I know many of my readers are pastors. So this video will be especially relevant to them as three great men of God talk about the losses that aging brings, and wise transition. But it is also of relevance to all of us as we remember our human frailty, and strive not to allow ourselves to be defined by what we do for God.

I have now been able to add full length videos to my notes from the Tim Keller talks thanks to the Newfrontiers tech guys. These were three great messages from him on issues that are close to his heart. Go watch ‘em:

• Relate to the Culture – Tim Keller
• Why Cities Matter – Tim Keller
• Preach to Change Them In Their Seats – Tim Keller

VIDEO:

Tim Keller – Cultural Transformation from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

In his final session with Newfrontiers Keller highlighted that we find relating to the culture to be an increasing problem in the West. We now have a post-Christian culture. The Anglo-saxons struggled with Christianity because it believed in forgiveness and compassion for the weak. They felt that culture couldn’t survive without respect and fear. Northern European paganism was bloodthirsty and power hungry. Christianity changed the attitudes to the poor and weak. Society now says we don’t need Christianity because we care for the weak, and we forgive.

They have robbed christianity of all their assets but thrown out God. The claim is that we dont need God to have a society. Lets be Christian for 2000 years then throw it out, and maybe it works. We have a new situation. Secular societies in Europe are living off the plundered capital of Christianity. But we have earned the scorn of the unbelievers.

The old problem of paganism is the idea of individual power which is creeping back in. At the street level increasingly as Christianity recedes life will be based on individual power and exploitation. Europe almost needs to get really non-Christian to get Christian again. It has many of the benefits and refinements of a Christian civilization but has lost the heart.

Have to reflect more and more about how to relate. Three wrong ways to go and one right.

1. Defensive against
- triumphalism, Marked by the Christian right. Attitude is that largely through politics we need to take back the culture by taking Christian values and making sure the law upholds them. No distinction between private and public. Get back into corridors of power. Get legislation.

2. Purity from
They say that Christians shouldn’t try and purify society at all. Neo-Anabaptist – form counter cultures but don’t salt society. Just win souls. Stay away.

3. Relevant To
Christians are so out of it we need to change. Make our music and message are culturally relevant. Hip. Get updated.

4. Faithful presence within
We are not trying to take over nor trying to be absent. We need to be willing and able to take our people into the financial world, the arts, the academic world, movies and TV. Be in all those places. Going to them to serve. We have to help people integrate their faith with their work. Churches tend to pull people out of their world into the church. “I want to teach you how to run a bible study and eventually become an elder”. We need to help people to know what kind of roles can I accept as a Christian actor. What I am doing is important.

You are salt of the earth. This is about being a preservative, medicine and seasoning. Serve people changing people, leavening. If you are not salt you are sand. It’s tough not to suck up to the culture and compromise. We must be faithful.

VIDEO now available here:

Tim Keller – The City from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

During Tim Keller’s second session with Newfrontiers he spoke on the importance of cities.

Cities are strategic and have lots of people yet they are poorly served by the Church. Disporportionately important and disproportionately underepresented in terms of ministry. This is not to say that every Christian should move to the city, but that movements like Newfrontiers as a people should begin to focus on the cities more.

Biblically cities are a place of refuge. They are places of Cultrual formation and communication. Cities in the Bible were smaller 1-3000 people but densely populated and behind a wall. The fortification brought protection. In cities you had law, elders in the gate, cases were solved. Decisions made. Not just blood feuds. Away from the city it was all about farming. In cities there was specialisation and hence economy.. Civilisation literally means citification. Densely populaterd and diverse even in old times.

Cities were and are places for the weak. If you are single and in your 30s or 40s and unmarried you are a freak outside of the country, but in the city you are normal. Foreigners outside of the city feel like an alien, but in the city you are not alone. In the city there is always lots of you whoever you are. Where immigrants go to assimilate. If you are homosexual out of the cities until recently you would get beaten up, but in city you are safe. Cities are harder to live in if you are white male married with a family. For everyone else cities are easier. Eg very wealthy people are minorities in smaller community they get set upon. So they congregate to cities. Cities are merciful.

Cities are places where culture is formed. God told Adam and Eve to build a culture = dominion. They failed. Heaven is a city. Coming out of heaven it wasnt a suburb or a garden In the middle of the city is the tree of life. They were meant to turn the garden into a garden city. Garden of Eden the word used was more of an urban park.

