Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - No Other Name

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Christianity was born into a society hostile to its claims. And the claim that was most revolting to that society is also what our society sees as the most repugnant: the shocking claim that salvation is found in no one else. It’s critical to realize this claim was as implausible in the Greco-Roman world as it is in ours. The Roman Empire was every bit as religiously pluralistic as our society, if not more. If they were as revolted as we were, why did so many believe it?  Acts 4 shows us four important things: 1) the claim was an implication, not arrogation, 2) the claim is no more exclusive than the claim of religious relativism, 3) this exclusive claim led to a transformation of identity, and 4) this exclusive claim led to the most inclusive human community the world had ever seen. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 26, 2003. Series: The Necessity of Belief. Scripture: Acts 4:8-14, 31-37. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. We live in a culture today where there are competing worldviews about what the purpose of life is, what truth is, and how we can determine what's right and what's wrong. In such an environment, it can be challenging to decide what and whom to believe. Join us today as Tim Keller teaches on how the Bible can help us navigate the complexities of our cultural moment. Thank you for joining us. Tonight's reading is from Acts chapter 4, verses 8 through 14, and then verses 31 through 37. through 37. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and

all the people of Israel. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note

that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were in one heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them, for from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. This is God's word. We're looking at the book of Acts because it shows us that Christianity was born into

a society and a culture that was very hostile to the claims of Christianity and we live in a culture that's also very, at least very unreceptive and sympathetic, unsympathetic to the claims of Christianity too. Now tonight we come to perhaps the one part of Christianity that was the biggest sticking point, the most difficult part of Christianity for those first listeners in the Greco-Roman world, in the Roman Empire. Of all the things that Christianity claimed, there was one thing that probably was the most difficult, the most revolting, the most difficult to accept. And it happens to be probably in our society the most difficult,

most revolting, most repugnant part of Christianity as well. Now you probably noticed it as we read it. It's in verse 12, this shocking claim, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Now it is critical, if we're going to come to grips with this, it's critical right away to realize that it was as repugnant and it was as revolting in that culture as it is in ours. The Roman Empire was every bit as religiously pluralistic as our society, if not more, and it was probably as we're

going to mention a little later here, it was as committed to the idea of religious relativism that every religion is equally valid, if not more than we are today as a society. So for example, in the Roman world you would have believed these three things. Everybody believed first that there were many gods, there were many religions, everybody had his or her own gods. Second, every god had limited sovereignty. So it meant that you had a god of Ephesus, but the god of Ephesus wasn't the god of Sparta. Gods had sovereignty over certain regions and certain gods had sovereignty over certain spheres you might say. So you had the god of agriculture or you had the god of war or love or something like that. But one thing that was understood in that society that no one's god was the god over

all the rest. No one had the supreme god better and superior to all the other gods. Nobody. So when Christianity came along and said things like verse 12, you've got to remember that in that world it was every bit as revolting, as repugnant, as impossible, implausible, impertinent and dangerous as people feel about it now. Now why am I telling you that? Here's why. It is important to realize that. Christianity was not born into a world

where people said, oh, of course. It was born into a world which was at least as revolted as we are. And if that's the case, a question presents itself. And that question is this. If they were as revolted as we were, why did so many believe it? What overcame their revulsion? If they were every bit as revolted as we are and as upset and repulsed by this claim as we are, what was it that they saw that overcame that? That overcame everything that they felt, everything that they had ever been taught? And whatever they must have seen that overcame everything that they felt, everything that they ever been taught. And whatever they must have seen that overcame that, and it really happened, of course, because millions of people became Christians, so much so that it changed that old society. So if they saw something that overcame their natural repulsion, maybe we ought to look at that.

Maybe we ought to look at it. See, I think that people today just say, well, this is narrow and say therefore I don't have to look at the claims of Christianity. But it was narrow to the original hearers. But they saw something in spite of the apparent narrowness that got them to believe it. So why did they believe it? What was it that they saw that overcame their revulsion to this exclusive shocking claim? And I would like to point out that I think there's four things. Four things we see either in this passage or just as important as in the whole book

of Acts. Two of them have to do with thinking. Two of them have to do with living. But here they are. First. Two of them have to do with living. But here they are. First, first reason that they embraced this shocking claim was that they came to see the claim was an implication, not an allegation. It wasn't an arrogant thing. It was simply an inevitable, inescapable implication of who Jesus was.

