Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Safe in the Plan

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

No matter how long a sentence is, if you find the subject and the predicate, you can figure out the point of the sentence. In the original Greek, there are 202 words in this one sentence that spans from verse 3 to 14 of Ephesians 1. The subject of this great sentence is God and everything God is doing. And the predicate shows that everything God’s doing is happening toward an end. There is a plan for history, and Jesus is the point of the plan. Let’s take a look at these three things: 1) there’s a plan, 2) what’s in the plan, and 3) Jesus is the point of the plan. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 9, 2011. Series: A Study of Ephesians: Who is the Church? Scripture: Ephesians 1:8-11. 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. How hopeful are you about the future of the Christian Church? The book of Ephesians gives us an incredibly inspiring vision for the Church, showing how it has the capacity to be a new humanity and a community of astonishing beauty. Join us today as Tim Keller preaches from the book of Ephesians. The reading for today is taken from the book of Ephesians chapter 1 verses 8 through 11. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according

to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. This is the word of the Lord. We begun looking at the book of Ephesians. It's a book about the church and what the church ought to be. And I think we mentioned last week that the book of Ephesians, I'm not sure if Leo mentioned this or not, but I don't know if I did either, but where I was preaching. But the first, from verse 3 to 14 of the first chapter of Ephesians is one long sentence in Greek. And there's 202 words in that one sentence. And no English translation feels, tries to make that one sentence. so they divide it into shorter sentences which is good but as you all

know the way to figure out what a sentence means is to find the subject and the predicate no matter how long a sentence is you've got all the modifying clauses you've got the prepositional phrases find that subject and find that predicate and especially the predicate and you figure out what the point of the sermon is. So you realize that when you have the entire, this 202 word sentence divided into sub sentences in the English translation, you've got

more than one predicate which means it's not as easy for you to read it in English and tell what its main point is. So let me just inform you, this is the point, right here, verses 9, 10, and 11, especially the second half of verse 10, because the subject of this great sentence, of course, is God. And everything God is doing, and last we looked at, he chooses and he adopts and he redeems and he reveals, but everything he is doing in order to come to this particular purpose, and it's mentioned in verse 10, at the very end, at the second half of verse 10. Everything in history is happening to this end.

Everything God is doing is happening to this end. And therefore, it's important. It's obviously very important. So what do we actually have in these three verses? We have this, that there's a plan, that everything's in the plan, and that Jesus is a point of the plan. That there is a plan for

history, that absolutely everything in history is part of the plan, and that Jesus is the point of the plan. That's what Paul is trying to say in this opening statement, this long opening statement because the predicates right here. So let's take a look at those three things. Actually, verse nine is there's a plan. Verse 11 is everything's in the plan. And the second half of verse 10 is Jesus is the point of the plan. So first, verse nine.

It says, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment. What's times have reached their fulfillment? History. All the ages, history. And he's telling us that there is a plan for history. God has a plan for it.

Now, I won't spend much time on this point because it's perhaps an obvious one, but you do need to realize that this means Macbeth is wrong. Because Macbeth, in very famous language, said, life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. And then immediately after that he says, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Now, that's one approach to history. There's no plan. Is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? No design, just random, okay? That's what Macbeth says. The Bible says no, Macbeth is wrong. Also the Bible would say that Bertrand Russell's wrong.

Bertrand Russell in a much less Shakespearean way, but still a pretty dramatic way, gives the basic modern scientific viewpoint of what the universe is. And again, it's also famous, not as famous as Macbeth, but in a very famous passage, Bertrand Russell says this, that man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the end they were achieving,

that man's origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of an accidental collocation of atoms. That all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, inspiration, and noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system. And that the whole temple of man's achievement

must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins, only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built. Now why he says henceforth? He says, wait, now that we know that we're here by accident, we weren't created,

now that we know that we're here by accident, we weren't created, now that we know that everything that you think is significant is actually just the accidental way in which your genes operate, the accidental collocation of atoms just happen to come together in such a way that created people that like beauty and think this is good and think that's as good, but actually it's just an accident. It feels significant, but it isn't.