Cities are culture forming wombs. You are thrown togetehr with people who are like you, but also with people who are not like you. This leads to massive creativity. This creative tension always births new culture. Dont abandon the place where the culture is formed and then complain about how the world is going!

Paul gets a vision – Tim joke that he was obviously not a presbtyerian or he would have said “I must have eaten something” Tim continued in light-hearted mode to claim that Paul must have been a member of Newfrontiers (!) Paul always went ot the cities to preach. So urbancentric in his mission. Ignored the countryside or rather left it for the churches he planted to reach out to Paul only planted churches in cities.

1. Personal cruciality in cities. People are constantly going through changes, not as conservative open to new ideas. People are set in their ways outside cities.

2. Cultural crucial. schools are there. Journals are there.

3.Global cruciality – win not just individual people, but win the world. Can go to morroco for ten years and do mission or go to London and reach the world. Because Christians concentrated on cities, a high percentage of cities were Christian by AD 300. Countryside remained laregely pagan and in fact htats what the word pagan means. If the cities are pagan and countryside is pagan then culture is going pagan. As the cities go so goes the culture.

Five convluding reflections

1. If you want to reach the world you try to reach cities. World is in the cities people are more open to the gospel than they would ever be in their own countries.
2. If you want to reach overseas as well as your region, reach the cities. “New Jeresey is way father from New york than Manilla” Start from the inside and work out.
3. You need to reach the city in order to reach the culture. Chruches in cities are the only hope that the things coming out will change.
4. HAve to reach the whole city to reach the world. Cant neglect the urban poor. We will have no credibility for the wider culture if we are not involved with this. The immigrants must be reached as you can prove Ephesians 2 is true – that the gospel enables people to get along who outside of Christ would never get along. Need multi-ethnic churches. Got to reach the elites.

If you really want to drive the gospel deep into your heart, you have to go to cities. Don’t want anybody to think that ministry in cities is more important than elsewhere, its just that God is caling people everywhere. There are people who have come to faith in christ in cities that have changed so much that didnt believe if hadnt seen it. Gospel can change people. Complexity of cities drives you to your knees. Too many problems. Hard to grow preachers kids up to respect christianty. Can be embarrassed by church. Not so much if it is leading to salvation. Tim explained that for years he had a Q and A time after every service. He encouraged us to make a major fuss over baptism.

Video of this talk is now available to watch here:

Tim Keller – Preaching the Gospel from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Earlier in the week, Tim Keller spoke at a Newfrontiers event. He gave three posts, and I was there taking notes. There were over 800 people there to hear him. As usual these notes are colored a bit by my own perceptions, and so do not necessarily reflect exactly what he said.

 This talk was very inspiring. Regular readers of my blog will know I often blog about preaching so it is no surprise that I found the talk fascinating.

Perhaps because he was standing just beneath where the Doctor actually preached, he appropriately started by talking about Lloyd-Jones. He told us thaat The Doctor had said it was the fact that no one personality type became a christian that led him to believe. Tim made the point that he himself is really different than Mark Driscoll and they are both different from Terry. There is not one kind of person that evangelical Christianity always appeals to. Keller confessed to being a a cynical person, and said that there are not too many charismatic cynics!

He explained that he was not wanting to build a new foundation for us in our consideration of preaching, just to tweak us with four principles:

1. Preaching must be gospel centered

Tim explained that he had reservations about the popular way we tell the gospel as “two ways to live”. He argued that in Western culture we must make sure people know there are in fact three ways to live.

“God’s way” vs “Mans Way” is commonly what we say. But it is more clarifying to show people that we can live in either morality, immorality or the gospel. Or put another way, we can live in religion, irreligion or by grace. He drew this out of the story of the Prodigal son. One son was clearly alienated. The other is compliant and obedient trying to please his father but they were both alienated from the father. Both are lost. You can be lost by obeying God as well as by disobeying God.

We try to be our own savior and lord by running off and doing our own thing or by coming to church and praying, and studying the Bible. If you do that believing that God is now going to have to save you and answer your prayers because of how good you are then Jesus is an example, helper, model but he is not your savior. If you are trying to be your own savior and lord you will say “How dare you let bad things happen to me”. If you simply say “come to Jesus and follow him” you are inviting people to become the elder brother.

