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SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS AND APPLICATIONS AND ISLAM

Illustrations and applications are often part and parcel of preaching and Christian discipleship. They help the truths of God’s word to be understood and applied in the different contexts of life. They also help us to see how the Christian worldview engages with other worldviews and how we should respond.

For Christians in the West, the worldview we are most aware of is that of secularism. Western Christians face the secular worldview in our education system, government, the entertainment industry, media, and even sport. Hopefully, the teachers at your church expose the emptiness of the secular worldview and help you to respond through the applications in their teaching. I am suggesting that Western Christians also need to hear sermons with illustrations and applications about Islam. 

Why do it?

1. Islam is a major player on the world stage and is successfully opposing secularism. Millions of Muslims are immigrating to Western countries and having children. Talking about Islam is just talking about the world in which we live. 

2. Muslims are active on university campuses, preaching a different gospel, and winning converts.

3. Within the last 18 months I have worked with three families who have a child who converted to Islam. All were regular churchgoers. The parents had no idea what the students were doing online, and online the algorithm presented Islam to them. Recently, a Christian minister in Hobart converted to Islam. Islam is quietly working away in our culture.

4. Finally, and more positively, engaging with Islam in sermons forces us to do our doctrine better. When we engage with the secular world we talk about the existence of God, the problem of evil, identity, and whether there is such a thing as male and female. But, when we engage with the Islamic world we are forced to talk about the Incarnation, Trinity, the life and mission of Jesus, and salvation. We engage with different doctrines.

How to do it?

Here are five examples of how to refer to Islam in sermons and Christian teachings.

1. When teaching about salvation, you can illustrate how not all religions have God acting to save you by quoting this verse from the Qur’an and Hadith:

Say, “I [Muhammad] am not something new among the messengers, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you. I only follow what is revealed to me. I am only a warner” (Qur’an 46:9).

Allah’s Apostle said [at a funeral], “As for him, by Allah, death has come to him. By Allah, I wish him all good. By Allah, in spite of the fact that I am Allah’s Apostle, I do not know what Allah will do to me” (Sahih al-Bukhari 7003; vol 9, bk 87, no 131).

If Muhammad did not know what would happen to him then no Muslim can know what Allah will do with them (apart from the Jihadist martyr). Allah has done nothing to save you in Islam. However, Christians can know where we stand with God because of the finished work of Jesus.

2. When teaching about the sinless life of Jesus you may like to demonstrate that Muhammad does not claim this for himself. Jesus perfects humanity, not Muhammad. Jesus is unique.

So know [O Muhammad] that there is no god except Allah, and ask forgiveness for your sin and for believing men and believing women (Qur’an 47:19).

3. When teaching the Gospel we come across Jesus casting out unclean spirits. Jesus has authority over heaven and earth, so Christians are not to fear the spiritual realm. However, Muhammad was subject to evil spirits and Muslims today are to fear them because if Muhammad could be affected, how much more a common Muslim.

Narrated Aisha: Magic was worked on the Prophet so that he began to fancy (imagine) that he was doing a thing which he was not actually doing (Sahih al-Bukhari 3268; vol 4, bk 54, no 490).

Narrated Anas: Whenever the Prophet went to the toilet, he used to say, O Allah, I seek refuge with You from all offensive and wicked things (evil deeds and evil spirits)” (Sahih al-Bukhari 142; vol 1, bk 4, no 144).

4. There is a lot of space given in the Bible to the tabernacle/temple, however, the Qur’an has no temple theology. That is, no concept of God coming to dwell with his people, no idea of a priesthood to mediate between a holy God and a sinful people, no idea of a sacrifice of atonement to turn aside God’s wrath. Highlighting these difference shows the beauty of what the temple achieves and that other religions do not have these ideas.

5. Like Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims reject the Trinity. However, if you reject the Trinity you still have to define the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Father is God, the Son is the angel Michael, and the Holy Spirit is a force. This does not work. Hebrews 1 and Colossians 2:18 say Jesus is not an angel, and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us to the Father so is not a force.

For Islam, God is not Father, Jesus is just a man, and the Holy Spirit is the angel Gabriel. Again, this doesn’t work because in the Qur’an Allah breathes his Spirit into Adam and Mary (Q21:91) which means God breathes an angel into Adam and Mary. Gabriel becomes the breath of life. Therefore, when teaching on the Trinity you can encourage your congregation by showing that the Trinity is the only solution that is true to Scripture and all other explanations fail.

There are more examples at https://answering-islam.org/authors/green/illustrations.html

Conclusion

If you are a preacher or involved in some area of Christian ministry then I want to encourage you to include occasional references to Islam in your teaching as you would with any other worldview. It will help your congregation to engage with a different segment of the world, sharpen their doctrine, and help them to see the uniqueness of Jesus once again.

– Samuel Green