing, the laughter of disbelief, the shallow laughter of disbelief. If you go way back into the passage, go deep, you'll see back in Genesis 12, God comes to Abraham and says, I'm going to give you a son. A son will be born to you through Sarah, and through that son you will have a descent, a group of descendants will become a great nation, and through that nation, all the nations of the world will be blessed.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Completion: Gender Roles, Part 1
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. The power of marriage is that it is a reflection of the gospel. Today Tim Keller explores how marriage can help us more deeply understand Christ's love for us and how Christ's love for us can completely transform our marriages. We're looking tonight at a subject that many of you are going to say, why did you choose that subject? And it's just like the mountain climber. The same reason the mountain climber climbs the mountain because it's there. Why are we choosing the subject we're choosing tonight? Because it's there. Because the Bible is God's self -disclosure. It's the written word of God and everything that is stated there, whether or not it happens to be controversial at this little point in time and space or not, we have to digest it, we have to understand it and so tonight we're going to look again at this passage on marriage that we've been seeing for, this is the seventh week now. We're looking at Ephesians 5 verses 21 to 32. But tonight we're especially going to look at this major issue where it says wives submit to your husbands and husbands you're the head of the wife. What does that mean? What does that mean? Finally tonight we look at it, it's an immensely complicated subject and we're going to look at it. So let's first of all read the passage, Ephesians 5 verses 21 to 32 and then we tackle. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the savior. Now as the church submits to Christ so wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish but holy and blameless. In this same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all no one ever hated his own body but he feeds and cares for it just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery but I am talking about Christ and the church. However each one of you should also love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband. This is God's word but we're going to especially look tonight at verse 22. Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord for the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. What does that mean? Now there's a couple ways to put this. One of the ways is to ask the question that we are addressing in this verse is to say is there any differentiation between the roles and obligations of a husband and wife in marriage? I think I mentioned last week that years ago the marriage vows that were in the average church ceremony were different. Usually what the wife and the husband were asked to do were different. Different words were used. Today of course those vows are absolutely identical. The same words and yet every single place you come to in the scripture you see there's a differentiation. So the first question is, is there a differentiation? Is there an authority structure? What does it mean when it says wives submit to your husbands when it says husbands your head of the wife? Now we tackle the issue because it's there but you have to keep something in mind because all night especially as we as we look at this thing Christianity depending on the culture that it's sitting in can be either radically liberal subversive or horribly fascist reactionary in its appearance. See for example in communist countries the church has always been considered radically subversive why? Because it's subversive. The communist state is very conservative and the church was something that it tried to deal with but it was subversive because the church has always questioned or always not just questioned has always challenged the idea that the state is the final arbiter of moral issues and my values. The church has always said the state is not the final author and an arbiter of moral values it's God and so in those countries where you have super conservative state governments and state the church looks radically subversive but in this country for example very often Christianity looks reactionary and conservative. You know why? Because in this country the church is also challenging the idea that the individual is the final arbiter of moral values. The church has always said no the individual feelings and conscience nor the state. See the church looks right wing to the left and left wing to the right that's the way it is because that's the way it ought to be if Christianity is actual truth. If it's absolute truth if it's if it's revelation from God. If that's you see Christianity isn't to the left or to the right it's from above. It's not it doesn't arise out of the human spectrum it settles down into the human spectrum of thought and if it's true that it's from above then it's natural that it doesn't actually fit any particular ideology and every ideology is going to be deeply suspicious of it. So on the one hand you have what Paul says about women who in many many in many cultures in many societies is considered radically subversive and certainly you know that. In many societies when Paul for example Paul originally taught this divine teaching about the roles of men and women into an Asian society an oriental society that's what that's what that area was and of course because of the very rigid understanding of the roles of men and women in those situations the Christian truth was considered tremendously subversive that's why when you go to 1 Corinthians 11 you see Paul saying to the women when you pray and speak in church make sure you wear a veil. He's talking to married women why well see in that time and place when a woman was married she was completely veiled you still see that in many oriental countries in many Eastern countries she was completely veiled that showed that she belonged totally to her husband.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Completion: Gender Roles, Part 2
"What's the greatest enemy to any marriage? Impatience? Criticism? Boredom? Tim Keller argues that self -centeredness is the biggest problem in any marriage, and that all other problems come from that. Listen as Dr. Keller explores how the Gospel frees us from selfishness to love, serve, and bear with our spouses. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelAndLife .com and sign up for our email updates. When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly newsletter with articles about Gospel -changed lives as well as other valuable Gospel -centered resources. Subscribe today at GospelAndLife .com. We're looking at a subject that's controversial, and yet on the other hand, I find I hate most controversial subjects. As a lot of you know, I don't enjoy getting after things that divide people. And yet, this is not a controversial issue that's intellectual, this is a very, very personal one. And in most controversial issues, it's very hard for me to preach with a lot of conviction because I say, huh, who knows? There are a lot of wonderful, godly, intelligent people that believe differently. How do I get off, you know, preaching from Mount Olympus and saying this is the way it is? In this area though, I think it's biblically clear, and I also know I'm going to try tonight especially to speak as personally out of my own experience as I possibly can, and yet it's still an area where I have to tread lightly, I have to think very carefully. And so tonight, we'll continue for one more week the subject of looking at the passage wives, verse 22, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. What does this mean? And the answer is, it means a lot, a whole lot. Let's just read the whole passage as usual because I'd like you to keep on thinking of the whole passage, Ephesians 5, 21 to 32.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Completion: One Flesh
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. When it comes to marriage, we often use words like soulmate or the one. These words can reveal an underlying belief that to have a good marriage, you just have to find the perfect person. But the biblical vision for marriage is starkly different. It's a way for two imperfect people to help each other become who God intended them to be. Listen as Tim Keller explores the meaning of marriage. This is the sixth week. I understand that everybody wants to buy the series of tapes on marriage. And Jim Irwin tells me that if it's long enough, if the series is long enough, the sales will be such that we'll be able to buy our own building. And so I'm thinking of, you know, this is the sixth in a series of 652 talks on marriage. No, this is our sixth talk on this passage, the classic text in the scripture on Christian marriage, Ephesians 5, and I would just like to read it to you and then continue our exposition of it. This is the sixth week we've been on it. Ephesians 5, and sorry about my sound and sorry about the occasional memory lapses that I'm bound to have tonight. But let's see if we can muddle through best we can. It's Ephesians 5, and we'll go verses 21 to 33. It's a great passage to know by heart. Here it goes. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. This is God's word. Now there's been topics, and in the early part of the series I said we were going to move through topics. We said we would look at marriage as ministry, we'd look at marriage as covenant or commitment, we've been looking at marriage as friendship, but tonight I'd like to bridge out of, finish up, very briefly, the idea of marriage as friendship and bridge into another section. We said the purpose of marriage is friendship. However, we also said this passage teaches us that there's a structure, there's a role structure in marriage, that the role of husband and wife is not reversible and it's not interchangeable. There is, as one person said, there's a mutuality between husband and wife that we see here, as we will take, start to look at tonight. There's a mutual submission in love, and yet the commands are not the same to both. There's an asymmetrical mutuality that this passage is talking about. That it's true that husband and wife are one flesh, and yet the two pieces, when you put the one flesh, it's one flesh because two pieces fit together, yet when you take a look at the two pieces separately, you discover that they're not identical. They're equal, but they're not equivalent. Now, what I want to do is to return to where we were, and that is this concept that in marriage you become one flesh, and I'll show you how this bridges us from the end of us talking about marriage as friendship into talking about the role structure of marriage. The Bible says a husband will leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This word one flesh is so strong it means that there's a possibility of deep unity and deep oneness when two people of two different genders enter into a permanent, exclusive, binding, legal commitment to share their entire lives with each other. When that happens, there's a potential for deep oneness that no other relationship has the potential for. By talking about two married people as one flesh, I think I may have referred to this. Again, this is one of the things I can't remember. You know, in the Bible, the word flesh doesn't simply mean your body. It doesn't simply mean like what the English word flesh means, which always means simply skin and sinew and blood and guts. Actually, there's a place in the Bible where it says, where God says, I will pour out my spirit on one flesh, and on all flesh, excuse me, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. There I go. And that doesn't mean I will pour out my spirit on everybody's body. It means I'll pour out my spirit on all people. And see, the word flesh means a person. And when it says the two will become one flesh, it says you're one person. You're really no longer the same two people, but you're a third entity. You're a new compound, just like two chemicals come together, and they interact, so they become a third kind of chemical. They're not the same. It's not like two chemicals that just happen to be sitting in the same test tube with each other, one on top of the other, or even intermingled. You see what the idea is here? If you take two chemicals that do not react with each other, but just sort of put them together the way you put together, the way you sort of knead, you know, let's say chocolate chips into the dough. You know, you just work it through, but you've still got dough and you've still got chocolate chips. We're talking about something different. Two chemicals that when they come together interact in such a way that their molecular structure is changed, and they become something that's third, that's new. And that's what the Bible is saying. The potential is for two people who come together in the bond of marriage. This oneness is tremendously deep. It's organic. It's vital. It's not mechanical. I know that the modern world still has tremendous trouble with this idea of the one flesh. A lot of people suggest that it's oppressive. We'll have to be talking about that the next two weeks. But the modern world says don't get married, live together. But if you have to get married, make sure that you always make sure that the relationship is continually fulfilling your needs. Make sure that you maintain your own economic and financial and social infrastructure, so if things don't work out, you've got something to fall back on. See, that's a complete antithesis to the idea of one flesh. Can you imagine the legs deciding, look, we need our own nervous system and we need our own blood supply in case the hands develop an infection. We don't want anything to do with them. But that's exactly what prenuptial agreements are. Now, how is it that this one fleshness can be developed, or let me ask it another way. Why is it that one fleshness, this kind of deep oneness doesn't three ways that it can happen and three reasons it doesn't happen, the same three reasons. If you do these three things properly, it develops deep oneness. If you fail to do them or if you do them wrongly, it creates what most marriages are, and that is basically business partnerships. Now, we said the deep oneness develops like this. This passage is saying, the two shall become one flesh. Therefore, a husband relates to a wife and a wife relates to a husband. As you relate to your body, that's how one you are. That's why as we read through it says that the husband cares for his wife the way he cares for his body. What is your relationship with your body? You really aren't separate from your body and yet you can think about your body and you can talk about your body, you can act on your body as an object, and yet it's pretty close to who you really are. In fact, it is who you really are. And we said there's three things that you have to do to develop this one fleshness or three things that if you blow will create the lack of it. It will undermine the one fleshness. One is you've got to let your spouse deal with you about your uncleanness, about your blemishes, about the unsightly nasal hair. We said last week, this was at the very end of last week, we said when this passage talks about how the husband has to care for the wife and wants to present her spotless and without blemish and clothed and beautiful. And then he says just like you deal with your own body. Well, how do you deal with your body? See, you wipe your body. You trim your body. You deal with the unsightly fat on your body. You buy clothes to hide the unsightly parts of your body while you're working at And it. of course, you have the right to do that. The scripture says that when a spouse comes into your life, that spouse now has the same kind of rights, the same kind of access to your faults and your flaws. And therefore, your spouse has the right to talk to you about what's wrong with you. And if you are touchy, and if you refuse to let him or her in, and if you start to say, you mind your business and I'll mind mine, nobody has the right to talk to me about those things, then you're denying the one flesh nature and the one flesh potential and the deep ability to really change and grow and sanctify and be perfected and redeemed and become the glorious people that God wants you to be through this marriage. So unless you let your spouse really deal with your faults, unless you let your spouse in, unless you let your spouse have that kind of access, there won't be one flesh. Secondly, and I think we mentioned this last week too, secondly, your spouse has the right to reprogram your self -image. Last week, we said this briefly, I'll say it briefly again, but let me show you why so many marriages fall apart because this ability is abused. When you get married, your spouse has got such a tremendous power over how you think of yourself. Remember this at the end of last week? Years ago, this insight, which is very, very biblical, came from a paper that my wife read by Arvin Engelson. You remember that? Arvin, where are you? We don't even know. He was a student at Gordon -Conwell. We barely knew him. He had a paper that Kathy had to read in some kind of seminar. It was on marriage as a vehicle of redemption, and it is such a powerful paper. It shaped my whole understanding of what the Bible says about marriage. I've never met the guy, and I have no idea where he is. Arvin Engelson, if you're listening to this tape, I want you to know your paper has meant a lot to me. And in that paper, he says, marriage is re -creational. And these are some of the things he says. He says, your entire life, your entire self -image is basically a compilation of verdicts that have been passed on you, things that people have said about you. Now, when you get married, your spouse has got massive ability to overturn, has the power to overturn all those verdicts in a single word. Your spouse has the ability to reprogram your self -appreciation. Your spouse can say, I don't care what anybody else ever, ever said, you're smart. You are a bright person, and you will become feeling bright. You'll feel that way. And if everybody else has said, I think that you are a louse, I think that you amount to nothing. Your spouse says, I think you're a significant human being. I think you contribute to so many people's lives, you'll start to feel significant. It's also true if your spouse starts to say, you're a louse. You'll never amount to a hill of beans. What that does is it completely destroys you. You see, marriage, you put into the, when you get married, you put into the hands of your spouse the ability to make or break you. Now, I'll tell you why this deep unity doesn't work, doesn't develop in most people. Because when you get married, you have no idea the power you've got. You start, when you get into your first argument, you start to deal with your spouse the way you've dealt with your brothers and your sisters and your parents and your roommates and your friends. And you say things just like you said to them. And you say mean things like you said to them. And you don't think that it's going to go any deeper into this person's heart than it other people will walk away, other people will get over it. Look out. Look out. You think you've got a BB gun in your hands and you've got a rocket launcher. You think all you're going to do is sort of, you know, give them a little flesh wound. The next thing you know, there's nothing there but a pair of sneakers with smoke coming