Tim explained that Romans 1 is about pagans and sex, drugs and rock and roll. But Romans 2 is turned on the people passing judgment on them all. Chapter 1 is the younger brother, 2-3 are the older brother. In the sermon on the mount Jesus says “there are two ways to live” – house on rock or on sand. In the sermon it’s people who pray and people who think they will be heard for their many words who are on the sand. It’s people who give for reward vs. those who do it for no reward. In the sermon the two ways are the “good life” and the way of the gospel. i.e. the sermon is against legalism and religion. I obey therefore I am accepted vs. I am accepted because of the work of Jesus on the cross wholly and completely by grace and so I obey out of that.

Religion brings fear – I have to do this or God will get me. Gospel brings gratitude. There is poise to a gospel person who suffers. If you are religious and suffer then you will be angry at God since you think you have “earnt” his blessing. The gopsel tells us “I am more wicked than I ever dared imagine but I am also more loved than I ever could have imagined.” This brings a bold humility. A religious person is always either smug or despondent.

Some people fear that preaching against legalism won’t help the younger brother. Unless the secular person hears you deconstructing legalism they won’t understand the difference. There is a gracious way to live that doesn’t turn you into a Pharisee. This has to be in everything you preach.

2. Preaching must be Christ centered

In order to be gospel centered no matter what the text is about you have to bring people to Jesus. If we are just preaching about how to live your life we are preaching synagogue sermons. We must show people the way to Jesus’ salvation. Our default mode is to go back to self-justification.

Tim then joked, “I’m a Presbyterian so I don’t hear God as often as you do”! But went on to tell us how years ago he was reading Romans 1:16 and suddenly a thought came: “He who through preaching is righteous will die a thousand deaths every Saturday night” Tim said “even Presbyterians know where that came from!”

He then explained that we have to bang the gospel into peoples heads continually as Luther said. We must get to Jesus. There is a tendency to think that you give them great information and then they are going to go out into the world and use what you taught them to change their life. BUT instead, he believes sermons should be:

3. Life changing on the spot

Its there in their seats that they will be changed. When Jesus came back from the dead and did a biblical seminar, we are told in Luke 24 that he showed them they didn’t know how to read the scripture because the bible is all about him. The theme of covenant, Kingdom, exile, all those themes find their climax in Jesus. E.g. Jesus was exiled for us. When Paul says give, he says “because of what Jesus did for us”. His generosity is where our wealth and security is.

I have to see Jesus to change me. When you see Jesus in a new way or sense his salvation this will change you on the spot.

4. Culturally transforming

Christians don’t do a good job of this. People who are not believers who hear you need to be persuaded. We say to unbelievers “you’re wrong”. We believe this and that, you in the world don’t, we are right and you are nowhere near right now, let us pray! We are negative and combative and blunt. There is another way to go.

Every culture has some things they hate. In the Middle east they love what the gospel says about sex and hate what it says about forgiveness. Here in London, they hate what we say about sex and love what we says about forgiveness and reconciliation. Some doctrines are found appealing (called “a”), others are seen as offensive (called “b”). If you want to preach “b” doctrines that are disarming, you have to float them on a boat of “a” doctrines. We must preach to win people. A lot of people hate the idea of God as judge and punisher.

Keller cited a Croat theologian who would say something like “Many think of you believe that belief in a God of vengeance and wrath leads to violence. This shows you have never suffered yourself. If you had seen your village ravaged and friends and relatives raped, and males murdered, then if you don’t believe in a God who is going to put all things right the only alternative is to pick up the sword yourself and smite the people that did that. The only way to live in peace with enemies is to know that God will be just. If you don’t understand that you have lived a very sheltered life.”

Here peacemaking is the “a” doctrine that he floated the “b” doctrine of judgement and justice on.

Tim gave another example of a missionary in Korea who found that when she spoke of sovereignty and predestination in that culture that it was easily acceptable and enabled her to build a bridge to grace which on its own was incomprehensible. Tell them that aspects of what they believe is good and right, but then win them and lead them to Christ.

In personal relationships he said we should have a strong bias towards listening. Say “I really need to know what your biggest problems with Christianity are.” You have to be in heavy listening mode till they say “you are articulating my objections better than I can!” When you have connected with their disagreement then you can begin to answer it. They need to be saying “You really do understand where I am coming from…”

He gave an example of how to float predestination to a Christian. “Why are you a Christian and your friend isn’t” “because I repented” “why?” then eventually, “Are you saying there is something better about you?” If not, then you believe in predestination…. GRACE requires predestination. In the west, grace is the front door. Don’t bring them in the back door!

