Tim Keller Memorial Sermon: ‘Jesus Came to Serve and Die’

We’ve come here to remember and give God thanks for a life well lived. Since Tim Keller died, we’ve seen an outpouring of tributes. Yet few of these tributes mentioned Tim’s accomplishments, which were many and consequential, or his gifts, which were undeniably colossal. People have most remembered Tim’s character. Not what he did but who he was as a husband and father, as a mentor or pastor, and—for so many of us—as a friend.

It seems rare in our times to see someone have so much power and yet be so humble and focused on others. But Tim wasn’t like this because he was unusual. Tim was like this because he followed Jesus. The very qualities we’ve loved in Tim are all reflections of what can be found so clearly in Christ. What Tim was, imperfectly, Christ has always been, fully and completely. Jesus is, if I can borrow from one of Tim’s most memorable phrases, “the true and better” Keller. So the best way to appreciate and understand Tim is to think about Christ.

In Mark 10:45, we read Jesus’s famous statement, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In that short statement we have, encapsulated, the heart of the Christian message and the key to a life well lived. Jesus here makes two claims: he came to serve, and he came to die.

He Came to Serve

Jesus came to serve. That might not surprise us, because we’re familiar with the idea of service as a calling. Politics is meant to be public service. In many places, we even call politicians “ministers.” We recognize that the best teachers and doctors tend to be those who view their jobs not as careers but callings, as first and foremost forms of service. We have similar expectations of religious leaders too. We expect them not to be in it for themselves but for others’ sake.

So maybe we’re not taken aback when Jesus says he came to serve. But I’d like to suggest the reason we’re not surprised by these words is, in fact, because Jesus said them. We’ve lived downstream from his words for many centuries. It’s precisely because Jesus said these words that we now live in a society that esteems service. If it’s normal to us, that’s because Jesus made it normal. We live in a world his words built.

It seems rare in our times to see someone have so much power and yet be so humble and focused on others. Tim was like this because he followed Jesus.

And if we follow the logic of Jesus’s words, this reality still isn’t as normal as we might think.

His Abnormal Claim

Jesus doesn’t simply say “The Son of Man came not to be served” here. He says, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served.” In other words, if anyone could reasonably be expected not to serve but instead to be served by others, it’s the Son of Man. Yet even he came not to be served.

The Son of Man is a title from the Old Testament book of Daniel. It describes a figure who would appear with God’s full authority to reign over the entirety of the universe forever. Daniel said the Son of Man would be the one through whom all God’s plans and purposes would be fulfilled, one whom it is appropriate to worship. A figure with divine power and eternal rule.

And this Son of Man is who Jesus himself claimed to be. You see, Jesus taught like no one else did, but he claimed to be more than a great teacher. He came with spiritual insight that continues to grip countless people across the world, but he claimed to be far more than a spiritual leader. In passages like this, Jesus claimed unselfconsciously to be divine, to be God himself come down into this world—God made flesh, God become man. Such claims can seem outrageous to contemporary ears, but they were typical of Jesus. The same man who commended such humility and concern for others readily claimed himself to be God.

But before we write Jesus off, we should notice what he believes it means for him to possess the Son of Man’s authority. Jesus doesn’t claim divine authority so he can subdue us all. He claims to be the most powerful individual to walk on the earth, yet he wields that power not for himself but for our sake—to serve, not to be served.

He Wields His Power for Us

Jesus shows us a new kind of power. One that is sacrificial, not predatory. One that exists not to take advantage of those who are weaker but to help them. It’s a new kind of power because in this world, power and greatness always seem to trend toward self-importance and having others at your beck and call.

Many years ago, as part of my seminary training, I had a placement for a few months at a church in central Bangkok. I got to know a cross-section of the people there. One friend worked as the Asian director for a huge multinational company. He was very, very powerful. It was obvious in how many people he had at his disposal. The first clue was when he said, “I’ll send one of my drivers over to pick you up.” One of my drivers! When we pulled up at this friend’s property, security guards snapped to attention and saluted us. Inside, I was given a menu and the phone number of his cook so I could order whatever I wanted. Every time I leaned forward in my seat, someone seemed to appear out of nowhere to fluff the cushion behind me.