See, for example, if somebody says to me, and this happens all the time, actually, it's okay for you to believe in Jesus as long as you don't think he's superior to all the other religious founders. It's okay to believe in Jesus as long as you don't think he's the best way or the only way or the superior way to God. It's okay to believe in Jesus as long as you don't think that. Okay, it's okay to believe in Jesus. All right, let me, thank you, let me try right here in front of you. Is it all right then to believe in the Jesus who said, before Abraham was, I am? In other words, is it all right to believe in the Jesus who said, I am the beginningless God who created the universe? said, I am the beginningless God who created the universe. Now, if you believe in that

Jesus, do you begin to realize what the implications are? Plato, Moses, Abraham, Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha, did any of them ever claim anything like that? Of course not. They didn't even think about it. They never claimed anything remotely like that. And if that's the case, then, if we just simply go on the self‑identified natures of these various founders, Jesus would have to be far superior. It would just be the implication. Can I believe in Jesus? As we find him in the Bible, which is the only Jesus we've got. See, the real problem is when someone says, well, yeah, that's a problem, I see that. What I really mean is believe in Jesus, but recognize him as being a teacher of love,

just a teacher like the other teachers, a teacher, a prophet of love. Well, the only problem is there's not a shred of love, just a teacher like the other teachers, a teacher, a prophet of love. Well, the only problem is there's not a shred of evidence that that Jesus ever existed. Think about the first followers of Jesus. Very important to think about this. They were who? They were all Jewish. Now, why is that significant? I'll tell you why. Western religion was polytheistic, which means western religion believed in many gods so they believed that some gods could become human. Remember the place where the crowd thought that Paul and Silas was Zeus and Mercury or Zeus and Hermes. Western polytheistic

religion believed that gods could become human, take human form that is, and eastern religion was pantheistic and they believed that god was in everything. So eastern religion believed that god could take human form and western religion believed that god could take human form but the Jews did not. Because the Jews were the only monotheists in the world at that time and it was under penalty of death. Jews would not worship any created thing, any physical being, and certainly no human being. And yet, even though they would have been the last people on the face of the earth to do so, within days after the death of Jesus, they were worshiping him as God. They were worshiping him as God.

Now, now, now realize this. Is it possible that Jewish people would have said, oh, we follow Jesus, and we like to think of him as better than Moses, better than Abraham, better than Confucius, better than Plato, so let's just start to say he's God. No, they would never have done that, never. They wouldn't, it wouldn't have occurred to them.

They were constitutionally incapable of that. Well then why did they start to worship him as God? Well you know what they said, we saw him. We saw him. Raised from the dead. He ate with us. He spoke with us. We saw him over and over and over again for 40 days. It was

unmistakable. It wasn't a hallucination. It wasn't a hoax. That's the only possible reason that we as Jewish men and women would worship a human being as God. It's an implication. We didn't think this up. It wasn't just an act of arrogance. It wasn't overreaching. We would never have believed this except we had to believe it. You would have too if you'd seen him. So don't you see? To say Jesus Christ will not sit in a row with the other founders of world religions. He won't sit in a row because none of the rest even began to claim

what he claimed, what was claimed for him. The only Jesus we've got, the only Jesus we know anything about is the one in the Bible. And if he was who he said he is, and if he is what the Bible said he is, he has to be the superior. It's an inexorable, inevitable, inescapable implication. If I believe in Jesus at all, then I have to believe he's the superior way. And if I have to believe he's a superior way. And if I don't believe he's a superior way, it means I can't believe in Jesus at all. I'd have to make up a Jesus that really doesn't exist, that there's no evidence that he ever existed.