And everything you're working for, everything that anyone's ever accomplished, relatively speaking, will be brief and eventually the universe will burn up because the solar system will burn up and nothing you do, nothing that anybody's ever done will ever be remembered. So nothing you do will make any final difference.

Who might make difference for a little while, a hundred years, but in the vast scheme of things, nothing. And he says, from henceforth, now that we know that history has no plan, that there is no design, that there's nowhere we're going, that there's no meaning, now that we know that, the only safe way to conduct a life is to keep reminding yourself of these truths. Now, Bertrand Russell was way, way more courageous

than the average New Yorker who also believes there is no plan, that we're here by accident, that eventually the universe is going to burn up, that there's really no where that anything's going, and yet walks right around without any despair at all. And says, oh, you know, it's great to work for democracy and human rights and to make the world a little better place. And Bertrand Russell says, think, there's no plan.

And therefore, unless you are willing to admit that, get up every day and say, I'm yielding despair, and then go about eating your breakfast. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he was more courageous. Okay, I'm making fun, no, I'm not making fun. He was courageous. He said said this is what you have to do. There is no plan. That means unyielding despair. The Bible says no, there is a plan. Point one, there's a plan. That's verse nine. Point two, everything that happens in history is

in that plan. And this is one of the most comprehensive statements. And there's a lot of ways of translating verse 11, but it says, it talks about God as, it talks about the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. There's two words for plan that show up there, by the way, the second word, which is translated here,

purpose, is the word boule, which means, or boule, which means a blueprint. And we're being told here that everything, see, remember, God has a plan for the fulfillment of the ages, okay, so we say, well does that mean there's some points You know some parts of what happens in history or part of his plan other points are not fixed and they depend on your choices No, it says

Everything that happens is part of God's plan. Now this immediately brings up a very very old Question that human beings been wrestling with it. They've been wrestling with it at least as long ago as Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. But frankly, they're wrestling with it. And every third or fourth movie that comes out today is wrestling with this question. You know all the sci-fi stuff? Sci-fi stuff has time travel in it.

And time travel stories cannot be, you can't put together just even a fictional time travel story without coming to grips with this question, and here's the question. Can history be rewritten? Or will you find that as you try to rewrite history, in the end, your effort to rewrite history is only helping something happen that was written.

In other words, is your effort to rewrite history something that was written? Oh, it was written that you would try to rewrite history. And therefore, so you know, at the end of Slumdog Millionaire, in fact, at the beginning of Slumdog Millionaire, an Academy Award-winning movie, what's it say, class? It is written.

It's all about are things destined? The middle of signs, the movie signs, there's a little monologue by the main character and he basically says there's two kinds of people in the world, there's people who think everything happens through chance and luck, and there's other people who believe there are no coincidences.

We're wrestling with this, we have been wrestling with it. And here's the question, are we free? Or is there a plan that we can't escape? Are we free or is there a plan that we can't escape? And the answer to the Bible is yes. Because the Bible is more nuanced than any particular account of this that I've ever seen. In fact, and to show you, let me again go back to what

you actually have out there. By and large, human thought on this subject has given one of two answers. Either or. Are we free? Or is there a plan we can't escape? Now determinism and fatalism, and there are many versions of it, and they're very influential ideas,

have always said no, there is no real freedom. Freedom of will is an illusion. We are destined. Now you know, nowadays, scientific determinism says that if you think you have free will, it's an illusion. In fact, if you go to the New York Times Book Review section today, the Sunday Times,

and find the article about where physics is going and the theories of physics, you'll see it's right there. The author of the book, it's being reviewed, a woman who's a physicist at Harvard says, the idea that there's free will is a myth. You know, you are locked in by what your genes say. You're locked in to what history and the causes of history. It's crazy.

Everything is determined. But if you go all the way back to the beginning of ancient history practically, you see the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. What's the story of Oedipus Rex? Oedipus, it was prophesied of Oedipus that he would kill his father and marry his mother. And so Oedipus did everything he possibly could

to avoid killing his father and marrying his mother. But everything he did to avoid that ended up putting him right in the place where he finally does kill his father unwittingly and marry his mother. And the idea is you're destined and therefore your choices don't matter. You're destined and it doesn't matter what you do, you're destined in spite of your choices.

