We all like pizza or different reasons. That is why the pizza industry can have so many sellers and still not saturate the market.
Papa John’s is for those who like fresh ingredients.
Pizza Hut is for those who like a little zest with their grease.
Dominos has the cheese proportions down perfectly.
Papa Murphy’s is for the “I want to feel like I did something to contribute” pizza eater.
Little Ceasars is for youth groups and those on a tight budget.
And with all those listed, I haven’t even touched the good stuff—like Chicago Pizza or NYC thin crust. Let’s be honest, you haven’t had pizza unless you’ve eaten it in one of these cities, and even then, there is a wide variety of options and opinions.
After preaching for more than a 15 years, and being a sermon-junkie myself, I have learned that a person preference of preaching is as diverse as their pizza picking. There is nothing wrong with that; God gave preachers their unique voice; not all pizza is “my-kind-of-pizza” and the same is true with preaching.
Some will disagree—“Preaching is preaching! It is all God’s Word. If you don’t like one preacher over another, you must just be shallow or consumeristic.” We have no problem claiming favorite books for the Bible, favorite verses, or even favorite versions of the Bible.
God uses the Bible in unique ways for all of us. In the same way, God uses those who preach to reach us diversely, leaving us with preferred preachers. So don’t discount someone liking a preacher that doesn’t connect with you; that man and his words may be very divinely orchestrated to reach their soul more than yours.
And for you preachers out there, don’t forget that our call is to:
1. Stay true to the Word. Don’t be a heretic, a peddler of the Gospel, or a bad theologian. Study the Bible harder that you work on your craft; stay truer to God’s voices than your audience’s.
2. Love the sheep. If you are preaching out of love, your message will be authentic. If you are preaching to be popular, you will be seen as a fake.
3. Be better than cardboard pizza. Work hard to apply God’s Word to life through relevant illustrations and application.
Some will like you, and some won’t—welcome to being a preacher. But you don’t do it for their approval; you do it for God’s. Be faithful to the task and you will find some who favor God’s unique message given through your unique lips. I consider that the highest honors God can ever bestow on a wretch of a man.
