Personal Stories in Preaching

Can stories in the sermon about the pastor’s personal experience be a bad fit?

Notice from acts 17: 22-23, Paul speaks of his walk through the city and what he observed about the Athenians. That’s his sermon starter. Also, in Acts 10, we’re told of Peter’s personal experiences with the Lord—“us who ate and drank with Him…and He commanded us to preach to the people.” In the preaching of John the Baptist, he spoke of his own servanthood: “…but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose…” (Luke 3:16).

True enough—the men of the New Testament weave into their sermons their own life-moments and life-situations, right along with the message of repentance and faith toward Jesus Christ, who was crucified, buried and resurrected.

But it’s good to step back to ask about our use of ourselves in the sermon. Can use of our own life situations for teaching and illustrations get excessive? Are there times when it is like a square peg in a round hole?

1. It is excessive when it is done in every sermon. You don’t see the apostles in Acts weaving personal testimonies or illustrations in every message. It happens; but not in every message—see Acts 2, Peter’s sermon at Pentecost; Paul’s sermon in Acts 13. Preacher, pace yourself, and make sure you monitor your words about self.

2. It is a poor fit when forthright words of hard-to-hear applications are necessary. The apostles, no doubt, were bold and direct. When preachers speak about themselves, they avoid the direct, gripping application starter—“you.” Maybe preachers have lost sight of the plain-spoken, riveting use of words for truthful confrontation. Direct, unqualified words give rise to certain emotions. Sometimes those emotions can be best, most faithfully, reached by being blunt. God stirs. He stirs with no-nonsense confrontation. Have you charged your congregation as a father would charge his children (1 Thess. 2:11)?

3. Story-telling about self can be a thoughtless move away from the story-line and circumstances of the passage. It can be a neglect of helping our people to stand in the shoes of the persons in the biblical text, and those of the first-readers. I grant that it is more natural to remind people of the scene and drama of Joshua at the Jordan or the circumstance of the infirmed man who is helpless at the pool of Bethesda. To be sure, narratives can give word-pictures to use unlike places in the New Testament letters. But ask—how can I seize the circumstances of the events of the passage to drive home the vivid color of the text, leaving myself out of the explanation? Telling the biblical story well or particular parts of it, and telling it to bring people into its drama fosters Bible learning and reflection that promotes the Lord’s work in history.

4. To routinely speak in a way as to make you the memorable point of the sermon, robs our Triune God of His glory and grace. If we hammer away enough and consistently punctuate the message with our histories, mannerisms, gestures, foibles, responses and reflections—humorous or no—people will get that message. We need to be thoughtful about appropriate self-admission and self-reflection. It can come across as gaining favor, and not being faithful. Maybe you’ve read Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. At one point, he talks about self-addiction. He writes: I was addicted to myself. All I thought about was myself. The only thing I really cared about was myself. I had very little concept of love, altruism, or sacrifice. I discovered that my mind is like a radio that picks up only one station, the one that plays me: K-DON, all Don, all the time.

I have used my own life many, many times in sermons over the years. It takes discernment about the place and propriety of such things.

G. Mark Sumpter