out of them. That's the funny illustration. The awful illustration is I'm thinking of Lenny in Mice and Men who doesn't know his own strength, remember? And who has a little girl, has a girl and trying to talk to her and trying to show her what he wants to say. And she starts to scream and he says, don't you do that. Don't you say anything. And next thing you know, it says, what does it say? Her head was flopping back and forth because Lenny had broken her neck. She was dead. He had no idea how strong he was. He didn't know his own strength. He meant well. If you use your ability to reprogram your spouse's self appreciation, if you learn how to go into somebody's life and even when you criticize, you do it in a way that's affirming. If you learn how to do that, and friends, you need to be doing it with your father and your mother and your parents and your brothers and your sisters and your roommates. You need to be doing it anyway. They're not getting killed by your sharp tongue. They're not getting killed by the nasty things you say, the identifying words you say. But if you get into a marriage with these kinds of speech patterns, you will find that you will kill each other. If on the other hand, you start building one another up, what's fascinating is the more you affirm, you use that tremendous power to affirm the person, the easier it is for your spouse to open up about his or her faults. Because if you have a cradle of security for your moments of vulnerability, if you know that this is the one person who really respects me, knows me to the bottom and loves me and respects me, and that's a certainty in your life, it's like a ground note underneath everything else, then you have a sort of security, you have a from foundation which you can, for the first time in your life, admit your faults. Because you see, in the past, to even admit your faults was very difficult because you began to wonder whether you were any kind of decent person at all, but now you know you are because of what your spouse is saying to you. You know about your worth there. Your spouse does, as you see, this is a great mystery. The relationship between a man and a wife is like a Christ in the church. Of course, it's a fascinating mystery because, as you know, if you've been here and heard the preaching, you know that it's the Scripture that says that it's Christ who does that to you. Christ reprograms your self -image. Christ says, I died for you, and that's the only thing that matters. Christ says, let the fact that I died for you, let that be the weightiest fact in your life. Let that matter more than anything else. You matter to the only one who matters. See, Christ reprograms that. Next to Christ, the person who can do that the most effectively is your spouse because marriage is basically built on the dynamic of salvation. It's built on the pattern of salvation. That's the reason why Paul can go back and forth talking about Christ's salvation in relationship to us and the relationship between a husband and a wife. So in the same way, if you do that, if you affirm, if you use this tremendous ability to reprogram that person, self -image, you'll find that the person will open up more and more and the deep oneness will come. You'll have the ability to talk about one another's faults. But on the other hand, if you abuse this, if you don't realize you've got a rocket launcher in your hands, it's very fast what will happen. What will happen very quickly is both of you will realize I cannot trust the other person with what I really think because they can nail me like nobody ever has ever been able to nail me. So I'm afraid to do that. So what you do is you close up and you say this is, what happens is instead of deep oneness you have what most marriages are, which is a kind of a combination of business partnership and social contract and parenting partnership. A lot of people have a slightly better relationships after they're divorced raising their kids together, right? Which goes to show they never really developed or had the deep oneness. Now, so there's three things. The first thing is you've got to let your spouse in if you want that one fleshness. You've got to let your spouse deal with your faults, give them access, him or her access to your dirt. If you don't do that then you refuse, then you're denying the one flesh nature of marriage. Secondly, you've got to use this ability to reprogram your spouse's self appreciation and affirm that spouse. You've got to use that so carefully because if you abuse that your spouse will become, you know, two people who don't have a deep oneness. You're not one flesh. You're simply a partnership. You're not a new chemical, but rather you're just two chemicals that just happen to be interspersed amongst one another. You're laying there together and you interpenetrate one another, but you haven't actually become something new. Thirdly, the third thing is that you have got, if you want this one fleshness, you've got to recognize that neither of you can act independently of the other. Marriage is one of the most significant human relationships there is, but it's also one of the most difficult and misunderstood. In the meaning of marriage, Tim and Kathy Keller offer biblical wisdom and insight that will help you understand God's vision for marriage. Whether you're single, considering marriage or someone who's been married a long time, the meaning of marriage will help you face the complexities of commitment with the wisdom of God. The meaning of marriage is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at GospelinLife .com slash give. That's GospelinLife .com slash give.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Friendship
"What's the greatest enemy to any marriage? Impatience? Criticism? Boredom? Tim Keller argues that self -centeredness is the biggest problem in any marriage, and that all other problems come from that. Listen as Dr. Keller explores how the gospel frees us from selfishness to love, serve, and bear with our spouses. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelAndLife .com and sign up for our email updates. When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly newsletter with articles about gospel -changed lives as well as other valuable gospel -centered resources. Subscribe today at GospelAndLife .com. I feel a soberness tonight because we have a very interesting church. It's really, as some of you realize that have been around for a while, it's an interlocking chain -link fence of small churches, and there's grapevines, so a lot of you don't know Donna at all, or Jerry, but we prayed tonight because they were evening Redeemerites, if there is such a thing. Evening Redeemerites, and there was a lot of prayer for Donna, visited her in the hospital, and so it's a shock for a young and sweet spirit to pass on like that.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Priority and Friendship
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. The power of marriage is that it is a reflection of the gospel. Today, Tim Keller explores how marriage can help us more deeply understand Christ's love for us, and how Christ's love for us can completely transform our marriages. Okay, Ephesians 5. Starting somewhere in August, I guess, about three weeks ago, this is the fourth week, obviously, we're looking at this passage in Ephesians 5. We're looking at verses 22 to 32, which is really maybe the classic text in the whole Bible on marriage. And we're spending about six to eight weeks looking at the subject, and let's proceed. Let me read it again to you. Starting at verse 21. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife, as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. This is God's word. Now, I always must do a little recapping, but a little bit less each week. Marriage is something that the people talk about in the church all the time, but I must admit, I'm tired of listening to sentimental, slurpy talks on marriage during weddings and in the church and in Sunday school and in sermons. They are slurpy. They are sentimental. They have about as much depth and reality to them as a Hallmark card. The fact is that marriage is many things. In fact, it's everything except slurpy and sentimental. Marriage is glorious. It's all a burning strength and joy. And marriage is hard. It's blood and it's sweat and it's tears and it's defeats and it's victories. It's almost everything except sweet. In fact, many a night, married people go to bed and as they're falling asleep after a hard day of marriage, about the only part of this passage, this passage on marriage that they can remember is the verse that goes, this is a profound mystery. And let's, so we're going to go and see that the Bible's view of marriage is completely realistic. It's great. It's terrible. It's glorious. It's blood, sweat and tears. It is not sweet. Now, what we've looked at so far are three headings in this passage. First one was the power of marriage. We saw that was in verse 21. Just the quickest reminder and yet in some ways the scariest and most profound thing that this passage says is this passage on marriage is built on the previous verses on being filled with the Spirit. Paul is assuming that there is in your life a Spirit created unselfishness. The result of being filled with the Spirit in verses 18 and following is verse 21, submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ because there's reverence for Christ because you have awe and fear and trembling before the greatness of his gospel that he has saved you, that he's died for you. When you take the gospel into your heart every day so that it becomes a reality, that's what we mean by being filled with the Spirit and that creates an unselfishness, a willingness and ability to serve one another, to give up your rights, to put the needs of the other person first. We talked about that but the first principle that we looked at at great length which we just remind you of now is the main problem in marriages is self -centeredness. The main disease that eats away marriages is self -centeredness. All other problems are derivative or secondary to that. It's selfishness. And only the Spirit of God can get rid of that. And there are people who have relatively decent marriages without the spirits created unselfishness but they're really more like, it's a little bit more like peaceful coexistence. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. You stay away from that area and I'll stay away from that. This assumes the power of marriage is the gospel creating a spirit of unselfishness. Self -centeredness is the main problem. If you're married, it's the main problem in your marriage. If you're not married, it will be the main problem if you ever get married. If you're divorced, it probably was the main problem in the marriage that you left. And I think that any kind of reasonable and fair -minded analysis will see that. Number two, the definition of marriage was cleaving. We looked at that a couple of weeks ago. But it's always a helpful thing to remind people, not only the married people but especially the singles. I think a couple of weeks ago, I tried to show you, I said, if there's so many single people here in the evening, why should you speak on marriage? And the answer is, you don't know how to go about deciding whether to be married or who to be married to unless you know what the heck marriage is. You know, Jesus says, before a man goes and builds a tower, he counts the cost. He knows what it costs. Before a king goes off to war, he counts the cost. He knows what it will entail. You can't go off to war until you know what it means and what it entails and so on. You can't even make a decision about being married unless you understand something about what Bible says marriage is. And here's one of them. The definition of a marriage, we said, is a covenant. It's a public promise or, remember this? This is something worth remembering. The essence of a marriage is a permanent and exclusive legal commitment to share your entire life with someone else.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Commitment and Priority
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. When it comes to marriage, we often use words like soulmate or the one. These words can reveal an underlying belief that to have a good marriage, you just have to find the perfect person. But the biblical vision for marriage is starkly different. It's a way for two imperfect people to help each other become who God intended them to be. Listen as Tim Keller explores the meaning of marriage. The title of the sermon tonight is Marriage 3. I figured this is the summertime. At the end of the summer, you see a lot of sequels. There's Child's Play 3, there's Terminator 2, there's Rocky 85, and there's Marriage 3. I figured you'd be in the swing of it. Please turn with me to Ephesians 5. Those of you who have come to the evening service know that this is part of a series that we started 18 years ago or so on the book of Ephesians. And we're moving through the book of Ephesians at the pace of a geriatric slug pretty much. It's very, very, very slowly through the book of Ephesians. And we've come to maybe the classic text, the longest, the most famous text in the entire Bible on the subject of marriage. So let me read to you again from Ephesians 5 verses 21 to 32, and then we will take it from there. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Why submit to your husbands as to the Lord? For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so wives should submit to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. And for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you must also love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. This is God's Word. There's a lot of stuff to say about this passage, but here's how we've been dividing it. Let me remind you of where we've been. Let me give you a quick recap of the headings. We're looking at marriage in this passage under five headings. We're looking at the power of marriage, the definition of marriage. You know what? It's six, isn't it? The power of marriage, the definition of marriage, the priority of marriage and the purpose of marriage, the structure of marriage and the mystery of marriage. We mentioned that last week. I won't tell you what all those are, but that's what we're doing. We're moving it through it. So far, we've only looked at the first two, and tonight I want to get to the third. And the first two are the power of marriage and the definition of marriage. Quick recap. Remember what the power of marriage was? The power of marriage is in verse 21. 21 is actually a bridge. For those of you who are here in May and June, when we were looking at the verses of chapter 5, verses 18 and following, or what it meant to be filled with the Spirit, verse 21 is a direct link from the passage being filled with the Spirit to the passage on what it means to be married. What is a good marriage? There's a link. The one assumes the other. You know what the link is? The link is cause and effect. The cause of a good marriage is being Spirit -filled. So verse 21, which is the end of the passage that we looked at, verse 21 is talking about the fact that when you're filled with the Spirit, there's a Spirit -created unselfishness, a willingness to submit to other people, a willingness to serve other people, not to be defensive, to have a servant heart. And that is the basis for any kind of healthy marriage. Now, we talked about that, but let me just, let me make a couple observations to make sure those of you who weren't here know where we're going, where we've been, and those who were here have it clearly in mind. There is a spirit of servanthood. There's a servant heart, which is the foundation for any kind of decent marriage. That's why verse 21 comes before everything else. Well, some people have asked me, what do you mean? What is the servant heart? What is that? It's kind of vague. All right, let me give you at least three critical aspects without which a marriage will not run. These three things, which are really just constituent parts of a servant heart, are like the oil in a car engine. Try to run an engine without oil. Just try it. Don't put any oil in there. No lubrication. What basically happens, of course, is that the friction, the tension will destroy the engine so quickly. It'll get so hot, it'll overheat so quickly. There's got to be something in there that in a sense acts as a buffer, because obviously friction is what an engine is all about, motion and movement. Something has got to absorb that. What absorbs it? What absorbs it is the servant heart. And let me give you three constituent parts to it. The ability to hear criticism without being crushed. That's a lack of self -defensiveness, see. Secondly, the ability to give criticism without being, without crushing, without crushing. Thirdly, the ability to forgive people without residual anger. In other words, to forgive people and really let it go. That's what I mean by a servant heart. The ability to take your mind off yourself when you're giving criticism, when you're receiving criticism, when you're forgiving. Where does that come from? As we said last week, well, we can't go back into all the spirit -filledness, but what it means to be spirit -filled means that the Spirit of God is illuminating your heart and making very real to you the work of Jesus Christ. And if you remember that from June and May, when Jesus' work for you becomes very real. The example that always comes to my mind is when I talked to that 16 -year -old girl years ago in my church and she didn't have any dates. Nobody was asking her out. And she says, yeah, I'm a Christian. I know I'm going to live forever in heaven. I know Jesus loves me and cares for me. I know he died for me. I know he gave himself for me. I know he lives in me. I know that I'm his child. I know that I have his ear. I know that he comforts me and will take care of me, but what good is all that if you don't have any dates? Now, she wasn't quite that eloquent, but you see, at that moment she was saying intellectually, yeah, I know what Jesus has done for me, but right now my heart is overwhelmed with the beauty of, with the beauty of the prospect of being a desirable woman. That's what she was saying. Whereas when I think about the fact that Jesus loves me, cares for me, that doesn't thrill me. Being spirit -filled means you're in touch with reality. Reality is who cares what a drippy 16 -year -old boy thinks about you when the king of the universe says, you are mine and I will stand with you and for you for all eternity. What kind of absolutely insane person could possibly put those two things up against one another and have the pimply faced 16 -year -old win? And yet, I mean, there's nobody in this room that hasn't been through that. What does it mean to be spirit -filled? It means that your head is on straight, you're thinking, you're in touch with reality and you realize what Jesus Christ has done for me is everything. The Bible says that there's actually two, that every human being is religious. It says this in Romans 1, that there's actually a system, there's a systemic structure, there's a systemic religious structure to everybody's life. Every one of us down deep inside has a way in which we think that if we behave, things that if we get to them, then we'll be fulfilled, then we'll have nirvana, then we'll be saved. Every one of us says that I will be able to accept myself if I get this. We've talked about this before. Every human being, Romans 1 says, has got something, some form of religion, something they worship, something they say if I get