Urgency used to be one of the preeminent distinctives of the preacher.  Times change, listeners change, cultures change, preachers change.  People no longer expect an urgent edge to every sermon, listeners often resist any hint of hype or overly effected preaching styles.  Natural communication styles are the most effective styles in our day.  Yet while much may change, the needs of our listeners have not changed.

There is no less need for a clear presentation of the gospel and a compelling call for response today than in any previous era.  People are lost, the enemy is roaming, death is lurking, judgment is waiting, and the preacher has the opportunity to address the situation.  With all the appropriate and effective naturalness in our preaching styles, let us also make sure there is urgency mixed in too.

If you say that the work is God’s, and he may do it by the weakest means, I answer, It is true, he may do so; but yet his ordinary way is to work by means, and to make not only the matter that is preached, but also the manner of preaching instrumental to the work.

If it weren’t for the run-on sentence, would you know when that was written?  It could be speaking to preachers today.  How easy it is to hide behind the fact that preaching is God’s work.  Oh yes, this is a profound and humbling truth that should be seared through every cell of our being.  At the same time it can be an excuse, can’t it?  An excuse to cover for lack of improvement in our preaching, for lack of urgency, for lack of focused preparation.  God does work using very weak instruments.  Even if you pursue training and studies and feedback and improvement, you and I will still be very weak instruments.  Good stewards, weak instruments . . . but a great God addressing a great need!

I’m with Richard Baxter on this matter.  God’s ordinary means of working in preaching is by the content and the delivery, not despite either.  So, will there be a fitting urgency about the next message?