Tim Keller is essentially taking the view St John Chrysostom took when he said "I beg you, remember this without fail, that not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs"(On Wealth and Poverty)
A very biblical message on social justice for all believers! Not because we are required by God to do social justice, but we want to do it because of the beauty of His creation! Amen!
Tim Keller excellerating the Social Gospel for a new generation. Who will be the Gresham Machen of this generation who will speak truth to what many are calling a heresy in our tine.
I grew up outside of the city and this is so encouraging that more churches will be planted. Wonderful to see the future of NYC impacted by your ministry Pastor Keller. Praise our Lord on High! Hallelujah!
Amazing teaching and I was so moved how Christological this was. Wow. I was moved beyond words when you compared Christ to the one who was poor and oppressed! Wow.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Yes I have read the book of Isaiah and pondered on the meaning of true fasting and justice but it never spoke to me so loudly. This sermon rang the bell in my head. And it’s not just a duty to help the poor, it’s the beauty, to please the Lord…
It is our love for all God's creatures that we can love to do justice to the needy destitute alien...we are blessed where we were born we bless and share with those less fortunate through no birth fault of their own . Love Tim Keller's courage to speak the truth
I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ ... is God’s only self-justification in such a world” as ours....' 'The other gods were strong; but thou wast weak; they rode, but thou didst stumble to a throne; But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds, but thou alone. John R.W. Stott
@Paul L That was very illuminating, Paul. It helps to contextualize some core questions for me. And thank you @HannahJoy for the excerpt - it's personally relevant as I'd been much into Buddhism before I became a believer.
How many people are oppressed in China? Do we Chinese Christians all help them or even to have a personal relationship with each one of them, no. A lot of people are poor but aren't poor in spirit. When I look at them. I don't know what to believe.
What’s the first rule of real estate? Location, location, location! What’s the first rule of reading your Bible,? Context is king! Romans 10:5-8 (NKJV): For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? Romans 10:8-13 (NKJV): “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Matthew 26:6-13 (NKJV): And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. 8 But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.” 10 But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. 11 For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. 12 For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. 13 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
The institutional church's main focus should be the preaching of the Word (apologetic evangelism which TM does so well), and the right administration of the sacraments. Churches have got waylaid by Westernism's addiction to post-Marxism's 'social justice' programs. Note that Isaiah is talking about Israel's poor and oppressed not NYC's poor and oppressed, although Christians in politics and aid agencies are right to be concerned about them. (In saying this, I'm appealing to the notion of 'sphere sovereignty' promulgated by Abraham Kuyper an early 20th C Dutch prime minister.) Tim is right to preach about this matter of justice but it's not the job of an individual church qua church to take up the burden of societal justice; we have a society today that is differentiated into different areas of responsibility as any analysis of a Western society would make clear. It is the state's responsibility primarily and ours as citizens to be concern for justice. Instutional church and state should not be confused.
but it's not the job of an individual church qua church to take up the burden of societal justice; we have a society today that is differentiated into different areas of responsibility as any analysis of a Western society would make clear. It is the state's responsibility primarily and ours as citizens to be concern for justice. Instutional church and state should not be confused." I catch your drift, I think: state-mandated "mercy" is not the stuff of the church. But I'm not sure I grasp your apparent criticism of this sermon. Before I say more, please elaborate. I'm a staunch anti-statist, and I never caught Tim advocating any state-sponsored generosity. Quite the opposite, IMO. It isn't an option for Christians to choose to not give. That isn't a freedom bestowed upon us. This is a completely different topic from being plundered by a greedy government.
+Ryan I must say I didn't hear the whole sermon through but even TM's interpretation of Matt 25 is debatable because the reason the goats are in strife is because the poor categories Jesus speaks of are 'the least of these my brethren'. 'Brethren' in Matthew always refers to disciples of Jesus. So we are not dealing with a general call to the 'church' to look after 'the poor and needy' who are replicas of Christ. And you're right, we are all called to give but primarily to those 'wretched of the earth' who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, particularly those who are persecuted throughout the world. Secondarily, Christians may set up NGOs to minister to the poor in general. Of course, Jesus was also concerned for some who were wealthy and in high positions: Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Zacchaeus.
+Brian Wasicki Somewhat. But he interprets foreigners being under the same law. Equality is easy. It is when those who cry oppression are actually primarily interested in their own superiority.