that, then I'll be all right. The gospel says not your performance, not success, not relationship, not love, none of those things will ever satisfy you. You can know who you are, you can be secure when you realize that Jesus Christ has died for you and you're resting in what he's done for you. When that happens, and when you see the work of Jesus Christ for you, when you're spirit -filled, that gives you the ability to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You see, when it says in verse 21, out of reverence for Christ, literally out of the fear of Christ, you can submit, you get this unselfishness because Christ is so real to you, you're continually in awe before the reality of him. So how can you receive criticism without being crushed in your marriage or anywhere? The way is because in your heart you're thinking this, well, Jesus is my priest, Jesus is my friend, Jesus is my king, Jesus is my brother, I can handle this. He loves me, he cares for me, he'll show me. And so you can take criticism without being destroyed. You've got a cradle of security for your moment of great vulnerability. Or how can you give criticism without crushing? Well, you think like this, you say, I was a sinner, I am a sinner, I should be cast off. So you're using the gospel on yourself. You say, I should be cast off, but Jesus, gentle, gentle Jesus has put up with me for so long and he continually shows me the truth and I continually turn my back on him, but bit by bit he's coaxed me and he's been patient with me and he's brought me along. How then could I be any harsher with this person than he has been with me? Now, somebody's out there saying, sure, sure. Yet your wife yells at you and you're sitting there thinking about Jesus Christ as your brother and your friend and your cradle of security is one of the greatest of vulnerability. Well, look, in the beginning, when you're trying to reorient your life, when you're seeking to live your life and have your relationships, living it out of the matrix of servanthood, out of the matrix of the gospel, you do have to talk to yourself like that. But I want you to realize that this is not a mindset that you can turn on this week right away. You better get started now because it takes time. I tried to refer to this in the sermon earlier, one of the earlier services. It goes like this, most of you realize, I guess, when I'm prepared, I quote from all sorts of people. When I'm prepared, I quote. Why? Because C .S. Lewis is somebody that I've read, I've read everything that he's ever written, over and over and over and over again, ever since I became a Christian. Now, some of you are like that. There's a couple of books that you just, you master an author. You know what it's like to do that. Another guy is George Whitfield, that I've just read his sermons and read his sermons and read his sermons. Now, what happens after a period of time is that you not only get to master the person's works, but you actually begin to understand how that guy's mind works. You know what he thinks, even though you've never read anything he said about the subject, you know what he would say, right? I mean, you meet a character and you say, I know what he would say about that. I know what George Whitfield would say about that in a sermon. Why? Because I've read thousands of his sermons, not thousands, but I've read his sermons thousands of times. What happens is you can get an author that really speaks to you and you just read the stuff and you read the stuff and after a while you've gone beyond just the words of the book or the sermons and you've come to penetrate to the way the guy's mind works. That's what happened in my case with a couple of these authors. And that's the reason why when I'm just speaking extemporaneously, when I'm just speaking out of my heart, he comes out. Why? He's in there. Now, that's an image. Most of you know how that works. A lot of you may have people like that in your life, authors, people that have just sunk down so deep that you know how they think, you know how to look at life through them and their ideas and thoughts are in there so deep they just come out spontaneously. Do you realize what would happen to you and what would happen to me if we started to relate to Jesus like that? If we were so saturated in his promises to us and his summonses to us and his encouragements to us and what he says about us in his word. If that had sunk down as deep as what I'm talking about to the place where not just the words but the very way his mind works and the very way he thinks about you becomes intrinsic, inherent, spontaneous, reflexive, instinctive to you. That's when you develop the servant heart. When somebody gives you criticism, of course you're not consciously thinking, Jesus is my brother, Jesus is my friend, he loves me. His opinion matters more than anything else. I don't have to be scared to receive this kind of criticism. This is not the end of my life. This isn't the end of the world. I know who I am in Christ. You don't think that consciously and yet you're thinking that because what it's doing is it's giving its cast to everything you do, everything. There's a stability I keep talking about. There's a poise there, a deep kind of cosmic spiritual poise, a sense like I don't have to be afraid of anything anymore emotionally. It's sunk down in there. It's part of you. You're thinking like he thinks. You look at yourself through his eyes. You look at the world through his eyes. It's only when you've taken the time through prayer, through Bible study, through coming to worship, through reflection, through meditation, through fellowship of other Christians and continually talking about these things together. As time goes on, it sinks and it sinks and it sinks until the gospel dwells in you richly and eventually, eventually that will become the power in all your relationships and the power for marriage. The ability to submit to one another, to really forgive, to give criticism without crushing, to take criticism without being crushed. Only possible if you believe in Jesus. But I don't just mean believe in Jesus, but that you're thinking about him and you're thinking through him and you're thinking of him continually, almost unconsciously. Otherwise, otherwise, otherwise, your heart, my heart is so hard and we are so prone to disbelieve anything Jesus says. Even though intellectually you do, you reject it at a deeper level. Then I'm afraid 16 year old pimply faced kids are continually beating Jesus out in our hearts. You understand what I mean. The power of marriage is an unselfishness which is created by the spirit. Secondly, we talked about the definition of marriage. The definition of marriage, and you know, since I spoke on that last week, I can give you a little concise thing. The essence of marriage is a covenant, a legal, legal commitment. Somebody afterwards said to me, but that still doesn't tell me, what is a legal, what makes a marriage a marriage? Is it a minister? Now, there's a difference of opinion on, between Catholics and Protestants on this and I'm absolutely, absolutely believing, believe that the Protestant approach is right. Catholic Church will say, only a priest can marry somebody. Isn't that right? Protestants will say, a priest can marry, a minister can marry, justice of the peace, marriage is marriage. It doesn't matter whether it's a captain on a ship, it doesn't matter whether it's a justice of the peace, marriage is marriage. Why? Because look in the Bible where marriage comes up. Marriage pops up. Originally it was given to Adam and Eve. It wasn't given to only Christians, it was given to human beings as human beings. And therefore, it's not a church ceremony that makes you married, though it can. It's not jumping over a broom that makes you married. It's not stamping on a glass that makes you married. It's not the rings that make you married. What is it that makes you married? What makes you married is this, a permanent and exclusive public legal commitment to share your lives together, all aspects of it. It's got to be permanent and it's got to be exclusive. Some people say, it's time to have renewable contract marriages. You get married for three years and you have an option for three more. You've heard that. Now, that might be interesting, but that's not a marriage. By the Christian definition, even a prenuptial agreement, to be honest with you, radically cuts at the root of the Christian definition of marriage. The Christian definition of marriage is a permanent and exclusive promise to share every part of your life with somebody else. It's got to be a public legal commitment, a permanent exclusive public legal commitment to share your life with somebody else, every part of your life. If you say, no, it's not permanent, it's for three years, that's not marriage. If you say, it's not every part of your life, just here and here and here, because prenuptial agreement, you don't get this or that. All those things get at the root of marriage. The Christian definition of marriage is permanent, it's exclusive, it's a legal public binding, permanent exclusive commitment to share every part of your life with somebody else. Now, how you do that, whether it's with a minister, whether it's with a captain, a justice of the peace, whether you jump over a broomstick, whether you exchange rings, it makes no difference. Therefore, even in this culture, which is deathly afraid of obligation and commitment and responsibility and discipline, it all likes to talk about self -realization and self -actualization and growth and potential, but it hates to talk about discipline and submission and obligation. Therefore, this is the place at which the Christian understanding of marriage has a head -on collision with the society. You should not give yourself to somebody unless you've got that kind of promise and unless you're willing to give them that kind of promise. See, if you're not willing to make a permanent and exclusive public legal commitment to share your entire life with somebody, then you don't really love them enough to really be married. And the Bible says you should not give yourself to that person until that person is willing to make that promise to you and you are willing to make that promise to that person. That's why I must tell you that a number of people question me about it because, see, the implications of what we said last week, the implications of this idea that marriage is a cleaving, that's in verse 32, it's that public commitment, and that essentially love is a commitment therefore. Well, somebody says, you've de -romanticized marriage in my eyes. So what does that mean? Well, what did I say last week? I said that therefore the essence of love is a commitment. Love is an action first. It's a commitment to invest yourself in another person and meet their needs. And it's a feeling second. One of the weird things about becoming a pastor is that when you become a pastor, for the first time in your life, you are bound and obligated to be friends with all sorts of people that you really wouldn't choose to be friends with. I don't know of anybody else who's obligated, you know, doctors, for example, have to treat people they wouldn't ordinarily like, but they don't have to like them. They don't have to be friends with them. I don't know of anybody else who basically suddenly gets a body of people and the job description is you have to be friends with a lot of people that you would not ordinarily choose to be friends with. Therefore, in a sense, pastors have a kind of unique experience to talk about. You would be surprised at how you don't spend time with. You don't invest yourself in them. You don't give yourself to them. You don't listen to their problems. You don't go to see them at 3 a .m. in the morning. Now, one of the things that I found interesting in my earliest days, you know, Kathy and I moved into a new situation. I got a job as a pastor. I had basically 100 to 150 people and I started to pastor them. And there's a good number of them or people that if I was just living as a private individual in that town, I would have chosen as friends. And there were a lot of people that would never have chosen as friends. Not so much I didn't like them because you don't have that much in common. You're not quite the same. You don't have the same interests. You don't have, there's no spark, you know. It doesn't matter if there's no spark. This person is a member of your church. You're the pastor in a small town. This person's got a problem, you're there. This person's in the hospital, you're there. This person's got to talk to you at 2 a .m. in the morning, you're there. This person's son runs away, you get in the car and go chase him. This man's this man wife has run out on him, you get in the car and go find her. And that's the way it is to be a pastor, especially in a small town, in a small church. You invest yourself. You give. You do the actions of love for people that you really have no particular affinity with. And then after a couple of years, a big surprise comes to Kathy. You know, our day off, which I took every couple of months, I take a day off. And on a day off she would say, what do you want to do? What do you just want to do socially? What do you just want to do for fun? And I would say, well, let's have, let's have John and Mary Doe over. And she would say, why? Why in the world would you want to have John and Mary Doe over? I mean, that's work, isn't it? The reason you see John and Mary Doe, I mean, everybody knows all the problems they have and how obnoxious they are and the difficulties they have and why when you don't have to be with John and Mary Doe, why in the world would you choose to be with John and Mary Doe? And I realized I'd come to like them. I was the only person in town that liked them. But I really did like them. Why? Is it just because, oh, obviously as a pastor, of course, you just have this natural ability to like people and love people because you're more holy, you're more godly. That's why you're a pastor. It's your job to be more spiritual. That's not true at all. It really happened. You know why? Because I'd been loving them, even when I didn't like them. And you see, you don't have to bother, whether you like somebody, that's not what a Christian worries about. What a Christian does, if you love people, eventually you come to like them. It works in reverse, too. Remember I told you the one thing I once read where it said at first the Nazis killed the Jews because they hated them, but then after a while they hated the Jews because they killed them. It works the other way around, you see. What happens is, in the beginning, you love somebody just because you have to. The more you love them, the more you love them. The more you give yourself, the more you make a decision to invest in them, the more you find your heart tied up to them. You know why? Because the Bible says where your treasure is, there will your heart be. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be. When you invest in somebody, you're putting your treasure, you're putting time, which is tremendously valuable. You're putting emotion, which is tremendously valuable. You invest and you invest in that person, and of course, you may still feel a hostility if that person absolutely tramples you and is very cruel and harsh. That's not usually what happens. Usually you find that people that aren't terribly lovely, if you love them, you will come to love them. Now, I'm using the word love in an equivocal way. The way the modern society thinks of love, you're thinking of a feeling, but that's not the way the Bible ever uses the word love. You love them and you come to like them. You invest in them and you find that they get more and more lovely to you. I'm trying to tell you this. You don't go ahead and get married to somebody who you don't like, but I can guarantee you this. Whoever you marry, you will fall out of like with. It is an absolute necessity. Not only that, you will start to fall out of like with that person in most cases before you marry them, in the courtship or in the engagement, and that's where most people say, I guess I shouldn't marry this person. I've fallen out of like with them. Well, friends, your emotions come and go, and if the essence of marriage is a covenant, a commitment, then you will find that in spite of the fact that you kind of love this person, you feel a lot for them, you might be attracted to them, you're great friends, the fact is your emotions will come and go, and at a certain point, a marriage will not work, or even a potential marriage will not work unless you make a decision to invest in that person, and when you find that your heart gets dry and you look at the person and you don't feel any particular like, you invest in them, you give to them, you love them, you are tender, you are cherishing, you listen, you serve, and what it does is it gets you through those dry times. Not only that, it begins over the years to eliminate the dry times. That's not the way most of us do it. When the dry times, when we fall out of like, when that happens, we start to say, I guess this isn't the one for me.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Overview: Marriage as Commitment
"What's the greatest enemy to any marriage? Impatience? Criticism? Boredom? Tim Keller argues that self -centeredness is the biggest problem in any marriage, and that all other problems come from that. Listen as Dr. Keller explores how the Gospel frees us from selfishness to love, serve, and bear with our spouses. After you listen, we invite you to go online to GospelAndLife .com and sign up for our email updates. When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly newsletter with articles about Gospel -changed lives as well as other valuable Gospel -centered resources. Subscribe today at GospelAndLife .com. We're going through the book of Ephesians. We've come to the classic text on marriage, the most detailed, the longest, the most popular, the most famous of all the passages in the New Testament on the subject of marriage.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Marriage as Ministry Power
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. The power of marriage is that it is a reflection of the gospel. Today Tim Keller explores how marriage can help us more deeply understand Christ's love for us and how Christ's love for us can completely transform our marriages. We are preaching a little sermon series on marriage, and we did Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise at our wedding. That was our hymn. On the way in, on the way out, it was Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen. So anyway, but on the way in, we sang Immortal, oh, a stan, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. So, as you know, we're going through the book of Ephesians, and instead of really a series of sermons, I don't know when I started these, but instead of a series of sermons on Ephesians, what it really is, is a series of series on Ephesians, because when you get to a particular set of verses and you see it's on a new subject, and what we try to do is, it's something we're not doing, obviously, in the morning services, because the morning services have a slightly different focus. What I'm doing is I'm trying to show you, when you take a look at a small number of verses on a subject, that there's a tremendous amount that can be drawn out of there. So we try to go through in a more, not a totally, but a more comprehensive and exhaustive way, looking at that subject. Now, we come to the classic, maybe the locus classicus, the classic passage in the whole Bible on marriage. It's Ephesians chapter 5, and I'm going to start reading from verses 21 down to verse 32. It's maybe the most famous, it's certainly probably the longest, and the meatiest passage there is in the Scripture on how God understands marriage. We're going to read that, and tonight we will kind of give an overview of some basic principles, as we often do when we begin, and then we're going to go to the Lord's table and ask Him to meet with us. And you don't have to worry about covering all the territory on the first night, because as you know, I never, ever do. Let's take a look at Ephesians 5, though, and I'll read verses 21 to 32.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Sexuality and Christian Hope
