Tim Keller’s Evangelistic Worship

‎“There are eternal consequences resulting from all our thoughts, words, and actions, of which we take far too little account” (J. C. Ryle).

I have read Tim Keller’s 2001 article Evangelistic Worship a number of times, and what I get out of it is a deep concern for where his philosophy of worship and evangelism will take him and those he influences.

There is a growing trend in the evangelical Christian community to reshape the true Gospel, to make it more palatable to the unbelieving. More and more we preach Grace, Love, Tolerance, Freedom, and Acceptance and minimize simple preaching of the only God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here is Tim Keller’s gospel, in his own words:

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.” (source)

Where is Jesus in this gospel?

The true purpose of the Bible is to reveal Jesus Christ as God. The gospel is not what God did or does to jumpstart our broken lives. It’s not about us. The gospel is Jesus Christ glorifying God in human form, which mankind was incapable of doing before Jesus came to earth and is still incapable of doing apart from Him. The gospel, according to the apostles and first disciples, claims Jesus as the only God, Creator, Law-Giver, Covenant-Maker, Redeemer, and King of the universe. The gospel (“good news”) is Who Jesus Christ Is. That is what makes the things He has done and the things that He gives us so incredibly amazing.

Our understanding of the gospel will directly influence our worship practices.

Shifting the gospel message a fraction of an inch away from Jesus Christ is a huge step in the wrong direction. Even Christian things, such as loving our neighbor, extending grace, or preaching the Bible, are iniquity (self-will) if they displace Jesus Christ as our chief message, model, motivation, and means of glorifying God. If we are not laser focused on exalting Christ, our greatest “Christian” ideas and beliefs will fail in the end to give glory to God.

“If Christ is not first with you, Christ is nothing to you” (C. H. Spurgeon).

Keller’s Evangelistic Worship model, using a combination of the Bible, the cultural context of our communities, and the historical tradition of the church, is not actually Christ-centered or spiritually safe way to determine our worship practices.

The Bible is infallible, but we are not. It is easy to read into the Scriptures what we want it to say and mean. We routinely “quote mine” the Bible for verses that seem to support a particular point of view or doctrine, sometimes blatantly overlooking the original context and application intended by God. If we read the Bible with our own agenda up front and center, we will inevitably stray from The Truth (Jesus Christ).

Cultural context is unstable ground on which to build any sort of Christian worldview. If you hold the Bible up to the mirror of culture, you will read the Gospel backwards every time. The Bible is meant to be the mirror, allowing us to see ourselves and our culture as God sees us, from His point of view.

Historical tradition may be useful, but it can also be greatly misleading if viewed through the wrong filters. Tradition has a way of feeding upon itself and becoming more important to us than God and His Word. So much depends on:

• what parts of history we look at,
• whose tradition we are inclined to believe,
• how far back we look,
• what worldview we use to interpret the facts, and
• what filters we use to apply what we learn in a different context (such as today’s culture).

But the Bible and history are useful, because they reveal God’s holiness, His unchanging nature (immutability), and how He has worked in generations past. The Bible helps us to understand man’s natural depravity and shows us how to know and love God through Jesus Christ. History help us to identify and avoid the sins of previous generations and to continue doing the good works of the righteous.

Does the church need to adopt a post-modern culture to preach the Gospel in a post-modern society? Biblically, historically, the answer is No. The first-century Jewish Christians did not become Gentiles in order to tell the Gentiles about Jesus. They did, however, break with Jewish tradition (not Biblical law) to eat with Gentiles who received the gospel.

We have not been called to pander to the people we want to evangelize and bring into the church. We, God’s people, are called to be witnesses of Who Jesus Is, and what He has done, and what we have seen Him do.

Authentic Christianity—the Spirit of God at work in the lives of His people and their shared joy in Him—transcends cultural and even language barriers. The most “with-it” preacher won’t change worldly-minded people without the truth of God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. But the inspired Word of God, living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, spoken in love by the hokiest of preachers (“the foolishness of preaching”), has transformed the most unlikely people.

In Tim Keller’s practical “evangelistic” worship model, the Lord God—His Spirit, His truth, His will, His pleasure, His character—is hardly given lip service, let alone shown to be the central focus, the main criteria and object of our worship. The One Who created both worship and worshipers. Perhaps it was too obvious for him to mention, but for me it is too important to overlook.

The more we focus our worship to model, exalt, and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, the more truly evangelistic we will become. Jesus promised to draw all people to Himself (John 12:32). Therefore, as our worship exalts Him (“lifts Him up”), we may trust Him to have a positive evangelical effect on His own lost people.

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. …But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Corinthians 11:17, 12:3).

Unifying Worship

Ideas Trend

Here is a corollary to Richard Weaver’s proposition that “ideas have consequences.” Not only do ideas have consequences, ideas don’t stand still. Ideas move relentlessly toward their point of focus, taking the path of least resistance.

In the world of Christian music it often plays out this way:

A church leader has an idea to bridge his congregation into more contemporary music, teaching them his own caveats and specific guidelines. A few decades later the church is indistinguishable from the world in its musical presentation. Their initial goal was to incorporate fresh new styles into the church and the church has trended in that direction. The new leaders see nothing wrong with their worship style, but they do wonder why so many young adults are leaving the church to pursue sinful lifestyles.

