Ep. 10: Illustration and Application

Most preachers know they need illustrations. Fewer know what makes an illustration actually work.

The problem isn't that preachers don't tell stories — it's that they tell stories that entertain without landing. The illustration ends, the congregation moves on, and the truth it was supposed to drive home never quite arrives.

In Episode 10 of the Clear Preaching Podcast, Jonathan McClintock breaks down the three elements every illustration needs to move from abstract to concrete and relevant — so it doesn't just help people see the truth, but understand it and act on it.

The three elements:

• Key Phrasing — The language of your Take-Home Truth must thread through the illustration itself. Your congregation needs to hear the connection, not assume it. Bryan Chapell calls this "raining down" the key phrasing through every movement of the message — and that includes the story you're telling.
• Concrete Language — Too many preachers stay too high on the ladder of abstraction. "God is faithful" is true. It's also too high to land. The preacher's job is to bring that truth down to the bottom rung — a specific person, a specific moment, a specific word from God. Like Abraham at 99, Sarah barren, and God saying "this time next year."
• Relevant Application — The best illustrations help the listener see themselves in the story. Not a generic listener. The single mom in row three. The person carrying secret doubt. The one who's been burned. A brief direct bridge after the illustration — "if that's where you are this morning, this is for you" — is what turns a story into a sermon moment.

An illustration that doesn't land the truth is just a story. All three elements, every illustration.

