We don’t have to dress up the “gospel” or use gimmicks, like cantaloupes below, to help people understand what we are trying to say. I am not against using illustrations. But, I think sometimes we go too far, just like reference to cantaloupes below.
I like John MacArthur’s philosophy of preaching and using illustrations. When he needs to illustrate a point in his sermon, he will use an illustration from another part of the Bible. I realize that some people in our churches may not know and remember all of the characters/situations in the Bible and therefore couldn’t relate to an illustration from Scripture. But, that is also an opportunity for us to ask them to find the illustration in the their Bible which will assist them in getting more familiar with the word of God.
Kenny
(In the promo material below for Ed Young, it confuses me to read “that trust is always tethered to tangible things”.)
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(Promotional material for a person to purchase a sermon series by Ed Young, Jr.)
Cantaloupe (from- http://www.edyoung.com/)
Trusting God with our resources
God gives everyone a certain pile of cantaloupes—the fruit of his blessing in our lives. And he asks us to trust him when it comes to managing that fruit. But trust is not a one time choice. It is a decision followed by a process. Using Proverbs 3 as the foundation, Ed Young shows us that trust is always tethered to tangible things. And when we choose to trust God everyday with everything we have, we will discover the joy of investing our cantaloupe in his eternal work.
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From Kenny:
C. H. Spurgeon, once said:
'I fear there are some who preach with the view of amusing men, and as long as people can be gathered in crowds, and their ears can be tickled, and they can retire pleased with what they have heard, the orator is content, and folds his hands, and goes back self-satisfied.
But Paul did not lay himself out to please the public and collect the crowd. If he did not save them he felt that it was of no avail to interest them. Unless the truth had pierced their hearts, affected their lives, and made new men of them, Paul would have gone home crying, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"...
Now observe, brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned?
Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved?
Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he is on the left hand of the judge, and if still, "Depart, ye cursed," shall be his portion?'"
["Soul Saving Our One Business," The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 25 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1879), 674-76.]
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John MacArthur: Adapted from: John MacArthur, The Truth War
"Biblical ignorance within the church may well be deeper and more widespread than at any other time since the Protestant Reformation. If you doubt that, compare the typical sermon of today with a randomly chosen published sermon from any leading evangelical preacher prior to 1850. Also compare today's Christian literature with almost anything published by evangelical publishing houses a hundred years or more ago. [Some] Bible teaching [and preaching]has been deliberately dumbed-down, made as broad and as shallow as possible, oversimplified, adapted to the lowest common denominator---and then tailored to appeal to people with short attention spans.
Sermons are [sometimes] brief, simplistic, overlaid with as many references to pop culture as possible, and laden with anecdotes and illustration. (Jokes and funny stories drawn from personal experience are favored over cross-references and analogies borrowed from Scripture itself.)
Typical sermon topics are heavily weighted in favor of man-centered issues (such as personal relationships, successful living, self-esteem, how-to lists, and so on)---to the exclusion of the many Christ-exalting doctrinal themes of Scripture."
