Scott Freeman

When Sermon Illustrations Go Bad

As a preacher I rely heavily on the use of illustrations. I believe strongly in the power of story to make and emphasize a point. One of my Master’s papers was on the power of illustration.

Because of my reliance on story as a preaching tool I tend to look at life based upon its narrative possibilities. I’m am able to use a lot of what I come up with in my preaching and teaching.

Conversely, there are a lot of illustrations that pop in my head that are just plain awful. For every illustration worth using there are several that never need to be voiced.

Here is an example of a sermon illustration I came up with that is just too bad to ever use:

If you visit a restaurant, gas station or some similar establishment you will be given an opportunity to choose your particular beverage of choice. What you will notice at these establishments is that your selection will usually be either Coke products or Pepsi products. But rarely will you have the option for both. That is because Coke and Pepsi are bitter rivals. Most places will not enter into a contract with both companies.
Yet at each of these locations you will most likely have the additional choice of Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper is equally disbursed among Coke and Pepsi locations. And in the instances where Coke and Pepsi are on the same drink station? Yep, Dr. Pepper is there.
The folks at Dr. Pepper haven’t entered into the brutal cola wars that have consumed Coke and Pepsi.
We need to be Dr. Pepper Christians. We need to be people who are equally comfortable with all the beverage choices out there. Uniters, not dividers.

If you are preaching a sermon or devotional talk and this fits in with your theme feel free to use it. But do not, I repeat DO NOT, feel that you have to give me credit for it.

Any bad sermon illustrations you have used or heard?