One of my best friends growing up had a Chihuahua named Goliath. The name was rather apt, for Goliath was the largest little dog I’ve ever seen.

His girth was due, it seemed, to the chaos often surrounding meal time at my friend’s house. They were a large family with large appetites and small worries about any food falling to the floor. And so it was that Goliath’s girth expanded.

If dogs could talk I doubt Goliath would recall many specifics about the offerings he consumed, yet his weight would bear great testimony to their power.

And so it is with faithful preaching.

THE RIGHT PERCENTAGE

I doubt my preaching experience and evolution is terribly different from many pastors. My first three years were spent in student ministry, and weekly preaching to teenagers allowed me to figure out the preparation and delivery methods best suited to my personality. The next five were spent as an associate pastor with sporadic preaching opportunities (6-8 times a year). And these years were spent in regular pursuit of “the home run.”

But it didn’t take long to realize that home runs in the pulpit were elusive, and few and far between. On-base percentage was, and is, better than slugging percentage. Faithful exposition, week in and week out, is the ordinary means by which God grows His church.

PREACHING THAT FATTENS THE SOUL

I have come to think of the preaching as being somewhat like those mealtimes at my friend’s house from days gone by, when Goliath excitedly snapped up any and every crumb. Many of my church members will not be able to recall specific sermon points or applications years after the original delivery. But, Lord willing, what you will be able to see is the quantitative impact of their soul feasting on God’s word. You’d see souls transformed for the glory of God and being powerfully renewed unto the image of Christ. Their spiritual weight would bear testimony to the power of God’s word.

And that really is to be the preacher’s aim isn’t it? Souls fattened by the truth and in the truth. Paul said, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

Now, that is a good word . . . mature.

We preach to present men, women, and children mature before God. So rather than aim for the rightly desired, but rarely achieved grand slam of exposition that blows the winds of revival through the city, let’s aim for the simple and plain preaching of God’s word.

Such preaching fattens the soul.