On Thursday night, I saw the news that the family of Tim Keller had brought him home from the hospital for hospice care. Keller is the pastor of New York City’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church and founder of the church planting organization as well as a theologian and prolific author.
His son Michael wrote in a statement I saw on Instagram:
Health Update: Today, Dad is being discharged from the hospital to receive hospice care at home. Over the past few days, he has asked us to pray with him often. He expressed many times through prayer his desire to go home to be with Jesus. His family is very sad because we all wanted more time, but we know he has very little at this point.
In prayer, he said two nights ago, “I’m thankful for all the people who’ve prayed for me over the years. I’m thankful for my family, that loves me. I’m thankful for the time God has given me, but I’m ready to see Jesus. I can’t wait to see Jesus. Send me home.”
Then, early Friday afternoon, I saw the news that Keller went on to his eternal reward:
Timothy J. Keller, husband, father, grandfather, mentor, friend, pastor, and scholar died this morning at home. Dad waited until he was alone with Mom. She kissed him on the forehead and he breathed his last breath. We take comfort in some of his last words…
— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) May 19, 2023
“There is no downside for me leaving, not in the slightest.” See you soon Dad.
-Michael Keller
— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) May 19, 2023
Keller pastored a growing church in a city that seemed to grow increasingly hostile to the gospel. “Many preachers have built megachurches; relatively few have done so with conversion growth in a highly secular and urban environment steeped in biblical illiteracy,” wrote Don Carson on Keller’s work at Redeemer.
He also helped found The Gospel Coalition, which paid tribute to him on Friday as well. Sandy Wilson, interim president of The Gospel Coalition, said:
Tim Keller was a once-in-a-century sort of person. There is no pastor I know, in the last 100 years, who did what Tim Keller did to take the Reformed faith to the street, to the church, and to the academy. He will be remembered among this generation’s most effective Christian pastors, apologists, and evangelists. Tim not only made the most articulate arguments for the Christian faith; he also demonstrated our faith with his humble and gracious spirit and his relentless passion to see the lost come to know the Lord he so loved.
Erick Erickson also spoke well of Keller’s influence and work, which sometimes drew controversy:
Over the past few years, a segment of evangelicals on social media took to criticizing a man who has led more people to Christ than all of them combined. Many of them had worked hard to push people away from Christendom through their cold hostility and lack of grace, while Keller, with his smile, worked hard, even through cancer, to bring people to Christ.
Keller, a prominent pastor in New York, boldly took on both critical theory, writing one of the best pieces against it, and also the liberal church’s rejection of biblical sexuality. Only a few weeks ago, Keller opened himself to incoming fire from progressive theologians for rejecting trans-ideology.
But Keller put Christ first. He loved others. He believed in engaging a world hostile to Christ and learning from those not of the church. He told me frankly that because everyone is made in God’s image that we have much to learn even from those who might reject God. He loved people. He loved the Lord.
Interestingly enough, as singer-songwriter Melanie Penn (who worked with Keller at Redeemer City to City) pointed out, Keller’s cancer diagnosis was a surprise. She wrote, “He was diagnosed because of a food poisoning episode on [a 2010] trip — cancer discovered by accident.”
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Washing the Disciples’ Feet Was More Than a Selfless Act of Service
Tributes to Keller poured in on social media:
Heartbroken to learn of the passing of a dear friend and spiritual mentor, Tim Keller. I've known Tim since I was first elected to Congress and he helped me to live a faith-filled life. His life reminds us to keep the main thing the main thing as we pursue our purpose.
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) May 19, 2023
Praying for the family of Tim Keller and for the congregation he so dearly loved. His confident hope in Christ endured to the end.
— Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) May 19, 2023
Tim Keller is now rejoicing in the arms of Jesus while we who knew him and loved and appreciated him are left to mourn, but only temporarily. He was God’s gift to the world and his work for the gospel will live on. @timkellernyc
— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) May 19, 2023
Based on my last correspondence with Tim Keller what would he want me to say to younger pastors (and everybody else)? https://t.co/ucC5xRJxID
— John Piper (@JohnPiper) May 19, 2023
Something else I will miss about Tim Keller: He made non-theatric preaching acceptable and even cool. He was even a cerebral preacher and he did it unbelievably well. There was an authenticity to his preaching that made it more than just head knowledge though.
— Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) May 19, 2023
One of my favorite Keller quotes. pic.twitter.com/pun3sbefi5
— Andrew King (@drandrewmking) May 19, 2023
Today Tim Keller escaped this speck of darkness for the high beauty forever beyond the Shadow’s reach. Here’s what that means, in his own words. https://t.co/SzFcYgf5kc
— Tony Reinke (@TonyReinke) May 19, 2023
Keller was also a wonderful writer. A few years ago, I was in a small group at church that went through his book on prayer. At the time, I wrote about how Keller’s discussion of prayer — including a concept he called “intelligent mysticism” — “brings together the head and the heart in a way that makes perfect sense when describing faith. For me, sometimes my relationship with God can be cerebral. I can ponder and overthink my spiritual life to a fault. At other times, it’s deep and emotional in a way that’s almost unreal.” Keller challenged me in many ways to bring the head and the heart together.
A decade ago, Keller preached a sermon in which he talked about death based on his first bout with cancer in 2002. He preached, “Do you want to be fearless? Do you want to look out there and say, ‘Nothing can really hurt me because of my infallible hope’? Do you want to look out there, saying, ‘Even the worst thing that can happen to me — death — can only make me better’? ‘Spare not, Death! Come on. All you could do is make me better than I am now.’”
Now Tim Keller is in the arms of his Lord and Savior, and if anyone has heard “Well done, good and faithful servant” this week, it’s definitely him.
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