Of all the words in the English language, none is more welcome than the phrase "let me illustrate" or "for example" or "for instance." Men and women listening to abstract theological discussions respond with gratitude when they recognize that the preacher is going to take the abstract theological truth and bring it down into their lives. One major way of doing that is by the use of an anecdote or story or illustration. Many sermons are like a bag of confetti broadcast over a congregation. They are a group of tidbits, and they're not held together by any overriding generalization. But more often, we have generalizations that are not tied down to life. Good sermons go from abstractions to that which is concrete. From generalities to that which is specific. Illustrations are a way in which we can explain a truth, in which we can prove a truth, in which we can apply a truth. No one can really be an effective communicator unless he or she understands how illustrations work. And then they work illustrations as they preach or teach.

The right length for an illustration

People in the field of speech point out that there are two basic categories of illustrative material. One category of illustration is called a specific instance. A specific instance is a shorter illustration, usually a sentence or two in length. The other category of illustrative material is usually just called the illustration. And when it's in contrast to a specific instance, it refers to a longer story, a longer example, a longer illustration. Now, knowing the difference between a specific instance and an illustration wouldn't be important unless you understand how those two work in a sermon.

One way in which we emphasis a truth is by spending time on it. The way in which we deemphasize a truth is by not spending time on it. Therefore, when you're dealing with major points in your sermon, you want to spend time at that point, you want to talk about it, so that it will make an impression in people's minds. So when you're working with a longer point, you will use an illustration that is a story that might be a paragraph in length. But if you want to illustrate but you don't want that point to capture the audience's mind and lead them away from the major things you're saying, then you use a specific instance, an illustration that may be a sentence or two in length. So, when people in the field of communication are talking about illustrations, they point out that you use a specific instance for points that are less important, and you use illustrations for points that are more important.

Now from here on out, whether or not I'm talking about a specific instance or an illustration, I'm just going to use the term illustration to talk about illustrations in our sermons.

Three types of illustrations

Some illustrations explain truth. That's usually what we mean by an analogy. It seems to me that expository preachers are constantly working with analogies. In an analogy, I take a truth that's abstract and somewhat removed from life, and I explain it in terms that are concrete and specific and very much grounded in life. Let me illustrate. Dorothy Sayers, the mystery writer, was also a devoted Christian. Dorothy Sayers was attempting to explain the moral law of God. She pointed out that in our society there are two kinds of laws. There is the law of the stop sign, and there's the law of the fire. The law of the stop sign is a law that says the traffic is heavy on a certain street, and as a result the police department or the city council decides to erect a stop sign. They also decide that if you run that stop sign, it will cost you $25 or $30 or $35. If the traffic changes, they can up the ante. That is if too many people are running the stop sign, they can make the fine $50 or $75, or if they build a highway around the city, they can take the stop sign down, or reduce the penalty, making it only $10 if you go through. The police department or city council controls the law of the stop sign.

But then she said there is also the law of the fire. And the law of the fire says if you put your hand in the fire, you'll get burned. Now imagine that all of the legislatures of all the nations of the entire world gathered in one great assembly, and they voted unanimously that here on out that fire would no longer burn. The first man or woman who left that assembly and put his or her hand in the fire would discover that the law of the fire is different than the law of the stop sign. Bound up in the nature of fire itself is the penalty for abusing it. So, Dorothy Sayers says, the moral law of God is like the law of the fire. You never break God's laws; you just break yourself on them. God can't reduce the penalty, because the penalty for breaking the law is bound up in the law itself.

Now, whatever you may think of that illustration, I have never thought of the moral law of God since I heard it without thinking of stop signs and fires. An analogy is a way to explain a truth.

It's sometimes a way to prove it. That is, prove it psychologically, like when somebody says, "Oh, I see what you mean." Insight tends to win belief. When you make something clear to people, they tend to accept it. The Encyclopedia Britannica, I understand, tells its writers that nine out of ten people will take a clear statement to be a true statement. Illustrations have a way of making things clear, and thus winning acceptance.

Illustrations also apply the truth. In this case what we have are examples, to show the truth at work in someone's life.

Principles for illustrating

What are some of the principles that we ought to keep in mind when we use illustrations? Well, let me suggest a few.