Keller then alluded to a section on preaching from Jonathan Edwards “Thoughts on Revival”. He said that preaching is about bringing Christ to bear on the heart. In the sermon there is an act of worship. God takes the word of the preacher and gives a person a vision of Jesus that shapes the heart on the spot. We are looking for a divine supernatural light. You can know honey is sweet without tasting it. But we need the sense of the sweetness – give them a taste of Jesus and you will see them change on the spot. I have not been able to identify that quote, despite the wonderful http://edwards.yale.edu If YOU can help us, send me an email.

UPDATE- Dave Bish responded in less than an hour, and said that the honey quote can be found online. In fact Edwards said something similar about honey many times, so it would seem there was another place where it is more related to preaching during revivals.

UPDATE – Joe Rigney has posted some more information about this piece on Edwards.

Keller also mentioned that the Doctor made a comment on that Edwards sermon and as a result he was ambivalent about people taking notes. He asks if it is just information or an act of worship? We should be seeing Jesus. I couldn’t find the Doctor’s quote either but this one has a similar sentiment:

The life of Christ is in us! It is not theory, it is a life-giving teaching, it is a life-imparting teaching. If I am preaching in the Spirit, as I pray God I am, I am not only uttering words to you, I am imparting life to you, I am being used of God as the channel of the Spirit and my words bring life and not merely knowledge. Do you accept that distinction? I am almost afraid sometimes for those of you who take notes, that you may just be getting the words and not the Spirit. I am not saying that you should not take notes, but I do warn you to be careful. Much more important than the words is the Spirit, the life; in Christ we are being taught, and built up in Him. So that in a sense, though you may forget the words, you will have received the life, and you go out aware of the life of God, as it were, pulsating within you. David Martyn. Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity (Studies in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1 Through 16) (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 114.

UPDATE I then got another email from the Bish telling me that I had already linked twice to the Edwards quote in question (!) I should clearly have searched my own site…Anyway, here it is with a URL you can visit:

“The first and primary object of preaching is not only to give information. It is, as Edwards says, to produce an impression. It is the impression at the time that matters, even more than what you can remember subsequently. In this respect Edwards is, in a sense, critical of what was a prominent Puritan custom and practice. The Puritan father would catechize and question the children as to what the preacher had said. Edwards, in my opinion, has the true notion of preaching. It is not primarily to impart information; and while you are writing your notes you may be missing something of the impact of the Spirit. As preachers we must not forget this. We are not merely imparters of information” Jonathan Edwards and the Crucial Importance of Revival by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Keller recommended a couple of books – Christ Centered Peaching by Brian Chapel, and Graham Goldsworthy Preaching the Whole Bible.

He also suggested his own Christianity Today article on the gospel in all its forms

Why not come to A Day with Tim Keller on Wednesday 25 February 2009 to be held at Westminster Chapel in London by Newfrontiers.

The event will run from 10am – 4pm. Refreshments will be provided but you will need to bring your own lunch.

Cost is just £10 BOOK NOW as tickets are still available.

Okay . . . I know how it is. Some of you are still resisting Facebook’s steady march towards assimilating the world’s entire population. I want to try to convince you otherwise!

Recently someone I don’t know all that well asked me a question on Facebook about the gospel. Perhaps this means I should list “evangelism” as the ninth reason to use Facebook, which should actually rate it of greater importance than any of those I have given below.

So here goes . . . six out of the eight reasons why you should join Facebook are because you will then be able to watch videos of a conversation between Tim Keller, John Piper, and Don Carson. It’s worth joining just to share in this outstanding conversation!

• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D. A. Carson (1 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D. A. Carson (2 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D. A. Carson (3 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D. A. Carson (4 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D. A. Carson (5 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D. A. Carson (6 of 6)

What are my other two reasons? First, you can join the Facebook group “Friends of adrianwarnock.com” and meet other readers of this blog and discuss matters of mutual interest.

Second, you can join Blog Network and find other Christian blogs to read.

Tim Keller will be speaking in the UK twice in the next few months. I received the following information from Oak Hill College which will be hosting him. I understand that he will also speak for Newfrontiers on the second trip.

To book, click here.

Two conferences with Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City, will take place at Oak Hill in November 2008 and May 2009.

The first, Preaching to the Heart, is on 19 Nov 2008. Jonathan Edwards believed that the ultimate purpose of preaching is not only to make the truth clear, but also to make it real — affecting and life-changing. This is usually covered under the topic of “application,” although framing the subject in that way often results in a “tack-on” of practical advice after a dry, academic exposition.

