Good points, i think. Thanks for sharing.

I agree that it's a bad idea to apply blanket truths to lengthy biblical stories. I think that in the end it turns people off from reading the Bible because they "know the point of that story already," So why read it again?

But I disagree with your other points . . .
We pretty much have two things in Scripture-

1) Stated truths
2) Stories

I think we can use the stories to explain the stated truths because it appears to me that this is their purpose.

And it sounds like you are saying we should only preach from a single text and then make up our own stories to illustrate it, as opposed to interpereting Scripture with Scripture, which requires cross applying multiple passages.

I'd like to share my experience.
Yesterday I listened to a sermon and I had in mind this post.
The preacher made many illustrations taken from the Bible (the king Hezekiah, the church in Smyrna..). As I was listening, I realized that those illustrations were useful to support the idea he was explaining, sometimes useful to clarify that idea, but not useful to see how to apply to my life today that idea.
I think I will choose carefully illustrations in my next sermon...
Hope it helps,
Andrea (Andrew).

The problem preachers have, and I am one of them, is that we have a hard time applying the truth of the Word of God. In 1Cor 10, Paul had no problem using O.T. happenings to illustrate his point and he knew how to apply it. He understood the God question with Israel in Exodus and Numbers and the God question in the lives of the Corinthian church. That is our challenge. I am afraid Sunukjian is overreacting over the wrong use of O.T. stories as illustrations.
J.A.

Hi,
I've been preaching for about 20 years now and I have found biblical stories to be very weak application vehicles for the reasons Sunukjian mentions. However as Paul demonstrates they are powerful explanation vehicles when the audience is familiar with the Bible and it's setting as was His. But not always. He at times addresses Gentiles who do not have the OT as a background. In Athens he appeals to images and ideas from their world. Most observers agree that even with our best efforts the general population in the US is no longer biblically literate so use illustrations that fit the audience. That also begs the question, "can I tell a story I've made up when I'm trying to convey Truth?" Life is rich with opportunities lets get out of our offices and live Christ in the midst of our congregation and we'll have plenty of real true to life applications.
Mason

Yeah, but as teachers we have to take some responsibility for this biblical illiteracy. If we do not teach them the Scriptures, who will? And if we are not teaching the rich things that are found in G-d's word, but are relying on cute stories and bumper sticker qoutes, what would possibly motivate them to do the hard work of laboring in the Scriptures and encountering G-d through his Word?

I couldn't disagree more.

Part of my responsibility as a pastor and preacher is to educate my congregation, to familiarize them with the Bible. Of course cultural differences must be explained, but using biblical stories as illustrations follows the methodology of Jesus and the apostles.

Avoiding biblical stories because my congregation is unfamiliar with them is capitulation to cultural differences and resignation to biblical ignorance.

I begin with the presupposition that a sovereign God knew I would preach in a culture that knows little about the Jewish sacrificial system, yet He still chose to reveal Jesus as the Lamb of God. Explaining the background is part of the preaching mandate when the gospel sounds out to all the world and not just the part of it that understands the biblical culture. Our preaching should be FILLED with scripture and Biblical stories. If I tell them well, I guarantee that they will listen, and they will get it.

The main question when we preach to our congregation, especially the younger generations, is this: Is the message relevant to their lives? Can they take our message from God's Word and apply it to their life to help them find meaning?

The challenge that we have as communicators of God's Word is to preach the message so that our listener's can understand the truth of the Word. To do this effectively we need contemporary illustrations that our listeners are familer with. Illustrations from the news, arts and literature.

Unless we can communicate the Good News so that it is relevant to the lives of our listeners, we will loose them. Jesus used illustrations that was relevant to the lives of his listeners, should we do less?

At first, I was ready to dismiss Don's position out of hand. But after reading the article, I have to admit that he has made some interesting points. On the other hand, I don't think his points lead to the stated conclusion. His points are: 1) biblical situations are far removed from today. Of course, they are, but, as others have stated, teaching the biblical "picture" of the world is fundemental to what we do. 2) It is easy to assume that a biblical story fits when it doesn't. Also true, but the remedy is not to stop teaching the biblical stories, but to teach them correctly. 3) Stating the biblical story is not the same as making application. Again true, but again, the problem is not solved by not teaching the story.