Why would a wandering teacher of love have been crucified? Why would a wandering teacher of love have ever had this impact on a group of Jewish people? Never. Never. So you see the first reason why they began to believe that Jesus is the only way, it was the inescapable conclusion of believing everything he said about himself. So it was just an implication. Secondly, the second reason why I think they began to believe this, even in spite of how repulsed they were when they first heard it, was because they came to see that the claim that Jesus

is the only way is no more exclusive or absolute than the claim of religious relativism. They came to see that this claim was no more exclusive or absolute than the claim of religious relativism. You see, the thing that comes up when you read the claim of religious relativism. You see, the thing that comes up when you read the book of Acts, and it's right here, is that the fight over Jesus' claim that he's the only way is one of authority. Verse 7, which comes right before the passage that we read, says the rulers and the elders had gotten Peter and John, they had arrested them for preaching the gospel in public. And in verse 7 they said, though we don't have it printed here, by what name or authority do

you do this? By what name or authority do you do this? Now, notice that's an interesting question isn't it? Why do they ask that? Here's why. What they're actually saying is when you know to come in someone's name, to come in someone's authority is to come in someone's authority so what they're actually saying is do you have a license? We have a license but you are practicing your religion without a license. And it's a fact that the Roman Empire never gave Christians a license for hundreds of

years because it was absolutely committed to religious relativism. Let me give you a little background on this. As we already said, the Roman Empire was completely committed to the idea that every religion was equally valid. They knew that the Jews had a different view of God but they kind of kept to themselves and they didn't seem to try to convert anybody. But when Christians came along and they started saying Jesus is the unique son of God, Jesus is the unique savior of the world, not just one among many, the Roman Empire clamped down

and never gave them a license to practice. And you know why? The Roman Empire clamped down and never gave them a license to practice. And you know why? The Roman Empire was committed to religious relativism as an issue of power. Because you see, if every god had limited sovereignty and no one religion was the religion and no one god was the god over all other gods, you know what that meant? It meant that Caesar in the political realm was quite literally divine. There was no god over all other gods. There was no god over all of reality. And therefore there was no set of religious observers who could come to Caesar and say, our god who is the god over all gods calls you into account for the way you are behaving. There

wouldn't be any such standard over everyone. You realize that religious relativism is inherently conservative. Because what it really says is there's no overarching standard by which we can judge what happens in the civil arena or in the public arena. And therefore the Roman Empire, now this might sound weird to you,

because when you think of the idea of religious relativism, when you think of the claim that all religions are equally valid, you think of tolerance. But we see in the book of Acts that the claim that all religions are equally true and that Jesus can't be the only way is a bid for power. It is a bid for spiritual authority. Now, Luke shows us that and Acts shows us that. Do you see that? In other words, look, I've been quoting him recently because I've been reading him recently. The French philosopher Foucault understands this very well. As I've mentioned before,

Foucault has a very famous teaching, this isn't a quote but this is basically his teaching and it's gotten very well known the last 25 years. Foucault would say all truth claims are bids for power. They're bids for spiritual authority. All truth claims are bids for power. In other words, whenever you say I have the truth, what you're saying is I'm right, you're wrong and my view should hold sway. I'm right, you're wrong, my view should hold sway. So even to say you have the truth is a bid for power. But this week I heard a professor say something I didn't realize.

Foucault was wise enough to know something else. He also taught that to say there is no truth, that to say everything is relative is also a bid for power. As a matter of fact, it's the biggest one. Because when you say no one has the truth, what you're saying is I'm right and you're wrong. When you say no one has the truth, Foucault knew that that was a truth claim. And when you say all truth claims are power, Foucault knew that was a truth claim. And when you say all truth claims are power bids, he knew that was a power bid. It was a way of saying my view that there is no truth is right and yours is wrong. It puts you in the

driver's seat, the one who claims relativism. And this is where we come down to. I like to say this one or two times because this is not something that New Yorkers probably immediately find intuitively right or true. Every single statement about spiritual reality is automatically a bid for spiritual authority. So to say that Jesus is the only way is an exclusive claim. It's a bid for spiritual authority. It says we're right and you're wrong. But to say Jesus Christ is not the only way is a bid for spiritual authority.

