A church must be more deeply and practically committed to deeds of compassion and social justice than traditional liberal churches and more deeply and practically committed to evangelism and conversion than traditional fundamentalist churches. This kind of church is profoundly counter-intuitive to American observers. It breaks their ability to categorize (and dismiss) it as liberal or conservative. Only this kind of church has any chance in the non-Christian west.
Timothy KellerWe've got at least two other streams of that are filled with good, helpful material on meditation - the Catholic stream and the Quaker stream that are not primarily based on meditating on the Scripture.
Timothy KellerJesus' claims are particularly unnerving, because if they are true there is no alternative but to bow the knee to him.
Timothy KellerThe Gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.
Timothy KellerTo stand in the presence of God, that is what the Gospel is. The Gospel is not primarily about forgiveness. It’s not primarily about good feelings. It’s not primarily about power. All those things are byproducts, sparks. It’s primarily about the presence of God.
Timothy KellerIt takes more than a great church to reach a city, it takes a great movement of churches.
Timothy KellerThe world values power, comfort, success, and recognition. Jesus frees us to value grief, sacrifice, weakness, and exclusion.
Timothy KellerIt is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.
Timothy KellerEvery treasure on this earth says, 'Give your life to purchase me.' Jesus says 'I'm the one treasure who died to purchase you.'
Timothy KellerWithout the gospel we hate ourselves instead of our sin. Without the gospel we’re motivated through all sorts of awful fear and pride to change and it doesn’t really change our hearts; it just restrains our hearts.
Timothy KellerThe key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel.
Timothy KellerThe basic premise of religion– that if you live a good life, things will go well for you– is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet He had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.
Timothy KellerJesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it.
Timothy KellerIf God is real, why does he align perfectly with our views? We should expect God to challenge us on what we think is right somewhere
Timothy KellerJesus was much more interested in the quality of the people's response to him than in the quantity of the crowd.
Timothy KellerGod so loved us and hates suffering that he was willing to come down and get involved in it.
Timothy KellerDiscipleship is not an option. Jesus says that if anyone would come after me, he must follow me.
Timothy KellerThere's nothing that makes you more miserable (or less interesting) than self-absorption .
Timothy KellerIf we are not deliberately thinking about our culture and our context, we will be conformed to it without ever knowing.
Timothy KellerHell is having to execute a pointless act from which nothing ever comes except the need to do it again.
Timothy KellerLook at Jesus Christ. Every time he was in trouble he used the Word of God. When he was tempted he used the Word. When he was suffering on the cross he used the Word.
Timothy KellerGrace is humbling and restorative. It pulls you down because Christ had to die for you, but also lifts you up because he wanted to die for you.
Timothy KellerAll change comes from deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out the changes that understanding creates in your heart.
Timothy KellerJesus didn't come to tell us the answers to the questions of life, he came to be the answer.
Timothy KellerWe do not have to make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:9 says that God forgives us because He is ‘just.’ That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In religion we earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we just receive it.
Timothy KellerThe cross is the place where we find the freedom to accept ourselves without being proud and to challenge ourselves without being crushed.
Timothy KellerAll I know is, if I don't care about the poor, if my church doesn't care about the poor, that's evil.
Timothy KellerOne of the most frequent responses I get from non-Christian readers is: 'I'm not sure I agree with all this, but I must say this is the first book I've read by a Christian that didn't treat me like I was an idiot.'
Timothy KellerFreedom is not the absence of limitations and constraints but it is finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us.
Timothy KellerThere is no way to have a real relationship without becoming vulnerable to hurt. Christmas tells us that God became breakable and fragile. God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back... No other religion-whethe r secularism, Greco-Roman paganism, Eastern religion, Judaism, or Islam-believes God became breakable or suffered or had a body.
Timothy KellerIt is inaccurate to think the gospel is what saves non-Christians, and then Christians mature by trying hard to live according to biblical principles. It is more accurate to say that we are saved by believing the gospel, and then we are transformed in every part of our minds, hearts, and lives by believing the gospel more and more deeply as life goes on.
Timothy KellerMen, you'll never be a good groom to your wife unless you're first a good bride to Jesus.
Timothy KellerChristians don't believe that goodness gets you to heaven. Christians believe it's exhausting to rely on your own goodness to please God.
Timothy KellerOur Christian hope is that we are going to live with Christ in a new earth, where there is not only no more death, but where life is what it was always meant to be.
Timothy KellerLove without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it.
Timothy KellerYou dont fall into love. You commit to it. Love is saying I will be there no matter what.
Timothy Keller