The first is that an effective illustration ought to illustrate something. The verb illustrate is a transitive verb. That means it has an object. There's no such thing as a good illustration; there's only a good illustration of a particular truth. Therefore, we ought not to be storytellers; we ought to be illustrators. A storyteller tells an anecdote for its own sake; but we ought to use stories for the sake of the truth that we're trying to get across. Therefore, a good illustration illustrates a particular truth. So there's only a good illustration of an idea that I want to get across to the audience.

A second principle that should be observed when we use illustrations is that an illustration ought to center attention on the idea and not on itself. That grows out of what we've just been saying about illustrations. That is, a story should not be told for its own sake, but for what it illustrates.

There are two kinds of lights in the world. There is the ornamental lamp that you have in your living room, and there is the street light. Good illustrations are much more like streetlights. Ornamental lamps call attention to themselves. You see the lamp and say, "My, how beautiful." Streetlights don't do that. You hardly notice the streetlight. You simply see the street that the lamp lights up. Good illustrations throw their light upon the truth. They don't call attention to themselves.

Any preacher who knows the value of a story knows the temptation to tell a story because it's a good story. We tell it for the sake of the story and not for the sake of the truth. In fact sometimes if you're not careful, you'll discover that you'll insert a story in a sermon and you'll change your point to fit the story, rather than to be changing the story to fit your point. Whenever you do that, you're moving in the wrong direction. Your purpose is to get across truth. Therefore, illustrations should serve the truth and they ought not to shape the truth.

There is a third principle about illustration. Not only should they illustrate and center attention on the idea, but an effective illustration ought to be understandable. At the heart and core of illustrations is that we illustrate the unknown with the known. We go from the unfamiliar to the familiar. When you think about illustrations in the light of that basic principle, then there are some illustrations that will serve us better than others.

For example, illustrations that come out of your listeners' experience and come out of your own experience usually not only touch the mind, but they touch the emotions as well. Those are the stories that we usually call human interest stories, stories about dogs, about children, about babies, about the things that all of us have experienced. If I can get an illustration that grows out of my experience and that touches the experience of the congregation, I know that that illustration will not only carry the idea but make people feel the idea.

The second best kind of illustration would be an illustration that touched something that I had read about but something my audience had experienced. For example, if I was speaking to people in a farm community and I am not a farmer, I would try to illustrate in terms of my audience. I would want to talk about things they knew, they felt. I'd try to be careful in doing that, that what I said would make some sense to those people. But you're always trying to talk in terms of your audience's experience.

The third best kind of illustration would be one that I had experienced that my audience had only heard about. For example, I grew up in the ghetto of New York in an area called Harlem, a section of Harlem called Mousetown, one of the most violent sections in the entire United States. That area is very real to me. I can still smell the urine on the stairs. I can still see the garbage on the streets. I can still see the look of loneliness and frustration in the face of the people. Now, I can talk about Harlem and talk about it in a very emotional way, because it's very clear to me. It may be that when I talk to an audience that they've never been to a ghetto, but they've heard about it. And because it's real to me, as I tell the illustration, I can make it real to them.

The fourth realm of illustration is to talk about something I have read about that my audience has read about. That really is a very poor level of illustration. I'm talking about something that's distant from me and distant from them. For example, an illustration that came out of first century Rome might be a very poor illustration. It might make me sound very learned to know that about first century Rome, but I've never there and neither have the people to whom I am speaking. It would be better to get an illustration from a comic strip or from children than to get illustrations from the long ago and far away.

Unfortunately, there are some preachers who illustrate from something they have read about that the people in their congregation have never even heard about. And therefore they are involved in illustrating the unknown with the unknown.

Sometimes, biblical illustrations fall into that trap. If, for example, I'm preaching in the book of Romans, it's probably unwise to illustrate that from 1 Samuel, because most of my audience will not know 1 Samuel. If I do want to use a biblical illustration, then I'm going to spend time making people see it and feel it in order to be able to understand it.

Now the point of all of this is that an illustration should be understandable. We illustrate the unknown with the known. And the closer that we can get to people's experience—what they have done, what they have seen, what they have felt, what they have heard—the stronger the illustration will be.

Haddon Robinson was a preacher and teacher of preachers all over the world. His last teaching position was as the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.