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. When it comes to marriage, we often use words like soulmate or the one. These words can reveal an underlying belief that to have a good marriage, you just have to find the perfect person. But the biblical vision for marriage is starkly different. It's a way for two imperfect people to help each other become who God intended them to be. Listen as Tim Keller explores the meaning of marriage. The scripture reading this morning is found in 1 Corinthians, the 6th chapter, 13 through the 20th verse, and the 7th chapter, 27 through 31. Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. By his power, God raised the Lord from the dead and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, the two will become one flesh, but he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who will marry will face many troubles in his life, and I want to spare you this. What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as if they have none. Those who mourn as if they did not. Those who are happy as if they were not. Those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep. And those who use the things of the world as if they were not engrossed in them. For this world, in its present form, is passing away. This is the word of the Lord. We're doing a series on hope, and we've said that we underestimate the degree to which our present behavior and our present living is determined by what we believe our ultimate future to be. We said that the Christian concept isn't very well served by our English word hope, because the English word hope connotes uncertainty. But the biblical understanding of hope is life shaping joyous certainty that your future is the eternal love and glory of God and a new heavens and new earth. Now, in the last few weeks, we've looked at what this concept is, and in some ways, there's obvious ways in which Christian hope affects the way in which we face death and troubles. But I'd like to show you over the next three weeks that Christian hope affects everything, every area of our lives. A joyous certainty that your future is the love and glory of God, a renewed heaven and new earth shapes every area of life, and I want to do three just to show this to you, sex, money, and power. Now, this passage, this week, we're looking at how Christian hope, our understanding of the future, determines, shapes, radically revolutionizes our whole attitude towards sex, romance, singleness, and marriage. The passage we just read is outrageous in all that Christianity gave the world, a revolutionary view of sex. Christianity gave the world a revolutionary view of singleness and marriage, and then it shows how it is Christian hope. It's an understanding of our future that radically reshapes and revolutionizes our view of sex and marriage and romance and singleness. So we have a revolutionary view of sex, a revolutionary view of singleness and marriage, and how Christian hope is what reshapes our approach, our actions, and our attitudes in this area. So first, let's take a look at this section from chapter six of 1 Corinthians, where we see how Christianity did give the world an unprecedented, unique, revolutionary view of sex. Paul's writing to his young church in Corinth, and he's writing about sex, and he quotes two, in chapter six and seven, he quotes two views that were current in Corinth. They were popular views of sexuality. They're very different, and the Corinthian Christians had to deal with them. They had to address them. The first one is quoted in the top of the passage that's printed for you, verse 13, food for the stomach, the stomach for food, but God will destroy them both. Now, let me paraphrase this attitude. This attitude is sex is just an appetite. When you need food, you eat. When you need sex, you have sex. Sex is just an appetite, and this little addition, but God will destroy them both, is part of this view that arises out of the Greek understanding of the material world and the physical. The Greek understanding was that the material and physical world was temporary and not all that important, and therefore, at least in this view, it was a way of saying, look, if you need to have sex, you have sex. It's not what you do with your body, what you do with your soul that really matters spiritually. The other view that Paul deals with is I didn't have it printed, but it's at the top of chapter 7. It's in the same passage, but at chapter 7, verse 1, though I didn't print it, Paul quotes this view. He says, it is good for a man, quote, it is good for a man not to even touch a woman. Now that's almost the opposite view, and yet it also arises out of the Greek understanding of the material and body being bad, and let me paraphrase this view. This view says sex is dirty, sex is defiling, and though it might be necessary for procreation in general, a holy person should abstain from it. Now these two views, sex is just an appetite, it's perfectly natural to have sex with people when you need it, you want it, or sex is dirty and defiling, you should stay away from it at all costs. These two views, interestingly enough, this is thousands of years ago, a whole different culture, a whole different time, and yet these two views are still pretty widespread. In fact, maybe they are still the two biggest views we've got. And by the way, if you want to know where they live, in the blue states that went Democratic, that's where you have the first view, it dominates. In the red states that went Republican, that's where you have the second view. The first view, of course, is sex is perfectly natural, it's perfectly natural to have sex with people that you want to have sex with. The second view, sex is kind of dirty and defile, we don't talk about it. Now Paul probably didn't belong to either political party because he says both of these views are absolutely completely wrong. What does he say about sex? First in verse 18, he says, flee sexual immorality. Now the English term sexual immorality is pretty vague, but the Greek term he uses is not. He says, flee porneia, by the way, obviously we know that's the word we get our word pornography from, but he's not talking about pornography either. The Greek word porneia meant to have sex with somebody you weren't married to. He had a perfectly good word he could have used for adultery, that is to be married and have sex with someone you're not married to, but he didn't use that. He used a word that meant any kind of sex outside of marriage. Whether you were married or not. And therefore he is, and he doesn't look, he doesn't just say in verse 18, oh, it's a, you know, it'd be good for you to refrain from sex outside marriage. He says, flee. He says, have nothing to do with it, have nothing to do with any kind of sexual activity outside of covenant of marriage. So when you look at that, you say, well, I thought you said he was different. That just sounds like the red states. That's why I moved here. That just sounds like the sex is dirty and defiling, but no. The key to this whole passage is to understand the term one flesh. In verse 16, he says, and it's a pretty amazing statement. He says, do you not know that your body, it says verse 16, do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute, now don't get too distracted by the idea that he's just after prostitution. In those days, no one, you didn't have adult singles by the way, everybody was married. And therefore, if you were single, you were a prostitute. This is the way to have sex with somebody you're not married to. But here's what he's saying. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body for it is said, the two shall become one flesh.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from My Problem with Religion: An Open Forum
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. Today's teaching is from an open forum, My Problem with Religion, held at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City in 2003. This talk by Dr. Keller was given to introduce people to Christianity who did not yet have a personal relationship with Christ. I've been listening to that Leonard Cohen piece all week. I had never heard it before. I was getting ready for it tonight, and it's extremely tender. And yet, as you read the lyrics, did you get it? Of course not. It's impenetrable, though it's about David and it's trying to figure out what happened to David and the place where it talks about the fact that he wanted proof. What that really means is David thought that he believed, but he asked God to test him, and he failed the test. That's talking about the great failure with Bathsheba. But I think Leonard Cohen hits the cultural mood when he says, basically in that song, I got all these problems with religion, but that doesn't mean that I can just give up on God. Now, here's what I'd like to do. The two objections we just talked about, the two problems people have with God today, which are, first of all, the problem of evil and suffering. How could a good and powerful God allow that? And then secondly, the problem of the exclusiveness of religion. If you think you have the truth, if you think your religion is right, if you think you have the superior take on spiritual reality, doesn't that lead to exclusion and oppression and abuse? What are we going to do with those two problems? Now, the first thing I want you to know right off the bat, you say, well, you're a minister, so obviously you don't think they're that big, those problems are very big. No, I think that's quite wrong. They have great weight, and I think that whether you, we're all in the same boat here, whether you believe in God, or you really don't believe in God, you still have those problems. Those problems are with you whether you believe or not, because they're true, they have weight, that is to say, they've got substance. They get at something that really is a problem, so they don't ever go away. The real question is, can you, are they insurmountable? Is there a way through them? And I certainly, this isn't a sermon, and that's hardly a lecture, the more I look at it, because the lecture sounds like you're an expert on something, and I don't know who's an expert on this, but I would like to at least give you a way through. Let me give you something to consider as a possible way through, which I think the music shows us we need to at least be looking for a way through. And here are, here's two ways I think to get through. Number one, it's important to see that people's problems with religion are themselves beliefs with their problems.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Loving Your Enemies
"Welcome to Gospel in Life. Jesus was a great teacher, but He had a lot of things to say that were challenging or difficult to understand. In the Bible, we see a number of places where His disciples say, Jesus, this is a hard saying. Today Tim Keller is preaching through one of the hard sayings of Jesus and how we can rest in the fact that while Jesus' teachings aren't always comfortable, He is always good. I'm going to read from Luke chapter 6, and I'm reading verses 20 through 36. Our series has continued to be looking at the ministry of Jesus, at His teaching. And what we've done is we've picked out over the last few weeks the hardest sayings, the most difficult, the most difficult to understand, so that we can really look at them and open them up. They take reflection, they take pondering. But as we open them up, we find their wisdom. Today in many ways, we have maybe the most famous of Jesus' hard sayings. It's a hard saying because it's very hard to understand, and people have gone around and around for years trying to figure out what it means. But it's also a very famous hard saying, love your enemies. When someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. Turn the other cheek. Let me read from verse 20. Looking at His disciples, He said, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven, for that is how their fathers treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. But I tell you who hear me, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Let Your Yes Be Yes
"Welcome to Gospel and Life. This may sound strange at first, but in many ways Jesus is an upside -down Savior. He came not in strength, but in weakness. He came not to gain power, but to give away power. As a teacher then, He spoke in a way that turned people's expectations on their heads, calling people to lose their lives to gain them, to die to themselves so they can truly live. Some of His teachings can be difficult to understand or accept. Today, Tim Keller is teaching through one of the hard sayings of Jesus, showing us that while Christ's teachings aren't always easy, they provide the answers to having a meaningful life and a relationship with Him. After you listen, please take a few seconds to rate and review our podcast. Your review can help others to discover our podcast and experience the hope of the gospel. Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. We're still looking at Jesus' teachings, especially the hard sayings, the difficult statements that Jesus makes in His teaching. I'm going to read in chapter 5, verses 33 to 37. Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. This is God's word. Now, you know, Jesus thought it was important to talk about promises, about truthfulness in general, and promise keeping in particular. Third week of January, one man's promise meant we had a big party, big festival, inauguration is called, and ever since then, everybody's been talking about promises, have the promises been kept. Jesus also agreed that promises were extremely important. He talks in this passage about swearing, about oaths, which are really just promises. Now, today, we live in a written culture, not an oral culture, and as a result, most of the way in which we make oaths is through signing documents, because in our particular legal system, we find it that when you sign a contract, and that contract is witnessed, then that is more binding than a public oral promise. And of course, in Jesus' time, in an oral culture, public oral promises were more prevalent, but the principle's the same. A contract, an oath, is an observed word, observed. Lots of people observe it, other people observe it, and as a result, you are held accountable. You must be consistent with that word. You must be true to your word. Now, Jesus says in this passage, you have heard it said, keep the vows you make to the Lord, but I say unto you, swear not at all. Don't swear by heaven because it's God's throne. Don't swear by the earth, it's his footstool. Don't swear by Jerusalem, don't swear by your head, but let your yes be yes and your no be no. And Jesus is giving us a radical principle of truthfulness. If you want to understand it, first you have to understand a couple of interpretive keys. First of all, Jesus is not quoting the Old Testament when he says, you have heard it said, do not break your oath and keep the oaths you have made to the Lord. You're not going to find that anywhere in the Old Testament. You know why? It's not there. Because Jesus is not trying to correct or change the Old Testament, the law. When he talks about the law, he always uses the ascription, it is written. He doesn't say that here. He says, you have heard it said, which means he is critiquing the prevalent interpretation of the law, what they're teaching, what the religious teachers are saying. And what they're saying is you have to keep your oath to the Lord, but we know that in that day, they said, if you swear by something else, you don't have to be bound to keep your word. If you swear by heaven, by the earth, by Jerusalem, by your head, by your father, by your family name, and you decide to break that later on, that's okay, but if you swear by God's name, you have to keep those oaths. When Jesus says, I say unto you, swear not at all, at first, and some Christians have public promises. Now, the reason we know that's not true is that he did it himself. For example, in Matthew 26, during his trial, the high priest says, I charge you under oath, he said to Jesus, by the living God, are you the Christ? And Jesus says, and he's been totally silent up to this moment, Jesus says, yes, it is as you say. Jesus was not willing to say anything until he was sworn under oath, and then he speaks. You'll see in Galatians 1, in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul takes oaths, he says, by the living God, I tell you this. If you go back to Genesis 15, you see God himself making an oath, and an oath or a promise is an observed word.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
A highlight from Power To Change
