12 Ways Tim Keller Has Influenced Me
Among living leaders, John Piper and Tim Keller have been the two most influential voices in my life over the last fifteen years. I know I’m not unique in that regard. So many ministry leaders my age or older can say the same thing. I’ve been blessed to have other formidable influences from mentors in closer proximity, but the impact of these two men run the deepest.
Getting the news of Keller’s death made me reflect on all the ways the Lord impacted my life through Him. Keller talked about the various influences in our lives being like rings on the inside of a tree trunk. For this post, pretend Tim Keller is the sole tree trunk, and each attribute I describe is one of his different “rings.”
Keller is a spiritual and intellectual giant. I can’t think of anyone who dabbled in so many different areas and branches of thought. I believe he is distinct from Piper in this regard. I think Piper’s ministry has been a bit more laser focused on a few things. Keller’s breadth has always impressed me.
To many in both the secular and protestant spheres, Keller is known primarily as an apologist. His book The Reason for God and his contextual ministry in New York City have played a big part in that. While his emphasis on contextualizing an unchanging gospel to an ever-changing world has certainly impacted me, Keller as apologist isn’t as high on my personal list as many of my peers. I think this is evidence that each leaders “rings” impact us in different ways and different degrees. The Lord knows what we need and how we are wired—and I trust the following are evidence of that in my life.
In no particular order, here are some of the most significant “rings” of Tim Keller that have influenced my life, thinking, and ministry.
1. Jesus is the true and better _____
All Scripture points to Christ. Keller was the first teacher I heard describe Jesus as the truer and better everything. It has had a massive impact on the way I read and teach the Bible. This helpful video sums it up in two minutes.
2. The beauty of humility
There are few things harder than crucifying pride and cultivating humility. Keller’s teaching has helped me learn (and hopefully grow!) in this regard. I think every Christian should read his little book The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. Here is a sampling from it:
“True gospel humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings” (32).
In addition to his teaching, his example of demonstrating humility in the face of misrepresentation, malignment, and constant criticism are noteworthy in our hyper critical culture.
3. Reading the Psalms and prayer.
Around seven years ago, I heard that Keller had been reading through the entire book of Psalms twelve times a year for twenty years. That level of immersion and discipline is astounding. It was a time in my life that I needed to grow deeper in prayer, and I felt Lord nudging me to dig into the Psalms. I’ve read through the Psalter three or four times a year for the last seven years, and I think it has become the single greatest discipline in my life. I don’t think I would have started this practice apart from Keller’s testimony, and I’m grateful for the fruit it has borne.
Keller says, “There is no situation or emotion a human being can experience that is not reflected somewhere in the Psalms. Immersing ourselves in the Psalms and turning them into prayers teaches our hearts the ‘grammar’ of prayer and gives us the most formative instruction in how to pray in accord with God’s character and will” (Prayer, 255).
4. Gospel centrality in all of life
“The gospel is not just the ABCs but the A to Z of the Christian life” (Center Church, 48).
Keller’s rediscovery of the wonder and breadth of the gospel applied to all of life might be his biggest contribution to my generation. I know it’s played a significant part of how I view growth in the Christian life—and how I relate to God and others.
5. The condition of the human heart
John Calvin said our hearts are like idol factories. Keller’s Counterfeit Gods helped me identify idols in my own heart and find the antidote found in the liberating freedom found in Jesus.
6. A biblical understanding of marriage
Keller’s book The Meaning of Marriage was formative for me as a newlywed. Maybe even more than his teaching, the stories about Keller’s marriage that have come out over the years have been inspiring and insightful. By all accounts, he and Kathy have had a deep, God-honoring marriage for four decades. In a time when the Christian view of marriage has come under fire, Keller has stood firm on biblical truth.
“Marriage has the power to set the course of your whole life. It has that power because it was instituted by God. And because it has that unequalled power, it must have an unequalled, supreme priority” (144).
7. Walking with God through pain and suffering
Keller’s teaching and example of faithfulness in the midst of suffering was inspiring to me during a particularly difficult season in my life.
“No amount of money, power, and planning can prevent bereavement, dire illness, relationship betrayal, financial disaster, or a host of other troubles from entering your life” (Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, 3).
That’s one reason we desperately need Jesus as we suffer. No person or trinket or distraction can sustain us when we endure the heat of the furnace. You must “see with the eyes of your heart how Jesus plunged into the fire for you when he went to the cross. This is what you need to know so you will trust him, stick with him, and thus turn into purer gold in the heat” (235).
8. His love for C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien
I heard Keller say one reason he loved Lewis and Tolkien so much is because they baptized his imagination. I resonate with that deeply. Their works have been some of the most enjoyable and inspiring for me since I was a kid. I read The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in middle school and The Lord of the Rings in high school, and by and large, I’ve never stopped. Keller’s love for the Inklings comes out in his writing and preaching—and it’s just fun to see how those men have impacted him.
9. Preaching to the heart
Keller’s book on preaching and his lectures on preaching Christ to a postmodern world are incredible. If you teach God’s Word in any capacity, they are extremely helpful. They’ve impacted the way I read and teach the Bible.
10. Gospel centered ministry and church planting
In you serve in vocational ministry, Center Church is a must read. Jonathan Leeman has called the book Keller’s magnum opus and he may be right. Perhaps no other book has shaped the way I view effective ministry in the local church. The church planting ministry of Redeemer’s City to City (founded by Keller) may be his most enduring legacy as faithful churches continue to be started across the globe.
11. Ability to recommend and synthesize helpful resources
I’ve come across so many impactful authors, thinkers, and teachers I never would have had apart from Keller’s recommendations. A few years ago, I was preaching through James and heard Keller recommend the commentator Alec Moyter. Moyter’s insights were so helpful for me as I prepared to preach, and I never would have come across them without hearing about it from Keller.
12. Vocation to the glory of God
I read Keller’s Every Good Endeavor in an extended season of working a job I wasn’t passionate about or particularly good at. His reminder to connect my work to God’s work—God’s greater story of redemption—helped me persevere.
For all these reasons and more, I thank God for the life and ministry of Tim Keller. I can’t wait to meet him in heaven one day and share some of these rings that have marked my life.