It's a way of saying you're right, we're right, and you're wrong. Let me show you how this works. For example, have you heard, maybe some of you believe this, all religions are equally true. People are always saying to me, I believe in Christianity but I believe the other religions are true too. Don't say your religion is more true than all other religions are equally true. Think about this for a second. How could that be if at the heart of the different religions there are certain claims that are contradictory to the claims in other religions. At the very essence, not on the periphery.

So for example, it always moves me whenever I hear a Muslim say, mention Jesus and say, peace be upon him. Very often when Muslims write about Jesus or they speak about Jesus, they say, peace be upon him. Why? And it always moves me, the respect, I love it. And it moves me because they believe he was a great prophet. But at the very essence of Islam is the idea that no human being could be God. There can be no image of God,

there can be no representation of God, there certainly can be no human being who is God. That Jesus is only a prophet, he couldn't be God, that would be blasphemy. At the very essence of the Islamic religion is no human being can be God. But at the very essence of the Christian religion is that one human being was God. Now that is absolutely contradictory. This is not on the periphery, this is at the heart of both religions. So how could anybody say what they do? Lots

of people do. Maybe even the average New Yorker says all religions are true. How could they say that? Here's how. During the European enlightenment there was a man named Immanuel Kant and Immanuel Kant came up with this construction. He said all religions are subjectively helpful, but none of them are objectively true. Religions are subjectively helpful for your private world, the subjective world, but none of them are objectively true. Ah, okay, that's one way to solve it. But get this. When you say, though you may have never heard of Immanuel Kant, but when you say, I believe

all religions are equally true, what you're doing is you are saying my Kantian take on knowledge, truth and spiritual reality is real, it's the right one, and you're putting that in the place of the Christian or the Muslim or the Buddhist or any other approach to knowledge, truth and spirituality. In other words, what you're doing is you're saying, my Kantian take on spiritual reality is right and all the other ones are wrong. See, it looks on the surface very tolerant, does it not? To say all the religions are equally true. Well, what you've actually done is you've stuck your construct in and thrown every other one out. And when you say to those who disagree, you're intolerant. You know what

you're really saying? Infidel. Oh, of course you wouldn't say that. What you're saying is you don't believe my Kantian construction. You're unfaithful to the Kantian construction. There's infidelity going on here. There is no way to avoid it. To say no one's claim of spiritual reality should be the right one is a claim of spiritual reality that you are putting forth as the right one. There is no way to get out from under this. To say Jesus is the only way to God is an exclusive claim. To say Jesus is not the only way to God is an exclusive claim. To say Jesus is not the only way to God is an exclusive claim. In all cases you're putting forth a particular world view, a particular way of looking at reality and you're saying it's not very good for you to disbelieve this.

You should believe what I'm telling you. So what's the difference? There is no difference. It's a wash, my friends. To say Jesus is the only way to God and to say Jesus is not the only way to God, are equally exclusive truth claims. They're equally bids for spiritual authority. Foucault will tell you that.

You can see it in the history of the early church. So what does that leave us? Does that say, oh, I guess there's just no way to tell? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, there is a way to tell. How can we understand the meaning of life's milestones through the lens of the gospel? In the How to Find God series, Tim Keller offers three short books on birth, marriage, and death that will help you understand the meaning of these milestones within God's vision of life with biblical insight for how the scripture teaches us to face each one.

These books of pastoral care are designed for specific life situations you or someone you know will go through. When you give to Gospel in Life during the month of April, we'll send you the How to Find God series as our thanks for your support of this ministry. To receive this short three book set, simply make a gift at gospelinlife.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give.

Your gift helps us share the message of Christ's love all over the world. So thank you for partnering with us because the gospel truly changes everything. The claims may be equally exclusive on the surface, but the life. How do these two claims lead you to live? The way to check out these claims is how does it lead you to live? And here are the last two reasons why those early people decided in spite of their revulsion to believe this shocking claim. Number one, or number three, excuse me. Third, they saw that this exclusive claim led to

a transformation of identity. This exclusive claim led to a transformation of identity. Look at verse 13. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and they realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. I love that verse. Now look what's happened. They had extraordinary courage. They were undaunted. They had an extraordinary what you could call self-image.

