I would be remiss not to mention the passing of Tim Keller, Friday, May 19. A pastor and author, I especially liked his book Prodigal God about the two sons of Luke 15. Tim’s emphasis was rightly on the problems of the older brother and the Father’s reaching out to both of them. (“Prodigal” actually means “wasteful or extravagant,” and Tim points out that God is extravagant with his grace.) If you haven’t read that book, I highly recommend.

There are many tributes to Tim online from a variety of places. Here’s how an article from The Atlantic starts:

Tim became one of the 21st century’s most influential and revered church leaders—a pastor and theologian; an author who sold an estimated 25 million copies of his books; the co-founder and driving force behind Redeemer City to City, a nonprofit that promotes church planting and gospel movements in the great cities of the world; a mentor to many and a counselor and friend to many more. It has been a gift to count myself among them…

One of the things that made Tim distinct was his ability to bring an ancient faith into the modern city, into the lives of busy young professionals who might otherwise have dismissed it, and to do so with quiet confidence and not hostile defensiveness. He made the discussion of faith seem relevant, and exciting. – Peter Wehner, The Atlantic, May 20, 2023

By “modern city,” Peter meant New York City where Redeemer Church was located.

My friend Rowland Smith posted this Tim Keller quote on FaceBook:

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. – Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

No further comment is necessary. Thanks for your work, Tim, and for your life. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4.7, 8, ESV)