I have to disagree with these comments. It is clear to me that Tim is quite rightly speaking to the heart of the christian and not to the institution of the church. I think you are right that the church and state should be separate and justice is a shared responsibility of the state with individuals of society. However, as Tim is pointing out here, Christianity is the only catalyst for true societal and individual reformation towards justice. It seems to me, Tim's point is that society change first requires a change in the hearts of the people and hearts of those in leadership. I fear your critique is off the mark (though it is a good point generally) when this sermon is listened to carefully. The other point I have difficulty with is the idea that we are unable to glean God's ways concerning justice from reviewing His dealings with Israel through the Isiah narrative. Tim again did bring in NT and various OT references to show continuity in God's intentions for a right relationship between us and Him which requires social justice. God Bless
Regrettably, great sermons do NOT show congregants to reverse their chronic cold-heartedness. Giving checks to organizations and "volunteering" for highly scripted charity events are NOT examples of competent proximate compassion.
I'm a fan of Keller's, but he is gravely mistaken on his definition of justice and conflates it with mercy and giving. I challenge you to look for yourselves at the verses he used and ask yourself if they were taken in context. He asserts that the directions such as Isaiah 58 were instructing Israel to what "justice" is while justice is only one of the things listed along with giving and acts of mercy. Some are blatant misrepresentations. It's embarrassing when he uses Leviticus 7 to say foreigners were treated equally as some sort of OT social justice triumph. The verse explicitly refers to capital punishment. So yes, foreigners were under the same law of execution. Then he ironically claims justice is all about special treatment for the oppressed. Like the false modern definition of justice, oppression in the Bible does not mean having more than other people, it is always portrayed as an active sin against people.
So then, how should a Christian interpret what it is you are trying to say? If Tim is clearly "gravely mistaken" as you put it, what then should a Christian's approach to social justice, be? Why are Christians (mostly American Christians it seems, for the matter...) so offended or put-off by the idea of standing against social injustice?
Drinner D A Christian should follow God's unchanging word and correctly live righteous lives of charity, mercy and justice all in their appropriate an Biblical definitions. Let me challenge that a good majority of what is so-called "social justice" is a novel, atheistic faux morality that is unjust, unmerciful and uncharitable. If for example you think it is in any way just to demand reparations from white people to pay for sins of long-dead white people (as do many), then you are promoting an unjust system of theft and covetousness against every principal of the Old and New Testament. If you think the poor are inherently oppressed and can demand money from the rich, you must have missed the entire book of Proverbs and Paul saying he that does not work shall not eat.
Progger_Frogger you clearly don’t understand the Bible and continue to spew westernize white belief that tries to escape the tenets of scripture to continue to live comfortably. If you claim Christ please go to him and repent of the ludicrous beliefs you bring to this public forum and go deal with your own disobedience rather than trying to rationalize it with your westernize pagan ideology.
This is a social justice gospel. T. K. picked verses out of context and again like the Pharisee in Jesus's day trying to construct a gospel based on "Doing" social justice. That is "Work". In a ironic way Jesus was trying to point out the hypocrisy of the Pharisee for trying to observe the law and live a pious life but inside is dead. Jesus fulfilled the justice by dying on the cross paying for our sins. Ironically, in China there are so many Christians under persecution. Where is T.K. seeking out to help them with justice?
@@Otrochris, he preaches social justice and says homosexuals will not be going to hell. He is one of the better liberal preachers but has some big flaws.
Could you actually explain why preaching social justice is wrong, assuming you associate with Christ? And where exactly does he propose injecting Marxist theory in order to bring about his idea of social justice?
Classic Keller. He will be missed
Complete masterclass teaching
Duty and Beauty are two different things,
Duty is self-absorbed
Beauty gets you out of yourself.
36:00
I don't know that I've ever heard a better synopsis of what it means to be a Christian, especially not in a
Tim Keller is essentially taking the view St John Chrysostom took when he said "I beg you, remember this without fail, that not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs"(On Wealth and Poverty)
Justice is more than a duty IS BEAUTY !!
A beautiful sermon of pr.Timoty Keller
A very biblical message on social justice for all believers! Not because we are required by God to do social justice, but we want to do it because of the beauty of His creation! Amen!
Maurice Kwok we are required to do it. It’s not a choice.