It is amazing that someone who is responsible to teach others how to preach would be so carless in his reasoning when proposing such a fundemental change to sermon preparation.

The position taken by the author is bewildering to me and I could not disagree more. Stories and illustrations must be appropriate to the text preached. And if a biblical illustration is appropriate, then we should use it.

I get a little tired of preaching experts telling us that we must make the Bible relevant to today’s society. I can’t think of anything that is more relevant. We often think of the text as a lion to be tamed. But it cannot be tamed. Rather, preaching is like riding on the back of the lion. It takes us places. And when it does, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the sermon is more than relevant, it is powerful and life changing. If God’s promise that his Word will not return to him void, how could it be anything but powerful and life changing? It makes one wonder if we preachers have lost our faith in Scripture and the power of biblical preaching?

When I read the Bible, I am always amazed at how little human nature has changed and how much we are like them. We may not shepherd sheep but we are quite familiar with love, lust, the will to power, hated of God and man, arrogance, ambition, and desire. We have the History Channel and the History Channel International, both are very popular. HBO has been running the popular historical Series, Rome and Showtime the series on The Tudors. People find history compelling precisely because they see themselves in ancient behavior. Why would we ever think the stories from Scripture were any less compelling?

I agree with the author. It is true that Paul used biblical illustrations. he also used ideas and quotes from non-Biblical sources.

However, in general Paul was speaking to readers Christians of Jewish or God-fearing gentile backgrounds - who were already steeped in Biblical and extra-Biblical literature. These were the TV programs, movies, magazines, web-sites of their day.

That is much less true today - not completely. Many of us are familiar with Biblical stories, quotes and truths. However, most people need a bridge in order to connect them with their lives. Others - those who have been steeped in the Bible - need the bridge so that they can learn to reach out to our culture and touch the real lives of people today.

There is a plexi-glass shield that surrounds Christian culture. The better equipped we are to puncture it, the better we will be at bringing the Gospel to all nations - including our own.

Dear Partner in ministry,

I have appreciated your teaching and reaction on how to illustrate our sermon. I agree that some times it is good not to use a biblical story to illustrate the main idea of a sermon rather than using it as the main passage where the message is drawing from.
However, I would like to remind the preachers that there is time, illustrating a main idea of a sermon with a biblical story will be very helpful to the audience in understanding and applying the message.

Jean-Michel Etienne
Pastor of Seventh-day Adventist Church

I agree with many of the points made, but disagree with the conclusion. Telling biblical stories can restate the truths being expounded, and therein lies their value, especially if the text being preached states the truth in a propositional form and the story restates the truth in a narrative form. Repitition remains one of the most effective learning tools. Restating truth in different forms is a key to learning.

Where we can easily make a mistake is in making a passing reference to biblical story, assuming that church-goers are familiar enough with the story to be able to see the relationship. In many cases they are not. Either we need to allow enough time in our sermons to give sufficient detail, or leave the story out altogether.

Don's advice echoes that of Haddon Robinson's on the issue at hand. I believe that both men are rightly concerned about biblical stories being ripped from their contexts to illustrate unrelated propositions. Moreover, spending the time necessary to develop a story in its context can take so long that it actually detracts (and distracts) from the proposition that was being illustrated. None of this is to say that biblical illustrations should never be used; rather, they must be used judiciously.

It appears as if your concepts believe that God cannot work as He did in the past. “…when maybe God did such things.” Is God not able to do a work in our lives today?

If we relinquish the Bible illustrations as not “real-life today” then we proceed to accept our stories as more valid than the biblical stories issued from old. This line of thinking would sting truth as relevant to our situations rather than God’s absolute truth.

God provided ample opportunity for Israel to remember what He had done, as opposed to what they were experiencing, we would be wise to remember God throughout the process and not eliminate illustrations of the past.

Effective or efficient. We must be careful not to reduce the value of historical experiences to useless, secondary thought. I still believe in 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.