Spartans and war. Fred Astaire and tap dancing. Einstein and physics. Keller and preaching to postmoderns. Some things just go together!

Like Darwin's Origin of the Species, King Arthur's sword from the stone, or Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock," every human who leaves a mark on earth, whether legend or reality, can usually be identified by one key work or event that expressed what he was all about. “Keller on Preaching in a Post-modern City" does the same for Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

This is Kellerism to the core. It's who he is and how he thinks, and its philosophy bleeds out in every sermon he preaches and article he writes.

If you want to know Keller then know his article.

What It's All About

The gospel. Keller lives, preaches, and writes to bring believers back to the daily sanctifying power of the gospel and to expose postmoderns to its relevancy. Key to this article is Keller's identification of two gospel "thieves" (stolen from Tertullian): the legalistic religionist and the relativistic irreligionist. The legalist tries to earn God's favor by being good (making God owe him something) while the relativist ignores God's holiness by living how he pleases (pretending God is non-existent or non-compelling). Both, writes Keller, are equally deadly and prominent, and both can only be exposed and dismantled by the gospel alone.

Keller writes, "The real gospel gives us a God far more holy than a moralist can bear (since your morality is only a filthy rag before him) and far more loving than a relativist can imagine (since his love cost him dearly)."

Keller's approach makes him eye-opening to postmoderns and shocking to religionists. His preaching edifies believers with the gospel instead of aiming at behavior change. This allows him to both feed believers and evangelize unbelievers in the same service. At the heart of Keller's life and ministry is his conviction that the gospel is not simply the entry point to being made right with God, but the lifeblood of growing in God and loving Him daily.

The Nuggets of Keller's Article

Instead of penning a standard review of Keller's article, I want to extract the feature principles from each page, hoping this will better help you to get at the heart of Keller's thinking and be benefited by his wisdom at the same time.

• We must preach the gospel in every sermon, and this is equally important for both the saved and the unsaved in the audience.
  
  • "The gospel is not just a way a way to be saved from the penalty of sin, but is the fundamental dynamic for living the whole Christian life—individually and corporately, privately and publicly."
  • Religion and moralism say, "I obey so that I can be accepted." But the true gospel for Christians is: "I am accepted therefore I obey."
  • At the heart of every sin lies the deeper sin of idolatry (breaking the first two of the Ten Commandments). The gospel alone can unmask the idol for what it really is and remove it from the throne of the human heart.
  • "Unless we believe the gospel, we will be driven in all we do—whether obeying or disobeying—by pride ('self-love') or fear ('of damnation')."

• The default mode of the human heart is self-glorifying religion or God-denying irreligion.
  
  • "Religion is 'if I obey I will be accepted.' Irreligion is 'I don't really have to obey anyone but myself.' The gospel is 'since I am accepted, I will obey.'"
  • "Religion is 'outside in'...the gospel is 'inside out.'"
  • "Modern and postmodern people have rejected religion for good reasons and will only listen to Christianity if they see it is different."
  • "Legalism and leniency are therefore not just equally bad and wrong but they are basically the same thing. They are just different strategies of 'self-salvation.'"
  • The two "thieves" of the gospel are moralism and relativism.

• Understand the postmoderns' stereotypes and preach in a way that respectfully and lovingly dismantles their assumptions.
  
  • "One of the most important ways to get 'Sadducees' to listen to a presentation of Christianity is to deconstruct Phariseeism. The way to get anti-nomians [people who reject that we have to still obey commands of Scripture] to listen to the law is to distinguish the gospel from legalism."
  • By regular reading of periodicals like Wired, The New Yorker, The Utne Reader, and the New York Times Book Review, Keller knows the presuppositions postmoderns have about Christianity and can therefore address those presuppositions lovingly but boldly with the Word.

• Preach Christ-centered, gospel motivated sermons.
  • A basic outline for Christ-centered, gospel-motivated sermons: 1) What you must do, 2) Why you can't do it, 3) How He (Christ) did it, 4) How, through Him, you can do it.
  • Two faulty, non-gospel ways of preaching: Alternative 1: "Please try harder or God will be very unhappy!" Alternative 2: "We all fall down but God loves us anyway!"
  • "Only 'Christo-centric' preaching can really lead the hearers to true virtue, gospel holiness.
  • "When you always solve Christian's problems with the gospel, then non-Christians a) get to hear it every week in multiple perspectives, and b) get to see how it really works in the Christian life."

Keller closes his article with three case study sermons: honesty, Abraham, and sexual beauty's attraction. These case studies give a vivid picture of how to bring his preaching philosophy into the pulpit. Following is the outline he provides for the sermon on Abraham:

1. We must put God first in every area of life, like Abraham did. (This is where the traditional sermon ends!!)
2. But we can't! We won't! So we should be condemned.
3. But Jesus put God first, on the cross-- His was the ultimate and perfect act of submission to God. Jesus is the only one that God ever said: "Obey me and as a result I will send you to hell." Jesus obeyed anyway, just for truth's sake, for God's sake. The only perfect act of submission.
4. Only when we see that Jesus obeyed like Abraham for us! Can we begin to live like Abraham. Let your heart think like this...