One of my favorite sermons of all time
Agreed, it's that good
Useful, inspiring, devasting. Thank you!
Heretical?
Tim Keller excellerating the Social Gospel for a new generation. Who will be the Gresham Machen of this generation who will speak truth to what many are calling a heresy in our tine.
I grew up outside of the city and this is so encouraging that more churches will be planted. Wonderful to see the future of NYC impacted by your ministry Pastor Keller. Praise our Lord on High! Hallelujah!
Amazing teaching and I was so moved how Christological this was. Wow. I was moved beyond words when you compared Christ to the one who was poor and oppressed! Wow.
Amen! What a sermon! Beautiful!
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Yes I have read the book of Isaiah and pondered on the meaning of true fasting and justice but it never spoke to me so loudly. This sermon rang the bell in my head. And it’s not just a duty to help the poor, it’s the beauty, to please the Lord…
What is justice?
It is our love for all God's creatures that we can love to do justice to the needy destitute alien...we are blessed where we were born we bless and share with those less fortunate through no birth fault of their own . Love Tim Keller's courage to speak the truth
Beautiful 🙏🌷
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you for this, Tim!
Ty so much
Wow. So good.
Greetings from Swiss L'Abri ... Thank you for bringing this ... startling importance ...
around the 16 minute mark, he brings it.
Incredible
Mr Keller thank you.
This was beautiful. Thank you.
I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ ... is God’s only self-justification in such a world” as ours....' 'The other gods were strong; but thou wast weak; they rode, but thou didst stumble to a throne; But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds, but thou alone.
John R.W. Stott
@Paul L That was very illuminating, Paul. It helps to contextualize some core questions for me. And thank you @HannahJoy for the excerpt - it's personally relevant as I'd been much into Buddhism before I became a believer.
Wow
Great. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing!
Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome sermon!! Sounds very Catholic!! Keep up the good work!
❤
How many people are oppressed in China? Do we Chinese Christians all help them or even to have a personal relationship with each one of them, no. A lot of people are poor but aren't poor in spirit. When I look at them. I don't know what to believe.
What’s the first rule of real estate? Location, location, location!
What’s the first rule of reading your Bible,? Context is king!
Romans 10:5-8 (NKJV): For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? Romans 10:8-13 (NKJV): “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Matthew 26:6-13 (NKJV): And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. 8 But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
10 But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. 11 For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. 12 For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. 13 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
The institutional church's main focus should be the preaching of the Word (apologetic evangelism which TM does so well), and the right administration of the sacraments. Churches have got waylaid by Westernism's addiction to post-Marxism's 'social justice' programs. Note that Isaiah is talking about Israel's poor and oppressed not NYC's poor and oppressed, although Christians in politics and aid agencies are right to be concerned about them. (In saying this, I'm appealing to the notion of 'sphere sovereignty' promulgated by Abraham Kuyper an early 20th C Dutch prime minister.) Tim is right to preach about this matter of justice but it's not the job of an individual church qua church to take up the burden of societal justice; we have a society today that is differentiated into different areas of responsibility as any analysis of a Western society would make clear. It is the state's responsibility primarily and ours as citizens to be concern for justice. Instutional church and state should not be confused.
but it's not the job of an individual church qua church to take up the burden of societal justice; we have a society today that is differentiated into different areas of responsibility as any analysis of a Western society would make clear. It is the state's responsibility primarily and ours as citizens to be concern for justice. Instutional church and state should not be confused."
I catch your drift, I think: state-mandated "mercy" is not the stuff of the church. But I'm not sure I grasp your apparent criticism of this sermon. Before I say more, please elaborate. I'm a staunch anti-statist, and I never caught Tim advocating any state-sponsored generosity. Quite the opposite, IMO. It isn't an option for Christians to choose to not give. That isn't a freedom bestowed upon us. This is a completely different topic from being plundered by a greedy government.
I didn't mean to like my own reply. Ha. Wa trying to edit. Peace.
+Ryan I must say I didn't hear the whole sermon through but even TM's interpretation of Matt 25 is debatable because the reason the goats are in strife is because the poor categories Jesus speaks of are 'the least of these my brethren'. 'Brethren' in Matthew always refers to disciples of Jesus. So we are not dealing with a general call to the 'church' to look after 'the poor and needy' who are replicas of Christ. And you're right, we are all called to give but primarily to those 'wretched of the earth' who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, particularly those who are persecuted throughout the world. Secondarily, Christians may set up NGOs to minister to the poor in general. Of course, Jesus was also concerned for some who were wealthy and in high positions: Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Zacchaeus.
