pad

Why Serious Preachers Use Humor (Part 3)

Discernment for light moments with a weighty purpose.
An article by John Henry Beukema


This is part three in a four-part series.

Phillips Brooks in his Lectures on Preaching called humor "one of the most helpful qualities that the preacher can possess"; and John Stott said, "We should press [humor] gladly into service in the cause of the gospel." Let's look at six characteristics of effective humor.

Have a purpose

John Ortberg believes that since "the ultimate goal of preaching is to have Christ formed in people," humor must always be the servant of the message. If humor does nothing to forward that purpose, then the preacher must be willing to jettison it from the sermon. Haddon Robinson says the "cardinal rule of humor is it must serve the truth." One indication of this is when your audience thinks of the story they think of the truth that lies behind it.

Of the many benefits of humor listed above, some advantages may not be sufficient justification for its inclusion. Humor must serve the greater purpose. We should ask questions such as, In what way does this contribute to the point being made? How will this enable people to hear the truth? Why does this story deserve time in this message? Ken Davis says, "The purpose should be that this humor illustrates a point, clarifies a point, draws people's attention to a point that is going to take them one step closer to the cross."

Effective humor will be entertaining, and there is nothing wrong with that. Entertainment is wrong when it becomes the objective or becomes an end in itself. We can cross the line into that simply by our timing. John Ortberg suggests that when we rush to relieve tension through humor, it indicates a self-esteem issue. Our inability to wait for tension to have its greatest spiritual effect may be because we are too anxious for people to like us. When the preacher is concerned with keeping people happy, truth-telling has been compromised.

Be neither offensive nor innocuous

Preaching will always offend someone. The solution is not bland speech. Instead, we must strictly monitor those things we intend to be funny. Ask yourself who might consider this offensive and know that your own sensitivities are not always trustworthy.

One high profile speaker told a news story that involved the attempted electrocution of a pig. The speaker told this with glee, even the part where two farmers ended up dead, one was critically injured, and the pig was unharmed. I've learned the hard way that any story involving the endangerment of an animal should only be used with extreme caution. The problem with this story was not that it didn't serve the message—believe it or not, it did. But the real loss of human life should not be a source of casual mirth. The contribution the story made to the point was overshadowed by its insensitivity.

Humor used in the pulpit should not make someone cringe. Hurtful humor can be damaging even if it does not offend the "victim." Ken Davis warns that the preacher may good-naturedly rib a friend, but others don't know this comes out of friendship and take offense for that other person.

Be selective

John Ortberg says the laws of humor are the same as the laws of real estate—location, location, location. The right story must come at the right time in the message. Fred Smith believes in using it like good spice, "permeating the whole," but there are moments when humor should be avoided. Ortberg speaks of times when there was a tender spirit in the room, and he realized something humorous he intended to say might disrupt that spirit. Discipline is needed "because there's something else going on that's more important than humor."

Fred Smith writes, "Humor should be used to sharpen the truth, not dull it." This is a determining factor in the placement of humor. It must not only be in the right place in the message but in the right message. In the rush to use something good, we must resist the urge to wedge it in where it does not belong. Ortberg says, "When it really fits, it's going to accomplish much more good. I have to discipline myself, wait, and save it for that time."

Be self-deprecating without becoming self-centered

Humor can be an expression of humility if the speaker is secure enough to poke fun at himself. Haddon Robinson writes, "We like people who laugh at themselves, because they are saying, 'What I'm talking about is very serious, but I don't take myself too seriously.'" (Mastering Contemporary Preaching, p. 134) When the speaker is the butt of the joke, this lowers the defenses of listeners even further to the scalpel of truth.

In a sermon from , I challenged the congregation to pray impossible prayers. I said I myself was trying to grow in that area. I told of four impossible prayers I had once prayed for daily. Eventually I concluded the answer to the first two prayers was "No," the answer to number three was "Not yet," and prayer number four I gave up on entirely. I said:

I quit my impossible prayer. What a great prayer warrior I am. But in these last few weeks my wife has had four amazing answers to prayer, at least two of which were impossible. One was the exact request I'd given up on. She can pray, she can preach—I think you've got the wrong one of us as pastor.
People appreciated that little insight more than I could have imagined. My wife thought highly of the story also.

The caution is we should watch that we don't talk about ourselves too much. Ken Davis says to take care "that the word self doesn't become a huge part of our messages."

Practice but be open to spontaneity

John Ortberg warns, "Worse than having no humor at all is forcing humor that isn't funny."

To avoid that, Ken Davis says humor is a tool we must practice with to learn to operate well. He believes with a little work, just about anything can be funny. Preachers need to look at something that made them chuckle and figure out why it struck them as funny. When that lesson is understood, we can learn to present stories in a way that will produce the same response from our audience.

Practice ways not to introduce stories with "A funny thing happened to me the other day." Practice the flow of stories on one or two people until the timing and wording is honed. Humor comes less from what you say than from how you say it.

Practice should not preclude spontaneous humor, which can sometimes be the most effective.

A family in our church was moving. The husband told me he was only known in the church as "Kim's husband" because she was so involved and he traveled so much. She would be greatly missed, but he doubted we would know he was gone. With his permission I told that story during a sermon from about significance. I repeated our conversation and began to emphasize his great worth to his family and church. It started to get emotional. Suddenly a thought hit me and I said, "Now if somebody could point this guy out to me" The room went nuts.

Take care, though; these unplanned additions are also the most dangerous because you have only moments to filter and evaluate what you are going to say.

Observe daily life

Humor flowing from life experiences always trumps jokes with punch lines. Jokes are what Ken Davis calls high-risk humor. If a joke dies, everyone knows it, and the point may die with it. When a personal story doesn't elicit the laugh you thought it would, it still maintains the power to illustrate the point. That's why Davis calls this low risk humor and suggests this is where someone trying to learn to be more humorous should begin. So avoid joke books and pay more attention to what is going on around you.

John Ortberg says, "The best kind of humor is observational humor, humor that flows out of the incongruities of life and the way life works." Haddon Robinson talks about the power of humor that is "an observation about life that causes me to laugh and at the same time gives me insight."

There is no lack of material. "Life's experiences bring more humor than you could ever use in a million years," says Ken Davis. Preachers need to be aware of how everyday things can be funny—even those things that were not funny at the time. Davis tells a story about a minor car accident that set off the air bag. He says TV doesn't tell you the truth when they picture the air bag coming out like a salvation marshmallow. In his experience the impact painfully bloodied his nose. Davis turns the painful incident into a riotously funny story.

Part 4 of this series will explore seven more characteristics of effective humor.

Sign-up for our FREE e-newsletter
How to Use Other People's Sermons with Integrity
Can you copy Preaching Today Sermon transcripts?
Visit our other online resources:

FaithVisuals.com - Hundreds of creative, downloadable videos designed for churches
BuildingChurchLeaders.com - Tools for building faithful and effective church leaders
ChristianBibleStudies.com - Teaching tools for Sunday school and small groups
PreachingToday.com - Top-notch sermon illustrations and preaching tips
ChristianityTodayLibrary.com - The online, comprehensive Christian research library