Transcript

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Illustrations are the lenses through which we help our listeners see truth more clearly. But a good illustration doesn't just help people see, it helps them understand and act. And for that to happen, three elements must be present. We're going to talk about that today. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Clear Preaching Podcast. My name is Jonathan McClintock, and we are going to look today at this connection between illustration and application, moving from abstract to concrete to relevant. And so today we have really what every good illustration application, this connection has, there's three elements that need to be present. I love the idea that an illustration is kind of like putting lenses on somebody's eyes so they can see things a little more clearly. But in order for the illustration and really the connection to application really makes the impact that it needs to, three things need to be present. First of all, key phrasing. Secondly, concrete language. And thirdly, relevant application. What every good illustration needs, needs some key phrasing that ties the illustration to that sermon's central idea, that take-home truth. It needs concrete language to bring it down from the abstract down to real life, and then it also needs relevant application to help the audience, the listener, see themselves in that truth. Let's take these one by one in this episode today. First of all, key phrasing. What do I mean by key phrasing? The words and phrasing of your take-home truth, that central idea that you're building your sermon around, those there are some key words in that statement, some key phrasing in that statement that need to thread through the entire sermon. And we've talked about that in the podcast. I talk about that in the Clear Preaching Academy, but it's not just to thread itself through the major movements of the sermon, but even in the illustrations, the stories, those anecdotes, those news stories. It needs to weave its, find its way through those also. Brian Chapel wrote a book called Christ-Centered Preaching, and he calls this idea of this key phrasing and key words as this idea that they need to rain down throughout every movement of the message. I do talk about this in depth. It is a principle of oral clarity. I have a course on oral clarity in the Clear Preaching Academy. And this idea of these keywords and phrasing raining down throughout every movement of the sermon, the audience needs to hear that connection. The illustration will drive home the idea and not just entertain. The illustration wants the listener to see more clearly, but we also want the illustration, the application also to help the listener comprehend and understand the impact that that truth should be having on their life. So this idea of this key phrasing, keywords threading throughout the sermon. Without key phrasing, the illustration is interesting. The congregation enjoys it, but when this illustration's over, they've lost the thread because the wording you used in that illustration didn't match with the wording that was introduced at the very beginning when you talked about and introduced what this sermon idea, the take-home truth, is going to be about. So illustration entertained, it just didn't land. When there is key phrasing, when we use key phrasing throughout every movement of the sermon, including the illustration, so you're telling a story, and the language of that take home truth is woven throughout even the illustration itself, the audience makes the connection. So this illustration is not just a good story about this thing or that thing, but I'm hearing some key phrasing and key words that I remember you introducing towards the beginning of the sermon when you laid the foundation for what you're going to talk about. And so now I see the connection that this illustration is really about this truth, not about the dog you're talking about or the trip you're talking about or the family you're talking about. It's actually about this truth that your sermon is about. And so the illustration then drives home the idea. So the key words of your take-home truth, your sermon's central idea, must not say stay bound to the open or the introduction. It must rain down throughout every movement, including illustrations. So key language, important for that. The second element that every illustration and into the application needs to have is concrete language. Too often, and I've seen it, I see it a lot with new developing preachers. I think as we get a little more experienced, we begin to see, man, that just doesn't connect and land. And so we start, we start crafting our illustrations and our language to not stay in metaphor land out in the clouds somewhere, but we try to make truth concrete. And it's so very important to make truth concrete. You see, because if the audience fails to understand a complex idea, the speaker's likely operating on too high up the ladder. We're going to talk about this ladder of abstraction. Abstract truth needs a concrete landing point to become real. So we need concrete language. There is something that in communication has been referred to as the ladder of abstraction. And you will see if you search, if you Google it, you're going to see graphics pop up, and it's usually a ladder itself. And the higher up the rung of the ladder you are, the more broad the concept is. As you make your way down the ladder, finally the bottom rung is very concrete. Let's look at this. The top rung of the ladder might be a concept that God is faithful. That's a great concept. It's truth from scripture. But it's too high up. God is faithful. Okay, what does that truly mean for me? How can I see that in my life? How do I apply that? Alone, just this idea God is faithful, it just kind of floats. It lives up there in the clouds somewhere. The congregation nods. Ah, I understand that. But nothing sticks because it's it's abstract. There's some things that need to be defined. What does faithful mean? What does it mean? What does it look like God is faithful? And sometimes even concepts like this can get lost in a congregation that hears preaching all the time. And we can think as preachers that we're being very clear. But that God is faithful concept lives higher up on the ladder. We need to come down the ladder a little bit. So maybe down the ladder, another lower rung would say God keeps his promises even when circumstances say otherwise. It's still saying God is faithful, but now we're getting a little better. There's some tension now. God keeps his promises, even when circumstances say otherwise. But it's still not concrete enough to be able to be felt. It's still not concrete enough for the majority of the people that are listening, the majority of the congregation, for it really to hit home. God keeps his promises. But there's still some things that need to be talked about and worked through. What about these circumstances that say otherwise? God keeps his promise. What is that? Again, we're a little better than God is faithful, but we still need to work our way down this ladder. Perhaps the bottom rung of the ladder would be this. Joe and his wife kept attending church even when God seemed silent. And after two years of faithfully trusting, the phone call came. The voice on the other end told him, The adoption has been approved. And without fail, what God had promised came to pass. Now they're more likely to feel that. Maybe not everybody in the church has experienced adoption, but you know what that is to maybe what it might mean to receive that news or parents who have received children into their life. That statement, that idea, that illustration brought the God is faithful, abstract, down to where it lands, and a specific person or people are talked about, a specific impossibility is addressed, and a specific word from God or a specific answer to God, to the promises that God had given. So when we think about illustration, we think about things we're speaking in our sermons, we got to work our way down this ladder of abstraction