Preach The Word

Aaron Massey: Pastor Chuck Swindoll is a master at using illustrations in his sermons. They make his messages memorable and captivating. Thankfully, Chuck has a lot of insights on how to use illustrations well. In this video, I want to share a few of his tips so that you can illustrate well in your sermons. First, though, I want you to hear from Chuck on this essential component. Here's a clip from his series through Romans.

Chuck Swindoll: The body of John Milton Gregory lies buried beneath the sod at the campus of the University of Illinois. The great old 19th-century educator spent his life in higher education, and 14 years before his death, he left, in my opinion, his finest legacy of all the things he left for us to enjoy. It is a little book, not that impressive to look at, not that large in size, but mine is well-worn and often read. It's entitled The Seven Laws of Teaching, in which John Milton Gregory names those laws that help the one who teaches connect best with those who hear or read the speaker or the writer's words.

These laws are the salient points of good communication, and sometimes I go back to the old book just to review, to see if I'm staying on target. I was reminded again this week of the fourth of the seven laws that says truth to be taught must be learned through truth already known. We all learn the new and the unfamiliar from the old and the familiar.

Knowledge is not a mass of information dumped into the creases of our brains suddenly by a person who gives us information, and then we have it grasped and now applied. It doesn't work like that. I think of knowledge as links in a chain connected by stories, similes, allegories, analogies, illustrations that tie us in with the familiar, and based on the familiar, those links connect and lead us to the less or not familiar at all information.

I think it was Spurgeon who first described a sermon as a house and the illustrations are the windows that let in the light. A house without windows is a prison, and a message without illustrations is dull and boring and disconnected because we need the familiar to tie in so that we can move toward the unfamiliar. Illustrations, writes John R.W. Stott, transform the abstract into the concrete, the ancient into the modern, the unfamiliar into the familiar, the general into the particular, the vague into the precise, the unreal into the real, the invisible into the visible.

The best communicators turn ears into eyes, enabling the hearer to see what is being spoken. Isn't that the truth? We listen to someone as they are teaching and they are connecting with us, and we say to ourselves, "I see it." Actually, you only heard it, but what enabled you to see it was your imagination. Within your mind, the lights were turned on by the use of story or example or illustration. Truth to be taught must be learned through truth already known.

Aaron Massey: That alone would be enough to stop and chew on this week, but we have a few more insights to offer. Let me mention, I'm Aaron Massey. It's my joy to serve at Insight for Living and to bring you this special Preach the Word series. Through it, we're offering insights on preaching based on the preaching of Chuck Swindoll.

With illustrations, he's got lots of insights, and we can't go over all of them, but there are a few key ones to mention. If I were to boil it down to one principle, it would be this: Illustrate frequently without making illustrations your point. I'm taking that principle from Chuck's book called Saying It Well. If you don't own a copy, I highly recommend you get it for your library. It's like a manual for preaching where he also goes into his journey as a preacher. Trust me, you will not be able to put it down.

In it, Chuck writes this: "I can't imagine preaching without using illustrations. Those who don't illustrate are saying, in essence, I don't care if you don't understand, that's your problem. That may sound overly harsh, but I actually heard a seminary professor say to students, you're speaking to a lot of people who don't think very deeply. That's their problem."

That was many years ago. Today, I would be tempted to push him aside, take over the class, and say, no, actually, as a proclaimer of the truth, you must make the audience's shortcomings your problem. It's your job to help them understand God's truth and to think deeply. You can hear how important this is to him. The need to illustrate is a strong conviction with Chuck because it's a loving thing to do as a preacher.

For many preachers, it's easier and takes less work and is more personally interesting to just stand behind the pulpit and unload the theological dump truck. It's all great stuff, but it's too heavy to carry and there's too much to carry, so folks walk away with nothing. But then some preachers discover the power of illustrations and they become intoxicated by it. They see how it compels attention, how it creates laughter, and how it cultivates connection. They err by making illustrations the whole message, neglecting to offer biblical substance.

Chuck says this: "While I make copious use of illustrations in every message, I want to be careful not to leave the wrong impression. The illustrations are not the message. They merely convey the message. We have to be careful not to let our illustrations take over." That would be the main takeaway: Illustrate frequently without making illustrations your point. I also want to share Chuck's six occasions for illustrating, but before I do, I want you to see how Chuck does it. Here's an illustration from his series on Nehemiah.

Chuck Swindoll: Mrs. Monroe lives in Darlington, Maryland. She's the mother of eight children, and except for a few interesting experiences, she's just like any other mother across America. One experience was so unique that John Haggai put it in his book How to Win Over Worry. She came home one afternoon from the grocery store and walked into her home, and everything looked pretty much the same, though it was a little bit quieter than usual.

She looked into the middle of the living room and five of her darlings were sitting around in a circle, exceedingly quiet, doing something with something in the middle of the circle. She put down the sacks of groceries and walked over closely and looked and saw that they were playing with five of the cutest skunks you can imagine. She was instantly terrified and she said, "Run, children, run!" And each child grabbed a skunk and ran in five different directions.

