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| Made with hotpot.ai/art-generator |
His lessons were uplifting, a rich sustaining spiritual feast from God’s word. That was the first time I heard him preach. Then, a few years later, something had changed. He didn’t preach, he just entertained. We opened our Bibles, but the ‘lessons’ were filled with jokes and amusing stories.
- "Well, that’s like the man who…” (one liner) LOL
- “And that reminds me of the little girl who…” (joke) LOL
- “On one occasion when my boys were little….” (Illustration or just another funny? Hard to tell.) LOL
A friend’s daughter tallied 15 ‘funnies’ during the first half of the ‘sermon’ and then lost count. (Compare that to a late night talk show host who begins with a 4-5 minute monologue of humor.)
Jesus: jokester??
John: personal anecdotes??
Peter: one-liners??
Where was Paul’s amusing introduction to draw the crowd’s attention!?
“Jesus taught by telling stories,” we have been told. Yet how do the ‘stories’ that Jesus told compare to the stories told by preachers today? I have never once heard a preacher tell anything like the parables of Jesus that contain inexhaustible spiritual riches.
Almost 2,000 years ago Paul described our times:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.--2 Timothy 4:3
Too many times I have heard people remember the jokes and stories that preachers tell, yet forget the sermon content. Illustrations can be meaningful and might be amusing. However, when the humor distracts from God’s word, divine truth becomes secondary and is rendered ineffective.
Consider Peter’s words in 2 Peter 1:12-15
I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. (v. 12)
Read through the first 11 verses to identify “these things.” He was not interested in new or clever or funny. Rather, he was always ready to remind them of things they already knew to establish them in the truth.
I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder. (v. 13)
What did Peter use to stir the people up?
He remind them of what they already knew. It was the right thing to do.
And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind. (v. 15)
Peter was not interested in his audience getting all joked up. His goal was that they would remember, remember, remember the divine truth of God’s word after he was gone.
Given the choice of what to remember, choose the truth being taught instead of the illustration. Remember the Bible class lesson better than you remember the teacher’s personal anecdotes. Remember the content of the sermon rooted in God’s word instead of the name of the preacher.
What is your preference: God’s word preached or man’s entertainment?
Mark Stinnett
April 5, 2026