So determinism says free will, the idea that you're free is an illusion. There is a, you know, you're destined and that's it. On the other hand, you have the modern American popular culture. Modern Americans are popular culture every day. You know, two thirds of all the talk shows, of all the daytime TV, of all the stories,

even the cartoons, everything is coming after you saying, well, it's what Marty McFly and Professor Brown said at the end of the great Back to the Future trilogy. And at the very end, Professor Brown says, if I, let me quote his immortal words, the future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one. I mean, that is the heart of the American understanding of things.

The future is absolutely unfixed. It is completely determined by your choices, so make it a good one. Now, if you put this into an academic environment anywhere, they would say, that's typical American naivete. They really think that you have free will and that you can determine your future that way. And it's true, Americans are individualists,

which means we want to deny to the degree to which we are product of our families. We want to deny the degree to which we are products of our culture. We want to deny the degree to which we are products of our heredity and our genetic code. We want to deny that we're basically, the things we want to do really aren't things

that we've chosen to do, but desires that have been given to us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. All that's true. But I want you to know that if you even wish your destiny was determined by your choices now, you're naive. You're naive to the point of foolishness.

You know, I've got this one illustration, Kathy and I, you know, I got this one illustration from my past that as a sermon illustration is unbelievably utilitarian. I can use it to illustrate almost any doctrine. It's amazing, and it works again. When I was, between the age of 22 and 23, I worked very, very hard to get a particular girl

to marry me who wasn't Kathy, and thank goodness she didn't listen to me. Thank goodness all my prayers were not answered. Thank goodness all of my entreaties and overtures fell flat. But if I sit back and think about my 22 to 23 year old self, I say, well, how many things that I really wanted for my life in hindsight would have been good for me?

And I'm thinking, 20%, maybe. Okay, well, then what percent of what I want for myself now would be good for me? I sure hope it's a higher percentage than that. But you know what the point is, in light of what I'm saying is, if somebody were to come to you and say tomorrow, everything that you really want to happen in your life,

you will be able to accomplish. If you were wise at all, you would stay in bed all day. And if you don't understand that, you don't know yourself, you don't know yourself, you don't know life, you're not wise. Because you can always look back at your past and realize so many of the things that you wanted to do, thank goodness something stopped your choices from happening. So here you have two views. And the one view says, it's all fixed. Your choices don't matter. Well that just saps you of any hope.

And the other view says, your future is whatever you make it so make it a good one. Your choices really matter and they determine your destiny. And anyone who's thoughtful would be paralyzed with fear. And the Bible comes and says, both of those are wrong and both of those are right. Because if you ask the Bible the question, are we free or is there a plan that we can't escape and the Bible says yes. You can see it right here in the book of Ephesians if you stand back.

Because the first three chapters of Ephesians tell you several times, it's talking to believers now, it says you are predestined, you are destined to grow into Christ-like character, isn't that great? You're destined, remember in verse three, it says he chose you to be holy and blameless in him. Romans eight says you're predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

So, alright, if you're a Christian, you're being told here, you are destined to be Christ-like in your character. And yet, when you get to Ephesians 4, 5, and 6, Paul is going to tell you over and over again, strive with every fiber of your being to become like Christ. Work and slave and sweat, do everything you can. Well, you say, well, wait a minute. If I'm destined to be like Christ, well, then, you know, then my choices don't matter. I'm destined. It doesn't really matter what I

do, does it? And Paul says, yes, you're destined and what you do matters. Now, in some cases, in a small version, sometimes it's, it's version sometimes it's there's places in the Bible this runs all through the Bible. So in the Old Testament there are places where God says to the children of Israel I'm going to punish you by bringing Babylon and bringing Assyria and bringing Egypt to invade you. I'm going to punish you by bringing these other countries to invade you. And then he says and then I'm going to turn around and punish them for invading you. I'm going to punish you by bringing these other countries to invade you." And then he says, and then I'm going to turn around and punish them for invading you. That's like on every page of the prophets.

