Don't Give Them Art Supplies, Draw Them Pictures Instead

Friends,

It is my aim in this blog to discuss the topic of illustrations in sermons. I do so having always felt that some of the best knowledge we receive on any given topic comes from those who have so miserably failed in their endeavors and yet achieved some success. My physics teacher in high school explained to me the workings of a light bulb, but I have no doubt I would have learned more from Edison. The theory would be the same between both men, but only Edison can teach from the advantage of success by failure. If I were caught in the sin of adultery, I would seek counsel from David, not Moses. Therefore, as I write on the topic of sermon illustrations in this blog, I feel I can speak about it usefully. For the coarse grains of dry sand have more than once filled my mouth in preaching. It was once my practice, as it is practice with many conservative, Bible believing pastors, to believe they are being most true to the Word when they are delivering only the raw meat of God’s truth. It is my suggestion that the preacher’s task is not to deliver raw meat, raw facts, raw data to his congregation. Rather, I suggest it is the preacher’s task to draw his congregation the picture of God’s truth, to prepare the meat of God’s Word to be eaten. God in grace has sprinkled my lips and tongue with milk and honey to the point that while I still count myself as one in the wilderness regarding sermon illustrations, my mind knows there is a better land and to that land I strive. I suppose I am saying that from my failures I have some credit to speak on this topic. Nevertheless there is a gorge we need to bridge before continuing as it pertains to content and delivery.

Content and Delivery
I’m going to make a statement at this point and we will see where the chips fall. It is often said that content is more important than delivery, but I believe delivery is as important as content. To be sure, if the content isn’t biblically square, the delivery means nothing because the whole road of the sermon is crooked. But when the content is biblically square, delivery means everything, for the aim of God in preaching is missed, even if one has their land level and the materials ready, if the road itself isn’t ultimately laid.

To test my hypothesis in yourself I bid you to answer the questions "is it the preacher’s task to deliver a book report from the Bible or to be a herald of Christ’s gospel?" and "Is a preacher one and the same thing as a professor?" Is this preaching in worldly wisdom, the very thing Paul rebuked in his Corinthian epistles? No. Paul was rebuking using worldly wisdom for preachers to win listeners to themselves instead of Christ. This, to be sure, misses the mark. When illustrations are used in preaching for the sake of leading people to Christ according to His truth one is not relying on worldly wisdom but merely using the gifts God has given them while resting in the power of the gospel proclaimed. After all, our Lord Himself used illustrations so copiously that one cannot find a single sermon of his that was not ripe with illustrations.

There is, of course, the Edwards and MacArthur edict against sermon illustrations. Some say these men do not use illustrations and God uses their sermons in a powerful way. They will go on to say that Edwards read from a manuscript and spoke in a monotone voice. And, while not using a monotone voice, if one has ever seen MacArthur preach in his home church, he generally keeps his head down and reads the whole time. So, according to the thought, these men don’t use illustrations and God uses them powerfully in preaching, so why should we? You know, I really believe people who think such things of Edwards and MacArthur must have never heard them preach. For example, in MacArthur’s sermon of 2 Timothy 4:3-5 (which, of all texts we would expect him to not use "worldly illustrations"), if one counts his cross references, personal experiences, hypotheticals, comparatives and graphic descriptions he used over 200 illustrations in a single sermon! And to say the Edwards did not use them is simply preposterous. In fact, I believe Edwards is one of the single best illustrating preachers of all time. Take for example this snippet from his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." "O sinner, you hang over the pit of Hell by a slender thread, like a spider over a burning fire; the flames of divine wrath thrashing about it ready to singe it at any moment and drop you in the pit." In this single sentence Edwards used 11 illustrations. Time and length fail us to consider the illustrations used by Spurgeon and Lee and other great preachers. In fact, I believe the case can be made that all the prophets and all the apostles used illustrations freely, regularly and with great power. It behooves us, then, to accept that illustrations are a vital component of sermon delivery. I would like to talk about a particular type of illustration that all of these great preachers used for the remainder of this blog.

Word Pictures
Illustrations come in various sizes and shapes. They can be historical, personal, scientific, etc. Virtually any story or fact that can be used to magnify the truth of Scripture can be used as an illustration, provided it is a story or fact within the realm of Christian civility and etiquette. There is a particular type of illustration that I believe is the king of all illustrations and that is the illustration of a word picture.

A word picture is nothing more and nothing less than the truth of God’s Word expressed graphically. It differs from historical illustrations or personal stories (both of which have their place) in the sense that while these two provide mental support for knowing God's truth, word pictures draw those truths for the mind's eye to see. We find these all over Scripture and the best way to define them is to simply list a few by contrast. For example, when James is teaching about the dangers of teaching and the dangers of words, he desires for his people to understand that one must be critically careful about what they say at all times and in all things. He teaches that our words convey our hearts and our words condemn us or justify us. In technical language he simply could have told his people: do not speak wrongly but with a right heart speak purely. Instead, his uses word pictures to drive this truth home. He says in James 3:3-6, Now when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide the whole animal. And consider ships: though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So too, thought the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our bodies; it pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. By these words James invites us to see things such as a horse's bit, a rudder, a fire, a world in such a way that amplifies his overarching message.

