food for thought: June 2007 Archives

DJ Chuang has written an excellent post about looking to great preachers like Tim Keller to provide us with the "spiritual breakthrough" for which, it seems to me, Christians are too often desperate. The danger is, I believe, that we unintentionally exchange Tim Keller's preaching of the gospel (or whoever's) for the gospel itself, that is, we unwittingly exchange the insightful, penetrating preaching of Keller for the actual historical achievement of God in Jesus. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who appreciates Tim Keller's preaching more than I do, but we're not justified, sanctified, or glorified by the preaching of Keller or any other man no matter how insightful it may be. It's not the preaching of Piper or Keller or whoever that is the power of God unto salvation. It's the gospel alone that is the power of God to justify, sanctify, and glorify us. Now I realize that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). So I'm not trying to minimize the importance of preaching at all. The preaching of the gospel is essential, but it's not the preachingthat saves us. It's the preaching of the gospel.

One of the dangers of hearing preachers of great giftedness is that we are tempted to equate the experience of being intellectually stimilated by their sermons with spiritual transformation itself. It's really just a different strain of the problem Paul addresses in the first several verses of 1 Corinthians 13 ("If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love..."), namely, equating spiritual giftedness with true spirituality.

Anyway, let me encourage to read Chuang's post (as well as Keller's response in the comment section). It really connected with me because I'm tempted to do the same thing with preachers, like Keller and Piper, whom I really admire.

Here's the post: Even Keller can't break through