Spiritual Substance

by Chris Simmons

There is nothing worse than going out to eat at a fancy restaurant and realizing that there wasn’t any substance to the meal and that you’re still hungry. Spiritually speaking, we need to make sure that there is some substance to our spiritual life and not just bold claims and empty promises. We need to ensure that there is some genuine substance in our:

Prayers. We must assess whether we are simply offering rote prayers before we eat a meal, as a formality or tradition, or whether we are approaching the throne of God with substantive “prayers, petitions and thanksgivings” (I Timothy 2:1), truly expressing our “heart’s desire” (Romans 10:1) to Him. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He warned about using “meaningless (vain, ASV) repetitions (empty phrases, ESV)” when He taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:7. The prayer that Jesus taught us with in Matthew 6:9-13 was focused on praising God, His kingdom, and forgiveness as opposed to praying for our selfish pleasures (James 4:3). Prayers of substance will indeed cast our cares upon God (I Peter 5:7) with the result that we are no longer worried or anxious about them (Matthew 6:34). Is our prayer life substantial in terms of our frequency and consistency? Jesus taught in Luke 18:1-8, “that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” and in Luke 11:8 to be persistent in our prayers to God. Will we spend the significant time needed for substantive prayer and turn off all the noise in the world we live in and give God the time in prayer that we need? We need to follow in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 6:12; 5:16; 9:18) and devote ourselves to prayers of substance (Romans 12:12; Colossians 4:2).

Personal reading and study of the Bible. If we read God’s word, do we do so casually and cursorily or do we take time to ponder, meditate, reflect on, and apply God’s word. Do we “take it to heart” (Malachi 2:2) and use the opportunity for honest and sincere self-examination (II Corinthians 13:5)? It’s essential that the words we read do more than speed through our consciousness but that we take the time to mediate on them – and to do so joyfully. David wrote in Psalms 119:48, “And I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, which I love; and I will meditate on Thy statutes.” It’s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for meditation refers to the pondering or considering of something and includes the idea of having a conversation with yourself about something. Do we talk to ourselves about what we read in God’s word? Is there any substance to our own reading or study of God’s word?

Preaching and teaching. Gospel preaching is to instill faith, convict sinners, and impart the hope of forgiveness. But in far too many places the public teaching and preaching that is provided simply offer platitudes, clichés, and entertaining stories without challenging the hearers with the truth and power of God’s word (Romans 1:16). Preaching and teaching of substance should and must “reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction” (II Tim. 4:1-2). Is it asking too much that gospel preaching have as it substance the gospel and not the wisdom of man in “persuasive words of (human) wisdom” (I Corinthians 2:4-5)? Whether preaching or teaching the “milk” of the word or “solid food” (Hebrews 5:12-14), the substance and foundation must be the word of God.

Our worship including our singing of praises to God and our giving back of what He has blessed us with. Do we simply mouth the words or do we seek to teach and edify first ourselves and our brethren and fellow worshippers? There is to be substance to our singing as we’re to be “teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). We’re to engage both our heart and our mind in our singing to God (I Corinthians 14:15). Worship offered to God without substance is worship that is offered without thinking, and without our heart, is worship that is displeasing to God. We read of God’s condemnation of His people in Isaiah 29:13, “Then the Lord said, ‘Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.” Our worship includes our giving and we must ask whether we give simply of our surplus or do we give of ourselves first and then from our heart generously and freely? We read of God’s displeasure with His people in Malachi 1:8 who brought what was leftover and undesirable of their flock to sacrifice to God. In contrast we read of the widow in Luke 21:3-4 who was commended by the Lord when He said of her gift of “two small copper coins” that “this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” Similarly, we read of the brethren in Macedonia who “according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord” because “they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God” (II Corinthians 8:3-5). That is worshipping and giving with substance.

Repentance. When we repent of our sins to God, do we apply II Corinthians 7:10-11 and demonstrate the “earnestness … godly sorrow … vindication … indignation … fear … longing … zeal … avenging of wrong” and demonstration of innocence that substantive and godly repentance demands? Some brethren have offered repentance without substance by saying such things as “If I have offended anyone, I’m sorry” or other shallow and unacceptable confessions. Repentance with substance always involves both a change of heart and the “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 4:4; cf. Acts 26:20).

Finally, our faith. Will our faith have the substance (Hebrews 11:1, KJV) it needs to still stand when we are tested or tried for wearing the name of Christ? James wrote in James 1:2-4, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Or when tried, will we find our faith shipwrecked (I Timothy 1:18-19) because our faith lacked the substance it needed? The difference in these two faiths, will depend on whether our prayer, worship, study, and repentance had any substance to them.