Written by Matt Smethurst, lead pastor of River City Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since Tim Keller went to be with the Savior he loved. In a special Everyday Pastor episode to mark the anniversary, Lig Duncan and I reflect on major themes that defined Keller’s teaching, using my new book Tim Keller on the Christian Life: The Transforming Power of the Gospel (Crossway) as a loose discussion guide. Lig also shares how his own friendship with Tim developed.

Collin Hansen, who recently hosted me on Gospelbound, has pointed out that Keller was a three-dimensional voice in a two-dimensional world. He combined the normative (keen biblical insight) with the situational (studied awareness of the cultural moment) with the existential (searching heart application). Think Bible teacher meets cultural analyst meets biblical counselor. Most great pastors tend to do two of those well, but Keller excelled at all three.

And interestingly, the first and third are where he’s least appreciated. It’s easy to see Keller quoting philosophers and New York Times columnists and assume his preaching was super scholarly or fancy. But it really wasn’t. His illustrations were vivid and his applications penetrating—precisely because they were down-to-earth.

Keller once likened the voices that shape a pastor—his main influences—to rings inside a tree. Today, I suspect some pastors feel they’ve already been through their “Keller phase” and gleaned what they needed. I have the Keller ring. 

But they underestimate how faint it’s grown.

Having revisited Keller’s massive body of work for this book project, I can testify to how striking—and fresh—his insights on the Christian life still are. Pastor, it may be time for you to revisit the riches too.

— Matt