Why Use Illustrations?
An illustration has been described as a door through which
the hearer passes to understanding. While perhaps an
oversimplification, it nevertheless captures the essence of
the concept. In an illustration, the preacher attempts to
relate the truth (the unknown) that he hopes to teach to
the hearer’s experience (the known) in a manner that
enables the hearer to accept the truth and act upon it. Put
differently, an illustration enables the hearers to accept
truth because they recognize it in their own experience.
For example, Jesus taught the nature of the kingdom (truth)
by comparing it with a pearl of great price (the hearers’
experience). In doing so, he neither diminished divine
truth nor deified experience. He used experience to
demonstrate truth.
Some have suggested as a general rule that if the preacher
can’t illustrate a point, he shouldn’t preach it. This does
not mean that God cannot or will not use preaching that
neglects illustration. Nor does it mean that every point
must be illustrated. It does mean that if the preacher
cannot think of an illustration of the point that he is
preaching, that point may at best be irrelevant. At worst
it may be untrue.
Sermons without illustrations do not appeal to the
imagination, one of the greatest gifts with which God
endowed mankind. Imagination makes the invisible, visible.
Illustrations make the abstract, concrete; the ancient,
modern; the unfamiliar, familiar; the general, specific;
and the vague, unambiguous. Illustrations recognize the
nature of the mind – it is not so much a forum for debate
as it is a gallery for pictures, in which metaphors,
similes, parables, etc. are displayed.
When illustrations are based upon the hearer’s life
experience (which is the hearer’s reality), the hearer is
convinced (by persuasion, common sense, or logic) that the
truth illustrated is also reality. For this reason,
illustrations must be true to life. Hearers will not
recognize their experience in inaccurate illustrations that
do not honestly depict how they act or feel. As a result,
the hearers will conclude that the preacher misunderstands
them and cannot identify with their experience.
Consequently, they will not listen.
In thinking about his sermon, the preacher should ask,
“What difference does it make?” If there is no meaningful
answer to that question, he will do better to select a
different subject that will make a difference. If there is
a meaningful answer to that question, he may be close to a
good illustration. A good illustration has been likened to
a window through which the hearer is enabled to “see” the
truth. A preacher who uses too many illustrations creates a
glass house (all windows, no walls) that blinds from glare.
The preacher who uses too few illustrations creates a
prison (all walls, no windows) that no hearer enters
voluntarily or enjoys. A wise preacher remembers the
Oriental proverb that speaks powerfully to the wisdom of
properly illustrating a sermon: “He is the eloquent man who
turns his hearers’ ears into eyes, and makes them see what
he speaks of.”