>”We turn now to another point… the place of humour in preaching. Here again is a very difficult subject. What makes all these things difficult is that they are natural gifts, and the question that is raised is the use of natural gifts, or the place of natural gifts, in this great work of preaching. The history of preaching and preachers shows there have been tremendous variations. In the case of an outstandingly great preacher like Spurgeon there was a great deal of humour – some of us would say too much humour. You have heard of the lady who went to him and complained about the humour in his sermons. She was a great admirer of Mr. Spurgeon and derived great benefit from his preaching. But she felt that there was too much humour in his sermons and told him so. Spurgeon was a very humble man and he said to her, ‘Well madam, you may very well be right; but if you knew the number of jokes I do not tell you, and the number of things that I refrain from saying you would give me more credit than you are giving me.’ Now I believe that was true. He was a naturally humorous man, it bubbled out of him. But then take Whitefield, on whom Spurgeon modelled himself – he was never humorous. Whitefield was always tremendously serious. In the eighteenth century to which he belonged, there were other men like John Berridge of Everton in England, who, again, was one of these natural humorists. These men always troubled me because I feel that they tended to go too far, and allow their humour to run away with them. I would not dare to say that there is no place for humour in preaching; but I do suggest that it should not be a very big place because of the nature of the work, and because of the character of the Truth with which we are dealing. The preacher is dealing with and concerned about souls and their destiny. He is standing between God and man and acting as an ambassador for Christ. I would have thought that as that is the overriding consideration, the most one can say for the place of humour is that it is only allowable if it is natural. The man who tries to be humorous is an abomination and should never be allowed to enter the pulpit. The same applies to the man who does it deliberately in order to ingratiate himself with the people. That this kind of thing has been expected of so-called ‘professional evangelists’ has always passed my comprehension.
All these things have got to be considered and must not be brushed aside. All these things can be handmaidens, can be of very great value; but we must always be careful in our use of them. We must be equally careful not to over-correct their abuse to such an extent as to become dull, colourless, and lifeless. As long as we forget ourselves, and remember the devil, we shall never go wrong” ~Martyn Lloyd Jones from Preaching and Preachers.