"Jesus was a great teacher, but he had a lot of things to say that were challenging or difficult to understand. In the Bible, we see a number of places where his disciples say, Jesus, this is a hard saying. Today Tim Keller is preaching through one of the hard sayings of Jesus and how we can rest in the fact that while Jesus' teachings aren't always comfortable, he is always good. Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed, but some of them said, by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons. Others tested him by asking him for a sign. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, any kingdom divided against itself will be If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe, but when someone attacks stronger and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusts and divides up the spoils. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid desert places seeking rest and does not find it. When it says, I will return, then it says, I will return to the house I left, and when it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. And when it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. This is God's word. Now we've chosen, and we are continuing to choose, what we call the hard sayings of Jesus. We're looking at the most strange, enigmatic, perplexing, and confusing things Jesus ever said, and showing what great teaching there is in there. This is one of them. This is a very odd passage, and people always blink a bit when they read Jesus say, well, you know, when an evil spirit goes out of a man, it wanders around through the desert looking for a place to live. And when it comes back and finds that the man's life is all swept and all disciplined and all put together again, but empty, he brings back seven more demons, and they run on inside there, and things are worse than before. And people have looked at that over the years and said, I can't believe that. I can't understand that. Jesus is actually teaching us about power to change. He's telling us something that's extremely practical. He here is talking about power to change, and I want to show you that even though it's a very enigmatic passage, he's basically saying three things. Number one, there's many ways to change. There's many ways to cast your demons out. There's many ways to get power. Secondly, he's saying, if you use any other way but me, you will be worse off than before. And thirdly, he's of course saying, I am the one who can bind the strong man. I'm the only one that can help you and give you power to change thoroughly and permanently. Now let's take a look at that. First, Jesus casts out a demon, and a lot of people immediately say, wait a minute, wait a minute, what is this casting out demons stuff? And I better at least say one brief thing, but then point out that you do not need to understand or even believe in demonic exorcism in order to understand what Jesus is saying here today. Yes, Jesus casts out a demon. Jesus believes and teaches that there are such things as personal supernatural evil beings, personal supernatural evil beings. When he talks about demons going about in the desert looking for a place to rest, he's actually teaching us the malignity of evil, because these demons, once they're cast out of a human soul, are looking for the most desolate, devastated, forsaken places possible to live. They're only comfortable around absolute devastation. However, they can only really rest when they're dominating a human soul, so they go out looking around for the most devastating, ugly, horrible possible places, but they need to dominate a soul. Is Jesus teaching that? Yeah, yes he is. If you believe, however, as many people do, that that's naivete, if you say, ah, that's a physiological and there's an emotional basis for many of these illnesses, that Jesus is participating in a pre -scientific worldview that saw demonic activity as the basis for all our problems, you're wrong. Jesus very clearly in the Bible makes a distinction between people who are sick, people who are sad, and people who are possessed. He doesn't treat every sick person as if they're demon -possessed, you can just look through. As a matter of fact, Jesus' approach is to say, you're naive if you don't recognize the multidimensional nature of evil and the multidimensional nature of our problems. He says, look out there, do you think all of our problems are natural and human? You think that's all the problems that we're dealing with, that their origin is natural and human? Then why isn't therapy and science and education dealing with them? No, there's something much more wicked and more intelligent at work here. And all he's saying is, you're naive if you think that evil only has one form. It's both human and inhuman. It's both personal and impersonal. It's both natural and supernatural. And if you don't recognize the multidimensional nature of it, you're being simplistic. You're being naive and you'll be defeated.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"Thank you all for coming. We appreciate all it took for so many of you to get here. And we appreciate all the prayers that have been lifted up for the community here in New York and for our family. As the service has indicated, we grieve, but we grieve with hope. As the Dwight Moody quote points out in the front of your bulletin, the reason we can do this, the reason why we have great hope is that Dad is more alive now than he ever was when he's with us. And we take that to heart, to let that sustain us and to comfort us, knowing that the world to come is brighter and better and more real, and there is nothing now that can stop that. And because of that, we are going to see him again in the new world, so there is joy and grace and love and light forevermore. Let that comfort you, let that sustain you in all things now and always. We are grateful again for the staff of St. Patrick's Cathedral and Cardinal Dolan for making the space available for us and for fitting us in between the regularly scheduled events. But you need to know one little small fact, and that is this, that there is another event happening after this meeting, this memorial. And so to be as gracious to them as they've been to us, we ask you to please exit promptly so that the ushers can clean for what's next. If you don't, you will be part of another event. That is a nice way of saying thank you for coming, but you can't stay here.Thanks again, go in peace. Blessings. Thank you. Thank you.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Fear not, I am the first and the last, says the Lord. I am he that lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Let us pray. Lord God, you are the strength of your people. Heal the brokenhearted among us and bind up their wounds. Grant to them, to us all, a vision of that life in which all tears are wiped away and all shadows have fled away. Raise us up in your spirit's power to follow you in hope and trust. Now give us your power to protect us, your intimacy to nurture us, your beauty to ravish us, your peace to fulfill us. Lift up our hearts into the light and love of your presence. We ask it in the name of him who is the resurrection and the life. Amen. Let us receive the Lord's benediction. And now may the grace of the all-sufficient, the mercy that endures forever, the peace that passes all understanding, the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and the hope that is never ashamed and never fades away keep us in Christ Jesus. Until the day breaks and all the shadows flee away and we see him face to face, in the name, amen. Please stay standing to sing our closing song fitting for Tim Keller. There is our Redeemer, Jesus, God our Son. Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One, Make you one of other, forgiving as your Son, Leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done. Jesus, my Redeemer, Lamb of all our names, Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One, Make you one of other, forgiving as your Son, Leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done. When I stand in glory, I will see his face, Where I'll serve my King forever, in that holy place. Make you one of other, forgiving as your Son, Leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done. Make you one of other, forgiving as your Son, Leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"That's just context. In the next chapter, Isaiah 26, these two verses I think might be appropriate on the headstone. Verse 12 and verse 16. In that day this song will be sung. All that we have accomplished, you have done for us. Your dead will live, Lord. Their bodies will rise. Let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy. Isaiah was speaking of a future reality with no more death or tears. Tim is living in that reality now. How I yearn for all of us to trust the God He now worships face to face, so that one day we may all sit down to that feast together. Jonathan, did you have something you wanted to say? This is off script. Thanks, Mom. Dad had an uncanny ability to get to the root of a matter, to really boil things down, to see to the fundamentals of a situation, to irreducible truths. And so I was thinking about what I would say today, and I set my mind on a similar task. And what kept coming back to me, and actually what Glenn and Graham talked about, is that Dad is fundamentally a gifted encourager. And as a father, he encouraged us, his sons, up until the very end. But I do recall, as a 10-year-old or so, the morning daily routine of him in his pajamas and us eating cereal. What are the Yankees like? Where are they in the standings? What's Derek Jeter's or Bernie Williams' batting average? He was into things that we were into, mostly because we were into it. But as we got older, everything got more complex. And his wisdom and his encouragement, they deepened to us. He encouraged us in our walks with Christ, and he always met us where we were or where we weren't. He encouraged us in our marriages to be tender and gentle and kind, to be understanding and encouraging to our wives and our kids. And he encouraged us in our professions, learning what we liked and often actually learning more about our own field of interest. And we would learn from him and be like, that's a really good point about city planning, Dad. And he celebrated our accomplishments and he also defended us and he encouraged us when things didn't go as planned. He lived out, obviously imperfectly as any human, the good news that he loved to talk about and write about. That we can move about and into the world fearlessly, to be humble and gentle and sometimes that comes at great cost. Because Jesus came and died for us and was resurrected for us. And so to leave you, I would say let's be encouraged, friends and family, from even in our sadness, from the memory of his life, which is a testament to something greater and longer lasting than what we have here on earth. Mom and John, thank you for sharing your heartfelt thoughts on Dad. I'd like to take a moment to pray for us. Heavenly Father, we are sad. Sad at the loss, but we take comfort in knowing Dad is filled with joy. Sitting at Jesus' feet fully, completely loved and restored, we are thankful for Dad's life, for the peace and the grace he brought us, no matter who we are, where we are from or what we did, and for his ministry that brought your love and grace to so many. We humbly ask for your wisdom and strength to steward these resources and continue what you started. Heavenly Father, we miss our teacher, pastor, counselor, friend, papa, dad and husband. We find ourselves in a state of sorrow, regret and pain. We ask you to meet us in our grief and remind us that your loving sacrifice on the cross and resurrection has conquered death. So that when you call us home, we can joyfully say what he did. I'm ready to see Jesus. Send me home. Amen. Thank you to all of you for sharing these beautiful words of remembrances and prayers with all of us. It's very special. Tim shared the following words about Jesus lives and so shall I. He even included tempo. This hymn gives us the hope for life after death. It should not be sung at too slow a pace or it will sound like a dirge. So keep it brisk and remember it's describing our hope for the future. There's nothing that can happen here that can't make you better. It says at the beginning of the last verse, Jesus lives and death is now but my entrance into glory. Please stand as we sing. He who deigned for me to die lives the paths of death to sever. He shall raise thee from the dust. Jesus is my hope and trust. Jesus lives and reigns supreme and his kingdom still remaining. I shall also be with him ever living, ever reigning. God has promised me it must. Jesus is my hope and trust. Jesus lives and by his grace victory all my passions give in. I will cleanse my hardened ways ever to his glory living. He who raises from the dust. Jesus is my hope and trust. Jesus lives I know for well, not from him my heart can sever. Life nor death nor powers of hell, joy nor grief and smoke forever. None of all his saints is lost. Jesus is my hope and trust. Jesus lives and death is now but my entrance into glory. Courage and my soul are now past the crown of life before me. Thou sup by my heart's word just. Jesus is all his trust. Please be seated. A reading from the Gospel according to Mark chapter 10 verses 35 to 45. Then James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him. Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want me to do for you? He asked. They replied, let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory. You don't know what you're asking, Jesus said. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We can, they answered. Jesus said to them, you will drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. Their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. This is God's word. I feel I ought to say I didn't ask for the UK translation, someone else made that decision for me. We are here to remember and to give God thanks for a life very well lived. When Tim died we have seen since then an outpouring of tributes, of people giving thanks in different ways for the impact he had had on their life. And it's been very telling that few of those tributes have been about Tim's accomplishments, though there were many. Few have been about his gifts, though his gifts were colossal. No, the focus has been on Tim's character. Not so much what he did, but who he was. As we've been hearing, as a father, as a husband, as a pastor, as a mentor, and for so many of us, as a friend. It's noteworthy because it seems rare in our day for someone to have so much power, so much influence, and yet to be so humble and focused on others. But Tim wasn't like this because he was unusual. Tim was like this because he was following Jesus. The very qualities we have loved in Tim, we find perfectly in Jesus. What Tim was imperfectly, Christ has always been fully. Or to borrow from one of Tim's more memorable phases, Jesus is the true and better Tim Keller. And so the best way to appreciate Tim is to think about Christ. That reading from Mark 10 has as its famous conclusion these words from Jesus. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. In that short sentence we have encapsulated the heart of the Christian message and the key to a good life. Jesus makes two claims, both perhaps surprising claims. Firstly, Jesus said he came to serve, not to be served, but to serve. Now that might not surprise us, we are used in our own time to service being a vocation. We think about politics, how it's meant to be about public service. Where I come from we even call our politicians ministers. Or we think about teachers and doctors and how often the very best of them are those who see what they do first and foremost as a calling. Same goes for religious leaders. So maybe we're not surprised that Jesus says he's driven by the desire to serve. But I'd like to suggest that the reason we're not surprised Jesus said this is because Jesus did say this. And we've been living downstream of these words for so many years and living in a society that has been so shaped by them. If it's normal for us to esteem service, it's because Jesus made it normal. In this sense we live in the house that Jesus built. And yet if we follow the logic of Jesus' words, service is still not as normal as we might think it is. Jesus doesn't simply say the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. Jesus says even the Son of Man came not to be served. In other words if anyone could come and expect to be served it was the Son of Man. And yet the Son of Man came to be served. Now the Son of Man is a title from the Old Testament book of Daniel. It was given to the figure who would appear with the full authority of God to reign over the entirety of the universe for all time. The one through whom God's plans would be fulfilled. The one we find ourselves worshiping today. And this is the title Jesus claimed for himself. You see Jesus taught like no one else. But he claimed to be so much more than a teacher. Jesus came with stunning spiritual insight. But he claimed to be so much more than a spiritual leader. Now Jesus claimed to be divine. And he did so unselfconsciously. Now such claims are often seen as outrageous in the world today. But those claims were typical of Jesus. In so many different ways he kept claiming to be God come down into this world. God come as a man, God come in flesh. And before we write Jesus off for making such claims we need to notice what he believes it means to be the Son of Man. Jesus is saying he's not just the one who has divine power so that he can subdue us. Jesus says his power is so that he can serve us. He's claiming to be the most powerful person who ever lived on this earth so that he can wield that power for the sake of others. So Jesus is showing us a new kind of power. He's showing us a kind of power that is sacrificial not predatory. It's a form of power that doesn't exist to take advantage of those who are weaker but to help those who are weaker. It's a new kind of power because in this world power almost always means self-importance. Others revolving around you. Many years ago as part of my seminary training I did a placement at a church in central Bangkok in Thailand. I got to know a cross-section of the church and one of my new friends was very senior in a huge multinational company. He was very very powerful and it was obvious in how many people he had at his disposal. The first hint I got of this was when he invited me around for the first time and he said one of my drivers will pick you up. One of my drivers. When we arrived at his property there were security guards who saluted as we arrived. When I eventually got inside the house he gave me the number of the cook and said you know pick anything you want off the menu and the cook will make it for you. Every time I leaned forward it seemed that someone appeared out of nowhere to fluff up the cushion that was behind me. There were people everywhere. That's how we measure power in this world. The more people who serve you the more powerful you are. But the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. Jesus' sacrifice for us was not in contradiction to his power it was an expression of it. Jesus is showing us a kind of power which doesn't lead to tyranny but to safety. The kind of power when putting someone in their place means putting them above you and not beneath you. And in doing so Jesus is claiming to show us the heart of God himself. Now we tend to think that if God was to step into this world it would be to tell us to do more for him. To be more religious, to be more moral, to be more ethical, to be better. But Jesus shows us a God who has come to serve us. A God to whom we matter profoundly. A God who cares about us. A God who not only made you but came up with the idea of you in the first place. And was having a good day when he did. A God who sees you not according to your achievements, not according to your wealth, or your looks, or your popularity, not even just according to your sins. But a God who sees you as worth his wild serving. Some of us here this afternoon will be unsure whether we believe in God. Some of us may be very sure we don't believe in God. But I wonder if the God you don't believe in is like this. And if God did exist wouldn't you want him to be just like this? Jesus came to serve. Secondly Jesus tells us he came to die. So this is serious. When we hear Jesus say he came to serve we might find ourselves thinking great well okay Jesus I'm going to take your word of that. I've got some ways in which you can serve me. I'd like to be doing better in life. I'd like some financial security. I'd like to be less lonely. I'd like to have a family. Or I'd like the family I do have to be a happy family. Or the people I love to be healthy. We're not short of ideas of how we believe Jesus could serve us. But if it's surprising that Jesus came to serve us the second surprise is how he says he has come to serve us. Jesus says his death on a Roman cross would be a death like no other. He says that on that cross he would be giving his life not as a gesture but as a ransom. A ransom for many. Jesus says his death is of service to us because his death is a ransom for us. Which means Jesus is now not just making claims about himself he's making claims about us. Because people who need a ransom are people who are not free. Jesus says we are captives. We are not masters of our own lives. We need a ransom. Now perhaps in our more reflective moments we might sense something of this. There's so much in our lives that we can control. We can control where we go and who we see. Some of us might even control where we live and what we do for work. But there is so much in our lives that we can't control. There are so many things about the way we are that we wish we could change. Some of our impulses, some of our