Richard Baxter

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?

Many of us are rightly concerned about the diet of those in our churches today. Of course, as preachers we try to feed good food on Sunday morning. But the rest of the week is concerning. People spend hours ingesting the values of Hollywood and HBO, chewing on the junk food of a tabloid culture, as well as the slightly sanctified fluff of some of what is labelled “christian” in magazine form or on TV. Add to that the constant bombardment by advertizing, itself no less saturated in godless values than the most overt propaganda of strident atheism. I could go on, but compared to all that, our preaching can feel like a mere healthy snack in a week-long binge of junk food.

But let us remember to check our own diet too. It is critical. Hear this timely exhortation from the mid-1600’s. Richard Baxter in Watch Your Walk: Ministering from a Heart of Integrity, (pages 139-140) wrote:

When your mind is enjoying heavenly things, others will enjoy them, too. Then your prayers, praises, and doctrines will be heavenly and sweet to your people. They will feel when you have been much with God.

Conversely, when I am depressed in soul, my flock will sense my cold preaching. When I am confused, my preaching is, too. Then, the prayers of others will reflect my own state of preaching. If we, therefore, feed on unwholesome food, either of errors or of fruitless controversies, then our hearers will likely fare the worse for it, whereas if we abound in faith, love, and zeal, how it will overflow to the refreshing of our congregations and to the increases in the same graces in others.

We are rightly concerned about the spiritual diet of our day. But let’s be sure to be concerned about our own diet, and not just that of others. If we feed on unwholesome food, they will suffer for it.