the parable of the coffee bean

I read an article once that said “You know you’re a Pastor When” and then it listed all these things that would supposedly let know you were a Pastor. The only one that I remember when something like” you know you’re a Pastor when you can view any TV program or movie and come away with at least 3 sermon illustrations.” I think that is true, hopefully one of the gifts that God gives Pastors is the ability to take life situations and make them pertinent illustrations. This is especially necessary for those of us in ”postmodern” ministry. As I have always said, some people will not listen to people quoting out of the Bible, but will listen to you when you talk about a TV show or movie and then relate it to Scripture.


I remember when I preached in our home church, before we planted, and I used a live example of a common situation in life to illustrate a truth of scripture. The  sermon was  called “ The Parable of the Coffee Bean.”

Now first I must say that my wife has told me on many occasions that I am a coffee snob and I admit it is true. I have found an establishment near my home that roasts it own coffee beans. I can buy my beans within hours of the roasting. I then double wrap them in two zip lock bags, with all the air removed, and then only take out enough beans for the amount of coffee that I am making. I will not keep beans for more than 6 months with out throwing them out.

Now you may be thinking that I would never have them that long because I love coffee so much, but I have had to throw some beans out. You see, I do love coffee, but only good coffee and I don’t always have the time to make it.  I even have a coffee maker that has a timer I can set, but that would mean that I would have to grind the beans  and let them sit out in the coffee maker exposed to the air overnight and that just wont do.

I will drink Starbucks in a pinch, but they burn their beans to get people addicted to that strong taste. A quite cleaver ploy for them really; but I digress.

So let’s just say that I am known for having good coffee and people have come over to our house for coffee because it is not just a cup of Joe, it’s an event.

Now, having said all that I will describe the live illustration.  The first thing that I did was set up my coffee maker, a pitcher of water and my beans up front, oh and my grinder of course. I had pictures projected of coffee bean on the tree (if you have never seen them they look like little cherries), pictures of them before they are roasted and pictures of them being poured out of a roaster (yummmmm).

I then started to tell the plight of the coffee bean, showing what coffee has to go through to reach its full potential. Then I compared each step to the process to what we go through in our lives.

The first thing that must happen is the coffee bean must leave the nourishment of the tree, much like we need to establish ourselves as separate from our parents. Then the real trouble starts, it must be stripped of its outer shell, much like trials in life. Then it must endure the testing of fire from the roasting process, I am sure you can make the comparison there.  At this point I ground some beans and said last but not least it must be placed in a grinder to be able to be used to make coffee, more trials in life. I then placed the ground coffee in the filter and placed the filter in the coffee maker. I stopped for a moment and said that every person in the world goes through the same process. We as Christians go through one more step. I showed the people the water and said  the difference between people that know Christ and people that don’t is the presence of the Holy Spirit. The water represents the Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of the believer.  I put the water in the coffee maker and started brewing. I told them that with out the presence of the water, the beans will not be able to reach their full potential; coffee. And with out the presence of the Holy Spirit we can never reach our full potential either. I then related that we are all meant to have a saving relationship with God. Jesus came down to make sure it was available to all. When we as people reject that, we can’t reach the full potential of what we were intended to be.

We as believers have the opportunity to be what God wants us to be. People that not only have a promise of a future with Him in eternity, but people that are his eyes and ears, hand and feet on earth. We have the awesome privilege and responsibility to make a difference. A  difference  to go and do as Jesus did; feed the poor, visit those in prison, help the widows ,the orphans and preach the good news so that others can reach their potential too.

I am not sure if everyone that heard the sermon that day appreciated the illustration, but they did line up for some of my coffee.