I'm going to use them to punish you and I'm going to punish them for being used. What? Acts 2, the first sermon by Peter. Peter says, Jesus Christ was crucified according to the four ordination of God. God determined it, God ordained it. God predestined that at a particular place at a particular time, Jesus Christ would die on the cross. It was fixed.

He had to die, he had to be crucified. And then he says, and all of you who are out there who crucified him need to repent because what you did was wrong. See, what? Are you beginning to see the pattern? Here's how the pattern goes. Fatalism says, your choices don't matter.

But against fatalism, the Bible says, your choices matter. There's consequences to what you do. God holds you responsible for what you're doing. No one's forcing you to do the things you're doing. You are free and responsible and there's consequences. But at the same time, God uses all your free choices, all of our free choices in such a way, he works on them and his power bears on them

so that everything that is freely chosen only works into a perfect plan and absolutely everything that is freely chosen only works into a perfect plan and absolutely everything that happens works according to that perfect plan. You are free and yet absolutely there is a plan. Everything's in it and no one can escape it. It's easy to assume that if we understand the gospel and preach it faithfully we will be shaped by it. But this is not always true. How can we make sure that our lives, churches, and ministries are being shaped by, centered

on, and empowered with the gospel? Tim Keller's book, Shaped by the Gospel, is meant to help congregants, lay leaders, and pastors understand how to make the gospel the center of all ministry. In Shaped by the Gospel, Dr. Keller shows how gospel-centered ministry is more theologically driven than program-driven. As you read, you'll discover how reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the patterns of the gospel lead to renewal in your churches and ministries. This month when you give to Gospel in Life,

we'll send you Dr. Keller's book Shapedaped by the Gospel, as our thanks for your gift. Just visit gospelinlife.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give. And thank you for your generosity, which helps us reach more people with Christ's love. I'll give you, J. Gresham Machin, in one of his radio talks 70 years ago, he's a professor at Princeton Seminary years ago, uses this illustration as the perfect one, it's still the best one. Acts 27, Paul is in a boat with soldiers and sailors

and they're in a terrible storm that goes on for days and days, everybody's afraid they're gonna die. God sends an angel and the angel says to Paul, Paul, God has determined that no one would die in this storm. It's destined. Everyone's going to live. So Paul comes out, and he tells everyone, God has told me, an angel told me,

that we're all destined to live. You're all going to live. We're not going to die in this storm. And I want you to realize how significant this is, because in the Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy, it says if a prophet makes a prediction and says God told me this, and makes a prediction, and the prediction doesn't come true,

you can kill the prophet. And the reason you can kill the prophet is if God tells you something, it will come true. If God says this is going to be destined, it will come true. If God says this is gonna be destined, it will come true. So here he is saying no one's gonna die, and yet, just a few verses later in Acts 27, there's a place in which the sailors are really getting scared about the storm, and they go to the lifeboats,

and Paul stops them and says, if you abandon ship, we'll all die. Okay, just a few verses before he says, it is absolutely sure that we're gonna live. But then he actually, then Okay, just a few verses before he says, it is absolutely sure that we're gonna live. But then he actually, then later, just a few verses later he says, but if you don't behave in a responsible way, we're all gonna die.

Well, which is it? The answer is yes. See, we think, we're thinking in a linear, I hate to say this, we're thinking in a linear way. We think that time is a linear thing. And therefore, if we're free, 100% free, then our destiny is not fixed at all. It's 100% us and 0% God's plan.

Or if it's God's plan, 100% God's plan, then it's 0% our, it doesn't really matter what you do. Go ahead, sailors, do whatever you want. Get in the boats, take a swim, who cares? Because we're destined to live. Or we think it's 50-50 or 80-20, but no, the Bible says it's 100% and 100%. You are 100% responsible.

