Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

In Ecclesiastes, the author takes the position of a practical secularist. And he asks, “If this life is all there is, then is life meaningless?”
The writer says if this life is all there is, if there’s no God and no meaning that you have to submit to, then you’re free to construct your own meaning. And so, he sets out to build meaning by living a cause-based life, and then by living a pleasure and beauty-based life. When he finds those both to be meaningless and burdensome, he decides to create a work-based life, to let work and career be an organizing principle in his life.
In doing this, he finds three things: 1) that a life of work is not worth it, 2) why it’s not worth it, and 3) what is worth it.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 23, 2003. Series: When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Today’s sermon comes from a series on the life of Jesus described in the gospel of Luke. Luke gives us many of Jesus’ teachings on what it means to be a disciple. In short, a disciple is one who applies the gospel to absolutely every single area of life.
In Luke 6, we learn about Sabbath rest. God gives us rest from our labors – it is a gift and a blessing. It is a way of keeping us healthy and protecting us from being overwhelmed by our work. God himself modeled it for us when creating the universe. Let’s look at it more closely: Why do we need it? Where do we get it? How do we do it?
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 23, 2003. Series: The Meaning of Jesus Part 2; Following Him. Scripture: Luke 6:1-11.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Consider how much of your time, how much of your life, is built around your work. Yet, so many of the books and materials that look at what it means to live as Christians only focus on our evenings and our weekends. How are we to be a Christian on the job?
We’re going to look at some basic principles of what God says we must do to approach our work and our jobs in a Christian way.
Looking at Ephesians 6, we see that this passage knocks down two false views of work: 1) that work is a curse and leisure is the meaning of life, and 2) that work is the meaning of life. And then we’ll see 3) how you get the power to transform your view and aim of work.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 3, 1991. Series: Work & Faith. Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Some of you may know I was actually a teacher at graduate school seminary for five years. Then I said, “Get me back in the ministry,” where there is no grading papers and no one knows whether people are learning or not. But the gospel changes everything . . . even education.
We’re looking now at the what’s, why’s and how to’s of education reform from a Christian perspective. 
To consider a gospel-centered view of education reform, 1) I’ll share two thoughts from C.S. Lewis, and 2) I’ll be joined by a panel of educators for a question-and-answer time.
This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 5, 2024. Series: Redeemer InterArts Fellowship.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

If you’re Christian, what is the rationale for being an actor? Why should Christians be actors? How should Christians who are actors or writers or choreographers or directors think about their faith and their work?
To answer that, we need to look at the power of stories, at why we connect with and are overwhelmed by strong stories.
Let’s consider 1) what a story is, 2) that we attach meaning by connecting things to a storyline, 3) that Christians can find elements of their story in almost any other story, and 4) why we need to understand our baseline cultural narratives.
This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 5, 2004. Series: Redeemer InterArts Fellowship.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The gospel affects how you do your work, how you do your job, and how you pursue your vocation. But how? 
If we’re going to understand what Paul says in this passage, we need to look at 1) some background work and historical context, 2) practical principle number one, 3) practical principle number two, and 4) the power to carry them out.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 17, 2010. Series: The Gospel and the World. Ephesians 5:21, 6:5-9.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How does the gospel affect your work? 
We’re in a series where we’re asking, “What happens when you take the gospel, the basic message of Jesus Christ, out of the church and into the world?” One of the things that happens is it affects the way in which you do your work. And there’s no way to see the Christian understanding of work without going to Genesis 1, 2, and 3.
I’d like to show you three things Genesis tells us about your work: 1) it gives you a vision for work, 2) it gives you guardrails for your work, and 3) it gives you a power to do your work.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 10, 2010. Series: The Gospel and the World. Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:2-17.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When we talk about creativity, we mean artists of course. But we also actually mean entrepreneurs—whose creativity is as important to what they do as anything else. So thinking about creativity, what does Christianity have to say to it? The answer is a lot. 
Your deeper beliefs about the meaning of life and the world actually does shape your work. The Bible says the world was created, has fallen, is being redeemed, and is going to be restored. How does that affect or shape our creativity? 
The Christian understanding of creativity is that creativity is something you do 1) because you want to, 2) out of love, 3) in full knowledge of the risk and the cost, and 4) knowing that there will be satisfaction.
This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 16, 2010. Series: Center for Faith and Work.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How can practicing the law be shaped by the Christian faith? And how can we reimagine lawyering?
If you’re reimagining the legal profession, you don’t want to just be a Christian who happens to also be a lawyer. You want the way you practice the law to be shaped by your faith. 
For this reimagining, we need to understand three things from Christian theology: 1) that every human being is called to be a gardener, 2) that the law is a form of gardening, and 3) that you need to figure out your own idols.
This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 2, 2007. Series: Center for Faith and Work.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

