Two weeks ago I ransacked some well-known preaching books to see what they had to say about sermon illustrations. My summary conviction was: illustrations are dangerously valuable. It’s a paradox preachers need to feel.
That sermon illustrations are valuable is a point which needs little convincing. Preachers and congregations alike know how powerful and helpful a well-timed illustration can be. When delivered rightly and thoughtfully illustrations amplify the truth of Scripture and bring it home to the hearers hearts.
Yet, I’m not sure many of us preachers give due consideration to the dangerous nature of illustration. How many stories and anecdotes can you remember from sermons of days gone by? Probably quite a few. But can you remember what given truth the illustration was illuminating? I can’t, and I’m pretty sure my experience isn’t unique. Martyn Lloyd-Jones captured this dangerous nature well when he said, “Stories and illustrations are only meant to illustrate truth, not to call attention to themselves.” He’s absolutely right, but making good on his counsel is dangerously difficult.
As I’ve thought about this dangerous value over the years I’ve settled on three cautionary statements to guide the preacher’s approach to illustration in preaching.
3 GUIDELINES AND GUARDRAILS
Don’t overillustrate. Last fall, for a seminary class on preaching, I had to review a series of sermons from several popular preachers. Among the many things that stood out to me was how many of the sermons felt bloated with illustrations. To make sure it wasn’t just my faulty perception I used an “Illustration Timer” to see how many minutes of the sermon was occupied with illustration. What I found was the average preacher was spending 45-55% of his sermon sharing stories or anecdotes. Now, I don’t think it’s wise to stipulate a certain percentage of a sermon that total illustration time can’t cross. But I think we can all agree that a 40 minute sermon ought not have 22 minutes of illustration. At that point we are asking our congregation’s soul to survive on Illustrative Cool Whip and not the red meat of God’s word.
Don’t overcomplicate. By overcomplicate I mean that our illustrations ought to get to the point clearly and quickly. It doesn’t seem wise to give a five minute story filled with many humorous – yet ultimately meaningless – puns before getting to the actual illustrative point. Such overcomplication runs the risk of overclouding not only the biblical truth to be amplified but also the illustrative connection as well. Let’s trim the illustrative fat from our stories.
This is one thing we can learn from Jesus’ tactics in illustration. His illustrations are regularly pithy and pointed. “But,” one might say, “what about the parables? Aren’t many of them examples of Jesus offering a long story to make a short, simple biblical point?” We would do well here to remember Jesus had a unique, prophecy fulfilling, purpose in teaching through parables: to harden already hard hearts (cf. Matt. 13:10-17; Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:9-10). As our Lord said in Matthew 13:13, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
One group of preachers I think we can glean much from on this point are the Puritans. Many people don’t realize how keen the Puritans were on illustration – plain illustration. They were masters of scattering short similes and metaphors throughout their sermons, and the simplicity never derails the exposition. I’ve spent a good portion of this year with George Swinnock and he embodies the Puritan model of plain simplicity in illustration. Spurgeon said of Swinnock, “[He] had the gift of illustration largely developed, as his works prove . . . they served his purpose, and made his teaching attractive.” Thomas Watson and Thomas Brooks are also wonderful, and probably more accessible, examples of not overcomplicating illustration.
Don’t overestimate. This one, for me at least, is the most important. We dare not overestimate the power contained in illustration. There is no inherent supernatural, soul-shaping power in our stories. But there is power in the gospel as it is the “power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). There is power in every word of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:14-17) as it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). We would do well to return to the apostolic model and, like Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:2-5, decide “to know nothing among our flock except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Let us be with our people “in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and our speech and our message be not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that their faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Not overestimating the power of illustration is helped when we don’t underestimate the power of God’s Spirit working through God’s word.