And yet God is 100% in charge. And it's very much like, you can look it up online, one of the great scientific dualities is the seeming contradiction that light sometimes behaves as waves and sometimes as particles. Particles have mass, waves do not, therefore light can't. By rights, light shouldn't be able to sometimes act as a wave, sometimes act as a particle. So that's a contradiction. It's a contradiction. Does it have mass or does it not have mass? And the answer is, well, that's the way it is.

And we don't have enough information to know why it's not a contradiction, but we do have enough information to know that's the way it is. And that's exactly what the Bible's telling you. If you let the human thought categories dominate the way in which you think about this, instead of letting the Bible inform you,

you're gonna be a mess. You're either gonna be tending toward fatalism, saying what's the use, or you're gonna tend toward the idea that it all has to do with you, and you're gonna be petrified if you're thoughtful. But do you know what this, this has been one of the few,

this is one of the most practical things the Bible ever showed us. Because on the one hand this means, you are responsible, God holds you responsible, you're able to, you know, you are able to mess things up and therefore you should work with every fiber of your being to be wise and to be skillful and do the right thing. On the other hand, the Bible says,

in the end you can radically relax. Put it this way, pen ultimately, you can mess things up, but ultimately you can't. Ultimately you can't mess up. There is a plan, and it's all moving toward Christ, which we'll get to in just one second, be patient, but let's see what is being said here. There's a plan, everything's in the plan,

and it's moving toward something great. Which means a plan, everything's in the plan, it's moving towards something great. Which means you can be like Paul in that boat, because on the one hand, he was absolutely alert because he knew choices matter, but he was absolutely at peace because he knew God was in charge. Do you have that? Are you utterly alert?

But at the same time, absolutely at peace. It only comes from you embracing what the Bible says about human freedom and the plan of history, and there is no place else you're gonna find that. Other religions tend to be either, put more emphasis on free will, or they put more emphasis on fate. You're not gonna find it in the secular world, it's here. Embrace it and it'll liberate you.

And I'll tell you why it'll liberate you. You know, James Mitchell is not very well known, but James Mitchell used to write these epic novels like this. And he used to love to trace families over several generations. And there's a James Mitchell novel in the Bible. It's the last two thirds of the book of Genesis. It's actually all about Abraham and especially Isaac and Jacob and his sons and Joseph and his brothers. And if you know the story, here's all you need to know. Jacob was a wreck because he was favored by his,

I mean, in other words, he was not loved by his father, so he played favorites amongst his wives and his children, and he poisoned the system, and he poisoned everybody. Joseph was totally spoiled. Joseph's brothers were completely bitter. They wanted to murder and kill him. It was a mess. And here's what God did.

Completely hid himself, answered no prayer, and let everything go wrong in all their lives for about 30 years. Joseph is sold into slavery, works really hard to try to at least become top slave, but after what, then he's accused falsely, and he's put into prison. There are years go by, years go by,

in which everything goes wrong for everybody. For Jacob, for Joseph, for his brothers, everything, it seems like God has just hidden, he's just gone away. But as you know, in the end, Joseph rises up, become Prime Minister of Egypt, not only saves tens of thousands of people of starvation, saves his own family from starvation, also his own character is saved, is salvaged. Instead of becoming the complete broken mess of a man he would have been otherwise,

he becomes a person of virtue and character and strength and then he's able to even bring his father and his brothers to a place where they're able to overcome their past and they're able to deal with their own guilt and they're able everything is healed You say why didn't God just show up? 30 years before that and just say Joseph you're spoiled brat Jacob, you know, you're a you're enabling behavior. This is that here have a dysfunctional family you

Brothers, why didn't you just tell them all that? You know why? Because the Bible's dealing with reality. And in reality, nobody learns about their deepest flaw just by being told, they've gotta be shown. And nobody learns that God is a loving God who you can rely on through everything just by being told. You've gotta be shown. And unless there was suffering and there was difficulty and trouble all through their lives

None of those good things would have happened. There was a plan and at the very end Genesis 50 verse 20 kind of the climax of the book Joseph looks at his brothers who are amazed at what has happened and he says yeah You were trying to hurt me you did a lot of evil things But then he says you meant them for evil, but God meant them for good evil things, but then he says, you meant them for evil, but God meant them for good. Do you know how powerful a person you would be if you believed that? Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your head