They had an extraordinary poise. They were absolutely secure. They were absolutely confident. But notice, though they had extraordinary courage and extraordinary self-image, they had an ordinary record. They were on school. They didn't have any accomplishments. Now, this is something that really astonished the leaders.

Notice it doesn't say they were angry. It says they were astonished. And here's why. How does anybody build an identity? We talked about this when we were going through why. How does anybody build an identity? We talked about this when we were going through Jeremiah. How do you build an identity? Depends on how well you perform. If you have an ordinary record and ordinary accomplishments, you have an ordinary amount

of confidence. If you have an extraordinary record and extraordinary accomplishments, then you have extraordinary self‑image, extraordinary confidence, then you have extraordinary self image, extraordinary confidence, right? But get this, these guys had ordinary performance and extraordinary confidence. They had a self image as big as if they were world beaters, but they weren't. They had a poise, they had a joy, they had a confidence that was independent of their accomplishments. It didn't was independent of their accomplishments. It didn't arise out of their accomplishments because they were ordinary.

It didn't arise out of anything they'd ever done. They were as excited and poised as if they were world beaters, but they weren't world beaters and nobody could figure that out. How did it happen? I'll tell you how it happens. If Jesus Christ was one more teacher of love, one more man, you know, who gives ‑‑ one more prophet saying live like this and you will find God, that doesn't change the very basis for the self‑image, does it? Not at all.

It doesn't change the basis for the self‑image. What it just does is it gives you one more set of things that you have to perform. And if you follow the sermon on the mount and you're extraordinarily good at obeying it, then you have extraordinary confidence. And if you've been filled with failures this week, then you have almost no confidence, right? But that's only if Jesus Christ is one more religious founder, one more prophet, one more teacher like the rest. But what if he's God, who came not to tell you how to save yourself through your own good works and obedience, but who came to save you, to live the life you should have lived and die the death you should have died? Then that can destroy, completely destroy the old basis.

It means that because of what Jesus has done, I'm loved now, I'm accepted now. And that's why Peter and John were acting like that. You know why you come to New York and you wanna get good reviews and you wanna be successful and you wanna get to that great school and you want this on your resume

and you're knocking yourself out and you're grinding yourself into the ground, You're doing, doing, doing, doing. Lay your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in him and him alone, gloriously complete. The gospel is that Jesus is not one more teacher amongst the others who says, do this and you will live, but he comes and has done the things that you should do. He's accomplished all of it and all that's taken off of you. Now let me just show you how this transformed self image is tied to this claim that Jesus is the only way that he's not another teacher but he's the Savior. See people, well-meaning people say this to me relatively often. They say I just

don't think they have to believe in Jesus to be saved. I believe all good people can find God. I just don't think you have to believe in Jesus to be saved. I believe all good people can find God. Now, I want you to listen to what I'm about to say carefully, and I do not want you to think this is rhetoric. I do not want you to think this is exaggeration. I want you to take me seriously, please. When you say, oh, I don't believe that Jesus is the only way, I believe that all good people can come, what you're really saying is the good people find God and the bad people do not. In your effort to be more inclusive by saying all good people can find God, you've just

left me out. Because I'm a moral failure. And if you say, oh, come on, don't talk to me like that. I know my own heart, and I wonder then if you really know yours. In your effort to say, well I think all good people can come, you've set up, again, you've set up a way of salvation.

The good people are in and the bad people are out. Well you just left me out. In your effort to be inclusive, you were more exclusive. But what if Jesus is not one teacher among many who shows you how to be good, but that he came and he was good for you and he paid the penalty for your being bad? If that's the case, then through Jesus Christ, not only the good, but the bad can come. It's not the good are in but the bad can come. It's not the good are in and the bad are out. It's the humble are in, the people who know they are

not good and they need grace. And the proud are out. Now in both cases somebody is out. In both cases it's exclusive. But the gospel is the most inclusive exclusivity in the world. You see, they began to realize that this claim that Jesus wasn't just one more teacher and prophet, but he was the Savior. He doesn't… that not all good people can come because that leaves the bad out. That the most inclusive possible way of salvation is to say, come to Jesus, he's done it all for you. That transformed the identity. That turned people into lovers. They weren't afraid anymore.