Another, increasingly common, scenario goes like this:

A church leader has an idea to repackage the Gospel to appeal to his own community, teaching the things of God through a culture-oriented style. A few decades later the church values self-expression in worship more than the Word of God. Their initial goal was to build upon people’s natural interests and strengths and the church has trended in that direction. The new leaders see nothing wrong with their worship practices, but wonder why so many people struggle with sin habits and need more and more counseling.

In developing our ideas of worship music, a vital question to ask is, “What is our point of focus?”

If we focus on music style—be it conservative, contemporary, or a crossbreed of the two—we will eventually lose sight of what is truly important. The point of worship is not style. It is not traditional, conservative, contemporary, experimental, cultural, blended, or anything like that.

Our GOAL for worship is not to uphold a style.
Our OBJECTIVE in worship is not to engage people.

And the point of discussing worship music is NOT to:

• agree to disagree.
• create lists of “acceptable” songs that meet some technical criteria.
• find a style that everyone tolerates.
• incorporate or defend a style.
• reach people using “their” music.

These ideas—which crop up in every Christian music discussion and debate—are so much static obscuring the real issue.

The HEART of worship, the OBJECT of worship, the REASON we worship is so obvious we hardly ever stop to think about it.

Jesus Christ Alone

The whole point, object, focus, and meaning of worship is the LORD God, Who is revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is made known to us by His Holy Spirit. This is what separates and isolates Christianity from all other religions and unites us. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only living God and that He alone forgives our sins by grace through faith, not by our own works of righteousness or human wisdom.

The ONLY unifying goal and object of worship that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing else in Christendom or on earth that can bridge our differences. (If we think there is, we are being badly misled.)

Jesus calls His followers to unite together in love—to the point of being defrauded of what is rightfully and lawfully ours (I Corinthians 6:7; Romans 14). Unity requires loving sacrifice, humility, and mutual submission.

But in the bonds of unity and love we are also called to teach, remind, warn, and rebuke one another. Just “accepting” one another and tolerating whatever happens in corporate worship will not unify us, nor edify God’s people, nor build up the Body of Christ, nor grow our faith/trust in God. Sometimes we need to gently remind each other to return to our First Love, Jesus Christ.

Passive Christianity results in religious bondage (cults).
Uninhibited Christianity results in religious tyranny or anarchy.

True unity and love are only found in Jesus Christ. The Bible promises God’s people will be conformed into Christ’s likeness (Romans 8:28–29). This promise is our only hope of achieving true unity.

Behold, Unity

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another...” (I John 1:7).

Jesus Christ is the ultimate inspiration, example, model, instructor, and judge of everything that is creative and beautiful.

• Does our music trend toward Jesus Christ at every level?
• Do we consciously seek to exalt HIM and emulate HIS character in the words, tone, emotion, performance, and defense of our favorite music?
• What is He like?
• What is His nature and character?
• What does He like and dislike?
• What are His motives?
• What does the Bible say about Him?
• Does our worship music fitly represent Who Jesus Christ Is?
• Will the world know from our musical witness that in Him is no darkness at all? (I John 1:5)

These are the kinds of questions that are rarely (if ever) discussed when Christian leaders seek to define Biblical worship practices. Why is this not our first line of reasoning? Is Jesus too basic? Too esoteric? Too unrealistic? Too theoretical? Too unrelated? If so, there is a bigger problem than a difference of opinion over worship styles.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Corinthians 12:3).

In our quest to glorify God and to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, may the Lord Jesus Christ be our preeminent inspiration.

Dark Christianity

I don’t get it.

Oh, I hear where they’re coming from.

But I don’t understand why so many professing Christians choose to adorn themselves and their message with uber-casual attitudes, unyielding rebellious spirits, a self-centered youth culture, a dark atmosphere, painfully loud music, hooded eyes, and in some cases tattoos and piercings.

They look like they need the Gospel.

They claim to preach it.

I understand their mission, but I reserve the right, in Christian love, to disagree with it.

They are trying to be both dark and light:

• Dark so they win the confidence of the world to themselves.
• Light so they can bring the world to Jesus.

Does it work that way?

The Lord Jesus Christ has always been divisive, a polarizing Spirit of Grace and Truth. In Him is no darkness at all (Job 34:22; I John 1:5). True light drives away darkness. Light cannot successfully masquerade as darkness. Those who love the darkness and hate the light (and vice versa) won’t be fooled by the charade.

Perhaps some people would call a Christian's dark side “salt.” But salt that has lost its distinctive flavor is no longer salty. It’s a dead chemical compound. It looks like salt, but it tastes like nothing, and is good for nothing. (See Matthew 5:13.)

"Let your Christianity be so unmistakeable and your walk so straightforward, that all who see you may have no doubt whose you are and whom you serve" (J.C. Ryle).

Love God and love your neighbor enough to witness to the only True Light. Walk in the light as HE is in the light.