reflexes, some of our tendencies, some of our patterns of thinking and behaving. In our more sober moments we know we're not the people we're meant to be. We're certainly not the people we want to be. And it reflects a reality that Jesus often spoke about, a deeper reality even than that. Because Jesus said when all of us in our hearts turned away from God, our hearts ended up twisting in on themselves. So that we become distortions of who God made us to be. And we can't get ourselves out of this. And so Jesus says his death is a ransom. Jesus is saying there's something in his death that represents a payment for what we've got ourselves into. That the Bible says more generally that there is something in all human death that is bound up with how we are. That death is not simply the natural expiration of our lives, it's a form of spiritual reckoning. The Bible shows us death is more than physical, it is spiritual. And it's that deeper spiritual death that Jesus has come to free us from. By taking it on himself, on our behalf and in our place. So that by trusting in him we can receive a new form of life, a form of life that even our physical deaths can't rob us from. And so Jesus is inviting us to find freedom in him, freedom from all that binds us within. And all we need to do is to come to him. Jesus once said, come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Coming to Jesus is all we need to do. Coming to Jesus is all we can do. Jesus came to serve and Jesus came to die. We remember Tim as an extraordinary servant, but Tim was an extraordinary servant because he had let Jesus serve him. It was being served by Christ that enabled him to serve so many of the rest of us so beautifully. So will you let Jesus serve you, if you've never done so? Would you let Jesus serve you today, this afternoon, this very moment? Are you willing to lay aside whatever pride there may be in having to come to him? Whatever sense of independence there may be, whatever sense perhaps even of despair there may be. Because this Jesus stands ready to receive us and to serve us. Let me pray. Our Father we thank you for every remembrance of Tim, for all that he gave to us. We pray for your comfort for those who feel his loss most intensely. And we pray for all of us as we reflect on Tim's life that we would find ourselves reflecting on the one he trusted. That we might find ourselves drawing near to Christ himself. Who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Amen. Before we sing our next hymn, Tim says this. This last hymn is talking about the saints for all the saints. It's really wonderful in talking about how we're all going to be gathered together. Verse five is interesting because the idea is that when you're here, you're in the middle of a battle. But the distant triumph song is at the end. We know that there's a new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And that there will be perfect justice. Are you in the middle of the battle? And it's like when the fight is fierce and the warfare is long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song. And hearts are brave and arms are strong. That's made for you. Please stand. O, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? O say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? O say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? O say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? O say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? O say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Please remain standing.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"The process will be long and in part very painful, but that is what we are in for, nothing less. He meant what he said. The next hymn is How Firm a Foundation. But first let me read Tim's own words on this. The next three hymns are resources that God gives us. So you've met him in the first two hymns. This next hymn, How Firm a Foundation, connects you to the first resource, which is God's word. We learned to love this hymn because Elizabeth Elliot loved it. It was a favorite hymn of Betty's and you'll see why. Elizabeth was our teacher at the time of our wedding and she just said, expect suffering, and she had two husbands die. By the way, this is also Isaiah 40. In fact, you should read Isaiah 40 afterwards. We had it as the recessional in our wedding because we expected suffering, because we expected to be helping people in suffering. It's a paraphrase obviously, but basically it's what God is saying to Israel. But I'll tell you, Kathy and I memorized it and used it on each other over the years. We gave a vow to each other from Psalm 34 verses 1 through 3 and it's engraved inside our wedding rings. It says, I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord, let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. So we wanted to praise God in the way that afflicted people were helped. Let's stand and sing together our next hymn. Praise God! To you we ask, to you we'll refuge, to Jesus our God. Fear not, I am with thee, no need of dismay, for I am mine, all I live to believe. I've strengthened thee of me, and was it to stand, upon my righteous, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters I cry to go, the rivers of sejour and love of law, for I will be with thee, thy troubles to rest, and sanctify generally this distress. When through thy retryals thy pathways shall lie, my grace of salvation shall be my supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, I only desire, my trust to myself and my vote to refine. The soul that of Jesus hath evilly passed, I will not, I will not even be exposed, that soul upon us shall be never to shape, and never to last, nor will I forsake. You may be seated. 2 Corinthians 4. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. Therefore, we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. This is God's word. Romans 8. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed, for the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into glorious freedom of the children of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is God's word. Good afternoon. My name is Graham Howe and I've been asked to share a bit of my story with you today. I first met Tim Keller in the study of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, where he had recently arrived to serve as interim pastor. It was the summer of 1975 and I was at a very low point in my life. My marriage was on the rocks and my life was in disarray. I was desperate. Even though I was not a God follower at the time, I believe it was the Holy Spirit that impressed upon me that the help I was seeking was to be found in the church. So I called the local church and made an appointment to see the pastor not knowing what to expect. At our first meeting, Pastor Keller asked questions and carefully listened to my story. He took notes, he drew diagrams, shared Bible verses with me. One of those verses was 1 Corinthians 10 13 that says in part that God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. That verse impressed me and I remember asking him, is this really true? He assured me with much confidence that it was and I believed him. At the end of our time, he gave me a folder with a Navigator's Bible study guide and a homework assignment due at our next session. I didn't leave the office a born again believer that day, but what I did leave with was hope. Something had moved in my heart and mind and I wanted more. I went to the church thinking that my biggest need was a repaired marriage, but God knew I needed something much more radical, a new heart. So he sent his 18th. As it turned out, the Kellers would stay in Hopewell for close to 10 years. During those years, Tim preached three sermons a week to the same congregants. Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night, he and Kathy hosted Gab Fest, led youth group meetings, worked vacation Bible schools. They introduced us to J.I. Packer, John Stott, R.C. Sproul, and of course, C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien. They counseled us, married us, and buried us. They shared their lives with us. Little did I know that this man would one day be a famous preacher and author. Yes, I read his books and listened to his sermons, and I continue to benefit greatly from them, but the biggest impact Tim Keller had on my life came from his daily presence and love during my spiritual infancy. He and Kathy opened their home to me, shared meals with me, shared stories with me, introduced me to their families. They even took me on vacation with them. They encouraged me to go to college when I was full of self-doubt. I'm quite sure that I showed up at their house far, far too often, but was never turned away. I remember at that time wondering why they offered that much of themselves to someone who had only recently been a stranger. Tim's reputation as a teacher, preacher, author, and visionary are well known, but I first knew him as a pastor, a shepherd, and a friend. What he preached on Sunday was authenticated by the way he invested in his flock the rest of the week. He taught me how to wrestle with God and how to let the Scripture search out deeply rooted sins and cynical attitudes about work, race, history, and culture. This is a testimony that many of you quite likely share because Tim Keller was not just a gift to me, but he was a gift to all God's people for such a time as this. Thank you. I'm Glenn Kleinknecht, and I first met Tim in 1988 when he was first traveling to New York City. He stopped by our inner-city ministry office to talk about a new church that he envisioned in Manhattan. I learned that Tim didn't intend to be the pastor, so the small group that Tim gathered to discuss the planting of a church was looking for a leader. Eventually two leaders, two pastors under consideration, decided that it wasn't the right time for them to come to New York. And then on a Sunday afternoon in an apartment on 73rd Street, a man by the name of Dave Bausch, who was part of that small group, looked over at Tim and said, Tim, I think God is saying you ought to be the pastor. Tim gulped. He said, I need to talk to my wife about that. Kathy, thank you for saying yes. A friend who visited Redeemer in the early existence asked me after the sermon, where did you find this guy? Did you listen to a lot of sermons? And it occurred to me that we had not heard one sermon from Tim before we started Redeemer. What I experienced from Tim before Redeemer began was his centering on Jesus, his focusing on New York City, and his encouraging us to trust God. Tim knew he could learn from anyone, and he did. He was uniquely able to learn from people with whom he had little in common. And he actually relished visiting with and learning from people who were most opposed to his faith. Not because he was a social butterfly, he was not. By his own admission, he could feel socially awkward. But he was confident in something, actually someone, much more important than himself or his situation. Sometimes I saw him struggle. For instance, when Redeemer began to grow, and we divided, or we multiplied into three congregations, I saw him take the fall for the problems that ensued. I saw him repent at the most unexpected times. Once he answered an outside group critical about Redeemer's stand on a certain issue. His answer was amazingly direct, sensitive, and accurate. At dinner following that exchange, he met with several of us, and he said, I went home, and I repented. We said, why? He said, because I thought that Redeemer was the most accurate and balanced church. Tim truly believed what we heard him say a lot, and that is that he, like us, are more sinful than we dare imagine, and more loved than we ever dared hope. He gave me appropriate advice when I was deflated as a leader. I saw him encourage our son when he was facing some important life decisions, and he, along with Kathy, guided our daughter to take up writing and embrace ministry with her husband. I know that Tim's teaching and his counsel to us was a prime reason why my wife and I have remained in New York for 47 years. Tim may have helped me more than anyone to give my fears to the Lord, my insecurity because my security is in him. He allows me to journey in a world that distrusts Christians, often with reason. Tim encouraged us to go to the one who knows all our faults and yet loves us. Tim modeled sticking in there with those who disagree with us. Tim taught us that because God gives grace, certainly to those who know Jesus and believe him, but all through creation, that we can give grace to them and even learn from those who view us as their enemies. Keller family, David, thank you for modeling the energy that it takes to do corporate finance here in New York and now setting up your own firm. Michael, thank you for following your dad's example into gospel ministry wholeheartedly. Jonathan, thank you for adhering to admonishment we all heard to make New York a better place for all people through your work in the city. Kathy, thank you for loving Tim. Thank you for sticking here with all the challenges. I don't know what God has in store for you, but we may need you more now than ever before. I've lost a friend, but I've been comforted by the thoughts that Tim pointed us to the one who had given Tim his gifts. And we're going to miss those a lot. Who had given Tim the ability to work hard, and he did. To hang in there with his critics, to journey with those who don't yet believe. We have someone greater than Tim as the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus himself. It would be the greatest gift to Tim for us to trust him now more than ever before. Lord, help us to trust you. To be broken and yet confident like your servant, Tim Keller. Thank you, Tim, for being secure, not in yourself, but in our Savior. We miss you, and we look forward to joining you. Can you even see me? I want to thank you all for coming. I wish there was some way I could speak to each of you, but if I tried, we'd be here till Christmas. But just to answer the question in some of your minds, yes, I am shorter than I used to be. I am officially a hobbit. You may have noticed that this isn't the usual sort of memorial service, except for Graham and Glenn and me giving a few thoughts. That's because Tim wrote it himself, just the way he liked to do funerals for other people. You mentioned the dead person, certainly, but then you talk about the God that that person is now facing. So blame Tim if there aren't videos and choirs and lengthy testimonials. At our first church in Hopewell, Tim was known for his funerals. In fact, when an unchurched person came through the J.T. Morris funeral home, they would call up Tim and say, Hey, could you do this guy's funeral? He doesn't have any pastor, and Tim would always do it. So there's just a few things I want to tell you. First, Tim is buried in St. Michael's Cemetery, the one you can see on your right when you're on the Grand Central Parkway on your way out to LaGuardia. But that place is huge, and you couldn't find the grave even if you tried. But please don't try, and here's why I don't want you to. You know those scenes in movies like at the end of Saving Private Ryan where someone has a heart-to-heart talk standing at the headstone of the deceased person? Tim and I were always uncomfortable with those because the person isn't actually there. At Tim's burial, I said to my family, Please don't come out here and stand over the grave and pour out your feelings. You will be talking to the grass. There isn't even a headstone yet. Tim is with Jesus, healed, loved, more alive and happier than he has ever been. He's not here. Having mentioned the headstone, I will tell you I have been considering various Bible verses for it when we get around to ordering it. Let me tell you my favorite right now. In chapter 25 of Isaiah, the prophet begins talking about God's final redemption and restoration. He says, In that day, meaning the day that God puts everything right, On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best meat and finest of wines. On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. The Lord has spoken. In that day they will say, Surely this is our God. We trusted in Him and He saved us. This is our Lord. We trusted in Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation. That's Isaiah 25, 6 through 9. That's not what I'm going to put on the headstone. It would have to be like 20 feet high.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"Readings from The Weight of Glory and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It is a serious thing to remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long, we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations, these are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, exploit, immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine. A bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly, though, of course, on a smaller scale, his own boundless power, delight, and goodness.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"You may be seated. John 14, Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, And do not be afraid. This is God's word. So very good to be with you all and to celebrate Tim's life and to give God thanks for it. A reading from the 15th chapter of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. Do you not know? What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable. It is raised imperishable. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised in power. It's sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, we will be changed. For the trumpet will be sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. The word of the Lord.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"To all life thou givest, to both light and soul, In all life thou livest, your true life of own. We pass o'er to wish-landly for the dream, And wither and perish on marching deathly. Great Father of glory, you bearer of light, Thine angels adore thee, O there in the sight, All praise we would render for others to see, Tis only the sound of thy fire here. Please remain standing with me as we are going to sing our next hymn, Amazing Love, How Can It Be? Regarding this hymn, Tim said, How do you connect with God? Do you actually have a personal relationship with Him? This hymn is by Charles Wesley, and this is the key to the great awakenings and to personal awakenings as well. And that in thy shooting, An interest in the Savior's blood, Die before thee, who causes pain for me, Who live to die thus soon, Amazing Love, How Can It Be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me, Amazing Love, How Can It Be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me, He that is now, is full of all of God, Shall free me so in heaven and in his grace, And in sound of all of God, I am gathered from the heart of talent's grace, Jesus, the God in heaven shall be free, For all my God, is one of thee, Amazing Love, How Can It Be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me, For all my increases fear and play, Must fount in sin a tasteless light, Thine I defuse, a privy lay, I walk the dungeon vane with light, Nighting's love of my heart was free, My walls went round and round for thee, How can it be? How can it be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me, No fontanel shall know how I dread, Jesus, the God in him is thine, A light in him shall free me there, And not in light as yet divine, Oh, how can it be? How can it be? And take the crowns to God, please, my God, Amazing Love, How Can It Be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me.
Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"keller" Discussed on Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
"And welcome to our memorial service for Dr. Timothy J. Keller. Before we get started, we have a couple words of welcome from Cardinal Dolan. Thank you. Friends, you're all very much at home here at St. Patrick's Cathedral. I hope you know that. Thanks, Mrs. Keller and family, for inviting us to unite, to unite in grateful, reverent, faithful, prayerful memory of a man we love and buy or miss already, Pastor Timothy Keller. Thank you, Cardinal Dolan, for your kind words. It's the other way around. We are so thankful for the sweet relationship you had with my father, and we are grateful to be allowed to use this building to remember him. So thank you, and thank you for all those who are providing for us today to be here. Please turn to page two in your program. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. What are we here to do this afternoon? After the death of a Christian, we unite to do two things always. First, we thank God for his life, for God's goodness and lending him to us for the years that we had with him. Secondly, we seek God for our life, for his comfort and presence. We aren't here just for him. We are also here for us. We need to get what we need from his Lord so that we can continue to live our lives in this world with confidence and with joy. That's what we're here to do. So let's pray with one voice all together saying, almighty and most merciful God, you are of the sorrowful and the support of the weary. Look down in tender love and pity on your servants whose joy has been turned to grief so that while we breathe we may not sink but resign ourselves into your hands to be taught comfort remembering all your mercies and promises and love in Jesus Christ who brings life out of death and can turn wailing into dancing and deep grief into deep eternal joy. We ask it in the name of him who taught us to pray say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen. I love my father so I find it fitting and in true Tim Keller fashion that he planned out his own memorial service for us this afternoon. Both with my mother and him they hand-picked each of the next five hymns that we are going to sing from finding out who God is to developing a personal relationship with this God to using the resources God gives us to finally being united to Jesus in death. My father gave us even the very words that he wanted to introduce each hymn from when he was read now to honor him for the first hymn immortal invisible God only wise Tim Keller on page four of your bulletin says this I chose each hymn and there's an order to them so the first one immortal invisible God only wise is a tremendous depiction of who God is and his attributes it's really all about God who is he and what's really interesting is some of the lines in here summarizing the most important Christian ideas I've never seen summarized better so for example we're here at a cancer hospital and sometimes you want to say God what in the world are you up to what's wrong with you and the last line in the hymn is this tis only the splendor of light hideth thee there's a tendency for us to think there's a darkness in God and we're smart to instead say well wait a minute no he's more light than we can handle and the darkness is in us tis only the splendor of light hideth thee please stand to sing our first hymn together is By soaring above, by clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"Next week already. Sounds good and i think the dot number members for according the show and until next time on the fcc powell waste keller binding. What are the really cool parts of being a vip members getting really history through the pages of the pro wrestling torch. Newsletter back issues. We have pressing towards newsletters dating back to the late nineteen eighties. We put a new back issue up from twenty years ago that week. And so when you go. Vip instantly have access to over fifteen hundred back issues and a new pdf along with an all text version. If it's easier for you to read that on your phone goes up every weekend. And the latest issues include a cover story from the june tenth. Two thousand issue on returned to wcw. And whether he's a solution to what was ailing. Wcw at the time. Also my call him titled vince. Russo is from outer space. And bruce mitchell's call him still timely today. Unfortunately of racist gimmicks and poverty pimps was the title. That's issue number six zero six week before that issue number six zero five. From june third features. A cover story talks about how there could be a shakeup in the wrestling industry with wcw for sale and e c w having an uncertain future. And also bruce. Mitchell column spoofing vince russo titled how i became world champion. If we go back another week to the may twenty seven two thousand issue it had detailed coverage of the judgment day two thousand pay per view including my review and staff roundtable reviews of the rock. Triple h sixty minute. Iron man match and also the final installment of the lance storm torch talk with his thoughts on various e c w colleagues the week before that the may twentieth two thousand issue issue number six three a cover story on rick flair collapse in the ring during nitro part. Three of the land storm talk with his explanation for why he decided to quit. Cw our coverage vw hardcore heaven. The pay per view and more and then the week before that the may thirteenth issue features a cover story on the changing tv landscape and pro wrestling with the wb off moving from usa. Tnn and a potential shift of c w also a covers sidebar story on the death of an ec- w. fan after a hotel party and wcw slam berry coverage and the week before that our coverage from the may six issue number six. Oh one of david arquette winning the wcw title my notes editorial examining missiles controversial decision and flippant comments about title belts our coverage of wwe. Backlash two thousand. And more. i could keep going on but that gives you an idea of what you're missing out on by not being. Vip member mentioned settling in on the weekend and kicking back and reading wrestling history. Not through the lens of wwe filtering it to their benefit. Not three people looking back on it through. Today's land but what was said at the time the week it happened by some of the voices that you are familiar with here on the way keller processing podcast and peter torch daily casts so go. Vip and relive professional wrestling through the way the torch covered it in real time with contemporaneous coverage of proceedings. Biggest events biggest news stories biggest personalities. I think you'll have a last. It alone.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"Wade mentioned it does expire. Tomorrow you get ad free access to pro wrestling dot net tons and tons just hours of audio including some key interviews with former. Wwe antionette creative team. Members are recent interview with former. Wwe tough enough contestant jeremiah riggs as well as michelle dighton who really dish the dirt on. What went on behind the scenes and topping up as well as shane. Hurricane helms talking about testing for that occurred with the wwe wellness policy found very interesting along with a lot of other stuff in that interview. It's a two hour interview that i record recently and all of that available to you if you take advantage of that summer special expires tomorrow night. So don't waste time head on over to pro wrestling dot net. You can't miss the sign up area right there on the right side of your screen. Lock yourself in five dollars a month very good. very cool. let's I want i want give a couple of plugs here for other things. Also my torch their life cast is tonight. Follow up on a saturday nights Ethnic show from brazil with a big night for brazilian fighters including anderson silva with just a job dropping amazing Victory once again. He was favored in the fight but the way he does. It is just spectacular. I i wrote a Keller's take over at mma torch dot com late on saturday night after that. Asking the question is anderson silva the best professional athlete in all of sports. Right now i think the question has shifted from the best pound per pound fighter in. Ma were the answer to that is yes George saint peter's absolutely in the conversation But anderson silva's the best pound for pound guy right now based on his performances lately but is he the best athletes in all of professional sports. Check out article over at 'em torch dot com or on our free. Mma torch apps on android and iphone and ipad and samsung galaxy. Tab got.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"Thank god this week. Not jesus christ for his power. I don't know if that's a deliberate shift or sort of a random synonym for the stickies doing anything. He gave a shot up to his wife. Lana for being hot. And then he said you should come after someone like me just thinking you can win. You should only come after me if you know you can survive in then has perked up backstage and got a little angry any thoughts on that and injured john silver getting a title shot for no apparent and giving it away a little on the side. Then just roads in nicaragua made about borough match. Yeah i thought it was a That's pretty good. I don't have a problem with them. Closing it you know midnight with that much. It's on a big match. But i don't think it hurts anything. I don't think you know. People think of the final segment obvious show is like a main event in the conventional sense. 'cause wrestling promotions. Have been you know not doing that for quite a while. Now they hyped it as a native at match but it would have been good. I think to give us a reason. Emotionally invested in our forty five minutes leading up to you know for people stuck around for the whole show. I think more people would have stuck around you. Just give us a microphone. I don't. I don't think that giving definite like added any viewership. You don't think given people instead of just surprising them with this match saying it like versus versus nakamoto i. I don't think that if you tell people that you know you need to stay tuned for this It's gonna make people anymore anymore. Excited to stay tune than just. The people are gonna stay tuned. Because they're staying to show. I mean if there was you know it was cody versus kenny omega. And they didn't get they didn't have it then Yeah but i. I don't think Advertising something that is not a particularly a market brought makes much of a difference. They advertised it. My point isn't that they didn't say that was the match. My point is they didn't tell you why you should care about the match. And wrestling's built around wrestlers talking about. I don't think. I don't think that he is going to convince people that a matching the colorado is like a big deal. They need to stay tuned for no matter. How great we talk. Radio's i'm proposing contrasting hurdle. Maybe he'll surprise me. But i doubt check out our new twenty twenty one torch. Vip podcasts lineup. Including everything with rich fan hosted by wade keller. Where on weekends we together and talk about everything and that includes our popular beaten path segment. Where either rich. Or i present each other with something to watch. That's off the beaten path and we dissect analyze react to it. Sometimes it's weird sometimes. It's nostalgic sometimes it's therapeutic and sometimes it's just fucking something from the past that would work today that's not being done but we talk about Wwe annex t w all the current events in professional wrestling also. It's a different format in a fresh podcast dynamic with rich me every weekend. Everything with rich fan is part of the new. Cw torch vip podcast lineup four. Twenty twenty one. So we'll move onto smackdown which preceded this episode of dynamite. They went right to the ring for the ring entrance. Roman reigns and paul heyman..
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"Preview. Take over the main event. We just talked about the bill afford on on the show. Any any thoughts on the likely winner is there more than one. And if so how many certainly i expect there won't be a title change since a five matches a weak way to establish a new champion. I suppose if they wanna move cross up and they want to protect them they do they. That could be an idea here. Have somebody else been somebody else and then cross just leaves. But i tend to think they won't want to do that. They tend to like people to to to lose the title before they go up. And if somebody else wins called us seem the most likely to me. I don't think you want o'reilly to win the title for the first time in the setting. i think If you're going to have o'reilly win the title. You want to build it to a singles match so i think Cross winning make some sense followed by call all right then. Ricco gonzalez cin amber moon for the women's ice said makes so much sense. I just not make the is the most likely scenario and makes more sense or are you are you. Are you distinguishing or just adding distinguishing in the sense. Like not even i m opined on the other one. I just like trying to be clear about what i meant because those are two different things sometimes. Because i'm usually when we're talking about i'm usually just talking about. What would it be most likely to do. But that's not necessarily an advocacy of that. But i think i'd probably on cautious because again trajan the titles the multiple mattresses not effective co gonzalez in number moon for the women's title. It should be a good match and expert controls to retain mercedes martinez ends eilly. Just a match looks looks weaker than most takeover matches but it is a big spot for both one then. I'm sure that they're going to be very motivated. And we'll see how they do. If all goes well camera grabs. Elliot night ladder match for the title. It's important for night that that they have strong match. Because if you can't have a really a lot of matches camel crops it's not a good sign the malino titles reference does seem to have been bought back specifically for grandest gimmick so. It would be odd. If grimes doesn't want then i think we're don't. We're not do the the six man tag with three belts in two championships at stake. Time and one of the things to come down to winter takes winner takes. Yeah as magic. Saddam step but the action should be very strong and I expect and cater when and they haven't had titles for that long and read in particular be selling title so quick. I todd up. Next is last friday nights late night. Dynamite first question is do you make anything of the viewership number this week. Even going down from the prior week although pretty good a bigger than usual jump after three days compared to the wednesday shows which sort of indicates not everyone is a dvr night. Everyone's gonna catch up on it but more than usual watched it on delay after three days than when it airs on wednesday but still quite a bit short of the normal wednesday viewership. Yeah you pretty much outline that there. I mean the numbers are not encouraging given that they've got a friday night show coming up and the numbers aren't particularly strong relative to their what they do on wednesdays but you know as you mentioned. It's clearly a case of people that are still into the product but they don't wanna watch it live on a friday and so they're watching it for the most part a few days later and that's you know sub optimal. Because you know you try to. You can get better at rates if you have higher people watching live. 'cause the assumption is. They're watching ads so it's not. It's not optimal but you know it what it is and in fi- ten pm. I don't think that's exactly like you're you're superstar time slot for pretty much anybody on television. So you try to make del. Yeah all right so they opened with young bucks against park in television shows like when they debut show at like ten pm alert like they've got no faith whatever that says for the most part. Yeah yeah so. They opened with a pocket. Pet against the bucks your thoughts on that time. Thought it was a good match There's there's been an increase in criticism about the amount of interference and awa matches. And i think that's valid concern I definitely don't think you want to go cold. Turkey like advocated with the various forms of non finishes. But they do a lot of interference. And i do think it would be better if they did of us frequently but that's not this much typically well it is. What's not only this match. So it's sort of like i think a consideration in the pot in general and then they shot the The afterwards to up the idea of that. It concern reluctantly joining forces with triangle. I'm workday to get at the box. So it's good then we andrade debut with marquette coming out with tony shivani and then back to grow screeching. Excuse me followed by the sentence a few weeks ago. Then we had brought with mark henry in a screeching ricky guerrero. What's happening totally. And how does the reaction on fridays. Well so i on mark henry. I was very surprised by mark. Henry's response to the question wrestling again. Because he all but said yes and definitely gonna be wrestling. I wanna russell a lot. You know like the way he answered it. And i would have thought that he would have downplayed it more. If only to make it feel more special any eventually does so i. I found that interesting..
