It is an old custom for preachers to borrow from one another. We fall into a trap if we think that our every take on scripture or every illustration we use must be original to us. Some teachers of preaching worry that the Internet, with its vast bank of easily retrievable sermons, is a serious danger to preaching. It may be true that we are in an age now of easy and anonymous information exchange, but it is also true that it has been a long custom of churches to provide sermons to pastors to guide their thoughts. Books of illustrations were popular in the Middle Ages, and the Anglican Church published entire books of sermons to be used as preaching guides or even to be read from the pulpit. Our age is little different except that the array of resources is broader than ever. Sermons, illustrations, and exegesis can instantly and anonymously be traded over websites, list serves, and CD ROMs.
It is not unheard of nor necessarily untoward to read sermons by others from the pulpit on occasion, although this is not usually the custom today. One pastor of a busy congregation had three different services to preach over Easter weekend and simply didn’t have time to prepare a fresh sermon for each one. She chose instead to read a sermon that had meant a great deal to her and thought would be of benefit to the church. However--and this is an important point--she made it very clear to the congregation what she was doing. In no way did she represent the sermon as her own, nor did she make it a habit to borrow others’ work.
Although you will borrow ideas and images throughout your preaching life, preaching the words of another person without quoting your source is called stealing. Such dishonesty can take many forms, from reading a paragraph from a book to taking an entire sermon from the Internet and representing it as your own thinking. One Congregationalist preacher was caught preaching a whole sermon series made up from words typed directly from a devotional book into his sermon manuscript. He was justly thrown out by the congregation. The caution here is not really a matter of threat but of the Spirit. If you are reading this book, it is likely because you value the belief that God’s Spirit yearns to speak particular words to the Church through the preacher. Stealing robs the Spirit of the chance to do that. Enough said.
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