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This is part one of a two-part series. To read part two, click here.

Preaching experts sometimes advise, "Don't use 'canned' illustrations." Canned is a pejorative term applied to illustrations that come from a sermon illustration book, online site, or magazine. A "canned" illustration did not originate with you. It is someone else's material, found in the media, perhaps with ready-made sermon application. "Canned" suggests that the illustration is not fresh. It is secondhand, processed. The preacher cannot escape two or more degrees of separation.

Although the intent of the advice is good, it is undiscriminating. Taken to its logical conclusion, it implies that any illustration that does not originate in personal experience is unfit. That rules out historical illustrations. That precludes illustrations from television programs, TV and radio newscasts, newsmagazines, newspapers, literature and other books. That bars all third-person illustrations. If the characteristic that makes a third-person illustration "canned" is that it did not come from one's own experience, that means we should not use even stories from the Bible!

Obviously no one advocates excluding all third-person illustrations. Even those who deride "canned" illustrations will illustrate in ways such as: "I saw an amazing story in the newspaper this morning." Or, "At a family gathering last month my brother told me something I will never forget." Or, "I read an interview in Time magazine recently in which Bono, lead singer in U2, said." Or, "Recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that those who go through divorce are." Or, "In a recent ad, Madonna said. But Scripture says."

In all these examples, the only thing that makes the content personal is the preacher saw or heard it himself, not that he personally experienced it. Is that really any different in nature than if he read that identical story or statistic from USA Today in a sermon-illustration resource? Obviously not.

What therefore is intended when discerning homileticians scorn "canned" illustrations or when savvy preachers say, "I illustrate only from my own experience"? What problem have they rightly recognized? A discriminating view of third-person illustrations finds that the problem is not third-person illustrations, per se, nor their medium, but rather the quality of third-person illustrations and the skill with which they are used.

Not all third-person illustrations are aluminum; some are like a tree cutting that we can graft into a bountiful olive tree. Chosen with care and used with skill, these illustrations can bud and flourish and bear fruit like a branch native to the tree.

Real Problems and Discriminating Solutions

I see six real problems with some third-person illustrations and how they are used. For each I offer discriminating solutions.

1. They sound outdated, archaic. They do not connect with hearers. The problem is not necessarily that the illustration is historical but rather that the wording and situation come from another era. For example:

In Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, Christiana (the hero's wife), Mercy (a young pilgrim), and the children are graphically pictured knocking on the Wicker Gate. They knock and knock, but no one answers. Meanwhile, a ferocious dog comes and begins to bark—making the women and children very afraid. They simply do not know what to do. If they continue to knock, they must fear the dog. If they turn away, they fear the gatekeeper will be offended. They determine to knock again, ever so fervently. Finally they hear the voice of the gate-keeper asking, "Who is there?" And the dog ceases barking. What dogs are barking in your life that the Lord can silence?

One Solution: Use illustration sources that have contemporary illustrations and historical illustrations written in contemporary style. As users of modern translations have discovered, you don't have to quit preaching from the Bible just because the King James is hard to read.

Another Solution: Edit dated illustrations to make the language contemporary.

2. Some third-person illustrations feel cut-and-paste. They feel alien to the sermon or the preacher. They may not match the sermon's tone, terms, style, or dominant metaphor. They may clash with the preacher's personality and speaking style.

One Solution: Make the illustration an organic part of the sermon. Here are four ways to do that.

a. Use an image or key phrase from the illustration elsewhere in the sermon, perhaps as a refrain. If the illustration is in the introduction, come full circle and refer back to it in the conclusion.

For example, suppose you used this illustration in a sermon on spiritual warfare:

Ruth Bell Graham tells this story about her son Franklin:

Franklin was sleeping on the front porch with his cowboy boots and toy gun. We were having problems with some [skunks], and Franklin told me not to worry because he had a gun.

"Franklin, it's just a toy gun," I said.

"That's OK, Momma," he said. "The [skunks] don't know that."

