The Problem Is In Our Perceived Goodness!

               Tim Keller said that the problem that we Christians have is in our...."goodness"....more than our...."badness." What he was saying here is not that the badness is not there or is not a problem.....but that our perceived goodness....and our...."self-righteousness".....causes the badness! He said that it changed his ministry and his life when he saw this to be the case.
                I have posted a lot on the condition of the church today....on what many of the men in the pulpits mistakenly consider their vocation to be in this modern world....and on their preaching....and on us in the pews....particularly in our grand failure to have identified a false prophet....and consequently not fleeing from him and all that he is about.
                The preaching is not telling us the depth of the sin in our heart....because it is unable to....or the heights of the glory of God!  It's definitions may answer correctly a catechism question....but it cannot cut to the core....because it does not know how deep that core goes...or how high that height of God's glory is.
                 We therefore not only do not know the true condition of our heart....but we also do not know our outward condition....the true condition of our lives.....and of the church. Consequently we cannot see the mistakes that we have made. So when we read Old Testament prophecy....the few times we do that....maybe only once a year in a 'read the Bible in a year plan....we in no way see ourselves in ancient Judah or Jerusalem or Israel....or for that matter....Assyria or Babylon of Greece or Rome....but we should....because we are there....and those prophets are also speaking to us today....no....they are shouting to us today!
                  In Collin Hansen's 2023 book on the life and ministry of Tim Keller....Tim Keller....His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation....he added this that probably would not be picked up by the average reader....at least not as much as I picked up on it. I'll explain that in a minute....
                  The author was listing the men that played essential roles in the formation of Tim Keller's ministry. Among those names was Edmund Clowny and Jonathan Edwards and R. C. Sproul and Martyn Lloyd-Jones....but then he put particular emphasis on a man named Dick Lucas....who I am familiar with because he was at times back in the 1990s a guest on Michael Horton's radio program....The White Horse Inn. What I remember most about those radio episodes with Dick Lucas was the power of this man's thoughts on the glory of God. Anyway....Collin Hansen wrote this...."Keller listened to so many Dick Lucas sermons that Kathy....(Tim's wife)....told him to be careful....because Tim was going to sound like a parrot."
                  That in itself is a needed warning....but what hit me was that Tim Keller had listened to....as the author put it...."So many Dick Lucas sermons." In these posts of almost eighteen years....I time and time and time again....tried to encourage readers to incorporate into their lives....listening to sermon from....as I always put it...."preachers of the past....or preachers today who preach like preachers of the past!" It is therefore not surprising to me that Tim Keller also gleaned from preaching of the past....and apparently quite often!
                   One last thing....while typing this I remembered a radio interview....of only a year or so ago....on Pittsburgh's Christian radio station....with Kathy Keller....where she was asked if she looked forward to seeing Tim in Heaven....which would be a quite natural question....(I wrote a whole post on this at the time....in January of 2025)).....and her answer was profound....this is what I wrote....'It's not so much that I look forward to seeing Tim in heaven....but I want to see Jesus.' And then she repeated the sentiment."
                    You see....it is our perceived...."goodness"....that makes us think first of a loved one in heaven....before the King of Kings....before the one who took the punishment for us....or else we would not be in heaven to see anyone! This 'goodness' that we see in us....negatively affects our doctrine and even our evangelizing loved ones....because we see a "goodness' in them also....so surely....God would have mercy on them.
                     Preaching....on Christ and Him crucified....and on the holiness of God that even R, C. Sproul or J. C. Ryle could only touch on....and yet it sent us to our knees....regular throughout the year....year in and year out....can cut to our core....so that we might cast away any thoughts of self-righteousness....and look past the answer that the world gives to the problems in our country....and to turn our full-attention and affection to the Lamb! So please....consider incorporating the sermons of preachers from the past into your daily life!