When Sermon Illustrations Go Horribly Wrong
Everybody loves a great sermon illustration. I mean, that's why you're on this site right now, isn't it? A great illustration has the ability to drive home a point, make a lasting impression, and provide visual imagery that will linger in the minds of congregants long after the sermon is over.
But what happens when a sermon illustration goes terribly wrong — driving home the point, all right, just the wrong point driven in just the wrong place.
Well that's what happened to Pastor Scott Thomas of Free Life Chapel in Lakeland, Florida.
Cindy and I spoke on “Building A Marriage” and used a wedding cake for our illustration. To close the teaching, we stressed that if we build our marriages outside of God’s order… the whole cake (marriage) crashed!
All went well… until I slammed the cake upside down and SURPRISINGLY DISCOVERED that the cake company had implanted a dowel inside to hold the cake layers together.
When I slammed the cake upside-down the dowel pierced through the bottom of the cake and traveled completely through my hand! When I looked down… the dowel was sticking 5 inches out the back of my hand! I immediately pulled the stick out of my hand and tried to wrap my head around what just happened!
Cindy immediately slid me a towel… I wrapped my hand, finished the message and prayed to close out the session in the next 5 minutes.
Fortunately, Pastor Thomas is fine, with no lasting injury. And he and his wife were both able to laugh it off in the end. Yet it's an illustration that won't soon be forgotten.
Click here for video (ouch!).
As pastors and teachers we are all called to, "Do [our] best to present [ourselves] to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV).
To that end, we often employ sermon illustration to "drive home" our "point," even as Pastor Thomas so literally (albeit painfully) did. The right illustration can make just the right point at just the right time.
They won't all land quite the way we intended. They won't all be as memorable as we'd hoped. They certainly and hopefully won't be as painful as poor Pastor Thomas' was!
But a great bible teacher is always looking for ways to more dynamically communicate the truths of God's Word. To this end, if you've landed on this site, we applaud you! And we are blessed beyond measure to partner with you to that end!
Your Illustration Exchange Team
Ascend the Mountain with Jesus
Denver, Colorado is 5,276 feet above sea level, hence the nickname “Mile High City.”
The altitude there has been credited and blamed for the effects it has on unaware or unprepared visitors from lower elevations. People feel the effects of lower air pressure and decreased oxygen when they arrive; the same goes for visiting athletes.
Sure, they’re better conditioned than Joe or Jane Average, but they’re drawing more on the thin air in their competitive exertions. Many, if they’re honest, have stories to tell about needing rather quickly to find their second wind and taking a few days to acclimate enough that their performances don’t suffer.
Such teams as the Nuggets, Avalanche, Broncos, and Rockies actually employ marketing schemes to plant seeds doubt in visiting teams, amplifying the disadvantages posed to those athletes who are not properly altitude trained. For example, at Ball Arena, there is signage where visiting teams enter and exit noting the city’s altitude. The numbers 5,280 are printed right on the court, near each free-throw line. The video board during introductions welcomes the road team with an ominous warning about the difficulty in catching one’s breath. Then, there are large, hazard-orange-and-black placards on display (“Attention: Altitude Warning/Low Oxygen”).
In fact, the intimidating marketing is right there in the name ... "Empower Field" at "Mile High Stadium"!
In response, we often see oxygen tanks used on the visiting teams’ sidelines to help them try to catch their breath.
There is a whole school of athletic training based on high-altitude workouts. Olympic athletes routinely seek out facilities in Denver and Colorado Springs to boost their oxygen efficiency, and countless trainers and gyms simulate the effects with dedicated breathing equipment.
In Matthew 5, we see the Lord ascend up the mountainside to preach his most famous, and frankly, one of his most challenging sermons — aptly named the Sermon on the Mount. He wasn't bringing a milquetoast message of "peace, love, and hippy beads." No, he was bringing a challenging message of radical transformation which was not for the faint of heart and would require spiritual training and preparedness.
The disciples went up the mountain with Jesus. To go up the mountain is to risk one’s balance: our ears might pop; we might get dizzy; we might trip. We might hear something we cannot handle. Making the climb is the first step, and it is already a commitment. Staying on the summit and realizing we could do even more requires more courage, and letting that experience transform us, transfigure us, can be scarier still. But the effort is worthwhile. The vista is gorgeous.
To receive this kind of message we must spiritually train to make the best use of the "air" up there — Jesus' words of truth and life. Afterall, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV).
Playing Blind
Jasen Bracy always wanted to play football, but retinal cancer he developed as a toddler took his eyesight by the time he was age 7. How could he play a fast-paced contact sport like football if he couldn't see?
This was the question before him. Yet young Jasen would not be dissauded. As he got older, he began calling around to different youth leagues to see if there were any teams that would take a chance on a kid who was sold out to following and relying on the guidance and direction of others to make his dreams come true. He found just such a team in the Modesto Raiders.
"The way he was on the phone, I just said, 'Come on we'll figure it out,'" coach David Nichols told CBS News.
Jasen started out as a running back, but soon advanced to ... wait for it ... quarterback!
"It's all memory," Jasen said. "It's all about having trust in the player, the receiver and the team. I have to trust them 100%.
Upworthy reports:
Bracy's teammates guide him into position on the field and his dad coaches him from the sidelines using a walkie-talkie that transmits to his helmet. "After the play starts, I may tell him, 'Hey, run to your right, let's get upfield,' or 'Watch out, somebody's coming to hit you,'" Bracy Sr. said.
All that trust, all that deep leaning into guidance and direction seems to have paid off. Not long after, Bracy led the Raiders to a 33-6 win.
You do not need to be sighted to walk in the ways of the Lord. It is not our eyes, but the "eyes of our hearts" that we need opened. When we trust in His Word, His will, and his ways, our path will always be clear. His eye and His mighty hand will guide us! As He says in His word, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalms 32:8, ESV).
Commit to the Lord's guidance, and commit His Word to your memory. Follow Jasen's example, "It's all about memory ... It's all about having trust ... [You] have to trust [Him] 100%."
"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand" (Psalms 37: 23-24, ESV).
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV).