There are times as a teacher of the Word and preacher of the gospel when I envy the gifted storytellers, who can tell an entertaining story, keeping us at rapt attention, conveying biblical truth while telling us about that time when Aunt June left her roast on the counter and the dog ate it! [I made that up. As a fun game, try to come up with a biblical truth that could be illustrated by that situation.]
I wonder, though, at the usefulness of such illustrations. Sure, we all like them, but we all like candy, too, and few would suggest that we hand out Snickers bars every sermon. That's a silly example, but it demonstrates that liking something doesn't make it profitable. Paul warns us of that in 2 Timothy 4:3, predicting that people will abandon what they need to hear for what they want to hear.
I gave a sermon several months ago in which I used my predilection for Burger King Whoppers as an illustration. It was, I think, a good illustration of the topic at hand, and it turned out to be fairly amusing. In fact, I got some of the most enthusiastic responses to that sermon as I have for any sermon I've given. It felt good for people to say they liked what I said. Some would count that as having being successful.
As I reflected on it, however, I decided the opposite was true. Sure, people seemed to enjoy it, and I got lots of nice comments, but all the comments were about Whoppers! Now, I may need to review the text, but I'm pretty sure none of my main points were about flame-broiled fast food. In fact, for those of you who still remember that I talked about Whoppers, what was the passage? What was the main point?
We've all seen commercials that stick with us because they are funny or have a cool catch phrase or are just awesome, but when asked we have no idea what product the commercial was selling. That is a failed commercial: spending millions of dollars to have people not know what you're selling. It's the same way with my Whopper sermon, or with any sermon after which people leave talking about Aunt June's poor roast and that wacky dog instead of the Word of God and it's affect on our lives.
I'm not dismissing the role of a well-used illustration [I just used one], and I'm quite willing to accept it's my lack of skill in using them [I didn't say it was well-used] that causes as many problems as anything.
So turning to Paul's advise to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, I've given myself two assignments as I reflect on these things:
1) Learn what it means to preach the word in season and out, reproving, rebuking and exhorting with complete patience and teaching, being sober-minder, doing the work of an evangelist. Those are the main characteristics my preaching should have. Teaching involves communicating effectively, which involves illustration, but never let me be satisfied to entertain! I pray that I would always be bothered when people compliment me on Whoppers instead of the Word.
2) Learn what it means to crave sound teaching rather than seeking what I want to hear. I pray that nobody could ever say that about me. I pray that I would never give a preacher the impression that I am satisfied with anything less than the solid food of the Word. I pray that anything less would leave me empty and unsatisfied, that it would leave a bad taste in my mouth, as entertaining as it may be.
Now, if you'll excuse me, Aunt June's dog is eating my Whopper.
Press on!
Greg