Timothy Keller Podcast

It is our nature to seek our identity in the praise of others and in the praise of self. But the praise doesn’t last, and we are never satisfied. God has provided, through Jesus’ death, a new identity to all who know him. This new identity is built on Jesus’ performance rather than on our own; we receive the praise that He deserved. The more we know God, the more our new identity is strengthened and our old identity dies away.

Jesus introduces a revolutionary kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. He contrasts the pattern, power, and product of two kingdoms: the old one which we are currently under, and the new one which is to come. Jesus' teaching goes against every natural instinct, and represents a reversal of the world's values.

In addressing Israel's exile, Jeremiah poses the question of why we long for home. This world can't sustain us, so how we can get home? The answer is in Jesus' sacrifice, which gives us the gift of a fully sustained life in our relationship with God.

The definition of sin is when you replace God with something or someone, and the result is an addiction of spirit. There is an attraction at the spiritual level every bit as powerful as sexual attraction at the physical level: You cannot produce your own meaning in life, your own worth, your own security. Spiritually speaking, if it’s not God who is the source of your meaning, then you’re in bed with something else.

Why do we sin — even when we know right from wrong? Sin is a power that enslaves us, but we can be freed from its power by encountering God through worship.

In the midst of evil and suffering, abandoning your faith will neither help you handle suffering nor understand God. By looking back to Jesus’ death on the cross and looking ahead to the hope of a new heavens and new earth, we can understand God’s overwhelming love for us and the promise that victory will swallow up evil and death.

Some people claim that they can't trust in the Bible because it is historically unreliable and culturally regressive. But do we have cultural blinders on? Dr. Keller discusses solid reasons that we can trust the Bible historically, culturally, and personally.

Historically, the gospel has been particularly empowering and compelling to the poor and the oppressed. Seeing what Jesus did for us, no matter what our socioeconomic position, frees us from being controlled by what is on the surface and teaches us to love and identify with the poor.

The Christian understanding of hell gives us insight into the danger of our own hearts. It also gives us resources to live in peace in the world, and to know the love of God who suffered hell for us.

Religion poses a danger of creating division or intolerance between groups of people. However, the gospel lead us to three things: humble service, reconciling behavior that is neither patronizing nor self-righteous, and a love toward people who hold different beliefs than we do.

Doubt is a problem that all of us will face before we can come to grips with faith. To deal with our doubts, recognize that they are based on faith assumptions; examine the object of your faith and whether it is trustworthy; and let Jesus' love for you become your reason to have hope.

The modern critique of religion comes from Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche. Freud claimed that religion is psychological self-justification, that we created God to assuage our guilt and fear. Marx claimed that religion is a sociological self-justification, that we created God to exclude those unlike us. Nietzsche said that religion is nothing but a power trip, an attempt to use God to accrue power over others. However, Jesus himself critiqued religion and turned it on its head.

In today's society, absolute truth is thought of to be the enemy of freedom. But truth is more important than you think, freedom is a lot more complex than you think, and Jesus is a lot more liberating than you think. Surrendering to God's absolute truth gives you a deeper, richer freedom in every area, without oppression.