5 Sermon Illustrations on Junk

5 illustrations

Junk in Christian preaching symbolizes the spiritual clutter—such as superstition and prejudice—that obstructs spiritual growth and maturity. These illustrations often use images of waste or debris to represent the unnecessary or harmful beliefs and habits believers must discard to walk faithfully (Hebrews 12:1).

Junk

Superstition and prejudice are spiritual junk that hinder growth and progress.

The Rev. William Barnes Lower writes this telling illustration:

The dredging-machines at work deepening the channel of the Delaware River are bringing to the surface all kinds of junk and implements lost or thrown overboard from ships. All kinds of tools, brass and copper are being found and sold as junk.

Every life carries with it, some more, some less, a lot of worthless junk--old superstitions from which it is hard to break away, old prejudices that have hindered the progress of the soul and should have been thrown overboard long ago. Superstition is the greatest burden in the world. The imaginary, scarecrow superstitions of many homes is the worthless junk, that is a dead weight to its spiritual and intellectual progress. Superstition is the disturber of many homes. Very often superstition parades itself under the guise of religion. Superstition is the one swing of the pendulum, skepticism believes nothing. Prejudice always arises through inexperience of the world and ignorance of mankind. In any life it is as worthless as old junk.

Jughead's Table

Luke 16:15

I have heard a lot of nicknames in my lifetime, but the strangest was the one given to a friend of my father. He and my dad were the best of friends. They worked together at the Armco steel mill in Ashland, Kentucky. Both were amateur carpenters and built houses together. I do not remember his real name, but his nickname was, believe it or not, “Jughead.” That is all anyone called him. He never seemed to mind this name at all, but actually liked it.

Anyway, my dad was over at his house one day and jughead was getting ready to throw away an old skinned-up table which had been in his house for a long time. It had been marred by many years of use, and parts of it were broken. As far as jughead was concerned, it was useless. But my father had often taken old furniture and refurbished it, turning what seemed to be worthless into a beautiful piece, of which anyone would be proud. When dad saw the old table being scrapped he said, “Don’t throw that table away, let me have it.” So he got that table and began to work on it.

When dad finished working on the table, he and my brother loaded it onto a truck and brought it 475 miles to Winfield, Pennsylvania, where I live. “We have a present for you,” they said. And then they unloaded this gorgeous piece of furniture and placed it in our dining room, where it has remained ever since. This old table which was destined for the dump has gotten a lot of admiring comments, and some have even wanted to buy it from us. No money could purchase this table.

I believe the story of Jughead’s Table is a parable of what God can do in human lives. I have seen people who were considered worthless in the eyes of man, people cast off by the world because of ignorance or sinful behavior, taken by God and changed so as to reflect the very beauty of Christ. In fact this is the story of all of us who are saved by God’s grace. Once we were lost, helpless and defiled, but grace saved and washed us white as snow through the blood of Jesus. Praise the Lord.

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John F. Thornbury, D. Min.

Bingaman and Son Lumber Co.

Junk Can Be Treasure

One man's junk is another man's treasure. Have you ever heard that phrase or a phrase like it before? Isn't that pretty much why garage sales actually work. We take the junk we don't want, and someone else actually pays us money for it, and is happy they bought it. It almost seems ludicrous. But, not too many years ago, an 85-year-old widow in Wisconsin died, and her only living relative, a niece had the responsibility of going through the lady's possessions and taking what she wanted and selling the rest. Most of it was junk and so she decided to just have a garage sale and sell it for as cheap as she could just to have somebody haul it off.

Among the old ladies' possession was a box that had been in the attic for probably 50 years untouched. The niece believed it to be just a bunch of worthless old bubble gum cards. However, one visitor to the garage sale became the beneficiary of this ignorance. He purchased the box for $1. Within the box were hundreds of mint condition baseball cards from the 20's, 30's and 40's. Rookie cards of baseball legend Babe Ruth and many others.

The total collection which was purchased for $1 was later estimated to have a value of over $475,000! One man's junk is another man's treasure indeed.

#4491

The Junk Box (poem)

THE JUNK BOX

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My father used to say,

"My boy, don't throw a thing away;

You'll find a use for it someday."

So in a box he stored up things,

Bent nails, old washers, pipes and rings

And bolts and nuts and rusty springs.

Despite each blemish and each flaw,

Some use for everything he saw;

With things material, this was law.

And often when he'd work to do

He searched the junk box thru and thru

And found old stuff as good as new.

And I have often thought since then

That Our Father did the same with men;

He knew he'd need their help again.

It seems to me he understood

That men, as well as iron and wood,

May broken be and still be good.

Despite the vices he'd display,

He never threw a man away,

But kept him for another day.

A human junk box is this earth,

And into it we're tossed at birth

To wait the day we'll be of worth.

Though bent and twisted, weak of will,

And full of flaws, and lacking skill,

Some service each can render still.

by Edgar A. Guest

Junk Is In the Eye of the Beholder

Harry Ettling's 1982 Honda Civic has endured a major accident, more than 170,000 miles of wear and even a riot, but the New Yorker still won't get rid of it.

The New York Daily News reports that Ettling has repaired damage to the car from a variety of sources over the years, yet won't rid himself of the clunker as long as it still runs.

“People actually recognize me in other sections of town because of the car,” Ettling told the Daily News. “The reactions range from laughter to anger to kindred spirits giving me the thumbs up, and everything in between.”

The most notable damage occurred when the car was flipped over by rioters during the 1992 Washington Heights riot.

“When the car got turned upside down, that was really the beginning of Harry's car as we know it today,” Steve Alcott, Ettling's neighbor in the Inwood area of Manhattan, said. “The guys in this neighborhood are really into their cars, and can't believe someone would drive something that looks like that. But it's a great car -- it'll get you where you're going. And junk is in the eye of the beholder.”

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