They didn't need approval. They weren't envious. They weren't jealous. They weren't intimidated. Nothing cowed them. And that sets up for the last, the four reasons that they believed this shocking claim in spite of their initial revulsion was they saw it was an implication, not an interrogation. They saw that it was no more absolute and exclusive than the claim of religious relativism. They saw that this

shocking claim was the basis for a transformation of identity. But last of all, and the most important, the exclusive claim of Jesus being the only way to God led to the most inclusive human community that the world had ever seen. Look, they prayed, verse 31, and the Holy Spirit came down and gave them more boldness. You know, they had boldness up there in verse 13. But you see, what you don't know, the part I left out, they were threatened. The religious leaders threatened them and said, if you keep this preaching of the gospel up, we're going to come down on you. You'll be imprisoned. You may be killed. So people were scared. So they went back and they prayed. And when they prayed, the Holy Spirit came down and it strengthened what they knew about Jesus' salvation. They strengthened

what they knew about his cross and resurrection. And they were filled with boldness. But notice two things. There are two responses to this new infusion of boldness. The first is it says they spoke the word of God boldly. So the courage meant they opened their mouth. But the second response to this new courage was they didn't just open their mouth, they opened their purses. Isn't this interesting that the mark that you understand the Gospel, the mark that your identity has been transformed by the Gospel, has been put on a whole new basis, not on performance anymore, not that insecurity. The mark that you've really got in the Gospel, in the heart,

is that you are radically generous with your money. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly, and all the believers were one in heart. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time those who owned land or homes sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed as anyone had need."

Isn't that amazing? Think of it like this. Over the years, this is very key, over the years I've talked to people about giving. And there's places in the Bible that say if you really want to be generous in a way that the Bible says you should be generous, you need to be giving away roughly a 10% of your income. That's called a tithe. And whenever I've talked to people over the years, you can just sort of see, you know, the eyes glaze over. And you can tell people are going, whoa. Okay. What's the problem with tithing? Is it stinginess? Is it greed? Is that it? What are you thinking

in your heart of hearts? Are you saying, no, I want to give my money because I love money. And I like to take my bills and I like to put them on the floor and roll in them because I just love money. Is it greed? Is it stinginess? No. Here's what Luke is saying. You're not generous.

Your lack of generosity is not due to stinginess. It's due to fearfulness. You're not generous because you're scared. You're not bold. You don't believe God loves you. You say you do, but you don't. You don't really understand that you're valuable because of what he has done. You're probably putting too much stock in how much you make or how much you have. If the fearlessness of the gospel, if the freedom

of the gospel really descends on your heart, suddenly you get incredibly generous and what you have in this passage is something that, as I just said, this is the most amazing of all. The most exclusive claim, Jesus is the only way to God, led to the most inclusive community that the world had ever seen. When the Greeks looked at the early church, they saw rich and poor mixing it up and they said, oh, my word. They said, we don't do that. We don't let the cultured, sophisticated, educated people put in with the uncultured, unsophisticated. But the Christians did. Because identity didn't have to do with your pedigree or your accomplishment.

If Jesus had been a teacher giving us the law only by which we were to live a good life and earn our salvation, our identity would have been based on that and you wouldn't have people like that together. But you see, Christians kept those two kinds of people together. The Greeks looked at it and they'd never seen anything like it. The Jews looked at the church and they'd never seen anything like it either. They didn't mix the moral and the immoral. They didn't put in religious people with prostitutes. But the Christians did. Why? Because we are sinners saved by grace. Your identity is based on something else. And it wasn't just that they were caring about each other, you know. The early Christians were also incredibly

generous to the people outside. We have this famous letter by one of the early Roman emperors named Julian who hated the Christians and wished he could stamp them out. But he has this interesting letter that he wrote saying, I can't stamp the Christians out. And you know why they're so popular? Every other religion, they take care of their own poor. But Christians don't just take care of their own poor, but they take care of every other religion's poor as well. Now this is the point. Every truth claim of any sort, including the claim that there is no truth, is a bid for spiritual authority.