(Jim Dailey, "A Conversation with Ruth Bell Graham," Decision (May 2002, p. 15)

This illustration becomes an organic part of the sermon if elsewhere in the message you refer to the powerless religious things some people do to fight evil as "toy guns."

b. Conversely, use key terminology from the sermon in the illustration. (Bryan Chapell discusses using consistent terminology in Christ-Centered Preaching, pp. 212-213)

For example, when I bridge and apply the Franklin Graham illustration above, if the rest of the sermon speaks of "spiritual warfare with evil," this illustration becomes an organic part of the sermon if I say, "In our spiritual warfare with evil, we need to be sure we aren't using toy guns." It would be less organic if I said, "In our battle with demons and their lies, we need to be sure we aren't using toy guns."

c. Use illustrations that fit the tone, associations, and emotions of what precedes and follows.

For example, the Franklin Graham illustration has a humorous tone and family associations. It would fit well in the introduction of the sermon where we are connecting with people and transitioning from everyday life and the positive atmosphere of the worship service. Obviously it would be absurdly out of place if used later in the sermon after we have described the harmful work of demons or the suffering of a victim of an evil such as rape.

d. Transition in and out of the illustration so it connects with what precedes and follows. Introductory and concluding transition sentences combine to weave the illustration into the fabric of its surroundings.

I could introduce the Graham illustration above in this manner: "In spiritual warfare we must be careful that we have the right weapons to do the job. In a humorous example of that, Ruth Bell Graham tells this story."

A less organic transition would be: "An essential part of spiritual warfare is the weapons we use. Ruth Bell Graham tells this story."

Another Solution: Connect the illustration with yourself as the preacher. Here are two ways to accomplish that.

a. A minimal way to connect personally with an illustration is to say when and where we found it. For instance:

"A few days ago as I searched for an example of this biblical principle, I found this story in my library." Or, "Earlier this week I read this illustration by Max Lucado from his book." Or, "In my research for this sermon, I found this statistic from George Gallup on the Internet."

b. Our connection with an illustration deepens when we give our feeling, reaction, perspective on the illustration. In this way the illustration filters through our point of view. For example:

"Earlier this week I read an illustration by Max Lucado from his book He Chose the Nails that spoke deeply to my heart." Or, "I agree completely with what Sheldon Vanauken says in this excerpt from his book A Severe Mercy." Or, "I strongly objected to the message of the movie Cider House Rules, but one scene gives us a profound insight into fallen human nature and our need for God."

Yet Another Solution: Adapt the language of the illustration to fit our personality. Sometimes the wording of an illustration clashes with our voice. Perhaps the writer is too sentimental or too detached. There may be slang, purple prose, or regional idioms. Perhaps the illustration contains stuffy, academic transitional words and phrases such as moreover, furthermore, or in conclusion. We can fix this with a bit of nip and tuck, or by adding some signature phrases.

Here, for example, is an objective, journalistic illustration:

The publisher's review of a recent book describes it as "a thoughtful, detailed discussion of every aspect of considering, preparing for, beginning, and conducting a successful and emotionally fulfilling extramarital affair." The book is called Affair! How to Manage Every Aspect of Your Extramarital Relationship with Passion, Discretion, and Dignity (by Cameron Barnes, UPublish.com, 1999). For just $19.95, plus shipping and handling, you can get a practical summary of the deception in our culture on the subject of sexual relations outside of marriage.

Let's change that to a passionate personal voice:

Believe it or not, there is a publisher that has the gall to promote one of its new books as "a thoughtful, detailed discussion of every aspect of considering, preparing for, beginning, and conducting a successful and emotionally fulfilling extramarital affair." Sadly enough, this depraved book is called Affair! How to Manage Every Aspect of Your Extramarital Relationship with Passion, Discretion, and Dignity. For $20 you can buy the lies that will destroy your marriage and your relationship with God.

But even that may sound cut-and-paste on the lips of a youth pastor. He might present the same illustration this way:

Get this. There's a bottom-feeding publisher who is promoting a new book as "a thoughtful, detailed discussion of every aspect of considering, preparing for, beginning, and conducting a successful and emotionally fulfilling extramarital affair." Whoa, am I hearing that right? This sick book is called Affair! How to Manage Every Aspect of Your Extramarital Relationship with Passion, Discretion, and Dignity. Yeah, right. For just $19.95, plus shipping and handling, you can stuff your brain with the lies that the Devil wants to sell you about sex.

Craig Brian Larson is the pastor of Lake Shore Church in Chicago and author and editor of numerous books, including The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching (Zondervan). He blogs on Knowing God and His Ways at craigbrianlarson.com.