A scant review of God’s Word will reveal that the Bible is pregnant with word pictures (and, yes, this sentence is a word picture).

Using Word Pictures

So how does one come to use word pictures in their own preaching? I would suggest the following.

First, attempt to visualize the word pictures of the Bible in your own personal devotions and preaching. For example, when you read in Scripture that Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, instead of having words like "propitiation," "atonement" and "justification" fill your thinking and preaching, quite literally imagine a Lamb, pure, spotless and innocent being delivered unto the priests. Envision the knife cutting it’s throat and consider the blood that pours forth. View in your mind’s eye the laying of hands of the Lamb by which one’s sin was placed upon the sacrifice. Do the same with the writings of the prophets, the parables of Christ and all of Scripture. By these efforts you can train yourself to see truth graphically and over time will be able to transfer those thoughts into your preaching. One of my favorite biblical word pictures is drawing for my audience a picture of the event when God made His covenant with Abraham.

Secondly, while using the Bible as your primary source of seeing and developing your own word pictures, read works from pastors who are well crafted in this trade. The Puritans knew how to use word pictures better than most. Spurgeon, Edwards, Lee and many others are also well versed in using them.

Thirdly, develop a habit of mentally recording events you see in the world and then, using your imagination, relate these matters in your sermon (and yes, preachers can and should use their imaginations in preaching- it is poor preacher who has no imagination or else refuses to use what they have). For example, nature itself is filled with events for word pictures in preaching (and Jesus used many of these). But, nearly everything can be used that we see around us. The key is to always use word pictures that are familiar to our people. A congregation in a rural setting will get agricultural word pictures easily whereas they might not get one about subways as easily. The converse is also true.

Fourthly, deliberately try to present the best word picture in preaching. This takes some labor and effort, especially at first, but will become more natural over time. Write or type out your first thought and then continually refine it until it makes the greatest impact.

Fifthly, be liberal with word pictures, but avoid overuse. There is no criteria to tell when this is or is not enough. Jesus often gave word pictures in sets of threes. This is not to say we should all use sets of threes, it is simply to say that word pictures should be copious enough to expose the truth from different angles, but not so much that it overburdens and confuses the listener.

Sixth, determine when a word picture is useful and when it is not. Let’s take the Scripture of Genesis 2:16 as an example. The text reads, And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die." A preacher could, prudently and astutely, teach the truth of this passage as a theologically treatise. He could, if he desired, spend the whole sermon developing a theology of sin and its consequence. Or, a preacher could seek a way to encapsulate all of that theology and teaching into one succinct statement or paragraph, allowing the rest of the time to draw His hearers to the glory of Christ crucified. The best way he could accomplish this latter goal and still fulfill the former comes via the use of word pictures. Let me give a brief example of how each style would look and preach.
Without Word Pictures: "God had filled the Garden of Eden with everything man needed. He gave him plenty of trees to eat from and allowed him to enjoy the blessings of harmonious existence directly with His Creator. God only gave one command to man and forbid him from eating one tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He promised man that if man ate of that tree, man would die. This death is a spiritual death, a disruption of peaceful communion with God. This spiritual death would lead to physical death, so that if man sinned against God he was sure to die in every way."

Now, in and of itself this would be a very accurate interpretation and there is nothing wrong with preaching the text in this way. Observe, however, how different the message becomes when word pictures are used.

With Word Pictures: "God gave our ancestors Adam and Eve an absolute treasure chest of plenty. Everything they could desire was placed within their finger’s reach and they could have it without bearing one single drop of sweat on their brows. Their environment was pristine, as was their souls. But Adam and Eve were not holy, they were innocent. And before being proved either holy or defiled they would need to be tested. Therefore God put before them a "No Trespassing" sign, a sign that simply read, "You Must Not Eat of This Tree." God’s command was as ultimate as His offer was free- "obey Me and life, defy Me and die." There are no compromises in the command. Purely, plainly, man was not to crave the tree, nibble from the tree or eat from the tree. If he put his heart upon it and extended his hand to it and placed its produce upon his mouth, he would effectively be spitting in the face of God. He would be divorced and torn in two from His Maker. His life would be sit to walk over the rotten planks of a bridge that spanned a river of fire. Obedience meant abundant life, disobedience meant sure death. It is no slight offense to have pride rise from your heart and fill your mouth with gall and spit in the face of God by disobedience. Does He lack holiness that we would dare do so? Does He lack power and sight that we believe He will not see and if He does He has no justice for us to answer to? Does He lack grace that He would withhold from us every good thing? Friends, it is no small thing to say "no" to God- for he who sins shall most surely die.

One way you can determine if your word picture was useful is to compare both ways of preaching it and see what you most remember. I’ll leave it to your judgment to see what you remembered most about the above two comparisons.

Seventh, always consider a dry, dull, lifeless sermon a sin. Draw pictures, don't give them art supplies.

Blessings,
TJ