Right? We've said that. They're all exclusive. They're all saying, my take on reality is right and yours is wrong. I believe the right thing, you believe the wrong thing. Everybody's saying that. So it's a wash. Well then how do we judge between these different claims? And the answer is look, the proof's in the pudding. The proof's in the life. And what's weird is the most exclusive sounding claim in the history of the world that Jesus is the only way created the most inclusive loving community the world had ever seen.

Why? And here's my final answer. I've been wrestling with this actually all week trying to figure out what I'm going to tell you. And here's what I think. The form of the gospel claim is like every other religious claim. It's basically exclusive. Even the secular claims are exclusive. But the content of the Christian claim is something else. Look into the heart of the Christian truth claim. What is there? What is at the heart of the heart of the heart of the Christian claim is something else. Look into the heart of the Christian truth claim. What is there? What is at the heart of the heart of the heart of the message of the Gospel? A man who was rejected but a man who died for people who

didn't love him, who died for people who didn't believe in him, who died for people and who gave his life for people who didn't believe the right things. In other words, all truth claims are exclusive, but at the very heart of our truth claim is a man who died for people who didn't believe in him. Look at him forgiving the people as they kill him. Look at him giving up the power he had to serve them. Now, if that is what you take into the center of your heart and you make it your main inspiration in life, you make it the main dynamic of your life, if it's the whole reason you get up in the morning, if it's the thing that's changed your life, you can't possibly be true to the content of the gospel and ever, ever bash

people who don't believe you, oppress people, coerce people, disdain people, or feel contempt for them. Now over the years you say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, there's been plenty of churches and people, you know, many professing Christians who have been oppressive and been abusive and so on. Sure, the form, the form of the claim, all religious claims, the form is exclusive. But the content, if you're true to the content, it can never lead you in that direction. The content of the Gospel turns you into the most inclusive possible person. We're explaining

the reasons last ‑‑ tonight for that. Here's the paradox. The paradox. You have to believe it. It doesn't sound very inclusive, does it? You have to believe in him. You can't believe he's just another teacher. You have to see him as Savior. You can't just try to be a good person. You have to see him as Savior. You have to know him. You have to go to him. You have to believe in him. But here's the irony. There's one exclusive claim that turns you into the most inclusive kind of person in your heart, the person ‑‑ and creates the most inclusive kind of community amongst those who follow him. And that's how you know. And that's why they believed. Don't you see

that? In spite of their repulsion, in spite of their revulsion, in spite of everything, that's why they believed. Why can't you? Don't you say, well, but it's intolerant. No, I've tried to explain this tonight. Just to say that Jesus is the only way is no more intolerant than to say all religions are equally right. You mustn't say that. In form, these claims are all awash. that. In form, these claims are all awash. In content, the stone that the builders rejected, who are the builders? The leaders. The leaders of the community. They rejected him. And now they're being offered salvation. The stone the builders rejected is the corner stone of your salvation, which is being offered to them. Peter and John don't say you rejected him and therefore you're going to be crushed. No, he says you rejected him and therefore he is now the cornerstone. Come

to him. Be saved. Well listen, do you want to be part of the most inclusive movement in history? Then you have to hold on to the exclusive claim that Jesus is different than every other founder. He is the way, the truth, the life. He is the way of the Father. Is that a paradox? Of course it's a paradox, but it's true. Let it change you. Let it change us. Let us pray. Thank you, Father, for giving us what we need to hear tonight. And that is that there is no other name, no other name given to us by which we can become the kind of people who reach out to the poor to reach out to those in need, to reach out to people of different races, to people that in the past we would have never been able to accept.

But because the grace of God has melted our heart, it changes us into an embracing people, a loving people, an accepting people. Let the exclusive claim of Christ make us the most inclusive people in the face of the earth. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. of the earth. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel in Life podcast. If you found today's teaching helpful and something you feel more people should hear, we invite you to consider

becoming a Gospel in Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the truth of God's Word and the hope and joy of the gospel. Just visit gospelonlife.com slash partner to learn more. This month's sermons were recorded in 2003. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.