A lot of people have an incredibly negative view of marketing and advertising. Not too long ago, I heard somebody say that advertising is the first profession: in the Garden of Eden, the serpent said, “you need that apple.” They were saying that marketing is creating need in somebody else for your profit, whether they really need it or not. 
On the other hand, you could make a case that marketing is the oldest profession because of when the Bible says, “in the beginning was the Word.” God invented communication. And in many ways, at its best, that’s all marketing is: communication.
So let’s look at  1) what marketing is, 2) what’s wrong with marketing, and 3) how you can integrate the Christian faith with work in marketing, advertising, and promotion.
This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 4, 2005. Series: Center for Faith and Work.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The Bible says probably 20 times more things about money than it does about sex, maybe more than that. So if you’re trying to know the Bible, you’re gonna know a little bit of something about money.
We all have our own filters. We all have mental maps, assumptions about God and the universe and human nature and what’s important in life. It’s what we call a worldview. So what is the Christian worldview when it comes to wealth creation?
The real question is whether wealth creation is good or bad or halfway in the middle? And we’ll see that the Bible is more nuanced on that answer. In the Christian worldview, wealth creation 1) is not bad, 2) is not good, and 3) is not something in the middle.
This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 27, 2004. Series: Center for Faith and Work.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Isaiah 60 describes the new heavens and the new earth. It’s looking to the end of time when God makes everything right—paradise restored. And in this passage, all the nations of the world are bringing their work products. 
What is gold and silver? What is the flux and the grain? They’re bringing the products of their work to God as offerings to God. And this means that just as there was work in the original paradise, there’ll be work in the future paradise. 
What does that mean for our work? Let’s notice three things: 1) the goodness and dignity of work, 2) what’s wrong with work, and 3) how work can be healed.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 10, 2016. Series: Where We Are Going: The City and the Mission. Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-11, 18-21.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Living the Christian life is not a matter of willpower and self-effort. Because of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the potential for radical and organic growth and change. 
2 Peter talks about moving from selfishness to unselfishness, from enslavement to freedom, from foolishness to wisdom. It’s talking about inward character change, about spiritual growth. 
According to this passage, spiritual growth is 1) possible, 2) gradual, 3) essential, 4) practical, and 5) ultimately wonderful. 
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 8, 2014. Series: Following Jesus. Scripture: 2 Peter 1:3-11.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The friendship between Jonathan and David is rightly famous.
Because we have so much information about the life of David, the narrative arcs are long. So to follow David’s friendship with Jonathan, you have to see it over multiple passages. We’re going to look at four passages in 1 Samuel to see what the Bible tells us about the importance of friendship. 
From the friendship of David and Jonathan we can learn 1) the absolute importance of friendship, 2) the necessary elements of friendship, and 3) the requisite power for friendship.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 17, 2015. Series: David: The Man of Prayer. Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1-4.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Who is Jesus? In Mark 2 and 3, Jesus makes a claim about himself that’s so immense it almost defies categories. 
In this text, two incidents are detailed and they both have to do with how we observe the Sabbath day. To understand the magnitude of Jesus’ claim here, we have to unpack the meaning of the entire text and then ask what he’s actually claiming.
Let’s look at the features of the story and learn from each of these: 1) the anger of Jesus, 2) the enemies of Jesus, and 3) the claim of Jesus and what that means for you.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 8, 2015. Series: Light in the Darkness: Glory of Jesus in Mark. Scripture: Mark 2:23-3:6.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In this unparalleled text in the Bible, we learn not so much what the church does, but what the church is.
We’ve been looking at the animating gospel principles that have profoundly shaped our church’s life in the city and service to the city. And that often means we’ve looked at something the church does. But now, let’s look at what the church is.
In 1 Peter 1, we can get insight into the church’s 1) glory, 2) gifts, and 3) grace.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 24, 2016. Series: Where We Are Going: The City and the Mission. Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-12.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In The Bride of Frankenstein movie, the monster stumbles into a blind man’s cottage, and they become friends. The only humanity he ever develops is in that cottage, where a person grabs him by the hand and calls him friend. And what it’s saying is that there’s nothing more humanizing than friendship and there’s no pain more horrible than loneliness.
In fact, all kinds of studies show that people who have fewer friends die more readily of disease and heart attacks. 
So as we look at John 15, there are two questions I’d like to ask: 1) why do we need friendship, and 2) how do we meet that need?
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 19, 1992. Series: Gospel of John, Part 2. Scripture: John 15:9-17.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

For centuries this famous passage has been called the parable of the prodigal son. But it’s a great mistake to think it’s a story about one son. It’s a story of two sons, of a younger and an older brother. If you don’t compare and contrast the two, you’re going to miss the radical message. 
Jesus is saying every thought the human race has ever had about how to connect to God—whether East or West, ancient or post-modern, religious or secular—has been wrong. Jesus shatters all existing human categories. 
Let’s look at the story, and then see three things Jesus is telling us: 1) Jesus redefines God, 2) Jesus redefines sin, and 3) Jesus redefines salvation.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 11, 2005. Series: The Vision of Redeemer. Scripture: Luke 15:1-2, 11-32.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

In Mark 2, Jesus makes a claim that is so over the top, so out of all categories, so outrageous that the religious leaders don’t even have a word for it. They’ve called him blasphemous before, but this claim goes beyond their words.
In this passage, two incidents are linked together, both having to do with the Sabbath. And what Jesus says is that he’s not here to reform religion—he’s here to absolutely end religion and replace it with himself. 
What we’re going to see is, 1) on the one hand, the futility of religion and, 2) on the other hand, the finality of Jesus Christ.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 19, 2006. Series: King’s Cross: The Gospel of Mark, Part 1: The Coming of the King. Scripture: Mark 2:23-3:6.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We’re looking at the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. 
After his resurrection, Jesus is still teaching his disciples—and us—preparing us to go out into the world and represent him. And in John 21, he teaches the disciples four things that should be true of us if we’re Christians.
Another way to put it is four marks the Christian church ought to have in the world. And those four marks are 1) supernatural unity, 2) new identity, 3) continuous intimacy, and 4) comprehensive certainty.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 23, 2017. Series: Jesus, Mission, and Glory: Doubters and Deniers. Scripture: John 21:1-14.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.