4 Lessons I Learned from Tim Keller’s Life

May 26

Timothy Keller was a pastor and theologian that greatly impacted my spiritual growth.

I remember many mornings as a college student and a young professional listening to his sermons in transit. In fact, in 2022, I’ve spent over 1,000 minutes listening to him according to my Spotify Wrapped statistics.

He has been so instrumental to deepening my understanding of the gospel and the beauty of Christ.

As a tribute to him, here are 4 things I personally learned from his life and ministry:

1. Use your gifts to magnify the glory of God.

I always looked up to Tim Keller as an excellent and eloquent speaker. Oftentimes when I come across someone who is skilled in speech, and who knows they have a way with words, pretty soon I notice that they are actually in love with themselves.

Many who excel in speech tend to be narcissistic and conceited, and would even intentionally use difficult language to show off to everyone. I know this because I used to be this way. They speak as if they know a lot, and they often get the applause.

But Tim Keller was someone I saw to have humility, and someone who was not afraid to admit his own shortcomings.

I would often assume that people who have such intelligence and eloquence would rather choose to be preoccupied with more profitable pursuits to make their name known. But I’ve come to appreciate that he used his gifts wholeheartedly, to magnify God’s glory.

I want to be someone who embraces her particular ministry just as wholeheartedly, to make Christ known by those whom He would like to reach through me.

2. Make time to behold the beauty of God.

I’ve heard many preachers who are also very intelligent. But what sets Dr. Keller apart for me is how he encourages everyone to take the time to simply meditate on the beauty of God as revealed in His word.

I bet Dr. Keller is a thinker, and perhaps he would indulge himself in thought sometimes. But meditation is a humble practice. It it not proud about what one’s own mind comes up with.

It is humble enough to acknowledge that no matter how much I know, understand, and realize from this truth, I will never even come close to the depth and magnitude of the Lord’s beauty. I appreciate how Dr. Keller has encouraged me to meditate on God’s word.

3. Rejoice over His salvation, not in your success.

His death has gotten me to meditate on what it means to live a life pleasing to the Lord. I remember having watched an interview with John Piper a few years ago about how, in spite of the great reach of his ministry, he admitted that he had to rebuke his soul if he was ever tempted to congratulate himself for doing this or that. I’m happy to have both of them as my own personal heroes in the faith.

John Piper, on the day of Tim Keller’s death, shared a video message about the last exchange they had with each other. He said that Tim Keller would encourage young people, especially young pastors, to rejoice in being saved—in our “names written in heaven” as it says in Luke 10:19-20 —rather than in being successful.

As a creative, it is so tempting to stand back and behold my own creations, and think to myself, “Well done, self. You deserve a matcha latte,” as if it were all credited to my own abilities.

But instead, I want to strive to do my best, weak as I may be, through the strength that God abundantly supplies to me. And before I am tempted to do anything for my own glory and acclaim, for applause, for profit, or for a lasting legacy, I will silence these thoughts and take them captive to Christ.

“May Jesus increase, and may I decrease. Even if I will someday soon be forgotten, and in all that I have done, I will rest content in knowing that I have been faithful to represent Christ to those around me. No matter how big or small my impact, may it be reflective of the heart of God, and not a mere facade to make myself appealing.”

4. Embrace the resources you have to be co-ministers for Christ.

It warms my heart that in spite of being generations ahead of me, preachers like Tim Keller have come to embrace the use of technology and the social media age to preach Christ. From daily posts, to podcast, to YouTube videos, they have utilized the available resources today to share the gospel to millions.

I am grateful for this, especially since I have benefitted greatly from it personally. And this also impacts the way I think about my ministry. With social media being as ubiquitous as ever, I’ve begun to consider this technology to be more of an evil and a weight on me, keeping me from running the race better than I could.

And because of that, I’ve been discouraged to use social media because of how noisy it tends to be. If there was a God-glorifying way to use it, it was hard to learn how, when all I saw online were people left and right using it to increase their platform to profit themselves.

But I have come to realize that I ought to embrace the resources that God has mercifully provided for me today. I realized that it must have been no coincidence that the Lord has chosen to create me with the gifts that I have, and placed me at this very specific time in history, for a reason. And that reason will always be relevant to the advancement of His Kingdom.

Therefore, I am resolving to embrace the technology and resources available, and do the best that I can, to create music that draws people to Christ, to share His word to others, and to encourage people to live out the gospel and be a light to others.

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