How can we preach the text from first to last in a way that exalts Christ, changes heart motivations, produces wisdom and wonder, and persuades the sceptical and results in real life change?

In two lectures, Tim Keller explores these challenges to the preacher. The conference will run between 10.00 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. in Lecture Room 1 of the Academic Centre at Oak Hill (cost: £5).

The second conference, on Urban Church Planting, takes place on 13 May 2009.

Tim Keller is the author of the recently published book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

UPDATE
The Dwell Conference talks are now online, and you can download them.

I love the people at Resurgence. They keep sharing more and more video and audio—all for free. After my pastor, Tope, reported his experience in New York I wanted to watch some Tim Keller as, bizarrely, I hadn’t yet listened to him or read anything by him. The Dwell talks are not online yet, so I watched Tim Keller’s Gospel Coalition talk. I was totally blown away by it! Here are a few of the highlights I picked up.

Early on Keller explained that the gospel-bringer is not like an adviser coming to tell us a set of how-to’s, telling us to fight for our souls. Rather they are a messenger telling us what God has already done. The result of both models might look similar. In both cases you would want to do something in response. But, if the gospel is merely a how-to, you will obey out of fear. If the gospel is a declaration of what has already happened, you obey out of joy. Because it is a message (not a method!) words are critical.

Keller quoted Luther’s Larger Catechism in which he claimed that the first commandment comes first because the other commandments are only broken if you have already broken the command to put God first and have your satisfaction in him. Therefore, sin stems from idolatry, making something more important than God. The only way we change is through honoring God, and we learn to do this in worship. This challenged me. We must keep coming back to God in adoration and gratitude to him. If you are not being generous, it is because your heart is not given over to God.

The purpose of preaching is not just to make the truth understandable, but to make it real. It is important that it is crystal clear, but that its is vivid. He quoted MLJ on Edwards’ view of the purpose of preaching. He commented that he doesn’t mind if people are taking notes at the beginning of his message, but that if they are still do so by the end he feels he has missed the mark.

Keller also argued strongly that every sermon must be about Jesus. Christ needs to be taught every Sunday. The difference between a lecture and a sermon is that in a sermon Jesus shows up. If a sermon is just about what I should do or believe, people will just feel more guilty. Instead, if you say this is what you must do, but, by the way, you probably can’t do it, but there is one who did it on our behalf—if you understand what he did for us—then you will begin to be able to do it, too.

Jesus is our true wealth, giving status, security, and stability. The Bible is basically about Jesus and what he has done, and not me and what I have to do. Tim spoke about how each of the main OT characters are examples of Jesus. For example, Jesus is the true Esther who didn’t just say, “If I perish, I perish” but “When I perish, I perish.”

Even becoming a Christian is not something we do. We are instead converted, something happens to us. We are born again from outside. We must have God reveal to us the state of our hearts. Keller repeatedly quoted Doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and said that he learned how to preach by listening to tapes of the Doctor’s evangelistic sermons. He gave the following example, which so impacted me I found myself sobbing real tears alone in my room.

The Doctor apparently said that if he was to come home and someone was to say, “O, while you were out a bill came, so I just paid it for you,” he would not know how to respond. He would not know how happy to be. He would not know whether—if it had been some extra postage, just a few pence—to simply say “thank you,” or whether—if it was hundreds of thousands of pounds—to fall on his hands and knees and kiss the person’s feet. We have to appreciate that Jesus has paid a MASSIVE debt for us, and when we do so, gratitude will well up in our hearts. Our problem is that we have become immune to the size of the debt by over-familiarity.

Tim also spoke about the need for us to avoid the twin dangers of (1) isolating ourselves from the world around us through cultural withdrawal, and its opposite (2) cultural assimilation and accommodation. We need to be countercultural, but engaged and caring. Tim explained that in New York people love what the gospel has to say about forgiveness and hate what it has to say about sex, while in some other countries they love what it says about sex and hate the concept of forgiveness.

He also explained in closing that the gospel is not simple. It is not boring. It is infinitely deep and complex and stimulating and thrilling. As Peter says, even angels long to look into it. We therefore need our preaching to reflect the richness of this wonderful truth that saved us.

I found this great quote about what the gospel is meant to do to our opinions of ourselves from Tim Keller on “theocentricview“:

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

— Timothy Keller, The Reason For God, New York, NY: Dutton, 2008, p. 181.