One went into the bedroom, one went into the kitchen, one went into the bathroom, another stayed pretty close, and she was beside herself and screamed louder, more frantically, with great gusto, and it so scared the children that each one squeezed his skunk. As the writer put it, skunks don't like to be squeezed. When I read that story that Haggai mentions in his book, I cannot help but think of Nehemiah. You may wonder, why in the world does that remind me of Nehemiah?

I think Nehemiah is just like Mrs. Monroe. He took on a project that had all the appearance of being harmless and innocent and simple and quiet. I mean, what could be very exciting about building a wall around a city? Every city ought to have a wall, at least cities that were built in that day, and it seemed as though he would be able to go and in the passing of just a very few weeks have the wall built and go back to the capital there in Persia and take up where he left off, but not so. He looked over the shoulders of those workmen, if you please, and he found all of a sudden a can of worms, or if I could press it, a real problem with a stink.

Aaron Massey: You can see how he got the attention and interest of his hearers and then tied it straight to the text. It's a good example of illustrating without making the illustration your point. Chuck has six key reasons, occasions you may want to illustrate.

First, you may want to use an illustration or a story to introduce your message. That's what Chuck did in Nehemiah. Second, if you're making an important point, then you might want to pause and take time to illustrate so that it can be more memorable. Third, sometimes the Bible is just confusing because we are so distant from the culture and language of its authors, so illustrations are vital for clarifying the mysterious and obscure.

Fourth, Chuck says to illustrate to show the relevance of something. For example, what does life look like if we don't pray? In what way is life better if we do pray? And then you just give them an example. This fourth reason puts flesh on your point. Fifth, since the Bible is so full of history, you may want to use illustrations to elucidate what you're preaching on. For example, you might want to quote Herodotus if you're preaching through Esther. King Xerxes makes some bad decisions in Esther, and it would be good to mention that Herodotus probably jokingly said that Persians don't make any decisions unless they're drunk.

Sixth and final, Chuck says to illustrate in order to kindle the emotions. A modern example of your point in action has a way of motivating people. They see the proof of your point at work. Those are Chuck's six key reasons for using illustrations. Again, these are from his book Saying It Well, and he goes a lot deeper in his chapter on illustrations. To close, I want you to hear him do it one more time. As you listen, notice how Chuck states his point, offers a brief explanation, and then illustrates it to make it memorable.

Chuck Swindoll: Second, good leaders are not people-pleasers. That's in verse four: "But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak." Here's the negative: "Not as pleasing men, but God." A sure sign of personal insecurity is wanting to be liked by everyone, peace at any price, remaining neutral lest someone be offended or someone in the group feel alienated, telling people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.

Paul said as you look back over those weeks I was with you, you can't name a time that what I did was prompted by wanting to be liked. I wanted to be right. I'll tell you an experience of my own life that I refer back to on a number of occasions and maybe have mentioned before. I was serving another church and I was caught in the middle. We say in Texas, between a rock and a hard place.

There were seven of us on the elder board: three were voting in one direction, three were voting in another, and they reminded me that whenever there was a tie, the pastor cast the deciding vote. I was caught there. I would not win. I remember we took a 24-hour break so that I could screw up the courage to do what I ought to do. As I look back, I think that was probably what prompted them to do that.

I went home and said to Cynthia, "I'm going to spend some time alone. I'm going to spend the night at such and such a place." I had a good friend who was a pharmaceutical salesman and I knew where he was on the road and he was an awfully wise individual and I thought I would spend some time in prayer with him and some counsel. But on the way there, I was reading my Bible. I drove a little Volkswagen at the time. I remember propping my Bible up on the steering wheel.

People love it when they hear that story that I'm driving along reading from the Bible in Galatians. I got to Galatians 1 and verse 10. You've got to turn to it. I pulled off the road, pulled off the shoulder of the road, and I read it aloud about five times. And I thought, if this isn't a direct answer from God, I don't know what is. Listen to 1:10 of Galatians: "Am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ."

By the way, Paul used to be a man-pleaser. That's why he says "still." If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant. You cannot be a faithful bondservant of Christ and spend your life making people happy, telling people what they want to hear. Back to First Thessalonians. I turned around. I never went to my planned destination. I drove into the driveway and Cynthia met me at the door and was surprised.

I said, "I know exactly what I need to do. I know what my heart's telling me and I just didn't want three of the men not to like me." And I was told, by the way, by the board that I could easily split the church depending on how I voted. That's always encouraging when you hear that from one of your friends. Not only did we not split the church, our church doubled in about the next two to two and a half years. I realized that I needed to please God.

Aaron Massey: That's it for this video. If you're not one to use many illustrations, I hope this gave you fresh inspiration for doing so. Again, I'm Aaron with Insight for Living, and it's our privilege and joy to serve you as you lead God's people and preach His word. Before we go, let me point you to a few resources.

First, be sure to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and check out our Preach the Word playlist where we're posting Chuck's best insights on this important calling. Second, if you don't own a copy of Chuck's book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend it. We just got a whole shipload in stock, so you can order them from us at Insight for Living. It's a practical preaching manual where he goes into his journey as a preacher. You'll love it.

Insight for Living has a section on our website for church leaders where you can find hundreds of articles and sign up for our weekly email bringing you an insight from Chuck. One week you'll get a technical tip for preaching, and the next you may get a biblical principle for shepherding. Find all the info you need in the description. Thank you so much for listening. Preach the word and say it well.