Now the last point and I didn't give it as much time as you can see or at least as you hope Because it's a point of the rest of the book and we'll keep coming back in various forms Everything God is working together, you know according to his plan toward And that is, it's the second half of verse 10. To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. Now, let's just say what this is, and this is what the whole rest of the book is about. First of all, it says the point of the whole plan

of history is to bring all things in heaven and on earth together. That sounds weird. No, it's not just saying bring heaven and earth together, though it does include that. It means everything, at war, in heaven, by the way, you've got angels and demons, as it were, the spiritual realms.

In the physical realm, you've got things falling apart. This is Paul's way of referring to everything else in the Bible, and that is this. Everything's falling apart. That is is this, everything's falling apart. That is our condition. Everything is falling apart. Everything, things are not coming together, they're actually going to more and more

randomness and disorder. William Butler Yeats, things fall apart. The center cannot hold. Mayor anarchy is loosed upon the world. I've never heard the second law of thermodynamics put better. And you never will it either. What's the second law of thermodynamics put better. And you never will it either. What's the second law of thermodynamics? It's that things go to more and more disorder because everything's running down.

The universe is running down. Everything's falling apart. Now if you think you're trying to get an institution going, it's eventually going to fall apart. If you think you are starting a family, eventually it will fall apart. The individuals will die or move away or get alienated from each other. Some years ago I read an interview

with one of the top models in New York. And she was like in her early 20s. And she said, you know, she says, a lot of my friends who've gotten older They haven't really been able to handle getting older She says I'm a size six right now and I know that ten years from now. I probably will be a size ten I'm getting myself emotionally ready for this for that and I remember thinking well, you need to probably get ready for more than that But you know what she's saying

The center things fall apart. The center cannot hold. See? That's Isaac's. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. Everything is falling apart. If you take a chicken and you cook it, it smells great, but instead of eating it, just leave it on your table in room

temperature for a couple months. And pretty soon it will start smelling again, but in a very different way and bad things will start growing in it and then of course eventually the health inspector will come and take you away. People will start getting sick, why? Because, you know, if you just leave a chicken go, it goes to more and more random disorder.

But, you know, that's, if you, when you look at that chicken, that's where the universe is going. That's where your body is going. That's where everything in life is going. That's what Bertrand Russell was talking about. Now, the Bible tells us why. If you go back to Genesis three, which is one of the two or three most important places

to go in the Bible to understand everything that happens in the Bible, and everything the Bible's saying, is that when our relationship with God fell apart, every other relationship fell apart. When our relationship with God fell apart, our relationship with ourselves fell apart. Why is it, isn't it amazing?

And this is true, of course, and it's true. Everybody, I don't know who I am, people say. I'm trying to get in touch with myself. I don't try to get in touch with my feelings. I'm trying to get my conscience and my feelings to work together. I don't know who I am. That's incredible.

That's a, what a sign of disarray that you're not in touch with yourself. How could that happen? The answer is if you're not in touch with God, if your relationship with God falls apart, your relationship with yourself falls apart, your relationship with others falls apart, you're always fighting, we're always fighting. Relationship with other races fall apart,

other countries fall apart, other classes fall apart, and of course there's suffering and evil and disease and aging and dying, everything countries fall apart, other classes fall apart, and of course there's suffering and evil and disease and aging and dying, everything's falling apart. What will be done about it? This. What is that? There's actually a Greek word, a single Greek word that Paul uses with regard to Christ, which is impossible to translate in one English word. It essentially says, God is going to sum up everything in Jesus Christ. First of all, inside this word, there's the word kefali,

which is the word for head, which means authority. But, and that comes across here where it says, under one head, even Christ, trying to get that out there. But this idea of summing up is like this. If you've read a great essay with lots and lots and lots of true propositions, or if you've read a great narrative with all kinds of plot pieces, at the very end, if the essay has one compelling killer sentence

that not only sums up everything, but brings to conclusion and builds on everything else that was done and every other proposition in a sense finds its fulfillment in that final thesis statement or everything else that's happened in the narrative is all brought together in this incredible resolution. It's saying that that's the relationship of Jesus Christ

to everybody in the world and everything else in history. We were built for him. We were meant for him. We will only find fulfillment in him. And God is bringing everything to the place where finally Jesus Christ, the head, the king, in other words, is ruling again. And only when Jesus Christ is king will all the things falling apart come together again. Only then will things be healed.