In the mentality of our world, the more power you have, the more people serve you. But not for Jesus. He claimed to be the one with greatest power, the one (by our metrics) who could most expect to be served, yet he says the whole point of his coming as the Son of Man is to serve. He’s the one whose sacrifice is not in spite of his power but the very expression of it.

His Service Shows Us God’s Character

This is a kind of power where more and more of it doesn’t mean tyranny but safety. A kind of power where putting others in their place means putting them above you and not below you. Power wielded in this way shows us the character of God himself.

In the mentality of our world, the more power you have, the more people serve you. But not for Jesus.

We might expect God to come to this world and tell us to do more for him—to be more religious, more ethical, more moral, more charitable. To be better. But Jesus shows us that God is a God who chooses to serve. He’s a God to whom we matter profoundly. A God who cares about us. This God not only made you but came up with the idea of you, and he was having a good day when he did. He’s a God who sees you not according to your achievements, or looks, or popularity, or how much you earn, or even according to your sins. He sees you as one who is worth his while serving.

Maybe you’re here today and unsure whether you believe in God. (Or maybe you’re sure that you don’t.) But I’m willing to bet that the God you don’t believe in isn’t like this. And if God was to exist, wouldn’t you want him to be like this? A God who lives to serve.

He Died as a Ransom

Jesus says he came to serve. Maybe some of us think, “OK, great. If this is for real, I have some suggestions for how he might serve me. I’d love to be more successful in my work, to have financial security, to be less lonely, and to have a family that’s happy and healthy.”

Yes, Jesus came to serve. But if that’s the first surprise, the second surprise is how he came to serve. Jesus came to serve, and Jesus also came to die. He says he can serve us most by dying for us. His death on a Roman cross would be a death like no other. One that would benefit us because, on the cross, he gave “his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus’s death is of service because his death is a ransom. This means Jesus doesn’t just make audacious claims about himself; he makes an audacious claim about us. People who need a ransom are those who are held captive. When he said his death for us would be a ransom, Jesus claimed that we’re not free, that we’re not masters of ourselves, that we’re ensnared.

He Died to Set Us Free

In our more reflective moments, we sense this. There are many things in life we have obvious control over—where we go and who we see. Maybe even where we live and what work we do. But there’s so much we can’t control. There are things about the way we are that we wish we could change—tendencies, reflexes, patterns of thought and behavior. In our more sober moments, we know we’re not the versions of ourselves we want to be or that we sense we’re meant to be.

When we sense this, we’ve seen a deeper reality about ourselves that Jesus often spoke of. When our hearts turned away from God, they twisted in on themselves. Now we’re all distorted versions of who we’re meant to be, and we can’t get ourselves out of it. We need Jesus’s ransom.

What Tim was, imperfectly, Christ has always been, fully and completely. Jesus is ‘the true and better’ Keller.

Jesus’s death represents the necessary payment for what we’ve gotten ourselves into. Death is not simply the natural expiration of our lives; it’s a form of spiritual reckoning. Death is more than physical; it’s spiritual. And it’s that deeper spiritual death Jesus has come to free us from by taking death on himself, on our behalf, in our place. By absorbing in himself all the consequences of our own sin and distortedness, by taking on our death, he’s inviting us to come and receive the new life he offers.

Will You Find Freedom?

He’s inviting us to find true and ultimate freedom in him. Freedom from all that binds us. All we need to do is come to him. To put our faith in him. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). All we need to do is come to Jesus. It’s all we can do.

Tim was an extraordinary servant. But he was an extraordinary servant because he’d let Jesus serve him. It was being served by Christ that enabled him to serve so many of us so beautifully. Will you let Jesus serve you today—this afternoon, this very moment? Will you lay aside your pride, your sense of independence, or maybe even your sense of despair? He stands ready to come into your life, to receive you, and to serve you.