I’m very grateful that Redeemer has decided to put a whole bunch of new sermons outside their pay wall. The value isn’t just there in terms of putting a bunch of great sermons into the public sphere for people to listen to for their own education and edification, but also for reference and study for preachers who want to develop their craft.

I’ve never been one to complain about the $2.50 Redeemer charged per sermon. I always thought it was fair and a good value, but what it meant was that I couldn’t easily refer a sermon to someone for whom the prospect of downloading and listening to a sermon was tenuous on that level, never mind suggesting that they pay for it or if I pay for it having them feel a bit obligated by the embarrassment that I had paid for something for them. Having the sermon simply be a free download lowers the barrier and the perceived stakes involved. Even though the money was always small, in terms of the Internet culture it presented a bit of a complication. I wanted to honor Redeemer’s right to charge (and therefore not just copy the mp3) but also not encumber or complicate a less committed listener by adding pressure by buying something for them.

It also exposes Keller’s body of work to easier cataloging and public study. I can now list and link more of his stuff on my blog and have people not hesitate to download the free sermon and get it onto their hard drive. They might not listen right away but if it is there the chances they will listen at some point are greater.

I’ve downloaded Keller’s sermons weekly for over three year now but when I decided that I would pay the 2.50 a week I decided I wouldn’t also work my way backwards and start buying old ones. I have bought select old ones usually if I wanted a take on something . What I’ve noticed in listening to older ones is a sense of the development of the preacher that Keller is.

Studying preachers through time is interesting. Preaching is such an individual thing (“truth poured through personality” as the saying goes) yet we all learn from each other and there is real value in deciding to study someone you find helpful in a more indepth way. I know Keller is used a lot for this. Having a select yet more longitudinal corpus of his work available lets us not only study the state of his craft but also the development of it. It is interesting listening to both how he has tinkered with his methods (not a lot really, far less than I have in my much briefer preaching career) but also see how changes in culture and his own aging and experience impacts the product.

I think by releasing these sermons Redeemer has done a real service.