You know, our legends and stories are filled with stories about everything falling apart and then a king shows up and he sits on his throne and he rules with justice and he puts down evil and everything is fine. There's so many of those stories and you want to know where do they come from? When you actually look at the actual history, the actual record of kings in history, they're abysmal. They're tyrants. It's a mess. They're always killing one another to get to the throne. It's just terrible. So why do we have this persistent idea that if the true king shows up,

somehow everything will be put right? Why is it that movies are still based on that and stories are based on that and it always catches you? Here's a possibility, maybe it's a memory trace. Because back in paradise, when we were first created according to the Bible, nothing was falling apart, everything came together, and we stood before our true prince, our true king. Maybe it's a memory trace that we remember standing before our true king and his power and his wisdom and his justice and his compassion and his glory was like the

sun shining in full strength and we are fish and that's the water we were built for that we're only we only come to fulfillment in that like propositions in the final statement like like plot parts in the resolution. It's the fuel, loving him and serving him is the fuel we were meant, built to run on. And everything falls apart in a car if the right fuel isn't put into the engine. It's him, his kingship, his lordship. And the Bible says that God is going to bring,

because He loves this world, it's falling apart because we've lost Him as the King, and He's bringing all of history back and everybody back to the place where Philippians want to. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, as we end, if you say, gee, I don't like this idea of having to bow the knee

to somebody, I'm an American. You know, I'm a Western person or I'm a free person. I don't like the idea of bowing, because that sounds oppressive. Not if you understand this. The word mystery, he made known to us the mystery, and the word mystery in Paul always means gospel. Mystery always refers to gospel.

The gospel refers to Jesus Christ coming into this world to die for us. Here's why you can trust this king. Do you know why the cross was so gruesome? You know, there's the thorns, there's the nails, there's the spears. Remember the 39 lashes before he goes to the cross? You know what the 39 lashes were?

It was a whip, of course, with thongs, but on the end of the thongs were bits of metal and of bone so that when they whipped you, he didn't just have these stripes. He was pulling the flesh off of his back. Jesus Christ was pulled apart so that all things could come together. Jesus Christ was torn to pieces so that we could be made whole. God could not show up in Joseph's life and just speak. There had to be suffering for there to be

healing and God could not show up in the world and just say, everybody, live the right way. He had to come and suffer himself. He had to die on the cross. He had to take the penalty for our sins. He had to put us right with him. The only way to do that is to get rid of the guilt and then reconcile us to him. And only when our relationship with God comes together

will all the other things in your life start coming together. Please trust together. Please trust him. Please go find your king. Because all of history is going there anyway, and you are really going against the grain of your life and of the universe and of history if you don't seek his face. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that there's a plan and we thank you that everything's in the plan and we are so grateful that we can know these things, but most of all we're grateful that the plan is not just an abstract thing. When the Bible says all things work

together for good to those who love you, it's not talking about good in some abstract way of just a happy life and content life. No, the good is all things in heaven and earth repaired, all death gone, all suffering gone, all war ended, all poverty ended, everything right, all of our inner struggles over because we're finally in the presence of the true King. Father, sum us up, bring us to fulfillment, bring us to where we need to be by bringing us to bow our knees before Jesus.

Thank you for what he did for us. We can trust this King because he died for us. Thank you for giving us all these truths. Help us to apply them to our hearts through the work of your Spirit. We pray 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'd like more people to hear,

we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel in Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the hope and joy of Christ's love. Just visit Gospelinlife.com slash partner to learn more. Today's sermon was recorded in 2011. 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.