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"If you haven't yet subscribe to the weight. Keller pro wrestling. Po shows this show. The podcasts have our blue logo. The way tiller pro wrestling poll shows have a red logo. Just search wade. Keller and apple podcasts. Or wherever you listen to progressing podcasts and click subscribe to the red logo and you can download our raw smackdown eighty w and sometimes next t po shows. I'm joined by co host to add different perspective to the analysis for the show where we talked to live callers onsite correspondent in the building who tell us what did not air on tv and we also answer male bay questions. Those shows are available for download within a few hours after the shows and on monday wednesday and friday nights. So there's a fast turnaround to get your fix so check it out. That's the wade. Keller pro wrestling post show. Just search wade. Keller you can also stream the show live at wade keller polls show dot com about five minutes. After the show's end on monday wednesday and friday night. Remember that book on your shelf that maybe you bought or god is a gift because someone thought you'd like to read it and you really want to read it and you never got around to reading it or maybe you started it and didn't finish it. Well maybe you just don't have a lot of time to read. You would have time to listen to audiobooks audible as a longtime sponsor of this program. And i've talked a lot about the new releases that i'm reading new pro wrestling books autobiographies self-help fiction nonfiction. One of the things. I don't talk about that. I find use audible is taking a book on shelf that stares at me and taunts me that i just haven't had time to read and i'll look for an audible and i'll download it as part of my membership and i'll finally listen to it instead of reading it. One of those. That i'm about to start is moneyball by michael. Lewis came out twenty eleven. I saw the movie. I have the book. I wanna read the book. I haven't read the book now. i've got an audible. It's a fascinating movie. I want to do a deep dive into the ten and a half hour audiobook. And now i can. So that's an example of how audubon.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"Let's talk about leaving because we're just hopping all over mortar. But i'm focused on the second hour a little bit more so we'll stick their this the idea. I know like if you're in. Aws you're watching everything or you work for them in your you think. Oh this is this whole dustin faction and nightmare family against marshall and his no-name people or people that they're trying to establish new people are like. Oh the you know we can just turn this. Main event will add up all rope and dozens legend. Colorado's got a future. And i was like yes. That's maybe but you gotta do some. You're got to do some work in our forty-five minutes leading up to it to get to catch us up. Remind us we have lies. Relieving we got seventy dollars when we watch a week. You can't just drop this on us and expect us to be invested in it. And they didn't like where was the dust. It's really good at these promos. Give a video package cutie. Marshall cup one. Good promo this year. And they haven't given a lot of time otherwise but like give them a chance to cut on the go to sell us on this match. It reminds again who come rodriguez. He's not a weekly fixture in our lives and they just threw it out there. Edible rope and i wrote going commercial. You know jim ross. Wants to call this bowling. And he's resisting. The match ended. Any called is willing shoe ugly. this was. i've been so many shows over the decades where there's the guy who gets brought in with name value. Who a polish veteran. And then there's the local guy who's just starting to learn the ropes and the veteran carries the guy who's learning the ropes to good match and they work hard and that's what this was. This did not belong on national television. It was Colorado's not there yet and it to call it. A main event i felt is an insult to. Aws establishes made a mess. I get it's late at night on a friday and sort of this weird zone for awa when they're between major shows coming out of a major one and they're going to fewer viewers. I don't know probably putting this match on. And i get why they didn't have the bucks in the end. 'cause you're gonna have fewer viewers at the end at the beginning. That was the old saturday and its format was on even later so i sort of understand wanting to put this on but i don't think they were aware enough of how much needed more build up than it got so there. There's my my thoughts on julius. Yeah i mean there. There were several times. When i was watching the show. And i was even thinking to myself like hough. What what is the main event of this show. You know that. I thought of that several times because i i'd like to go back and count and see how many times they actually did plug this estimate event because it was not very many inc and clearly that this whole second hour of dynamite was almost like a submission of w saying you know. It's pretty late into the night There's some other content we wanna put on here and so we're just going to put some stuff where it's okay if our audience mrs this you know it's okay if they don't see this stuff again but You know for them to put this match on. I mean i was fine with it obviously. It's not the typical star power that you would see in dynamite main event but they're also kind of leaning on la. Hey you can't blame us. That everybody likes dawson. So that's great. We got that box checked. And then nick colorado were given a young guy being events spot. You know getting him the experience there. So i mean i. I thought the match was. I was probably more generous than you're way that emmy. I thought that match is fi. You know if you're going to get does play to their strengths where they can just kind of role in the crowd and colorado can lean on his physical presence. No let that speak for itself. But yeah i mean this is a definitely a few that awa thinks a lot more highly of than their fans do because a lot of this is being told on their shoulder content. And what's shown on dynamite. You know is not is not really grabbing the viewers. You know this whole nightmare. Family versus nightmare factory thing. So i mean i'm fine with it because i know what aid was kinda thinking here just putting it at late night on trying to get these guys some experience going out there and i thought they did all right given the spot. I would have been a if they have. Put the greece in getting me to care about this hour. Forty five minutes leading up to it. I'd had been reviewing it more favorably as being billed as a main event. I just i don't they didn't care so why so. Why should you care. And there's baggage there because i think aws. There's good with marina. W where. I think that when they write the show they write it for the ten percent of fans who follow everything they do and remember everything they do and they're not going to grow as a brand as a show if they do that too often. Because there's going to be people who get left out who aren't in that bubble of you know we can drop dustin in colorado when tv you you've got to be more self aware of someone's got to be on staff and go wait. We can't just throw that out there. Call it a main event unless you know let us did cut. A promo elson would love to do that. Have cue colorado cut up smart promo or you want to see dust and make plead but instead it's like no this is like it's the old give a little something extra. Oh we'll make it a match and then we'll have blade like you really wanna use one of your blood moment for this like so daddy retained me and then the kicker was when colorado in this i don't want to call it a pet peeve because i think it's an egregious common air that make too often which is when you with someone into the ropes. You do it. Lazy and some of the greats have done at chris. Jericho was notorious for it. I it totally took now to jericho match do with so lazy with whips of his opponents into the ropes. You'd have a this massively praised match. I'm like yeah but but but like how can you watch a match back and not see how fake that looks and how easy it is just make it look like you're working hard and there's restaurants were aware of that in their opponents of the row part every single time like it's actually physically necessary to push hard and put their their body weight into it to make it happen because bouncing off. The ropes is so stupid. When you think about it that you don't want to be reminded of it and the only way to not be reminded of it is to make. It seem like the person get whipped into the ropes is lost control of their of anything other than they're trying to just not stumble and fall once. They hit the road so hard that they bounce off into into a devastating boot or punch. So there's my speech on that in colorado. Did the laziest in history just pushed dustin softly on the shoulder and generate all his speed run into the roads and bounce off and run right into his fist. And i'm sorry if you're doing that at this stage of the game you're a i don't wanna say you're never going to be good but the odds of you being really good at what you do is really low. If that's not crossing your mind that i'm i'm young i'm green. I'm in a main event on tv and you don't have enough self awareness to go. I gotta make that look good so that was already down the match as a main event but found another way to come after not as a trainer thank you doesn't that or maybe cutie was disgusted and he's he's making them clean the ring again. Shine shine the ring post so anyway. I now now people are going to be able to unseat but like honestly i'll pay attention i it's not real but you don't want to be reminded of it with a dangling boom mic and in the middle of movie and that's what they're doing here when they do that. It's just so i i find. There's not a physically. There's not a person in the ring who's not capable of doing a hard whip into the ropes that there's things that go wrong. I'm forgiving of miss. Time moves and mistakes they can happen. That's inexcusable that ever happens and i know the ball ripple not to make an excuse but the little cumbersome and awkward but you gotta be aware enough to to.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"It was very serious and You know they were. They were bragging about their victory by the way to. You know it just made it feel more serious even more serious than the match was so you know would would've loved the or of that sort of tone in their rematch. But i digress You know jerk jerks promo at the beginning and the end Just you know the style is really good with the book ending of him to To keep it all strong So love the segment For that but on the the negative notes yeah. I'm a bit concerned about this. Going on forever because i think matches really good and we were you know with the result from double nothing robinson have a third match to solidify the the greatest team. But if we're gonna have a bunch of matches between all the parties that square off against each other as it is already. They already paired off in the stadium stampede. Match and You know there's only one loser that was shawn spears versus sammy guevara. But i think if we're gonna have a final third team match having a bunch of matches in between dilutes it a bit and you know. I don't think they're booking is where monday night raw booking as her smackdown booking as with twelve people wrestle for three hours every week but it is not the trajectory that i would choose to go. Because i think it's a good place right now and the fact that you keep going at some point you're gonna get the mission returns and it's not going to have the same punch that it would if you saved a match down the road to be the rubber match but Yeah and then just off the the word low Suggestion of cage match in two weeks. really intrigued me but also really took me kind of other provo for a second because You know. I don't know if any thoughts on that or if you're a pass over but that was a very strange and interesting Thinker haggis. Explain why you think it's strange. Well it was just so specific that it was happening in two weeks and they're gonna have amendment very convenient. Yeah but then. There's no promotion for it. So i was like it's it might it might dreaming basic. What you to tell me that actually saw that just fell out of place. I felt like i was out of it for a second. That's the saturday show right in. Two weeks is that The saturday right is so. Maybe it's so. We got friday next friday. The twelfth no the eleventh and then they think they're back on wednesday for one week and then they go to saturday after that. So maybe not. Maybe it's just that's going to be the anchor match for the. I think they're back on wednesday in two weeks. I was thinking. Yeah it's so they're trying to come up with main events and stimulations and we end up with a few that people forgot about if they're not watching all the shoulder. Content is cody put it and called a main event. We'll get to that and it's about wrote match because why because it's a main event and it's not a main event unless there's a bull rope even then it's not so. Yeah that's part of it but i mean i think storyline wise joel. It makes sense to have mma style challenge from hager. And you know. I'm curious you know how they pull it off the fight. Pit matching in annex t. So yeah your thoughts. Yeah no i think that. that's fine. the yes it is that he's saying something very specific within the promo gladys and. He looked forty-five easter within the second hour. After this but but the thing that does concern me that you guys have talked about too is is how long this can be going on for because i mean if they right now they have penciled in for all out to be chris jericho versus mj. I feel like that is. That's a really long time from now. You know that is three months from now That that one on one match. What would happen. So i just don't know how much content you fill in to that point so i could see something better where maybe they say we have a special dynamite or if they announced you know fight for the fall and or something like that were then they wanna do. The huge grudge match between j. f. in chris jericho before that you know. I think that they could then find a lot of contents of build. That make it feel special but if we three months with all sorts of different tag matches between you know cody or Chris jericho and hager versus whatever matchup of the pinnacle. I mean i i. I think that's going to get a little tired after a while. Because we've already seen so much up to this point not just in the ring but also on the mike you know what i mean. They're just point where you want to see 'em jeff talk about somebody else. You wanna see jericho talk about somebody else and it just. Yeah just does that moment. Where like i've heard you guys argue enough. What more do you really have to say. Yes and i. Because i believe the first time was it full gear of last year that. Mj chris jericho fight each other the first time because i could definitely see jericho wanting to be like. Oh we did a year long story. You know doing something for that long. So i mean the i i don't i don't know how much content you can fill with everything that they've already done to this point so yeah now through patriot. You can get the wade. Keller pro wrestling. Po shows way killer pro wrestling podcasts. And the people torch daily casts with.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"And the latest issues include a cover story from the june tenth. Two thousand issue on goebbert's returned to wcw and weather. He's a solution to what was ailing. Wcw at the time. Also my column titled vince. Russo is from outer space. And bruce mitchell's column still timely today unfortunately of racist gimmicks and poverty pimps was the title that's issue number six. Oh six the week before that issue number six five. From june third features a cover story talks about how there could be a shakeup in the wrestling industry with wcw for sale and e cw. W had certain future. And also bruce mitchell column spoofing vince russo titled how i became world champion. If we go back another week to the may twenty seven two thousand issue it had detailed coverage of the judgment day two thousand pay per view including my review and staff roundtable reviews of the rock. Triple h sixty minute. Iron man match and also the final installment of the lance storm torch talk with his thoughts on various w colleagues the week before that the may twentieth two thousand issue number six zero three features a cover story on ric flair's collapsed in the ring during nitro par. Three of the answer on torch. Talk with this explanation for why he decided to quit. Cw our coverage vw. Heaven the pay per view and more and then the week before that the may thirteenth issue features a cover story on the changing landscape and pro wrestling with the wb moving from usa to tnn and potential shift. Vc w also covers sidebar story on the death of ncw fan after a hotel party and wcw slammed berry coverage and the week before that our coverage from the may six issue number six zero. One of david arquette winning the wcw title my end notes. Aditorial examining vince. Roussel's controversial decision and flippant comments about title belts our coverage of wwe. Backlash two thousand. And more i could keep going on but that gives you an idea of what you're missing out on by not being a member. Magin settling in on the weekend and kicking back reading wrestling history. Not through the lens of. Wwe filtering it to their benefit. Not three people looking back on it through today's land but what was said at the time the week it happened by some of the voices that you are familiar with here on the way. Keller person podcast and peter daily casts so go. Vip and relive professional wrestling through the way the torch covered it in real time with contemporaneous.
The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"keller" Discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
"Torch vip coming out of double or nothing. Because you and i haven't talked about it yet booking wise we've had a pretty small sample of awa doing big shows bit. You know big pay per view events from a booking pay per view standpoint. Have we learn more about tony. Kahn's vision and and in terms of how he books these shows. It looks like we're going to be pretty consistently aiming for the four hour mark for the main pay per view it. I thought it was a fantastic show with some caveats. How about you. yeah. I think the length is a bit of an issue for me personally. There's going to be some fans who wish it was five hours of course but i think you're better off leaving your audience wanting more even with a forty fifty dollar pay per view they do tend to drag a little bit. I liked it. They are going with thirty minutes for the pre show than keeping people around for five hours. Because even if you're willing participant to causes things to drag. But i thought it was a good show work. What i've learned about tony kahn's booking when what i'm taking away from Some of the positives or that. He's disciplined when it comes to title changes. They mean something when they happen. They're they pretty good job of making those titles mean something and i like that. It's not just hot potato with the titles We don't get too many over the top gimmick matches There's it. I don't know what the hell is going on in cody's matches i don't know if cody gets to book his own. It just seems like it's two different visions. I don't know maybe and maybe it is. Maybe it isn't but it. My guess is that cody is very hands on what he's doing and for better or worse you know. There was a time there. He was had the most compelling segments on the shell but those days are gone. Yeah cody cody is an interesting person. He is he is quirky. And i don't mind him being on the separate path for a while especially i especially during the pandemic. And he's doing his reality show and all that but he's not he's not twenty-eight eight either. I mean you want to get him to a point where you can plug him in as the guy who we saw at all out or was it all and what was the first all in all it was the first one At all in and and just the centerpiece of of the w movement and that headliner in that charisma whether that comes as a heel or face and i think it might he might be better as he'll but i don't know i waver on that because i think he's a really good face but if he if i i'm concerned he's going to come across as a guy who is content to be in the sidebar issues and he's taken himself out of the world title situation with that stipulation and people stop looking at. Aws they stop looking at cody. Has one of the main players aws. He's more of a of a celebrity attraction who is aspiring to do other things reality tv and have celebrity matches and that kind of thing. Can he flip a switch and end up in a world title match as a heel against hangman. Paid for instance. There was a baby facing kenny. Omega can that can that switch be flipped and if we set aside the notion of tried to talker extract from the stipulation that prevents that from even being a thing which is why is it. Then why did he feel compelled to do that. The first list. Nobody was saying we don't want cody to challenge for the world title because he's gonna spend two years not in the world title picture. Maybe he thought and he wants to have an excuse that he's not until he has an angle returns. He'll does i mean honestly that's my best. Guess is he was a. It was a pre-emptive strategic. Move to make. It seem like the only reason he's not in the main event is because the last night of anti was in knocked him out of the main advance and he's gonna be a man of his word and not do it so we could have. I don't know if i want to say it was a move out of insecurity. Because i don't think cody has a lot of insecurity. I think it was a strategic move designed to let other people have their time until the angle comes where it's time i hope that angle does come. I mean there's people that really say that you know he means this season ever challenging for that title and to me. It's dilbert and silly. I i appreciate you. Don't want to repeat some of the volta good things. His dad did some of the bad things that he did with the overbooking of himself. And everything. but you can still do that without a world title This thing with anthony a the boring segment. i've ever seen dynamite. So far was that way in really that that was it. They just huge entourages to go out there. And way in and there's nothing more i think he w takes pride and breaking away from some of the kind of trite things that cliche things that happened like i think. Aws birthday cakes and they're going to have the birthday cake get eaten cut in distributed and eaten and not throwing in people's face. Well well. I think they're willing to bore you in order to show that they're different like we're not going to be like them. We're going to bore you instead of give you a satisfying and and someone tell paul way to work. And we don't care if somebody does a super zoom in on twitter to post. He didn't have the right way. I think he's still fiddling that for scale at this point well he did say. I remember one time he goes. Do you know how frustrating it is. Finger so big. I can't pick my nose but it's like they don't even zoom on. No one cares. But i do feel bad for him for that. That would shock. Yeah yup check out our new twenty twenty one torch vip podcast lineup including everything with rich fan hosted by wade. Keller where on weekends we get together and talk about everything and that includes our popular off the beaten path segment where either rich or present each other was something to watch. that's off the beaten.