to make that truth truly land with the audience. Now, I tried to think of an example and one I used recently. Actually, I preached on Sunday to my own church, and I preached recently from 2 Kings chapter 4, those first seven verses that deal with the narrative of the widow who lost her husband and she's about to lose her sons to the creditors, coming to extract payment from her, right, for the debt that she owed. And verses three through five tell us that after she obeyed the prophet Elisha, and she went and shut the door behind her and began to pour the oil from that little cruise into all the vessels that they had gathered. And from that, those few verses, I be, I kind of relayed a truth to the congregation. And I told him, I said, the miracle took place behind closed doors. Now, as preachers, you're thinking, well, there's a lot of ways I can go with that. And it's it's kind of abstract, though, right? And we know what really happened, the miracle, the pouring of the oil took place. But what's the truth that you're trying to extract from that? It's it's it's a it's abstract right now. We know what it means specifically in the story, but what about for us? And if I would just move on from that, I've left it kind of too much in the clouds. The miracle took place behind closed doors. So I began to work through that and I bring it down a few rungs of the ladder. And I said this: I said, often what you and I do behind closed doors impacts our family, impacts our church, impacts our community. Okay, now we're gaining some traction here. But it's still a little abstract, right? Because I'm still using this metaphor of behind closed doors. I'm using this metaphor of uh this picture imagery that we see in the text. And I brought it down a little bit to say, okay, this happens to us too, but it's still a little bit abstract because what's truly happening behind? What do you mean by behind closed doors? I can make a leap a leap in my mind, the audience is already going there, but we need to make it a little more clear. So I need to bring them down to the bottom rung here. Let's make this abstract, concrete. And so I might say something like this. You know, when a dad spends time behind closed doors in private, all alone, praying for his family, God hears and begins to work. When a mom enters her private prayer closet to intercede for her kids and her husband, heaven stands at attention and begins to act on her behalf. So we brought this idea of the miracle took place behind closed doors, and we're bringing it down the ladder of distraction until we finally get to, and we're addressing dads in the room and moms in the room. And this is what it looks like for behind closed doors for you. It's it's shutting the prayer closet door behind you and it's praying and interceding. Nobody else is around, everybody else is gone, and you're by yourself, but you're seeking God and you're bombarding heaven for your kids and for your marriage and for your family. When your illustration application lives at the bottom rung, when you get the audience to the bottom rung, the congregation doesn't just hear the truth, they feel it. It doesn't just live up here and they nod their head, ah, I get that, but do they really get it? Bring it down that ladder of abstraction, bring abstract to concrete, and when you do that, it helps people truly understand the truth and the impact the truth can have on their life. The last, the third thing that needs to be uh present in illustrations and bridging that gap to application is relevant application. The best illustrations help listeners see themselves in the story. I've told, I've used what I thought were really good illustrations, and they told great stories, but it was it was kind of up there in the cloud, you know. The best illustrations help the audience see themselves. So sometimes we give an illustration, an additional step needs to be taken after the illustration is told or as the illustration is wrapping up. A brief direct bridge that connects the story to the specific people sitting in the room. Help them see themselves in it. You see, generic illustrations reach no one specifically, while specific illustrations reach someone actually. Generic illustrations reach no one specifically, but specific applications and illustrations reach someone actually. Example a story about your trying to drive home a truth, and so you will come up with an illustration, a story about a single mother managing her work, and she's the sole provider and she's raising her kids and she's still bringing them to church. And you tell that illustration, you craft it, you tell it with enough detail that the single mom in row three of your church thinks, that's me. This sermon's for me. So think through your congregation, the segments of your congregation when you're trying to drive home a truth. Think about the grieving who are in your church. Think about the newly married or that struggling parent or the person carrying secret doubt or secret sin or the one who's been burned by the church. Think about all the segments in your church and who could you reach with an illustration to bring that truth, make it relevant for them, and bring that truth down to their level? Help them see themselves in it. So here's my challenge. Before you finalize illustrations in your sermon, ask these questions. Number one, who in my congregation will hear themselves in this story, in this illustration, in this example? And if the answer is, well, everyone generally, if that's the answer, no one specifically will. If everyone, it kind of hit maybe everybody, then no one specifically will be. The second question, ask yourself, if there is a segment I've been missing week after week, is there a group of people in my church that I've been not speaking directly to? Your illustrations will actually reveal who you've been actually preaching to lately. So ask yourself those questions. Ask yourself this third question. Have I added the bridge after the illustration? Have I have I brought maybe a generic illustration or a general illustration, and have I added this bridge that will make it reach specific segments of my church? And the fourth question to ask yourself does the application land on a decision or just a feeling? The goal is not that they feel moved. We love that, we want that, but it's that they know what to do. Good, relevant application will allow them to see themselves in it and have clear direction on what to do with it. So ask yourself those four questions. Who in my congregation will hear themselves in this story, this illustration? Is there a segment I've been missing week after week in my church, a group of people I haven't been speaking to? Have I added the bridge after the illustration to make it specific? And does the application land on a decision, not just a feeling? All three, key phrasing, concrete language, relevant application, all three are needed in every illustration and bridge and into application. Does my illustration use the language of my take home truth? If it does, then the congregation will hear the connection, and the story of the illustration will drive home the idea, not just be a good story. Am I using concrete language? Have I come down this ladder of abstraction to the bottom rung of the ladder? Am I talking about specific people and specific moments, specific details? Abstract truth becomes something they can then feel. And then number three, relevant application. Can someone in my congregation see themselves in this? They don't just hear a story, they hear their story, and they know what to do. So an illustration that doesn't land the truth is just a story. So make it land. How do we make it land? Key phrasing, concrete language, and relevant application. I invite you, if you haven't yet, joined our wait list for the Clear Preaching Academy. It is launching in about a week and a half, June 1st. If you're watching this after June 1st, it's live. We invite you to check out the Clear Preaching Academy. Go to ClearPreaching.com, click the link, join the Academy, and I look forward to seeing you in there. God bless.