Laughter is good, right? Joking holds people’s attention (when you are a speaker). So you add a few jokes here and another few there, just to make sure your audience is still with you. Is it possible to take joking too far, is laughter not always good?
I think that in today’s world jokes have been taken too far – when it comes to Christian speakers. Or perhaps it depends on the purpose of the speech. If it is meant to entertain, then yes, go ahead. But if you actually want to make a difference in people’s spiritual lives, perhaps some of the jokes could be left out?
There is a place for serious preaching. And I do not mean funerals.
Somehow I do not think that when the apostle Paul, or Peter, stood up to speak to their audiences that they cracked a joke every five minutes. That is because their aim was not to entertain. Today, so many churches are more like entertainment halls or clubs where people go to have fun. Fun has its place, but surely the churches were not meant to be there just for fun. These apostles, they were concerned about people’s spiritual wellbeing. They were concerned about where people were going, and not that they should be entertained.
If a meteor falls on your listener today or he is knocked down by a car and his spirit leaves him where will it go? Did you make a difference in his life? Or did he die with your jokes ringing in his ears?
Sorry if this sounds too harsh or too intolerant or too serious…
But there is a place for forgetting about jokes and actually giving people hope. The world is full of unhappy, hopeless people. They need hope more than anything else. But they need real hope, not something that will make them feel good for a few moments until the blackness crashes back in on them. Such hope does not come from jokes. It comes from the truth, because the Bible says that truth is what sets people free.
Please would you read your Bible and look at the times when Jesus spoke? How many times did he crack jokes? Yet somehow he managed to hold people’s attention. He spoke the truth and then he acted upon it. He not only told his listeners what they should do but he also showed them by his own example. He brought true hope. He showed the way, not only to them but to us. And especially to all Christian speakers. Why not listen to him and follow his example?
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