Who doesn’t like a good meal, well prepared and delightfully presented? Everyone appreciates a tasty plate of food. It is what sustains us – a delightful aspect of God’s blessing, that the food we most fundamentally require can be so tasty and delightful.

I have grown into this realization. When I was young, I saw food as something more instrumental. I lived by food and not for it. To this day, I often sacrifice a meal in order to focus on a project until such time as the project is threatened for a lack of fuel. I recognize this behavior is not normal. My waistline will give evidence that even I appreciate good food.

Sermons have often been described as meals. The metaphor suggests not only the nutritional value of our preaching, but also that we could prepare our sermons in ways that will be tasty. Dissatisfied listeners often complain that they are not “being fed” by their preacher. This is usually offered as cover as they chase some other more attractive preacher, in the manner of the foodie who chases the latest celebrity chef.

These days we have television networks completely dedicated to the preparation of food – everything from fine cuisine to comfort food. Those who prepare these meals are celebrated as much or more than our most famous preachers. We could learn from them.

Some chefs are all sizzle and no steak. That is to say that they are all about the presentation, at the expense of the nutritional value. But the best chefs are careful to make sure they offer both – meals that look good, but are also good for you.

Preachers need to attend to nutrition. The fundamental substance of preaching is the theological truth by which our people are fed. Preaching that focuses primarily on presentation without due consideration for its exegetical precision is not going to sustain a healthy congregation. But preaching that pays no attention to the things that make it tasty will not be consumed, no matter how nutritious.

For decades, the USDA has offered food guides and food pyramids, designed to ensure that we eat a “balanced diet.” Preachers also need to be conscious that their sermons contain the elements that will sustain spiritual health – the grains and vegetables, the dairy, fruits, and proteins that will keep us strong and vigorous.

Spiritually, this means that we will consume solid exegetical content, cut straight from the Scripture in a manner we can trust. It means that we will be fed truth that is grounded in our situational callings and the human challenges that such entails. The preacher as chef will make sure that we are fed meaningful theological content that not only helps us understand God, but leads us to conviction in the presence of this gracious God. It means that the fully nutritional sermon will inspire us to a sense of mission in keeping with the will and call of God.

We might do well to set aside the microwave. Good cooking doesn’t happen quickly. If we take the time to prepare well, our sermons will be better for it. Sermons need to simmer if the flavor is to deepen.

It is often not the chef who gets the credit. It is usually the waiter who gets the glory, and most often the generous tip. It is a matter of contention in most restaurants that the chef who cooks the meals is the least appreciated and most poorly paid person in the delivery chain. The preacher, at least, gets to deliver the food as well as cook it.

But preachers, like chefs, are only as good as their ingredients so rightly the glory belongs there – with the God from whom we gained the Word – the bread of life by which we are sustained.

Kenton C. Anderson is President and Professor of Homiletics at Northwest Baptist Seminary in Langley, British Columbia.