+Brian Wasicki Somewhat. But he interprets foreigners being under the same law. Equality is easy. It is when those who cry oppression are actually primarily interested in their own superiority.
I have to disagree with these comments. It is clear to me that Tim is quite rightly speaking to the heart of the christian and not to the institution of the church. I think you are right that the church and state should be separate and justice is a shared responsibility of the state with individuals of society. However, as Tim is pointing out here, Christianity is the only catalyst for true societal and individual reformation towards justice. It seems to me, Tim's point is that society change first requires a change in the hearts of the people and hearts of those in leadership. I fear your critique is off the mark (though it is a good point generally) when this sermon is listened to carefully. The other point I have difficulty with is the idea that we are unable to glean God's ways concerning justice from reviewing His dealings with Israel through the Isiah narrative. Tim again did bring in NT and various OT references to show continuity in God's intentions for a right relationship between us and Him which requires social justice. God Bless
Regrettably, great sermons do NOT show congregants to reverse their chronic cold-heartedness. Giving checks to organizations and "volunteering" for highly scripted charity events are NOT examples of competent proximate compassion.
Why don't you advocate for the kids being separated from their parents by Donald Trump?
I'm a fan of Keller's, but he is gravely mistaken on his definition of justice and conflates it with mercy and giving. I challenge you to look for yourselves at the verses he used and ask yourself if they were taken in context. He asserts that the directions such as Isaiah 58 were instructing Israel to what "justice" is while justice is only one of the things listed along with giving and acts of mercy. Some are blatant misrepresentations. It's embarrassing when he uses Leviticus 7 to say foreigners were treated equally as some sort of OT social justice triumph. The verse explicitly refers to capital punishment. So yes, foreigners were under the same law of execution. Then he ironically claims justice is all about special treatment for the oppressed. Like the false modern definition of justice, oppression in the Bible does not mean having more than other people, it is always portrayed as an active sin against people.
So then, how should a Christian interpret what it is you are trying to say? If Tim is clearly "gravely mistaken" as you put it, what then should a Christian's approach to social justice, be? Why are Christians (mostly American Christians it seems, for the matter...) so offended or put-off by the idea of standing against social injustice?
Drinner D
A Christian should follow God's unchanging word and correctly live righteous lives of charity, mercy and justice all in their appropriate an Biblical definitions.
Let me challenge that a good majority of what is so-called "social justice" is a novel, atheistic faux morality that is unjust, unmerciful and uncharitable. If for example you think it is in any way just to demand reparations from white people to pay for sins of long-dead white people (as do many), then you are promoting an unjust system of theft and covetousness against every principal of the Old and New Testament. If you think the poor are inherently oppressed and can demand money from the rich, you must have missed the entire book of Proverbs and Paul saying he that does not work shall not eat.
Progger_Frogger you clearly don’t understand the Bible and continue to spew westernize white belief that tries to escape the tenets of scripture to continue to live comfortably. If you claim Christ please go to him and repent of the ludicrous beliefs you bring to this public forum and go deal with your own disobedience rather than trying to rationalize it with your westernize pagan ideology.
This is a social justice gospel. T. K. picked verses out of context and again like the Pharisee in Jesus's day trying to construct a gospel based on "Doing" social justice. That is "Work". In a ironic way Jesus was trying to point out the hypocrisy of the Pharisee for trying to observe the law and live a pious life but inside is dead. Jesus fulfilled the justice by dying on the cross paying for our sins. Ironically, in China there are so many Christians under persecution. Where is T.K. seeking out to help them with justice?
It is sad to see Tim Keller fall to the Church of Marxism.
why? could u explain to me?
@@Otrochris, he preaches social justice and says homosexuals will not be going to hell. He is one of the better liberal preachers but has some big flaws.
@@davekohler5957 i didn't know that. I will look for more. Is the social justice bad?
Could you actually explain why preaching social justice is wrong, assuming you associate with Christ? And where exactly does he propose injecting Marxist theory in order to bring about his idea of social justice?
@@mcdonols social justice is a secular and Marxist term. It is class warfare and it sets brother against brother, rich against poor, and so on.